ACT III SCENE I

King Henry VIII

ACT III SCENE I	London. QUEEN KATHARINE’s apartments.
[Enter QUEEN KATHARINE and her Women, as at work]
QUEEN KATHARINE	Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;
	Sing, and disperse ’em, if thou canst: leave working.
[SONG]
	Orpheus with his lute made trees,
	And the mountain tops that freeze,
	Bow themselves when he did sing:	5
	To his music plants and flowers
	Ever sprung; as sun and showers
	There had made a lasting spring.
	Every thing that heard him play,
	Even the billows of the sea,	10
	Hung their heads, and then lay by.
	In sweet music is such art,
	Killing care and grief of heart
	Fall asleep, or hearing, die.
[Enter a Gentleman]
QUEEN KATHARINE	How now!	15
Gentleman	An’t please your grace, the two great cardinals
	Wait in the presence.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Would they speak with me?
Gentleman	They will’d me say so, madam.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Pray their graces	20
	To come near.
[Exit Gentleman]
	What can be their business
	With me, a poor weak woman, fall’n from favour?
	I do not like their coming. Now I think on’t,
	They should be good men; their affairs as righteous:	25
	But all hoods make not monks.
[Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY and CARDINAL CAMPEIUS]
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Peace to your highness!
QUEEN KATHARINE	Your graces find me here part of a housewife,
	I would be all, against the worst may happen.
	What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?	30
CARDINAL WOLSEY	May it please you noble madam, to withdraw
	Into your private chamber, we shall give you
	The full cause of our coming.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Speak it here:
	There’s nothing I have done yet, o’ my conscience,	35
	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 ’em,	40
	Envy and base opinion set against ’em,
	I know my life so even. If your business
	Seek me out, and that way I am wife in,
	Out with it boldly: truth loves open dealing.
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Tanta est erga te mentis integritas, regina	45
	serenissima,–
QUEEN KATHARINE	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,	50
	suspicious;
	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,
	The willing’st sin I ever yet committed	55
	May be absolved in English.
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Noble lady,
	I am sorry my integrity should breed,
	And service to his majesty and you,
	So deep suspicion, where all faith was meant.	60
	We come not by the way of accusation,
	To taint that honour 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	65
	Between the king and you; and to deliver,
	Like free and honest men, our just opinions
	And comforts to your cause.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	Most honour’d madam,
	My Lord of York, out of his noble nature,	70
	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.	75
QUEEN KATHARINE	[Aside] To betray me.–
	My lords, I thank you both for your good wills;
	Ye speak like honest men; pray God, ye prove so!
	But how to make ye suddenly an answer,
	In such a point of weight, so near mine honour,–	80
	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.	85
	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!
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Madam, you wrong the king’s love with these fears:	90
	Your hopes and friends are infinite.
QUEEN KATHARINE	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,	95
	Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,
	And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
	They that must weigh out my afflictions,
	They that my trust must grow to, live not here:
	They are, as all my other comforts, far hence	100
	In mine own country, lords.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	I would your grace
	Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel.
QUEEN KATHARINE	How, sir?
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	Put your main cause into the king’s protection;	105
	He’s loving and most gracious: ’twill be much
	Both for your honour better and your cause;
	For if the trial of the law o’ertake ye,
	You’ll part away disgraced.
CARDINAL WOLSEY	He tells you rightly.	110
QUEEN KATHARINE	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.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	Your rage mistakes us.	115
QUEEN KATHARINE	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 ’em, for shame, my lords. Is this your comfort?
	The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady,	120
	A woman lost among ye, laugh’d at, scorn’d?
	I will not wish ye half my miseries;
	I have more charity: but say, I warn’d ye;
	Take heed, for heaven’s sake, take heed, lest at once
	The burthen of my sorrows fall upon ye.	125
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Madam, this is a mere distraction;
	You turn the good we offer into envy.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Ye turn me into nothing: woe upon ye
	And all such false professors! would you have me–
	If you have any justice, any pity;	130
	If ye be any thing but churchmen’s habits–
	Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me?
	Alas, has banish’d me his bed already,
	His love, too long ago! I am old, my lords,
	And all the fellowship I hold now with him	135
	Is only my obedience. What can happen
	To me above this wretchedness? all your studies
	Make me a curse like this.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	Your fears are worse.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Have I lived thus long–let me speak myself,	140
	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?	145
	obey’d him?
	Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him?
	Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
	And am I thus rewarded? ’tis not well, lords.
	Bring me a constant woman to her husband,	150
	One that ne’er dream’d a joy beyond his pleasure;
	And to that woman, when she has done most,
	Yet will I add an honour, a great patience.
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Madam, you wander from the good we aim at.
QUEEN KATHARINE	My lord, I dare not make myself so guilty,	155
	To give up willingly that noble title
	Your master wed me to: nothing but death
	Shall e’er divorce my dignities.
CARDINAL WOLSEY	Pray, hear me.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Would I had never trod this English earth,	160
	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!
	I am the most unhappy woman living.
	Alas, poor wenches, where are now your fortunes!	165
	Shipwreck’d upon a kingdom, where no pity,
	No friend, no hope; no kindred weep for me;
	Almost no grave allow’d me: like the lily,
	That once was mistress of the field and flourish’d,
	I’ll hang my head and perish.	170
CARDINAL WOLSEY	If your grace
	Could but be brought to know our ends are honest,
	You’ld feel more comfort: why should we, good lady,
	Upon what cause, wrong you? alas, our places,
	The way of our profession is against it:	175
	We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow ’em.
	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,	180
	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.	185
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS	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, if you please	190
	To trust us in your business, we are ready
	To use our utmost studies in your service.
QUEEN KATHARINE	Do what ye will, my lords: and, pray, forgive me,
	If I have used myself unmannerly;
	You know I am a woman, lacking wit	195
	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
	While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers,
	Bestow your counsels on me: she now begs,	200
	That little thought, when she set footing here,
	She should have bought her dignities so dear.
[Exeunt]

Continue to Henry VIII, Act 3, Scene 2