CHAPTER XXVII. LIFE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY FROM HIS BIRTH TILL HIS APPOINT- XXVII. We now come to the life of the man who enjoyed more CHAP. power than any of his predecessors or successors who have held the office of Chancellor in England. the son of a butcher. THOMAS WOLSEY, destined to be Archbishop of York, Wolsey Legate à latere, Lord Chancellor, and for many years master of the King and kingdom, was born at Ipswich, in Suffolk, in the year 1471, and though "fashioned to much honour," was "from an humble stock," being the son of a butcher in that town. * Some of his admirers have, without reason, questioned the particular voca- Proois. tion of his father; for that he was the son of a low tradesman in a country town is admitted. It cannot detract from his merit that his father was a butcher, and the fact stands on strong evidence. In his own lifetime he was called "the butcher's dog;" and Shakspeare, who must have conversed with persons who well recollected the Cardinal, puts these words into the mouth of Buckingham: "This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I Have not the power to muzzle him." His origin from the "boucher's stall" is distinctly averred in the contemporary satire of "Mayster Skelton, poete laureate : "He regardeth Lordes No more than pot shordes, He ruleth al at will Without reason or skyll, And his base progeny, And his gresy genealogy, He came out of the sanke roiall That was cast out of a boucher's stall." Luther, in his Colloquies, calls him "a butcher's son." Polydore Virgil speaks of his father as "a butcher;" and Fuller, in his Church History, observes, that, "to humble the Cardinal's pride, some person or other had set up in a window belonging to his College, at Oxford, a painted mastiff dog gnawing the spade bone of a shoulder of mutton, to remind him of his extraction." Godwyn says, "Patre lanio pauperculo prognatus est." If his father had been of any other trade, the fact might have been easily established; but Cavendish, his gentleman usher and biographer, who must have heard the assertion hundreds of times, is contented with saying that "he was an honest poor man's son," and the only supposed contradiction is the father's will, showing that he had houses and property to dispose of, which he might as well have acquired by slaughtering cattle, as by any other occupation. The will shows him to have been a very pious Christian. After leaving his soul to "Almyhty God, our Lady Sent Mary, and to all the company of Hevyn," he says, "itm, I wyll that if Thomas my son be a prest wtin a yer next after my decesse, yan I wylle that he syng for me and CHAP. XXVII. From his cradle he is said to have given signs of those lively parts which led to his buoyant career, but we possess Sent to the no particulars of his early domestic life to throw light on the University. formation of his character; and, till he was sent to the University, nothing has reached us respecting his studies, except a statement that the indications of genius he displayed induced some of his townsmen to assist his father in maintaining him at Oxford. He was entered of Magdalen College when still of tender years, and he made such proficiency that, when only fifteen, he took his Bachelor's degree with great distinction, gaining the honourable soubriquet of "the boy Bachelor." In the very zenith of his fortune he used to boast with laudable vanity of this appellation, as the best proof of his early devotion to literature. Wolsey "the boy Bachelor." Fellow of and school At an early age he was elected a fellow of Magdalen, Magdalen, and there being a school connected with the college accordmaster. ing to the usage then prevailing, he was appointed head master. He dedicated himself with great diligence and success to the duties of this humble office. While so occupied, he formed an acquaintance with Sir T. Moore, then an undergraduate, and with Erasmus, who had taken up his residence at Oxford. Tutor to sons of Marquess of Dorset. Wolsey a country parson. The probability at this time was, that he would spend the rest of his days in the University, and that his ambition (which could not have aspired higher) might be crowned with the headship of his college. But it so happened that he had for pupils three sons of the Marquess of Dorset, and during a Christmas vacation he accompanied them to the country seat of their father. Wolsey was now in his twenty-ninth year, of great acquirements, both solid and ornamental,-remarkably handsome in his person, insinuating in his manners, and amusing in his conversation. The Marquess was so much struck with him, that he at once proffered him his friendship, and as a token of his regard presented him to the rectory of Lymington, in Somersetshire, which then happened to fall vacant. Wolsey accordingly took orders, and was my frends be the space of a yer, and he for to haue for his salary x marc." The will bears date September, 1486, and was proved in the month of October following. The testator signs himself Robert Wuley, but by this name the son was known, till he changed it euphoniæ causâ. XXVII. instituted as parson of this parish on the 10th of October, CHAP. 1500. He immediately renounced his school and other college appointments, the more readily on account of a charge brought against him, that he had misapplied the college funds. While bursar, he had erected the tower of Magdalen College chapel, known by the name of "Wolsey's tower," still admired for the chaste simplicity and elegance of its architecture, and he was accused of having clandestinely diverted a portion of the revenue over which his office of bursar gave him control, to the expence of this edifice,-a heinous offence in the eyes of the fellows, while lamenting their diminished dividend. He certainly seems to have been betrayed into considerable irregularity in this affair from his passion for building, which adhered to him through life; but there is no reason to suspect that he personally derived any pecuniary advantage from it. Wolsey stocks for set in the ness and Suddenly emerging from the cloisters of Magdalen, in which he had been hitherto immured,-when he took possession of his living, he seems for a time to have indulged in drunkenlevities not becoming his sacred calling. By his dissolute rioting at a manners, or perhaps by his superior popularity, he incurred fair. the displeasure of Sir Amyas Paulet, a neighbouring justice of the peace, who lay by for an opportunity to show his resentment. This was soon afforded him. Wolsey, being of "a free and sociable temper," went with some of his neighbours to a fair in an adjoining town, where they all got very drunk, and created a riot. Sir Amyas, who was present, selected "his Reverence" as the most guilty, and convicting him "on the view," ordered him to be set in the stocks, and actually saw the sentence carried into immediate execution. "Who," says Cavendish, in relating this adventure, "would have thought then that ever he should have attained to be Chancellor of England! These be wonderful works of God and fortune."* Wolsey afterwards had his revenge of Sir Amyas. "For when the schoolmaster mounted the dignity to be Chancellor ⚫ Cav. 69. His rewhen Lord venge Chancellor. CHAP. Wolsey leaves his parish. of England, he was not oblivious of the old displeasure mi- This mischance happened when Wolsey had been about two years resident at Lymington, and he soon after left the country,- —as some assert from the scandal it had caused, — but I believe from the necessity he felt of finding a new patron, the Marquess of Dorset, to whom he looked for promotion, having suddenly died. We may suppose that, conscious of his powers, he was glad to leave this rural retreat where they could so little be appreciated. Storer, who published his biographical poem of Wolsey in 1599, describes his feelings on this occasion with some felicity. "This silver tongue methought was never made With rhetoric's skill to teach each common swain; to Arch He was soon received as chaplain in the family of Deane, Chaplain Archbishop of Canterbury,—a proof that his fame had not bishop of sustained any permanent blemish, and he was gaining the Cantergoodwill of those around him when he was again thrown upon the world by the death of the Primate. bury. of Calais. However, he was almost immediately after engaged as To the domestic chaplain by Sir John Nanfant, "a very grave and Governor ancient knight," a special favourite of Henry VII. Sir John held the important office of Treasurer of Calais, and Wolsey now behaved himself so discreetly, that he obtained the special favour of his new master, and all the charge of the office was committed to him. He resided for a considerable time at Calais, and must have considerably improved his knowledge of mankind by the variety of company with whom he here mixed. But he panted still for a larger sphere of action, and, Chaplain to Henry through the interest of his employer, he was at last gratified VII. with the appointment of chaplain to the King, and he was transferred to the Court. "He cast anchor in the port of promotion," says his biographer, or rather, he "got his foot in the stirrup, resolved to outstrip every competitor in the race." He had now occasion to be in the presence of the King daily, -celebrating mass before him in his private closet; and he afterwards gave attendance upon the courtiers who he thought bore most rule in the Council and were highest in favour. These were Fox, Bishop of Winchester, Secretary and Lord Privy Seal, and Sir Thomas Lovel, Master of the King's wards and Constable of the Tower. They soon perceived his merit, and were disposed to avail themselves of his services. He is said now to have displayed that "natural dignity of manner or aspect which no art can imitate, and which no rule or method of practice will ever be able to form."* He was eminently favoured by nature in dignity of person, and winning expression of countenance. According to Caven His suc cess at Court. |