I thought ye;

Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues :
But cardinal sins and hollow hearts, I fear ye.
Mend them for shame, my lords. Is this your
comfort?

The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady?
A woman lost among ye, laughed at, scorned?
I will not wish ye half my miseries;

I have more charity. But say I warned ye.
Take heed; for heaven's sake, take heed, lest at once
The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.

Wol. Madam, this is a mere distraction: You turn the good we offer into envy.

Q. Kath. Ye turn me into nothing. Woe upon ye,

And all such false professors! Would ye have me (If you have any justice, any pity,

Ye have angels' faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living.—
Alas! poor wenches, where are now your for-
tunes?
[To her Women.
Shipwrecked upon a kingdom, where no pity,
No friends, no hope; no kindred weep for me;
Almost no grave allowed me. Like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I'll hang my head and perish.
If your grace

Wol.

Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
You'd feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? alas! our places,
The way of our profession, is against it:
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them.
For goodness' sake consider what you do;
How you may hurt yourself, ay utterly
Grow from the King's acquaintance, by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits
They swell and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle, noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm: pray think us
Those we profess, peacemakers, friends, and
servants,

Cam. Madam, you'll find it so.

your virtues

You wrong

To trust us in your business, we are ready
To use our utmost studies in your service.

Q. Kath. Do what ye will, my lords. And
pray forgive me

If I have used myself unmannerly:
You know I am a woman, lacking wit
To make a seemly answer to such persons.
Pray do my service to his majesty :
He has my heart yet; and shall have my prayers
While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
Bestow your counsels on me: she now begs
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Antechamber to the KING'S
Apartment.

Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, the DUKE OF
SUFFOLK, the EARL OF SURREY, and the LORD
CHAMBERLAIN.

Nor. If you will now unite in your complaints, And force them with a constancy, the cardinal

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' the 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.

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.

K. Hen. It may well be;
There is a mutiny in his 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.

For holy offices I have a time; a time
To think upon the part of business which
I bear i' the state; and nature does require
Her times of preservation, which perforce
I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,
Must give my tendance to.

K. Hen.
You have said well.
Wol. And ever may your highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well
With my well-saying!

K. Hen. "Tis well said again; And 't is 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.

Wol.

K. Hen.

What should this mean? [Aside. Sur. The Lord increase this business! 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?

Wol. My sovereign, I confess your royal graces, Showered on me daily, have been more than could My studied purposes requite; which went Beyond all men'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 the good of most sacred your The profit of the state. For your great graces Heaped upon me, poor undeserver, I

person,

and

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 them, 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.

K. Hen. 'Tis nobly spoken.
Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,
For

you have seen him open 't.-Read o'er this; [Giving him papers. And after, this: and then to breakfast with What appetite you have.

[Exit KING, frowning upon CARDINAL WOLSEY: the Nobles throng after him, smiling and whispering.

Wol. 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.-'T is so : This paper has undone me. 'Tis the 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 't will stir him strongly: yet I know way, if it take right, in spite of fortune

A

Will bring me off again. What's this "To the
Pope!"

The letter, as I live, with all the business
I writ to his holiness! Nay then, farewell:

Bearing the King's will from his mouth expressly?

Wol. 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 them, 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?
Sur. The King, that gave it.

Wol.

It must be himself, then.
Sur. Thou art a proud traitor, priest.
Wol.
Proud lord, thou liest:
Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue than said so."
Thy ambition,

Sur.
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.

Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one;
Into your own hands, cardinal, by extortion:
The goodness of your intercepted packets

You writ to the pope, against the King: your goodness,

Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.—
My lord of Norfolk, as you are truly noble,
As you respect the common good, the state
Of our despised nobility, our issues,
Who if he live will scarce be gentlemen,
Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles
Collected from his life.-I'll startle you
Worse than the sacring bell, when the brown wench
Lay kissing in your arms, lord cardinal.

Wol. How much, methinks, I could despise

Nor. Then that, in all you writ to Rome, or else To foreign princes, "Ego et Rex meus" Was still inscribed: in which you brought the King To be your servant.

Suf. Then that, without the knowledge Either of King or council, when you went Ambassador to the emperor, you made bold To carry into Flanders the great seal.

Sur. Item, you sent a large commission To Gregory de Cassalis, to conclude, Without the King's will or the state's allowance, A league between his highness and Ferrara.

Suf. That, out of mere ambition, you have caused Your holy hat to be stamped on the King's coin.

Sur.Then that you have sent innumerable substance (By what means got I leave to your own conscience) To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways You have for dignities; to the mere undoing Of all the kingdom. Many more there are; Which, since they are of you and odious, I will not taint my mouth with. Cham. O my lord!

Suf. Lord cardinal, the King's further pleasure is, Because all those things you have done of late By your power legatine, within this kingdom, Fall into the compass of a præmunire,— That therefore such a writ be sued against you; To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements, Chattels and whatsoever, and to be Out of the King's protection. This is my charge.

Nor. And so we'll leave you to your meditations How to live better. For your stubborn answer About the giving back the great seal to us, The King shall know it, and no doubt shall thank you. So fare you well, my little-good lord cardinal. [Exeunt all but WOLSEY.

Wol. So farewell to the little good you bear me.— Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root; And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory; But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride At length broke under me; and now has left me, Weary and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream that must for ever hide me. Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye: