Wol. Enter WOLSEY and CAMPEIUS. Peace to your highness! Q. Kath. Your graces find me here part of a house wife; I would be all, against the worst may happen. Wol. May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw Into your private chamber, we shall give you The full cause of our coming. Q. Kath. Speak it here; Were tried by every tongue, every eye saw them, I know my life so even: If your business Out with it boldly: Truth loves open dealing. Q. Kath. O good my lord, no Latin; I am not such a truant since my coming, As not to know the language I have liv'd in: A strange tongue makes my cause more strange, sus picious; 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 absolv'd in English. Wol. Noble lady, I am sorry my integrity should breed, So deep suspicion where all faith was meant. We come not by the way of accusation, To taint that honour every good tongue blesses; You have too much, good lady: but to know Most honour'd madam, Cam. His service and his counsel. To betray me. Q. Kath. In such a point of weight, so near mine honour, For her sake that I have been, (for I feel Alas! I am a woman, friendless, hopeless. Wol. Madam, you wrong the king's love with these fears; Your hopes and friends are infinite. Q. Kath. And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends, Cam. I would your grace Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel. How, sir? Cam. Put your main cause into the king's protection; He's loving, and most gracious; 't will be much Both for your honour better, and your cause; For, if the trial of the law o'ertake you, You'll part away disgrac'd. Wol. He tells you rightly. Q. Kath. 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. Cam. Your rage mistakes us. Q. Kath. 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: A woman lost among ye, laugh'd at, scorn'd? I will not wish ye half my miseries, I have more charity: But say, I warn'd ye; Take heed, for heaven's sake, take heed, lest at once Wol. Madam, this is a mere distraction; You turn the good we offer into envy. Q. Kath. Ye turn me into nothing: Woe upon ye, And all such false professors! Would ye have me (If you have any justice, any pity; If ye be anything but churchmen's habits) a Weigh out outweigh. Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me? Cam. Your fears are worse. Q. Kath. Have I liv'd thus long-(let me speak myself, Since virtue finds no friends)-a wife, a true one? Never yet branded with suspicion? Have I with all my full affections Still met the king? lov'd him next heaven? obey'd him? Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him? Wol. Madam, you wander from the good we aim at. Q. Kath. My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty, To give up willingly that noble title Your master wed me to: nothing but death Wol. Pray, hear me. Q. Kath. 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. Alas! poor wenches, where are now your fortunes? [To her Women. Shipwrack'd upon a kingdom, where no pity, No friends, no hope; no kindred weep for me; If your grace Wol. 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 them. How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage. So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and servants. virtues You wrong your With these weak women's fears. A noble spirit, Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves you; To trust us in your business, we are ready To use our utmost studies in your service. Q. Kath. Do what ye will, my lords: And, pray, forgive me, If I have us'd myselfa 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, a Us'd myself-deported myself. |