No new device to beat this from his brains? I know, 'twill stir him strongly; Yet I know 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; I haste now to my setting: I shall fall Re-enter the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK, the To render up the great seal presently Into our hands; and to confine yourself 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, (I mean, your malice,) know, officious lords, I dare, and must deny it. Now I feel Of what coarse metal ye are moulded,-envy. As if it fed ye? and how sleek and wanton (Mine, and your master,) with his own hand gave me: Wol. Sur. Thou art a proud traitor, priest. Wol. It must be himself then. Proud lord, thou liest; Thy ambition, 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: (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, 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, That I, in the way of loyalty and truth Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be, Sur. By my soul, Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou should'st feel My sword i'the life-blood of thee else.-My lords, Can ye endure to hear this arrogance? And from this fellow? If we live thus tamely, 7 To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet, Farewell nobility; let his grace go forward, Wol. Is poison to thy stomach. Sur. All goodness Yes, that goodness Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one, 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 despis'd nobility, our issues, Who, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen,- 6 Equal. 7 Ridden. 8 A cardinal's hat is scarlet, and the method of daring larks is by small mirrors on scarlet cloth. 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, And spotless, shall mine innocence arise, When the king knows my truth. Sur. This cannot save you : I thank my memory, I yet remember Some of these articles; and out they shall. Now, if you can blush, and cry guilty, cardinal, Wol. Speak on, sir: I dare your worst objections: if I blush, It is, to see a nobleman want manners. Sur. I'd rather want those, than my head. Have at you. First, that, without the king's assent, or knowledge, You wrought to be a legate; by which power You maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops. Nor. Then, that, in all you writ to Rome, or else To foreign princes, Ego et Rex meus Was still inscrib'd; in which you brought the king your servant. To be 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 caus'd Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the king's coin. Sur. Then, that you have sent innumerable substance, (By what means got, I leave to your own conscience,) Cham. Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him Sur. I forgive him. 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 pramunire,2— 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, As the Pope's legate. 9 Absolute. 2 A writ incurring a penalty. |