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Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together to consider further, that

What his high hatred would effect wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he 's revengeful; and I know his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it 's long, and 't may be said,
It reaches far; and where 't will not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,

You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock That I advise your shunning.

Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, (the purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and Two Secretaries with papers. The CARDINAL in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where 's his examination?

1 Secr.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.

Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buck

ingham

Shall lessen this big look.

[Exeunt WOLSEY and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book Out-worths a noble's blood.

Nor.

What, are you chaf'd? Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only Which your disease requires.

Buck.
I read in his looks
Matter against me; and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this instant

a

He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king;
I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor.
Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 't is you go about: To climb steep hills
Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself

As you would to your friend.

Buck.
I'll to the king:
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.

Be advis'd.
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not
The fire that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul

More stronger to direct you than yourself;

If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

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I am thankful to you: and I'll go along
By your prescription :-but this top-proud fellow,
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions,b) by intelligence,
And proofs as clear as founts in July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know

To be corrupt and treasonous.

Nor.

Say not treasonous.

a Bores-wounds-thrusts. So in the Winter's Tale :" "Now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast."

b Motions-impulses.

Buck. To the king I 'll say 't; and make my vouch as strong

As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it: his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,

a

That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i' the rinsing."

Nor.

'Faith, and so it did.

Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning

cardinal

The articles o' the combination drew

As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end,

As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-cardinal
Has done this, and 't is well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor,
Under pretence to see the queen his aunt,
(For 't was, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation:
His fears were, that the interview betwixt
England and France might, through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peep'd harms that menac'd him: He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,-
Which I do well; for I am sure the emperor
Paid ere he promis'd; whereby his suit was granted
Ere it was ask'd;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd,

a Suggests-excites.

b Rinsing-in the original wrenching.

That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,
(As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.

Nor.

I am sorry

To hear this of him; and could wish he were
Something mistaken a in 't.

Buck.

No, not a syllable;

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.

Bran. Your office, sergeant; execute it.

Serg.
Sir,
My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.

Buck.

The net has fallen upon me;
Under device and practice.b

Bran.

Lo you, my lord,
I shall perish

I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on

The business present: 'T is his highness' pleasure,
You shall to the Tower.

Buck.

It will help me nothing

To plead mine innocence; for that die is on me, Which makes my whitest part black. The will of heaven

Be done in this and all things!-I obey.

O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.

a Mistaken-misapprehended.

b Practice-artifice. So in 'Othello :'

"Fallen in the practice of a curs'd slave."

Bran. Nay, he must bear you company :-The king [To ABERGAVENNY. Is pleas'd you shall to the Tower, till you know How he determines further.

As the duke said,

Aber.
The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
By me obey'd.

Bran.

Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,

One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,—

Buck.

So, so;

These are the limbs of the plot: no more, I hope.
Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.

Buck.

Bran.

O, Michael Hopkins?

He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already : I am the shadow of poor Buckingham; Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear sun.-My lords, farewell. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Council-Chamber.

Cornets. Enter KING HENRY, CARDINAL WOLSEY, the Lords of the Council, SIR THOMAS LOVELL, Officers, and Attendants. The KING enters, leaning on the CARDINAL's shoulder.

K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart of it,
Thanks you for this great care: I stood i' the level
Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us
That gentleman of Buckingham's: in person
I'll hear him his confessions justify;
And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.

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