I am not of your wrong. Therefore 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 befeech
You, gracious Madam, to unthink your speaking; And to say so no more.
Queen. My Lord, my Lord,
I am a fimple woman, much too weak
T'oppose your cunning. You are meek, and humblemouth'd;
7 You fign your place and calling, in full feeming, With meekness and humility; but your heart Is cramm'd with arrogancy, fpleen, and pride. You have by fortune, and his Highness' favours, Gone flightly o'er low fteps; and now are mounted, Where Pow'rs are your retainers; and your words, Domesticks to you, ferve your will, as't pleafe Yourself pronounce their office, I must tell you, You tender more your perfon's honour, than Your high profeffion fpiritual; that again I do refufe you for my judge; and here, Before you all, appeal unto the Pope, To bring my whole caufe 'fore his Holiness And to be judg'd by him.
[She curt'fies to the King, and offers to depart. Cam. The Queen is obftinate,
Stubborn to justice, apt t'accuse it, and Difdainful to be try'd by't; 'tis not well.
7 You fign your place and cal- Domefticks to you, serve your Sign, for answer.
WARBURTON. I think, to fign muft here be to show, to denote. By your outward meeknefs and humility you foow that you are of an holy or der, but, ri
will.] You have now got power at your beck, following in your retinue; and words therefore are degraded to the fervile ftate of performing any office which you fhall give them. In humbler and more common terms; Having now got power you do not regard your word.
Crier. Catharine, Queen of England, come into the Court..
Usher. Madam, you are, call'd back."
Queen. What need you note it? Pray you, keep your
When you are call'd, return.Now the Lord help, They vex me past my patience !-Pray you, pafs on. I will not tarry, no, nor ever more Upon this business my appearance make In any of their Courts.
[Exeunt Queen and her Attendants.
King. Go thy ways, Kate;
That man i'th world who fhall report he has A better wife, let him in nought be trufted, For speaking falfe in that. Thou art alone, If thy rare qualities, fweet gentleness,
Thy meeknefs faint-like, wife like government, Obeying in commanding, and thy parts Sov'reign and pious elfe, could fpeak thee out, The Queen of earthly Queens. She's noble born; And, like her true nobility, he has
Carried herself tow'rds me.
Wol. Moft gracious Sir,
In humbleft manner I require your Highness, That it fhall please you to declare, in hearing
Of all these ears, (for where I'm robb'd and bound, There must I be unloos'd, although not there
could speak thee out] If thy feveral qualities had tongues to speak thy praise.
1-although not there AT ONCE, and fully fatif- fy'd] What he aims
at is this; where I am robbed and bound, there muft I be unloofed, though ths injurers be not there to make me fatisfaction: as much as to fay, I owe fo much to my own innocence,
At once, and fully fatisfy'd) if I
Did broach this bufinefs to your Highness, or Laid any scruple in your way, which might Induce you to the queftion on't, or ever Have to you, but with thanks to God for fuch A royal lady, fpake one the leaft word, That might be prejudice of her present state, Or touch of her good perfon?
King. My Lord Cardinal,
I do excufe 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 fo; but, like the village curs, Bark when their fellows do; by fome of thefe The Queen is put in anger. Y'are excus'd; But will you be more juftify'd? you ever Have wish'd the fleeping of this bufinefs, never Defir'd it to be ftirr'd, but oft have hindred The paffages made tow'rds 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- I will be bold with time and your attention.- Then mark th' inducement.
My confcience first receiv'd a tenderness,
3 Scruple, and prick, on certain fpeeches utter'd
as to clear up my character, tho' I do not expect my wrongers will do me justice. It seems then that Shakespear wrote,
ATON'D, and fully fatisfy'd.
WARBURTON. I do not fee what is gained by this alteration. The fenfe, which is incumbered with words in either reading, is no more than this. I must be lofed, though when fo loofed I shall not be faristy'd fully and at once; that is, I shall not be immediately fatisfied.
I Speak my good Lord Cardinal
to this Point] The King, having first addreffed to Wolfey, breaks off: and declares upon his Honour to the whole Court, that he speaks the Cardinal's Sentiments upon the Point in quef tion; and clears him from any Attempt, or Wifh, to stir that Bufinefs. THEOBALD. 3 Scruple, and prick,] Prick of confcience was the term in confeffion.
By th❜bishop of Bayon, then French ambassador; Who had been hither fent on the debating
A marriage 'twixt the Duke of Orleans and Our daughter Mary; I'th' progrefs of this business, Ere a determinate refolution, he
(I mean the bishop) did require a refpite; Wherein he might the King his Lord advertise, Whether our daughter were legitimate,
Refpecting this our marriage with the Dowager, Sometime our brother's wife. + This refpite fhook The bofom of my confcience, enter'd me,
Yea, with a splitting power, and made to tremble The region of my breaft; which forc'd fuch way, That many maz'd confiderings did throng, And preft in with this caution. First, methought, I ftood not in the fmile of heav'n, which had Commanded nature, that my Lady's womb, If it conceiv'd a male child by me, fhould Do no more offices of life to't, than
The grave does to the dead; for her male-iffue Or died where they were made, or shortly after This world had air'd them. Hence I took a thought, This was a judgment on me, that my kingdom, Well worthy the beft heir o'th'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 iffue's fail; and that gave to me Many a groaning throe. Thus hulling in
The wild fea of my confcience, I did steer.. Towards this remedy, whereupon we are Now prefent here together: that's to say, I mean to rectify my confcience, which. I then did feel full-fick, and yet not well, By all the rev'rend fathers of the land And doctors learn'd. First, I began in private With you, my Lord of Lincoln, you remember, How under my oppreffion I did reek, When I first mov'd you..
Lin. Very well, my Liege.
King. I have fpoke long; be pleas'd yourself to fay How far you fatisfy'd me.
Lin. Please your Highness,
The queftion did at first so stagger me, Bearing a state of mighty moment in't, And confequence of dread, that I committed The daring'ft counfel, which I had, to doubt, And did intreat your Highness to this course, Which you are running here.
King. I then mov'd you,
My Lord of Canterbury; and got your leave To make this prefent fummons. Unfollicited I left no rev'rend perfon in this Court, But by particular confent proceeded
Under your hands and feals. Therefore go on; For no diflike i'th' world against the perfon
Of our good Queen, but the fharp thorny points Of my alleged reafons drive this forward.
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