Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 2
Kimbolton.
Griffith : How does your grace?
Queen Katharine : O Griffith, sick to death!
[p]My legs, like loaden branches, bow to
the earth,
[p]Willing to leave their burthen. Reach a chair:
[p]So;
now, methinks, I feel a little ease.
[p]Didst thou not tell me,
Griffith, as thou led'st me,
[p]That the great child of honour,
Cardinal Wolsey, Was dead?
Griffith : Yes, madam; but I think your grace,
[p]Out of the pain you suffer'd,
gave no ear to't.
Queen Katharine : Prithee, good Griffith, tell me how he died:
[p]If well, he stepp'd
before me, happily
[p]For my example.
Griffith : Well, the voice goes, madam:
[p]For after the stout Earl
Northumberland
[p]Arrested him at York, and brought him forward,
[p]As
a man sorely tainted, to his answer,
[p]He fell sick suddenly, and
grew so ill
[p]He could not sit his mule.
Queen Katharine : Alas, poor man!
Griffith : At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester,
[p]Lodged in the
abbey; where the reverend abbot,
[p]With all his covent, honourably
received him;
[p]To whom he gave these words, 'O, father abbot,
[p]An
old man, broken with the storms of state,
[p]Is come to lay his weary
bones among ye;
[p]Give him a little earth for charity!'
[p]So went to
bed; where eagerly his sickness
[p]Pursued him still: and, three
nights after this,
[p]About the hour of eight, which he
himself
[p]Foretold should be his last, full of
repentance,
[p]Continual meditations, tears, and sorrows,
[p]He gave
his honours to the world again,
[p]His blessed part to heaven, and
slept in peace.
Queen Katharine : So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him!
[p]Yet thus far,
Griffith, give me leave to speak him,
[p]And yet with charity. He was
a man
[p]Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking
[p]Himself with
princes; one that, by suggestion,
[p]Tied all the kingdom: simony was
fair-play;
[p]His own opinion was his law: i' the presence
[p]He would
say untruths; and be ever double
[p]Both in his words and meaning: he
was never,
[p]But where he meant to ruin, pitiful:
[p]His promises
were, as he then was, mighty;
[p]But his performance, as he is now,
nothing:
[p]Of his own body he was ill, and gave
[p]The clergy in
example.
Griffith : Noble madam,
[p]Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
[p]We
write in water. May it please your highness
[p]To hear me speak his
good now?
Queen Katharine : Yes, good Griffith;
[p]I were malicious else.
Griffith : This cardinal,
[p]Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
[p]Was
fashion'd to much honour from his cradle.
[p]He was a scholar, and a
ripe and good one;
[p]Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and
persuading:
[p]Lofty and sour to them that loved him not;
[p]But to
those men that sought him sweet as summer.
[p]And though he were
unsatisfied in getting,
[p]Which was a sin, yet in bestowing,
madam,
[p]He was most princely: ever witness for him
[p]Those twins Of
learning that he raised in you,
[p]Ipswich and Oxford! one of which
fell with him,
[p]Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;
[p]The
other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,
[p]So excellent in art, and
still so rising,
[p]That Christendom shall ever speak his
virtue.
[p]His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him;
[p]For then, and
not till then, he felt himself,
[p]And found the blessedness of being
little:
[p]And, to add greater honours to his age
[p]Than man could
give him, he died fearing God.
Queen Katharine : After my death I wish no other herald,
[p]No other speaker of my
living actions,
[p]To keep mine honour from corruption,
[p]But such an
honest chronicler as Griffith.
[p]Whom I most hated living, thou hast
made me,
[p]With thy religious truth and modesty,
[p]Now in his ashes
honour: peace be with him!
[p]Patience, be near me still; and set me
lower:
[p]I have not long to trouble thee. Good Griffith,
[p]Cause the
musicians play me that sad note
[p]I named my knell, whilst I sit
meditating
[p]On that celestial harmony I go to.
Griffith : She is asleep: good wench, let's sit down quiet,
[p]For fear we wake
her: softly, gentle Patience.
[p][The vision. Enter, solemnly tripping
one after]
[p]another, six personages, clad in white robes,
[p]wearing
on their heads garlands of bays, and golden
[p]vizards on their faces;
branches of bays or palm in
[p]their hands. They first congee unto
her, then
[p]dance; and, at certain changes, the first two hold
[p]a
spare garland over her head; at which the other
[p]four make reverent
curtsies; then the two that held
[p]the garland deliver the same to
the other next two,
[p]who observe the same order in their changes,
and
[p]holding the garland over her head: which done,
[p]they deliver
the same garland to the last two, who
[p]likewise observe the same
order: at which, as it
[p]were by inspiration, she makes in her sleep
signs
[p]of rejoicing, and holdeth up her hands to heaven:
[p]and so
in their dancing vanish, carrying the
[p]garland with them. The music
continues]
Queen Katharine : Spirits of peace, where are ye? are ye all gone,
[p]And leave me here
in wretchedness behind ye?
Griffith : Madam, we are here.
Queen Katharine : It is not you I call for:
[p]Saw ye none enter since I slept?
Griffith : None, madam.
Queen Katharine : No? Saw you not, even now, a blessed troop
[p]Invite me to a banquet;
whose bright faces
[p]Cast thousand beams upon me, like the
sun?
[p]They promised me eternal happiness;
[p]And brought me
garlands, Griffith, which I feel
[p]I am not worthy yet to wear: I
shall, assuredly.
Griffith : I am most joyful, madam, such good dreams
[p]Possess your fancy.
Queen Katharine : Bid the music leave,
[p]They are harsh and heavy to me.
Patience : Do you note
[p]How much her grace is alter'd on the sudden?
[p]How
long her face is drawn? how pale she looks,
[p]And of an earthy cold?
Mark her eyes!
Griffith : She is going, wench: pray, pray.
Patience : Heaven comfort her!
Messenger : An't like your grace,--
Queen Katharine : You are a saucy fellow:
[p]Deserve we no more reverence?
Griffith : You are to blame,
[p]Knowing she will not lose her wonted
greatness,
[p]To use so rude behavior; go to, kneel.
Messenger : I humbly do entreat your highness' pardon;
[p]My haste made me
unmannerly. There is staying
[p]A gentleman, sent from the king, to
see you.
Queen Katharine : Admit him entrance, Griffith: but this fellow
[p]Let me ne'er see
again.
[p][Exeunt GRIFFITH and Messenger]
[p][Re-enter GRIFFITH, with
CAPUCIUS]
[p]If my sight fail not,
[p]You should be lord ambassador
from the emperor,
[p]My royal nephew, and your name Capucius.
Capucius : Madam, the same; your servant.
Queen Katharine : O, my lord,
[p]The times and titles now are alter'd strangely
[p]With
me since first you knew me. But, I pray you,
[p]What is your pleasure
with me?
Capucius : Noble lady,
[p]First mine own service to your grace; the next,
[p]The
king's request that I would visit you;
[p]Who grieves much for your
weakness, and by me
[p]Sends you his princely commendations,
[p]And
heartily entreats you take good comfort.
Queen Katharine : O my good lord, that comfort comes too late;
[p]'Tis like a pardon
after execution:
[p]That gentle physic, given in time, had cured
me;
[p]But now I am past an comforts here, but prayers.
[p]How does
his highness?
Capucius : Madam, in good health.
Queen Katharine : So may he ever do! and ever flourish,
[p]When I shall dwell with
worms, and my poor name
[p]Banish'd the kingdom! Patience, is that
letter,
[p]I caused you write, yet sent away?
Patience : No, madam.
Queen Katharine : Sir, I most humbly pray you to deliver
[p]This to my lord the king.
Capucius : Most willing, madam.
Queen Katharine : In which I have commended to his goodness
[p]The model of our chaste
loves, his young daughter;
[p]The dews of heaven fall thick in
blessings on her!
[p]Beseeching him to give her virtuous
breeding--
[p]She is young, and of a noble modest nature,
[p]I hope
she will deserve well,--and a little
[p]To love her for her mother's
sake, that loved him,
[p]Heaven knows how dearly. My next poor
petition
[p]Is, that his noble grace would have some pity
[p]Upon my
wretched women, that so long
[p]Have follow'd both my fortunes
faithfully:
[p]Of which there is not one, I dare avow,
[p]And now I
should not lie, but will deserve
[p]For virtue and true beauty of the
soul,
[p]For honesty and decent carriage,
[p]A right good husband, let
him be a noble
[p]And, sure, those men are happy that shall have
'em.
[p]The last is, for my men; they are the poorest,
[p]But poverty
could never draw 'em from me;
[p]That they may have their wages duly
paid 'em,
[p]And something over to remember me by:
[p]If heaven had
pleased to have given me longer life
[p]And able means, we had not
parted thus.
[p]These are the whole contents: and, good my lord,
[p]By
that you love the dearest in this world,
[p]As you wish Christian
peace to souls departed,
[p]Stand these poor people's friend, and urge
the king
[p]To do me this last right.
Capucius : By heaven, I will,
[p]Or let me lose the fashion of a man!
Queen Katharine : I thank you, honest lord. Remember me
[p]In all humility unto his
highness:
[p]Say his long trouble now is passing
[p]Out of this world;
tell him, in death I bless'd him,
[p]For so I will. Mine eyes grow
dim. Farewell,
[p]My lord. Griffith, farewell. Nay, Patience,
[p]You
must not leave me yet: I must to bed;
[p]Call in more women. When I am
dead, good wench,
[p]Let me be used with honour: strew me over
[p]With
maiden flowers, that all the world may know
[p]I was a chaste wife to
my grave: embalm me,
[p]Then lay me forth: although unqueen'd, yet
like
[p]A queen, and daughter to a king, inter me.
[p]I can no more.
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