Nor.

'Like it your grace,

The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
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, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill 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.

Here, so please you.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

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 nobie's blood.

Nor.

What, are you

chaf'd?

* Wolsey was the son of a butcher.

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 objeet: at this instant

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 'tis 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.

Buck.

Sir,

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), 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.

*Stabs.

Nor.

Say not, treasonous. 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,

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 'tis 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 'twas, 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 ;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,

• Excites.

(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 in't.

Buck.

No, not a syllable;

I do pronounce him in that very shape,
He shall appear in proof.

Enter Brandon; a Serjeant at Arms before him, and two or three of the guards.

Bran. Your office, serjeant; execute it.
Serj.
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.

Sir,

Lo you, my lord,

The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice*.

Bran.

I am sorry

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

The business present: 'Tis 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.

king

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

Aber.

As the duke said,

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

*Unfair stratagem.

Bran.

Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court,
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,-

Buck.

So, so;

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

Buck.

Bran.

O, Nicholas Hopkins?

He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great car

dinal

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'uing my clear sun.-My lord, farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The council-chamber.

Cornets. Enter King Henry, Cardinal Wolsey, the Lords of the Council, Sir Thomas Lovell, Officers, and Assistants. 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.

Measured.