Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

CROM. How does your Grace ?
WOL. Why, well;

Never fo truly happy, my good Cromwell.

I know myself now, and I feel within me

A peace above all earthly dignities;

A ftill and quiet confcience. The King has cur'd me,'
I humbly thank his Grace; and, from thefe fhoulders,
These ruin'd pillars, out of pity taken

A load would fink a navy, too much honour.

O, 'tis a burthen, Cromwell, 'tis a burthen,
Too heavy for a man that hopes for heav'n!

CROм. I'm glad your Grace has made that right use of

it.

WOL. I hope I have: I'm able now, methinks,

Out of a fortitude of foul I feel,

T'endure more miferies, and greater far,

Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
What news abroad?

CROM. The heaviest and the worst,

Is your displeasure with the King.

WOL. God bless him!

CROM. The next is, that Sir Thomas More is chofen Lord Chancellor in your place.

WOL. That's fomewhat fudden.

But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his Highnefs' favour, and do justice
For truth's fake and his confcience; that his bones,
When he has run his courfe, and fleeps in bleffings,
May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on him!
What more?

CROM. That Cranmer is return'd with welcome;
Install'd Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.

WOL.

WOL. That's news indeed.

CROM. Laft, that the Lady Anne,

Whom the King hath in fecrecy long married,
This day was view'd in open as his Queen,

Going to chapel; and the voice is now
Only about her coronation.

WOL. There was the weight that pull'd me down:
O Cromwell,

The King has gone beyond me: all my glories

In that one woman I have loft for ever.

No fun fhall ever ufher forth my honours,

Or gild again the noble troops that waited

Upon my fmiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell;
I am a poor
fall'n man, unworthy now

To be thy lord and mafter. Seek the King,

(That fun I pray may never fet). I've told him

What and how true thou art; he will advance thee;
Some little memory of me will ftir him,

(I know his noble nature) not to let

Thy hopeful service perifh too. Good Cromwell,

Neglect him not; make ufe now, and provide
For thine own future fafety.

CROM. O my Lord,

Muft I then leave you? Muft I needs forego
So good, fo noble, and so true a mafter?
Bear witnefs, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a forrow Cromwell leaves his Lord.
The King fhall have my fervice; but my prayers
For ever, and for ever, fhall be your's.

WOL. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miferies, but thou haft forc'd me,
Out of thy honeft truth, to play the woman

Let's

Let's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me, Cromwell,
And when I am forgotten, as I fhall be,

And fleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me muft more be heard, fay then I taught thee;
Say, Wolfey, that once rode the waves of glory,
And founded all the depths and fhoals of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in;
A fure and safe one, though thy mafter miss'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that which ruin'd me:
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition;
By that fin fell the angels; how can man then
(Tho' th' image of his Maker) hope to win by't?
Love thyself last; cherish thofe hearts that wait thee!
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To filence envious tongues. Be juft, and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim'ft at, be thy Country's,

Thy God's, and Truth's; then if thou fall'ft, O Cromwell, Thou fall'ft a bleffed martyr.

And pr'ythee lead me in

Serve the King

There take an inventory of all I have,

To the last penny, 'tis the King's. My robe,
And my integrity to Heav'n, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but ferv'd my God with half the zeal

I ferv'd my King, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

CROM. Good Sir, havé patience.

WOL. So I have. Farewel

The hopes of court! My hopes in heaven do dwell.

SHAKESPEAR

'CHA P.

[blocks in formation]

B

CHAP.

L EA

LOW winds, and crack your cheeks; rage, blow!
You cataracts, and hurricanes, spout

Till you have drench'd our fteeples, drown'd the cocks!
You fulph'rous and thought-executing fires,

Singe my white head. And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o' th' world;

Crack nature's mould, all germins fpill at once

That make ungrateful man!

Rumble thy belly full, fpit fire, fpout rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters.
I tax not you, ye elements, with unkindness;
I never gave you kingdom, call'd you children;
You owe me no fubfcription. Then let fall
Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand your brave,
A poor, infirm, weak, and defpis'd old man ;
But yet I call you fervile minifters,
That have with two pernicious daughters join'd
Your high-engender'd battles, 'gainst a head
So old and white as this. Oh! oh! 'tis foul.
Let the great gods,

That keep this dreadful pudder o'er our heads,
Find out their enemies now. Tremble thou wretch,
That haft within thee undivulged crimes,

Unwhip'd of juftice! Hide thee, thou bloody hand;
Thou perjure, and thou fimular of virtue,
That art inceftuous! caitiff, fhake to pieces,
That, under cover of convivial seeming,

Has practis'd on man's life-Clofe-pent up guilts,

[blocks in formation]

S this a dagger which I fee before me,

I The handle tow'rd my hand? come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I fee thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling, as to fight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a falfe creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppreffed brain?
I fee thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw..

Thou marshal'ft me the way that I was going;
And fuch an inftrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools o' th' other fenfes,
Or else worth all the rest—I see thee ftill;
And on the blade of th' dudgeon, gouts of blood,
Which was not fo before.-There's no fuch thing.-
It is the bloody business, which informs

Thus to mine eyes.-Now o'er one half the world
Nature feems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd fleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings: and wither'd Murther,
(Alarum'd by his centinel, the wolf,

Whofe howl's his watch) thus with his flealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing ftrides, tow'rds his defign
Moves like a ghoft.-Thou found and firm-fet earth,

Hear

« AnteriorContinuar »