And stand unshaken yours.

K. Hen.

'Tis nobly spoken: Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast, For you have seen him open't.-Read o'er this; [Giving him papers. And, after, this: and then to breakfast, with What appetite you have.

[Exit King, frowning upon Cardinal Wolsey: the Nobles throng after him, smiling, and whispering.

Wol.

What should this mean? What sudden anger's this? how have I reap'd it? He parted frowning from me, as if ruin

Leap'd from his eyes: So looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him;
Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper;
I fear, the story of his anger.-'Tis so;

This paper has undone me :-'Tis the account
Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence,
Fit for a fool to fall by! What cross devil
Made me put this main secret in the packet,
I sent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know, 'twill stir him strongly; Yet I know
A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune,
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;
And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

Re-enter the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the
Earl of Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain.

Nor. Hear the king's pleasure, cardinal: whe commands you

To render up the great seal presently
Into our hands; and to confine yourself
To Asher-house, my lord of Winchester's,
Till you hear further from his highness.
Wol.

Stay, Where's your commission, lords? words cannot carry Authority so weighty.

Who dare cross them?

Suff
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.
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,

As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin!
Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
You have Christian warrant for them, and, no doubt,
In time will find their fit rewards. That seal,
You ask with such a violence, the king

(Mine, and your master,) with his own hand gave

me:

Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
Tied it by letters patents: Now, who'll take it?
Sur. The king, that gave it.

Wol.
It must be himself then.
Sur. Thou art a proud traitor, priest.

Wol.
Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue, than said so.

Sur.

Proud lord, thou liest

Thy ambition,

Thou scarlet sin, robb'd this bewailing land
Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law:
The heads of all thy brother cardinals,

(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;

(1) Esher, in Surrey.

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,
I answer, is most false. The duke by law
Found his deserts; how innocent I was
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,
You have as little honesty as honour;
That I, in the way of loyalty and truth
Toward the king, my ever royal master,

Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
And all that love his follies.

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,
To be thus jaded2 by a piece of scarlet,
Farewell nobility; let his grace go forward,
And dare us with his cap, like larks.3
Wol.

Is poison to thy stomach.

All goodness

Sur. Yes, that goodness Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one, Into your own hands, cardinal, by extortion; The goodness of your intercepted packets, You writ to the pope, against the king: your good

ness,

Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.— My lord of Norfolk,—as you are truly noble,

(1) Equal.

(2) Ridden.

(3) A cardinal's hat is scarlet, and the method of daring larks is by small mirrors on scarlet cloth.

As you respect the common good, the state
Of our despis'd nobility, our issues,

Who, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen,-
Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles
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, You'll show a little honesty.

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 To be your servant.

Then, that, without the knowledge

Suff
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.
Suff. 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 sub

stance

(By what means got, I leave to your own conscience,)

To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways
You have for dignities; to the merel undoing
Of all the kingdom. Many more there are;
Which, since they are of you, and odious,
I will not taint my mouth with.

Cham.
O my lord,
Press not a falling man too far; 'tis virtue:"
His faults lie open to the laws; let them,

Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him
So little of his great self.

Sur.

I forgive him.

Suff. Lord cardinal, the king's further pleasure is,
Because all those things, you have done of late
By your power legatine2 within this kingdom,
Fall into the compass of a pramunire,3—
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 stubborn answer,
About the giving back the great seal to us,
The king shall know it, and, no doubt, shall thank

you.

your

So fare you well, my little good lord cardinal.

[Exeunt all but Wolsey. Wol. So farewell to the little good you bear me. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man; To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,

(1) Absolute. (2) As the Pope's legate. (3) A writ incurring a penalty.