The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Page 401
Exeunt Wolsey and his train
BUCKINGHAM
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
Outworths a noble’s blood.
NORFOLK
What, are you chafed?
Ask God for temp’rance; that’s th’appliance only
Which your disease requires.
BUCKINGHAM
I read in’s looks
Matter against me, and his eye reviled
Me as his abject object. At this instant
He bores me with some trick. He’s gone to th’ King—
I’ll follow, and outstare him.
NORFOLK
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.
BUCKINGHAM
I’ll to the King,
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow’s insolence, or proclaim
There’s difference in no persons.
NORFOLK
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 over-running. Know you not
The fire that mounts the liquor till’t 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.
BUCKINGHAM
Sir,
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.
NORFOLK
Say not ‘treasonous’.
BUCKINGHAM
To th’ King I’ll say’t, and make my vouch as strong
As shore of rock. Attend: this holy fox,
Or wolf, or both—for he is equal rav’nous
As he is subtle, and as prone to mischief
As able to perform’t, his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocatly—
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests the King our master
To this last costly treaty, th’interview
That swallowed so much treasure and, like a glass,
Did break i’th’ rinsing.
NORFOLK
Faith, and so it did.
BUCKINGHAM
Pray give me favour, sir. This cunning Cardinal,
The articles o‘th’ combination drew
As himself pleased, and they were ratified 170
As he cried ‘Thus let be’, to as much end
As give a crutch to th’ 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 th‘old dam, treason—Charles the Emperor,
Under pretence to see the Queen his aunt—
For ’twas indeed his colour, 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. Privily he
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 foresaid peace. Let the King know,
As soon he shall by me, that thus the Cardinal
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.
NORFOLK
I am sorry
To hear this of him, and could wish he were
Something mistaken in’t.
BUCKINGHAM
No, not a syllable.
I do pronounce him in that very shape
He shall appear in proof.
Enter Brandon, a serjeant-at-arms before him, and two or three of the guard
BRANDON
Your office, serjeant, execute it.
SERJEANT
Sir.
(To Buckingham) 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.
BUCKINGHAM to Norfolk
Lo you, my lord,
The net has fall’n upon me. I shall perish
Under device and practice.
BRANDON
I am sorry
To see you ta’en from liberty to look on
The business present. ’Tis his highness’ pleasure
You shall to th’ Tower.
BUCKINGHAM
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
heav’n
Be done in this and all things. I obey.
O, my lord Abergavenny, fare you well.
BRANDON
Nay, he must bear you company.
(To Abergavenny)
The King
Is pleased you shall to th’ Tower till you know
How he determines further.
ABERGAVENNY
As the Duke said,
The will of heaven be done and the King’s pleasure
By me obeyed.
BRANDON
Here is a warrant from
The King t’attach Lord Montague and the bodies
Of the duke’s confessor, John de la Car,
One Gilbert Perk, his chancellor—
BUCKINGHAM
So, so;
These are the limbs o’th’ plot. No more, I hope.
BRANDON
A monk o’th’ Chartreux.
BUCKINGHAM
O, Nicholas Hopkins?
BRANDON He.
BUCKINGHAM
My surveyor is false. The o’er-great Cardinal
Hath showed him gold. My life is spanned already.
I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on
By dark’ning my clear sun. (To Norfolk) My lord,
farewell.
Exeunt ⌈Norfolk at one door, Buckingham and Abergavenny under guard at another⌉
1.2 Cornetts. Enter King Henry leaning on Cardinal Wolsey’s shoulder. Enter with them Wolsey’s two secretaries, the nobles, and Sir Thomas Lovell. The King ascends to his seat under the cloth of state; Wolsey places himself under the King’s feet on his right side
KING HENRY to Wolsey
My life itself and the best heart of it
Thanks you for this great care. I stood i’th’ level
Of a full-charged confederacy, and give thanks
To you that choked it. Let be called before us
That gentleman of Buckingham’s. In pers
on
I’ll hear him his confessions justify,
And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.
⌈CRIER⌉ (within)
Room for the Queen, ushered by the Duke of Norfolk.
Enter Queen Katherine, the Duke of Norfolk, and the Duke of Suffolk. She kneels. King Henry riseth from his state, takes her up, and kisses her
QUEEN KATHERINE
Nay, we must longer kneel. I am a suitor.
KING HENRY
Arise, and take place by us.
He placeth her by him
Half your suit
Never name to us. You have half our power,
The other moiety ere you ask is given.
Repeat your will and take it.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Thank your majesty.
That you would love yourself, and in that love
Not unconsidered leave your honour nor
The dignity of your office, is the point
Of my petition.
KING HENRY
Lady mine, proceed.
QUEEN KATHERINE
I am solicited, not by a few,
And those of true condition, that your subjects
Are in great grievance. There have been commissions
Sent down among ’em which hath flawed 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.
NORFOLK
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, compelled 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 HENRY
Taxation?
Wherein, and what taxation? My lord Cardinal,
You that are blamed for it alike with us,
Know you of this taxation?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Please you, sir,
I know but of a single part in aught
Pertains to th’ state, and front but in that file
Where others tell steps with me.
QUEEN KATHERINE
No, my lord?
You know no more than others? But you frame
Things that are known alike, which are not wholesome
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 devised by you, or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.
KING HENRY
Still exaction!
The nature of it? In what kind, let’s know,
Is this exaction?
QUEEN KATHERINE I am much too venturous
In tempting of your patience, but am boldened
Under your promised pardon. The subjects’ grief
Comes through commissions which compels from each
The sixth part of his substance to be levied
Without delay, and the pretence for this
Is named your wars in France. This makes bold mouths.
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
This 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 HENRY
By my life,
This is against our pleasure.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
And for me,
I have no further gone in this than by
A single voice, and that not passed me but
By learned approbation of the judges. If I am
Traduced by ignorant tongues, which neither know
My faculties nor person yet will be
The chronicles of my doing, let me say
‘Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virtue must go through. We must not stint
Our necessary actions in the fear
To cope malicious censurers, which ever,
As rav’nous fishes, do a vessel follow
That is new trimmed, but benefit no further
Than vainly longing. What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours or not allowed; what worst, as oft,
Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up
For our best act. If we shall stand still,
In fear our motion will be mocked or carped at,
We should take root here where we sit,
Or sit state-statues only.
KING HENRY
Things done well,
And with a care, exempt themselves from fear;
Things done without example, in their issue
Are to be feared. Have you a precedent
Of this commission? I believe not any.
We must not rend our subjects from our laws
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each?
A trembling contribution! Why, we take
From every tree lop, bark, and part o‘th’ timber,
And though we leave it with a root, thus hacked
The air will drink the sap. To every county
Where this is questioned send our letters with
Free pardon to each man that has denied
The force of this commission. Pray look to’t—
I put it to your care.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (to a secretary) A word with you.
Let there be letters writ to every shire
Of the King’s grace and pardon.
(Aside to the secretary)
The grieved commons
Hardly conceive of me. Let it be noised
That through our intercession this revokement
And pardon comes. I shall anon advise you
Further in the proceeding.
Exit secretary
Enter Buckingham’s Surveyor
QUEEN KATHERINE (to the King)
I am sorry that the Duke of Buckingham
Is run in your displeasure.
KING HENRY
It grieves many.
The gentleman is learned, and a most rare speaker,
To nature none more bound; his training such
That he may furnish and instruct great teachers
And never seek for aid out of himself. Yet see,
When these so noble benefits shall prove
Not well disposed, the mind growing once corrupt,
They turn to vicious forms ten times more ugly
Than ever they were fair. This man so complete,
Who was enrolled ’mongst wonders—and when we
Almost with ravished list’ning could not find
His hour of speech a minute—he, my lady,
Hath into monstrous habits put the graces
That once were his, and is become as black
As if besmeared in hell. Sit by us. You shall hear—
This was his gentleman in trust of him—
Things to strike honour sad.
(To Wolsey)
Bid him recount
&
nbsp; The fore-recited practices whereof
We cannot feel too little, hear too much.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (to the Surveyor)
Stand forth, and with bold spirit relate what you
Most like a careful subject have collected
Out of the Duke of Buckingham.
KING HENRY (to the Surveyor)
Speak freely.
BUCKINGHAM’S SURVEYOR
First, it was usual with him, every day
It would infect his speech, that if the King
Should without issue die, he’ll carry it so
To make the sceptre his. These very words
I’ve heard him utter to his son-in-law,
Lord Abergavenny, to whom by oath he menaced
Revenge upon the Cardinal.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (to the King)
Please your highness note
His dangerous conception in this point,
Not friended by his wish to your high person.
His will is most malignant, and it stretches
Beyond you to your friends.
QUEEN KATHERINE
My learned Lord Cardinal,
Deliver all with charity.
KING HENRY (to the surveyor) Speak on.
How grounded he his title to the crown
Upon our fail? To this point hast thou heard him
At any time speak aught?
BUCKINGHAM’S SURVEYOR
He was brought to this
By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Hopkins.
KING HENRY
What was that Hopkins?
BUCKINGHAM’S SURVEYOR
Sir, a Chartreux friar,
His confessor, who fed him every minute
With words of sovereignty.
KING HENRY
How know’st thou this?
BUCKINGHAM’S SURVEYOR
Not long before your highness sped to France,
The Duke being at the Rose, within the parish
Saint Lawrence Poutney, did of me demand
What was the speech among the Londoners
Concerning the French journey. I replied
Men feared the French would prove perfidious,
To the King’s danger; presently the Duke
Said ‘twas the fear indeed, and that he doubted
’Twould prove the verity of certain words
Spoke by a holy monk that oft, says he,
‘Hath sent to me, wishing me to permit
John de la Car, my chaplain, a choice hour
To hear from him a matter of some moment;
Whom after under the confession’s seal
He solemnly had sworn, that what he spoke
My chaplain to no creature living but
To me should utter, with demure confidence
This pausingly ensued: “neither the King nor’s heirs”,
Tell you the Duke, “shall prosper. Bid him strive
To win the love o’th’ commonalty. The Duke
Shall govern England.” ’