KING.
You have said well.
WOLSEY.
And ever may your Highness yoke together,
As I will lend you cause, my doing well
With my well saying.
KING.
’Tis well said again,
And ’tis a kind of good deed to say well.
And yet words are no deeds. My father loved you;
He said he did, and with his deed did crown
His word upon you. Since I had my office,
I have kept you next my heart, have not alone
Employed you where high profits might come home,
But pared my present havings to bestow
My bounties upon you.
WOLSEY.
[Aside.] What should this mean?
SURREY.
[Aside.] The Lord increase this business!
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?
WOLSEY.
My sovereign, I confess your royal graces,
Showered on me daily, have been more than could
My studied purposes requite, which went
Beyond all man’s endeavours. My endeavours
Have ever come too short of my desires,
Yet filed with my abilities. Mine own ends
Have been mine so that evermore they pointed
To th’ good of your most sacred person and
The profit of the state. For your great graces
Heaped upon me, poor undeserver, I
Can nothing render but allegiant thanks,
My prayers to heaven for you, my loyalty,
Which ever has and ever shall be growing,
Till death, that winter, kill it.
KING.
Fairly answered.
A loyal and obedient subject is
Therein illustrated. The honour of it
Does pay the act of it, as i’ th’ contrary,
The foulness is the punishment. I presume
That, as my hand has opened bounty to you,
My heart dropped love, my power rained honour, more
On you than any, so your hand and heart,
Your brain, and every function of your power,
Should, notwithstanding that your bond of duty,
As ’twere in love’s particular, be more
To me, your friend, than any.
WOLSEY.
I do profess
That for your Highness’ good I ever laboured
More than mine own, that am, have, and will be.
Though all the world should crack their duty to you
And throw it from their soul, though perils did
Abound as thick as thought could make ’em, and
Appear in forms more horrid—yet my duty,
As doth a rock against the chiding flood,
Should the approach of this wild river break,
And stand unshaken yours.
KING.
’Tis nobly spoken.
Take notice, lords: he has a loyal breast,
For you have seen him open’t.