Since virtue finds no friends)-a wife, a true one? A woman (I dare say, without vainglory) Have I with all my full affections Still met the king? lov'd him next Heaven? obey'd him? Almost forgot my prayers to content him? Wol. Madam, you wander from the good we aim at. Your master wed me to: nothing but death Wol. Pray, hear me. Q. Kath. Would I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it! Ye have angels' faces, but Heaven knows your hearts. I am the most unhappy woman living. Alas! poor wenches, where are now your fortunes? Shipwrack'd upon a kingdom, where no pity, If your grace Wol. The way of our profession is against it; We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them. How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage. The hearts of princes kiss obedience, So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits A soul as even as a calm: Pray, think us Those we profess, peacemakers, friends, and servants. You wrong your virtues With these weak women's fears. A noble spirit, As yours was put into you, ever casts Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves you; Beware you lose it not: For us, if you please To trust us in your business, we are ready To use our utmost studies in your service. Q. Kath. Do what ye will, my lords: And, pray, forgive me, If I have us'd myself unmannerly; You know, I am a woman, lacking wit To make a seemly answer to such persons. Pray, do my service to his majesty: He has my heart yet; and shall have my prayers, [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Antechamber to the King's Apartment. Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, the DUKE OF SUFFOLK, the Nor. If you And force them with a constancy, the cardinal Cannot stand under them: If you omit The offer of this time, I cannot promise But that you shall sustain more new disgraces, a Us'd myself-deported myself. b Force-enforce. So in Measure for Measure :' "Has he affections in him, That thus can make him bite the law by the nose, To meet the least occasion that may give me Which of the peers Suf. Cham. My lords, you speak your pleasures : What he deserves of you and me I know; What we can do to him, (though now the time Gives way to us,) I much fear. If you cannot Bar his access to the king, never attempt Anything on him; for he hath a witchcraft Over the king in his tongue. O, fear him not; Nor. I should be glad to hear such news as this Once every hour. Nor. Believe it, this is true: In the divorce, his contrary proceedings As I would wish mine enemy. Suf. The cardinal's letter to the pope miscarried, And came to the eye o' the king: wherein was read, A creature of the queen's, lady Anne Bullen." Sur. Has the king this? Suf. Sur. Believe it. Will this work? Cham. The king in this perceives him, how he coasts, And hedges, his own way. But in this point All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic After his patient's death; the king already Hath married the fair lady. Sur. 'Would he had! Suf. May you be happy in your wish, my lord! For, I profess, you have it. Suf. There's order given for her coronation: In mind and feature: I persuade me, from her There be more wasps that buzz about his nose, Is stolen away to Rome; hath ta'en no leave; To second all his plot. I do assure you, The king cried Ha! at this. Cham. Now, God incense him, But, my lord, And let him cry Ha! louder! Nor. When returns Cranmer? Suf. He is return'd, in his opinions; which Have satisfied the king for his divorce, Almost in Christendom: a shortly, I believe, Nor. This same Cranmer 's A worthy fellow, and hath ta'en much pain In the king's business. Nor. Enter WOLSEY and CROMWELL. Observe, observe, he's moody. Wol. The packet, Cromwell, gave it you the king? He did unseal them: and the first he view'd, Wol. To come abroad? Crom. Is he ready Presently I think, by this he is. [Exit CROMWELL. It shall be to the duchess of Alençon, Wol. Leave me a while. The French king's sister: he shall marry her. Anne Bullen! No; I'll no Anne Bullens for him: To hear from Rome.-The marchioness of Pembroke! a The construction is here difficult, and the meaning equivocal. The passage means probably that Cranmer is actually return'd in his opinions—in the same opinions which he formerly maintained, supported by the opinions of " all famous colleges." |