King John & Henry VIII (30 page)

CARDINAL WOLSEY
    The Duke of Buckingham’s
surveyor
¹³⁵
, ha?

    Where’s his
examination
¹³⁶
?

SECRETARY
    Here, so please you.

CARDINAL WOLSEY
    Is he in person ready?

SECRETARY
    Ay, please your grace.

CARDINAL WOLSEY
    Well, we shall then know more, and Buckingham

    Shall lessen this
big
¹⁴¹
look.

BUCKINGHAM
    This
butcher’s
cur
¹⁴²
is venom-mouthed, and I

    Have not the power to muzzle him: therefore best

    Not wake him in his slumber. A
beggar’s book
¹⁴⁴

    Outworths a noble’s blood.

NORFOLK
    What, are you
chafed
¹⁴⁶
?

    Ask God for
temp’rance
: that’s
th’appliance only
¹⁴⁷

    Which your disease requires.

BUCKINGHAM
    I read in’s looks

    
Matter
¹⁵⁰
against me, and his eye reviled

    Me as his
abject object
¹⁵¹
: at this instant

    He
bores
¹⁵²
me with some trick: he’s gone to th’king:

    I’ll follow, and outstare him.

NORFOLK
    Stay, my lord,

    And let your reason with your
choler
¹⁵⁵
question

    What ’tis you go about: to climb steep hills

    Requires slow pace at first. Anger is like

    A
full hot
¹⁵⁸
horse, who being allowed his way,

    
Self-mettle
¹⁵⁹
tires him: not a man in England

    Can advise me like you: be to yourself

    As you would to your friend.

BUCKINGHAM
    I’ll to the king,

    And from a
mouth of honour
quite
¹⁶³
cry down

    This
Ipswich
¹⁶⁴
fellow’s insolence, or proclaim

    There’s
difference
¹⁶⁵
in no persons.

NORFOLK
    Be
advised
¹⁶⁶
:

    Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot

    That it do singe yourself. We may outrun,

    By violent swiftness, that which we run at,

    And lose by
overrunning
¹⁷⁰
: know you not

    
The fire that
mounts
¹⁷¹
the liquor till’t run o’er,

    In seeming to augment it wastes it? Be advised:

    I say again there is no English soul

    More stronger to direct you than yourself,

    If with the sap of reason you would quench

    Or but
allay
¹⁷⁶
the fire of passion.

BUCKINGHAM
    Sir,

    I am thankful to you, and I’ll go along

    By your
prescription
: but this
top-proud
¹⁷⁹
fellow —

    Whom from the flow of
gall
¹⁸⁰
I name not, but

    From sincere
motions
— by
intelligence
¹⁸¹
,

    And proofs as clear as
founts
¹⁸²
in July when

    We see each grain of gravel, I do know

    To be corrupt and treasonous.

NORFOLK
    Say not ‘treasonous’.

BUCKINGHAM
    To th’king I’ll say’t, and make my
vouch
¹⁸⁶
as strong

    As shore of rock: attend. This holy fox,

    Or wolf, or both — for he is
equal
¹⁸⁸
rav’nous

    As he is
subtle
¹⁸⁹
, and as prone to mischief

    As able to perform’t, his mind and
place
¹⁹⁰

    Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally —

    Only to show his
pomp
¹⁹²
as well in France

    As here at home,
suggests
¹⁹³
the king our master

    To this
last
costly treaty,
th’interview
¹⁹⁴

    That swallowed so much
treasure
¹⁹⁵
, and like a glass

    Did break
i’th’wrenching
¹⁹⁶
.

NORFOLK
    Faith, and so it did.

BUCKINGHAM
    Pray
give me favour
¹⁹⁸
, sir: this cunning cardinal

    The
articles
o’th’combination
drew
¹⁹⁹

    As himself pleased: and they were ratified

    
As he cried ‘Thus let be’, to as much
end
²⁰¹

    As give a crutch to th’dead. But our
count-cardinal
²⁰²

    Has done this, and ’tis well: for worthy Wolsey,

    Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows —

    Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy

    To th’old
dam
treason —
Charles the Emperor
²⁰⁶
,

    Under pretence to see the queen his aunt —

    For ’twas indeed his
colour
²⁰⁸
, but he came

    To
whisper
²⁰⁹
Wolsey — here makes visitation:

    His fears were that the interview betwixt

    England and France might through their amity

    Breed him some prejudice, for from this league

    Peeped harms that menaced him. He
privily
²¹³

    Deals with our cardinal, and as I
trow
²¹⁴
—

    Which I do well, for I am sure the emperor

    Paid
ere
²¹⁶
he promised, whereby his suit was granted

    Ere it was asked —
but
²¹⁷
when the way was made

    And paved with gold, the emperor thus desired

    That
he
²¹⁹
would please to alter the king’s course,

    And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,

    As soon he shall by me, that thus the cardinal

    Does buy and sell
his
honour as
he
²²²
pleases,

    And for his own advantage.

NORFOLK
    I am sorry

    To hear this of him, and could wish he were

    
Something
mistaken
²²⁶
in’t.

BUCKINGHAM
    No, not a syllable:

    I do pronounce him in that very shape

    He shall appear
in proof
²²⁹
.

BRANDON
    Your
office
²³⁰
, sergeant: execute it.

SERGEANT
    Sir,

    My lord the Duke of Buckingham, and Earl

    Of
Hertford
²³³
, Stafford and Northampton, I

    Arrest thee of high treason, in the name

    Of our most sovereign king.

BUCKINGHAM
    Lo you, my lord,

    The net has fall’n upon me: I shall perish

    Under
device and practice
²³⁸
.

BRANDON
    I am sorry

    To see you ta’en from liberty, to
look on
²⁴⁰

    The business present. ’Tis his highness’
pleasure
²⁴¹

    You shall to
th’Tower
²⁴²
.

BUCKINGHAM
    It will help me
nothing
²⁴³

    To plead mine innocence, for that dye is on me

    Which makes my whit’st part black. The will of heav’n

    Be done in this and all things: I obey.

    O my Lord Aberga’nny, fare you well.

BRANDON
    Nay, he must bear you company.— The king

    Is pleased you shall to th’Tower, till you know

    How he determines further.

ABERGAVENNY
    As the duke said,

    The will of heaven be done, and the king’s pleasure

    By me obeyed.

BRANDON
    Here is a warrant from

    The king
t’attach
Lord Montague and the
bodies
²⁵⁵

    Of the duke’s confessor, John de la Car,

    One Gilbert Perk, his chancellor—

BUCKINGHAM
    So, so;

    These are the limbs o’th’plot: no more, I hope.

BRANDON
    A monk
o’th’Chartreux
²⁶⁰
.

BUCKINGHAM
    O, Nicholas Hopkins?

BRANDON
    He.

BUCKINGHAM
    My surveyor is
false
²⁶³
: the o’er-great cardinal

    Hath
showed him gold
: my life is
spanned
²⁶⁴
already:

    I am the
shadow of poor Buckingham
²⁶⁵
,

    
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on
²⁶⁷
,

    
By dark’ning my clear sun. My lord, farewell.

KING HENRY VIII
    My life itself, and the
best heart
¹
of it,

    Thanks you for this great care: I stood i’th’
level
²

    Of a
full-charged
confederacy
³
, and give thanks

    To you that choked it. Let be called before us

    That gentleman of Buckingham’s: in person

    I’ll hear him his confessions
justify
⁶
,

    And point by point the treasons of his master

    He shall again relate.

QUEEN KATHERINE
    Nay,
we
must longer kneel: I am a
suitor
⁹
.

KING HENRY VIII
    Arise, and take
place
¹⁰
by us: half your suit

    Never name to us: you have half our power:

    The other
moiety
¹²
ere you ask is given:

    
Repeat your will
¹³
and take it.

QUEEN KATHERINE
    
Thank
¹⁴
your majesty.

    That you would love yourself, and in that love

    Not unconsidered leave your honour, nor

    The
dignity
¹⁷
of your office, is the point

    Of my petition.

KING HENRY VIII
    Lady mine, proceed.

QUEEN KATHERINE
    I am
solicited
²⁰
, not by a few,

    And those of
true condition
²¹
, that your subjects

    Are in great
grievance
: there have been
commissions
²²

    Sent down among ’em which hath
flawed
²³
the heart

    Of all their loyalties: wherein, although,

    My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches

    Most bitterly on you, as
putter-on
²⁶

    Of these
exactions
²⁷
, yet the king our master —

    Whose honour heaven shield from
soil
²⁸
— even he escapes not

    Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks

    The sides of loyalty, and almost appears

    In loud rebellion.