Your master wed me to: nothing but death
Shall e'er divorce my dignities.

Wol. 'Pray, hear me.

Q. Kath. 'Would, I had never trod this English earth.

Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it!

Ye have angels' faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living. -

Alas! poor wenches, where are now your fortunes

[To her Women.

Shipwreck'd upon a kingdom, where no pity,
No friends, no hope; no kindred weep for me,
Almost, no grave allow'd me :-Like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field, and flourish'd,
I'll hang my head, and perish.

Wol. If your grace

Could but be brought to know, our ends are honest,
You'd feel more comfort: why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? alas! our places,
The way of our profession is against it;
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them.
For goodness' sake, consider what you do;
How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly
Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience,
So much they love it; but, to stubborn spirits,
They swell, and grow as terrible as storms.
I know, you have a gentle, noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm: Pray, think us
Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and servants.

Cam. Madam, You'll find it so. You wrong your virtues

With these weak women's fears. A noble spirit,

As yours was put into you, ever casts

Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves you; Beware, you lose it not: For us, if you please

To trust us in your business, we are ready

To use our utmost studies in your service.

Q. Kath. Do what ye will, my lords: And, pray, forgive

If I have us'd myself unmannerly;

You know, I am a woman, lacking wit

To make a seemly answer to such persons.

Pray, do my service to his majesty :

He has my heart yet; and shall have my prayers,

[me,

While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
Bestow your counsels on me: she now begs,
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Ante-chamber to the King's Apartment. Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, the Duke of SUFFOLK, the Earl of SURREY, and the Lord Chamberlain.

Nor. If you will now unite in your complaints

And force them with a constancy, the cardinal
Cannot stand under them: If you omit
The offer of this time, I cannot promise,
But that you shall sustain more new disgraces,
With these you bear already.

Sur. I am joyful

To meet the least occasion, that may give me
Remembrance of my father-in-law, the duke,
To be reveng'd on him.

Suf. Which of the peers
Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least
Strangely neglected? when did he regard
The stamp of nobleness in any person,
Out of himself?

Cham. My lords, you speak your pleasures :
What he deserves of you and me, I know;
What we can do to him, (though now the time
Gives way to us) I much fear. If you cannot
Bar his access to the king, never attempt
Any thing on him; for he hath a witchcraft
Over the king in his tongue.

Nor. O, fear him not;

His spell in that is out: the king hath found
Matter against him, that for ever mars
The honey of his language. No, he's settled,
Not to come off, in his displeasure.

Sur. Sir,

I should be glad to hear such news as this
Once every hour.

Nor. Believe it, this is true.

[8] Force is enforce, urge. JOHNSON.

1

In the divorce, his contrary proceedings"
Are all unfolded; wherein he appears,

As I could wish mine enemy.

Sur. How came

His practices to light ?

Suf. Most strangely.

Sur. O, how, how?

Suf. The cardinal's letter to the pope miscarried,

And came to the eye o'the king: wherein was read,

How that the cardinal did intreat his holiness

To stay the judgment o' the divorce; For if

It did take place, I do, qouth he, perceive,

My king is tangled in affection to

A creature of the queen's, lady Anne Bullen.

Sur. Has the king this?

Suf. Believe it.

Sur. Will this work?

Cham. The king in this perceives him, how he coasts,

And hedges, his own way. But in this point

All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
After his patient's death; the king already

Hath married the fair lady.

Sur. 'Would he had!

Suf. May you be happy in your wish, my lord!

For, I profess, you have it.

Sur. Now all my joy

Trace the conjunction!"

Suf. My amen to't!

Nor. All men's.

Suf. There's order given for her coronation :
Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left
To some ears unrecounted. But, my lords,
She is a gallant creature, and complete

In mind and feature: I persuade me, from her
Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall
In it be memoriz'd.

Sur. But, will the king

Digest this letter of the cardinal's ?
The lord forbid !

Nor. Marry, amen'

Suf. No, no;

There be more wasps than buzz about his nose,

[2] Private practices opposite to his public procedure. JOHNSON. [3] To hedge, is to creep along by the hedge: not to take the direct and open

path, but to steal covertly through circumvolutions. JOHNSON.

[4] To trace, is to follow. JOHNSON.

7

Will make this sting the sooner.

Cardinal Campeius

Is stol'n away to Rome; hath ta'en no leave;

Has left the cause o'the king unhandled; and

Is posted, as the agent of our cardinal,

To second all his plot. I do assure you

The king cry'd, ha ! at this.

Cham. Now, God incense him,

And let him cry ha, louder!

Nor. But, my lord, When returns Cranmer?

Suf. He is return'd, in his opinions; which

Have satisfy'd the king for his divorce,
Together with all famous colleges

Almost in Christendom: shortly, I believe,
His second marriage shall be publish'd, and
Her coronation. Katharine no more

Shall be call'd queen; but princess dowager,
And widow to prince Arthur.

Nor. This same Cranmer's

A worthy fellow, and hath ta'en much pain
In the king's business.

Suf. He has; and we shall see him

For it, an archbishop.

Nor. So I hear.

Suf. 'Tis so.

The cardinal

Enter WOLSEY and CROMWELL.

Nor. Observe, observe, he's moody.

Wol. The packet, Cromwell,

Gave it you the king?

Crom. To his own hand, in his bedchamber.
Wol. Look'd he o' the inside of the paper?

Crom. Presently

He did unseal them: and the first he view'd,
He did it with a serious mind; a heed

Was in his countenance: You, he bade

Attend him here this morning.

Wol. Is he ready

To come abroad?

Crom. I think, by this he is.

Wol. Leave me a while.

It shall be to the duchess of Alençon,

[Exit CROMWELL,

The French king's sister: he shall marry her.

Anne Bullen!. No; I'll no Anne Bullens for him:

11

VOL. VII.

There is more in it than fair visage. - Bullen !
No, we'll no Bullens. - Speedily I wish
To hear from Rome. -The marchioness of Pembroke !
Nor. He's discontented.

Suf. May be, he hears the king

Does whet his anger to him.

Sur. Sharp enough,

Lord, for thy justice !

[ter,

Wol. The late queen's gentlewoman; a knight's daugh

To be her mistress' mistress! the queen's queen !

This candle burns not clear: 'tis I must snuff it;

Then, out it goes. - What though I know her virtuous,

And well-deserving? yet I know her for

A spleeny Lutheran; and not wholesome to

Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
Our hard-rul'd king. Again, there is sprung up
An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer; one

Hath crawl'd into the favour of the king,
And is his oracle.

Nor. He is vex'd at something.

Suf. I would, 'twere something that would fret the string, The master-cord of his heart!

Enter the King, reading a schedule; and LovELL.
Suf. The king, the king.

K. Hen. What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
To his own portion! and what expense by the hour
Seems to flow from him! How, i'the name of thrift,
Does he rake this together!-Now, my lords;
Saw you the cardinal?

Nor. My lord, we have

Stood here observing him: Some strange commotion
Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then, lays his finger on his temple; straight,
Springs out into fast gait; then, stops again,
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
We have seen him set himself.

K. Hen. It may well be;

[5] That the cardinal gave the king an inventory of his own private wealth, by mistake, and thereby ruined himself, is a known variation from the truth of history. Shakespeare, however, has not injudiciously represented the fall of that great man as owing to an incident which he had once improved to the destruction of another. STEEVENS.

[6] Sallust, describing the disturbed state of Catiline's mind, takes notice of the same circumstance: -" citus modo, modo tardus incessius. STEEVENS.