Henry VIII

Wolsey
Ever God bless your Highness.
King
Good my lord,
You are full of heavenly stuff and bear the inventory
Of your best graces in your mind, the which
You were now running o’er. You have scarce time
To steal from spiritual leisure a brief span
To keep your earthly audit. Sure, in that
I deem you an ill husband,
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King
Have I not made you
The prime man of the state? I pray you tell me
If what I now pronounce you have found true;
And, if you may confess it, say withal
If you are bound to us or no. What say you?

I have touched the highest point of all my greatness,
And from that full meridian of my glory
I haste now to my setting.
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Norfolk 
Hear the King’s pleasure, cardinal, who commands you
To render up the great seal presently
Into our hands, and to confine yourself
To Asher House, my Lord of Winchester’s,
Till you hear further from his Highness.
Wolsey
Stay.
Where’s your commission, lords? Words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.

All goodness
Is poison to thy stomach.
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Wolsey
Speak on, sir.
I dare your worst objections. If I blush,
It is to see a nobleman want manners.
Surrey
I had rather want those than my head. Have at you:
First, that without the King’s assent or knowledge,
You wrought to be a legate, by which power
You maimed the jurisdiction of all bishops.
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Norfolk
And so we’ll leave you to your meditations
How to live better. For your stubborn answer
About the giving back the great seal to us,
The King shall know it and, no doubt, shall thank you.
So, fare you well, my little good Lord Cardinal.

I have ventured,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
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Cromwell
How does your Grace?
Wolsey
Why, well.
Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell.
I know myself now, and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,
A still and quiet conscience. The King has cured me—
I humbly thank his Grace—and from these shoulders,
These ruined pillars, out of pity,
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Cromwell, weeping 
O, my lord,
Must I then leave you? Must I needs forgo
So good, so noble, and so true a master?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
The King shall have my service, but my prayers
Forever and forever shall be yours.
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First Gentleman
You’re well met once again.
Second Gentleman
So are you.
First Gentleman
You come to take your stand here and behold
The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?
Second Gentleman
’Tis all my business. At our last encounter,
The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.
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Second Gentleman
You saw
The ceremony?
Third Gentleman
That I did.
First Gentleman
How was it?
Third Gentleman
Well worth the seeing.

At length her Grace rose, and with modest paces
Came to the altar, where she kneeled and saintlike
Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly

Second Gentleman
Good sir,
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Griffith
How does your Grace?
Katherine
O Griffith, sick to death.
My legs like loaden branches bow to th’ earth,
Willing to leave their burden. Reach a chair.
 She sits.
So. Now, methinks, I feel a little ease.
Didst thou not tell me, Griffith, as thou ledst me,
That the great child of honor,
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