ver leave the name of queen, but would persist
in accounting herself the king's wife till death." When the official
letter containing minutes of their conference was shown to her, she
seized a pen, and dashed it angrily across every sentence in which she
was styled _Princess-dowager_.

If now we turn to that inimitable scene between Katherine and the two
cardinals, (act iii. scene 1,) we shall observe how finely Shakspeare
has condensed these incidents, and unfolded to us all the workings of
Katherine's proud yet feminine nature. She is discovered at work with
some of her women--she calls for music "to soothe her soul grown sad
with troubles"--then follows the little song, of which the sentiment is
so well adapted to the occasion, while its quaint yet classic elegance
breathes the very spirit of those times, when Surrey loved and sung.

SONG.

Orpheus with his lute-made trees,
And the mountain-tops that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing
To his music, plants and flowers
Ever sprung, as sun and showers
There had made a lasting spring.

Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,
Hung their heads and then lay by
In sweet music is such art,
Killing care, and grief of heart,
Fall asleep, on hearing, die.

They are interrupted by the arrival of the two cardinals. Katherine's
perception of their subtlety--her suspicion of their purpose--her sense
of her own weakness and inability to contend with them, and her mild
subdued dignity, are beautifully represented; as also the guarded
self-command with which she eludes giving a definitive answer; but when
they counsel her to that which she, who knows Henry, feels must end in
her ruin, then the native temper is roused at once, or, to use
Tunstall's expression, "the choler and the agony," burst forth in words.

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

WOLSEY.

Your rage mistakes us.

QUEEN KATHERINE.

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?

With the same force of language, and impetuous yet dignified feeling,
s