• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Must give my tendance to.

KING.

You have said well.

WOLSEY.

And ever may your Highness yoke together,

As I will lend you cause, my doing well

With my well saying!

KING.

'Tis well said again;

And 'tis a kind of good deed to say well;

And yet words are no deeds. My father lov'd 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

Employ'd you where high profits might come home,

But par'd my present havings to bestow

My bounties upon you.

WOLSEY.

[Aside] What should this mean?

SURREY.

[Aside] The Lord increase this business!

KING.

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?

WOLSEY.

My sovereign, I confess your royal graces,

Show'r'd 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 fil'd with my abilities; mine own ends

Have been mine so that evermore they pointed

To th' good of your most sacred person and

The profit of the state. For your great graces

Heap'd upon me, poor undeserver, I

Can nothing render but allegiant thanks;

My pray'rs to heaven for you; my loyalty,

Which ever has and ever shall be growing,

Till death, that winter, kill it.

KING.

Fairly answer'd!

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 open'd bounty to you,

My heart dropp'd love, my pow'r rain'd 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.

WOLSEY.

I do profess

That for your Highness' good I ever labour'd

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.

'Tis nobly spoken.

Take notice, lords, he has a loyal breast,

For you have seen him open 't. Read o'er this;

[Giving him

papers]

And after, this; and then to breakfast with

What appetite you have.

Exit the KING, frowning upon the CARDINAL; the

NOBLES

throng after him, smiling and whispering

WOLSEY.

What should this mean?

What sudden anger's this? How have I reap'd it?

He parted frowning from me, as if ruin

Leap'd from his eyes; so looks the chafed lion

Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd 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 th' 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 th' Pope.'

The letter, as I live, with all the business

I writ to's Holiness. Nay then, farewell!

I have touch'd 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