Wol.

Most gracious sir,

In humblest manner I require your highness,
That it shall please you to declare, in hearing
Of all these ears (for where I am robb'd and bound,
There must I be unloos'd; although not there
At once and fully satisfied 14), whether ever I
Did broach this business to your highness; or
Laid any scruple in your way, which might
Induce you to the question on't? or ever
Have to you, but with thanks to God for such
A royal lady,—spake one the least word, might
Be to the prejudice of her present state,

Or touch of her good person?

K. Hen.

My lord cardinal, I do excuse you; yea, upon mine honour, I free you from't. You are not to be taught That you have many enemies, that know not Why they are so, but, like to village curs, Bark when their fellows do: by some of these The queen is put in anger. You are excus'd: But will you be more justified? you ever Have wish'd the sleeping of this business; never Desir'd it to be stirr'd; but oft have hinder'd; oft The passages made toward it ::-on my honour, I speak my good lord cardinal to this point 15, And thus far clear him. Now, what mov'd me to't,I will be bold with time, and your attention:— Then mark the inducement. Thus it came;-give heed to't:

14 The sense, which is encumbered with words, is no more than this:-I must be loosed, though when so loosed I shall not be satisfied fully and at once; that is, I shall not be immediately satisfied.

15 The king, having first addressed Wolsey, breaks off; and declares upon his honour to the whole court, that he speaks the cardinal's sentiments upon the point in question; and clears him from any attempt or wish to stir that business.

VOL. VII.

X

My conscience first receiv'd a tenderness,
Scruple, and prick 16, on certain speeches utter'd
By the bishop of Bayonne, then French ambassador;
Who had been hither sent on the debating

A marriage, 'twixt the duke of Orleans and
Our daughter Mary: I'the progress of this business,
Ere a determinate resolution, he

(I mean, the bishop) did require a respite;
Wherein he might the king his lord advértise
Whether our daughter were legitimate,
Respecting this our marriage with the dowager,
Sometimes our brother's wife. This respite shook
The bosom of my conscience17, enter'd me,
Yea, with a splitting power, and made to tremble
The region of my breast; which forc'd such way,
That many maz'd considerings did throng,

And press'd in with this caution. First, methought,
I stood not in the smile of heaven; who had
Commanded nature, that my lady's womb,
If it conceiv'd a male child by me, should
Do no more offices of life to't, than

The grave does to the dead: for her male issue
Or died where they were made, or shortly after
This world had air'd them: Hence I took a thought,
This was a judgment on me; that my kingdom,

16 The words of Cavendish are- The special cause that moved me hereunto was a scrupulosity that pricked my conscience.'-See also Holinshed, p. 907.

17 Theobald thought we should read The bottom of his conscience.' Thus Holinshed, whom the poet follows pretty accurately: Which words, once conceived within the secret bottom of my conscience, ingendred such a 'scrupulous doubt, that my conscience was incontinently accombred and vexed, and disquieted.'-Henry VIII. p. 907.

Shakspeare uses the phrase in King Henry VI. Part I. :→→ The very bottom and the soul of hope.'

It is repeated in King Henry VI. Part II.; in Measure for Measure; All's Well that Ends Well; Coriolanus, &c.

Well worthy the best heir o' the world, should not
Be gladded in't by me: Then follows, that
I weigh'd the danger which my realms stood in
By this my issue's fail; and that gave to me
Many a groaning throe. Thus hulling 18 in
The wild sea of my conscience, I did steer
Toward this remedy, whereupon we are
Now present here together; that's to say,
I meant to rectify my conscience,—which
I then did feel full sick, and yet not well,-
By all the reverend fathers of the land,
And doctors learn'd,-First, I began in private
With you, my lord of Lincoln; you remember
How under my oppression I did reek 19,
When I first mov'd you.

Lin.

Very well, my liege. K. Hen. I have spoke long; be pleas'd yourself

to say

How far

Lin.

you satisfied me.

So please your highness,
The question did at first so stagger me,-
Bearing a state of mighty moment in't,
And consequence of dread,-that I committed
The daring'st counsel which I had, to doubt;
And did entreat your highness to this course,
Which you are running here.

K. Hen.
I then mov'd you,
My lord of Canterbury; and got your leave
To make this present summons:— -Unsolicited
I left no reverend person in this court;

But by particular consent proceeded,

18 The phrase belongs to navigation. A ship is said to hull when she is dismasted, and only her hull or hulk is left at the direction and mercy of the waves. Thus in The Alarm for London, 1602 :

And they lye hulling up and down the stream.'

19 Waste, or wear away.

Under your hands and seals. Therefore, go on:
For no dislike i' the world against the person
Of the good queen, but the sharp thorny points
Of my alleged reasons, drive this forward:
Prove but our marriage lawful, by my life,
And kingly dignity, we are contented

To wear our mortal state to come, with her,
Katharine our queen, before the primest creature
That's paragon'd
20 o' the world.

Cam.
So please your highness,
The queen being absent, 'tis a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court till further day:
Mean while must be an earnest motion
Made to the queen, to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness. [They rise to depart.
K. Hen.
I may perceive, [Aside.
These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor
This dilatory sloth, and tricks of Rome.
My learn'd and well beloved servant, Cranmer,
Pr'ythee return 21! with thy approach, I know,
My comfort comes along. Break up the court:
say, set on. [Exeunt, in manner as they entered.

I

20 Shakspeare uses the verb to paragon both in Antony and Cleopatra and Othello :

:

If thou with Cæsar paragon again

My man of men.'

a maid

That paragons description and wild fame.'

21 This is only an apostrophe to the absent bishop of that

name.

ACT III.

SCENE I. Palace at Bridewell.

A Room in the Queen's Apartment.

The Queen, and some of her Women, at work1. Q. Kath. Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;

Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst: leave working.

SONG.

Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain tops, that freeze,
Bow themselves, when he did sing
To his musick, plants, and flowers,
Ever sprung; as sun, and showers,

There had been a lasting spring.

Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In sweet musick is such art;
Killing care, and grief of heart,
Fall asleep, or, hearing, die.

Enter a Gentleman.

Q. Kath. How now?

1 Cavendish, who appears to have been present at this interview of the cardinal's with the queen, says-"She came out of her privy chamber with a skein of white thread about her neck into the chamber of presence.' A subsequent speech of the queen's is nearly conformable to what is related in Cavendish, and copied by Holinshed.