King Henry The Eighth

1 Enter the Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Suffolk, Lord Surrey and Lord
2 Chamberlain.
3 NORFOLK.
4 If you will now unite in your complaints
5 And force them with a constancy, the Cardinal
6 Cannot stand under them. If you omit
7 The offer of this time, I cannot promise
8 But that you shall sustain more new disgraces
9 With these you bear already.
10 SURREY.
11 I am joyful
12 To meet the least occasion that may give me
13 Remembrance of my father-in-law the Duke,
14 To be revenged on him.
15 SUFFOLK.
16 Which of the peers
17 Have uncontemned gone by him, or at least
18 Strangely neglected? When did he regard
19 The stamp of nobleness in any person
20 Out of himself?
21 CHAMBERLAIN.
22 My lords, you speak your pleasures.
23 What he deserves of you and me I know;
24 What we can do to him—though now the time
25 Gives way to us—I much fear. If you cannot
26 Bar his access to th’ King, never attempt
27 Anything on him, for he hath a witchcraft
28 Over the King in ’s tongue.
29 NORFOLK.
30 O, fear him not.
31 His spell in that is out. The King hath found
32 Matter against him that for ever mars
33 The honey of his language. No, he’s settled,
34 Not to come off, in his displeasure.
35 SURREY.
36 Sir,
37 I should be glad to hear such news as this
38 Once every hour.
39 NORFOLK.
40 Believe it, this is true.
41 In the divorce his contrary proceedings
42 Are all unfolded, wherein he appears
43 As I would wish mine enemy.
44 SURREY.
45 How came
46 His practices to light?
47 SUFFOLK.
48 Most strangely.
49 SURREY.
50 O, how, how?
51 SUFFOLK.
52 The Cardinal’s letters to the Pope miscarried,
53 And came to th’ eye o’ the King, wherein was read
54 How that the Cardinal did entreat his Holiness
55 To stay the judgement o’ th’ divorce; for if
56 It did take place, “I do” quoth he “perceive
57 My king is tangled in affection to
58 A creature of the Queen’s, Lady Anne Bullen.”
59 SURREY.
60 Has the King this?
61 SUFFOLK.
62 Believe it.
63 SURREY.
64 Will this work?
65 CHAMBERLAIN.
66 The King in this perceives him how he coasts
67 And hedges his own way. But in this point
68 All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
69 After his patient’s death. The King already
70 Hath married the fair lady.
71 SURREY.
72 Would he had!
73 SUFFOLK.
74 May you be happy in your wish, my lord,
75 For I profess you have it.
76 SURREY.
77 Now, all my joy
78 Trace the conjunction!
79 SUFFOLK.
80 My amen to’t!
81 NORFOLK.
82 All men’s.
83 SUFFOLK.
84 There’s order given for her coronation.
85 Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left
86 To some ears unrecounted. But, my lords,
87 She is a gallant creature, and complete
88 In mind and feature. I persuade me, from her
89 Will fall some blessing to this land which shall
90 In it be memorized.
91 SURREY.
92 But will the King
93 Digest this letter of the Cardinal’s?
94 The Lord forbid!
95 NORFOLK.
96 Marry, amen!
97 SUFFOLK.
98 No, no.
99 There be more wasps that buzz about his nose
100 Will make this sting the sooner. Cardinal Campeius
101 Is stolen away to Rome; hath ta’en no leave;
102 Has left the cause o’ th’ King unhandled, and
103 Is posted, as the agent of our Cardinal,
104 To second all his plot. I do assure you
105 The King cried “Ha!” at this.
106 CHAMBERLAIN.
107 Now, God incense him,
108 And let him cry “Ha!” louder.
109 NORFOLK.
110 But, my lord,
111 When returns Cranmer?
112 SUFFOLK.
113 He is returned in his opinions, which
114 Have satisfied the King for his divorce,
115 Together with all famous colleges
116 Almost in Christendom. Shortly, I believe,
117 His second marriage shall be published, and
118 Her coronation. Katherine no more
119 Shall be called Queen, but Princess Dowager
120 And widow to Prince Arthur.
121 NORFOLK.
122 This same Cranmer’s
123 A worthy fellow, and hath ta’en much pain
124 In the King’s business.
125 SUFFOLK.
126 He has, and we shall see him
127 For it an archbishop.
128 NORFOLK.
129 So I hear.
130 SUFFOLK.
131 ’Tis so.
132 Enter Wolsey and Cromwell.
133 The Cardinal!
134 NORFOLK.
135 Observe, observe; he’s moody.
136 WOLSEY.
137 The packet, Cromwell,
138 Gave’t you the King?
139 CROMWELL.
140 To his own hand, in ’s bedchamber.
141 WOLSEY.
142 Looked he o’ th’ inside of the paper?
143 CROMWELL.
144 Presently
145 He did unseal them, and the first he viewed,
146 He did it with a serious mind; a heed
147 Was in his countenance. You he bade
148 Attend him here this morning.
149 WOLSEY.
150 Is he ready
151 To come abroad?
152 CROMWELL.
153 I think by this he is.
154 WOLSEY.
155 Leave me a while.
156 [_Exit Cromwell._]
157 [_Aside_.] It shall be to the Duchess of Alençon,
158 The French king’s sister; he shall marry her.
159 Anne Bullen? No; I’ll no Anne Bullens for him.
160 There’s more in’t than fair visage. Bullen?
161 No, we’ll no Bullens. Speedily I wish
162 To hear from Rome. The Marchioness of Pembroke!
163 NORFOLK.
164 He’s discontented.
165 SUFFOLK.
166 Maybe he hears the King
167 Does whet his anger to him.
168 SURREY.
169 Sharp enough,
170 Lord, for thy justice!
171 WOLSEY.
172 [_Aside_.] The late queen’s gentlewoman, a knight’s daughter,
173 To be her mistress’ mistress? The Queen’s Queen?
174 This candle burns not clear. ’Tis I must snuff it;
175 Then out it goes. What though I know her virtuous
176 And well deserving? Yet I know her for
177 A spleeny Lutheran, and not wholesome to
178 Our cause, that she should lie i’ th’ bosom of
179 Our hard-ruled King. Again, there is sprung up
180 An heretic, an arch-one, Cranmer, one
181 Hath crawled into the favour of the King
182 And is his oracle.
183 NORFOLK.
184 He is vexed at something.
185 Enter King, reading a schedule, and Lovell.
186 SURREY.
187 I would ’twere something that would fret the string,
188 The master-cord on ’s heart.
189 SUFFOLK.
190 The King, the King!
191 KING.
192 What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
193 To his own portion! And what expense by th’ hour
194 Seems to flow from him! How, i’ th’ name of thrift
195 Does he rake this together? Now, my lords,
196 Saw you the Cardinal?
197 NORFOLK.
198 My lord, we have
199 Stood here observing him. Some strange commotion
200 Is in his brain. He bites his lip, and starts,
201 Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
202 Then lays his finger on his temple; straight
203 Springs out into fast gait; then stops again,
204 Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts
205 His eye against the moon. In most strange postures
206 We have seen him set himself.
207 KING.
208 It may well be
209 There is a mutiny in ’s mind. This morning
210 Papers of state he sent me to peruse,
211 As I required; and wot you what I found
212 There—on my conscience, put unwittingly?
213 Forsooth, an inventory, thus importing
214 The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
215 Rich stuffs and ornaments of household, which
216 I find at such proud rate that it outspeaks
217 Possession of a subject.
218 NORFOLK.
219 It’s heaven’s will!
220 Some spirit put this paper in the packet
221 To bless your eye withal.
222 KING.
223 If we did think
224 His contemplation were above the earth
225 And fixed on spiritual object, he should still
226 Dwell in his musings, but I am afraid
227 His thinkings are below the moon, not worth
228 His serious considering.
229 [_King takes his seat; whispers Lovell, who goes to the Cardinal._]
230 WOLSEY.
231 Heaven forgive me!
232 Ever God bless your Highness.
233 KING.
234 Good my lord,
235 You are full of heavenly stuff, and bear the inventory
236 Of your best graces in your mind, the which
237 You were now running o’er. You have scarce time
238 To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span
239 To keep your earthly audit. Sure, in that
240 I deem you an ill husband, and am glad
241 To have you therein my companion.
242 WOLSEY.
243 Sir,
244 For holy offices I have a time; a time
245 To think upon the part of business which
246 I bear i’ th’ state; and Nature does require
247 Her times of preservation, which perforce
248 I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,
249 Must give my tendance to.
250 KING.
251 You have said well.
252 WOLSEY.
253 And ever may your Highness yoke together,
254 As I will lend you cause, my doing well
255 With my well saying.
256 KING.
257 ’Tis well said again,
258 And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well.
259 And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you;
260 He said he did, and with his deed did crown
261 His word upon you. Since I had my office,
262 I have kept you next my heart, have not alone
263 Employed you where high profits might come home,
264 But pared my present havings to bestow
265 My bounties upon you.
266 WOLSEY.
267 [_Aside_.] What should this mean?
268 SURREY.
269 [_Aside_.] The Lord increase this business!
270 KING.
271 Have I not made you
272 The prime man of the state? I pray you tell me,
273 If what I now pronounce you have found true,
274 And, if you may confess it, say withal
275 If you are bound to us or no. What say you?
276 WOLSEY.
277 My sovereign, I confess your royal graces,
278 Showered on me daily, have been more than could
279 My studied purposes requite, which went
280 Beyond all man’s endeavours. My endeavours
281 Have ever come too short of my desires,
282 Yet filed with my abilities. Mine own ends
283 Have been mine so that evermore they pointed
284 To th’ good of your most sacred person and
285 The profit of the state. For your great graces
286 Heaped upon me, poor undeserver, I
287 Can nothing render but allegiant thanks,
288 My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty,
289 Which ever has and ever shall be growing,
290 Till death, that winter, kill it.
291 KING.
292 Fairly answered.
293 A loyal and obedient subject is
294 Therein illustrated. The honour of it
295 Does pay the act of it, as i’ th’ contrary,
296 The foulness is the punishment. I presume
297 That, as my hand has opened bounty to you,
298 My heart dropped love, my power rained honour, more
299 On you than any, so your hand and heart,
300 Your brain, and every function of your power,
301 Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,
302 As ’twere in love’s particular, be more
303 To me, your friend, than any.
304 WOLSEY.
305 I do profess
306 That for your Highness’ good I ever laboured
307 More than mine own, that am, have, and will be.
308 Though all the world should crack their duty to you
309 And throw it from their soul, though perils did
310 Abound as thick as thought could make ’em, and
311 Appear in forms more horrid—yet my duty,
312 As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
313 Should the approach of this wild river break,
314 And stand unshaken yours.
315 KING.
316 ’Tis nobly spoken.
317 Take notice, lords: he has a loyal breast,
318 For you have seen him open’t.
319 [_Giving him papers._]
320 Read o’er this,
321 And after, this; and then to breakfast with
322 What appetite you have.
323 [_Exit King, frowning upon the Cardinal; the nobles throng after him,
324 smiling and whispering._]
325 WOLSEY.
326 What should this mean?
327 What sudden anger’s this? How have I reaped it?
328 He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
329 Leaped from his eyes. So looks the chafed lion
330 Upon the daring huntsman that has galled him,
331 Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper—
332 I fear, the story of his anger. ’Tis so.
333 This paper has undone me. ’Tis th’ account
334 Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
335 For mine own ends—indeed, to gain the popedom
336 And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence,
337 Fit for a fool to fall by! What cross devil
338 Made me put this main secret in the packet
339 I sent the King? Is there no way to cure this?
340 No new device to beat this from his brains?
341 I know ’twill stir him strongly; yet I know
342 A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune,
343 Will bring me off again. What’s this? “To th’ Pope”?
344 The letter, as I live, with all the business
345 I writ to ’s Holiness. Nay then, farewell!
346 I have touched the highest point of all my greatness,
347 And from that full meridian of my glory
348 I haste now to my setting. I shall fall
349 Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
350 And no man see me more.
351 Enter to Wolsey, the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Earl of Surrey,
352 and the Lord Chamberlain.
353 NORFOLK.
354 Hear the King’s pleasure, Cardinal, who commands you
355 To render up the great seal presently
356 Into our hands, and to confine yourself
357 To Asher House, my Lord of Winchester’s,
358 Till you hear further from his Highness.
359 WOLSEY.
360 Stay.
361 Where’s your commission, lords? Words cannot carry
362 Authority so weighty.
363 SUFFOLK.
364 Who dares cross ’em,
365 Bearing the King’s will from his mouth expressly?
366 WOLSEY.
367 Till I find more than will or words to do it—
368 I mean your malice—know, officious lords,
369 I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
370 Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, envy!
371 How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,
372 As if it fed ye, and how sleek and wanton
373 Ye appear in everything may bring my ruin!
374 Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
375 You have Christian warrant for ’em, and no doubt
376 In time will find their fit rewards. That seal
377 You ask with such a violence, the King,
378 Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me;
379 Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
380 During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
381 Tied it by letters-patents. Now, who’ll take it?
382 SURREY.
383 The King that gave it.
384 WOLSEY.
385 It must be himself, then.
386 SURREY.
387 Thou art a proud traitor, priest.
388 WOLSEY.
389 Proud lord, thou liest.
390 Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
391 Have burnt that tongue than said so.
392 SURREY.
393 Thy ambition,
394 Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land
395 Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law.
396 The heads of all thy brother cardinals,
397 With thee and all thy best parts bound together,
398 Weighed not a hair of his. Plague of your policy!
399 You sent me Deputy for Ireland,
400 Far from his succour, from the King, from all
401 That might have mercy on the fault thou gav’st him,
402 Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity,
403 Absolved him with an axe.
404 WOLSEY.
405 This, and all else
406 This talking lord can lay upon my credit,
407 I answer is most false. The Duke by law
408 Found his deserts. How innocent I was
409 From any private malice in his end,
410 His noble jury and foul cause can witness.
411 If I loved many words, lord, I should tell you
412 You have as little honesty as honour,
413 That in the way of loyalty and truth
414 Toward the King, my ever royal master,
415 Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
416 And all that love his follies.
417 SURREY.
418 By my soul,
419 Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou shouldst feel
420 My sword i’ th’ lifeblood of thee else. My lords,
421 Can ye endure to hear this arrogance?
422 And from this fellow? If we live thus tamely,
423 To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet,
424 Farewell, nobility. Let his Grace go forward
425 And dare us with his cap, like larks.
426 WOLSEY.
427 All goodness
428 Is poison to thy stomach.
429 SURREY.
430 Yes, that goodness
431 Of gleaning all the land’s wealth into one,
432 Into your own hands, Cardinal, by extortion;
433 The goodness of your intercepted packets
434 You writ to the Pope against the King. Your goodness,
435 Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.
436 My Lord of Norfolk, as you are truly noble,
437 As you respect the common good, the state
438 Of our despised nobility, our issues,
439 Who, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen,
440 Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles
441 Collected from his life. I’ll startle you
442 Worse than the sacring bell when the brown wench
443 Lay kissing in your arms, Lord Cardinal.
444 WOLSEY.
445 How much, methinks, I could despise this man,
446 But that I am bound in charity against it!
447 NORFOLK.
448 Those articles, my lord, are in the King’s hand;
449 But thus much, they are foul ones.
450 WOLSEY.
451 So much fairer
452 And spotless shall mine innocence arise
453 When the King knows my truth.
454 SURREY.
455 This cannot save you.
456 I thank my memory I yet remember
457 Some of these articles, and out they shall.
458 Now, if you can blush and cry “Guilty,” Cardinal,
459 You’ll show a little honesty.
460 WOLSEY.
461 Speak on, sir;
462 I dare your worst objections. If I blush,
463 It is to see a nobleman want manners.
464 SURREY.
465 I had rather want those than my head. Have at you!
466 First, that without the King’s assent or knowledge,
467 You wrought to be a legate, by which power
468 You maimed the jurisdiction of all bishops.
469 NORFOLK.
470 Then, that in all you writ to Rome, or else
471 To foreign princes, “_ego et rex meus_”
472 Was still inscribed, in which you brought the King
473 To be your servant.
474 SUFFOLK.
475 Then, that without the knowledge
476 Either of King or Council, when you went
477 Ambassador to the Emperor, you made bold
478 To carry into Flanders the great seal.
479 SURREY.
480 Item, you sent a large commission
481 To Gregory de Cassado, to conclude,
482 Without the King’s will or the state’s allowance,
483 A league between his Highness and Ferrara.
484 SUFFOLK.
485 That out of mere ambition you have caused
486 Your holy hat to be stamped on the King’s coin.
487 SURREY.
488 Then, that you have sent innumerable substance—
489 By what means got, I leave to your own conscience—
490 To furnish Rome and to prepare the ways
491 You have for dignities, to the mere undoing
492 Of all the kingdom. Many more there are,
493 Which, since they are of you, and odious,
494 I will not taint my mouth with.
495 CHAMBERLAIN.
496 O my lord,
497 Press not a falling man too far! ’Tis virtue.
498 His faults lie open to the laws; let them,
499 Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him
500 So little of his great self.
501 SURREY.
502 I forgive him.
503 SUFFOLK.
504 Lord Cardinal, the King’s further pleasure is,
505 Because all those things you have done of late
506 By your power legative within this kingdom
507 Fall into th’ compass of a _praemunire_,
508 That therefore such a writ be sued against you
509 To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements,
510 Chattels, and whatsoever, and to be
511 Out of the King’s protection. This is my charge.
512 NORFOLK.
513 And so we’ll leave you to your meditations
514 How to live better. For your stubborn answer
515 About the giving back the great seal to us,
516 The King shall know it and, no doubt, shall thank you.
517 So fare you well, my little good Lord Cardinal.
518 [_Exeunt all but Wolsey._]
519 WOLSEY.
520 So farewell to the little good you bear me.
521 Farewell? A long farewell to all my greatness!
522 This is the state of man: today he puts forth
523 The tender leaves of hopes; tomorrow blossoms,
524 And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
525 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
526 And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
527 His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
528 And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,
529 Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
530 This many summers in a sea of glory,
531 But far beyond my depth. My high-blown pride
532 At length broke under me and now has left me,
533 Weary and old with service, to the mercy
534 Of a rude stream that must for ever hide me.
535 Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!
536 I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched
537 Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!
538 There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
539 That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
540 More pangs and fears than wars or women have;
541 And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
542 Never to hope again.
543 Enter Cromwell, standing amazed.
544 Why, how now, Cromwell?
545 CROMWELL.
546 I have no power to speak, sir.
547 WOLSEY.
548 What, amazed
549 At my misfortunes? Can thy spirit wonder
550 A great man should decline? Nay, an you weep,
551 I am fallen indeed.
552 CROMWELL.
553 How does your Grace?
554 WOLSEY.
555 Why, well.
556 Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell.
557 I know myself now, and I feel within me
558 A peace above all earthly dignities,
559 A still and quiet conscience. The King has cured me,
560 I humbly thank his Grace, and from these shoulders,
561 These ruined pillars, out of pity, taken
562 A load would sink a navy: too much honour.
563 O, ’tis a burden, Cromwell, ’tis a burden
564 Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven.
565 CROMWELL.
566 I am glad your Grace has made that right use of it.
567 WOLSEY.
568 I hope I have. I am able now, methinks,
569 Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,
570 To endure more miseries and greater far
571 Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
572 What news abroad?
573 CROMWELL.
574 The heaviest and the worst
575 Is your displeasure with the King.
576 WOLSEY.
577 God bless him.
578 CROMWELL.
579 The next is that Sir Thomas More is chosen
580 Lord Chancellor in your place.
581 WOLSEY.
582 That’s somewhat sudden.
583 But he’s a learned man. May he continue
584 Long in his Highness’ favour, and do justice
585 For truth’s sake and his conscience, that his bones,
586 When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,
587 May have a tomb of orphans’ tears wept on him.
588 What more?
589 CROMWELL.
590 That Cranmer is returned with welcome,
591 Installed Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
592 WOLSEY.
593 That’s news indeed.
594 CROMWELL.
595 Last, that the Lady Anne,
596 Whom the King hath in secrecy long married,
597 This day was viewed in open as his Queen,
598 Going to chapel, and the voice is now
599 Only about her coronation.
600 WOLSEY.
601 There was the weight that pulled me down.
602 O Cromwell,
603 The King has gone beyond me. All my glories
604 In that one woman I have lost for ever.
605 No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
606 Or gild again the noble troops that waited
607 Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell.
608 I am a poor fallen man, unworthy now
609 To be thy lord and master. Seek the King;
610 That sun, I pray, may never set! I have told him
611 What and how true thou art. He will advance thee;
612 Some little memory of me will stir him—
613 I know his noble nature—not to let
614 Thy hopeful service perish too. Good Cromwell,
615 Neglect him not; make use now, and provide
616 For thine own future safety.
617 CROMWELL.
618 O my lord,
619 Must I then leave you? Must I needs forgo
620 So good, so noble, and so true a master?
621 Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
622 With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
623 The King shall have my service, but my prayers
624 For ever and for ever shall be yours.
625 WOLSEY.
626 Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
627 In all my miseries, but thou hast forced me,
628 Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
629 Let’s dry our eyes, and thus far hear me, Cromwell,
630 And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
631 And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
632 Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee;
633 Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory
634 And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
635 Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in,
636 A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
637 Mark but my fall and that that ruined me.
638 Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition!
639 By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
640 The image of his maker, hope to win by it?
641 Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee.
642 Corruption wins not more than honesty.
643 Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace
644 To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not.
645 Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s,
646 Thy God’s, and truth’s. Then if thou fall’st, O Cromwell,
647 Thou fall’st a blessed martyr!
648 Serve the King. And, prithee, lead me in.
649 There take an inventory of all I have.
650 To the last penny; ’tis the King’s. My robe
651 And my integrity to heaven is all
652 I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
653 Had I but served my God with half the zeal
654 I served my king, He would not in mine age
655 Have left me naked to mine enemies.
656 CROMWELL.
657 Good sir, have patience.
658 WOLSEY.
659 So I have. Farewell,
660 The hopes of court! My hopes in heaven do dwell.
661 [_Exeunt._]