Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, 28
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history; 32
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play. Exit.
ACT FIRST
Scene One
[London. An Antechamber in the King's Palace]
Enter the two Bishops of Canterbury and Ely.
Cant. My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urg'd,
Which in th' eleventh year of the last king's reign
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that the scambling and unquiet time 4
Did push it out of further question.
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
We lose the better half of our possession; 8
For all the temporal lands which men devout
By testament have given to the church
Would they strip from us; being valu'd thus:
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour, 12
Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
29 jumping o'er times; cf. n.
31 for . . . supply: for which service
32 Chorus; cf. n.
Scene One S. d. Bishops; cf. n.
1 self: same
3 like: likely (to pass)
4 scambling: turbulent
5 question: consideration
