Who deem'd our marriage lawful: Wherefore I humbly

Befeech you, fir, to fpare me, 'till I may

Be by my friends in Spain advis'd; whofe counfel
I will implore: If not; i'the name of God,
Your pleasure be fulfill'd!

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 affémbled
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

*I am about to weep; &c.] Shakespeare has given almoft a fimilar fentiment to Hermione 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

"Worse than tears drown; &c." STEEVENS.

You

You are mine enemy; and make my challenge, 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 say again,
I utterly abhor, yea, from my foul

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

Wol. I do profess,

You fpeak not like yourfelf; who ever yet
Have ftood to charity, and display'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 gainfay' 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

9 and make my challenge,

You shall not be my judge:]

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

1

Induc'd by potent circumftances, that

You are mine enemy, I make my challenge.

-You shall not be my judge. JOHNSON.

-gainfay] i. e. deny. So, in lord Surrey's tranflation

of the fourth book of the Eneid:

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

STEEVENS.

Re

Remove these thoughts from you: The which before
His highness fhall speak in, I do befeech

You, gracious madam, to unthink your speaking,
And to say so no more.

Queen. My lord, my lord,

I am a fimple woman, much too weak

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

You fign your place and calling, in full seeming,
With meeknefs 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 fteps; and now are mounted 3,
Where 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

2 You fign your place and calling,

-] Sign, for anfwer. 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.

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 shall give thein. 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 domeftic fervants.

TYRWHITT.

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

poem, 1599:

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

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

Your

Your high profeffion fpiritual: That again
I do refuse you for my judge; and here,
Before you all, appeal unto the pope,
To bring my whole cause 'fore his holiness,
And to be judg❜d by him.

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

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.

Usher. 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 business, my appearance make of their courts.

In any

[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 meekness saint-like, wife-like government,-
Obeying in commanding, and thy parts

4

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

Carried herself towards me.

Wol. Moft gracious fir,

In humbleft manner I require your highness,

4-could speak thee out)] If thy feveral qualities had tongues to speak thy praife. JOHNSON.

That it fhall please you to declare, in hearing
Of all these ears, (for where I am robb'd and bound,
There must I be unloos'd; although not there
At once and fully fatisfy'd) whether ever I
Did broach this bufinefs to your highness; or
Lay'd any fcruple 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,-fpake one the leaft 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 these
The queen is put in anger. You are excus'd:
But will you be more juftify'd? you ever
Have wish'd the fleeping of this business; never
Defir'd it to be ftirr'd; but oft have hindred, oft,
The paffages made toward it :-on my honour,
I speak

although not there

At once, and fully fatisfied)-}

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 seems then that Shakespeare

wrote:

Aton'd, and fully fatisfied.

WARBURTON.

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

6

on my honour,

Ifpeak my good lord cardinal to this point,]

The king, having first addreffed to Wolfey, breaks off; and declares upon his honour to the whole court, that he speaks the car

dinal's