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Till you hear further from his Highness.

WOLSEY.

Stay:

Where's your commission, lords? Words cannot carry

Authority so weighty.

SUFFOLK.

Who dares cross 'em,

Bearing the King's will from his mouth expressly?

WOLSEY.

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 every thing 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.

WOLSEY.

It must be himself then.

SURREY.

Thou art a proud traitor, priest.

WOLSEY.

Proud lord, thou liest.

Within these forty hours Surrey durst better

Have burnt that tongue than said so.

SURREY.

Thy ambition,

Thou scarlet sin, robb'd 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,

Weigh'd 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,

Absolv'd him with an axe.

WOLSEY.

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 lov'd 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 an that love his follies.

SURREY.

By my soul,

Your long coat, priest, protects you; thou shouldst feel

My sword i' the 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.

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, Cardinal, 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 our despis'd nobility, our issues,

Whom, 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.

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 hand;

But, thus much, they are foul ones.

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 out they shall.

Now, if you can blush and cry guilty, Cardinal,

You'll show a little honesty.

WOLSEY.

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 maim'd 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 inscrib'd; in which you brought the King

To be your servant.

SUFFOLK.