James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. October 18 Fall of Wolsey By William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Prime Minister to Henry VIII. He gained the ill-will of the king by his conduct regarding his divorce from Queen Katherine, was deprived of his offices, and afterwards arrested, Oct. 18, 1530, for high treason.
Wolsey. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tearIn all my miseries; but thou hast forced me, Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. Let’s dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell; And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be, 5 And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee, Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; 10 A sure and safe one, though thy master miss’d it. Mark but my fall, and that that ruin’d me. Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition: By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then, The image of his Maker, hope to win by it? 15 Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace. To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, 20 Thy God’s, and truth’s; then if thou fall’st, O Cromwell, Thou fall’st a blessed martyr! Serve the king; And,—prithee, lead me in: There take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny; ’tis the king’s: my robe, 25 And my integrity to heaven, is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell! Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my king, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies. 30
