Nor. As I belong to worship, and effect
In honour honesty, the tract of every thing'
Would by a good discourser lose some life,

Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal;
To the disposing of it nought rebell'd,

Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function".

Buck.

Who did guide,

I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?
Nor. One, certes, that promises no element'
In such a business.

Buck.

I pray you, who, my lord? Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion Of the right reverend cardinal of York.

Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is free'd
From his ambitious finger. What had he

To do in these fierce vanities1? I wonder
That such a keech', can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o'the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

7

the tract of every thing, &c.] The course of these triumphs and pleasures, however well related, must lose in the description part of that spirit and energy which were expressed in the real action. the office did

8

Distinctly his full function.] The commission for regulating this festivity was well executed, and gave exactly to every particular person and action the proper place. JOHNSON.

element] No initiation, no previous practices. Elements are the first principles of things, or rudiments of knowledge. The word is here applied, not without a catachresis, to a person. fierce vanities!] Fierce is here, I think, used like the French fier for proud, unless we suppose an allusion to the mimical ferocity of the combatants in the tilt. JOHNSON.

2 That such a keech-] A keech is a solid lump or mass. A cake of wax or tallow formed in a mould, is called yet in some places a keech. There may, perhaps, be a singular propriety in this term of contempt. Wolsey was the son of a butcher, and in The Second Part of King Henry IV. a butcher's wife is called -Goody Keech.

VOL. VI.

L

Nor.

Surely, sir,

There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends :
For, being not propp'd by ancestry, (whose grace
Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
To eminent assistants, but, spider-like,

Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys.
A place next to the king.

Aber.

I cannot tell

What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye

Pierce into that; but I can see his pride

Peep through each part of him: Whence has he that?

If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;

Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.

Buck.

Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o'the king, to appoint

Who should attend on him? He makes up the file3
Of all the gentry; for the most part such

Too, whom as great a charge as little honour

He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,

Must fetch him in he papers *.

Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.

Buck.

O, many

Have broke their backs with laying manors on them For this great journey. What did this vanity,

4 Must fetch him in he papers.] He papers, a verb; his own letter, by his own single authority, and without the concurrence of the council, must fetch him in whom he papers down.

But minister communication of

A most poor issue?

Nor.

Grievingly I think,

The peace between the French and us not values
The cost that did conclude it.

Buck.
Every man,
After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
A thing inspir'd; and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy,―That this tempest,
Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
The sudden breach on't.

Nor.

Which is budded out;

For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.

The ambassador is silenc'd"?

Aber.

Nor.

Is it therefore

Marry, is't.

Aber. A proper title of a peace'; and purchas'd

At a superfluous rate!

Buck.

Our reverend cardinal carried R.

Nor.

Why, all this business

'Like it your grace,

The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together to consider further, that

But minister, &c.] What effect had this pompous show, but the production of a wretched conclusion. JOHNson.

6 The ambassador is silenc'd?] I understand this of the French ambassador residing in England, who, by being refused an audience, may be said to be silenc'd. JOHNSON.

7 A proper title of a peace ;] A fine name of a peace. Ironically. JOHNSON.

8 Our reverend cardinal carried.] To carry a business was at this time a current phrase for to conduct or manage it.

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Bosom up my counsel,

Thither he darts it.

You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that rock, That I advise your shunning.

Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, (the Purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with Papers. The Cardinal in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain. Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? ha? Where's his examination?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.

Wol. Is he in person ready?

1 Secr.

Ay, please your grace.

Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buck

ingham

Shall lessen this big look. [Exeunt WOLSEY and Train.
Buck. This butcher's cur' is venom-mouth'd, and I
Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best
Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book
Out-worths a noble's blood'.

Nor.

What, are you chaf'd?

Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only,
Which your disease requires.

9

butcher's cur -] Wolsey is said to have been the son

Out-worths a noble's blood.] That is, the literary qualifications of a bookish beggar are more prized than the high descent of hereditary greatness. This is a contemptuous exclamation very naturally put into the mouth of one of the ancient, unlettered, martial nobility. JOHNSON.

I read in his looks

Buck.

Matter against me; and his eye revil'd

Me, as his abject object: at this instant

He bores me with some trick 2: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor.

And let your reason with your

Stay, my lord,
choler question

What 'tis you go about: To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself

As you would to your friend.

I'll to the king:

Buck.
And from a mouth of honour' quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.
Be advis'd:
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul

More stronger to direct you than yourself;

If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

I am thankful to you: and I'll go along

By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow, (Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but

2 He bores me with some trick:] He stabs or wounds me by some artifice or fiction.

3 —— from a mouth of honour -] I will crush this base-born fellow, by the due influence of my rank, or say that all distinction of persons is at an end. JOHNSON.