For holy offices I have a time; a time
To think upon the part of business, which
I bear i'the state; and nature does require
Her times of prefervation, which, perforce,
I her frail fon, amongst my brethren mortal,
Muft give my tendance to.

K. HEN.

You have faid well.

WOL. And ever may your highness yoke together, As I will lend you caufe, my doing well

With my well faying!

you:

K. HEN. 'Tis well faid again; And 'tis a kind of good deed, to say well: And yet words are no deeds. My father lov'd He faid, 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 prefent havings, to bestow

My bounties upon you.

IVOL.

What fhould this mean?

SUR. The Lord increase this bufinefs!

K. HEN.

[Afide.

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 confefs it, fay withal,

If you are bound to us, or no.

What say you?

WOL. My fovereign, I confefs, your royal graces, Shower'd on me daily, have been more, than could My ftudied purpofes requite; which went Beyond all man's endeavours :-my endeavours

2 Beyond all man's endeavours:] The fenfe is, my purposes went beyond all human endeavour. I purposed for your honour more than it falls within the compafs of man's nature to attempt.

JOHNSON.

Have ever come too fhort of my defires,
Yet, fil'd with my abilities: Mine own ends
Have been mine fo, that evermore they pointed
To the good of your most facred person, and
The profit of the state. For your great graces
Heap'd upon me, poor undeferver, I

Can nothing render but allegiant thanks;
My prayers to heaven for you; my loyalty,
Which ever has, and ever fhall be growing,
Till death, that winter, kill it.

K. HEN.

Fairly answer'd; A loyal and obedient fubject is

Therein illuftrated: The honour of it
Does pay the act of it; as, i'the contrary,
The foulnefs is the punishment. I prefume,
That, as my hand has open'd bounty to you,
My heart dropp'd love, my power rain'd honour,

more

On you, than any; fo 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.

I am rather inclined to think, that which refers to "royal graces;" which, fays Wolfey, no human endeavour could requite. MALONE.

3 Yet, fil'd with my abilities:] My endeavours, though less than my defires, have fil'd, that is, have gone an equal pace with my abilities. JOHNSON.

front but in that file

"Where others tell fteps with me." STEEVENS.

4 notwithstanding that your bond of duty,] Befides the general bond of duty, by which you are obliged to be a loyal and obedient fubject, you owe a particular devotion of yourself to me, as your particular benefactor. JOHNSON.

WOL.

I do profefs,

That for your highnefs' good I ever labour'd
More than mine own; that am, have, and will be.'
Though all the world fhould crack their duty to

you,

And throw it from their foul; though perils did
Abound, as thick as thought could make them, 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 ftand unshaken yours.

K. HEN. '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.

5 that am, have, and will be.] I can find no meaning in thefe words, or fee how they are connected with the rest of the fentence; and fhould therefore strike them out. M. MASON.

I fuppofe, the meaning is, that, or fuch a man, I am, have been, and will ever be. Our author has many hard and forced expreffions in his plays; but many of the hardneffes in the piece before us appear to me of a different colour from thofe of Shakspeare. Perhaps, however, a line following this has been loft; for in the old copy there is no stop at the end of this line; and indeed I have fome doubt whether a comma ought not to be placed at it, rather than a full point. MALONE.

6 As doth a rock against the chiding flood,] So, in our author's 116th Sonnet :

"That looks on tempefts, and is never shaken."

The chiding flood is the refounding flood. So, in the verses, in commendation of our author, by J. M. S. prefixed to the folio, 1632:

there plays a fair

"But chiding fountain."

See Vol. IX. p. 345, n. 9. MALONE.

See alfo Vol. V. p. 128, n. 6. STEEVENS.

Ille, velut pelagi rupes immota, refiftit."

En. VII. 586. S. W.

And, after, this: and then to breakfast, with
What appetite you have.

[Exit King, frowning upon Cardinal Wolfey: the Nobles throng after him, fmiling, and whifpering.

WOL.
What should this mean?
What fudden 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 muft read this paper;
I fear, the ftory of his anger.-'Tis fo;
This paper has undone me:-'Tis the 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 fecret in the packet
I fent the king? Is there no way to cure this?
No new device to beat this from his brains?
I know, 'twill ftir him ftrongly; Yet I know
way, if it take right, in fpite of fortune
Will bring me off again. What's this-To the Pope?
The letter, as I live, with all the business

A

I writ to his holinefs, Nay then, farewell!

I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatnefs; 7

And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my fetting: I fhall fall

7 I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;] So, in Marlowe's K. Edward II:

"Base fortune, now I fee that in thy wheel
"There is a point, to which when men afpire,

"They tumble headlong down. That point I touch'd;
"And feeing there was no place to mount up higher,

66

Why should I grieve at my declining fall?

MALONE.

Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man fee me more.

Re-enter the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK, the
Earl of SURREY, and the Lord Chamberlain.

8

NOR. Hear the king's pleasure, cardinal: who
commands you

To render up the great feal presently
Into our hands; and to confine yourself

8 Re-enter the Dukes &c.] It may not be improper here to repeat that the time of this play is from 1521, just before the Duke of Buckingham's commitment, to the year 1533, when Queen Eliza beth was born and chriftened. The Duke of Norfolk, therefore, who is introduced in the firft fcene of the firft act, or in 1522, is not the fame perfon who here, or in 1529, demands the great feal from Wolfey; for Thomas Howard, who was created Duke of Norfolk, 1514, died we are informed by Holinfhed, p. 891, at Whitfuntide, 1525. As our author has here made two perfons into one, fo on the contrary, he has made one perfon into two. The Earl of Surrey here is the fame with him who married the Duke of Buckingham's daughter, as appears from his own mouth: "I am joyful

Again:

"To meet the leaft occafion that may give me
"Remembrance of my father-in-law, the duke."

"Thou fcarlet fin, robb'd this bewailing land
"Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law:
"You fent me deputy for Ireland;

"Far from his fuccour,."

But Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who married the Duke of Buckingham's daughter, was at this time the individual above mentioned Duke of Norfolk. The reafon for adding the third or fourth perfon as interlocutors in this fcene is not very apparent, for Holinfhed, p. 909, mentions only the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk being fent to demand the great feal, and all that is spoken would proceed with fufficient propriety out of their mouths. The caufe of the Duke of Norfolk's animofity to Wolfey is obvious, and Cavendish mentions that an open quarrel at this time fubfifted between the Cardinal and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

REED.