King Henry VIII | Page 6

lord the Duke of Buckingham, and Earl Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I Arrest thee of high treason, in the name Of our most sovereign king.
BUCKINGHAM. Lo, you, my lord, The net has fall'n upon me! I shall perish Under device and practice.
BRANDON. I am sorry 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 nothing To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me Which makes my whit'st 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. [To Abergavenny.] The King Is pleas'd you shall to the Tower, till you know 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 warrant from 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. 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. I am the shadow of poor Buckingham, Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on, By dark'ning my clear sun. My lord, farewell.
[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. The same. The council-chamber.
[Cornets. Enter the King, leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder, the Nobles, and Sir Thomas Lovell; the Cardinal places himself under the King's feet on his right side.]
KING. My life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks you for this great care. I stood i' the level Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks To you that chok'd it. Let be call'd before us That gentleman of Buckingham's; in person I'll hear his confessions justify; And point by point the treasons of his master He shall again relate.
[A noise within, crying "Room for the Queen!" Enter Queen Katherine, ushered by the Duke of Norfolk, and the Duke of Suffolk; she kneels. The King riseth from his state, takes her up, kisses and placeth her by him.]
QUEEN KATHERINE. Nay, we must longer kneel; I am a suitor.
KING. Arise, and take place by us. Half your suit Never name to us, you have half our power; The other moiety, ere you ask, is given. Repeat your will and take it.
QUEEN KATHERINE. Thank your Majesty. That you would love yourself, and in that love Not unconsidered leave your honour, nor The dignity of your office, is the point Of my petition.
KING. Lady mine, proceed.
QUEEN KATHERINE. I am solicited, not by a few, And those of true condition, that your subjects Are in great grievance. There have been commissions Sent down among 'em, which hath flaw'd the heart Of all their loyalties; wherein, although, My good Lord Cardinal, they vent reproaches Most bitterly on you, as putter on Of these exactions, yet the King our master-- Whose honour Heaven shield from soil!--even he escapes not Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks The sides of loyalty, and almost appears In loud rebellion.
NORFOLK. Not "almost appears," It doth appear; for, upon these taxations, The clothiers all, not able to maintain The many to them longing, have put off The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who, Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger And lack of other means, in desperate manner Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar, And danger serves among them.
KING. Taxation! Wherein? and what taxation? My Lord Cardinal, You that are blam'd for it alike with us, Know you of this taxation?
WOLSEY. Please you, sir, I know but of a single part, in aught Pertains to the state, and front but in that file Where others tell steps with me.
QUEEN KATHERINE. No, my lord? You know no more than others? But you frame Things that are known alike, which are not wholesome To those which would not know them, and yet must Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions, Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are Most pestilent to the hearing; and, to bear 'em, The back is sacrifice to the load. They say They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer Too hard an exclamation.
KING. Still exaction! The nature of it? In what kind, let's know, Is this exaction?
QUEEN KATHERINE. I am much too venturous In tempting of your patience; but am bold'ned Under your promis'd pardon. The subjects' grief Comes through commissions, which compels from each The sixth part of his substance, to be levied Without delay; and the pretence for this Is nam'd, your wars in France. This makes bold mouths; Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze Allegiance in them; their curses now Live where their