The Illustrated Works of Shakespeare/Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, The (1990)(Animated Pixels)[!][CDTV-PC].iso/shakes/text/15/03_02

Text File | 1991-04-10 | 24KB | 670 lines

Antechamber to the King's Apartment.
 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
    Cannot stand under them. If you omit
    The offer of this time, I cannot promise
    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,
    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 person
    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 cannot
    Bar his access to the 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 found
    Matter against him that for ever 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 this
    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                            How came
    His practices to light?

Suffolk                                Most strangely.

Surrey                                    O, how, how?

Suffolk    The cardinal's letters to the Pope miscarried,
    And came to the eye o'th'king, wherein was read
    How that the cardinal did entreat his holiness
    To stay the judgement o'th'divorce; for if
    It did take place, 'I do', quoth he, 'perceive
    My king is tangled in affection to
    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 coasts
    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    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                                    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 complete
    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?
    The Lord forbid!

Norfolk                    Marry, amen!

Suffolk                                    No, no;
    There be more wasps that buzz about his nose
    Will make this sting the sooner. Cardinal Campeius
    Is stolen 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                                Now God incense him,
    And let him cry 'Ha!' louder!

Norfolk                                    But, my lord,
    When returns Cranmer?

Suffolk    He is returned in his opinions, which
    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. Katharine no more
    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                        He has, and we shall see him
    For it an archbishop.

Norfolk                        So I hear.

Suffolk                                    'Tis so.

                        Enter WOLSEY and CROMWELL.

    The cardinal!

Norfolk                    Observe, observe, he's moody.

Cardinal    The packet Cromwell, gave't you the king?

Cromwell    To his own hand, in's bedchamber.

Cardinal    Looked he o'th'inside of the paper?

Cromwell                                    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.

Cardinal                                Is he ready
    To come abroad?

Cromwell                    I think by this he is.

Cardinal    Leave me awhile.
                                            [Exit CROMWELL.
    [Aside.] It shall be to the Duchess of Alenon,
    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    He's discontented.

Suffolk                        May be he hears the king
    Does whet his anger to him.

Surrey                                Sharp enough,
    Lord, for thy justice.

Cardinal    [Aside.]
    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 for
    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
    Hath crawled into the favour of the king,
    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!

                Enter KING reading a schedule, and LOVELL.

Suffolk                                The king, the king!

King Henry    What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
    To his own portion! And what expense by the hour
    Seems to flow from him! How i'th'name of thrift
    Does he rake this together? Now, my lords,
    Saw you the cardinal?

Norfolk                            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,
    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 Henry                                    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?
    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.

Norfolk                            It's heaven's will.
    Some spirit put this paper in the packet
    To bless your eye withal.

King Henry                                If we did think
    His contemplation were above the earth
    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.

Cardinal                                Heaven forgive me!
    Ever God bless your highness!

King Henry                                    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 time
    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.

Cardinal                                    Sir,
    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,
    Must give my tendance to.

King Henry                            You have said well.

Cardinal    And ever may your highness yoke together,
    As I will lend you cause, my doing well
    With my well saying.

King Henry                        'Tis well said again,
    And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well:
    And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you;
    He said he did; and with his deed did crown
    His word upon you. Since I had my office,
    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.

Cardinal                        What should this mean?

Surrey    [Aside.] The Lord increase this business!

King Henry                                    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 withal
    If you are bound to us, or no. What say you?

Cardinal    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 endeavours: my endeavours
    Have ever come too short of my desires,
    Yet filed with my abilities. Mine own ends
    Have been mine so, that ever more they pointed
    To the good of your most sacred person and
    The profit of the state. For your great graces
    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 Henry                                    Fairly answered;
    A loyal and obedient subject is
    Therein illustrated; the honour of it
    Does pay the act of it, as, i'th'contrary,
    The foulness is the punishment. I presume
    That as my hand has opened bounty to you,
    My heart dropped love, my power rained honour, more
    On you than any; so your hand and heart,
    Your brain, and every function of your power,
    Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,
    As 'twere in love's particular, be more
    To me your friend, than any.

Cardinal                                I do profess,
    That for your highness' good I ever laboured
    More than mine own; that am, have, and will be-
    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,
    Should the approach of this wild river break,
    And stand unshaken yours.

King Henry                                'Tis nobly spoken,
    Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,
    For you have seen him open't.
                                            [Giving him papers.

                                    Read o'er this,
    And after, this: and then to breakfast with
    What appetite you have.
             [Exit KING HENRY frowning upon the CARDINAL; the
                NOBLES throng after him smiling and whispering.

Cardinal                                What should this mean?
    What sudden anger's this? How have I reaped it?
    He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
    Leaped from his eyes: so looks the chafd 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. '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's holiness. Nay then, farewell!
    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.

          Re-enter to WOLSEY, the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK,
              the Earl of SURREY, and the LORD CHAMBERLAIN.

Norfolk    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,
    Till you hear further from his highness.

Cardinal                                    Stay!
    Where's your commission, lords? Words cannot carry
    Authority so weighty.

Suffolk                        Who dare cross 'em,
    Bearing the king's will from his mouth expressly?

Cardinal    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 everything may bring my ruin!
    Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
    You have Christian warrant for 'em, 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?

Surrey    The king that gave it.

Cardinal                            It must be himself then.

Surrey    Thou art a proud traitor, priest.

Cardinal                                    Proud lord, thou liest.
    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:
    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 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,
    Absolved him with an axe.

Cardinal                            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 loved many words, lord, I should tell you
    You have as little honesty as honour,
    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                                    By my soul,
    Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou shouldst feel
    My sword i'th'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 jaded by a piece of scarlet,
    Farewell nobility: let his grace go forward,
    And dare us with his cap, like larks.

Cardinal                                    All goodness
    Is poison to thy stomach.

Surrey                            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 goodness,
    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,
    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.

Cardinal    How much methinks, I could despise this man,
    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.

Cardinal                                    So much fairer
    And spotless shall mine innocence arise,
    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,
    You'll show a little honesty.

Cardinal                                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!
    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
    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 bold
    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    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,
    To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways
    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,
    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    Lord Cardinal, the king's further pleasure is-
    Because all those things you have done of late,
    By your power legatine within this kingdom,
    Fall into the compass of a praemunire-
    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.

Norfolk    And so we'll leave you to your meditations
    How to live better. For your stubborn answer
    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.
                                            [Exeunt all but WOLSEY.

Cardinal    So farewell, to the little good you bear me.
    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 honours thick upon him;
    The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
    And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
    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,
    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 for ever hide me.
    Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye:
    I feel my heart new opened. O how wretched
    Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!
    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;
    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.

Cardinal                                What, amazed
    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?

Cardinal                                    Why, well;
    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,
    These ruined pillars, out of pity, taken
    A load would sink a navy - too much honour:
    O 'tis a burden, Cromwell! 'Tis a burden
    Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven.

Cromwell    I am glad your grace has made that right use of it.

Cardinal    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                        The heaviest and the worst
    Is your displeasure with the king.

Cardinal                                    God bless him!

Cromwell    The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chosen
    Lord Chancellor in your place.

Cardinal                                That's somewhat sudden,
    But he's a learnd man. May he continue
    Long in his highness' favour, and do justice
    For truth's sake, and his conscience; that his bones,
    When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,
    May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on him.
    What more?

Cromwell            That Cranmer is returned with welcome,
    Installed Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.

Cardinal    That's news indeed.

Cromwell                        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.

Cardinal    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 for ever.
    No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
    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 him
    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 provide
    For thine own future safety.

Cromwell                                    O my lord!
    Must I then leave you? Must I needs forego
    So good, so noble, and so true a master?
    Bear witness all that have not hearts of iron,
    With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
    The king shall have my service; but my prayers,
    For ever and for ever, shall be yours.

Cardinal    Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
    In all my miseries, but thou hast forced me,
    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;
    Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
    And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
    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.
    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?
    Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee;
    Corruption wins not more than honesty.
    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 blessd martyr! 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!
    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.

Cardinal                            So I have. Farewell
    The hopes of court! - my hopes in heaven do dwell.
                                            [Exeunt.