lege,* and subsequently nominated master of Magdalen school, where the sons of the Marquis of Dorset were then placed for their education. This was a fortunate circumstance for the new preceptor; for the Marquis, sending for his boys to pass the ensuing Christmas holidays at his country-seat, invited the master to accompany them. Delighted with the conversation of one, who to his extensive knowledge added a most insinuating address, he found his sons likewise so much improved during the short time they had been under his care, that he determined to reward his diligence with some distinguished mark of approbation: and accordingly, a benefice in his gift falling vacant during the recess, he bestowed it upon him. To this his first ecclesiastical preferment, the rectory of Lymington in Somersetshire, he was instituted in 1500, being then in the twenty-ninth year of his age. He now quitted the university to take possession of his living; but an accident happened soon afterward, which rendered his new situation extremely disagreeable. Naturally of a free and sociable disposition, he lived upon the most familiar terms with his parishioners and the neighbouring gentlemen. some of these he was drawn to a fair at an adjacent town, where it is said that in a state of intoxication he occasioned some disturbance: upon which Sir Amias By * During his holding the bursarship of this society, Magdalen tower, a structure universally admired for it's beautiful simplicity and symmetry, was finished. It was rumoured, that the bursar by violent means procured from the college-treasury the needful supplies; but this most probably, as Dr. Fiddes suggests, could only have been under an idea that he was unjustly opposed, contrary to some previous authority received from the society, wherein yet they might think it convenient, by reason of the growing expenses of the building, that he should be restrained. Pawlet, a justice of the peace, who had already taken a dislike to him, set him in the stocks.* This mortifying accident gave Wolsey a distaste to Lymington; and the death of the Marquis of Dorset, which happened shortly afterward, finally determined him to leave it. His next situation was that of chaplain to Dr. Deane,† Archbishop of Canterbury; a station to which, in the opinion of the author of the 'British Antiquities,' he recommended himself less by the interest of others than by his own assiduity. Here he grew greatly in favour with his employer, and by his means the name of Wolsey was for the first time mentioned at the court of Rome; the Pope, on the Archbishop's request, granting his chaplain a dispensation to hold two benefices. This, however, was the greatest advantage which Wolsey reaped from the connexion; for Dr. Deane dying in 1503, he was obliged to seek another patron. A man of true genius and proportional industry is seldom disappointed in any views, upon which he This indignity, so dishonourable to a clergyman, Wolsey had it not then in his power to resent; but he never either forgot, or forgave it: for on being made Lord High Chancellor, he sent for Sir Amias to London, and sharply reprimanded him for his former disrespectful behaviour toward a clergyman, to whom as a pastor he owed obedience. He also ordered him upon no account, without a licence first obtained, to presume to quit the capital. In consequence of which prohibition that gentleman, though he endeavoured by many little acts of submission to soften the Chancellor's anger, continued in the Middle Temple not less than six years. † He had previously been Prior of Lanthony, and Chancellor of Ireland; from which station he was raised successively to the bishopric of Bangor in 1496, and of Salisbury in 1500. His metropolitan dignity he held only three years (1501-1504), when he made way for the illustrious Warham, Bishop of London, who in 1532 was succeeded by the still more illustrious Cranmer. employs the whole strength of his understanding. Wolsey found in himself a particular inclination to a court-life; and from several of his expressions it appears, that he actually anticipated the grandeur which awaited him in that sphere; for he used to say, "If he could but set one foot in the court, he would soon introduce his whole body." With this view, he studiously attached himself to persons in power; and having during his residence in the west of England contracted an acquaintance with Sir John Nephant, who at the time of Archbishop Deane's death was treasurer of Calais, and a great favourite of Henry VII., he made an offer to him of his services: upon which Sir John, then on the point of setting off for Calais, appointed him his chaplain, and took him over to France as one of his family. In this situation, Wolsey so effectually insinuated himself into the good graces of his new master, that he was entrusted with the entire management of his office; and in the administration of it gave such satisfaction, that when Sir John on account of his great age obtained leave to resign, he procured for his favourite the honour of being placed upon the list of royal chaplains. As Wolsey, however, well knew that a bare settlement at court was insufficient to secure a man's future fortune without a peculiar interest among the courtiers, he now paid his devoirs with such success to Fox Bishop of Winchester, and Sir Thomas Lovel, that they quickly recommended him to the King, upon an occasion which gave him ample opportu nity of displaying his political abilities, and thus laid the basis of his future promotions. In the year 1508, his Majesty having resolved to enter into a secret negotiation with the Emperor Maximilian, who then resided at Bruges, in order to settle some points previously to his intended marriage with Margaret Duchess Dowager of Savoy, that monarch's only daughter, and wanting a proper person to employ upon this embassy, no sooner heard of Wolsey as one admirably qualified for the purpose, than he commanded him to be sent for; and after some private discourse, having fully satisfied himself of his competency, ordered his despatches to be prepared: upon which Wolsey immediately set forward from Richmond, where the King then kept his court. How was Henry surprised, in less than three days afterward, to see his envoy present himself before him!* Supposing that he had not yet commenced his journey, he at first began to reprove him for the dilatory execution of his orders; when Wolsey informed him that he was actually returned from Bruges, and had successfully terminated the negotiation, with which he had been charged. "Aye!" said the King; " but, upon farther deliberation finding that something had been omitted in your instructions, I despatched a messenger after you with fuller powers." To which Wolsey replied, "That he had 66 * Lord Bacon's Aphorism in his De Augmentis Scientiarum,' VIII. 19. applies to this instance with great propriety. VIDISTIS VIRUM VELOCEM IN OPERE SUO: CORAM REGIBUS STABIT, NEC ERIT INTER IGNOBILES. The shrewd, he observes in his expli cation, and the popular are disliked, by their royal employers; the adventurous are feared as hazardous, and the honest are shunned as unaccommodating. Sola velocitas ad mandata (he adds) nihil habet, quod non placeat, Insuper, motus animorum regiorum celeres sunt, et more minus patientes. Putant enim se quidvis efficere posse: illud tantùm deesse, ut citò fiat. Itaque ante omnia iis grata est celeritas. No wonder, then, that Wolsey was most acceptable to Henry VIII. indeed met the messenger on the road in his return, and received the powers which his Majesty mentioned; but having during his stay at the imperial court preconceived the purport of them, and their close connexion with his Majesty's service, he had ventured upon his own authority to rectify what he considered as a mistake in his commission, and humbly implored pardon for his presumption." Henry was so highly delighted with this promptitude, and with it's favourable issue, that he gave him public thanks; declared him in council a man fit to be entrusted with the management of affairs of importance; and rewarded him with the deanery of Lincoln, and the prebends of Walton Brinhold and Stow. These preferments enabled him to resign the living of Lymington; and, to complete his good fortune, his graceful and eloquent relation of the particulars of his late embassy before the council. attracted the notice of the Prince of Wales, who grew extremely fond of his company. In 1509, Henry VII. was succeeded by his son, who at his accession was only eighteen years of age. A more fortunate event could not possibly have happened for Wolsey; his firm friend the bishop of Winchester having now a motive of interest, as well as of affection, to induce him to forward his promotion. The influence, which that crafty prelate had maintained in the cabinet during the late reign, having given way to the ascendency acquired over the young king by the Earl of Surrey, he introduced Wolsey to his new master, with the double view of opposing his rival, and of supporting his own weight in the cabinet. In consequence of this plan, in the first year of Henry VIII. Wolsey was appointed the royal |