Free pardon to each man that has denied
The force of this commission; Pray look to't;
I put it to your care.
Wol.

A word with you.

[To the Secretary.

Let there be letters writ to every shire,

Of the king's grace and pardon. The griev❜d

commons

Hardly conceive of me; let it be nois'd,

That, through our intercession, this revokement And pardon comes: I shall anon advise you Further in the proceeding. [Exit Secretary. Enter Surveyor.

Q. Kath. I am sorry, that the duke of Buckingham

Is run in your displeasure.

K. Hen.

It grieves many : The gentleman is learn'd, and a most rare speaker,

To nature none more bound; his training such, That he may furnish and instruct grave teachers, And never seek for aid out of himself.

Yet see

When these so noble benefits shall prove

Not well dispos'd, the mind growing once corrupt,

They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly Than ever they were fair. This man so complete, Who was enroll'd 'mongst wonders, and when

we,

Almost with ravish'd list'ning, could not find
His hour of speech a minute; he, my lady,
Hath into monstrous habits put the graces
That once were his, and is become as black
As if besmear'd in hell. Sit by us; you shall hear
(This was his gentleman in trust) of him
Things to strike honour sad.-Bid him recount
The fore-recited practices; whereof

We cannot feel too little, hear too much.

Wol. Stand forth; and with bold spirit relate what you,

Most like a careful subject, have collected
Out of the Duke of Buckingham.

K. Hen.

Speak freely.

Serv. First, it was usual with bim, every day

It would infect his speech, That if the king
Should without issue die, he'd carry it so
To make the sceptre his: These very words
I have heard him utter to his son-in-law,
Lord Aberga'ny; to whom by oath he menac'd
Revenge upon the cardinal.

Wol.

Please your highness, note This dangerous conception in this point. Not friended by his wish, to your high person His will is most malignant; and it stretches Beyond you, to your friends.

Q. Kath.

Deliver all with charity.

K. Hen.

My learn'd lord cardinal,

Speak on:

How grounded he his title to the crown,

Upon our fail? to this point hast thou heard him At any time speak aught?

Surv.

By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins.
K. Hen. What was that Hopkins?

He was brought to this

Sir, a Chartreux friar,

How know'st thon this?

Surv.
His confessor; who fed him every minute
With words of sovereignty.

K. Hen.
Surv. Not long before your highness sped to

France,

The duke being at the Rose, within the parish
Saint Lawrence Poultney, did of me demand
What was the speech amongst the Londoners
Concerning the French journey: I replied,
Men fear'd, the French would prove perfidious,
To the king's danger. Presently the duke
Said, 'Twas the fear indeed; and that he doubted,
Twould prove the verity of certain words
Spoke by a holy monk: That oft, says he,
Hath sent to me, wishing me to permit
John de la Court, my chaplain, a choice hour
To hear from him a matter of some moment:
Whom after under the confession's seal
He solemnly had sworn, that, what he spoke,
My chaplain, to no creature living, but

To me, should utter, with demure confidence
This pausingly ensued,-Neither the king, nor his

(Tell

heirs

prosper: bid him strive

To gain the love of the commonalty; the duke
Shall govern England.
Q. Kath.
If I know you well,
You were the duke's surveyor, and lost your office
On the complaint o'the tenants: Take good heed,
You charge not in your spleen a noble person,
And spoil your nobler soul! I say, take heed;
Yes, heartily beseech you.

K. Hen. Go forward. Surv.

Let him on:

On my soul, I'll speak but truth. I told my lord the duke, By the devil's illusions The monk might be deceiv'd; and that 'twas dang'rous for him

To ruminate on this so far, until

It forg'd him some design, which, being believ'd,
It was much like to do: He answer'd, Tush!
It can do me no damage: adding further,

That, had the king in his last sickness fail'd,
The cardinal's and Sir Thomas Lovell's heads
Should have gone off.

K. Hen.

Ha! what, so rank? Ab, ha! There's mischief in this man:-Canst thou say

further?

Surv. I can, my liege.

K. Hen.

Surv.

Proceed.

Being at Greenwich,

After your highness had reprov'd the duke
About Sir William Blomer,-

K. Hen.
I remember,
Of such a time:-Being my servant sworn,
The duke retain'd him his.-But on; What
hence?

Surv. If,quoth he, I for this had been committed, As, to the Tower, I thought,-I would have play'd The part my father meant to act upon

The usurper Richard: who, being at Salisbury, Made suit to come in his presence; which if granted, As he made semblance of his duty, would

Have put his knife into him.

K. Hen.

A giant traitor!

Wol. Now, madam, may his highness live in

freedom,

And this man out of prison?

Q. Kath.

God mend all!

K. Hen. There's something more would out of thee; What say'st?

Surv. After the duke his father, with the knife,

He stretch'd him, and, with one hand on his dagger,

Another spread on his breast, mounting his eyes,
He did discharge a horrible oath; whose tenour
Was,-Were he evil us'd, he would outgo
His father, by as much as a performance
Does an irresolute purpose.

K. Hen.

There's his period, To sheath his knife in us. He is attach'd; Call him to present trial: if he may Find mercy in the law, 'tis his; if none, Let him not seek 't of us: By day and night, He's traitor to the height.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. A Room in the Palace.

Enter the Lord Chamberlain, and LORD SANDS. Cham. Is it possible, the spells of France should juggle

Men into such strange mysteries?

Sands.

New customs,

Though they be never so ridiculous,
Nay, let them be unmanly, yet are follow'd.
Cham. As far as I see, all the good our English
Have got by the late voyage, is but merely
A fit or two o' the face; but they are shrewd ones;
For when they hold them, you would swear di-
Their very noses had been counsellors [rectly,
To Pepin, or Clotharius, they keep state so.

Sands. They have all new legs, and lame ones;
one would take it,

That never saw them pace before, the spavin, A springhalt reign'd among them.

Cham.

Death! my lord, Their clothes are after such a pagan cut too, That, sure, they have worn out christendom.

How now?

What news,

Lov.

Sir Thomas Lovell?

Enter SIR THOMAS LOVELL.

'Faith, my lord,

I hear of none, but the new proclamation
That's clapp'd upon the court gate.

VOL. VI.

C

What is 't for?

Cham.
Lov. The reformation of our travell❜d gallants,
That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors.
Cham. I am glad, 'tis there: now I would pray
our monsieurs

To think an English courtier may be wise,
And never see the Louvre.

Lov.
They must either
(For so run the conditions) leave these remnants
Of fool, and feather, that they got in France,
With all their honourable points of ignorance,
Pertaining thereunto (as fights, and fireworks;
Abusing better men than they can be,

Out of a foreign wisdom), renouncing clean The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings, Short blister'd breeches, and those types of travel,

And understand again like honest men;

Or pack to their old playfellows: there, I take it, They may, cum privilegio, wear away

The lag end of their lewdness, and be laugh'd at. Sands. 'Tis time to give them physick, their diseases

Are grown so catching.

Cham.

What a loss our ladies

Will have of these trim vanities!
Lov.

Ay, marry, There will be woe indeed, lords; the sly whore

sons

Have got a speeding trick to lay down ladies. A French song, and a fiddle, has no fellow.

;

Sands. The devil fiddle them! I am glad, they're going

(For, sure, there's no converting of them): now An honest country lord, as I am, beaten

A long time out of play, may bring his plain song, And have an hour of hearing; and, by'r lady, Held current musick too.

Cham.

Your colt's tooth is not cast yet.

Sands.

Well said, Lord Sands:

No, my lord;

Sir Thomas,

To the cardinal's;

Nor shall not, while I have a stump.