TPTT The Famous History of the Life of Henry the Eighth: ACT I
Introduction
THE PROLOGUE
ACT I
SCENE I. London. An ante-chamber in the palace.
SCENE II. The same. The council-chamber.
SCENE III. An ante-chamber in the palace.
SCENE IV. A Hall in York Place.
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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SCENE I. London. An ante-chamber in the palace.
Enter NORFOLK at one door; at the other, BUCKINGHAM and ABERGAVENNY
BUCKINGHAM
      Good morrow, and well met. How have ye done
      Since last we saw in France?
NORFOLK
      I thank your grace,
      Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer
5     Of what I saw there.
BUCKINGHAM
      An untimely ague
      Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber when
      Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,
      Met in the vale of Andren.
NORFOLK
10    'Twixt Guynes and Arde:
      I was then present, saw them salute on horseback;
      Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung
      In their embracement, as they grew together;
      Which had they, what four throned ones could have weigh'd
15    Such a compounded one?
BUCKINGHAM
      All the whole time
      I was my chamber's prisoner.
NORFOLK
      Then you lost
      The view of earthly glory: men might say,
20    Till this time pomp was single, but now married
      To one above itself. Each following day
      Became the next day's master, till the last
      Made former wonders its. To-day the French,
      All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,
25    Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they
      Made Britain India: every man that stood
      Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
      As cherubins, all guilt: the madams too,
      Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear
30    The pride upon them, that their very labour
      Was to them as a painting: now this masque
      Was cried incomparable; and the ensuing night
      Made it a fool and beggar. The two kings,
      Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,
35    As presence did present them; him in eye,
      Still him in praise: and, being present both
      'Twas said they saw but one; and no discerner
      Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns--
      For so they phrase 'em--by their heralds challenged
40    The noble spirits to arms, they did perform
      Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story,
      Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
      That Bevis was believed.
BUCKINGHAM
      O, you go far.
NORFOLK
45    As I belong to worship and affect
      In honour honesty, the tract of every thing
      Would by a good discourser lose some life,
      Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal;
      To the disposing of it nought rebell'd.
50    Order gave each thing view; the office did
      Distinctly his full function.
BUCKINGHAM
      Who did guide,
      I mean, who set the body and the limbs
      Of this great sport together, as you guess?
NORFOLK
55    One, certes, that promises no element
      In such a business.
BUCKINGHAM
      I pray you, who, my lord?
NORFOLK
      All this was order'd by the good discretion
      Of the right reverend Cardinal of York.
BUCKINGHAM
60    The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed
      From his ambitious finger. What had he
      To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder
      That such a keech can with his very bulk
      Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun
65    And keep it from the earth.
NORFOLK
      Surely, sir,
      There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
      For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose grace
      Chalks successors their way, nor call'd upon
70    For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
      For eminent assistants; but, spider-like,
      Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
      The force of his own merit makes his way
      A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
75    A place next to the king.
ABERGAVENNY
      I cannot tell
      What heaven hath given him,--let some graver eye
      Pierce into that; but I can see his pride
      Peep through each part of him: whence has he that,
80    If not from hell? the devil is a niggard,
      Or has given all before, and he begins
      A new hell in himself.
BUCKINGHAM
      Why the devil,
      Upon this French going out, took he upon him,
85    Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
      Who should attend on him? He makes up the file
      Of all the gentry; for the most part such
      To whom as great a charge as little honour
      He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,
90    The honourable board of council out,
      Must fetch him in the papers.
ABERGAVENNY
      I do know
      Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
      By this so sickened their estates, that never
95    They shall abound as formerly.
BUCKINGHAM
      O, many
      Have broke their backs with laying manors on 'em
      For this great journey. What did this vanity
      But minister communication of
100   A most poor issue?
NORFOLK
      Grievingly I think,
      The peace between the French and us not values
      The cost that did conclude it.
BUCKINGHAM
      Every man,
105   After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
      A thing inspired; and, not consulting, broke
      Into a general prophecy; That this tempest,
      Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
      The sudden breach on't.
NORFOLK
110   Which is budded out;
      For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd
      Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.
ABERGAVENNY
      Is it therefore
      The ambassador is silenced?
NORFOLK
115   Marry, is't.
ABERGAVENNY
      A proper title of a peace; and purchased
      At a superfluous rate!
BUCKINGHAM
      Why, all this business
      Our reverend cardinal carried.
NORFOLK
120   Like it your grace,
      The state takes notice of the private difference
      Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you--
      And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
      Honour and plenteous safety--that you read
125   The cardinal's malice and his potency
      Together; to consider further that
      What his high hatred would effect wants not
      A minister in his power. You know his nature,
      That he's revengeful, and I know his sword
130   Hath a sharp edge: it's long and, 't may be said,
      It reaches far, and where 'twill not extend,
      Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
      You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock
      That I advise your shunning.
Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, the purse borne before him, certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with papers. CARDINAL WOLSEY in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain
CARDINAL WOLSEY
135   The Duke of Buckingham's surveyor, ha?
      Where's his examination?
First Secretary
      Here, so please you.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
      Is he in person ready?
First Secretary
      Ay, please your grace.
CARDINAL WOLSEY
140   Well, we shall then know more; and Buckingham
      Shall lessen this big look.
Exeunt CARDINAL WOLSEY and his Train
BUCKINGHAM
      This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I
      Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore best
      Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
145   Outworths a noble's blood.
NORFOLK
      What, are you chafed?
      Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only
      Which your disease requires.
BUCKINGHAM
      I read in's looks
150   Matter against me; and his eye reviled
      Me, as his abject object: at this instant
      He bores me with some trick: he's gone to the king;
      I'll follow and outstare him.
NORFOLK
      Stay, my lord,
155   And let your reason with your choler question
      What 'tis you go about: to climb steep hills
      Requires slow pace at first: anger is like
      A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way,
      Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
160   Can advise me like you: be to yourself
      As you would to your friend.
BUCKINGHAM
      I'll to the king;
      And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
      This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim
165   There's difference in no persons.
NORFOLK
      Be advised;
      Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
      That it do singe yourself: we may outrun,
      By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
170   And lose by over-running. Know you not,
      The fire that mounts the liquor til run o'er,
      In seeming to augment it wastes it? Be advised:
      I say again, there is no English soul
      More stronger to direct you than yourself,
175   If with the sap of reason you would quench,
      Or but allay, the fire of passion.
BUCKINGHAM
      Sir,
      I am thankful to you; and I'll go along
      By your prescription: but this top-proud fellow,
180   Whom from the flow of gall I name not but
      From sincere motions, by intelligence,
      And proofs as clear as founts in July when
      We see each grain of gravel, I do know
      To be corrupt and treasonous.
NORFOLK
185   Say not 'treasonous.'
BUCKINGHAM
      To the king I'll say't; and make my vouch as strong
      As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
      Or wolf, or both,--for he is equal ravenous
      As he is subtle, and as prone to mischief
190   As able to perform't; his mind and place
      Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally--
      Only to show his pomp as well in France
      As here at home, suggests the king our master
      To this last costly treaty, the interview,
195   That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass
      Did break i' the rinsing.
NORFOLK
      Faith, and so it did.
BUCKINGHAM
      Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning cardinal
      The articles o' the combination drew
200   As himself pleased; and they were ratified
      As he cried 'Thus let be': to as much end
      As give a crutch to the dead: but our count-cardinal
      Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey,
      Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,--
205   Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
      To the old dam, treason,--Charles the emperor,
      Under pretence to see the queen his aunt--
      For 'twas indeed his colour, but he came
      To whisper Wolsey,--here makes visitation:
210   His fears were, that the interview betwixt
      England and France might, through their amity,
      Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
      Peep'd harms that menaced him: he privily
      Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,--
215   Which I do well; for I am sure the emperor
      Paid ere he promised; whereby his suit was granted
      Ere it was ask'd; but when the way was made,
      And paved with gold, the emperor thus desired,
      That he would please to alter the king's course,
220   And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,
      As soon he shall by me, that thus the cardinal
      Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
      And for his own advantage.
NORFOLK
      I am sorry
225   To hear this of him; and could wish he were
      Something mistaken in't.
BUCKINGHAM
      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
BRANDON
230   Your office, sergeant; execute it.
Sergeant
      Sir,
      My lord the Duke of Buckingham, and Earl
      Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
      Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
235   Of our most sovereign king.
BUCKINGHAM
      Lo, you, my lord,
      The net has fall'n upon me! I shall perish
      Under device and practise.
BRANDON
      I am sorry
240   To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
      The business present: 'tis his highness' pleasure
      You shall to the Tower.
BUCKINGHAM
      It will help me nothing
      To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me
245   Which makes my whitest part black. The will of heaven
      Be done in this and all things! I obey.
      O my Lord Abergavenny, fare you well!
BRANDON
      Nay, he must bear you company. The king

To ABERGAVENNY

      Is pleased you shall to the Tower, till you know
250   How he determines further.
ABERGAVENNY
      As the duke said,
      The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
      By me obey'd!
BRANDON
      Here is a warrant from
255   The king to attach Lord Montacute; and the bodies
      Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,
      One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor--
BUCKINGHAM
      So, so;
      These are the limbs o' the plot: no more, I hope.
BRANDON
260   A monk o' the Chartreux.
BUCKINGHAM
      O, Nicholas Hopkins?
BRANDON
      He.
BUCKINGHAM
      My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal
      Hath show'd him gold; my life is spann'd already:
265   I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,
      Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,
      By darkening my clear sun. My lord, farewell.
Exeunt
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