With me, a poor weak woman, fallen from favor?

I do not like their coming, now I think on't.

They should be good men; their affairs1 as righteous. But all hoods make not monks.

Wol.

Enter WOLSEY and Campeius.

Peace to your highness!

Q. Kath. Your graces find me here part of a house

wife;

I would be all, against the worst may happen.
What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?

Wol. May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw
Into your private chamber, we shall give you
The full cause of our coming.

Q. Kath.

Speak it here;

There's nothing I have done yet, o' my conscience,
Deserves a corner. 'Would all other women

Could speak this with as free a soul as I do!
My lords, I care not (so much I am happy
Above a number) if my actions

Were tried by every tongue, every eye saw them,
Envy and base opinion set against them,

I know my life so even. If your business

Seek me out, and that way I am wife in,2

Out with it boldly. Truth loves open dealing.

Wol. Tanta est ergà te mentis integritas, regina serenissima,

Q. Kath. O, good my lord, no Latin ;

I am not such a truant since my coming,

As not to know the language I have lived in;

A strange tongue makes my cause more strange, sus

picious.

Pray, speak in English; here are some will thank you, If you speak truth, for their poor mistress' sake; Believe me, she has had much wrong. Lord cardinal,

1 "Being churchmen, they should be virtuous, and every business they undertake as righteous as their sacred office; but all hoods make not monks. 2 This is obscurely expressed, but seems to mean, "If your business is with me, and relates to the question of my marriage, out with it boldly.”

The willing'st sin I ever yet committed,
May be absolved in English.

Wol.

1

Noble lady,
I am sorry, my integrity should breed,
(And service to his majesty and you,) 1
So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant.
We come not by the way of accusation,
To taint that honor every good tongue blesses;
Nor to betray you any way to sorrow;

You have too much, good lady; but to know
How you stand minded in the weighty difference
Between the king and you; and to deliver,
Like free and honest men, our just opinions,
And comforts to your cause.

Cam.
Most honored madam,
My lord of York,-out of his noble nature,
Zeal and obedience he still bore your grace;
Forgetting, like a good man, your late censure
Both of his truth and him, (which was too far,)
Offers, as I do, in a sign of peace,
His service and his counsel.

Q. Kath.

To betray me.

[Aside. My lords, I thank you both for your good wills. Ye speak like honest men, (pray God, ye prove so!) But how to make you suddenly an answer, In such a point of weight, so near mine honor, (More near my life I fear,) with my weak wit, And to such men of gravity and learning, In truth, I know not. I was set at work Among my maids, full little, God knows, looking Either for such men, or such business. For her sake that I have been, (for I feel The last fit of my greatness,) good your graces, Let me have time, and counsel, for my cause. Alas! I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.

1 This line stands so awkwardly, and out of its place, that Mr. Edwards proposes to transpose it thus:—

"I am sorry my integrity should breed

VOL. V.

So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant,

And service to his majesty and you.”

24

Wol. Madam, you wrong the king's love with these

fears;

Your hopes and friends are infinite.

Q. Kath.
In England,
But little for my profit. Can you think, lords,
That any Englishman dare give me counsel?

Or be a known friend, 'gainst his highness' pleasure,
(Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,)
And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
They that must weigh out1 my afflictions,
They that my trust must grow to, live not here;
They are, as all my other comforts, far hence,
In mine own country, lords.

Cam.

I would your grace

Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel.

Q. Kath.

How, sir? Cam. Put your main cause into the king's protection; He's loving, and most gracious; 'twill be much

Both for your honor better, and your cause;

For if the trial of the law o'ertake you,

You'll part away disgraced.

Wol.

He tells you rightly.

Q. Kath. Ye tell me what ye wish for both, my ruin. Is this your Christian counsel? Out upon ye!

Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge,

That no king can corrupt.

Cam.

Your rage mistakes us.

Q. Kath. The more shame for ye; holy men I

thought ye,

Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues ;

But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye.

Mend them for shame, my lords. Is this your comfort? The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady?

A woman lost among ye, laughed at, scorned?

I will not wish ye half my miseries;

I have more charity. But say, I warned ye;

Take heed, for Heaven's sake, take heed, lest at once The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.

1 Massinger uses the phrase weigh up, for raise; and Mason proposes to substitute it for weigh out here. Perhaps it is equivalent to outweigh.

Wol. Madam, this is a mere distraction; You turn the good we offer into envy.

Q. Kath. Ye turn me into nothing. Woe upon ye, And all such false professors! Would ye have me (If you have any justice, any pity,

If ye be any thing but churchmen's habits)
Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
Alas! he has banished me his bed already;

His love too long ago.

I am old, my lords,

And all the fellowship I hold now with him,
Is only my obedience. What can happen

To me, above this wretchedness? All your studies
Make me a curse like this.

Cam.

Your fears are worse.

Q. Kath. Have I lived thus long-(let me speak

myself,

Since virtue finds no friends)-a wife, a true one?
A woman (I dare say, without vain-glory)

Never yet branded with suspicion?

Have I with all my full affections

Still met the king? loved him next Heaven? obeyed him?
Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him?1

Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
And am I thus rewarded? 'Tis not well, lords.
Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
One that ne'er dreamed a joy beyond his pleasure;
And to that woman, when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honor,-a great patience.

Wol. Madam, you wander from the good we aim at. Q. Kath. My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty, To give up willingly that noble title

Your master wed me to: nothing but death

Shall e'er divorce my dignities.

Wol.

'Pray, hear me.

Q. Kath. 'Would I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it!

Ye have angels' faces, but Heaven knows your hearts. What will become of me now, wretched lady?

1 Served him with superstitious attention.

I am the most unhappy woman living.—
Alas! poor wenches, where are now your fortunes?
[To her Women.
Shipwrecked upon a kingdom, where no pity,
No friends, no hope; no kindred weep for me,
Almost no grave allowed me.-Like the lily,
That once was mistress of the field, and flourished,
I'll hang my head, and perish.

If your grace

Wol.
Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
You'd feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,
Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas! our places,
The way of our profession is against it;

We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them.
For goodness' sake, consider what you do;
How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly

Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits,
They swell, and grow as terrible as storms.

I know you have a gentle, noble temper,

A soul as even as a calm. Pray, think us

Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and servants.
Cam. Madam, you'll find it so.
You wrong your

virtues

With these weak women's fears. A noble spirit,
As yours was put into you, ever casts

Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves you;
Beware you lose it not. For us,

us, if

you please

To trust us in your business, we are ready

To use our utmost studies in your service.

Q. Kath. Do what ye will, my lords. And, pray, forgive me,

If I have used1 myself unmannerly;

You know I am a woman, lacking wit

To make a seemly answer to such persons.

Pray, do my service to his majesty.

He has my heart yet; and shall have my prayers,

1 Behaved.