Wol. You have here, lady,

(And of your choice) thefe reverend fathers; men Of fingular integrity and learning,

Yea, the elect of the land, who are affembled

To plead your caufe: It fhall be therefore bootlefs, That longer you defer the court; as well

For your own quiet, as to rectify

What is unfettled in the king.

Cam. His grace

Hath spoken well, and juftly: Therefore, madam,
It's fit this royal feffion do proceed;

And that, without delay, their arguments

Be now produc'd, and heard.

Queen. Lord cardinal,

To you I fpeak.

Wol. Your pleasure, madam?
Queen. Sir,

I am about to weep+; but, thinking that

We are a queen, (or long have dream'd fo) certain, The daughter of a king, my drops of tears

I'll turn to fparks of fire.

Wol. Be patient yet.

Queen. I will, when you are humble; nay, before, Or God will punish me. I do believe,

Induc'd by potent circumstances, that

You are mine enemy; 5 and make my challenge,

You

↑ I am about to weep; &c.] Shakspeare has given almost a fimilar fentiment to Hermions in the Winter's Tale, on an almost fimilar occafion :

"I am not prone to weeping, as our sex
"Commonly are, &c.-but I have

"That honourable grief lodg'd here, which burns

"Worfe than tears drown; &c."

and make my challenge,

You shall not be judge:]

STEEVENS,

Challenge is here a verbum juris, a law term. The criminal, when he refufes a juryman, fays, I challenge him, I think there is a flight errour which deftroys the connection, and would read :

R 4

Induc'd

1

You shall not be my judge: for it is you
Have blown this coal betwixt my lord and me,—
Which God's dew quench!-Therefore, I fay again,
"I utterly abhor, yea, from my foul

Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more,
I hold my most malicious foe, and think not
At all a friend to truth.

Wol. I do profess,

You speak not like yourfelf; who ever yet
Have stood to charity, and difplay'd the effects
Of difpofition gentle, and of wisdom

O'er-topping woman's power. Madam, you do me
wrong:

I have no fpleen against you; nor injustice
For you, or any: how far I have proceeded,
Or how far further fhall, is warranted
By a commiffion from the confiftory,

Yea, the whole confiftory of Rome. You charge me,
That I have blown this coal: I do deny it:
The king is prefent; If it be known to him,
That I gainfay7 my deed, how may he wound,
And worthily, my falfhood? yea, as much
As you have done my truth. If he know
That I am free of your report, he knows,
I am not of your wrong. Therefore in him
It lies, to cure me: and the cure is, to
Remove these thoughts from you: The which before

Induc'd by potent circumftances, that

You are mine enemy, I make my challenge.
-You fhall not be my judge. JOHNSON.

6 I utterly abhor, yea from my foul

Refufe you as my judge- -] These are not mere words of paffion, but technical terms in the canon law-Deteftor and Recufo. The former in the language of the canonifts, fignifies no more, than I protest against. BLACKSTONE.

1-gainfay] i. e. deny. So, in lord Surrey's translation of the fourth book of the Eneid:

"I hold thee not, nor yet gainsay thy words."

your speaking,

His highness shall fpeak in, I do befeech
You, gracious madam, to unthink

And to fay fo no more.

Queen. My lord, my lord,

I am a fimple woman, much too weak

To oppofe your cunning. You are meek, and humble-mouth'd;

You fign your place and calling, in full feeming,
With meekness and humility: but your heart
Is cramm'd with arrogancy, fpleen, and pride.
You have, by fortune, and his highness' favours,
Gone flightly o'er low steps; and now are mounted,
Where powers are
powers are your retainers: and your words,
Domesticks to you, ferve your will, as't please
Yourself pronounce their office. I must tell you,
You tender more your perfon's honour, than
Your high profeffion spiritual; That again

* You fign your place and calling,] Sign, for answer.

WARBURTON. I think, to fign, muft here be to show, to denote. By your outward meeknefs and humility, you how that you are of an holy order, but, &c. JOHNSON.

9

-now are mounted,

Where powers are your retainers; and your words,
Domefticks to you, ferve your will,]

You have now got power at your beck, following in your retinue:
and words therefore are degraded to the fervile state of perform-
ing any office which you fhall give them. In humbler and more
common terms; Having now got power, you do not regard your
word. JOHNSON.

I believe we should read:

"Where powers are your retainers, and your wards,
"Domesticks to you, &c."

The Queen rifes naturally in her defcription. She paints the
powers of government depending upon Wolfey under three
images; as his retainers, his wards, his domeftick fervants.

TYRWHITT.

So, in Storer's Life and Death of Thomas Wolfey, Cardinal, a
рост, 1599 :

"I muft have notice where their wards muft dwell;
"I car'd not for the gentry, for I had

"Yong nobles of the land, &c." STEEVENS.

I do refuse you for my judge; and here,
Before you all, appeal unto the pope,
To bring my whole caufe 'fore his holiness,
And to be judg'd by him.

[She curt'fies to the King, and offers to depart. Cam. The queen is obstinate,

Stubborn to justice, apt to accuse it, and
Difdainful to be try'd by it; 'tis not well.
She's going away.

King. Call her again.

Crier. Katharine, queen of England, come into the court.

Ufber. Madam, you are call'd back.

Queen. What need you note it? pray you, keep

your way:

When you are call'd, return.-Now the Lord help, They vex me paft my patience!-pray you, pafs on; I will not tarry; no, nor ever more,

Upon this bufinefs, my appearance make

In any of their courts.

[Exeunt Queen, and her Attendants. King. Go thy ways, Kate:

That man i' the world, who fhall report he has
A better wife, let him in nought be trufted,
For fpeaking falfe in that: Thou art, alone,
(If thy rare qualities, fweet gentleness,
Thy meeknefs faint-like, wife-like government,-
Obeying in commanding,-and thy parts

Sovereign and pious elfe, could speak thee out) The queen of earthly queens :-She is noble born; And, like her true nobility, the has

Carried herself towards me.

Wol. Moft gracious fir,

In humbleft manner I require your highnefs,
That it fhall please you to declare, in hearing

I to speak thy praife. JOHNSON.

could speak thee out)] If thy feveral qualities had tongues

Of

2

Of all these ears, (for where I am robb'd and bound,
There muft I be unloos'd; although not there
At once and fully fatisfy'd) whether ever I
Did broach this business to your highness; or
Lay'd any scruple in your way, which might
Induce you to the question on't? or ever
Have to you, but with thanks to God for fuch
A royal lady,-spake one the least word, that might
Be to the prejudice of her present state,

Or touch of her good perfon?

King. My lord cardinal,

I do excufe you; yea, upon mine honour,
I free you from't. You are not to be taught
That you have many enemies, that know not
Why they are fo, but, like to village curs,
Bark when their fellows do; by fome of thefe.
The queen is put in anger. You are excus'd;
But will you be more juftify'd? you ever
Have with'd the fleeping of this bufinefs; never
Defir'd it to be stirr'd; but oft have hindred, oft,
The paffages made toward it :—3 on my honour,

-although not there

At once, and fully fatisfied).

3

-1

What he aims at is this; where I am robbed and bound, there muft I be unloofed, though the injurers be not there to make me fatisfaction; as much as to fay, I owe fo much to my own innocence, as to clear up my character, though I do not expect my wrongers will do me juftice. It feems then that Shakspeare

wrote:

Aton'd, and fully fatisfied.WARBURTON.

I do not fee what is gained by this alteration. The fenfe, which is encumbered with words in either reading, is no more than this. I must be loofed, though when fo loofed, I fhall not be fatisfied fully and at once; that is, I fhall not be immediately fatisfied. JOHNSON,

I Speak my good lord cardinal to this point,]

The king, having firft addreffed to Wolfey, breaks off; and declares upon his honour to the whole court, that he speaks the fardinal's fentiments upon the point in queftion; and clears him from any attempt, or wifh, to ftir that bufinefs. THEOBALD.

I speak