Page 1714 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

GRIFFITH

Well, the voice goes, madam;
For after the stout Earl Northumberland
Arrested him at York, and brought him forward,

As a man sorely tainted, to his answer,
He fell sick suddenly, and grew so ill [15]
He could not sit his mule.

KATHERINE
Alas, poor man.

GRIFFITH
At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester,
Lodged in the abbey, where the reverend abbot,

With all his covent, honourably received him;
To whom he gave these words: “O father abbot, [20]
An old man, broken with the storms of state,

Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
Give him a little earth for charity”.
So went to bed, where eagerly his sickness
Pursued him still, and three nights after this, [25]
About the hour of eight, which he himself

Foretold should be his last, full of repentance,
Continual mediations, tears, and sorrows,
He gave his honours to the world again,

His blessèd part to heaven, and slept in peace. [30]

KATHERINE

So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him!
Yet thus far, Griffith, give me leave to speak him,
And yet with charity. He was a man
Of an unbounded stomach, ever ranking

Himself with princes; one that by suggestion [35]
Tied all the kingdom. Simony was fair play;
His own opinion was his law. I’th’presence
He would say untruths, and be ever double

Both in his words and meaning. He was never,
But where he meant to ruin, pitiful. [40]