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CARDINAL WOLSEY.

CHAPTER FIRST.

Birth and Parentage of Wolsey.-The
Nature of his Early Pursuits.-The
Cause of his First Preferment.-His
First Transaction in State Affairs.-
His Increasing Honours. Advan-
tages derived by Wolsey from the
Events of the War.

THOMAS WOLSEY was born at Ipswich,
in the month of August, and in the year
1471. His father is generally supposed
to have been a butcher, but there is no
positive authority for the statement.
Great unnecessary importance has been
attached to this point by those authors
who have written upon the character
and actions of this celebrated man.
is sufficient to know that Wolsey had
It
the merit of rising from an obscure sta-
tion; that he was the son of a poor,
but honest man; that his parents pos-
sessed the means of educating him re-
spectably; but acquired not, happily for
him, the wealth to support him idly;
yet these humble individuals lived per-
haps far more usefully and happily in
their obscurity, because more respecta-
ble, than their unprincipled illustrious
offspring.

It was not until two centuries after the birth of Wolsey that any degree of curiosity concerning his origin was manifested by the public. In 1761, it was ascertained by one of his biographers, that the father of Wolsey possessed some property in land, in two parishes of Ipswich; that he bequeathed to his son, Thomas, ten

In the opinion of Wood, (Athene Oxoniensis, vol. 2. p. 734.) the assertions respecting the vocation of Wolsey's father being that of a butcher, originated with William Roy, the author of a satire upon Wolsey, entitled "A Dialogue between two Priests' Servants, Watkins and Jeffrey," beginning

"Rede me, and be not wrothe, For I say no thyng but trothe." The writers contemporary with Wolsey appear to have known little of his origin. Bishop Godwin, in his Lives of the English Bishops, (p. 618,) speaks of Wolsey as the son of a poor man, or, (as I have often heard.) a butcher." Skelton, poet-laureate in the time of Henry the Eighth, satirizes Wolsey under the appellation of the butcher's dog." Hall mentions that the populace abused him as the "butcher's son," a term also applied contemptuously to him by Luther, in his Colloquia. Cavendish describes him as an honest poor man's son."--See Cavendish, edited by Singer, p. 32.

marks to sing a mass for his soul, if he after his father's death; that he left his entered into holy orders within a year lands at the disposal of his wife, Joan; and the rest of his worldly property to his son, his wife, and another person, "to dispose as they should think best to please Almighty God, and to profit his

soul."

to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he
At a very early age Wolsey was sent
acquired the rare distinction of being
reached his fifteenth year. This early
a bachelor of arts when he had only
honour was remembered by him with
the pride and satisfaction with which
prosperous men often revert to the first
more splendid and wretched days, Wol-
step in their ascent to fame. In his
sey related the circumstance to George
Cavendish, one of his gentlemen ushers,
who has repeated it in the valuable
Memoirs of Wolsey, which he subse-
quently composed.
his own person," says Cavendish,
He told me, in
he was called the boy bachelor at fifteen
"that
years of age; which was a rare thing,
and seldom seen." The youthful ac-
quirements of Wolsey, how much soever
contemporaries, were not of a nature to
they may have been admired by his
be highly valued in the present day.
The pursuits of a clerical student, in the
fifteenth century, were neither adapted
to qualify him for offices of state, to
which the clergy were, at that time,
oftentimes promoted; nor to endow him
with the power of reasoning accurately.
sophy of Aristotle, formerly prohibited,
The Metaphysics, and Natural Philo-
and burned at Paris, by a decree of the
Council of Sens, in 1210, had been
again received into favour by the schools,
chiefly through the exertions of Thomas
century, employed with other learned
Aquinas, a theologian of the fourteenth
men to translate the works of Aristotle
from the Greek and Arabic languages,
into Latin. In the early part of Wol-
sey's life the reputation of Aquinas

See the will of Robert Wolsey, in Fiddes's Life
of Wolsey. Collections.
Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. iii. p. 25.

B

was at its height, and Wolsey imbibed from education a partiality for the doctrines, and an admiration for the talents, of that great man, by which his subsequent opinions on theological subjects were strongly tinctured. Seconded by the zeal and talents of Aquinas, scholastic learning had gained rapidly in public estimation; while the Biblicists, those who resorted to the writings of the ancient fathers, or to Holy Writ itself, as the sources of divine truths, had declined both in numbers and importance. Hence consequences the most injurious to religion and philosophy ensued. The education of youth was directed to attainments of a superficial character; a fluency of argument, calculated to mislead, but not to convince; a readiness in the use of scholastic terms, and in the practice of unintelligible distinctions, and a skill in imparting to disputation the air of method, and the semblance of abstruse reflection, constituted, long after the death of Aquinas, the chief accomplishments of young theologians.

Such being the nature of those studies to which the attention of Wolsey was directed, it is not surprising that he should have contracted strong prejudices, and imbibed erroneous opinions, which even the powers of his vigorous and comprehensive mind were unable to correct. In the endeavour to understand and to retain the subtleties and refined distinctions of his great model, Wolsey neglected both the politer branches of learning, and the important acquisition of real religious know ledge, which can be gained from Scripture alone. In those days, a critical knowledge of the Scriptures was, indeed, rarely to be found even in the most celebrated collegiate teachers, who were usually ignorant of the original languages. Thus, as the historian of Henry the Eighth, Lord Herbert, expresses it, "the learning of Wolsey, which was far from being exact, consisted chiefly in the subtleties of the Thomists, in which he, and King Henry the Eighth, did oftener weary than satisfy one another." To the same cause may be attributed the absence of those higher principles of action, which, had they regulated the conduct of Wolsey, might have

When Luther, many years after the period of Wolsey's youth, challenged the University of Paris to dispute with him upon a Scripture foundation, not a single person could be met with, qualified to argue upon a system which had become nearly obsolete.Mosheim, vol. iii, p. 298,

rendered his splendid career a source of incalculable benefit to his country.

To pass his days in studious retirement was not, however, the lot of Wolsey, who had the advantage, for such it often proves, of resting entirely upon his own exertions. It must have been an acceptable turn of good fortune to him, after having, by his proficiency in logic and philosophy become a Fellow of Magdalen College, to have been appointed master of the school, in which students, intended to enter that College, were instructed previous to their admission; a practice common at both the Universities,-each College having, in general, some particular school appropriated to it.* Luckily for Wolsey, there were, among his pupils, three sons of Grey, Marquis of Dorset, the collateral ancestor of Lady Jane Grey. To these young noblemen Wolsey proved an able and assiduous instructor; and it is a curious reflection, that he, who in after times became the governor of princes, possessed, in this early period of his life, the forbearance and diligence which render the humble, and often thankless, offices of a teacher effectual. Perhaps the opportunity thus afforded to Wolsey of viewing, in the ingenuous soul of youth, the secret springs of action and the varieties of undisguised passion, may have been the first source of that intimate knowledge of character which was ascribed subsequently to necromancy, by his enemies, from the influence which he gained over the king. Whatever may have been the final benefits of the task thus appropriated to Wolsey, the immediate advantages were both encouraging to him, and creditable.

It happened that he was invited, with his pupils, to pass under the roof of their father the pleasant and "honourable feast of Christmas," in which our forefathers, even more than ourselves, were wont to delight. During this vacation, the marquis had ample opportunities of observing the progress of his sons, and was so highly gratified by their proficiency, that he determined to present their tutor with the living of Lymington in Somersetshire, a benefice in the gift of the Dorset family, and in the diocese of Bath and Wells. This presentation took place at the departure of Wolsey abode; and it was the more acceptable with his pupils from their paternal

See Fosbrooke's Monasticon. ↑ Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, p. 67,

to Wolsey, on account of some pecuniary embarrassments, of no very creditable nature, in which, according to tradition, he was involved. A statement currently reported either during the life, or shortly after the death of Wolsey, affirmed him to have employed, without authority, various sums taken from the treasury of Magdalen College, of which he was bursar, in the erection of the great tower which was completed at that College during his continuance in office: and he is even said to have used violent means to possess himself of the money necessary for that purpose. The details of this transaction have not, however, reached us, and it seems doubtful if there be any foundation at all for reports so injurious to his reputation. It must, however, be observed, that always painful and often unwise as it is, to draw conclusions unfavourable to the motives and actions of our fellow men, there is no reason to infer from the subsequent conduct of Wolsey that his principles of integrity, in relation to pecuniary affairs, were very exact; or that he would not have sacrificed to ambition, or to any object which he had in view, that sense of honour, without which the greatest qualities can neither redeem the character from meanness, nor save the reputation from dishonour.

Wolsey obtained his first church preferment in Oct. 30, 1500, when he had attained his twenty-ninth year. His ordinary deportment partook, in too great a degree, as far as morality was concerned, of the licentiousness in which the clergy of those times, perhaps more than any other class of men, indulged. It is uncertain for what excess Wolsey at this time incurred a chastisement, which he had neither the wisdom to forget, nor the generosity to forgive. The affair, according to tradition, originated thus: Sir Amias Pawlet, a knight and justice of the peace, residing in the neighbourhood, discovered the Rector of Lymington in a state of drunkenness at a fair, and deemed it essential to punish the offender by placing him in the stocks; and the aspiring Wolsey was obliged to endure that ignominious mode of confinement, which the compassion or refinement of our present notions has almost abolished in our villages. A curious specimen of the manners of the times, where a beneficed clergyman could

• Fiddes's Life of Wolsey, p. 6.

thus be held up to popular derision, is afforded by this incident, which was deeply felt, and long resented by the delinquent. Many years afterwards, when the Chancellor of England had not the liberality to pardon the insult offered to the Rector of Lymington, he sent for the country magistrate, and, after a severe reproof, commanded him to wait within the precincts of the court, until, at the pleasure of the council, he should be allowed to depart. Sir Amias knew how necessary it was in that age of despotism to bend to circumstances; and contrived to appease the Chancellor, in the course of five or six years, by embellishing the exterior of his own house, situate at the gate of the Middie Temple, with the badges and cognizances of Wolsey, and with a Cardinal's hat and arms.

Upon the death of the Marquis of Dorset, in 1501, the obscurity of a country parsonage, without hope of pre.. ferment, becoming intolerable to Wolsey, he determined to quit his retirement, and to make his essay upon the theatre of the great world. He was soon fortunate enough to obtain the situation of chaplain in the household of Dean, then Archbishop of Canterbury, who extended his favour towards the young churchman, more from regard for his personal qualities, than from any interest exerted in behalf of Wolsey by the few powerful friends of whom he could boast. Upon the Archbishop's death 1502. he was again deprived of a valuable patron; but the favour of others, or even the superior strength of his own understanding, was not all he had to depend upon. At this early period of his life he possessed that courteous dignity of manner which may be improved by intercourse with polite society, but cannot be imparted by that advantage, when the mind is naturally coarse or frivolous. Combining the accomplishments described by one who has not dealt sparingly with his vices, "Doctus, et oratione dulcis-Corporis etiam gestu, et habitu concinnus," Wolsey verified the description given of him by Shakespeare, that "he was fashioned to much honour from the cradle," and displayed in his deportment every thing which inspires regard, and enforces respect. Accordingly we find that he, who was reputed a low and

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disorderly man at Lymington, acquired the favour of Sir John Nanfan, a grave and very ancient knight," with whom he chanced to become acquainted. Sir John at this time held the important office of treasurer to the city of Calais, where Wolsey attended him in the capacity of chaplain; but it was not long before the knight, discovering the abilities and industry of his inmate, confided to him almost the entire charge of his public business. This confidence remained unimpaired ; and Nanfan, upon his retiring from office on the score of old age, recommended Wolsey to Henry the Seventh in such earnest terms, that the king made him one of his chaplains. Wolsey may now be considered as in the avenue to greatness. There was, indeed, little probability of his attaining, over the mind of that wary and calculating prince, the influence which he afterwards acquired with his successor. Henry the Seventh, perhaps one of the most prudent and successful kings that ever sat upon the British throne, directed all the energies of an acute and active mind to objects of public interest. Approving of literature, he had yet neither sufficient enthusiasm to be fascinated with the wit of Wolsey, nor sufficient knowledge to appreciate his learning. He considered business as the paramount, if not the sole object of importance in life; and he expected in those around him the same assiduity and regularity of habits, of which he gave them the example. His ministers were, as might be expected, laborious and indefatigable servants of the crown, who exercised in their several departments, and required in their inferiors, exactness, steadiness, and dispatch. When they observed that Wolsey, after saying mass in the closet before the king, spent not forth the day in vain idleness, but gave his attendance upon those whom he thought to bear most rule in the council,"* they naturally gave their confidence to a man who exhibited that self-denial, and power of application, without which no votary of ambition has ever attained pre-eminence in public affairs.

66

The ministers who chiefly enjoyed the favour of Henry the Seventh were Fox, Bishop of Winchester, and Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. Fox had retained his post the longest, and most resembled his royal master in his notions of economical management, which

Cavendish, p. 76.

amounted to penuriousness: but Surrey, from his military reputation, and from his office of Lord Treasurer, might be considered the most powerful of these two distinguished subjects. By Fox, the abilities of Wolsey were discovered early, and appreciated justly; and both regard and confidence were manifested by the bishop towards his former dependant, to the latest period of his own existence. Sir Thomas Lovel, master of the king's wards, and constable of the Tower, was another valuable friend, whom Wolsey, by his merits or address, contrived to secure among the privy councillors. This knight, who had the character of being both witty and wise, retained his favourable sentiments towards Wolsey until his death; and bequeathed to the object of his early preference, a golden standing cup and four hundred marks of gold, in testimony of his affection.*

Aided by these powerful friends, Wolsey soon obtained an opportunity of displaying his zeal in the service of the king. It was at this time that a treaty of marriage was contemplated between Henry the Seventh and the Duchess of Savoy. It was necessary to treat with Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, the father of the duchess; and a person qualified to undertake this mission was required by the king. Conversing one day upon this subject with Bishop Fox and Sir Thomas Lovel, Henry was persuaded to send for Wolsey, whom his two friends commended in high terms, as possessing the eloquence, address, and prudence necessary to conduct an important and delicate negotiation. Wolsey, on being introduced into the presence of the king, displayed so much discretion and ability, that Henry commanded him to prepare immediately for his journey, and to receive the instructions necessary for his undertaking, from the council. Wolsey resolved to exert his powers to the utmost, in order to secure the favour of the monarch, whom he contrived still further to propitiate in the subsequent interviews, previous to his departure. Having obtained his dispatches, Wolsey, after taking leave of the king at Richmond, about noon, reached London at four o'clock; he proceeded to Gravesend, where he arrived in three hours; hastened from Gravesend to Dover, which he entered on the following morning, just in time to step into the

• Cavendish, edited by Singer,

passage boats which were under sail for Calais. From Calais he hurried onwards to the emperor, who was at a place not far from that city; and after obtaining an immediate and favourable audience with that exalted personage, he was allowed to depart shortly after the interview. Wolsey now hastened homewards with as much expedition as he could command: his activity met with its due reward; for he succeeded in arriving at Richmond before the king had even dreamed of his having left England. The diligence with which he performed his mission was considered the more remarkable at that time, when travelling was impeded by scanty accommodation, by the danger of highway robbery, and by the badness of the roads; the first act for the regular repair of which was not passed until twenty years afterwards. The king was so little prepared for the extraordinary promptness of his messenger, that on Wolsey's entering the royal chamber, he began to reprove him for his dilatoriness, in so long delaying his departure. But he, producing the letters of credit which he had brought from the emperor, acquainted Henry with the details of his mission, in which he had somewhat trangressed the limits of his instructions. The king was delighted with the zeal and address of his messenger, and was even pleased with the manner in which, upon his own responsibility, he had ventured to exceed his commission. It was not, however, the habit of Henry the Seventh either to promise lavishly, or to reward liberally, the services of his subjects. With his accustomed reserve, he dissembled his surprise at the quick return of Wolsey; yet it was not long before he recompensed his zeal, by installing him in the Deanery of Lincoln,+ at that time the most valuable beneFeb. fice under a bishoprick; and 1508. soon afterwards, the rising churchman was appointed almoner to the king. The incident which procured these distinctions, was probably regarded by Wolsey as extremely conducive to his advancement; for long after it had occurred, when the vicissitudes of his life caused him, perhaps, to dwell with a pleasurable regret upon earlier and happier days, he related to Cavendish the circumstances of his first trans

In the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Henry the Eighth. Until the reign of Charles the Second, the roads were repaired by the landholders in the respective counties, upon whom a rate was imposed. ANDERSON'S Hist. of Commerce, vol. ii., p. 44. † Le Neve's Fasti, p. 146.

5

action in state affairs, with a minuteness which has been faithfully copied by that admirable biographer.*

That

which took place in 1509, had been anThe death of Henry the Seventh, ticipated by the persons in attendance upon him, for some time before Wolsey Wolsey, warned by the precarious state was introduced to his notice. of the king's health, endeavoured, before his decease, to insinuate himself into the favour of the heir-apparent, appears probable; for one of the first acts of Henry the Eighth, upon his accession to the throne, was to make the almoner privy-councillor, and to preat Bridewell, in Fleet Street, formerly sent him with the house and gardens, belonging to Sir Richard Empson, but falling, upon his attainder, to the crown. This mansion, on the site of which Salisbury Square and Dorset Street now stand, was surrounded with gardens, extending to the river, twelve in number, and with orchards corresponding of Wolsey's splendour, and of Henry's in size. It was for some time the scene revels, until the favourite became the builder of Hampton Court and of Esher. possessor of York House, and the But, notwithstanding the favour manifested by this donation, the greatness of Wolsey cannot be said to have comof the young king. Compelled, for some menced immediately upon the accession time, to play a subordinate part in the council, it was his successful endeavour, before attaining any political influence, to secure that secret empire over the mind of his sovereign, which should prove more powerful than either tried capacity or long service. have been practicable for mean abilities It would not to acquire, in any large measure, the esteem of Henry the Eighth, who, before his understanding was undermined by conceit, and cramped by prejudice, was a youth of such promise, that, to use the words of his biographer, had the performance of his riper years answered it, "none of his predecessors would have dowments of nature engaged him often exceeded him: but as his exquisite ento become a prey to those allurements and temptations which are ordinarily incident to them, so his courage was observed, little by little, to receive into it some mixture of self-will and cruelty." The arts by which Wolsey sought to recommend himself, while they flattered the passions of the gay and ardent

Cavendish, p. 77. + Herbert, p. 2.

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