At all times to your will conformable.
Sir, call to mind,

That I have been your wife, in this obedience,
Upward of twenty years, and have been bless'd
With many children by you: If, in the course
And process of this time, you can report,
And prove it too, against mine honour aught,
My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty
Against your sacred person, in God's name,
Turn me away; and let the foul'st contempt
Shut door upon me, and so give me up

To the sharpest kind of justice. Please you, sir,
The king, your father, was reputed for
A prince most prudent, of an excellent
And unmatch'd wit and judgement: Ferdinand,
My father, king of Spain, was reckon'd one
The wisest prince, that there had reign'd by many
A year before: It is not to be question'd

That they had gather'd a wise council to them
Of every realm, that did debate this business,
Who deem'd our marriage lawful: Wherefore I

humbly

Beseech you, sir, to spare me, till I may

Be by my friends in Spain advis'd; whose counsel
I will implore: If not; i'the name of heaven,
Your pleasure be fulfill'd!

Wol. You have here, lady,

And of your choice, these reverend fathers; men
Of singular integrity and learning,

Yea, the elect of the land, who are assembled
To plead your cause: It shall be therefore bootless,
That longer you defer the court; as well

For your own quiet, as to rectify

What is unsettled in the king.

Cam. His grace

Hath spoken well, and justly: Therefore, madam, It's fit this royal session do proceed;

And that, without delay, their arguments

Be now produc'd, and heard.

Queen. Lord cardinal,

To you I speak.

[CAMPEIUS rises.

Wol. Your pleasure, madam? [WOLSEY advances. Queen. Sir,

I am about to weep; but, thinking thạt

We are a queen, (or long have dream'd so,) certain,
The daughter of a king, my drops of tears
I'll turn to sparks of fire,-

Wol. Be patient yet.

Queen. I will, when you are humble; nay, before,
Or heaven will punish me. I do believe,
Induc'd by potent circumstances, that

You are mine enemy; and make my challenge,
You shall not be my judge; for it is

you

Have blown this coal betwixt my lord and me,-
Which heaven's dew quench!-Therefore, I say again,
I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul

Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more,
I hold my most malicious foe, and think not
At all a friend to truth.

Wol. Madam, you do me wrong:

I have no spleen against you; nor injustice
For you, or any: how far I have proceeded,
Or how far further shall, is warranted

By a commission from the consistory,

Yea, the whole consistory of Rome. You charge me,
That I have blown this coal: I do deny it:
The king is present: If it be known to him,
That I gainsay my deed, how may he wound,
And worthily, my falsehood? yea, as much
As you have done my truth.

In him

It lies, to cure me: and the cure is, to

Remove these thoughts from you: The which before
His highness shall speak in, I do beseech

You, gracious madam, to unthink your speaking,
And to say so no more.

Queen. My lord, my lord,

I am a simple woman, much too weak

с

To oppose your cunning. You're meek, and humble-mouth'd;

You sign your place and calling, in full seeming,
With meekness and humility: but your heart
Is cramm'd with arrogancy, spleen, and pride;
That again

I do refuse you for my judge;-and here,
Before you all, appeal unto the pope,

To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness,
And to be judg'd by him.

She curtsies to the King, and offers to depart.

Cam. The queen is obstinate,

Stubborn to justice, apt to accuse it, and
Disdainful to be try'd by it; 'tis not well.

She's going away.

King. Call her again.

Clerk. Katharine, queen of England, come into the court.

Guil. Madam, you are call'd back.

Queen. What need you note it? Pray you, keep

your way:

When you are call'd, return:-Now the Lord help,
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.

[Exeunt GUILDFORD, and the Queen,

King. 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,
The queen of earthly queens:-She's noble born;
And, like her true nobility, she has

Carry'd herself towards me.

Wol. Most gracious sir,

In humblest manner I require your highness,
That it shall please you to declare, in hearing

Of all these ears, (for where I'm robb'd and bound,
There must I be unloos'd,) whether ever I
Did broach this business to your highness; or

Laid any scruple in your way, which might
Induce you to the question on 't.
King. My lord cardinal,

I do excuse you; yea, upon mine honour,
I free you from 't. You are not to be taught
That you have many enemies, that know not.
Why they are so, but, like to village curs,
Bark when their fellows do: by some of these
The queen is put
put in
in anger. You're excus'd;-
But will you be more justify'd?-you ever
Have wish'd the sleeping of this business;
And oft have hinder'd, oft,

The passages made toward it:-on my honour,
I speak my good lord cardinal to this point,

And thus far clear him. Now, what mov'd me to 't,Thus it came;-give heed to 't:

My conscience first receiv'd a tenderness,

Scruple, and prick, on certain speeches utter'd

By the bishop of Bayonne, then French embassador; For no dislike i' the world against the person

Qf our good queen:

Prove but our marriage lawful, by my life,
And kingly dignity, we are contented

To wear our mortal state to come, with her,
Katharine our queen, before the primest creature
That's paragon'd o' the world,

Cam. So please your highness,

The queen being absent, 't is a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court to further day;
Meanwhile must be an earnest motion

Made to the queen, to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness,

King. Break up the court.

[The King rises.

These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor
This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome.-
My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer,
'Prythee, return! with thy approach, I know,
My comfort comes along.-Break up the court,
[Flourish of Drums and Trumpets.]

END OF ACT II.

C 2

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE.

An Antechamber to the King's Apartments.

Enter NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, the Earl of SURREY,
and the Chamberlain.

Nor. IF you will now unite in your complaints,
And force them with a constancy, the cardinal
Cannot stand under them.

Sur. I am joyful

To meet the least occasion, that may give me
Remembrance of my father-in-law, the duke,
To be reveng'd on him.

Suf. Which of the peers

Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least
Strangely neglected? when did he regard
The stamp of nobleness in any person,
Out of himself?

Cham. My lords, if

you cannot

Bar his access to the king, never attempt
Any thing on him; for he hath a witchcraft
Over the king in his tongue.

Nor. O, fear him not;

His spell in that is out: the king hath found
Matter against him, that for ever mars
The honey of his language:

In the divorce, his contrary proceedings
Are all unfolded; wherein he appears,
As I would wish mine enemy,

Sur. How came
His practices to light?

Suf. Most strangely.

Sur. O, how, how?

Suf. The cardinal's letters to the pope miscarry'd, And came to the eye o' the king: wherein was read,