Page 1698 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

Can ye endure to hear this arrogance,
And from this fellow? If we live thus tamely,
To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet, [280]
Farewell nobility! Let his grace go forward,

And dare us with his cap, like larks.

WOLSEY
All goodness
Is poison to thy stomach.

SURREY
Yes, that goodness
Of gleaning all the land’s wealth into one,

Into your own hands, Cardinal, by extortion [285]
The goodness of your intercepted packets
You writ to th’Pope against the King; your goodness,
Since you provoke me, shall be most notorious.

My lord of Norfolk, as you are truly noble,
As you respect the common good, the state [290]
Of our despised nobility, our issues −
Who, if he live, will scarce be gentlemen −

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 [295]
Lay kissing in your arms, lord Cardinal.

WOLSEY
How much, methinks, I could despise this man,

But that I am bound in charity against it.

NORFOLK
Those articles, my lord, are in the King’s hand;
But thus much, they are foul ones.

WOLSEY
So much fairer [300]

And spotless shall mine innocence arise