And those of true condition, that your subjects

Are in great grievance: there have been commissions
Sent down among them, which have flaw'd the heart
Of all their loyalties:—wherein, although,

My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches

Most bitterly on you, as putter-on

Of these exactions, yet the king our master,

(Whose honour Heaven shield from soil!) even he escapes

not

Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks

The sides of loyalty, and almost appears

In loud rebellion.

Nor.

Not almost appears,
It doth appear: for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger,
And lack of other means, in desperate manner
Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar,
And Danger serves among them.a

K. Hen.

Taxation!

Wherein? and what taxation?—My lord cardinal,
You that are blam'd for it alike with us,

Know you of this taxation?

Wol.

Please you, sir,

I know but of a single part, in aught

Pertains to the state; and front but in that file b

Where others tell steps with me.

Q. Kath.

No, my lord,

You know no more than others: but
you frame
Things, that are known alike, which are not wholesome
To those which would not know them, and yet must
Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are
Most pestilent to the hearing; and to bear them

But

b Johnson explains this-"I am but first in the row of counsellors.” Wolsey disclaims any priority. He uses front as a verb;—he faces in that file, &c.

The back is sacrifice to the load. They say
They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.

The nature of it? In what kind, let's know,
Is this exaction?

In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd
Under your promis'd pardon. The subject's grief
Comes through commissions, which compel from each
The sixth part of his substance, to be levied
Without delay; and the pretence for this

Is nam'd, your wars in France: This makes bold mouths;
Tongues spit their duties out; and cold hearts freeze
Allegiance in them; their curses now

Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass,
This tractable obedience is a slave

To each incensed will. I would your highness

Would give it quick consideration, for

There is no primer baseness.a

K. Hen.

This is against our pleasure.

Wol.

By my life,

And for me,

I have no further gone in this, than by

A single voice; and that not pass'd me, but

By learned approbation of the judges. If I am b
Traduc'd by ignorant tongues, which neither know
My faculties, nor person, yet will be

The chronicles of my doing,-let me say

'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake That virtue must go through.

We must not stint

Our necessary actions, in the fear

Το

cope malicious censurers; which ever,

As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow

That is new trimm'd; but benefit no further

a Baseness. So the original; Warburton changed it to business, which is the ordinary reading,--and a much feebler one.

b To avoid the Alexandrine in this line Steevens leaves out "ignorant" in the next; and so we get a text.

Than vainly longing.

What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft,
Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up

For our best act. If we shall stand still,
In fear our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at,
We should take root here where we sit, or sit
State statues only.

And with a care, exempt themselves from fear;
Things done without example, in their issue
Are to be fear'd. Have you a precedent
Of this commission? I believe not any.
We must not rend our subjects from our laws,
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each?
A trembling contribution! Why, we take
From every tree, lop, bark, and part o' the timber;
And, though we leave it with a root, thus hack'd
The air will drink the sap. To every county,
Where this is question'd, send our letters, with
Free pardon to each man that has denied
The force of this commission: Pray, look to 't;
I put it to your care.

Wol.

A word with you.

Let there be letters writ to every shire,

[To the Secretary.

Of the king's grace and pardon. The griev'd commons
Hardly conceive of me; let it be nois'd,

That through our intercession this revokement

And pardon comes: I shall anon advise you
Further in the proceeding.

Enter Surveyor.

[Exit Secretary.

Q. Kath. I am sorry that the duke of Buckingham Is run in your displeasure.

K. Hen.

It grieves many:

The gentleman is learn'd, and a most rare speaker,

To nature none more bound; his training such

a Once is here used in the sense of sometimes.

That he may furnish and instruct great teachers,
And never seek for aid out of himself. Yet see
When these so noble benefits shall prove

Not well dispos'd, the mind growing once corrupt,
They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly
Than ever they were fair. This man so complete,
Who was enroll'd 'mongst wonders, and when we,
Almost with ravish'd list'ning, could not find
His hour of speech a minute; he, my lady,
Hath into monstrous habits put the graces
That once were his, and is become as black

As if besmear'd in hell. Sit by us; you shall hear
(This was his gentleman in trust) of him

Things to strike honour sad.-Bid him recount

The fore-recited practices; whereof

We cannot feel too little, hear too much.

Wol. Stand forth; and with bold spirit relate what

you,

Most like a careful subject, have collected

Out of the duke of Buckingham.

K. Hen.

Speak freely.

Surv. First, it was usual with him, every day
It would infect his speech, That if the king
Should without issue die, he 'd carry it so

To make the sceptre his: These very words.
I have heard him utter to his son-in-law,
Lord Aberga'ny; to whom by oath he menac'd
Revenge upon the cardinal.

Wol.

Please your highness, note

This dangerous conception in this point.

Not friended by his wish, to your high person
His will is most malignant; and it stretches

Beyond you, to your friends.

Q. Kath.

Deliver all with charity.

K. Hen.

My learn'd lord cardinal,

Speak on:

How grounded he his title to the crown,

Upon our fail? to this point hast thou heard him
At any time speak aught?

Surv.

He was brought to this

By a vain prophecy of Nicholas Henton.a
K. Hen. What was that Henton?

Surv.

Sir, a Chartreux friar,

His confessor; who fed him every minute
With words of sovereignty.

K. Hen.

How know'st thou this?

Surv. Not long before your highness sped to France,
The duke, being at the Rose, within the parish
Saint Lawrence Poultney, did of me demand
What was the speech among the Londoners
Concerning the French journey: I replied,
Men fear'd the French would prove perfidious,
To the king's danger. Presently the duke
Said, 'T was the fear, indeed; and that he doubted,
'T would prove the verity of certain words
Spoke by a holy monk: "that oft," says he,
"Hath sent to me, wishing me to permit
John de la Car, my chaplain, a choice hour
To hear from him a matter of some moment:
Whom after under the confession's sealb
He solemnly had sworn, that, what he spoke,
My chaplain to no creature living, but

To me, should utter, with demure confidence

This pausingly ensued-Neither the king, nor his heirs, (Tell you the duke,) shall prosper: bid him strive

с

To gain the love of the commonalty; the duke

Shall govern England."

Q. Kath.

If I know you well,
You were the duke's surveyor, and lost your office
On the complaint o' the tenants: Take good heed
You charge not in your spleen a noble person,
And spoil your nobler soul! I say, take heed;
Yes, heartily beseech you.

a See Note b, p. 147.

b The confession's seal. In the original "the commission's seal "-evidently a mistake. The monk, according to Holinshed, bound the chaplain "under the seal of confession."

c Gain is not in the original. It was first inserted in the fourth folio.