Has done this, and ’tis well: for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows –
Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
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To th’old dam treason – Charles the Emperor,
Under pretence to see the Queen his aunt –
For ’twas indeed his colour, but he came
To whisper Wolsey – here makes visitation.
His fears were that the interview betwixt
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England and France might through their amity
Breed him some prejudice, for from this league
Peeped harms that menaced him. He privily
Deals with our Cardinal, and as I trow –
Which I do well, for I am sure the Emperor
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Paid ere he promised, whereby his suit was granted
Ere it was asked – but when the way was made
And paved with gold, the Emperor thus desired
That he would please to alter the King’s course
And break the foresaid peace. Let the King know,
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As soon he shall by me, that thus the Cardinal
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.
NORFOLK I am sorry
To hear this of him, and could wish he were
Something mistaken in’t.
BUCKINGHAM No, not a syllable.
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I do pronounce him in that very shape
He shall appear in proof.
Enter BRANDON, a Sergeant-at-Arms before him, and two or three of the guard.
BRANDON Your office, sergeant: execute it.
SERGEANT Sir,
My lord the Duke of Buckingham, and Earl
Of Hereford, Stafford and Northampton, I
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Arrest thee of high treason in the name
Of our most sovereign King.
BUCKINGHAM Lo you, my lord,
The net has fallen upon me: I shall perish
Under device and practice.
BRANDON I am sorry
To see you ta’en from liberty, to look on
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The business present. ’Tis his highness’ pleasure
You shall to th’ Tower.
BUCKINGHAM It will help me nothing
To plead mine innocence, for that dye is on me
Which makes my whitest part black. The will of heaven
Be done in this and all things: I obey.
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O my lord Abergavenny, fare you well.
BRANDON Nay, he must bear you company.
[to Abergavenny] The King
Is pleased you shall to th’ Tower, till you know
How he determines further.
ABERGAVENNY As the Duke said,
The will of heaven be done, and the King’s pleasure
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By me obeyed.
BRANDON Here is a warrant from
The King t’attach Lord Montague and the bodies
Of the Duke’s confessor, John de la Court,
One Gilbert Park, his chancellor –
BUCKINGHAM So, so;
These are the limbs o’th’ plot. No more, I hope?
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BRANDON A monk o’th’ Chartreux.
BUCKINGHAM O, Nicholas Hopkins?
BRANDON He.
BUCKINGHAM
My surveyor is false: the o’er-great Cardinal
Hath showed him gold. My life is spanned already.
I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on
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By darkening my clear sun. My lord, farewell.
Exeunt.
1.2 Cornetts. Enter KING Henry, leaning on the Cardinal ’s shoulder, the nobles, and Sir Thomas LOVELL; the Cardinal places himself under the King’s feet on his right side.[A secretary attends the Cardinal.]
KING My life itself, and the best heart of it,
Thanks you for this great care. I stood i’th’ level
Of a full-charged confederacy, and give thanks
To you that choked it. Let be called before us
That gentleman of Buckingham’s: in person
5
I’ll hear him his confessions justify,
And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.
A noise within crying ‘ Room for the Queen!’ who, as she enters is ushered by the Duke of NORFOLK. Enter Queen KATHERINE, NORFOLK and the Duke of SUFFOLK. Katherine kneels. King riseth from his state, takes her up, and kisses her.
KATHERINE Nay, we must longer kneel. I am a suitor.
KING Arise, and take place by us.
[The King placeth her by him.]
Half your suit
10
Never name to us. You have half our power;
The other moiety ere you ask is given.
Repeat your will and take it.
KATHERINE Thank your majesty.
That you would love yourself, and in that love
Not unconsidered leave your honour nor
15
The dignity of your office, is the point
Of my petition.
KING Lady mine, proceed.
KATHERINE I am solicited – not by a few,
And those of true condition – that your subjects
Are in great grievance. There have been commissions
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Sent down among ’em which hath flawed the heart
Of all their loyalties; wherein although,
My good lord Cardinal, they vent reproaches
Most bitterly on you as putter-on
Of these exactions, yet the King our master –
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Whose honour heaven shield from soil – even he escapes not
Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty and almost appears
In loud rebellion.
NORFOLK Not almost appears,
It doth appear; for, upon these taxations,
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The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compelled by hunger
And lack of other means, in desperate manner,
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Daring th’event to th’ teeth, are all in uproar,
And danger serves among them.
KING Taxation?
Wherein, and what taxation? My lord Cardinal,
You that are blamed for it alike with us,
Know you of this taxation?
WOLSEY Please you, sir,
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I know but of a single part in aught
Pertains to th’ state, and front but in that file
Where others tell steps with me.
KATHERINE No, my lord,
You know no more than others, but you frame
Things that are known alike, which are not wholesome
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To those which would not know them and yet must
Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are
Most pestilent to th’ hearing, and to bear ’em
The back is sacrifice to th’ load. They say
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They are devised by you, or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.
KING Still ‘exaction’!
The nature of it? In what kind, let’s know,
Is this exaction?
KATHERINE I am much too venturous
In tempting of your patience, but am boldened
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Under your promised pardon. The subjects’ grief
Comes through commissions which compels from each
The sixth part of his substance, to be levied
Without delay; and t
he pretence for this
Is named your wars in France. This makes bold mouths:
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Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze
Allegiance in them. Their curses now
Live where their prayers did, and it’s come to pass
This tractable obedience is a slave
To each incensed will. I would your highness
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Would give it quick consideration, for
There is no primer baseness.
KING By my life,
This is against our pleasure.
WOLSEY And for me,
I have no further gone in this than by
A single voice, and that not passed me but
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By learned approbation of the judges. If I am
Traduced by ignorant tongues, which neither know
My faculties nor person yet will be
The chronicles of my doing, let me say
’Tis but the fate of place and the rough brake
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That virtue must go through. We must not stint
Our necessary actions in the fear
To cope malicious censurers, which ever,
As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow
That is new-trimmed, but benefit no further
80
Than vainly longing. What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, or weak ones, is
Not ours or not allowed; what worst, as oft,
Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up
For our best act. If we shall stand still
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In fear our motion will be mocked or carped at,
We should take root here where we sit,
Or sit state-statues only.
KING Things done well,
And with a care, exempt themselves from fear;
Things done without example in their issue
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Are to be feared. Have you a precedent
Of this commission? I believe not any.
We must not rend our subjects from our laws
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each?
A trembling contribution! Why, we take
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From every tree lop, bark and part o’th’ timber,
And though we leave it with a root, thus hacked
The air will drink the sap. To every county
Where this is questioned send our letters with
Free pardon to each man that has denied
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The force of this commission. Pray look to’t:
I put it to your care.
WOLSEY [apart to his secretary] A word with you.
Let there be letters writ to every shire
Of the King’s grace and pardon. The grieved commons
Hardly conceive of me: let it be noised
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That through our intercession this revokement
And pardon comes. I shall anon advise you
Further in the proceeding. Exit secretary.
Enter Surveyor.
KATHERINE I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham
Is run in your displeasure.
KING It grieves many.
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The gentleman is learned and a most rare speaker,
To nature none more bound, his training such
That he may furnish and instruct great teachers
And never seek for aid out of himself. Yet see,
When these so noble benefits shall prove
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Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt,
They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly
Than ever they were fair. This man so complete,
Who was enrolled ’mongst wonders – and when we,
Almost with ravished listening, could not find
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His hour of speech a minute – he, my lady,
Hath into monstrous habits put the graces
That once were his and is become as black
As if besmeared in hell. Sit by us. You shall hear –
This was his gentleman in trust – of him
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Things to strike honour sad. Bid him recount
The fore-recited practices, whereof
We cannot feel too little, hear too much.
WOLSEY
Stand forth, and with bold spirit relate what you,
Most like a careful subject, have collected
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Out of the Duke of Buckingham.
KING Speak freely.
SURVEYOR First, it was usual with him – every day
It would infect his speech – that if the King
Should without issue die, he’ll carry it so
To make the sceptre his. These very words
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The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 247
