ALL IS TRUE (HENRY VIII)

Act 3 Scene 1

(Enter Queen Katherine and her women, as at work)
l1l	Queen Katherine	Take thy lute, wench. My soul grows sad with 		troubles.
l2l		Sing, and disperse ’em if thou canst. Leave working.
l3l	Gentlewoman	(sings)	Orpheus with his lute made trees,
l4l					And the mountain tops that freeze,
l5l					Bow themselves when he did sing.
l6l					To his music plants and flowers
l7l					Ever sprung, as sun and showers
l8l					There had made a lasting spring.
l9l					Everything that heard him play,
l10l					Even the billows of the sea,
l11l					Hung their heads, and then lay by.
l12l					In sweet music is such art,
l13l					Killing care and grief of heart
l14l					Fall asleep, or hearing, die.
		(Enter Griffith, a gentleman)
l15l	Queen Katherine	How now?
l16l	[Griffith]	An ’t please your grace, the two great cardinals
l17l		Wait in the presence.
	Queen Katherine				Would they speak with me?
l18l	[Griffith]	They willed me say so, madam.
	Queen Katherine							Pray their graces
l19l		To come near.
		(Exit Griffith)
						What can be their business
l20l		With me, a poor weak woman, fall’n from favour?
l21l		I do not like their coming, now I think on ’t;
l22l		They should be good men, their affairs as righteous—
l23l		But all hoods make not monks.
		(Enter the two cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius, ushered 		by Griffith)
	Cardinal Wolsey							Peace to your highness.
l24l	Queen Katherine	Your graces find me here part of a housewife—
l25l		I would be all, against the worst may happen.
l26l		What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?
l27l	Cardinal Wolsey	May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw
l28l		Into your private chamber, we shall give you
l29l		The full cause of our coming.
	Queen Katherine						Speak it here.
l30l		There’s nothing I have done yet, o’ my conscience,
l31l		Deserves a corner. Would all other women
l32l		Could speak this with as free a soul as I do.
l33l		My lords, I care not—so much I am happy
l34l		Above a number—if my actions
l35l		Were tried by ev’ry tongue, ev’ry eye saw ’em,
l36l		Envy and base opinion set against ’em,
l37l		I know my life so even. If your business
l38l		Seek me out and that way I am wife in,
l39l		Out with it boldly. Truth loves open dealing.
l40l	Cardinal Wolsey	Tanta est erga te mentis integritas, Regina 				serenissima—
l41l	Queen Katherine	O, good my lord, no Latin.
l42l		I am not such a truant since my coming
l43l		As not to know the language I have lived in.
l44l		A strange tongue makes my cause more strange 				suspicious—
l45l		Pray, speak in English. Here are some will thank you,
l46l		If you speak truth, for their poor mistress’ sake.
l47l		Believe me, she has had much wrong. Lord Cardinal,
l48l		The willing’st sin I ever yet committed
l49l		May be absolved in English.
	Cardinal Wolsey							Noble lady,
l50l		I am sorry my integrity should breed—
l51l		And service to his majesty and you—
l52l		So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant.
l53l		We come not by the way of accusation,
l54l		To taint that honour every good tongue blesses,
l55l		Nor to betray you any way to sorrow—
l56l		You have too much, good lady—but to know
l57l		How you stand minded in the weighty difference
l58l		Between the King and you, and to deliver,
l59l		Like free and honest men, our just opinions
l60l		And comforts to your cause.
	Cardinal Campeius						Most honoured madam,
l61l		My lord of York, out of his noble nature,
l62l		Zeal, and obedience he still bore your grace,
l63l		Forgetting, like a good man, your late censure
l64l		Both of his truth and him—which was too far—
l65l		Offers, as I do, in a sign of peace,
l66l		His service and his counsel.
	Queen Katherine	(aside)				To betray me.
l67l		(Aloud) My lords, I thank you both for your good wills.
l68l		Ye speak like honest men—pray God ye prove so.
l69l		But how to make ye suddenly an answer
l70l		In such a point of weight, so near mine honour—
l71l		More near my life, I fear—with my weak wit,
l72l		And to such men of gravity and learning,
l73l		In truth I know not. I was set at work
l74l		Among my maids, full little—God knows—looking
l75l		Either for such men or such business.
l76l		For her sake that I have been—for I feel
l77l		The last fit of my greatness—good your graces,
l78l		Let me have time and counsel for my cause.
l79l		Alas, I am a woman friendless, hopeless.
l80l	Cardinal Wolsey	Madam, you wrong the King’s love with these fears.
l81l		Your hopes and friends are infinite.
	Queen Katherine								In England
l82l		But little for my profit. Can you think, lords,
l83l		That any Englishman dare give me counsel,
l84l		Or be a known friend ’gainst his highness’ pleasure—
l85l		Though he be grown so desperate to be honest—
l86l		And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
l87l		They that must weigh out my afflictions,
l88l		They that my trust must grow to, live not here.
l89l		They are, as all my other comforts, far hence,
l90l		In mine own country, lords.
	Cardinal Campeius					I would your grace
l91l		Would leave your griefs and take my counsel.
	Queen Katherine										How, sir?
l92l	Cardinal Campeius	Put your main cause into the King’s protection.
l93l		He’s loving and most gracious. ’Twill be much
l94l		Both for your honour better and your cause,
l95l		For if the trial of the law o’ertake ye
l96l		You’ll part away disgraced.
	Cardinal Wolsey	(to the Queen)			 He tells you rightly.
l97l	Queen Katherine	Ye tell me what ye wish for both—my ruin.
l98l		Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon ye!
l99l		Heaven is above all yet—there sits a judge
l100l		That no king can corrupt.
	Cardinal Campeius					Your rage mistakes us.
l101l	Queen Katherine	The more shame for ye! Holy men I thought ye,
l102l		Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues—
l103l		But cardinal sins and hollow hearts I fear ye.
l104l		Mend ’em, for shame, my lords! Is this your comfort?
l105l		The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady,
l106l		A woman lost among ye, laughed at, scorned?
l107l		I will not wish ye half my miseries—
l108l		I have more charity. But say I warned ye.
l109l		Take heed, for heaven’s sake take heed, lest at once
l110l		The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.
l111l	Cardinal Wolsey	Madam, this is a mere distraction.
l112l		You turn the good we offer into envy.
l113l	Queen Katherine	Ye turn me into nothing. Woe upon ye,
l114l		And all such false professors. Would you have me—
l115l		If you have any justice, any pity,
l116l		If ye be anything but churchmen’s habits—
l117l		Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
l118l		Alas, he’s banished me his bed already—
l119l		His love, too, long ago. I am old, my lords,
l120l		And all the fellowship I hold now with him
l121l		Is only my obedience. What can happen
l122l		To me above this wretchedness? All your studies
l123l		Make me accursed like this.
	Cardinal Campeius						Your fears are worse.
l124l	Queen Katherine	Have I lived thus long—let me speak myself,
l125l		Since virtue finds no friends—a wife, a true one?
l126l		A woman, I dare say, without vainglory,
l127l		Never yet branded with suspicion?
l128l		Have I with all my full affections
l129l		Still met the King, loved him next heav’n, obeyed him,
l130l		Been out of fondness superstitious to him,
l131l		Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
l132l		And am I thus rewarded? ’Tis not well, lords.
l133l		Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
l134l		One that ne’er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure,
l135l		And to that woman when she has done most,
l136l		Yet will I add an honour, a great patience.
l137l	Cardinal Wolsey	Madam, you wander from the good we aim at.
l138l	Queen Katherine	My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty
l139l		To give up willingly that noble title
l140l		Your master wed me to. Nothing but death
l141l		Shall e’er divorce my dignities.
	Cardinal Wolsey								Pray, hear me.
l142l	Queen Katherine	Would I had never trod this English earth,
l143l		Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it.
l144l		Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
l145l		What will become of me now, wretched lady?
l146l		I am the most unhappy woman living.
l147l		(To her women)
		Alas, poor wenches, where are now your fortunes?
l148l		Shipwrecked upon a kingdom where no pity,
l149l		No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me?
l150l		Almost no grave allowed me? Like the lily,
l151l		That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
l152l		I’ll hang my head and perish.
	Cardinal Wolsey							If your grace
l153l		Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
l154l		You’d feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
l155l		Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas, our places,
l156l		The way of our profession, is against it.
l157l		We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
l158l		For goodness’ sake, consider what you do,
l159l		How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly
l160l		Grow from the King’s acquaintance by this carriage.
l161l		The hearts of princes kiss obedience,
l162l		So much they love it, but to stubborn spirits
l163l		They swell and grow as terrible as storms.
l164l		I know you have a gentle noble temper,
l165l		A soul as even as a calm. Pray, think us
l166l		Those we profess—peacemakers, friends, and servants.
l167l	Cardinal Campeius	Madam, you’ll find it so. You wrong your virtues
l168l		With these weak women’s fears. A noble spirit,
l169l		As yours was put into you, ever casts
l170l		Such doubts as false coin from it. The King loves you.
l171l		Beware you lose it not. For us, if you please
l172l		To trust us in your business, we are ready
l173l		To use our utmost studies in your service.
l174l	Queen Katherine	Do what ye will, my lords, and pray forgive me.
l175l		If I have used myself unmannerly,
l176l		You know I am a woman, lacking wit
l177l		To make a seemly answer to such persons.
l178l		Pray do my service to his majesty.
l179l		He has my heart yet, and shall have my prayers
l180l		While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
l181l		Bestow your counsels on me. She now begs
l182l		That little thought, when she set footing here,
l183l		She should have bought her dignities so dear.
		(Exeunt)