“She is selling herself by the inch. The gentlemen all say you are advising her. She wants a present in cash… — Hilary Mantel
“She is selling herself by the inch. The gentlemen all say you are advising her. She wants a present in cash for every advance above her knee.”
“Not like you, Mary. One push backward and, good girl, here’s your fourpence.”
“Well. You know. If kings are doing the pushing.” She laughs. “Anne has very long legs. By the time he comes to her secret part he will be bankrupt. The French wars will be cheap, in comparison.”
p. 292Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
More from this book
One tradesman the same as the next? Not in the real world. Any man with a steady hand and a cleaver can call himself a butcher: but without the smith, where does he get that cleaver? Without the man who works in metal, where are your hammers, your scythes, your sickles, scissors and planes? Your arms and armor, your arrowheads, your pikes and your guns? Where are your ships at sea and their anchors? Where are your grappling hooks, your nails, latches, hinges, pokers and tongs? Where are your spits, kettles, trivets, your harness rings, buckles and bits? Where are your knives?
p. 306
What was England, before Wolsey? A little offshore island, poor and cold.
p. 240
The cardinal used to say, the English will forgive a king anything, until he tries to tax them.
p. 332
