(More near my life, I fear,) with my weak wit,
And to such men of gravity and learning,
In truth, I know not. I was set at work
Among my maids; full little, God knows, looking
Either for such men, or such business.
For her sake that I have been,5 (for I feel
The last fit of my greatness,) good your graces,
Let me have time, and counsel, for my cause;
Alas! I am a woman, friendless, hopeless.

WOL. Madam, you wrong the king's love with

these fears;

Your hopes and friends are infinite.

Q. KATH.

In England,

But little for my profit: Can you think, lords,
That any Englishman dare give me counsel?
Or be a known friend, 'gainst his highness' pleasure,
(Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,)
And live a subject? Nay, forsooth, my friends,
They that must weigh out my afflictions,
They that my trust must grow to, live not here;
They are, as all my other comforts, far hence,
In mine own country, lords.

* For her sake that I have been, &c.] For the sake of that royalty which I have heretofore possessed. MALONE.

*(Though he be grown so desperate to be honest,)] Do you think that any Englishman dare advise me; or, if any man should venture to advise with honesty, that he could live?

7

JOHNSON.

- weigh out my afflictions,] This phrase is obscure. To weigh out, is, in modern language, to deliver by weight; but this sense cannot be here admitted. To weigh is likewise to deliberate upon, to consider with due attention. This may, perhaps, be meant. Or the phrase, to weigh out, may signify to counterbalance, to counteract with equal force. JOHNSON.

To weigh out is the same as to outweigh. In Macbeth, Shak speare has overcome for come over. STEEVENS.

CAM.

I would, your grace

Would leave your griefs, and take my counsel.

Q. KATH.

How, sir?

CAM. Put your main cause into the king's pro

tection;

He's loving, and most gracious; 'twill be much

Both for your honour better, and your cause;
For, if the trial of the law o'ertake you,

You'll part away disgrac'd.

WOL.

He tells you rightly.

Q. KATH. Ye tell me what ye wish for both, my ruin :

Is this your christian counsel? out upon ye!
Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge,
That no king can corrupt.

CAM.

Your rage mistakes us.

Q. KATH. The more shame for ye; holy men I

thought ye,

Upon my soul, two reverend cardinal virtues; But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye: Mend them for shame, my lords. Is this your

comfort?

The cordial that ye bring a wretched lady?
A woman lost among ye, laugh'd at, scorn'd?
I will not wish ye half my miseries,
I have more charity: But say, I warn'd ye;
Take heed, for heaven's sake, takeheed, lest at once
The burden of my sorrows fall upon ye.

WOL. Madam, this is a mere distraction;
You turn the good we offer into envy.

* The more shame for ye;] If I mistake you, it is by your fault, not mine; for I thought you good. The distress of Katharine might have kept her from the quibble to which she is irresistibly tempted by the word cardinal. JOHNSON.

Q. KATH. Yeturn me into nothing: Woe upon ye, And all such false professors! Would ye have me (If you have any justice, any pity; If ye be any thing but churchmen's habits,) Put my sick cause into his hands that hates me? Alas! he has banish'd me his bed already; His love, too long ago: I am old, my lords, And all the fellowship I hold now with him Is only my obedience. What can happen To me, above this wretchedness? all your studies Make me a curse like this.

CAM.

Your fears are worse.

Q. KATH. Have I liv'd thus long-(let me speak

myself,

Since virtue finds no friends,)-a wife, a true one?
A woman (I dare say, without vain-glory,)
Never yet branded with suspicion ?
Have I with all my full affections

Still met the king? lov'd him next heaven? obey'd

him?

Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him ?9
Almost forgot my prayers to content him?
And am I thus rewarded? 'tis not well, lords.
Bring me a constant woman to her husband,
One that ne'er dream'd a joy beyond his pleasure;
And to that woman, when she has done most,
Yet will I add an honour, -a great patience.

WOL. Madam, you wander from the good we aim at.

Q. KATH. My lord, I dare not make myself so

guilty,

To give up willingly that noble title

9

superstitious to him? That is, served him with super

stitious attention; done more than was required. JOHNSON.

Your master wed me to: nothing but death
Shall e'er divorce my dignities.

WOL.

'Pray, hear me.

Q. KATH. 'Would I had never trod this English earth,

Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it!

Ye have angels' faces, but heaven knows your

hearts.

What will become of me now, wretched lady?
I am the most unhappy woman living.-
Alas! poor wenches, where are now your fortunes?
[To her Women.

Shipwreck'd upon a kingdom, where no pity,
No friends, no hope; no kindred weep for me,
Almost, no grave allow'd me :-Like the lily,

Ye have angels faces,] She may perhaps allude to the old jingle of Angli and Angeli. Johnson.

I find this jingle in The Arraygnment of Paris, 1584. The goddesses refer the dispute about the golden apple to the decision of Diana, who setting aside their respective claims, awards it to Queen Elizabeth; and adds:

" Her people are ycleped angeli,

" Or if I miss a letter, is the most."

In this pastoral, as it is called, the Queen herself may be almost said to have been a performer, for at the conclusion of it, Diana gives the golden apple into her hands, and the Fates deposit their insignia at her feet. It was presented before her Majesty by the children of her chapel.

1

It appears, from the following passage in The Spanish Masquerado, by Greene, 1585, that this quibble was originally the quibble of a saint: "England, a little island, where, as saint Augustin saith, there be people with angel faces, so the inhabitants have the courage and hearts of lyons." STEEVENS.

1

See also Nashe's Anatomie of Absurditie, 1589: "For my part I meane to suspend my sentence, and let an author of late memorie be my speaker; who affirmeth that they carry angels in their faces, and devils in their devices." MALONE.