#whs1e5

“’I have influence with the king but I cannot answer for him, no subject can. This is my difficulty. To succeed with him, one must anticipate his desires. But one then stands exposed, should he change his mind.’ Wolsey his master had advised, make him say what he wants, do not guess, for by guessing you may destroy yourself. But perhaps, since Wolsey’s day, the king’s unexpressed commands have become harder to ignore. He fills the room with seething discontent, stares up into the sky when you ask him to sign a paper; as if he were expecting deliverance. ‘You fear he will turn on you,’ Chapuys says. ‘He will, I suppose. One day’. Sometimes he wakes in the night and thinks of it. There are courtiers who have honourably retired. He can think of instances. Of course, it is the other kind of loom larger, if you are wakeful around midnight. ‘But if that day comes’ the ambassador says, ‘what will you do’? ‘What can I do’? Arm myself with patience and leave the rest to God.’ And hope the end is quick.”