Charles Laughton ~ The Private Life of Henry VIII., 1933
The court of Henry VIII. As preparations are in train for the King's third wedding to the beautiful but foolish Jane Seymour, crowds gather for the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. As the king's ladies-in-waiting make ready the royal bedchamber, they fall to gossiping, but are disturbed by the King, who takes an interest in the confident and independent Katherine Howard... ➔ BFI Screenonline
Circle of Hans Holbein ~ King Henry VIII, 1535-40 [Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica, Rome]
- I COME no more to make you laugh: things now
- That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
- Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
- Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
- We now present. Those that can pity, here
- May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
- The subject will deserve it. Such as give
- Their money out of hope they may believe,
- May here find truth too. Those that come to see
- Only a show or two, and so agree
- The play may pass, if they be still and willing,
- I'll undertake may see away their shilling
- Richly in two short hours. Only they
- That come to hear a merry bawdy play,
- A noise of targets, or to see a fellow
- In a long motley coat guarded with yellow,
- Will be deceiv'd; for, gentle hearers, know,
- To rank our chosen truth with such a show
- As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting
- Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring
- To make that only true we now intend,
- Will leave us never an understanding friend.
- Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known
- The first and happiest hearers of the town,
- Be sad, as we would make ye; think ye see
- The very persons of our noble story
- As they were living; think you see them great,
- And follow'd with the general throng and sweat
- Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
- How soon this mightiness meets misery;
- And if you can be merry then, I'll say
- A man may weep upon his wedding-day.
- , ca. 1613
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