1    If you will now unite in your complaints,
2    And force them with a constancy, the cardinal
3    Cannot stand under them: if you omit
4    The offer of this time, I cannot promise
5    But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces,
6    With these you bear already.

7    I am joyful
8    To meet the least occasion that may give me
9    Remembrance of my father-in-law, the duke,
10   To be revenged on him.

11   Which of the peers
12   Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least
13   Strangely neglected? when did he regard
14   The stamp of nobleness in any person
15   Out of himself?

16   My lords, you speak your pleasures:
17   What he deserves of you and me I know;
18   What we can do to him, though now the time
19   Gives way to us, I much fear. If you cannot
20   Bar his access to the king, never attempt
21   Any thing on him; for he hath a witchcraft
22   Over the king in's tongue.

23   O, fear him not;
24   His spell in that is out: the king hath found
25   Matter against him that for ever mars
26   The honey of his language. No, he's settled,
27   Not to come off, in his displeasure.

28   Sir,
29   I should be glad to hear such news as this
30   Once every hour.

31   Believe it, this is true:
32   In the divorce his contrary proceedings
33   Are all unfolded wherein he appears
34   As I would wish mine enemy.

35   How came
36   His practises to light?

37   Most strangely.

38   O, how, how?

39   The cardinal's letters to the pope miscarried,
40   And came to the eye o' the king: wherein was read,
41   How that the cardinal did entreat his holiness
42   To stay the judgment o' the divorce; for if
43   It did take place, 'I do,' quoth he, 'perceive
44   My king is tangled in affection to
45   A creature of the queen's, Lady Anne Bullen.'

46   Has the king this?

47   Believe it.

48   Will this work?

49   The king in this perceives him, how he coasts
50   And hedges his own way. But in this point
51   All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
52   After his patient's death: the king already
53   Hath married the fair lady.

54   Would he had!

55   May you be happy in your wish, my lord
56   For, I profess, you have it.

57   Now, all my joy
58   Trace the conjunction!

59   My amen to't!

60   All men's!

61   There's order given for her coronation:
62   Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left
63   To some ears unrecounted. But, my lords,
64   She is a gallant creature, and complete
65   In mind and feature: I persuade me, from her
66   Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall
67   In it be memorised.

68   But, will the king
69   Digest this letter of the cardinal's?
70   The Lord forbid!

71   Marry, amen!

72   No, no;
73   There be moe wasps that buzz about his nose
74   Will make this sting the sooner. Cardinal Campeius
75   Is stol'n away to Rome; hath ta'en no leave;
76   Has left the cause o' the king unhandled; and
77   Is posted, as the agent of our cardinal,
78   To second all his plot. I do assure you
79   The king cried Ha! at this.

80   Now, God incense him,
81   And let him cry Ha! louder!

82   But, my lord,
83   When returns Cranmer?

84   He is return'd in his opinions; which
85   Have satisfied the king for his divorce,
86   Together with all famous colleges
87   Almost in Christendom: shortly, I believe,
88   His second marriage shall be publish'd, and
89   Her coronation. Katharine no more
90   Shall be call'd queen, but princess dowager
91   And widow to Prince Arthur.

92   This same Cranmer's
93   A worthy fellow, and hath ta'en much pain
94   In the king's business.

95   He has; and we shall see him
96   For it an archbishop.

97   So I hear.

98   'Tis so.
99   The cardinal!

100  Observe, observe, he's moody.

101  The packet, Cromwell.
102  Gave't you the king?

103  To his own hand, in's bedchamber.

104  Look'd he o' the inside of the paper?

105  Presently
106  He did unseal them: and the first he view'd,
107  He did it with a serious mind; a heed
108  Was in his countenance. You he bade
109  Attend him here this morning.

110  Is he ready
111  To come abroad?

112  I think, by this he is.

113  Leave me awhile.
Exit CROMWELL
Aside
114  It shall be to the Duchess of Alencon,
115  The French king's sister: he shall marry her.
116  Anne Bullen! No; I'll no Anne Bullens for him:
117  There's more in't than fair visage. Bullen!
118  No, we'll no Bullens. Speedily I wish
119  To hear from Rome. The Marchioness of Pembroke!

120  He's discontented.

121  May be, he hears the king
122  Does whet his anger to him.

123  Sharp enough,
124  Lord, for thy justice!

Aside
125   The late queen's gentlewoman,
126  a knight's daughter,
127  To be her mistress' mistress! the queen's queen!
128  This candle burns not clear: 'tis I must snuff it;
129  Then out it goes. What though I know her virtuous
130  And well deserving? yet I know her for
131  A spleeny Lutheran; and not wholesome to
132  Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
133  Our hard-ruled king. Again, there is sprung up
134  An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer; one
135  Hath crawl'd into the favour of the king,
136  And is his oracle.

137  He is vex'd at something.

138  I would 'twere something that would fret the string,
139  The master-cord on's heart!

140  The king, the king!

141  What piles of wealth hath he accumulated
142  To his own portion! and what expense by the hour
143  Seems to flow from him! How, i' the name of thrift,
144  Does he rake this together! Now, my lords,
145  Saw you the cardinal?

146  My lord, we have
147  Stood here observing him: some strange commotion
148  Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts;
149  Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
150  Then lays his finger on his temple, straight
151  Springs out into fast gait; then stops again,
152  Strikes his breast hard, and anon he casts
153  His eye against the moon: in most strange postures
154  We have seen him set himself.

155  It may well be;
156  There is a mutiny in's mind. This morning
157  Papers of state he sent me to peruse,
158  As I required: and wot you what I found
159  There,--on my conscience, put unwittingly?
160  Forsooth, an inventory, thus importing;
161  The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
162  Rich stuffs, and ornaments of household; which
163  I find at such proud rate, that it out-speaks
164  Possession of a subject.

165  It's heaven's will:
166  Some spirit put this paper in the packet,
167  To bless your eye withal.

168  If we did think
169  His contemplation were above the earth,
170  And fix'd on spiritual object, he should still
171  Dwell in his musings: but I am afraid
172  His thinkings are below the moon, not worth
173  His serious considering.

174  Heaven forgive me!
175  Ever God bless your highness!

176  Good my lord,
177  You are full of heavenly stuff, and bear the inventory
178  Of your best graces in your mind; the which
179  You were now running o'er: you have scarce time
180  To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span
181  To keep your earthly audit: sure, in that
182  I deem you an ill husband, and am glad
183  To have you therein my companion.

184  Sir,
185  For holy offices I have a time; a time
186  To think upon the part of business which
187  I bear i' the state; and nature does require
188  Her times of preservation, which perforce
189  I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,
190  Must give my tendence to.

191  You have said well.

192  And ever may your highness yoke together,
193  As I will lend you cause, my doing well
194  With my well saying!

195  'Tis well said again;
196  And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well:
197  And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you:
198  His said he did; and with his deed did crown
199  His word upon you. Since I had my office,
200  I have kept you next my heart; have not alone
201  Employ'd you where high profits might come home,
202  But pared my present havings, to bestow
203  My bounties upon you.

Aside
204   What should this mean?

Aside
205   The Lord increase this business!

206  Have I not made you,
207  The prime man of the state? I pray you, tell me,
208  If what I now pronounce you have found true:
209  And, if you may confess it, say withal,
210  If you are bound to us or no. What say you?

211  My sovereign, I confess your royal graces,
212  Shower'd on me daily, have been more than could
213  My studied purposes requite; which went
214  Beyond all man's endeavours: my endeavours
215  Have ever come too short of my desires,
216  Yet filed with my abilities: mine own ends
217  Have been mine so that evermore they pointed
218  To the good of your most sacred person and
219  The profit of the state. For your great graces
220  Heap'd upon me, poor undeserver, I
221  Can nothing render but allegiant thanks,
222  My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty,
223  Which ever has and ever shall be growing,
224  Till death, that winter, kill it.

225  Fairly answer'd;
226  A loyal and obedient subject is
227  Therein illustrated: the honour of it
228  Does pay the act of it; as, i' the contrary,
229  The foulness is the punishment. I presume
230  That, as my hand has open'd bounty to you,
231  My heart dropp'd love, my power rain'd honour, more
232  On you than any; so your hand and heart,
233  Your brain, and every function of your power,
234  Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,
235  As 'twere in love's particular, be more
236  To me, your friend, than any.

237  I do profess
238  That for your highness' good I ever labour'd
239  More than mine own; that am, have, and will be--
240  Though all the world should crack their duty to you,
241  And throw it from their soul; though perils did
242  Abound, as thick as thought could make 'em, and
243  Appear in forms more horrid,--yet my duty,
244  As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
245  Should the approach of this wild river break,
246  And stand unshaken yours.

247  'Tis nobly spoken:
248  Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,
249  For you have seen him open't. Read o'er this;
Giving him papers
250  And after, this: and then to breakfast with
251  What appetite you have.

252  What should this mean?
253  What sudden anger's this? how have I reap'd it?
254  He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
255  Leap'd from his eyes: so looks the chafed lion
256  Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd him;
257  Then makes him nothing. I must read this paper;
258  I fear, the story of his anger. 'Tis so;
259  This paper has undone me: 'tis the account
260  Of all that world of wealth I have drawn together
261  For mine own ends; indeed, to gain the popedom,
262  And fee my friends in Rome. O negligence!
263  Fit for a fool to fall by: what cross devil
264  Made me put this main secret in the packet
265  I sent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
266  No new device to beat this from his brains?
267  I know 'twill stir him strongly; yet I know
268  A way, if it take right, in spite of fortune
269  Will bring me off again. What's this? 'To the Pope!'
270  The letter, as I live, with all the business
271  I writ to's holiness. Nay then, farewell!
272  I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;
273  And, from that full meridian of my glory,
274  I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
275  Like a bright exhalation m the evening,
276  And no man see me more.

277  Hear the king's pleasure, cardinal: who commands you
278  To render up the great seal presently
279  Into our hands; and to confine yourself
280  To Asher House, my Lord of Winchester's,
281  Till you hear further from his highness.

282  Stay:
283  Where's your commission, lords? words cannot carry
284  Authority so weighty.

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

287  Till I find more than will or words to do it,
288  I mean your malice, know, officious lords,
289  I dare and must deny it. Now I feel
290  Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, envy:
291  How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,
292  As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
293  Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin!
294  Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
295  You have Christian warrant for 'em, and, no doubt,
296  In time will find their fit rewards. That seal,
297  You ask with such a violence, the king,
298  Mine and your master, with his own hand gave me;
299  Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
300  During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
301  Tied it by letters-patents: now, who'll take it?

302  The king, that gave it.

303  It must be himself, then.

304  Thou art a proud traitor, priest.

305  Proud lord, thou liest:
306  Within these forty hours Surrey durst better
307  Have burnt that tongue than said so.

308  Thy ambition,
309  Thou scarlet sin, robb'd this bewailing land
310  Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law:
311  The heads of all thy brother cardinals,
312  With thee and all thy best parts bound together,
313  Weigh'd not a hair of his. Plague of your policy!
314  You sent me deputy for Ireland;
315  Far from his succor, from the king, from all
316  That might have mercy on the fault thou gavest him;
317  Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity,
318  Absolved him with an axe.

319  This, and all else
320  This talking lord can lay upon my credit,
321  I answer is most false. The duke by law
322  Found his deserts: how innocent I was
323  From any private malice in his end,
324  His noble jury and foul cause can witness.
325  If I loved many words, lord, I should tell you
326  You have as little honesty as honour,
327  That in the way of loyalty and truth
328  Toward the king, my ever royal master,
329  Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
330  And all that love his follies.

331  By my soul,
332  Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou
333  shouldst feel
334  My sword i' the life-blood of thee else. My lords,
335  Can ye endure to hear this arrogance?
336  And from this fellow? if we live thus tamely,
337  To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet,
338  Farewell nobility; let his grace go forward,
339  And dare us with his cap like larks.

340  All goodness
341  Is poison to thy stomach.

342  Yes, that goodness
343  Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one,
344  Into your own hands, cardinal, by extortion;
345  The goodness of your intercepted packets
346  You writ to the pope against the king: your goodness,
347  Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.
348  My Lord of Norfolk, as you are truly noble,
349  As you respect the common good, the state
350  Of our despised nobility, our issues,
351  Who, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen,
352  Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles
353  Collected from his life. I'll startle you
354  Worse than the scaring bell, when the brown wench
355  Lay kissing in your arms, lord cardinal.

356  How much, methinks, I could despise this man,
357  But that I am bound in charity against it!

358  Those articles, my lord, are in the king's hand:
359  But, thus much, they are foul ones.

360  So much fairer
361  And spotless shall mine innocence arise,
362  When the king knows my truth.

363  This cannot save you:
364  I thank my memory, I yet remember
365  Some of these articles; and out they shall.
366  Now, if you can blush and cry 'guilty,' cardinal,
367  You'll show a little honesty.

368  Speak on, sir;
369  I dare your worst objections: if I blush,
370  It is to see a nobleman want manners.

371  I had rather want those than my head. Have at you!
372  First, that, without the king's assent or knowledge,
373  You wrought to be a legate; by which power
374  You maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops.

375  Then, that in all you writ to Rome, or else
376  To foreign princes, 'Ego et Rex meus'
377  Was still inscribed; in which you brought the king
378  To be your servant.

379  Then that, without the knowledge
380  Either of king or council, when you went
381  Ambassador to the emperor, you made bold
382  To carry into Flanders the great seal.

383  Item, you sent a large commission
384  To Gregory de Cassado, to conclude,
385  Without the king's will or the state's allowance,
386  A league between his highness and Ferrara.

387  That, out of mere ambition, you have caused
388  Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the king's coin.

389  Then that you have sent innumerable substance--
390  By what means got, I leave to your own conscience--
391  To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways
392  You have for dignities; to the mere undoing
393  Of all the kingdom. Many more there are;
394  Which, since they are of you, and odious,
395  I will not taint my mouth with.

396  O my lord,
397  Press not a falling man too far! 'tis virtue:
398  His faults lie open to the laws; let them,
399  Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him
400  So little of his great self.

401  I forgive him.

402  Lord cardinal, the king's further pleasure is,
403  Because all those things you have done of late,
404  By your power legatine, within this kingdom,
405  Fall into the compass of a praemunire,
406  That therefore such a writ be sued against you;
407  To forfeit all your goods, lands, tenements,
408  Chattels, and whatsoever, and to be
409  Out of the king's protection. This is my charge.

410  And so we'll leave you to your meditations
411  How to live better. For your stubborn answer
412  About the giving back the great seal to us,
413  The king shall know it, and, no doubt, shall thank you.
414  So fare you well, my little good lord cardinal.

415  So farewell to the little good you bear me.
416  Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness!
417  This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth
418  The tender leaves of hopes; to-morrow blossoms,
419  And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
420  The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
421  And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
422  His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
423  And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured,
424  Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
425  This many summers in a sea of glory,
426  But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
427  At length broke under me and now has left me,
428  Weary and old with service, to the mercy
429  Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
430  Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye:
431  I feel my heart new open'd. O, how wretched
432  Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!
433  There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
434  That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
435  More pangs and fears than wars or women have:
436  And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
437  Never to hope again.
Enter CROMWELL, and stands amazed
438  Why, how now, Cromwell!

439  I have no power to speak, sir.

440  What, amazed
441  At my misfortunes? can thy spirit wonder
442  A great man should decline? Nay, an you weep,
443  I am fall'n indeed.

444  How does your grace?

445  Why, well;
446  Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell.
447  I know myself now; and I feel within me
448  A peace above all earthly dignities,
449  A still and quiet conscience. The king has cured me,
450  I humbly thank his grace; and from these shoulders,
451  These ruin'd pillars, out of pity, taken
452  A load would sink a navy, too much honour:
453  O, 'tis a burthen, Cromwell, 'tis a burthen
454  Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven!

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

456  I hope I have: I am able now, methinks,
457  Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,
458  To endure more miseries and greater far
459  Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
460  What news abroad?

461  The heaviest and the worst
462  Is your displeasure with the king.

463  God bless him!

464  The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chosen
465  Lord chancellor in your place.

466  That's somewhat sudden:
467  But he's a learned man. May he continue
468  Long in his highness' favour, and do justice
469  For truth's sake and his conscience; that his bones,
470  When he has run his course and sleeps in blessings,
471  May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on em! What more?

472  That Cranmer is return'd with welcome,
473  Install'd lord archbishop of Canterbury.

474  That's news indeed.

475  Last, that the Lady Anne,
476  Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
477  This day was view'd in open as his queen,
478  Going to chapel; and the voice is now
479  Only about her coronation.

480  There was the weight that pull'd me down. O Cromwell,
481  The king has gone beyond me: all my glories
482  In that one woman I have lost for ever:
483  No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
484  Or gild again the noble troops that waited
485  Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell;
486  I am a poor fall'n man, unworthy now
487  To be thy lord and master: seek the king;
488  That sun, I pray, may never set! I have told him
489  What and how true thou art: he will advance thee;
490  Some little memory of me will stir him--
491  I know his noble nature--not to let
492  Thy hopeful service perish too: good Cromwell,
493  Neglect him not; make use now, and provide
494  For thine own future safety.

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

502  Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
503  In all my miseries; but thou hast forced me,
504  Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
505  Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell;
506  And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
507  And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
508  Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee,
509  Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
510  And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
511  Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in;
512  A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.
513  Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
514  Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
515  By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
516  The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
517  Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
518  Corruption wins not more than honesty.
519  Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
520  To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
521  Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
522  Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st,
523  O Cromwell,
524  Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king;
525  And,--prithee, lead me in:
526  There take an inventory of all I have,
527  To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe,
528  And my integrity to heaven, is all
529  I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell!
530  Had I but served my God with half the zeal
531  I served my king, he would not in mine age
532  Have left me naked to mine enemies.

533  Good sir, have patience.

534  So I have. Farewell
535  The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell.