The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

MORE

  No, Master Lieutenant. I thank my God

  I have peace of conscience, though the world and I

  Are at a little odds. But we’ll be even now, I hope,

  Ere long. When is the execution of your warrant?

  LIEUTENANT

  Tomorrow morning.

  MORE

  So, sir, I thank ye.

  I have not lived so ill I fear to die.

  Master Lieutenant,

  I have had a sore fit of the stone tonight;

  But the King hath sent me such a rare receipt,

  I thank him, as I shall not need to fear it much.

  LIEUTENANT

  In life and death, still merry Sir Thomas More.

  [To Servant] Sirrah fellow, reach me the urinal.

  He gives it him

  Ha, let me see. There’s gravel in the water.

  And yet, in very sober truth I swear,

  The man were likely to live long enough,

  So pleased the King. Here, fellow, take it.

  SERVANT

  Shall I go with it to the doctor, sir?

  MORE

  No, save thy labour. We’ll cozen him of a fee.

  Thou shalt see me take a dram tomorrow morning

  Shall cure the stone, I warrant, doubt it not.—

  Master Lieutenant, what news of my lord of Rochester?

  LIEUTENANT

  Yesterday morning was he put to death.

  MORE

  The peace of soul sleep with him!

  He was a learned and a reverend prelate,

  And a rich man, believe me.

  LIEUTENANT

  If he were rich, what is Sir Thomas More,

  That all this while hath been Lord Chancellor?

  MORE

  Say ye so, Master Lieutenant? What do you think

  A man that with my time had held my place

  Might purchase?

  LIEUTENANT

  Perhaps, my lord, two thousand pound a year.

  MORE

  Master Lieutenant, I protest to you,

  I never had the means in all my life

  To purchase one poor hundred pound a year.

  I think I am the poorest chancellor

  That ever was in England, though I could wish,

  For credit of the place, that my estate were better.

  LIEUTENANT It’s very strange.

  MORE

  It will be found as true.

  I think, sir, that with most part of my coin

  I have purchased as strange commodities

  As ever you heard tell of in your life.

  LIEUTENANT Commodities, my lord?

  Might I without offence enquire of them?

  MORE

  Crutches, Master Lieutenant, and bare cloaks,

  For halting soldiers and poor needy scholars,

  Have had my gettings in the Chancery.

  To think but what acheat the crown shall have

  By my attainder! I prithee, if thou beest a gentleman,

  Get but a copy of my inventory.

  That part of poet that was given me

  Made me a very unthrift;

  For this is the disease attends us all:

  Poets were never thrifty, never shall.

  Enter Lady More, mourning, Daughters, [one of them Roper’s Wife,] Master Roper

  LIEUTENANT O noble More!

  My lord, your wife, your son-in-law and daughters.

  MORE

  Son Roper, welcome. Welcome, wife and girls.

  Why do you weep? Because I live at ease?

  Did you not see, when I was Chancellor

  I was so cloyed with suitors every hour

  I could not sleep nor dine nor sup in quiet.

  Here’s none of this. Here I can sit and talk

  With my honest keeper half a day together,

  Laugh and be merry. Why then should you weep?

  ROPER

  These tears, my lord, for this your long restraint

  Hope had dried up, with comfort that we yet,

  Although imprisoned, might have had your life.

  MORE

  To live in prison: what a life were that?

  The King, I thank him, loves me more than so.

  Tomorrow I shall be at liberty

  To go even whither I can,

  After I have dispatched my business.

  LADY MORE

  Ah husband, husband, yet submit yourself.

  Have care of your poor wife and children.

  MORE

  Wife, so I have, and I do leave you all

  To His protection hath the power to keep

  You safer than I can,

  The father of the widow and the orphan.

  ROPER

  The world, my lord, hath ever held you wise,

  And ’t shall be no distaste unto your wisdom

  To yield to the opinion of the state.

  MORE

  I have deceived myself, I must acknowledge;

  And as you say, son Roper, to confess the same

  It will be no disparagement at all.

  LADY MORE (offering to depart)

  His highness shall be certified thereof, immediately.

  MORE

  Nay, hear me, wife. First let me tell ye how

  I thought to have had a barber for my beard;

  Now I remember that were labour lost:

  The headsman now shall cut off head and all.

  ROPER’S WIFE

  Father, his majesty, upon your meek submission,

  Will yet, they say, receive you to his grace,

  In as great credit as you were before.

  MORE

  ( ) wench. Faith, my lord the King

  Has appointed me to do a little business.

  If that were past, my girl, thou then shouldst see

  What I would say to him about that matter.

  But I shall be so busy until then

  I shall not tend it.

  BOTH DAUGHTERS Ah, my dear father!

  LADY MORE Dear lord and husband!

  MORE

  Be comforted, good wife, to live and love my children,

  For with thee leave I all my care of them.

  Son Roper, for my sake that have loved thee well,

  And for her virtue’s sake, cherish my child.—

  Girl, be not proud, but of thy husband’s love.

  Ever retain thy virtuous modesty.

  That modesty is such a comely garment

  As it is never out of fashion, sits as fair

  Upon the meaner woman as the empress.

  No stuff that gold can buy is half so rich,

  Nor ornament that so becomes a woman.

  Live all, and love together, and thereby

  You give your father a rich obsequy.

  BOTH DAUGHTERS

  Your blessing, dear father.

  MORE

  I must be gone—God bless you—

  To talk with God, who now doth call.

  LADY MORE

  Ah, my dear husband—

  MORE

  Sweet wife, goodnight, goodnight.

  God send us all his everlasting light.

  ROPER

  I think before this hour

  More heavy hearts ne’er parted in the Tower.

  Exeunt [Lady More, Daughters, and Roper one way; More,

  Lieutenant, and Servant as into the Tower]

  Sc. 17 Enter the Sheriffs of London and their Officers at one door, the Warders with their halberds at another

  FIRST SHERIFF

  Officers, what time of day is’t?

  OFFICER

  Almost eight o’clock.

  SECOND SHERIFF

  We must make haste then, lest we stay too long.

  FIRST WARDER

  Good morrow, Master Sheriffs of London. Master

  Lieutenant

  Wills ye repair to the limits of the Tower,

  There to receive your prisoner.

 
FIRST SHERIFF (to Officer)

  Go back and tell his worship we are ready.

  SECOND SHERIFF

  Go bid the officers make clear the way,

  There may be passage for the prisoner.

  Enter Lieutenant and his guard, with More

  MORE

  Yet God be thanked, here’s a fair day toward

  To take our journey in. Master Lieutenant,

  It were fair walking on the Tower leads.

  LIEUTENANT

  An so it might have liked my sovereign lord,

  I would to God you might have walked there still.

  He weeps

  MORE

  Sir, we are walking to a better place.

  O sir, your kind and loving tears

  Are like sweet odours to embalm your friend.

  Thank your good lady; since I was your guest

  She has made me a very wanton, in good sooth.

  LIEUTENANT

  O, I had hoped we should not yet have parted!

  MORE

  But I must leave ye for a little while.

  Within an hour or two you may look for me.

  But there will be so many come to see me

  That I shall be so proud I will not speak;

  And sure my memory is grown so ill

  I fear I shall forget my head behind me.

  LIEUTENANT

  God and his blessed angels be about ye!—

  Here, Master Sheriffs, receive your prisoner.

  MORE

  Good morrow, Master Sheriffs of London, to ye both.

  I thank ye that ye will vouchsafe to meet me.

  I see by this you have not quite forgot

  That I was in times past as you are now,

  A sheriff of London.

  FIRST SHERIFF

  Sir, then you know our duty doth require it.

  MORE

  I know it well, sir, else I would have been glad

  You might have saved a labour at this time.

  [To Second Sheriff] Ah, Master Sheriff,

  You and I have been of old acquaintance.

  You were a patient auditor of mine

  When I read the divinity lecture

  At St Laurence’s.

  SECOND SHERIFF

  Sir Thomas More,

  I have heard you oft, as many other did,

  To our great comfort.

  MORE

  Pray God you may so now, with all my heart.

  And, as I call to mind,

  When I studied the law in Lincoln’s Inn

  I was of counsel with ye in a cause.

  SECOND SHERIFF

  I was about to say so, good Sir Thomas.

  〈 〉

  [They pass over the stage. A ladder to the scaffold is

  revealed, with the Hangman attending it]

  MORE

  O, is this the place?

  I promise ye, it is a goodly scaffold.

  In sooth, I am come about a headless errand,

  For I have not much to say, now I am here.

  Well, let’s ascend, i’ God’s name.

  In troth, methinks your stair is somewhat weak.

  [To the Hangman] I prithee, honest friend, lend me thy

  hand

  To help me up. As for my coming down,

  Let me alone, I’ll look to that myself.

  As he is going up the stairs, enters the Earls of Surrey and Shrewsbury

  My lords of Surrey and of Shrewsbury, give me your

  hands yet before we part. Ye see, though it pleaseth the

  King to raise me thus high, yet I am not proud; for the

  higher I mount the better I can see my friends about me.

  I am now on a far voyage, and this strange wooden

  horse must bear me thither. Yet I perceive by your looks

  you like my bargain so ill that there’s not one of ye all

  dare venture with me. (Walking) Truly, here’s a most

  sweet gallery. I like the air of it better than my garden at

  Chelsea. By your patience, good people that have

  pressed thus into my bedchamber, if you’ll not trouble

  me I’ll take a sound sleep here.

  SHREWSBURY

  My lord, ’twere good you’d publish to the world

  Your great offence unto his majesty.

  MORE My lord, I’ll bequeath this legacy to the hangman, and do it instantly.

  Gives him his gown

  I confess his majesty hath been ever good to me, and my

  offence to his highness makes me of a state pleader, a

  stage player—though I am old and have a bad voice—to

  act this last scene of my tragedy. I’ll send him, for my

  trespass, a reverend head: somewhat bald, for it is not

  requisite any head should stand covered to so high

  majesty. If that content him not, because I think my

  body will then do me small pleasure, let him but bury it

  and take it.

  SURREY

  My lord, my lord, hold conference with your soul.

  You see, my lord, the time of life is short.

  MORE I see it, my good lord. I dispatched that business the last night. I come hither only to be let blood by the hangman. My doctor here tells me it is good for the headache.

  HANGMAN I beseech ye, my lord, forgive me.

  MORE Forgive thee, honest fellow? Why?

  HANGMAN For your death, my lord.

  MORE O, my death! I had rather it were in thy power to forgive me, for thou hast the sharpest action against me. The law, my honest friend, lies in thy hands now. Here’s thy fee.

  [He gives him] his purse

  And, my good fellow, let my suit be dispatched presently;

  for ‘tis all one pain to die a lingering death and to live

  in the continual mill of a lawsuit. But I can tell thee,

  my neck is so short that if thou shouldst behead an

  hundred noblemen like myself, thou wouldst ne’er get

  credit by it. Therefore—look ye, sir—do it handsomely,

  or, of my word, thou shalt never deal with me

  hereafter.

  HANGMAN I’ll take an order for that, my lord.

  MORE One thing more: take heed thou cutt’st not off my beard. O, I forgot, execution passed upon that last night, and the body of it lies buried in the Tower. Stay, is’t not possible to make a scape from all this strong guard? It is.

  There is a thing within me that will raise

  And elevate my better part ’bove sight

  Of these same weaker eyes. And Master Sheriffs,

  For all this troop of steel that tends my death,

  I shall break from you and fly up to heaven.

  Let’s seek the means for this.

  HANGMAN My lord, I pray ye put off your doublet. 115

  MORE

  Speak not so coldly to me; I am hoarse already.

  I would be loath, good fellow, to take more.

  Point me the block; I ne’er was here before.

  HANGMAN

  To the east side, my lord.

  MORE Then to the east.

  We go to sigh; that o’er, to sleep in rest.

  Here More forsakes all mirth; good reason why:

  The fool of flesh must with her frail life die.

  No eye salute my trunk with a sad tear.

  Our birth to heaven should be thus: void of fear.

  Exit

  SURREY

  A very learnèd worthy gentleman

  Seals error with his blood. Come, we’ll to court.

  Let’s sadly hence to perfect unknown fates,

  Whilst he tends progress to the state of states. [Exeunt]

  [Original Text (Munday)]

  APPENDIX A

  The following passages in the Original Text are marked for deletion and replaced by the Additional Passages.

  AI. Replaced by 4.1-76. In the Original Text there are missing
leaves between AI and A2.

  DOLL

  Peace there, I say! Hear Captain Lincoln speak.

  Keep silence till we know his mind at large.

  ALL THE REST

  Agreed, agreed. Speak then, brave Captain Lincoln.

  LINCOLN

  Come, gallant bloods, you whose free souls do scorn

  To bear th’enforcèd wrongs of aliens.

  Add rage to resolution. Fire the houses

  Of these audacious strangers. This is St Martin’s,

  And yonder dwells Meautis, a wealthy Piccard,

  At the Green Gate;

  De Barde, Peter van Hollak, Adrian Martin,

  With many more outlandish fugitives.

  Shall these enjoy more privilege than we

  In our own country? Let’s then become their slaves.

  Since justice keeps not them in greater awe,

  We’ll be ourselves rough ministers at law.

  ALL THE REST Fire the houses, fire the houses!

  DOLL Ay, for we may as well make bonfires on May Day as at Midsummer. We’ll alter the day in the calendar, and set it down in flaming letters.

  SHERWIN

  Stay, that would much endanger the whole city,

  Whereto I would not the least prejudice.

  DOLL No, nor I neither: so may mine own house be burned for company. I’ll tell ye what: we’ll drag the strangers out into Moorfields, and there bumbaste them till they stink again.

  GEORGE BETTS

  Let some of us enter the strangers’ houses,

  And, if we find them there, then bring them forth.

  Exeunt some, and Sherwin

  DOLL If ye bring them forth before ye find them, I’ll never allow of that.

  WILLIAMSON

  Now, lads, how shall we labour in our safety?

  I hear the Mayor hath gathered men in arms,

  And that Sheriff More an hour ago received

  Some of the Privy Council in at Ludgate.

  Force now must make our peace, or else we fall.

  ’will soon be known we are the principal.

  DOLL And what of that? If thou beest afraid, husband, go home again and hide thy head, for, by the Lord, I’ll have a little sport now I am at it.

  GEORGE BETTS

  Let’s stand upon our guard, and if they come

  Receive them as they were our enemies.

  Enter Sherwin and the rest

  LINCOLN

  How now, have ye found any?

  SHERWIN

  Not one, they’re fled.

  LINCOLN

  Then fire the houses, that, the Mayor being busy

  About the quenching of them, we may scape.

  Burn down their kennels! Let us straight away,