CARDINAL WOLSEY My sovereign, I confess your royal graces210,
Showered on me daily, have been more than could211
My studied purposes requite, which went
Beyond all man’s endeavours. My endeavours
Have ever come too short of my desires,
Yet filed215 with my abilities: mine own ends
Have been mine so216 that evermore they pointed
To th’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 allegiant220 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 VIII Fairly answered:
A loyal and obedient subject is
Therein illustrated: the honour of it226
Does pay the act of it, as i’th’contrary
The foulness228 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 power232,
Should, notwithstanding that your233 bond of duty,
As ’twere in love’s particular234, be more
To me, your friend, than any.
CARDINAL WOLSEY I do profess
That for your highness’ good I ever laboured
More than mine own: that am, have and will be238 —
Though all the world should crack239 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 horrid242 — yet my duty,
As doth a rock against the chiding243 flood,
Should the approach of this wild river break244,
And stand unshaken yours.
KING HENRY VIII ’Tis nobly spoken:
Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,
Gives Wolsey a paper
For you have seen him open’t. Read o’er this,
Gives him another paper
And after, this, and then to breakfast with
What appetite you have.
Exit King, frowning upon the Cardinal, the Nobles throng after him, smiling and whispering
CARDINAL WOLSEY 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 chafèd254 lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has galled255 him:
Then makes him nothing256. I must read this paper:
He reads one of the papers
I fear the story257 of his anger.— ’Tis so:
This paper has undone me: ’tis the account258
Of all that world259 of wealth I have drawn together
For mine own ends — indeed, to gain the popedom,
And fee261 my friends in Rome. O negligence,
Fit for a fool to fall by! What cross262 devil
Made me put this main263 secret in the packet
I sent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device265 to beat this from his brains?
I know ’twill stir266 him strongly. Yet I know
A way, if it take right267, in spite of fortune
Will bring me off268 again. What’s this? ‘To th’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 meridian272 of my glory,
I haste now to my setting273. I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation274 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 Hear the king’s pleasure, cardinal, who commands you
To render up the great seal presently277
Into our hands, and to confine yourself
To Asher House279, my lord of Winchester’s,
Till you hear further from his highness.
CARDINAL WOLSEY Stay:
Where’s your commission282, lords? Words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.
SUFFOLK Who dare cross284 ’em,
Bearing the king’s will from his mouth expressly?
CARDINAL WOLSEY Till I find more than will or words to do it286 —
I mean your malice — know, officious lords,
I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded: envy289.
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,
As if it fed ye, and how sleek and wanton291
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 rewards295. That seal
You ask with such a violence, the king,
Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me:
Bade me enjoy298 it, with the place and honours,
During my life: and to confirm his goodness,
Tied it by letters patents300. Now, who’ll take it?
SURREY The king, that gave it.
CARDINAL WOLSEY It must be himself, then.
SURREY Thou art a proud traitor, priest.
CARDINAL WOLSEY Proud lord, thou liest:
Within these forty hours305 Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue than said so.
SURREY Thy ambition,
Thou scarlet sin308, robbed this bewailing land
Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law:
The heads of all thy brother cardinals,
With thee, and all thy best parts311 bound together,
Weighed not a hair of his. Plague of your policy312,
You sent me deputy for Ireland,
Far from his succour314, from the king, from all
That might have mercy on the fault thou gav’st315 him:
Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity,
Absolved him with an axe.
CARDINAL WOLSEY This, and all else
This talking lord can lay upon my credit319,
I answer is most false. The duke by law
Found his deserts. How innocent I was
From322 any private malice in his end,
His noble jury and foul cause323 can witness.
If I loved many words, lord, I should tell you
You have as little honesty as honour,
That326 in the way of loyalty and truth
Toward the king, my ever royal master,
Dare mate328 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 fellow334? If we live thus tamely,
To be thus jaded335 by a piece of scarlet,
Farewell nobility: let his grace go forward,
And dare us with his cap, like larks337.
CARDINAL WOLSEY All goodness
Is poison to thy stomach.
SURREY 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,
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 ou
r despised nobility, our issues348,
Whom if he349 live will scarce be gentlemen,
Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles350
Collected from his life. I’ll startle you
Worse than the sacring bell, when the brown wench352
Lay kissing in your arms, lord cardinal.
Aside
CARDINAL WOLSEY 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 hand356:
But thus much: they are foul357 ones.
CARDINAL WOLSEY 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 out363 they shall.
Now, if you can blush and cry ‘Guilty’, cardinal,
You’ll show a little honesty.
CARDINAL WOLSEY Speak on, sir:
I dare your worst objections367: if I blush,
It is to see a nobleman want368 manners.
SURREY I had rather want those than my head. Have at you!369
First, that without the king’s assent or knowledge,
You wrought to be a legate371, 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’374
Was still375 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 bold379
To carry into Flanders380 the great seal.
SURREY Item, you sent a large commission381
To Gregory de Cassado382, to conclude
Without the king’s will or the state’s allowance383,
A league between his highness and Ferrara384.
SUFFOLK That out of mere385 ambition, you have caused
Your holy hat to be stamped on the king’s coin.
SURREY Then, that you have sent innumerable substance387 —
By what means got, I leave to your own conscience —
To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways389
You have for dignities, to the mere undoing390
Of all the kingdom. Many more391 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 virtue395:
His faults lie open396 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 legative402 within this kingdom,
Fall into th’compass of a praemunire403,
That therefore such a writ be sued404 against you,
To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements405,
Castles406, and whatsoever, and to be
Out of the king’s protection. This is my charge407.
NORFOLK And so we’ll leave you to your meditations
How to live better. For409 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 WOLSEY 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 tender416 leaves of hopes: tomorrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing417 honours thick upon him:
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good easy419 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 bladders422,
This423 many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown424 pride
At length broke under me, and now has left me
Weary, and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream427, that must for ever hide me.
Vain428 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 ruin432,
More pangs433 and fears than wars or women have:
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer434,
Never to hope again.
Enter Cromwell, standing amazed
Why, how now, Cromwell?
CROMWELL I have no power to speak, sir.
CARDINAL WOLSEY What, amazed
At my misfortunes? Can thy spirit wonder
A great man should decline? Nay, an439 you weep
I am fall’n indeed.
CROMWELL How does your grace?
Never so truly happy443, 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 pillars448, 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 it452.
CARDINAL WOLSEY 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 heaviest458 and the worst
Is your displeasure459 with the king.
CARDINAL WOLSEY God bless him.
CROMWELL The next is that Sir Thomas More is chosen
Lord Chancellor in your place.
CARDINAL WOLSEY That’s somewhat sudden,
But he’s a learnèd man. May he continue
Long in his highness’ favour, and do justice
For truth’s sake and his conscience, that466 his bones,
When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,
May have a tomb of orphans’468 tears wept on him.
What more?
CROMWELL That Cranmer is returned with welcome,
Installed Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
CARDINAL WOLSEY That’s news indeed.
CROMWELL Last, that the Lady Anne,
Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
This day was viewed in open475 as his queen,
Going to chapel, and the voice476 is now
Only about her coronation.
CARDINAL WOLSEY There was the weight that pulled me down.
O Cromwell,
The king has gone beyond480 me: all my glories
In481 that one woman I have lost for ever.
No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
Or gild again the noble troops483 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 hopeful491 service perish too. Good Cromwell,
Neglect him not: make use492 now, and provide
For thine own future safety.
CROMWELL O my lord,
Must I then leave you? Must I needs forgo495
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.
He weeps
CARDINAL WOLSEY 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 woman503.
Let’s dry our eyes: and thus far hear me Cromwell,
And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull506 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 shoals509 of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck510, to rise in:
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark512 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.
Still518 in thy right hand carry gentle peace