(As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.

Nor. I am sorry

To hear this of him; and could wish, you 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. Sir,

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. Lo you, my lord,

The net has fallen upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice.

Bran. I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business present:6 'Tis his highness' pleasure,
You shall to the Tower.

Buck. It will help me nothing,

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 ABERG.

Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know
How he determines further.

Aber. As the duke said,

The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
By me obey'd.

Bran. Here is a warrant from

'The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court,

One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,

Buck. So, so;

These are the limbs of the plot: No more, I hope.

[6]) I am sorry that I am obliged to be present and an eye-witness of your loss of liberty. JOHNS.

Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.

Buck. O, Nicholas Hopkins?

Bran. He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already : 7 I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;

Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,

!

By dark'ning my clear sun.- My lord, farewel. [Exe.

SCENE II.

The Council-Chamber. Cornets. Enter King Henry, Cardinal WOLSEY, the Lords of the Council, Sir THOMAS LOVEL, Officers, and Attendants. The King enters leaning on the Cardi nal's shoulder.

K.Hen My life itself, and the best heart of it, &
Thanks you for this great care: I stood i' the level
Of a full-charg'd confederacy : 9 and give thanks
To you that choak'd it. -Let be call'd before us
That gentleman of Buckingham's: in person
I'll hear him his confessions justify;

And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.

The King takes his State. The Lords of the Council take their several places. The Cardinal places himself under the King's feet, on his right side.

A noise within, crying, Room for the Queen. Enter the Queen, ushered by the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK : she kneels. The King rises from his state, takes her up, kisses, and places her by him.

Q.Kath. Nay, we must longer kneel; I am a suitor. K.Hen. Arise, and take place by us :-half your suit Never name to us; you have half our power: The other moiety, ere you ask, is given; Repeat your will, and take it.

[7] To span is to gripe, or inclose in the hand; to span is also to measure by the palm and fingers. The meaning therefore, may either be, that hold is taken of my life, my life is in the gripe of my enemies; or, that my time is measured, the length of my life is now determined. JOHNS-Man's life, in scripture, is said to be but a span long. Probably, therefore, it means, when tis spann'd 'tis ended. REED.

[8] Heart is not here taken for the great organ of circulation and life, but, in a common, and popular sense, for the most valuable or precious part. Our author. in Hamlet, mentions the heart of heart. Exhausted and effete ground is said by the farmer to be out of heart. The hard and inner part of the oak is called heart of oak. JOHNS.

[9] To stand in the leve of a gun is to stand in a line with its mouth, so as to be hit by the shot. JOHNS.

Q.Kath. Thank your majesty.

That you would love yourself; and, in that love,
Not unconsider'd leave your honour, nor

The dignity of your office, is the point

Of my petition.

K.Hen. Lady mine, proceed.

Q.Kath. I am solicited, not by a few,

And those of true condition, that your subjects

Are in great grievance: there have been commissions
Sent down among them, which have flaw'd the heart

Of all their loyalties:-wherein, although,
My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches
Most bitt bitterly on you, as putter-on

Of these exactions, yet the king our master,

(Whose honour heaven shield from soil!) even he es

capes not

Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks

The sides of loyalty, and almost appears
In loud rebellion.

Nor. Not almost appears,

It doth appear: for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger
And lack of other means, in desperate manner
Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar,
And Danger serves among them. 2

K.Hen. Taxation!

Wherein? and what taxation?-My lord cardinal,
You, that are blam'd for it alike with us,
Know you of this taxation?

Wol. Please you, sir,

I know but of a single part, in aught
Pertains to the state; and front but in that file
Where others tell steps with me.

Q.Kath. No, my lord,

You know no more than others: but you frame
Things that are known alike; which are not wholesome
To those who would not know them, and yet must

[] The many is the meiny, the train, the people. Dryden is, perhaps, the last that used this word:-"The kings before their many rode." JOHNS. [2] Could one easily believe that a writer, who had, but immediately before, sunk so low in expression, should here rise again to a height so truly sub. lime? where, by the noblest stretch of fancy, Danger is personified as serving in the rebel army, and shaking the established government. WARB.

Perforce be their acquaintance.3 These exactions,
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are
Most pestilent to the hearing; and, to bear them,
The back is sacrifice to the load. They say,
They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.

K.Hen. Still exaction !

The nature of it? In what kind, let's know,
Is this exaction?

Q. Kath. I am much too venturous
In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd
Under your promis'd pardon. The subjects' grief:
Comes through commissions, which compel from each
The sixth part of his substance, to be levy'd
Without delay; and the pretence for this

Is nam'd, your wars in France: This makes bold mouths:
Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze
Allegiance in them; their curses now,

Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass,
That tractable obedience is a slave

To each incensed will. I would, your highness
Would give it quick consideration, for
There is no primer business.

K.Hen. By my life,
This is against our pleasure.
Wol. And for.me,

I have no further gone in this, than by
A single voice; and that not past me, but
By learned approbation of the judges. If I am
Traduc'd by tongues, which neither know
My faculties, nor person, yet will be
The chronicles of my doing, let me say,
'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virtue must go through. We must not stint
Our necessary actions, in the fear

To cope malicious censurers ; which ever,
As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow
That is new trimm'd; but benefit no further
Than vainly longing. What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft,

[3] That is, you know no more than other counsellors, but you are the person who frame those things which are afterwards proposed, and known equally by all. M. MASON.

[4] To cope to engage with, to encounter. The word is still in use in some counties.

JOHNS.

Hitting a grosser quality, 5 is cry'd up
For our best act. If we shall stand still,
In fear our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at,
We should take root here where we sit, or sit
State-statues only.

K.Hen. Things done well,

And with a care, exempt themselves from fear;
Things done without example, in their issue
Are to be fear'd. Have you a precedent
Of this commission? I believe, not any.
We must not read our subjects from our laws,
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each !
A trembling contribution! Why, we take,
From every tree, lop, bark, and part o'the timber ;
And, though we leave it with a root, thus hack'd,
The air will drink the sap. To every county,
Where this is question'd, send our letters, with
Free pardon to each man that has deny'd
The force of this commission: Pray, look tot;
I put it to your care.

Wol. A word with you.

[To the Secretary.

Let there be letters writ to every shire,

Of the king's grace and pardon. The griev'd.commons

Hardly conceive of me; let it be nois'd,

That, through our intercession, this revokement

And pardon comes: I shall anon advise you

Further in the proceeding.

[Exit Secretary.

Enter Surveyor.

Q.Kath. I am sorry, that the duke of Buckingham

Is run in your displeasure.

K.Hen. It grieves many :

This gentleman is learn'd, a most rare speaker,
To nature none more bound; his training such,
That he may furnish and instruct great teachers,
And never seek for aid out of himself.7

Vet see,

When these so noble benefits shall prove
Not well dispos'd, & the mind growing once corrupt,
They turn to vicious forms, ten times more ugly

[5] The worst actions of great men are commended by the vulgar, as more accommodated to the grossness of their notions. JOHNS.

[6] Lop is a substantive, and signifies the branches. WARB.

[7] Beyond the treasures of his own mind. JOHNS.-Read: And ne'er seek aid out of himself. Yet see,-. RITSON.

[8] Great gifts of nature and education, not joined with good dispositions. JOHNS.