The Famous History of the Life of Henry the Eighth: THE PROLOGUE
Introduction THE PROLOGUE THE PROLOGUE ACT I ACT II ACT III ACT IV ACT V About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: THE PROLOGUE       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, 5     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 10    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, 15    A noise of targets, or to see a fellow       In a long motley coat guarded with yellow,       Will be deceived; for, gentle hearers, know,       To rank our chosen truth with such a show       As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting 20    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, 25    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 30    How soon this mightiness meets misery:       And, if you can be merry then, I'll say       A man may weep upon his wedding-day. Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene