Enter an old Lady. Gent. [Within.] Come back; What mean you? Lady. I'll not come back: the tidings that I bring Will make my boldness manners.-Now, good an gels Fly o'er thy royal head, and shade thy person And of a lovely boy: The God of heaven Acquainted with this stranger; 'tis as like you, K. Hen. Lovell, Enter LOVELL. Sir. Lov. K. Hen. Give her an hundred marks. I'll to the queen. [Exit King. Lady. An hundred marks! By this light, I'll have more. An ordinary groom is for such payment. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Lobby before the Council-Chamber. Enter CRANMER; Servants, Door-keeper, &c. attending. Cran. I hope, I am not too late; and yet the gentleman, That was sent to me from the council, pray'd me Hoa! Who waits there?-Sure, you know me? D. Keep. But yet I cannot help you. Cran. Yes, my lord; Why? D. Keep. Your grace must wait, till you be call'd Cran. for. Enter Doctor BUTTS. So. Butts. This is a piece of malice. I am glad, I came this way so happily: The king Shall understand it presently. Cran. [Aside.] [Exit BUTTS. "Tis Butts, The king's physician; As he past along, How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me! Pray heaven, he sound not my disgrace! For certain, make me Wait else at door; a fellow counsellor, Among boys, grooms, and lackeys. But their plea sures Must be fulfill'd, and I attend with patience. Enter at a window above, the King and BUTTS. Butts. I'll show your grace the strangest sight,— Butts. K. Hen. Ha! 'Tis he, indeed: Is this the honour they do one another? 'Tis well, there's one above them yet. I had thought, Let them alone, and draw the curtain close; THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER. [Exeunt. Enter the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of SUFFOLK, Earl of SURREY, Lord Chamberlain, GARDINER, and CROMWELL. The Chancellor places himself at the upper end of the table on the left hand; a seat being left void above him, as for the Archbishop of Canterbury. The rest seat themselves in order on each side. CROMWELL at the lower end, as secretary. Chan. Speak to the business, master secretary: Why are we met in council? Crom. Please your honours, The chief cause concerns his grace of Canterbury. Gar. Has he had knowledge of it? And has done half an hour, to know your pleasures. Chan. Let him come in. D. Keep. Your grace may enter now. [CRANMER approaches the Council-table. Chan. My good lord archbishop, I am very sorry To sit here at this present, and behold That chair stand empty : But we all are men, In our own natures frail; and capable Of our flesh, few are angels: out of which frailty, lains, (For so we are inform'd,) with new opinions, Divers, and dangerous; which are heresies, And, not reform'd, may prove pernicious. Gar. Which reformation must be sudden too, My noble lords: for those, that tame wild horses, Pace them not in their hands to make them gentle; But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and spur them, Till they obey the manage. If we suffer To one man's honour) this contagious sickness, Of the whole state: as, of late days, our neighbours, 6 Cran. My good lords, hitherto, in all the progress Both of my life and office, I have labour'd, And with no little study, that my teaching, And the strong course of my authority, Might go one way, and safely; and the end Was ever, to do well: nor is there living (I speak it with a single heart, my lords,) A man, that more detests, more stirs against, Both in his private conscience, and his place, Defacers of a public peace, than I do. 'Pray heaven, the king may never find a heart With less allegiance in it! Men, that make Envy, and crooked malice, nourishment, Dare bite the best. I do beseech your lordships, That, in this case of justice, my accusers, Be what they will, may stand forth face to face, And freely urge against me. Suf. Nay, my lord, "In singleness of heart." Acts II. 46. |