Scene 8 - The Boy

	The Boy comes in, the least that can play.

	Boy
	This same is even he by all likelihood.
	Sir, I pray you, be not you master god?

	Merry Report
	No, in good faith, son, but I may say to thee
1005	I am such a man that god may not miss me.
	Wherefore, with the god if thou wouldest have ought done,
	Tell me thy mind and I shall show it soon.

	Boy
	Forsooth, sir, my mind is this, at few words:
	All my pleasure is in catching of birds,
1010	And making of snow balls and throwing the same,
	For the which purpose to have set in frame,
	With my godfather god I would fain have spoken,
	Desiring him to have sent me by some token
	Where I might have had great frost for my pitfalls,
1015	And plenty of snow to make my snow balls.
	This once had, boys lives be such as no man leads.
	O, to see my snow balls light on my fellows heads,
	And to hear the birds how they flicker their wings
	In the pitfall, I say it passeth all things.
1020	Sir, if ye be god’s servant or his kinsman,
	I pray you help me in this if ye can.

	Merry Report
	Alas, poor boy, who sent thee hither?

	Boy
	A hundred boys that stood together,
	Where they heard one say in a cry
1025	That my godfather, God Almighty,
	Was come from Heaven by his own accord,
	This night to sup here with my lord.
	And farther he said, come who so will,
	They shall sure have their bellies full
1030	Of all weathers; who list to crave:
	Each sort such weather list to have.
	And when my fellows thought this would be had,
	And saw me so pretty a prattling lad,
	Upon agreement, with a great noise
1035	‘Send little Dick!’, cried all the boys,
	By whose assent I am purveyed
	To sue for the weather aforesaid.
	Wherein I pray you to be good, as thus,
	To help that god may give it us.

	Merry Report
1040	‘Give boys weather’, quoth a! Nonny nonny!

	Boy
	If god of his weather will give nonny,
	I pray you, will he sell any,
	Or lend us a bushel of snow or twain
	And point us a day to pay him again?

	Merry Report
1045	I can not tell, for, by this light,
	I chept nor borrowed none of him this night.
	But by such shift as I will make,
	Thou shalt see soon what way he will take.

	Boy
	Sir, I thank you. Then I may depart?

	The Boy goes forth.

	Merry Report
1050	Yea, farewell, good son, with all my heart.
	Now such another sort as here hath been
	In all the days of my life, I have not seen.
	No suitors now but women, knaves, and boys,
	And all their suits are in fancies and toys.
1055	If that there come no wiser after this cry
	I will to the god and make an end quickly.

The final suitor is The Boy, Little Dick, who comes to ask Jupiter for wintry weather so that he can trap birds and make snow-balls. Merry Report wonders why such a small child has been sent to the potentially hostile environs of the court so The Boy explains that he was elected by all of his peers on the basis of his verbal ability and pleasing appearance. As The Boy leaves, Merry Report remains both bemused and amused at the social insignificance of such a claimant.

Key Research Topic

Humanism, Education and Political Debate in Henry VIII’s England
	The role of humanist ideology in the education of young aristocrats is surveyed, as well as the preparation for public and political life assumed by the humanist curricula.

Historical Context

Instructions for ‘Porters at the Gate’
	A series of instructions contained in The Eltham Ordinances of 1526 for those employed as ‘Porters at the Gate’ at the court, revealing the structure and bureaucratic nature of the Henrician court.

Resources

View film stills from Scene 8

View photos of Gabriel Thompson as The Boy

Scene 8 - The Boy

Key Research Topic

Humanism, Education and Political Debate in Henry VIII’s England

Historical Context

Instructions for ‘Porters at the Gate’

Resources