King John & Henry VIII (46 page)
Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
CHANCELLOR
Then thus for you, my lord: it stands agreed,
I take it, by all voices, that forthwith
You be conveyed to th’Tower a prisoner,
There to remain till the king’s further pleasure
Be known unto us: are you all agreed, lords?
ALL
We are.
CRANMER
Is there no other way of mercy,
But I must needs to th’Tower, my lords?
GARDINER
What other
Would you expect? You are strangely troublesome:
Let some o’th’guard be ready there.
Enter the Guard
CRANMER
For me?
Must I go like a traitor thither?
To the Guard
GARDINER
Receive
156
him,
And see him
safe
157
i’th’Tower.
CRANMER
Stay, good my lords,
He shows the King’s ring
I have a little yet to say. Look there, my lords,
By virtue of that ring, I take my cause
Out of the
gripes
161
of cruel men, and give it
To a most noble judge, the king my master.
CHAMBERLAIN
163
This is the king’s ring.
SURREY
’Tis no counterfeit.
SUFFOLK
’Tis the right ring, by heaven: I told ye all,
When we first put this dangerous stone a-rolling,
’Twould fall upon ourselves.
NORFOLK
Do you think, my lords,
The king will suffer but the little finger
Of this man to be vexed?
CHAMBERLAIN
’Tis now too certain:
How much more is his life
in value with him
172
?
Would I were fairly out
on’t
173
.
CROMWELL
My mind
gave
174
me,
In seeking tales and
informations
175
Against this man, whose honesty the devil
And his disciples only envy at,
Ye blew the fire that burns ye: now have at ye!
Enter King
[
Henry
]
frowning on them: takes his
seat
GARDINER
Dread sovereign, how much are we bound to heaven
In daily thanks, that gave us such a prince,
Not only good and wise, but most religious:
One that, in all obedience, makes the Church
The chief
aim
183
of his honour and, to strengthen
That holy duty out of
dear respect
184
,
His royal self in judgement comes to hear
The cause betwixt her and this great offender.
KING HENRY VIII
You were ever good at
sudden
187
commendations,
Bishop of Winchester. But know I come not
To hear such flattery now, and in my presence
They
190
are too thin and base to hide offences:
To me you cannot reach. You play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me:
But whatsoe’er thou tak’st me for, I’m sure
Thou hast a cruel nature and a
bloody
194
.—
To Cranmer, who sits in vacant seat at head of table
Good man, sit down.— Now let me see the proudest
He
196
, that dares most, but wag his finger at thee.
By all that’s holy, he had better
starve
197
Than but once think his place becomes thee not.
SURREY
May it please your grace—
KING HENRY VIII
No, sir, it does not please me.
I had thought I had had men of some understanding
And wisdom of my council, but I find none.
Was it
discretion
203
, lords, to let this man,
This good man — few of you deserve that title —
This honest man, wait like a lousy footboy
At chamber door? And one as great as you are?
Why, what a shame was this? Did my commission
Bid ye so far forget yourselves? I gave ye
Power as he was a councillor to
try
209
him,
Not as a groom. There’s some of ye, I see,
More out of malice than integrity,
Would try him to the utmost, had ye
mean
212
,
Which ye shall never have while I live.
CHANCELLOR
Thus far,
My most dread sovereign, may it
like
215
your grace
To let my tongue excuse all. What was
purposed
216
Concerning his imprisonment, was rather —
If there be faith in men — meant for his trial,
And fair
purgation
219
to the world than malice,
I’m sure, in me.
KING HENRY VIII
Well, well, my lords, respect him:
Take him, and
use
222
him well: he’s worthy of it.
I will say thus much for him: if a prince
May be beholding to a subject, I
Am for his love and service so to him.
Make me no more
ado
226
, but all embrace him:
To Cranmer
Be friends, for shame, my lords.— My lord of Canterbury,
I have a suit which you must not deny me:
That is, a fair young maid that yet
wants
229
baptism:
You must be godfather, and answer for her.
CRANMER
The greatest monarch now alive may glory
In such an honour: how may I deserve it
That am a poor and humble subject to you?
KING HENRY VIII
Come, come, my lord, you’d spare your
spoons
234
:
you shall have two noble partners with you: the old Duchess
of Norfolk, and Lady Marquess Dorset: will these please you?
To Gardiner
Once more, my lord of Winchester, I charge you
Embrace and love this man.
He embraces Cranmer
GARDINER
With a true heart
And brother-love I do it.
He weeps
CRANMER
And let heaven
Witness how dear I hold this confirmation.
KING HENRY VIII
Good man, those joyful tears show thy true heart:
The common
voice
244
, I see, is verified
Of thee, which says thus: ‘Do my lord of Canterbury
A
shrewd
246
turn, and he’s your friend for ever.’
Come, lords, we trifle time away: I long
To have this young one made a Christian.
As I have made ye
one
249
, lords, one remain:
So I grow stronger, you more honour gain.
Exeunt
running scene 14
Noise and tumult within: enter Porter
[
with a broken
cudgel
]
and his
Man
To those within
PORTER
You’ll
leave
1
your noise anon, ye rascals:
do you take the court for
Paris Garden
? Ye
rude
2
slaves, leave your
gaping
3
.
[VOICE] WITHIN
Good master porter, I
belong to
4
th’larder.
PORTER
Belong to th’gallows, and be hanged, ye rogue! Is
this a place to roar in?— Fetch me a dozen
crab-tree
6
staves,
To his Man
To those within
I’ll
scratch
8
your heads: you must be seeing
christenings? Do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude
rascals?
MAN
Pray, sir, be patient: ’tis as much impossible,
Unless we sweep ’em from the door with cannons,
To scatter ’em, as ’tis to make ’em sleep
On
May-day morning
14
, which will never be:
We may as well push against
Paul’s
15
, as stir ’em.
PORTER
How got they in,
and be hanged
16
?
MAN
Alas, I know not: how gets the tide in?
As much as one sound cudgel of four foot —
Holds up the cudgel
You see the poor remainder — could distribute,
I
made no spare
20
, sir.
PORTER
You did nothing, sir.
MAN
I am not
Samson
, nor
Sir Guy, nor Colbrand
22
,
To mow ’em down before me: but if I spared any
That had a head to hit, either young or old,
He or she,
cuckold
25
or cuckold-maker,
Let me ne’er hope to see a
chine
26
again,
And that I would not
for a cow
27
, God save her!
To his Man
MAN
What would you have me do?
PORTER
What should you do, but knock ’em down by
th’dozens? Is this
Moorfields
to
muster
33
in? Or have we some
strange
Indian
with the
great tool
34
come to court, the women
so besiege us? Bless me, what a
fry
35
of fornication is at door!
On my Christian conscience, this one christening will beget a
thousand: here will be father, godfather, and all together.
MAN
The
spoons
38
will be the bigger, sir. There is a fellow
somewhat near the door, he should be a
brazier
39
by his face,
for, o’my conscience twenty of the
dog-days
now reign
in’s
40
nose: all that stand about him are
under the line
41
, they need
no other penance: that
fire-drake
42
did I hit three times on the
head, and three times was his nose
discharged
43
against me:
he stands there like a
mortar-piece
, to
blow us
44
. There was a
haberdasher
’s wife of small wit near him, that
railed upon
45
me till her
pinked
porringer
fell off her head, for
kindling
46
such a combustion in the state. I missed the
meteor
47
once,
and hit that woman, who cried out
‘Clubs!’
48
, when I might see
from far some forty
truncheoners
draw to her
succour
49
,
which were the
hope o’th’Strand
, where she
was quartered
50
.
They
fell on
: I
made good
my place: at length they
came to
51
th’broomstaff to me: I defied ’em still, when suddenly a file of
boys behind ’em,
loose shot
53
, delivered such a shower of
pebbles, that I was
fain
54
to draw mine honour in, and let ’em
win the
work
55
: the devil was amongst ’em, I think, surely.
PORTER
These are the
youths
56
that thunder at a playhouse,
