Nor.

'Like it your grace,

The state takes notice of the private difference

Betwixt you and the cardinal.

and the cardinal. I advise you,

(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honor and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together; to consider further, that

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power. You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know his sword
Hath a sharp edge; it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel;

You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock,
That I advise your shunning.

Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, (the purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with papers. The CARDINAL, in his passage, fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where's his examination?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buck

ingham

Shall lessen this big look.

[Exeunt WOLSEY and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouthed, and I Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best

Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
Out-worths a noble's blood.'

Nor.

What, are you chafed?

Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only,

Which your disease requires.

1 That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness.

I read in his looks

Buck.
Matter against me; and his eye reviled
Me, as his abject object: at this instant
He bores1 me with some trick.
I'll follow, and outstare him.

He's gone to the king;

Nor.
Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about. To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first. Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allowed his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you; be to yourself

As you would to your friend.

Buck.

I'll to the king;

And from a mouth of honor quite cry down.
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.
Be advised;
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself. We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by overrunning. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advised;
say again, there is no English soul

I

More stronger to direct you than yourself;

If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

Buck.

Sir,

I am thankful to you; and I'll go along

By your prescription. But this top-proud fellow,
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions,) by intelligence,
And proofs as clear as founts in July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.
Nor.

Say not, treasonous.

1 i. e. he stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction.

Buck. To the king I'll say it; and make my vouch

as strong

As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it; his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests1 the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,

That swallowed so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i' the rinsing.

Nor.

'Faith, and so it did.

This cunning

Buck. Pray, give me favor, sir.

cardinal

The articles o' the combination drew,

As himself pleased; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be; to as much end,
As give a crutch to the dead.

But our count cardinal

Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy

To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor,
Under pretence to see the queen, his aunt,
(For 'twas, indeed, his color; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation.
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt
England and France, might, through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peeped harms that menaced him. He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,
Which I do well; for, I am sure, the emperor
Paid ere he promised; whereby his suit was granted,
Ere it was asked;-but when the way was made,
And paved with gold, the emperor thus desired,
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,
(As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal

1 i. e. incites, or tempts.

Does buy and sell his honor as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.

Nor.

I am sorry

To hear this of him; and could wish he were
Something mistaken in't.

Buck.

No, not a syllable;

I do pronounce him in that very shape,

He shall appear in proof.

Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at Arms before him, and two or three of the Guard.

Bran. Your office, sergeant; execute it.
Serg.
My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.

Buck.

The net has fallen upon me;
Under device and practice.'

Bran.

Sir,

I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on

2

The business present. "Tis his highness' pleasure, You shall to the Tower.

It will help me nothing,

Buck. To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me, Which makes my whitest part black. The will of Heaven

Be done in this and all things!-I obey.

O, my lord Aberga'ny, fare

you well.

Bran. Nay, he must bear you company.-The king [To ABERGAVENNY. Is pleased, you shall to the Tower, till you know How he determines further.

Aber.

1 i. e. treachery.

As the duke said,

2 I am sorry that I am obliged to be present, and an eye-witness of your loss of liberty.

The will of Heaven be done, and the king's pleasure

By me obeyed.

Bran.

Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach lord Montacute,' and the bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,2
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,-

Buck.

So, so;

These are the limbs of the plot; no more, I hope.
Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.

Buck.

Bran.

O, Nicholas Hopkins? 3

He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath showed him gold: my life is spanned already. I am the shadow of poor Buckingham; Whose figure even this instant cloud puts out,1 By darkening my clear sun.-My lord, farewell.

SCENE II. The Council Chamber.

[Exeunt.

Cornets. Enter KING HENRY, CARDINAL WOLSEY, the Lords of the Council, SIR THOMAS LOVell, Officers, and Attendants. The King enters, leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder.

K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks you for this great care; I stood i' the level 5 Of a full-charged confederacy, and give thanks Το you that choked it.-Let be called before us That gentleman of Buckingham's: in person I'll hear him his confessions justify;

1 This was Henry Pole, grandson to George duke of Clarence, and eldest brother to cardinal Pole. He had married lord Abergavenny's daughter. Though restored to favor at this juncture, he was executed for another alleged treason in this reign.

2 The name of this monk of the Chartreux was John de la Car, alias, de la Court.

3 Nicholas Hopkins, another monk of the same order, belonging to a religious house called Henton-beside-Bristow.

4 The old copy reads, "this instant sun puts on."

5 To stand in the level of a gun, is to stand in a line with its mouth.