Wolf Hall - pg. 338

II

'Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?'

Spring 1532

Time now to consider the compacts that hold the world together the compact between ruler and ruled, and that between husband and wife. Both these arrangements rest on a sedulous devotion, the one to the interests of the other. The master and husband protect and provide; the wife and servant obey. Above masters, above husbands, God rules all. He counts up our petty rebellions, our human follies. He reaches out his long arm, hand bunched into a fist.