COLE. Be plainer, Master Cranmer.
CRANMER. And now I come to the great cause that weighs
Upon my conscience more than anything
Or said or done in all my life by me;
For there be writings I have set abroad
Against the truth I knew within my heart,
Written for fear of death, to save my life,
If that might be; the papers by my hand
Sign'd since my degradation--by this hand
[_Holding out his right hand_.
Written and sign'd--I here renounce them all;
And, since my hand offended, having written
Against my heart, my hand shall first be burnt,
So I may come to the fire.
[_Dead silence_.
PROTESTANT _murmurs_.
FIRST PROTESTANT. I knew it would be so.
SECOND PROTESTANT. Our prayers are heard!
THIRD PROTESTANT. God bless him!
CATHOLIC _murmurs_. Out upon him! out upon him!
Liar! dissembler! traitor! to the fire!
WILLIAMS (_raising his voice_).
You know that you recanted all you said
Touching the sacrament in that same book
You wrote against my Lord of Winchester;
Dissemble not; play the plain Christian man.
CRANMER. Alas, my Lord,
I have been a man loved plainness all my life;
I _did_ dissemble, but the hour has come
For utter truth and plainness; wherefore, I say,
I hold by all I wrote within that book.
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