[Pope ?"

The king suddenly quits him, followed by the four lords, whispering and smiling, and Wolsey is left alone : [Wolsey.) What should this mean?

He parted frowning from me, as if ruin
Leap'd from his eyes. So looks the chafed lion
Upon the daring huntsman that has galld 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 the account
Of all that world of wealth I've drawn together,
To fee my friends in Rome, and buy the popedom.
0, negligence! O, fool! Why, 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 the
The letter, as I live, with all the business
I wrote to his holiness. Nay, then, farewell !
I've 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.

The four lords re-enter : Surrey speaks: [Surrey.] Hear the king's pleasure, Cardinal; who com

To render up the great seal presently
Into our hands, and to confine yourself
To Esher-house, my lord of Winchester's,
Till
you

hear further from his highness. [Wolsey.] Stay ;-where's your commission, lords ? words Authority so mighty.

[cannot carry [Surrey.] Who dares cross them,

Bearing the king's will from his mouth expressly ? [Wolsey.] Till I find more than will or words to do it,

(1 mean your malice,) know, officious lords,

(mands you

I dare, and must deny it. Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, -envy ;
How eagerly ye follow my disgrace,
As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
Ye' appear in everything may bring my ruin !
Follow your envious courses, men of malice,
You've Christian warrant for them, and they 'll bring,
No doubt, in time 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-patent : Now, who 'll take it ? [Surrey.] The king that gave it.

. [Wolsey.] It must be himself then. [Surrey.] Thou ’rt a proud traitor, priest. [Wolsey.] Proud lord, thou liest :

Within these forty hours, Surrey durst better

Have burn'd that tongue than said so.
[Surrey.) Your long coat, priest, protects you.

My lords, can you endure this arrogance,
And from this fellow ? If we live thus tamely,
Thus to be jaded by a piece of scarlet,

Farewell nobili'ty - let his grace go forward.
[Wolsey.] Goodness is poison to thy stomach.
[Surrey.) Yes; the goodness,

Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one,
Into your own hands, Cardi'nal, by extortion:
The goodness of your intercepted packets
Against the king; your goodness, cardinal,

Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious. [Wolsey.] How mach, methinks, I could despise this man,

But that I'm bound in charity against it:
Speak on, sir :
I dare your worst objections. If I blush
It is to see a nobleman want manners.

The four lords, each in turn, advance to the Cardinal : (Surrey.] 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 the bishops.
[Norfolk.] Then that in all you wrote to Rome, or else

To foreign princes, Ego et rex meus
Was still inscrib'd; by which you brought the king

To be your servant. [Chamberlain.] Then, out of mere ambition, that you

Your holy hat to be stamp'd upon the coin. [caus'd [Suffolk.] Then, that you've sent innumerable substance (By what means got, I leave to your own con

onscience) To furnish Rome, and to prepare your way

To further dignities. Then that The chamberlain, who had thus far joined with the others, interposes : [Chamberlain.] My lord, press not a falling man too far:

His faults lie open to the laws : Jet them,
Not you, correct him. My heart weeps to see him

So little his great self. [Norfolk.] Well,

We'll leave him to his meditations,
How to live better. For your stubborn answer
About the giving back the great seal to us,
The king shall know it, and, no doubt, shall th nk you,
So fare you well, my little, good lord-cardinal.

[a pause.] [Wolsey.] Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness !

This is the state of man: to-day, he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow,

blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him ;

third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,

a

And then he falls as I do. I have ventur’d,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
These many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth ; my high blown pride
At length broke under me, and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream that must for ever hide me.
Vain pomp and glory of the world, I hate you !
I feel my heart new open'd: Oh, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours !
There are, betwixt that smile he would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and his ruin,
More
pangs

and fears than war or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again. [a pause.] Why, how now,

[Cromwell [Cromwell.] I have no power to speak, sir. [Wolsey.] What, amaz’d,

At my misfortunes ? Can thy spirit wonder
A great man should decline? Nay, if you weep,
I'm fallen indeed.

[Cromwell.] How does your grace?
[Wolsey.] Why, well; never so truly happy, my good

I know myself now, and I feel within me [Cromwell :
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience.
The king (I humbly thank him)
Has, from these shoulders, out of pity taken
A load would sink a navy;—too much honour.
O'tis a burthen, Cromwell, 'tis a burthen,
Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven!

[of it. [Cromwell.] I'm glad your grace has made that right use [Wolsey.) I hope I have ; I'm able now, methinks, Ι

;
Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,

a

a

To' endure more miseries, and greater far
Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer:

What news abroad?
[Cromwell.] The heaviest and the worst,

Is your displeasure with the king. [Wolsey.] God bless him. (Cromwell.] The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chosen

Lord chancellor in your place.
[Wolsey.] That's somewhat sudden!

But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his highness' favour, and do justice
For truth's sake and his conscience; that his bones,
When he has run his course, and sleeps in blessings,
May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on him!

What more?
[Cromwell.] That Cranmer is return'd with welcome,

Installd lord árchbishop of Canterbury,
[Wolsey.] That's news indeed!
[Cromwell.] Last, that the lady Anne,

Whom the king hath in secrecy long married,
This day was view'd in open as his queen
Going to chapel ; and the voice is now
Only about her coronation.

[Cromwell! [Wolsey.) There was the weight that pulld me down, O

The king has gone beyond me: all my glories
In that one woman I have lost for ever :
No sun shall ever usher forth mine honours,
Or gild again the noble troops that waited

smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell : I am a poor, fallen man, unworthy now

To be thy lord and master :-go, good Cromwell! [Cromwell.] O my lord,

Must I then leave you ? must I needs forego
So good, so noble, and so true a master ?

Upon my