And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

Enter NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, SURREY, and
CHAMBERLAIN.

Nor. Hear the king's pleasure, cardinal: who commands you

To render up the great seal presently

Into our hands; and to confine yourself
To Esher House, my Lord of Winchester's,
you hear further from his highness.
Wol. Stay,-

Till

Where's your commission, lords? words cannot carry Authority so mighty.

Suf. Who dare cross them?

Bearing the king's will from his mouth expressly? Wol. Till I find more than will, or words, to do it, (I mean, your malice,) know, officious lords,

I dare, and must deny it.-Now I feel
Of what coarse metal ye are moulded,―envy.
How eagerly ye follow my disgraces,

As if it fed ye! and how sleek and wanton
Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin!
Follow your envious courses, men of malice;
You've christian warrant for them, and, no doubt,
In time will find their fit rewards.—That seal,
You ask with such a violence, the king,

(Mine, and your master,) with his own hand gave me :
Bade me enjoy it, with the place and honours,
During my life; and, to confirm his goodness,
Ty'd it by letters patents: Now, who'll take it?
Sur. The king, that gave it.

Wol. It must be himself then.
Sur. Thou'rt a proud traitor, priest.
Wol. Proud lord, thou liest :-

F

Within these forty hours, Surrey durst better
Have burnt that tongue, than said so.
Sur. Thy ambition,

Thou scarlet sin, robb'd this bewailing land
Of noble Buckingham, my father-in-law:
The heads of all thy brother cardinals,

(With thee, and all thy best parts bound together,) Weigh'd not a hair of his. Plague of your policy! You sent me deputy for Ireland;

Far from his succour, from the king, from all
That might have mercy on his fault thou gav'st him;
Whilst your great goodness, out of holy pity,
Absolv'd him with an axe,

Wol. This, and all else

This talking lord can lay upon my credit,
I answer, is most false. The duke, by law,
Found his deserts: how innocent I was
From any private malice in his end,
His noble jury and foul cause can witness.
If I lov❜d many words, lord, I should tell you,
You have as little honesty as honour;
That I, i' the way of loyalty and truth
Toward the king, my ever royal master,

Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be,
And all that love his follies.

Sur. Your long coat, priest, protects you.
My lords,

Can

you

endure to hear this arrogance?
And from this fellow? If we live thus tamely,
To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet,
Farewell nobility; let his grace go forward,
And dare us with his cap, like larks.

Wol. All goodness
Is poison to thy stomach.

Sur. Yes, that goodness

Of gleaning all the land's wealth into one,
Into your own hands, cardinal, by extortion;

The goodness of your intercepted packets,

You writ to the pope, against the king: your good

ness,

Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.—

My lord of Norfolk,

Produce the grand sum of his sins, the articles
Collected from his life :-I'll startle you

Worse than the sacring bell, when the brown wench
Lay kissing in your arms, lord cardinal.

Wol. How much, methinks, I could despise this

man,

But that I'm bound in charity against it!

Nor. Those articles, my lord, are in the king's hand:

But, thus much, they are foul ones.
Wol. So much fairer,

And spotless, shall my innocence arise,
When the king knows my truth.

Sur. This cannot save you:

I thank my memory, I yet remember
Some of these articles; and out they shall.
Now, if you can blush, and cry guilty, cardinal,
You'll show a little honesty.

Wol. Speak on, sir;

I dare your worst objections: if I blush,
It is, to see a nobleman want manners.

Sur. I'd 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 maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops.

Nor. Then, that, in all you writ to Rome, or else To foreign princes, Ego et Rex meus

Was still inscrib'd; in which you brought the king To be your servant.

Suf. That, out of mere ambition, you have caus'd Your holy hat to be stamp'd on the king's coin,

Sur. Then, that you've sent innumerable substance,

(By what means got, I leave to your own conscience,) To furnish Rome, and to prepare the ways

You have for dignities.

Many more there are;

Which, since they are of you, and odious,
I will not taint my mouth with.

Cham. O, my lord,

Press not a falling man too far;

His faults lie open to the laws; let them,

Not you, correct him.-My heart weeps to see him So little of his great self.

Sur. I forgive him.

Nor. 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.

[Exeunt NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, SURREY, and CHAMBERLAIN.

Wol. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness!

This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him:
The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost;
And,-when he thinks, good easy man! full surely
His greatness is a ripening,-nips his root,
And then he falls, as do. I have ventur'd,
Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders,
These many summers in a sea of glory;
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has left me,
Weary, and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye;