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 con

science,

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

them,

Envy and base opinion set against them,
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 ergà 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 lived in:
A strange tongue makes my cause more strange,
suspicious.

Pray speak in English: here are some will thank

To betray me.

[Aside.

Q. Kath.
My lords, I thank you both for your good wills:
Ye speak like honest men (pray God ye prove
so!)

But how to make you 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.

I thought ye;

Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues :
But cardinal sins and hollow hearts, I fear ye.
Mend them 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.
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),
Put

my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
Alas! he has 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 a curse like this.

Since virtue finds no friends) a wife, a true one:
A woman (I dare say without vain-glory)
Never yet branded with suspicion :
Have I with all my full affections

Still met the King: loved him next heaven: obeyed him:

Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him:
Almost forgot my prayers to content him:
And am I thus rewarded? 't is 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.
Wol. Madam, you wander from the good we

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.
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
You wrong

servants,

Cam. Madam, you 'll find it so.

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.

Q. Kath. 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.
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Antechamber to the KING'S
Apartment.

Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, the DUKE OF
SUFFOLK, the EARL OF SURREY, and the LORD
CHAMBERLAIN.

Nor. If you will now unite in your complaints, And force them with a constancy, the cardinal

daughter

To be her mistress' mistress: the queen's queen!
This candle burns not clear: 't is I must snuff it:
Then out it goes.-What though I know her virtuous
And well-deserving: yet I know her for
A spleeny Lutheran; and not wholesome to
Our cause, that she should lie i' the bosom of
Our hard-ruled King. Again, there is sprung up
An heretic, an arch one, Cranmer: one
Hath crawled into the favour of the King,
And is his oracle.

Stood here observing him. Some strange commotion
Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground;
Then lays his finger on his temple; straight
Springs out into fast gait; then stops again;
Strikes his breast hard; and anon he casts
His eye against the moon. In most strange postures
We have seen him set himself.

K. Hen. It may well be;

There is a mutiny in his mind. This morning
Papers of state he sent me to peruse,
As I required: and wot you what I found
There? on my conscience, put unwittingly:
Forsooth an inventory, thus importing,-
The several parcels of his plate, his treasure,
Rich stuffs and ornaments of household: which
I find at such proud rate, that it outspeaks
Possession of a subject.

For holy offices I have a time; a time
To think upon the part of business which
I bear i' the state; and nature does require
Her times of preservation, which perforce
I, her frail son, amongst my brethren mortal,
Must give my tendance to.

K. Hen.
You have said well.
Wol. And ever may your highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well
With my well-saying!

K. Hen. "Tis well said again; And 't is a kind of good deed to say well: And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you: He said he did; and with his deed did crown His word upon you. Since I had my office I have kept you next my heart: have not alone Employed you where high profits might come home, But pared my present havings to bestow My bounties upon you.

Wol.

What should this mean? [Aside. Sur. The Lord increase this business!