Buck.

It will help me nothing,

To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me,
Which makes my whit'st 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.

Bran.

Here is a warrant from

The king to attach Lord Montacute,25 and the bodies Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,

One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,

Buck.

So, so;

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

Buck.
Bran.

O! Nicholas Hopkins?

He.

speed. The king hearing the accusation, inforced to the uttermost by the cardinall, made this answer: If the duke have deserved to be punished, let him have according to his deserts. The duke hereupon was sent for up to London, and at his comming thither was streightwaies attached, and brought to the Tower. There was also attached the foresaid Chartreux nonke, maister John de la Car, alias de la Court, the dukes confessor, and sir Gilbert P'erke priest, the dukes chancellor. After the apprehension of the duke, inquisitions were taken in divers shires of England, so that he was indicted of high treason, for certeine words spoken at Blechinglie to the lord of Abergavennie; and therewith was the same lord attached for concelement, and so likewise was the lord Montacute, and both led to the Tower."

H.

25 This was Henry Pole, grandson to George duke of Clarence, and eldest brother to Cardinal Pole. He had married Lord Aber gavenny's daughter. Though restored to favour at this juncture, he was executed for another alleged treason in this reign.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o ergreat car

dinal

26

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 out,"
By darkening my clear sun. My lords, farewell,

[Exeunt

Cornets.

SCENE II. The Council-Chamber.

Enter King HENRY, Cardinal WOLSEY, the Lords of the Council, Sir THOMAS LOVELL, Officers, and Attendants: The King leaning on the Cardinal's Shoulder.

King. 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.

26 That is, measured, the end of it determined. said in Scripture to be but a span long.

Man's life is

27 The old copies all read, Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on;" out of which it seems impossible to make any tolerable sense. The changing of on into out was proposed by Dr. Johnson, and approved by Sir William Blackstone; and, in default of any thing better, some of the best editors, as Singer and Verplanck, have adopted it. With this change, of course the metaphor turns on the well-known propensity of the sun to rast shadows, and of such shadows to vanish when his shining is cu off. So that the meaning can be none other than this: Stripped of my titles and possessions, I am but the shadow of what I was, -no longer duke of Buckingham, but only Edward Stafford ; and even this poor figure or shadow a cloud this very instant puts out, reduces to nothing, by darkening my sun of life.

H.

The King takes his State. The Lords of the Council take their several Places. The Cardinal places himself under the King's Feet, on his right Side.

Dukes of
The King

A Noise within, crying, "Room for the Queen!" Enter Queen KATHARINE, ushered by the NORFOLK and SUFFOLK: she kneels. riseth from his State, takes her up, placeth her by him.

kisses, and

Kath. Nay, we must longer kneel: I am a suitor. King. Arise, and take place by us.

suit

Half your

Never name to us; you have half our power:
The other moiety ere you ask is given;

Repeat your will, and take it.

Kath.

Thank your majesty

That you would love yourself, and in that love
Not unconsider'd leave your honour, nor

The dignity of your office, is the point

Of my petition.

King.

Lady mine, proceed.

Kath. I am solicited not by a few,

And those of true condition, that your subjects
Are in great grievance. There have been commis-

sions

Sent down among them, which hath flaw'd the heart
Of all their loyalties: wherein, although,

My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches
Most bitterly on you, as putter-on

Of these exactions, yet the king our master,

Whose honour Heaven shield from soil! even he escapes not

Language unmannerly; yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty, and almost appears

In loud rebellion.

Nor.

Not almost appears,

It doth appear; for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers; who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger
And lack of other means, in desperate manner
Daring th' event to th' teeth, are all in uproar,
And Danger serves among them.'

King.

Taxation!

Wherein? and what taxation? —- My lord cardinal, You that are blam'd for it alike with us,

Know you of this taxation?

Wol.

Please you, sir,

I know but of a single part, in aught

Pertains to th' state; and front but in that file
Where others tell2 steps with me.

Kath.

No, my lord, but you frame

You know no more than others;
Things that are known alike; 3 which are not whole-

some

To those which would not know them, and yet must
Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are
Most pestilent to th' hearing; and, to bear 'em,
The back is sacrifice to th' load. They say,
They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.

1 Warburton is full of admiration at this sudden rising of the poet to a height truly sublime!" where by the noblest stretch of fancy Danger is personified as serving in the rebel army, and shaking the government.

2 To tell was used for to count; as in the phrase, "keep tally,' still in use.

H.

3 That is, are known in csmmon. She means, that he origi nates measures, and then gets he council to father them; so that he has the advantage, and the bear the responsibility, of them.

H.

The subject's grief

In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd
Under your promis'd pardon.
Comes through commissions,

each

which compel from

The sixth part of his substance, to be levied
Without delay; and the pretence for this
Is nam'd, your wars in France.

mouths:

This makes bold

Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze Allegiance in them: their curses now

Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass, That tractable obedience is a slave

To each incensed will. I would, your highness Would give it quick consideration, for

There is no primer business."

King.

This is against our pleasure.

Wol.

By my life,

And for me,

I have no farther gone in this, than by

A single voice, and that not pass'd me but

By learned approbation of the judges. If I am Traduc'd by ignorant tongues, which neither know My faculties nor person, yet will be

4 That is, obedience is subdued, forced to succumb, by individual will thus provoked.

H.

may

5 The original has "primer baseness;" which, though yield some intelligible sense, does not fall smooth with the context; for she entreats that the matter may have quick consideration, not because there is nothing more base, but because there is nothing more pressing, or craving more speedy despatch. Nev. ertheless, Knight and Collier retain baseness. Warburton mado the change. The misprint was an easy one and the detection of it equally so.

H.