Enter the Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Suffolk, Lord Surrey,
and Lord Chamberlain.NORFOLK If you will now unite in your complaints And force them with a constancy, the Cardinal
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Cannot stand under them. If you omit The offer of this time, I cannot promise5 But that you shall sustain more new disgraces With these you bear already.SURREY I am joyful To meet the least occasion that may give me Remembrance of my father-in-law the Duke,10 To be revenged on him.SUFFOLK Which of the peers Have uncontemned gone by him, or at least Strangely neglected? When did he regard The stamp of nobleness in any person15 Out of himself?CHAMBERLAIN 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 cannot20 Bar his access to th’ King, never attempt Anything on him, for he hath a witchcraft Over the King in ’s tongue.NORFOLK O, fear him not. His spell in that is out. The King hath found25 Matter against him that forever mars The honey of his language. No, he’s settled, Not to come off, in his displeasure.SURREY Sir, I should be glad to hear such news as this30 Once every hour.NORFOLK Believe it, this is true. In the divorce his contrary proceedings Are all unfolded, wherein he appears As I would wish mine enemy.SURREY 35 How came His practices to light?SUFFOLK Most strangely.SURREY O, how, how?
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SUFFOLK The Cardinal’s letters to the Pope miscarried40 And came to th’ eye o’ th’ King, wherein was read How that the Cardinal did entreat his Holiness To stay the judgment o’ th’ divorce; for if It did take place, “I do,” quoth he, “perceive My king is tangled in affection to45 A creature of the Queen’s, Lady Anne Bullen.”SURREY Has the King this?SUFFOLK Believe it.SURREY Will this work?CHAMBERLAIN The King in this perceives him how he coasts50 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.SURREY Would he had!SUFFOLK 55 May you be happy in your wish, my lord, For I profess you have it.SURREY Now, all my joy Trace the conjunction!SUFFOLK My amen to ’t.NORFOLK 60 All men’s.SUFFOLK 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 complete65 In mind and feature. I persuade me, from her Will fall some blessing to this land which shall In it be memorized.SURREY But will the King Digest this letter of the Cardinal’s?70 The Lord forbid!
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NORFOLK Marry, amen!SUFFOLK No, no. There be more wasps that buzz about his nose Will make this sting the sooner. Cardinal Campeius75 Is stol’n away to Rome, hath ta’en no leave, Has left the cause o’ th’ King unhandled, and Is posted as the agent of our cardinal To second all his plot. I do assure you The King cried “Ha!” at this.CHAMBERLAIN 80 Now God incense him, And let him cry “Ha!” louder.NORFOLK But, my lord, When returns Cranmer?SUFFOLK He is returned in his opinions, which85 Have satisfied the King for his divorce, Together with all famous colleges Almost in Christendom. Shortly, I believe, His second marriage shall be published, and Her coronation. Katherine no more90 Shall be called queen, but princess dowager And widow to Prince Arthur.NORFOLK This same Cranmer’s A worthy fellow, and hath ta’en much pain In the King’s business.SUFFOLK 95 He has, and we shall see him For it an archbishop.NORFOLK So I hear.SUFFOLK ’Tis so.Enter Wolsey and Cromwell, ⌜meeting.⌝ The Cardinal!NORFOLK 100 Observe, observe; he’s moody.⌜They stand aside.⌝WOLSEY The packet, Cromwell; Gave ’t you the King?
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CROMWELL To his own hand, in ’s bedchamber.WOLSEY Looked he o’ th’ inside of the paper?CROMWELL 105 Presently He did unseal them, and the first he viewed, He did it with a serious mind; a heed Was in his countenance. You he bade Attend him here this morning.WOLSEY 110 Is he ready To come abroad?CROMWELL I think by this he is.WOLSEY Leave me awhile.Cromwell exits. ⌜Aside.⌝ It shall be to the Duchess of Alençon,115 The French king’s sister; he shall marry her. Anne Bullen? No, I’ll no Anne Bullens for him. There’s more in ’t than fair visage. Bullen? No, we’ll no Bullens. Speedily I wish To hear from Rome. The Marchioness of Pembroke!NORFOLK 120 He’s discontented.SUFFOLK Maybe he hears the King Does whet his anger to him.SURREY Sharp enough, Lord, for thy justice!WOLSEY, ⌜aside⌝ 125 The late queen’s gentlewoman, a knight’s daughter, 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 for130 A spleeny Lutheran, and not wholesome to Our cause that she should lie i’ th’ bosom of Our hard-ruled king. Again, there is sprung up An heretic, an arch-one, Cranmer, one
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Hath crawled into the favor of the King135 And is his oracle.NORFOLK He is vexed at something.SURREY I would ’twere something that would fret the string, The master-cord on ’s heart.SUFFOLK The King, the King!Enter King, reading of a schedule, ⌜with Lovell
and Attendants.⌝KING 140 What piles of wealth hath he accumulated To his own portion! And what expense by th’ hour Seems to flow from him! How i’ th’ name of thrift Does he rake this together? ⌜Seeing the nobles.⌝ Now, my lords,145 Saw you the Cardinal?NORFOLK, ⌜indicating Wolsey⌝ 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,150 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.KING 155 It may well be There is a mutiny in ’s mind. This morning Papers of state he sent me to peruse, As I required, and wot you what I found? There—on my conscience, put unwittingly—160 Forsooth, an inventory, thus importing The several parcels of his plate, his treasure, Rich stuffs and ornaments of household, which I find at such proud rate that it outspeaks Possession of a subject.
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NORFOLK 165 It’s heaven’s will! Some spirit put this paper in the packet To bless your eye withal.KING, ⌜studying Wolsey⌝ If we did think His contemplation were above the Earth170 And fixed on spiritual object, he should still Dwell in his musings, but I am afraid His thinkings are below the moon, not worth His serious considering.King takes his seat, whispers Lovell,
who goes to the Cardinal.WOLSEY Heaven forgive me!175 Ever God bless your Highness.KING Good my lord, You are full of heavenly stuff and bear the inventory Of your best graces in your mind, the which You were now running o’er. You have scarce time180 To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span To keep your earthly audit. Sure, in that I deem you an ill husband, and am glad To have you therein my companion.WOLSEY Sir,185 For holy offices I have a time; a time To think upon the part of business which I bear i’ th’ state; and Nature does require Her times of preservation, which perforce I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,190 Must give my tendance to.KING You have said well.WOLSEY And ever may your Highness yoke together, As I will lend you cause, my doing well With my well saying.KING 195 ’Tis well said again, And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well. And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you;
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He said he did, and with his deed did crown His word upon you. Since I had my office200 I have kept you next my heart, have not alone Employed you where high profits might come home, But pared my present havings to bestow My bounties upon you.WOLSEY, ⌜aside⌝ What should this mean?SURREY, ⌜aside⌝ 205 The Lord increase this business!KING Have I not made you The prime man of the state? I pray you tell me If what I now pronounce you have found true; And, if you may confess it, say withal210 If you are bound to us or no. What say you?WOLSEY My sovereign, I confess your royal graces, Showered on me daily, have been more than could My studied purposes requite, which went Beyond all man’s endeavors. My endeavors215 Have ever come too short of my desires, Yet ⌜filed⌝ with my abilities. Mine own ends Have been mine so, that evermore they pointed To th’ good of your most sacred person and The profit of the state. For your great graces220 Heaped upon me, poor undeserver, I Can nothing render but allegiant thanks, My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty, Which ever has and ever shall be growing Till death—that winter—kill it.KING 225 Fairly answered. A loyal and obedient subject is Therein illustrated. The honor of it Does pay the act of it, as, i’ th’ contrary, The foulness is the punishment. I presume230 That, as my hand has opened bounty to you, My heart dropped love, my power rained honor, more
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On you than any, so your hand and heart, Your brain, and every function of your power Should—notwithstanding that your bond of duty235 As ’twere in love’s particular—be more To me, your friend, than any.WOLSEY I do profess That for your Highness’ good I ever labored More than mine own, that am, have, and will be—240 Though all the world should crack their duty to you And throw it from their soul, though perils did Abound as thick as thought could make ’em, and Appear in forms more horrid—yet my duty, As doth a rock against the chiding flood,245 Should the approach of this wild river break, And stand unshaken yours.KING ’Tis nobly spoken.— Take notice, lords: he has a loyal breast, For you have seen him open ’t.⌜He hands Wolsey papers.⌝250 Read o’er this, And after, this; and then to breakfast with What appetite you have.King exits, frowning upon the Cardinal;
the nobles throng after him smiling
and whispering, ⌜and exit.⌝WOLSEY What should this mean? What sudden anger’s this? How have I reaped it?255 He parted frowning from me, as if ruin Leaped from his eyes. So looks the chafèd lion Upon the daring huntsman that has galled him, Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper— I fear, the story of his anger.⌜He reads one of the papers.⌝260 ’Tis so. This paper has undone me. ’Tis th’ accompt Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
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For mine own ends—indeed, to gain the popedom And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence,265 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 know270 A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune Will bring me off again.⌜He looks at another paper.⌝ What’s this? “To th’ Pope”? The letter, as I live, with all the business I writ to ’s Holiness. Nay then, farewell!275 I have touched 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.Enter to Wolsey the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, the
Earl of Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain.NORFOLK 280 Hear the King’s pleasure, cardinal, who commands you To render up the great seal presently Into our hands, and to confine yourself To Asher House, my Lord of Winchester’s,285 Till you hear further from his Highness.WOLSEY Stay. Where’s your commission, lords? Words cannot carry Authority so weighty.SUFFOLK Who dare cross ’em,290 Bearing the King’s will from his mouth expressly?WOLSEY 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
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Of what coarse metal you are molded, envy;295 How eagerly you follow my disgraces, As if it fed you, and how sleek and wanton You appear in everything may bring my ruin. Follow your envious courses, men of malice; You have Christian warrant for ’em, and no doubt300 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 honors, During my life; and to confirm his goodness,305 Tied it by letters patents. Now, who’ll take it?SURREY The King that gave it.WOLSEY It must be himself, then.SURREY Thou art a proud traitor, priest.WOLSEY Proud lord, thou liest.310 Within these forty hours Surrey durst better Have burnt that tongue than said so.SURREY Thy ambition, Thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law.315 The heads of all thy brother cardinals, With thee and all thy best parts bound together, Weighed not a hair of his. Plague of your policy! You sent me Deputy for Ireland, Far from his succor, from the King, from all320 That might have mercy on the fault thou gav’st him, Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity, Absolved him with an ax.WOLSEY This, and all else This talking lord can lay upon my credit,325 I answer, is most false. The Duke by law Found his deserts. How innocent I was From any private malice in his end,
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His noble jury and foul cause can witness.— If I loved many words, lord, I should tell you330 You have as little honesty as honor, That 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.SURREY 335 By my soul, Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou shouldst feel My sword i’ th’ life blood of thee else.—My lords, Can you endure to hear this arrogance? And from this fellow? If we live thus tamely,340 To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet, Farewell, nobility. Let his Grace go forward And dare us with his cap, like larks.WOLSEY All goodness Is poison to thy stomach.SURREY 345 Yes, that goodness Of gleaning all the land’s wealth into one, Into your own hands, card’nal, by extortion; The goodness of your intercepted packets You writ to th’ Pope against the King. Your goodness,350 Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.— My Lord of Norfolk, as you are truly noble, As you respect the common good, the state Of our despised nobility, our issues, Whom, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen,355 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.WOLSEY How much, methinks, I could despise this man,360 But that I am bound in charity against it!NORFOLK Those articles, my lord, are in the King’s hand; But thus much, they are foul ones.
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WOLSEY So much fairer And spotless shall mine innocence arise365 When the King knows my truth.SURREY 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,370 You’ll show a little honesty.WOLSEY Speak on, sir. I dare your worst objections. If I blush, It is to see a nobleman want manners.SURREY I had rather want those than my head. Have at you:375 First, that without the King’s assent or knowledge, You wrought to be a legate, by which power You maimed the jurisdiction of all bishops.NORFOLK Then, that in all you writ to Rome, or else To foreign princes, “ego et rex meus”380 Was still inscribed, in which you brought the King To be your servant.SUFFOLK Then, that without the knowledge Either of king or council, when you went Ambassador to the Emperor, you made bold385 To carry into Flanders the great seal.SURREY Item, you sent a large commission To Gregory de Cassado, to conclude, Without the King’s will or the state’s allowance, A league between his Highness and Ferrara.SUFFOLK 390 That out of mere ambition you have caused Your holy hat to be stamped on the King’s coin.SURREY Then, that you have sent innumerable substance— By what means got I leave to your own conscience—
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To furnish Rome and to prepare the ways395 You have for dignities, to the mere undoing Of all the kingdom. Many more there are Which, since they are of you, and odious, I will not taint my mouth with.CHAMBERLAIN O, my lord,400 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.SURREY I forgive him.SUFFOLK 405 Lord Cardinal, the King’s further pleasure is— Because all those things you have done of late By your power legative within this kingdom Fall into th’ compass of a praemunire— That therefore such a writ be sued against you,410 To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements, ⌜Chattels,⌝ and whatsoever, and to be Out of the King’s protection. This is my charge.NORFOLK And so we’ll leave you to your meditations How to live better. For your stubborn answer415 About the giving back the great seal to us, The King shall know it and, no doubt, shall thank you. So, fare you well, my little good Lord Cardinal.WOLSEY So, farewell to the little good you bear me.All but Wolsey exit.420 Farewell? A long farewell to all my greatness! This is the state of man: today he puts forth The tender leaves of hopes; tomorrow blossoms And bears his blushing honors thick upon him; The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,425 And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
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His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory,430 But far beyond my depth. My high-blown pride At length broke under me and now has left me, Weary and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream that must forever hide me. Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate you.435 I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors! There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to, That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, More pangs and fears than wars or women have;440 And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, Never to hope again.Enter Cromwell, standing amazed. Why, how now, Cromwell?CROMWELL I have no power to speak, sir.WOLSEY What, amazed445 At my misfortunes? Can thy spirit wonder A great man should decline? Nay, an you weep, I am fall’n indeed.CROMWELL How does your Grace?WOLSEY Why, well.450 Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. I know myself now, and I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. The King has cured me— I humbly thank his Grace—and from these shoulders,455 These ruined pillars, out of pity, taken A load would sink a navy: too much honor. O, ’tis a burden, Cromwell, ’tis a burden Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven.
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CROMWELL I am glad your Grace has made that right use of it.WOLSEY 460 I hope I have. I am able now, methinks, Out of a fortitude of soul I feel, To endure more miseries and greater far Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer. What news abroad?CROMWELL 465 The heaviest and the worst Is your displeasure with the King.WOLSEY God bless him.CROMWELL The next is that Sir Thomas More is chosen Lord Chancellor in your place.WOLSEY 470 That’s somewhat sudden. But he’s a learnèd man. May he continue Long in his Highness’ favor and do justice For truth’s sake and his conscience, that his bones, When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,475 May have a tomb of orphans’ tears wept on him. What more?CROMWELL That Cranmer is returned with welcome, Installed Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.WOLSEY That’s news indeed.CROMWELL 480 Last, that the Lady Anne, Whom the King hath in secrecy long married, This day was viewed in open as his queen, Going to chapel, and the voice is now Only about her coronation.WOLSEY 485 There was the weight that pulled me down. O Cromwell, The King has gone beyond me. All my glories In that one woman I have lost forever.
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No sun shall ever usher forth mine honors,490 Or gild again the noble troops that waited Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell. I am a poor fall’n man, unworthy now To be thy lord and master. Seek the King; That sun, I pray, may never set! I have told him495 What and how true thou art. He will advance thee; Some little memory of me will stir him— I know his noble nature—not to let Thy hopeful service perish too. Good Cromwell, Neglect him not. Make use now, and provide500 For thine own future safety.CROMWELL, ⌜weeping⌝ O, my lord, Must I then leave you? Must I needs forgo So good, so noble, and so true a master? Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,505 With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord. The King shall have my service, but my prayers Forever and forever shall be yours.WOLSEY, ⌜weeping⌝ Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries, but thou hast forced me,510 Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. Let’s dry our eyes. And thus far hear me, Cromwell, And when I am forgotten, as I shall be, And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Of me more must be heard of, say I taught thee;515 Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory And sounded all the depths and shoals of honor, Found thee a way, out of his wrack, to rise in, A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it. Mark but my fall and that that ruined me.520 Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition! By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then, The image of his maker, hope to win by it?
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Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee. Corruption wins not more than honesty.525 Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not. Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s. Then if thou fall’st, O Cromwell, Thou fall’st a blessèd martyr.530 Serve the King. And, prithee, lead me in. There take an inventory of all I have To the last penny; ’tis the King’s. My robe And my integrity to heaven is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,535 Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, He would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies.CROMWELL Good sir, have patience.WOLSEY So I have. Farewell,540 The hopes of court! My hopes in heaven do dwell.They exit.
