(For so they praise them) by their heralds challenged The noble spirits to arms, they did perform.
Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story, Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
Buck.
O, you go far.
Nor. As I belong to worship, and affect
In honor honesty, the tract of every thing
Would by a good discourser lose some life,
Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal;
To the disposing of it nought rebelled;
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function.
Buck.
Who did guide,
I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?
Nor. One, certes, that promises no element
In such a business.
I pray you, who, my lord? Nor. All this was ordered by the good discretion Of the right reverend cardinal of York.
Buck. The devil speed him! No man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger. What had he To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder That such a keech can with his very bulk Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun, And keep it from the earth.
Nor.
There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propped by ancestry, (whose grace
Chalks successors their way,) nor called upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
To eminent assistants, but, spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that Heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.
What Heaven hath given him; let some graver eye Pierce into that: but I can see his pride
Peep through each part of him. Whence has he that? If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.
Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the file
Of all the gentry; for the most part such,
Too, whom as great a charge as little honor
He meant to lay upon; and his own letter,
The honorable board of council out,
Must fetch him in the papers.
Aber.
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sickened their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.
Have broke their backs with laying manors on them
For this great journey. What did this vanity,
But minister communication of
The peace between the French and us not values
The cost that did conclude it.
Buck.
Every man,
After the hideous storm that followed, was
A thing inspired; and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy, That this tempest,
Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
The sudden breach on't.
For France hath flawed the league, and hath attached Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.
The ambassador is silenced?
Aber. A proper title of a peace, and purchased
Our reverend cardinal carried.
The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honor and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together; to consider further, that
What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power. You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know his sword
Hath a sharp edge; it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel;
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock,
That I advise your shunning.
Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, (the purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with papers. The CARDINAL, in his passage, fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain. Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where's his examination?
Wol. Is he in person ready?
Ay, please your grace.
Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buckingham
Shall lessen this big look. [Exeunt WOLSEY and Train.
Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouthed, and I
Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best
Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
Out-worths a noble's blood.
Nor.
What, are you chafed?
Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only,
Which your disease requires.
Buck.
Matter against me; and his eye reviled
Me, as his abject object: at this instant
He bores me with some trick.
I'll follow, and outstare him.
Nor.
Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about. To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first. Anger is like
A full hot-horse; who being allowed his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you; be to yourself
As you would to your friend.
Buck.
I'll to the king;
And from a mouth of honor quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.
Nor.
Be advised;
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself. We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by overrunning. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advised;
I say again, there is no English soul
More stronger to direct you than yourself;
If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.
I am thankful to you; and I'll go along
By your prescription. But this top-proud fellow
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions,) by intelligence,
And proofs as clear as founts in July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.
Buck. To the king I'll say it; and make my vouch as
As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it; his mind and place.
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,
That swallowed so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i' the rinsing.
Buck. Pray, give me favor, sir. This cunning cardinal The articles o' the combination drew,
As himself pleased; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be; to as much end,
As give a crutch to the dead. But our count cardinal
Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor,
Under pretence to see the queen, his aunt,
(For 'twas, indeed, his color; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation.
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt
England and France, might, through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peeped harms that menaced him. He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,
Which I do well; for, I am sure, the emperor
Paid ere he promised; whereby his suit was granted,
Ere it was asked; - but when the way was made,
And paved with gold, the emperor thus desired,
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the aforsaid peace. Let the king know,
(As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and sell his honor as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.
To hear this of him; and could wish he were
Something mistaken in't.
I do pronounce him in that very shape,
He shall appear in proof.
Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at Arms before him, and two or three of the Guard.
Bran. Your office, sergeant; execute it.
Serg.
My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.
Lo you, my lord, The net has fallen upon me; I shall perish Under device and practice.
To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business present. 'Tis his highness' pleasure,
You shall to the Tower.
To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me,
Which makes my whitest part black. The will of Heaven
Be done in this and all things!-I obey.-
O, my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.
Bran. Nay, he must bear you company.-The king [To ABERGAVENNY. Is pleased, you shall to the Tower, till you know How he determines. further.
The will of Heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
By me obeyed.
The king, to attach lord Montacute, and the bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,
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