CROMWELL.
Heavens grant this policy doth take success,
And that the Earl may safely scape away.
And yet it grieves me for this simple wretch,
For fear they should offer him violence:
But of two evils, tis best to shun the greatest,
And better is it that he lives in thrall,
Than such a Noble Earl as he should fall.
Their stubborn hearts, it may be, will relent,
Since he is gone to whom their hate is bent.--
My Lord, have you dispatched?

[Enter Bedford like the Clown, and Hodge in his
cloak and his Hat.]

BEDFORD.
How doost thou like us, Cromwell? is it well?

CROMWELL.
O, my Lord, excellent: Hodge, how doost feel thy self?

HODGE.
How do I feel my self? why, as a Noble man should do.
O, how I feel honor come creeping on! My Nobility is
wonderful melancholy: Is it not most Gentlemen like
to be melancholy?

CROMWELL.
Yes, Hodge; now go sit down in his study, and take