William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (574 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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The Queen being absent, ’tis a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court till further day.
Meanwhile must be an earnest motion
Made to the Queen to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness.
That we adjourn this court till further day.
Meanwhile must be an earnest motion
Made to the Queen to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness.
KING HENRY (
aside
)
aside
)
I may perceive
These cardinals trifle with me. I abhor
This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome.
My learned and well-belovèd servant, Cranmer,
Prithee return. With thy approach I know
My comfort comes along. (
Aloud
) Break up the court.
I say, set on.
This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome.
My learned and well-belovèd servant, Cranmer,
Prithee return. With thy approach I know
My comfort comes along. (
Aloud
) Break up the court.
I say, set on.
Exeunt in manner as they entered
Enter Queen Katherine and her women, as at work
QUEEN KATHERINE
Take thy lute, wench. My soul grows sad with troubles.
Sing, and disperse ’em if thou canst. Leave working.
Sing, and disperse ’em if thou canst. Leave working.
GENTLEWOMAN (
sings
)
sings
)
Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing.
To his music plants and flowers
Ever sprung, as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.
Everything that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,
Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart
Fall asleep, or hearing, die.
Enter
⌈
Griffith
,⌉
a gentleman
QUEEN KATHERINE How now?
⌈GRIFFITH⌉
An’t please your grace, the two great cardinals
Wait in the presence.
Wait in the presence.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Would they speak with me?
⌈GRIFFITH⌉
They willed me say so, madam.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Pray their graces
To come near.
⌈
Exit Griffith
⌉
Exit Griffith
⌉
What can be their business
With me, a poor weak woman, fall’n from favour?
I do not like their coming, now I think on’t;
They should be good men, their affairs as righteous—
But all hoods make not monks.
I do not like their coming, now I think on’t;
They should be good men, their affairs as righteous—
But all hoods make not monks.
Enter the two cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius,
⌈
ushered by Griffith
⌉
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Peace to your highness.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Your graces find me here part of a housewife—
I would be all, against the worst may happen.
What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?
I would be all, against the worst may happen.
What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?
CARDINAL WOLSEY
May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw
Into your private chamber, we shall give you
The full cause of our coming.
Into your private chamber, we shall give you
The full cause of our coming.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Speak it here.
There’s nothing I have done yet, o’ my conscience,
Deserves a corner. Would all other women
Could speak this with as free a soul as I do.
My lords, I care not—so much I am happy
Above a number—if my actions
Were tried by ev’ry tongue, ev’ry eye saw ’em,
Envy and base opinion set against ’em,
I know my life so even. If your business
Seek me out and that way I am wife in,
Out with it boldly. Truth loves open dealing.
Deserves a corner. Would all other women
Could speak this with as free a soul as I do.
My lords, I care not—so much I am happy
Above a number—if my actions
Were tried by ev’ry tongue, ev’ry eye saw ’em,
Envy and base opinion set against ’em,
I know my life so even. If your business
Seek me out and that way I am wife in,
Out with it boldly. Truth loves open dealing.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Tanta est erga te mentis integritas, Regina serenissima—
QUEEN KATHERINE O, good my lord, no Latin.
I am not such a truant since my coming
As not to know the language I have lived in.
A strange tongue makes my cause more strange
suspicious—
Pray, speak in English. Here are some will thank you,
If you speak truth, for their poor mistress’ sake.
Believe me, she has had much wrong. Lord Cardinal,
The willing’st sin I ever yet committed
May be absolved in English.
As not to know the language I have lived in.
A strange tongue makes my cause more strange
suspicious—
Pray, speak in English. Here are some will thank you,
If you speak truth, for their poor mistress’ sake.
Believe me, she has had much wrong. Lord Cardinal,
The willing’st sin I ever yet committed
May be absolved in English.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Noble lady,
I am sorry my integrity should breed—so
And service to his majesty and you—
So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant.
We come not by the way of accusation,
To taint that honour every good tongue blesses,
Nor to betray you any way to sorrow—
You have too much, good lady—but to know
How you stand minded in the weighty difference
Between the King and you, and to deliver,
Like free and honest men, our just opinions
And comforts to your cause.
And service to his majesty and you—
So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant.
We come not by the way of accusation,
To taint that honour every good tongue blesses,
Nor to betray you any way to sorrow—
You have too much, good lady—but to know
How you stand minded in the weighty difference
Between the King and you, and to deliver,
Like free and honest men, our just opinions
And comforts to your cause.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
Most honoured madam,
My lord of York, out of his noble nature,
Zeal, and obedience he still bore your grace,
Forgetting, like a good man, your late censure
Both of his truth and him—which was too far—
Offers, as I do, in a sign of peace,
His service and his counsel.
Zeal, and obedience he still bore your grace,
Forgetting, like a good man, your late censure
Both of his truth and him—which was too far—
Offers, as I do, in a sign of peace,
His service and his counsel.
QUEEN KATHERINE (aside)
To betray me.
(Aloud) My lords, I thank you both for your good
wills.
Ye speak like honest men—pray God ye prove so.
But how to make ye suddenly an answer
In such a point of weight, so near mine honour—
More near my life, I fear—with my weak wit,
And to such men of gravity and learning,
In truth I know not. I was set at work
Among my maids, full little—God knows—looking
Either for such men or such business.
For her sake that I have been—for I feel
The last fit of my greatness—good your graces,
Let me have time and counsel for my cause.
Alas, I am a woman friendless, hopeless.
wills.
Ye speak like honest men—pray God ye prove so.
But how to make ye suddenly an answer
In such a point of weight, so near mine honour—
More near my life, I fear—with my weak wit,
And to such men of gravity and learning,
In truth I know not. I was set at work
Among my maids, full little—God knows—looking
Either for such men or such business.
For her sake that I have been—for I feel
The last fit of my greatness—good your graces,
Let me have time and counsel for my cause.
Alas, I am a woman friendless, hopeless.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Madam, you wrong the King’s love with these fears.
Your hopes and friends are infinite.
Your hopes and friends are infinite.
QUEEN KATHERINE
In England
But little for my profit. Can you think, lords,
That any Englishman dare give me counsel,
Or be a known friend ’gainst his highness’ pleasure—
Though he be grown so desperate to be honest—
And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
They that must weigh out my afflictions,
They that my trust must grow to, live not here.
They are, as all my other comforts, far hence,
In mine own country, lords.
That any Englishman dare give me counsel,
Or be a known friend ’gainst his highness’ pleasure—
Though he be grown so desperate to be honest—
And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
They that must weigh out my afflictions,
They that my trust must grow to, live not here.
They are, as all my other comforts, far hence,
In mine own country, lords.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
I would your grace
Would leave your griefs and take my counsel.
QUEEN KATHERINE
How, sir?
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
Put your main cause into the King’s protection.
He’s loving and most gracious. ’Twill be much
Both for your honour better and your cause,
For if the trial of the law o’ertake ye
You’ll part away disgraced.
He’s loving and most gracious. ’Twill be much
Both for your honour better and your cause,
For if the trial of the law o’ertake ye
You’ll part away disgraced.
CARDINAL WOLSEY (
to the Queen
) He tells you rightly.
to the Queen
) He tells you rightly.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Ye tell me what ye wish for both—my ruin.
Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon ye!
Heaven is above all yet—there sits a judge
That no king can corrupt.
Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon ye!
Heaven is above all yet—there sits a judge
That no king can corrupt.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
Your rage mistakes us.
QUEEN KATHERINE
The more shame for ye! Holy men I thought ye,
Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues—
But cardinal sins and hollow hearts I fear ye.
Mend ’em, for shame, my lords! Is this your comfort?
The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady,
A woman lost among ye, laughed at, scorned?
I will not wish ye half my miseries—
I have more charity. But say I warned ye.
Take heed, for, heaven’s sake take heed, lest at once
The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.
Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues—
But cardinal sins and hollow hearts I fear ye.
Mend ’em, for shame, my lords! Is this your comfort?
The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady,
A woman lost among ye, laughed at, scorned?
I will not wish ye half my miseries—
I have more charity. But say I warned ye.
Take heed, for, heaven’s sake take heed, lest at once
The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Madam, this is a mere distraction.
You turn the good we offer into envy.
You turn the good we offer into envy.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Ye turn me into nothing. Woe upon ye,
And all such false professors. Would you have me—
If you have any justice, any pity,
If ye be anything but churchmen’s habits—
Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
Alas, he’s banished me his bed already—
His love, too, long ago. I am old, my lords,
And all the fellowship I hold now with him
Is only my obedience. What can happen
To me above this wretchedness? All your studies
Make me accursed like this.
And all such false professors. Would you have me—
If you have any justice, any pity,
If ye be anything but churchmen’s habits—
Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
Alas, he’s banished me his bed already—
His love, too, long ago. I am old, my lords,
And all the fellowship I hold now with him
Is only my obedience. What can happen
To me above this wretchedness? All your studies
Make me accursed like this.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
Your fears are worse.
QUEEN KATHERINE
Have I lived thus long—let me speak myself,
Since virtue finds no friends—a wife, a true one?
A woman, I dare say, without vainglory,
Never yet branded with suspicion?
Have I with all my full affections
Still met the King, loved him next heav‘n, obeyed him,
Been out of fondness superstitious to him,
Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
And am I thus rewarded? ’Tis not well, lords.
Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
One that ne’er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure,
And to that woman when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honour, a great patience.
Since virtue finds no friends—a wife, a true one?
A woman, I dare say, without vainglory,
Never yet branded with suspicion?
Have I with all my full affections
Still met the King, loved him next heav‘n, obeyed him,
Been out of fondness superstitious to him,
Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
And am I thus rewarded? ’Tis not well, lords.
Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
One that ne’er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure,
And to that woman when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honour, a great patience.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Madam, you wander from the good we aim at.
QUEEN KATHERINE
My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty
To give up willingly that noble title
Your master wed me to. Nothing but death
Shall e’er divorce my dignities.
To give up willingly that noble title
Your master wed me to. Nothing but death
Shall e’er divorce my dignities.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
Pray, hear me.
QUEEN KATHERINE
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.
What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living.
(
To
her women) Alas, poor wenches, where are now
your fortunes?
Shipwrecked upon a kingdom where no pity,
No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me?
Almost no grave allowed me? Like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I’ll hang my head and perish.
Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it.
Ye have angels’ faces, but heaven knows your hearts.
What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living.
(
To
her women) Alas, poor wenches, where are now
your fortunes?
Shipwrecked upon a kingdom where no pity,
No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me?
Almost no grave allowed me? Like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I’ll hang my head and perish.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
If your grace
Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
You’d feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas, our places,
The way of our profession, is against it.
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
For goodness’ sake, consider what you do,
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
They swell and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm. Pray, think us
Those we profess—peacemakers, friends, and servants.
You’d feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas, our places,
The way of our profession, is against it.
We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
For goodness’ sake, consider what you do,
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
They swell and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm. Pray, think us
Those we profess—peacemakers, friends, and servants.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS
Madam, you’ll find it so. 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.
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.
QUEENS KATHERINE
Do what ye will, my lords, and pray forgive me.
If I have used 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
While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
Bestow your counsels on me. She now begs
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear.
If I have used 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
While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
Bestow your counsels on me. She now begs
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear.
Exeunt
3.2Enter the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Suffolk, Lord Surrey, and the Lord Chamberlain
NORFOLK
If you will now unite in your complaints,
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
With these you bear already.
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
With these you bear already.
SURREY
I am joyful
To meet the least occasion that may give me
Remembrance of my father-in-law the Duke,
To be revenged on him.
Remembrance of my father-in-law the Duke,
To be revenged on him.
SUFFOLK
Which of the peers
Have uncontemned gone by him, or at least
Strangely neglected? When did he regard
The stamp of nobleness in any person
Out of himself?
Strangely neglected? When did he regard
The stamp of nobleness in any person
Out of himself?
LORD CHAMBERLAIN My lords, you speak your pleasures.
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