CROMWELL.
Bear witness, Lords.—Tell him when he hath known you,
And tried your faith but half so much as mine,
He’ll find you to be the falsest hearted man
In England. Pray, tell him this.
BEDFORD.
Be patient, good my Lord, in these extremes.
CROMWELL.
My kind and honorable Lord of Bedford,
I know your honor always loved me well;
But, pardon me, this still shall be my theme;
Gardiner is the cause makes Cromwell so extreme.
Sir Ralph Sadler, pray, a word with you:
You were my man, and all that you possess
Came by my means; to requite all this,
Will you take this letter here of me,
And give it with your own hands to the king?
SADLER.
I kiss your hand, and never will I rest,
Ere to the king this will be delivered.
[Exit Sadler.]
CROMWELL.
Why yet Cromwell hath one friend in store.
GARDINER.
But all the haste he makes shall be but vain.—
Here’s a discharge for your prisoner,
To see him executed presently.—
My Lord, you hear the tenor of your life.
CROMWELL.
I do embrace it, welcome my last date,
And of this glistering world I take last leave:
And, noble Lords, I take my leave of you.—
As willingly I go to meet with death,
As Gardiner did pronounce it with his breath:
From treason is my heart as white as snow,
My death only procured by my foe.
I pray, commend me to my Sovereign king,
And tell him in what sort his Cromwell died,
To lose his head before his cause were tried:
But let his Grace, when he shall hear my name,
Say only this: Gardiner procured the same.
[Enter young Cromwell.]
LIEUTENANT.
Here is your son, come to take his leave.