' Hee, not pleased with the expression, swore
she would make the court believe hee was a bastard, at which
shee laughed, and passed on."
The masquing scene in _Henry VIII._, as described by Holinshed, perhaps
furnishes a clue to the Queen's pleasantry, though Shakspeare has
omitted the particular incident relating to Sir Henry Nevill. The old
chronicler, after giving an account of Wolsey's banquet, and the
entrance of a noble troop of strangers in masks, amongst whom he
suspected that the king made one, proceeds as follows:--
"Then the Lord Chamberlain said to the Cardinal, Sir, they
confesse that among them there is such a noble personage whom,
if your Grace can appointe out 'from the rest, he is content to
disclose himself and to accept your place.' Whereupon the
Cardinal, taking good advisement among them, at the last quoth
he, 'Me seemeth the gentleman in the black beard should be even
he.' And with that he arose out of his chaire and offered the
same to the gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his
hand.
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