Cannot stand under them. If you omit
The offer of this time, I cannot promise
But that you shall sustain more new disgraces
With these you bear already.
SURREY
I am joyful
To meet the least occasion that may give me
Remembrance of my father-in-law the Duke,
To be revenged on him.
SUFFOLK
Which of the peers
Have uncontemned gone by him, or at least
Strangely neglected? When did he regard
The stamp of nobleness in any person
Out of himself?
LORD CHAMBERLAIN My lords, you speak your pleasures.
What he deserves of you and me I know;
What we can do to him—though now the time
Gives way to us—I much fear. If you cannot
Bar his access to th’ King, never attempt
Anything on him, for he hath a witchcraft
Over the King in’s tongue.
NORFOLK
O, fear him not.
His spell in that is out. The King hath found
Matter against him that for ever mars
The honey of his language. No, he’s settled,
Not to come off, in his displeasure.
SURREY
Sir,
I should be glad to hear such news as this
Once every hour.
NORFOLK Believe it, this is true.
In the divorce his contrary proceedings
Are all unfolded, wherein he appears
As I would wish mine enemy.
SURREY
How came
His practices to light?
SUFFOLK Most strangely.
SURREY
O, how, how?
SUFFOLK
The Cardinal’s letters to the Pope miscarried,
And came to th’eye o’th’ King, wherein was read
How that the Cardinal did entreat his holiness
To stay the judgement o‘th’ divorce, for if
It did take place, ‘I do’, quoth he, ‘perceive
My king is tangled in affection to
A creature of the Queen’s, Lady Anne Boleyn’.
SURREY
Has the King this?
SUFFOLK
Believe it.
SURREY
Will this work?
LORD CHAMBERLAIN
The King in this perceives him how he coasts
And hedges his own way. But in this point
All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
After his patient’s death. The King already
Hath married the fair lady.
SURREY
Would he had.
SUFFOLK
May you be happy in your wish, my lord,
For I profess you have it.
SURREY Now all my joy
Trace the conjunction.
SUFFOLK
My amen to’t.
NORFOLK
All men’s.
SUFFOLK
There’s order given for her coronation.
Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left
To some ears unrecounted. But, my lords,
She is a gallant creature, and complete
In mind and feature. I persuade me, from her
Will fall some blessing to this land which shall
In it be memorized.
SURREY
But will the King
Digest this letter of the Cardinal’s?
The Lord forbid!
NORFOLK
Marry, amen.
SUFFOLK
No, no—
There be more wasps that buzz about his nose
Will make this sting the sooner. Cardinal Campeius
Is stol’n away to Rome; hath ta’en no leave;
Has left the cause o’th’ King unhandled, and
Is posted as the agent of our Cardinal
To second all his plot. I do assure you
The King cried ‘Ha!’ at this.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN
Now God incense him,
And let him cry ‘Ha!’ louder.
NORFOLK
But, my lord,
When returns Cranmer?
SUFFOLK
He is returned in his opinions, which
Have satisfied the King for his divorce,
Together with all famous colleges,
Almost, in Christendom. Shortly, I believe,
His second marriage shall be published, and
Her coronation. Katherine no more
Shall be called ‘Queen’, but ‘Princess Dowager’,
And ‘widow to Prince Arthur’.
NORFOLK
This same Cranmer’s
A worthy fellow, and hath ta’en much pain
In the King’s business.
SUFFOLK
He has, and we shall see him
For it an archbishop.
NORFOLK
So I hear.
SUFFOLK
’Tis so.
Enter Cardinal Wolsey and Cromwell
The Cardinal.
NORFOLK
Observe, observe—he’s moody.
They stand apart and observe Wolsey and Cromwell
CARDINAL WOLSEY (to Cromwell)
The packet, Cromwell—gave’t you the King?
CROMWELI,
To his own hand, in’s bedchamber.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Looked he
O’th’ inside of the paper?
CROMWELL,
Presently
He did unseal them, and the first he viewed
He did it with a serious mind; a heed
Was in his countenance. You he bade
Attend him here this morning.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Is he ready
To come abroad?
CROMWELL I think by this he is.
CARDINAL WOLSEY Leave me a while.
Exit Cromwell
(Aside) It shall be to the Duchess of Alençon,
The French King’s sister—he shall marry her.
Anne Boleyn? No, I’ll no Anne Boleyns for him.
There’s more in’t than fair visage. Boleyn?
No, we’ll no Boleyns. Speedily I wish
To hear from Rome. The Marchioness of Pembroke?
The nobles speak among themselves
NORFOLK
He’s discontented.
SUFFOLK
Maybe he hears the King
Does whet his anger to him.
SURREY
Sharp enough,
Lord, for thy justice.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (aside)
The late Queen’s gentlewoman? A knight’s daughter
To be her mistress’ mistress? The Queen’s queen?
This candle burns not clear; ‘tis I must snuff it,
Then out it goes. What though I know her virtuous
And well deserving? Yet I know her for
A spleeny Lutheran, and not wholesome to
Our cause, that she should lie i’th’ bosom of
Our hard-ruled King. Again, there is sprung up
An heretic, an arch-one, Cranmer, one
Hath crawled into the favour of the King
And is his oracle.
The nobles speak among themselves
NORFOLK
He is vexed at something.
Enter King Henry reading a schedule, and Lovell with him
SURREY
I would ’twere something that would fret the string,
The master-cord on’s heart!
SUFFOLK
The King, the King!
KING HENRY ⌈aside⌉
What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
To his own portion? And what expense by th’ hour
Seems to flow from him? How i’th’ name of thrift
Does he rake this together? (To the nobles) N
ow, my lords,
Saw you the Cardinal?
NORFOLK
My lord, we have
Stood here observing him. Some strange commotion
Is in his brain. He bites his lip, and starts,
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then lays his finger on his temple, straight
Springs out into fast gait, then stops again,
Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts
His eye against the moon. In most strange postures
We have seen him set himself.
KING HENRY
It may well be
There is a mutiny in’s mind. This morning
Papers of state he sent me to peruse
As I required, and wot you what I found
There, on my conscience put unwittingly?
Forsooth, an inventory thus importing
The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
Rich stuffs, and ornaments of household which
I find at such proud rate that it outspeaks
Possession of a subject.
NORFOLK
It’s heaven’s will.
Some spirit put this paper in the packet
To bless your eye withal.
KING HENRY If we did think
His contemplation were above the earth
And fixed on spiritual object, he should still
Dwell in his musings. But I am afraid
His thinkings are below the moon, not worth
His serious considering.
The King takes his seat and whispers with Lovell, who then goes to the Cardinal
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Heaven forgive me!
⌈To the King⌉ Ever God bless your highness!
KING HENRY
Good my lord,
You are full of heavenly stuff, and bear the inventory
Of your best graces in your mind, the which
You were now running o’er. You have scarce time
To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span
To keep your earthly audit. Sure, in that,
I deem you an ill husband, and am glad
To have you therein my companion.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Sir,
For holy offices I have a time; a time
To think upon the part of business which
I bear i’th’ state; and nature does require
Her times of preservation which, perforce,
I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,
Must give my tendance to.
KING HENRY
You have said well.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
And ever may your highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well
With my well-saying.
KING HENRY
’Tis well said again,
And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well—
And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you.
He said he did, and with his deed did crown
His word upon you. Since I had my office,
I have kept you next my heart, have not alone
Employed you where high profits might come home,
But pared my present havings to bestow
My bounties upon you.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (aside) What should this mean?
SURREY ⌈aside⌉
The Lord increase this business!
KING HENRY
Have I not made you
The prime man of the state? I pray you tell me
If what I now pronounce you have found true,
And, if you may confess it, say withal
If you are bound to us or no. What say you?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
My sovereign, I confess your royal graces
Showered on me daily have been more than could
My studied purposes requite, which went
Beyond all man’s endeavours. My endeavours
Have ever come too short of my desires,
Yet filed with my abilities. Mine own ends
Have been mine so that evermore they pointed
To th’ good of your most sacred person and
The profit of the state. For your great graces
Heaped upon me, poor undeserver, I
Can nothing render but allegiant thanks,
My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty,
Which ever has and ever shall be growing,
Till death, that winter, kill it.
KING HENRY
Fairly answered.
A loyal and obedient subject is
Therein illustrated. The honour of it
Does pay the act of it, as, i‘th’ contrary,
The foulness is the punishment. I presume
That as my hand has opened bounty to you,
My heart dropped love, my power rained honour, more
On you than any, so your hand and heart,
Your brain, and every function of your power,
Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,
As ’twere in love’s particular, be more
To me, your friend, than any.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
I do profess
That for your highness’ good I ever laboured
More than mine own; that am, have, and will be—
Though all the world should crack their duty to you,
And throw it from their soul, though perils did
Abound, as thick as thought could make ’em, and
Appear in forms more horrid—yet, my duty,
As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
Should the approach of this wild river break,
And stand unshaken yours.
KING HENRY
’Tis nobly spoken.
Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,
For you have seen him open’t. (To Wolsey) Read o’er this,He gives him a paper
And after this (giving him another paper), and then to
breakfast with
What appetite you have.
Exit King Henry, frowning upon the
Cardinal. The nobles throng after
the King, smiling and whispering
CARDINAL WOLSEY What should this mean?
What sudden anger’s this? How have I reaped it?
He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
Leaped from his eyes. So looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has galled him,
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper—
I fear, the story of his anger.
He reads one of the papers
’Tis so.
This paper has undone me. ’Tis th‘account
Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
For mine own ends—indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence,
Fit for a fool to fall by! What cross devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet
I sent the King? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know ’twill stir him strongly. Yet I know
A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune
Will bring me off again. What’s this?
He reads the other paper
‘To th’ Pope’?
The letter, as I live, with all the business
I writ to’s holiness. Nay then, farewell.
I have touched the highest point of all my greatness,
And from that full meridian of my glory
I haste now to my setting. I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.
Enter to Cardinal Wolsey the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Earl of Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain
NORFOLK
Hear the King’s pleasure, Cardinal, who commands you
To render up the great seal
presently
Into our hands, and to confine yourself
To Ashen House, my lord of Winchester’s,
Till you hear further from his highness.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Stay—
Where’s your commission, lords? Words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.
SUFFOLK
Who dare cross ’em
Bearing the King’s will from his mouth expressly?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Till I find more than will or words to do it—
I mean your malice—know, officious lords,
I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded—envy.
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces
As if it fed ye, and how sleek and wanton
Ye appear in everything may bring my ruin!
Follow your envious courses, men of malice.
You have Christian warrant for ’em, and no doubt
In time will find their fit rewards. That seal
You ask with such a violence, the King,
Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me,
Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
Tied it by letters patents. Now, who’ll take it?
SURREY
The King that gave it.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
It must be himself then.
SURREY
Thou art a proud traitor, priest.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Proud lord, thou liest.
Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue than said so.
SURREY
Thy ambition,
Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land
Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law.
The heads of all thy brother cardinals
With thee and all thy best parts bound together
Weighed not a hair of his. Plague of your policy,
You sent me deputy for Ireland,
Far from his succour, from the King, from all
That might have mercy on the fault thou gav’st him;
Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity,
Absolved him with an axe.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
This, and all else
This talking lord can lay upon my credit,
I answer is most false. The Duke by law
Found his deserts. How innocent I was
From any private malice in his end,
His noble jury and foul cause can witness.
If I loved many words, lord, I should tell you
You have as little honesty as honour,
That in the way of loyalty and truth
Toward the King, my ever royal master,
Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Page 406
