'They vex me past my patience!-Pray you, pass

on:

I will not tarry; no, nor ever more,
Upon this business, my appearance make
In any of their courts.(4)

[Exeunt QUEEN, GRIFFITH, and Attendants.
K. HEN.
Go thy ways, Kate:
That man i' the world who shall report he has
A better wife, let him in nought be trusted,
For speaking false in that. Thou art, alone,
(If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness,
Thy meekness saint-like, wife-like government, —
Obeying in commanding, and thy parts,
Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out)
The queen of earthly queens. - She's noble born;
And, like her true nobility, she has

Carried herself towards me.
WOL.

Our daughter Mary: i' the progress of this busi

ness,

4

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 conscience, 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

thought,

This was a judgment on me; that my king

dom,

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 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,
When I first mov'd you.

The QUEEN and some of her Women at work.

Q. KATH. Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;

Sing, and disperse 'em, if thou canst: leave working.

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.

GENT. An't please your grace, the two great

Would they speak with me?

Pray their graces

Enter WOLSEY and CAMPEIUS.

WOL.

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.

Peace to your highness! Q. KATH. 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? 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;
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 every tongue, every 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.

WOL. Tanta est erga te mentis integritas, regina
serenissima,-

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,

Q. KATH. [Aside.] To betray me.— 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!

WOL. Madam, you wrong the king's love with these fears;

Your hopes and friends are infinite.
Q. KATH.

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.

CAM. I would your grace Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel. Q. KATH. How, sir? CAM. 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 disgrac'd.

WOL.

He tells you rightly.

Q. KATH. Ye tell me what ye wish for both,

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.

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 com

(*) First folio, our.