SHREWSBURY.Farewell, kind lord; God send us merry meeting!
MORE.Amen, my lord.
SURREY.Farewell, dear friend; I hope your safe return.
MORE.My lord, and my dear fellow in the Muses,Farewell; farewell, most noble poet.
LIEUTENANT.Adieu, most honored lords.
[Exeunt Lords.]
MORE.Fair prison, welcome; yet, methinks,For thy fair building tis too foul a name.Many a guilty soul, and many an innocent,Have breathed their farewell to thy hollow rooms.I oft have entered into thee this way;Yet, I thank God, ne’er with a clear conscienceThan at this hour:This is my comfort yet, how hard soreMy lodging prove, the cry of the poor suitor,Fatherless orphan, or distressed widow,Shall not disturb me in my quiet sleep.On, then, a God’s name, to our close abode!God is as strong here as he is abroad.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter Butler, Porter, and Horsekeeper several ways.]
BUTLER.Robin brewer, how now, man! what cheer, what cheer?
BREWER. Faith, Ned butler, sick of thy disease; and these our other fellows here, Rafe horsekeeper and Giles porter, sad, sad; they say my lord goes to his trial today.
HORSEKEEPER.To it, man! why, he is now at it, God send him well to speed!
PORTER. Amen; even as i wish to mine own soul, so speed it with my honorable lord and master, Sir Thomas More.
BUTLER. I cannot tell, I have nothing to do with matters above my capacity; but, as God judge me, if I might speak my mind, I think there lives not a more harmless gentleman in the universal world.
BREWER. Nor a wiser, nor a merrier, nor an honester; go to, I’ll put that in upon mine own knowledge.
PORTER. Nay, and ye bait him his due of his housekeeping, hang ye all! ye have many Lord Chancellor’s comes in debt at the year’s end, and for very housekeeping.
HORSEKEEPER. Well, he was too good a lord for us, and therefore, I fear, God himself will take him: but I’ll be hanged, if ever I have such an other service.
BREWER. Soft, man, we are not discharged yet: my lord may come home again, and all will be well.
BUTLER.I much mistrust it; when they go to raining once, there’s ever foulweather for a great while after. But soft; here comes MasterGough and Master Catesby: now we shall hear more.
[Enter Gough and Catesby with a paper.]
HORSEKEEPER.Before God, they are very sad; I doubt my lord is condemned.
PORTER.God bless his soul! and a fig then for all wordly condemnation.
GOUGH.Well said, Giles porter, I commend thee for it;Twas spoken like a well affected servantOf him that was a kind lord to us all.
CATESBY.Which now no more he shall be; for, dear fellows,Now we are masterless, though he may liveSo long as please the king: but law hath made himA dead man to the world, and given the axe his head,But his sweet soul to live among the saints.
GOUGH.Let us entreat ye to go call togetherThe rest of your sad fellows (by the ruleY’are just seven score), and tell them what we hearA virtuous honorable lord hath doneEven for the meanest follower that he had.This writing found my lady in his study,This instant morning, wherein is set downEach servant’s name, according to his placeAnd office in the house: on every manHe frankly hath bestown twenty nobles,The best and worst together, all alike,Which Master Catesby here forth will pay ye.
CATESBY.Take it as it is meant, a kind remembranceOf a fair kinder lord, with whose sad fallHe gives up house and farewell to us all:Thus the fair spreading oak falls not alone,But all the neighbor plants and under-treesAre crushed down with his weight. No more of this:Come, and receive your due, and after goFellow-like hence, copartners of one woe.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter Sir Thomas More, the Lieutenant, and a Servant attending, as in his chamber in the Tower.]
MORE.Master Lieutenant, is the warrant come?If it be so, a God’s name, let us know it.
LIEUTENANT.My lord, it is.
MORE.Tis welcome, sir, to me with all my heart;His blessed will be done!
LIEUTENANT.Your wisdom, sir, hath been so well approved,And your fair patience in imprisonmentHath ever shewn such constancy of mindAnd Christian resolution in all troubles,As warrant us you are not unprepared.
MORE.No, Master Lieutenant;I thank my God, I have peace of conscience,Though the world and I are at a little odds:But we’ll be even now, I hope, ere long.When is the execution of your warrant?
LIEUTENANT.Tomorrow morning.
MORE. So, sir, I thank ye; I have not lived so ill, I fear to die. Master Lieutenant, I have had a sore fit of the stone tonight; but the king hath sent me such a rare receipt, I thank him, as I shall not need to fear it much.
LIEUTENANT.In life and death still merry Sir Thomas More.
MORE.Sirrah fellow, reach me the urinal:
[He gives it him.]
Ha! let me see (there’s) gravel in the water;(And yet I see no grave danger in that)The man were likely to live long enough,So pleased the king.—Here, fellow, take it.
SERVANT.Shall I go with it to the doctor, sir?
MORE.No, save thy labour; we’ll cossen him of a fee:Thou shalt see me take a dram tomorrow morning,Shall cure the stone, I warrant; doubt it not.—Master Lieutenant, what news of my Lord of Rochester?
LIEUTENANT.Yesterday morning was he put to death.
MORE.The peace of soul sleep with him!He was a learned and a reverend prelate,And a rich man, believe me.
LIEUTENANT.If he were rich, what is Sir Thomas More,That all this while hath been Lord Chancellor?
MORE.Say ye so, Master Lieutenant? what do ye thinkA man, that with my time had held my place,Might purchase?
LIEUTENANT.Perhaps, my lord, two thousand pound a year.
MORE.Master Lieutenant, I protest to you,I never had the means in all my lifeTo purchase one poor hundred pound a year:I think I am the poorest ChancellorThat ever was in England, though I could wish,For credit of the place, that my estate were better.
LIEUTENANT.It’s very strange.
MORE.It will be found as true.I think, sir, that with most part of my coinI have purchased as strange commoditiesAs ever you heard tell of in your life.
LIEUTENANT.Commodities, my lord!Might I (without offence) enquire of them?
MORE.Croutches, Master Lieutenant, and bare cloaks;For halting soldiers and poor needy scholarsHave had my gettings in the Chancery:To think but what a cheat the crown shall haveBy my attainder! I prithee, if thou beest a gentleman,Get but a copy of my inventory.That part of poet that was given meMade me a very unthrift;For this is the disease attends us all,Poets were never thrifty, never shall.
[Enter Lady More mourning, Daughters, Master Roper.]
LIEUTENANT.Oh, noble More!—My lord, your wife, your son-in-law, and daughters.
MORE.Son Roper, welcome;—welcome, wife, and girls.Why do you weep? because I live at ease?Did you not see, when I was Chancellor,I was so clogged with suitors every hour,I could not sleep, nor dine, nor sup in quiet?Here’s none of this; here I can sit and talkWith my honest keeper half a day together,Laugh and be merry: why, then, should you weep?
ROPER.These tears, my lord, for this your long restraintHope had dried up, with comfort that we yet,Although imprisoned, might have had your life.
MORE.To live in prison, what a life were that!The king (I thank him) loves me more then so.Tomorrow I shall be at libertyTo go even whether I can,After I have dispatched my business.
LADY MORE.Ah, husband, husband, yet submit yourself!Have care of your poor wife and children.
MORE.Wife, so I have; and I do leave you allTo his protection hath the power to keep youSafer than I can,—The father of the widow and the orphans.
ROPER.The world, my lord, hath ever held you wise;And ’t shall be no distaste unto your wisdom,To yield to the opinion of the state.
MORE.I have deceived myself, I must acknowledge;And, as you say, son Roper, to confess the same,It will be no disparagement at all.
LADY MORE.His highness shall be certified thereofImmediately.
[Offering to depart.]
MORE.Nay, hear me, wife; first let me tell ye how:I thought to have had a barber for my beard;Now, I remember, that were labour lost,The headsman now shall cut off head and all.
ROPER’S WIFE.Father, his majesty, upon your meek submission,Will yet (they say) receive you to his graceIn as great credit as you were before.
MORE.……..Has appointed me to do a little business.If that were past, my girl, thou then shouldst seeWhat I would say to him about that matter;But I shall be so busy until then,I shall not tend it.
DAUGHTER.Ah, my dear father!
LADY MORE.Dear lord and husband!
MORE.Be comforted, good wife, to live and love my children;For with thee leave I all my care of them.—Son Roper, for my sake that have loved thee well,And for her virtue’s sake, cherish my child.—Girl, be not proud, but of thy husband’s love;Ever retain thy virtuous modesty;That modesty is such a comely garmentAs it is never out of fashion, sits as fairupon the meaner woman as the empress;No stuff that gold can buy is half so rich,Nor ornament that so becomes a woman.Live all and love together, and therebyYou give your father a rich obsequy.
BOTH DAUGHTERS.Your blessing, dear father.
MORE.I must be gone—God bless you!—To talk with God, who now doth call.
LADY MORE.Aye, my dear husband!
MORE.Sweet wife, good night, good night:God send us all his everlasting light!
ROPER.I think, before this hour,More heavy hearts ne’er parted in the Tower.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter the Sheriffs of London and their Officers at one door, theWarders with their halbards at another.]
SECOND SHERIFF.Officers, what time of day ist?
OFFICER.Almost eight o’clock.
SECOND SHERIFF.We must make haste then, least we stay too long.
SECOND WARDER.Good morrow, Master Shrieves of London; Master LieutenantWills ye repair to the limits of the Tower,There to receive your prisoner.
FIRST SHERIFF.Go back, and tell his worship we are ready.
SECOND SHERIFF.Go bid the officers make clear the way,There may be passage for the prisoner.
[Enter Lieutenant and his Guard, with More.]
MORE.Yet, God be thanked, here’s a fair day toward,To take our journey in. Master Lieutenant,It were fair walking on the Tower leads.
LIEUTENANT.And so it might have liked my sovereign lord,I would to God you might have walked there still!
[He weeps.]
MORE.Sir, we are walking to a better place.Oh, sir, your kind and loving tearsAre like sweet odors to embalm your friend!Thank your good lady; since I was your guest,She has made me a very wanton, in good sooth.
LIEUTENANT.Oh, I had hoped we should not yet have parted!
MORE.But I must leave ye for a little while;Within an hour or two you may look for me;But there will be so many come to see me,That I shall be so proud, I will not speak;And, sure, my memory is grown so ill,I fear I shall forget my head behind me.
LIEUTENANT.God and his blessed angels be about ye!—Here, Master Shrieves, receive your prisoner.
MORE.Good morrow, Master Shrieves of London, to ye both:I thank ye that ye will vouchsafe to meet me;I see by this you have not quite forgotThat I was in times past, as you are now,A sheriff of London.
SECOND SHERIFF.Sir, then you know our duty doth require it.
MORE.I know it well, sir, else I would have been gladYou might have saved a labour at this time.Ah, Master Sheriff, you and I have been of old acquaintance! youwere a patient auditor of mine, when I read the divinity lecture atSt. Lawrence’s.
SECOND SHERIFF.Sir Thomas More, I have heard you oft,As many other did, to our great comfort.
MORE.Pray God, you may so now, with all my heart!And, as I call to mind,When I studied the law in Lincoln’s Inn,I was of council with ye in a cause.
SECOND SHERIFF.I was about to say so, good Sir Thomas……
MORE.Oh, is this the place?I promise ye, it is a goodly scaffold:In sooth, I am come about a headless errand,For I have not much to say, now I am here.Well, let’s ascend, a God’s name:In troth, methinks, your stair is somewhat weak;I prithee, honest friend, lend me thy handTo help me up; as for my coming down,Let me alone, I’ll look to that myself.
[As he is going up the stairs, enters the Earls of Surrey andShrewsbury.]
My Lords of Surrey and Shrewsbury, give me your hands. Yet before we….ye see, though it pleaseth the king to raise me thus high, yet I am not proud, for the higher I mount, the better I can see my friends about me. I am now on a far voyage, and this strange wooden horse must bear me thither; yet I perceive by your looks you like my bargain so ill, that there’s not one of ye all dare enter with me. Truly, here’s a most sweet gallery; [Walking.] I like the air of it better than my garden at Chelsea. By your patience, good people, that have pressed thus into my bedchamber, if you’ll not trouble me, I’ll take a sound sleep here.
SHREWSBURY.My lord, twere good you’ld publish to the worldYour great offence unto his majesty.
MORE. My lord, I’ll bequeath this legacy to the hangman, [Gives him his gown.] and do it instantly. I confess, his majesty hath been ever good to me; and my offence to his highness makes me of a state pleader a stage player (though I am old, and have a bad voice), to act this last scene of my tragedy. I’ll send him (for my trespass) a reverend head, somewhat bald; for it is not requisite any head should stand covered to so high majesty: if that content him not, because I think my body will then do me small pleasure, let him but bury it, and take it.
SURREY.My lord, my lord, hold conference with your soul;You see, my lord, the time of life is short.
MORE. I see it, my good lord; I dispatched that business the last night. I come hither only to be let blood; my doctor here tells me it is good for the headache.
HANGMAN.I beseech thee, my lord, forgive me!
MORE.Forgive thee, honest fellow! why?
HANGMAN.For your death, my lord.
MORE. O, my death? I had rather it were in thy power to forgive me, for thou hast the sharpest action against me; the law, my honest friend, lies in thy hands now: here’s thy fee [His purse.]; and, my good fellow, let my suit be dispatched presently; for tis all one pain, to die a lingering death, and to live in the continual mill of a lawsuit. But I can tell thee, my neck is so short, that, if thou shouldst behead an hundred noblemen like myself, thou wouldst ne’er get credit by it; therefore (look ye, sir), do it handsomely, or, of my word, thou shalt never deal with me hereafter.
HANGMAN.I’ll take an order for that, my lord.
MORE. One thing more; take heed thou cutst not off my beard: oh, I forgot; execution passed upon that last night, and the body of it lies buried in the Tower.—Stay; ist not possible to make a scape from all this strong guard? it is. There is a thing within me, that will raise And elevate my better part bove sight Of these same weaker eyes; and, Master Shrieves, For all this troop of steel that tends my death, I shall break from you, and fly up to heaven. Let’s seek the means for this.
HANGMAN.My lord, I pray ye, put off your doublet.
MORE.Speak not so coldly to me; I am hoarse already;I would be loathe, good fellow, to take more.Point me the block; I ne’er was here before.
HANGMAN.To the east side, my lord.
MORE.Then to the eastWe go to sigh; that o’er, to sleep in rest.Here More forsakes all mirth; good reason why;The fool of flesh must with her frail life die.No eye salute my trunk with a sad tear:Our birth to heaven should be thus, void of fear.
[Exit with Hangman, etc.]
SURREY.A very learned worthy gentlemanSeals error with his blood. Come, we’ll to court.Let’s sadly hence to perfect unknown fates,Whilst he tends prograce to the state of states.