PROLOGUE The Life of King Henry the Eighth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry VIII  | Act 1, Prologue 

 Next scene  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, 

 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 deceived; 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. 

 Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry VIII  | Act 1, Prologue 

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