A spleeny Lutheran; and not wholesome to
Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
Our hard-rul'd king. Again, there is sprang up
An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer; one
Hath crawl'd into the favour of the king,
And is his oracle.

Nw.

He is vex'd at something.

K. Hen.

'Tis well said again;

the string,

The master-cord of his heart!

Enter the King, reading a Schedule;' and LovELL.
Suf.
The king, the king.
K. Hen. What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
To his own portion! an I what expense by the hour
Sem to flow from him! How, i' the name of thrif,
Does he rake this together -Now, my lords;
Say you the cardinal?
Nor.

My lord, we have

Stood here observing him: Some strange commotion
Is in his brain: he bices 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,2
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eve 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 requir'd: And, wot you what I found
There; on my conscience, put un vittingly?
Forsooth, an inventory, thus importing,—
The several parcels of his place, his treasure,
Rich stuffs, and ornaments of household; which
I find at such proud rate, that it outspeaks
Possession of a subject.

Nr.

It's heaven's will; Sme spirit put this paper in the packet, To bless your eye withal.

K. Hen.

If we did think

His word upon you. Since I had my office,
I have kept you next my heart; have not alone
Employ'd you where high profi's might come home,
But par'd my present havings, to bestow
My bounties upon you.
TVol.
What should this mean?
Sur. The Lord increase this business! [Aside.
K. Hen.
The prime man of the sta'e? I pray you, tell me,
Have I not made you
If what I gow pronounce, you have found true :
And, if you may confess it, say withal,
If you are boun i to us or no. What say you?

Wol. My sovereign, I confess, your royal graces,
Shower'd on me daily, have been more than could
My studied purposes requite; which went
Beyond all man's endeavours ;-my endeavours
Have over come too short of my desires,
Yet, fil'd with my abilities: Mine own ends
Have been mine so, that evermore they pointed
To the good of your most sacred person, and
The profit of the state. For your great graces
Heap'd 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.

K. Hen.

Fairly answer'd; A loyal and obedient subject is Therein illustrated: The honour of it Does pay the act of it: as, i' the contrary, The foulness is the punishment. I presume, That, as my hand has open'd bounty to you, My heart dropp'd love, my power rain'd honour,

more

On you, than any; so your hand and heart,
Your brain, an I 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."

Wol.
I do profess,
That for your highness' good I ever labour'd
More than mine own; that am, have, and will be."
Though all the world should crack their duty to you,
Abound, as thick as thought could make them, and
And throw it from their soul; though perils did
As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
Appear in forms more horrid; vet my duty,
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.

the way of gratitude. My endeavours have ever come too short of my desires, though they have fil'd, i. e equalled or kept pace with my abilities.

6 Steevens says, as Jonson is supposed to have made some alterations in this play, it may not be amiss to subject in The New Inn :compare the passage before us with another on the same

'He gave me my first breeding, I acknowledge;
Then shower'd his bounties on me like the hours
That open-handed sit upon the clouds,
And press the liberality of heaven
Down to the laps of thankful men.'

7 Beside your bond of duty as a loyal and obedient servant, you owe a particular devotion to me as your especial benefactor.

8 This is expressed with great obscurity; but seems to mean, that or such a man I am, have been, and will ever be.'

9 'Ille velut pelagi rupes remota, resistit.' Æn. vii. 596.

The chiding flood is the resounding flood. To chide, to babble, and to brawl, were synonymous.

And, after, this: and then to breakfast, with
What appetite you have.

[Exit King, frowning upon CARDINAL WOL-
SEY: the Nobles throng after him, smiling,
and whispering.
Wol.
What should this mean?
What sudden anger's this? how have I reap'd it?
He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
Leap'd from his eyes. So looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him;
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper;
I fear, the story of his anger. 'Tis 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, '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? To the Pope?
The letter, as I live, with all the business
I writ to his holiness. Nay then, farewell!

I have touch'd 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.

Re-enter the DUKES of NORFOLK2 and SUFFOLK, the EARL of SURREY, and the Lord Chamberlain. Nor, Hear the king's pleasure, cardinal: who commands you

To render up the great seal presently
Into our hands; and to confine yourself

To Asher-house, my lord of Winchester's,
Till you hear further from his highness.
Wol.

Stay,

Where's your commission, lords? words cannot
carry
Authority so weighty.
Suf.

Who dare cross them?
Bearing the king's will from his mouth expressly ?
Wol. Till I find more than will, or words to do it,4
(I mean your malice,) know, officious lords,
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 every thing 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.

1 Thus in Marlowe's King Edward II :'Base fortune, now I see that in thy wheel There is a point to which when men aspire, They tumble headlong down. That point I touch'd; And seeing there was no place to mount up higher, Why should I grieve at my declining fall?

2 The time of this play is from 1521, just before the duke of Buckingham's commitment, to 1533, when Elizabeth was born and christened. The duke of Norfolk, therefore, who is introduced in the first scene of the first act, or in 1522, is not the same person who here, or in 1529, demands the great seal from Wolsey; for the former died in 1525. Having thus made two persons into one, so the poet has on the contrary made one person into two. The earl of Surrey here is the same who married the duke of Buckingham's daughter, as he himself tells us but Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, who married the duke of Buckingham's daughter, was at this time the individual above mentioned, duke of Norfolk. Cavendish, and the chroniclers who copied from him, mention only the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk being Bent to demand the great seal. The reason for adding a third and fourth person is not very apparent.

3 Asher was the ancient name of Esher, in Surrey. Shakspeare forgot that Wolsey was himself Bishop of

Wol. It must be himself then.
Sur. Thou art a proud traitor, priest.
Wol.

Thy ambition,

Proud lord, thou liest;
Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue, than said so.
Sur.
Thou scarlet sin, robb'd 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)
Weigh'd 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,
Absolv'd him with an axe.

Wol.

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 lov'd many words, lord, I should tell you, You have as little honesty as honour; That I, in the way of loyalty and truth Toward the king, my ever royal master, Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be, And all that love his follies. Sur.

By my soul,

ness,

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 this man,

But that I am bound in charity against it!
Nor. Those articles, my lord, are in the king's
hand:

But, thus much, they are foul ones.
Wol.

So much fairer,

Winchester, having succeeded Bi-hop Fox in 1528, holding the see in commendam. Esher was one of the episcopal palaces belonging to that see.

4 That is, Till I find more than (your malicious) will and words to do it, I dare and must deny it.' 5 i. e. equal.

6 i. e. overcrowed, overmastered. The force of this term may be best understood from a proverb given by Cotgrave, in v. Rosse, a jade. Il n'est si bon cheva' qui n'en deviendroit rosse: It would anger a saint, or crestfall the best man living, to be so used.'

7 A cardinal's hat is scarlet, and the method of daring larks is by small mirrors on scarlet cloth, which engages the attention of the birds while the fowler draws his net over them.

8 The little bell which is rung to give notice of the elevation of the Host, and other offices of the Romist church, is called the sacring or consecration bell.

9 The amorous propensities of Cardinal Wolsey are much dwelt upon in Roy's Satire against him, printed in the Supplement to Mr. Park's edition of the Harleian Miscellany. But it was a common topic of invective against the clergy; all came under the censure, and many no doubt richly deserved it.

Going to chapel; and the voice is now Only about her coronation.

Crom.

O, my lord,

Must I then leave you? Must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.-
The king shall have my service; but my prayers
For ever, and for ever, shall be yours.

Wol. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me Out of thy honest truth to play the woman. Let's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me, Cromwell;

And,--when I am forgotten, as I shall be;
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-say, I taught thee;
Say, Wolsey,that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,-
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in ;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition;3
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win hy't?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate
thee;

Corruption wins not more than honesty ;4
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim'st at, be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O

Cromwell,

Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king: And, Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,"

To the last penny: 'tis the king's my robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own.

well,

O Cromwell, Crom

Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal

The number of persons who composed Cardinal Wolsey's household, according to the authentic copy of Cavendish, was five hundred. Cavendish's work, though written soon after the death of Wolsey, was not printed till 1641, and then in a most unfaithful and garbled manner, the object of the publication having been to render Land odious, by showing how far church power had been extended by Wolsey, and how dangerous that prelate was, who, in the opinion of many, followed his example. In that spurious copy we read that the number of the household was eight hundred persons. In other MSS. and in Dr. Wordsworth's edition, we find it state! at one hundred and eighty persons. 2 ie. interest.

customs,

I should have been beholden to your paper.
But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? how goes her business?

Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
1 Gent. That I can tell you too. The archbishop
Held a late court at Dunstable, six miles off
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She oft was cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learned men she was divorc'd,
And the late marriages made of none effect:

6 This was actually said by the cardinal when on his death-bed, in a conversation with Sir William Kingston ; the whole of which is very interesting-Well, well, Master Kingston.' queth he, I see the matter against me how it is framed, but if I had served my God as

ligently as I have served my king, he would not hare giren me over in my grey hairs. Howbeit this is the just reward that I must receive for my worldly diligence and pains that I have had to do him service; only to sa tisfy his vain pleasure, not regarding my godly duty.'

When Samrah. deputy governor of Bassorah, was deposed by Moawryah, the sixth caliph, he is reported to have expressed himself in the same manner:- If I had served God so well as I served him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity. A similar sentiment al o occurs in The Earle of Murton's Tragedie, by Churchyard. 153. Antonio Perez, the disgraced fa

4 Wolsey speaks here not as a statesman but as a Christian. Nothing makes the hour of disgrace more irksome than the reflection that we have been deaf to offers of reconciliation, and perpetuated that eamity which we might have converted into friendship.

pointed out a remarkable passage in Pittscottie's History of Scotland. p. 261, edit. 1789 in which there is a great resemblance to these pathetic words of the cardial. James V. imagined that Sir James Hamilton adfressed him thus in a dream :- Though I was a sinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant to the Lord my God as I was to thee, I had not die that death."

7 Malone's explanation of this passage is entirely er

ay, princely a positions. To avaunt himself royally: Magnifice se efferre.'--Baret.

8 i. e. the marriage lately considered as valid

1 Gent. How was it?

3. Choristers singing. [Music. 4. Mayor of London, bearing the mace. Then Garter, in his coat-of-arms,' and on his head a gilt copper crown. 5. Marquis Dorset, bearing a sceptre of gold, on his head a demi-coronal of gold. With him the Earl of Surrey, bearing the rod of silver with the dove, crowned with an earl's coronet. Collars of SS.

6. Duke of Suffolk, in his robe of estate, his coronet on his head, bearing a long white wand, as high-steward. With him, the Duke of Norfol, with the rod of marshalship, a coronet on his head. Collars of SS.

7. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports; under it, the Queen in her robe; her hair richly adorned with pearl, crowned. On each side of her, the Bishops of London and Win

chester.

8. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen's

train.

9. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain circlets of gold without flowers.

2 Gent. A royal train, believe me.-These 1

know ;

Who's that, that bears the sceptre? 1 Gent. Marquis Dorset : And that the earl of Surrey with the rod. 2 Gent. A bold brave gentleman: and that should

be

The duke of Suffolk.

1 Gent.

2 Gent.

1 Gent. 'Tis the same; high steward. 2 Gent. And that my lord of Norfolk? Yes. Heaven bless thee! [Looking on the Queen. Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd on.Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel; Our king has all the Indies in his arms, And more and richer, when he strains that lady; I cannot blame his conscience.

1 Gent.

They, that bear The cloth of honour over her, are four barons Of the Cinque-ports.

2 Gent. Those men are happy; and so are all are near her.

I take it, she that carries up the train,

Is that old noble lady, duchess of Norfolk.

1 Gent. It is; and all the rest are countesses.

2 Gent. Their coronets say so. These are stars,

indeed; And, sometimes, falling ones. 1 Gent. No more of that. [Exit Procession, with a great flourish of Trumpets. Enter a third Gentleman.

God save you, sir! Where have you been broiling? 2 Gent. Among the crowd i' the abbey; where a finger

Could not be wedg'd in more; I am stifled
With the mere rankness of their joy.

You saw

3 Gent. Well worth the seeing.

2 Gent.

Good sir, speak it to us.

3 Gent. As well as I am able. The rich stream3 Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen To a prepar'd place in the choir, fell off

A distance from her; while her grace sat down
To rest awhile, some half an hour, or so,
The beauty of her person to the people.
In a rich chair of state, opposing freely
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man: which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud, and to as many tunes: hats, cloaks,
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
(Doublets, I think,) flew up; and had their faces
never saw before. Great bellied women,
That had not half a week to go, like rams4
In the old time of war, would shake the press,
And make them reel before them. No man
Could say, This is my wife, there; all were woven
So strangely in one piece.

3 Gent. At length her grace rose, and with modest paces Came to the altar; where she kneel'd, and, saint like, Cast her fair eyes to heaven, and pray'd devoutly Then rose again, and bow'd her to the people: When by the archbishop of Canterbury She had all the royal makings of a queen; As holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown, The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems, Laid nobly on her: which perform'd, the choir, With all the choicest music of the kingdom, Together sung Te Deum. So she parted, And with the same full state pac'd back again To York Place, where the feast is held. 1 Gent. Sir, you Must no more call it York Place, that is past: For, since the cardinal fell, that title's lost; 'Tis now the king's, and call'd-Whitehall, 3 Gent.

Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him
2 Gent. Who may that be, I pray you?
3 Gent.
Thomas Cromwell;
A man in much esteem with the king, and truly
A worthy friend.-The king
Has made him master o' the jewel-house,
And one, already, of the privy council.
2 Gent. He will deserve more.
S Gent.
Yes, without all doubt
Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way, which
Is to the court, and there ye shall be my guests;
Something I can command. As I walk thither
I'll tell ye more.

Both. You may command
SCENE II.S Kimbolton.

Grif. How does your grace? Kath.

3

O, Griffith, sick to death.

4 i. e. battering rams.

5 This scene is above any other part of Shakspeare's