VIII. The cardinal

to the arch

A. D. 1530.

restored him the archbishopric of York, and sent him money, HENRY plate, and rich furniture for his house and chapel. Insomuch, that it is thought the cardinal had some hopes of recovering pardoned, his interest at court. He petitioned the king for leave to and restored remove from Esher to Richmond, and had some expectation bishopric of of succeeding in his request. But his enemies suspecting this York. nearness to the court might make way to his former ascendant, prevailed with the king to send him to his diocese of York. The cardinal being commanded to the north, had no excuse for delay, but want of money; with which he acquainted the king. Upon which complaint, being furnished with a thousand pounds, he set forwards, was remarkably charitable and devout in his journey, and had the respect of great numbers of people, who came to him all along upon the road. And thus, by slow removes, he came to Cawood castle, near York, about the end A seat be longing to of September. And here provision was made for a customary the archand solemn instalment about a month after. But whether the bishopric. king thought the pomp of this ceremony unseasonable, and too Cavendish much for a man in disgrace, or whether the cardinal had thrown and Lord out some expressions of discontent, is but mere conjecture: A conjecture however, it is certain his fate was determined. Indeed, the "pon the true reason why the king resolved his ruin, seems to have been ruin. his incompliance in the divorce. When the cardinal was at Cawood, the king endeavoured strongly to work him to his purpose. Here he was plied with menaces and caresses. Godwin, Now to what purpose could all this vicissitude of favour and frowns serve? Why, I say, was this expedient made use of, unless it was to prevail upon the cardinal's temper, and bring him to the king's bent? But Wolsey continued inflexible; and the king was disappointed. But what criminal inobsequiousness was there in all this? By the principles of that age, the cardinal was bound to incompliance. His commission was revoked, and the cause called over to Rome. It was, therefore, not in his power to dissolve the marriage, without renouncing the pope; which was more than had yet been done by the king himself.

Herbert.

cardinal's

Annal.

Fox pretends Wolsey and Campegio dissembled with the king, Fox misrepresents and deluded him in the business of the divorce. But to say the cardinal. nothing concerning Campegio, it is plain this martyrologist Fox, vol. 2, misreports Wolsey: for by what has been cited already, it is sufficiently evident that our cardinal was both sincere and very

p. 253.

НАМ,

WAR active in procuring the king satisfaction, and a learned prelate Abp. Cant. Who is no friend to the cardinal's memory, acquits him of all blame in this particular.

Bp. Burnet,

pt. 1. p. 53.

He is ar

rested for

to surrender

himself to

Northum

berland. Cavendish

and Lord Herbert.

But now the ceremony of the instalment approaching, the cardinal was arrested for high treason by the earl of Northhigh treason. umberland and sir Walter Walsh. The cardinal, at the earl's coming, received him very friendly, and prepared for his entertainment. But when he understood his business, and was But refuses denied a sight of the earl's commission, he refused to obey the arrest. It is probable he might have some reason of disgust the earl of against this nobleman. But when Walsh, a gentleman of the privy chamber, appeared, he surrendered himself to him. Cavendish reports, this charge of high treason against the cardinal was a plot of his enemies at court. Indeed, there is little probability of the cardinal's being guilty, if we consider his appeal to the king for his innocence in his last sickness, and his dying words to the same purpose. And, farther, a crime of this nature is very unlikely, in respect of the time. For in February last the cardinal was pardoned for all high treasons since which time, his interest was broken, he had A. D. 1530. been confined, and acted in no business. After the arrest, he He falls sick, set forward for London; fell sick by the way, and died at the Leicester. abbey of Leicester. Fox charges the cardinal with poisoning Fox, vol. 2. himself. But Cavendish, who attended him, gives no hint of p. 258.

Nov. 26.

and dies at

any such suspicion. By this gentleman's report, he died of a dysentery. Indeed, the manner of his behaviour is an argument he did not send himself into the other world. For, when he was attached for high treason, he conducted himself with spirit and presence of mind. He refused to obey the arrest, and surrender to the earl of Northumberland. He maintained his innocence with the highest solemnities, pressed for a trial, and desired nothing more than to be brought face to face before his enemies. These, one would think, are no great signs of Cavendish, dejection or despair. By the way, this remark may serve to clear him in some measure from the imputation of cowardice, Bp. Burnet, which a learned historian has lately thrown upon him. But to pt. 1. p. 81. do him justice against Fox: if there was any foul play, it is

p. 178. 180.

86.

Cavendish,

p. 185.

most likely it was received from those who had him in custody. For once at dinner, he complained of being taken with an extraordinary coldness at his stomach: upon which, he fell into that sickness, which carried him off.

VIII.

racter and

p. 314.

To say something farther of him, by way of character. He HENRY was not altogether without his failings. He seems to have affected pomp and secular grandeur too much. He held the His chaoffice of lord chancellor, the bishopric of Winchester, the rich benefactions. abbey of St. Albans, and the archbishopric of York, all at one time. This, without doubt, was being too great a pluralist. He appears likewise to have been too resigned a courtier, and over obsequious to the king's pleasure; and this excess of compliance he regretted at his last hour. And to this sort of misconduct, a high station lies not a little exposed. But then, to balance these infirmities, he had the mixture of many good qualities. He was, as the lord Herbert observes, a person of great parts and industry; had deservedly the reputation of Ld. Herbert, an able minister, and was courted by the greatest princes. His learning is said to have lain most in school divinity and canon law. But notwithstanding this character of abatement, we do not find he was ever taxed with being underqualified for the Chancery bench. He is much blamed, by some historians, for haughtiness and stiff behaviour. But if this had been his fault, it seems he left it off before his last misfortune. For Cavendish relates, that in his last journey to the north, he gained very much upon all sorts of people: and that he was remarkable, not only for his bounty and exemplary life, but likewise for his condescension and obliging manner. He seems to have been a good-natured master, by the tenderness Cavendish, and regret between him and his family at parting, and his Id. p. 148. declaring, that no circumstance in his misfortune, troubled him so much, as his being disabled from making a provision for his servants. His schemes for the benefit of learning were noble and well laid as appears by his college at Oxford. He likewise founded a college at Ipswich, for the service of religion and the poor. He also designed the founding a society in London, for the civil and canon law. For this purpose, he Buck, of the projected the building a fine stone college. The famous anti-third uniquary, sir Robert Cotton, saw the model of this structure. He at the end built the greatest part of Whitehall, and Hampton-court en- p. 1078. tirely. The monument of brass, which he left imperfect, was a work of extraordinary curiosity and expense. It is not certain whether he designed this mausoleum for himself or the king. He came into the world with no advantage of family, his father being but a poor man in Ipswich. But Cavendish

p. 173.

183.

45.

versity, &c.

of Stow,

WAR

HAM,

Godwin,
Annal.

says nothing of his being a butcher. While the cardinal sat Abp. Cant. at the helm, the kingdom held on in a course of prosperity, and the public motions were steady and strong. But not long after, the government grew perplexed and unacceptable: and the face of things was much altered both at home and abroad. And to speak softly, it must be said, the king crushed this minister with a very indifferent grace. Indeed the king had shown himself somewhat arbitrary with the cardinal, before the præmunire. He had obliged Wolsey to resign his benefices in the diocese of Winchester, to the disposal of the crown. There was a commission made out for this purpose; which being an unprecedented command, I shall transcribe it into the records for the reader.

See Records, num. 11.

An uncharitable inference in Fox.

p. 258.

Fox, after he has lashed the cardinal's memory, and overloaded him with censure, draws a remark of disadvantage upon the clergy, from this one instance. He makes the cardinal a sort of pattern, by which we are to judge of the rest of the Fox, vol. 2. hierarchy. Now, supposing the worst of the cardinal's character had been true, which way are all the spirituality concerned in the imputation? Can anything be more injudicious, and illtempered, than to throw the blemishes of a single person upon a whole order of men? An author, who gives such broad signs of disaffection, and censures at this loose rate, should be read with great caution'.

1 The following is Lingard's account of the fall of Wolsey. "The symptoms of his approaching disgrace were too many and too evident to escape his notice: still he cherished the hope that some lucky chance might enable him to recover the royal favour; and imprudently trusted the hollow professions of men, who, though they had served him faithfully in prosperity, were ready to betray his confidence in his declining fortune. But most he had reason to fear the arts of the woman, who, the last year, so solemnly assured him, that her gratitude should be commensurate with her life. It was not long since Anne had measured her influence with his, and had proved victorious. For some offence Wolsey had driven sir Thomas Cheney from court. Cheney appealed to the king's mistress; and Henry reprimanded the cardinal, and recalled the exile. Now she openly avowed her hostility, and eagerly seconded the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, and her father, the viscount Rocheford, in their united attempts to precipitate the downfall of the minister. They insinuated that he had never been in earnest in the prosecution of the divorce; and uniformly sacrificed the interests of the sovereign to those of the king of France. In proof of the first charge, they instanced his request to attend the congress at Cambray, instead of opening the commission: in proof of the second, they alleged that during the war with France he had constantly corresponded with the lady regent, had accepted presents from her, and at her request had compelled the duke of Suffolk to retreat from Mondidier, when he might have advanced and taken Paris. The willingness with which the king listened to these suggestions assured them of success; and over their cups they not only ventured to predict the ruin of Wolsey, but threatened to humble the pride of the churchmen, and to ease

:

VIII.

To go back a little last summer the treaty of Cambray HENRY was concluded between the emperor and the French king. By

them of that load of wealth which encumbered the successors of the apostles. It was therefore with surprise and consternation that they witnessed the gracious reception of the cardinal, when he waited on the king at Greenwich, or Grafton, in Northamptonshire. Henry took him by the hand, conversed with him familiarly in public, granted him a long and private audience in his closet, and, when he took leave, requested him to return the following day. His enemies began to tremble for their own safety: but they were relieved from their apprehensions by the ascendancy of Anne Boleyn, who, the same evening, extorted from her lover a promise that he would never more speak to Wolsey. Henry rode out at an early hour the next morning, dined in her company at Harewell-park, and did not return home until the cardinal, in consequence of a hint which he had received, had departed for London.

"At the commencement of the Michaelmas term Wolsey proceeded in his usual state to the Chancery: on the same day the attorney-general filed against him two bills in the court of King's Bench, charging him with having, as legate, transgressed the statute of 16th of Richard II., commonly called the statute of Præmunire. Nothing could be more iniquitous than this prosecution. It was doubtful whether the legantine court could be brought within the operation of the statute: it was certain that the cardinal had previously obtained the royal license, and was therefore authorised to hold it both by immemorial usage and the sanction of parliament. This stroke, though it was not unexpected, plunged him into despair. The reader may form an accurate notion of his present situation by the following extract from a letter written by an eye-witness, the bishop of Bayonne :- I have been to visit the cardinal in his distress, and have witnessed the most striking change of fortune. He explained to me his hard case in the worst rhetoric that was ever heard. Both his tongue and his heart failed him. He recommended himself to the pity of the king and madame (Francis and his mother) with sighs and tears; and at last left me without having said any thing near so moving as his appearance. His face is dwindled to one-half its natural size. In truth, his misery is such, that his enemies, Englishmen as they are, cannot help pitying him. Still they will carry things to extremities. As for his legation, the seals, his authority, &c., he thinks no more of them. He is willing to give up every thing, even the shirt from his back, and to live in a hermitage, if the king would but desist from his displeasure.' He knew," continues Lingard," the stern and irritable temper of his prosecutor: to have maintained his innocence, would have been to exclude the hope of forgiveness: and there was, moreover, a 'night crow,' to use his own expression, that possessed the royal ear, and misrepresented the most harmless of his actions. On these accounts he submitted without a murmur to every demand. He resigned the seals to the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk; ordered his attorneys to plead guilty to both indictments, with this observation, that as he was not conscious of having offended, he threw himself with the greater confidence on the royal mercy; and, on condition that he might retain his preferments in the church, transferred by deed his whole personal estate (it was valued at 500,000 crowns) to the king, saying, that, since he had received all from the royal bounty, it was with pleasure that he returned all to his benefactor. It was intimated to him that the king meant to reside in York-place during the parliament, and that he might retire to Esher, a seat belonging to his bishopric of Winchester. When he entered his barge, he was surprised to behold the river covered with boats, and lined with spectators. Both courtiers and citizens had crowded together to behold his arrest and commitment to the Tower; but he disappointed their curiosity and their hopes; landed at Putney; and, as he ascended the hill, was met by Norris, a groom of the chamber, who brought him a secret, but gracious, message from Henry; not to despair, but to remember, that the king could at any time give him more than he had now taken away. Overpowered with joy and gratitude, the cardinal sank on his knees, and uttered a fervent prayer for the prosperity of his sovereign." Hume says, Wolsey, who was on horseback when the messenger met him, immediately alighted, and throw