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One, certes, that promises no element "

In such a business.

Buck.

I pray you, who, my lord?
Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion
Of the right reverend cardinal of York.

Buck. 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 keechb can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

Surely, sir,

Nor.
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
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
To eminent assistants; but spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web,-O! give us note!-
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.

Aber.

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?
If not from hell the devil is a niggard,

Or has given all before, and he begins

A new hell in himself.

Buck.

Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint

Who should attend on him? He makes up the file

Element-constituent quality of mind. Thus in Twelfth Night' (Act III. Sc. 4) Malvolio says, "Go, hang yourselves all! you are idle shallow things: I am not of your element." b Keech. A "keech" is a lump of fat; and Buckingham here denounces Wolsey as an overgrown bloated favourite.

VOL. VII.

B

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
(The honourable board of council out)
Must fetch him in the papers.

Aber.

I do know

Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.

Buck.

O, many

Have broke their backs with laying manors on them
For this great journey. What did this vanity,
But minister communication of

A most poor issue?

Nor.

Grievingly I think,

The peace between the French and us not values
The cost that did conclude it.

Buck.
Every man,
After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
A thing inspir'd; and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy,-That this tempest,
Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
The sudden breach on 't.

Nor.

Which is budded out;

For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.

The ambassador is silenc'd?

Aber.

Nor.

Is it therefore

Marry, is 't.

Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd

At a superfluous rate!

Buck.

Our reverend cardinal carried.

Nor.

Why, all this business

'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
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
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and 't may be said,
It reaches far; and where 't will 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. The CARDINAL. in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where 's his examination?

1 Secr.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.

Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buck

ingham

Shall lessen this big look.

[Exeunt WOLSEY and Train. Buck. 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

Out-worths a noble's blood.

Nor.

What, are you chaf'd? Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only Which your disease requires.

Buck.
I read in his looks
Matter against me; and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this instant

He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor.

Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 't is 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
Can advise me like you: be to yourself

As you would to your friend.

Buck.
I'll to the king:
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.
Be advis'd
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,
And lose by over-running. Know you not
The fire that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul

More stronger to direct you than yourself;

If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

Buck.

Sir,

along

I am thankful to you and I'll go

By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow,
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions,b) 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.

Nor.

Say not treasonous.

a Bores-wounds-thrusts. So in the Winter's Tale: "Now the ship boring the moon with her mainmast."

b Motions-impulses.

Buck. 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,
As able to perform it: 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,

R

That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i' the rinsing."

Nor.

'Faith, and so it did. Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. cardinal

The articles o' the combination drew

As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end,

This cunning

As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-cardinal
Has done this, and 't is well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,
(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 't was, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation:
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 menac'd him: He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,-
Which I do well; for I am sure the emperor
Paid ere he promis'd; whereby his suit was granted
Ere it was ask'd;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd,

a Suggests-excites.

Rinsing-in the original wrenching.

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