being wounded imported, that his power was at an end, and death would quickly ensue."" These words, when the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Walter Walsh arrived at Cawood to arrest him, were considered by weak men as a prophecy, though in fact they amounted to little more than the well-grounded apprehensions of a fallen statesman.

The Earl and Sir Walter attended by a body of horse, which plainly bespoke their commission, proceeded immediately into the hall, and demanded from the porter his keys. The man, astonished at their request, refused to deliver them without his master's order. To prevent disturbance, therefore, they contented themselves with taking an oath from him, "That no person should go out or come in till he received farther directions." The Cardinal all this while remained ignorant of what passed below; till one of the servants found means to apprise him, that the Earl of Northumberland was in the hall. Wolsey, who was then at dinner, conceiving it to be merely a friendly visit from his old pupil, immediately rose from table, and went down stairs to meet the Earl; expressed his concern not to have received notice of his intention, that he might have given him a better reception; and taking him by the hand led him to his apartment, the Earl's gentleman following, where as they were conversing aside in a window, Northumberland said, "My Lord, I arrest you for hightreason." Upon this, Wolsey demanded to see his authority; and, the Earl refusing to produce his commission, declared he would not submit to his arrest. Sir Walter Walsh however coming up during the debate, and repeating what the Earl had before stated, he instantly surrendered himself.

As soon as the country-people were informed of this transaction, they surrounded the palace with expressions of the deepest sorrow, as the Cardinal had always been the protector and friend of the poor; and upon his setting off on his journey to London followed him for several miles, till he desired them to depart and be patient, for that he feared not his enemies, but entirely submitted himself to the will of Heaven. The first night he lodged at PontefractAbbey, the next with the Black Friars at Doncaster, and the night following at Sheffield-Park, where he remained eighteen days. Here he was kindly entertained by the Earl of Shrewsbury, and had great respect shown him by the neighbouring gentlemen, who flocked in to visit him. But as he sat one day at dinner, he was taken extremely ill with a sudden coldness at his stomach. Apprehending this to be an oppression occasioned by wind, he immediately sent to an apothecary for some medicine to expel it, and received a little present relief. But if he was not then poisoned (as some imagined) either by himself or others, this disorder it appears, from whatever it originated, was the cause of his death; for he was in so languishing a condition when Sir William Kingston, Lieutenant of the Tower, arrived to take him into custody and attend him to London, that he was hardly able to walk across his chamber. This circumstance too, of being consigned to the Lieutenant of the Tower, gave a considerable shock to his weakened frame; for when the Earl of Shrewsbury ordered Cavendish to inform him of that officer's arrival in the most delicate manner, he smote his thigh, and with a heavy sigh exclaimed, "I now see what is preparing for me." This expression, as importing a dread

of public execution, seems wholly to negative the idea of his having poisoned himself. Ill however as he was, he left the Earl of Shrewsbury's the following morning, and by easy progress reached another seat of his Lordship's that night.

Thus he continued three days making short journeys, till he arrived at Leicester-Abbey. Here the Abbot and the whole convent received him in the court with the utmost reverence; but the Cardinal only said, "Father Abbot, I am come to lay my bones among you;" and continuing on his mule to the foot of the stairs which led to his chamber, he was with much difficulty helped up and put to bed.

This was on Saturday the twenty-fifth of November, and on the Monday following his illness had so far increased, that in the general opinion of his attendants it was impossible he could long survive. On Tuesday morning early Sir William Kingston entered his room, and inquiring how he had rested, he devoutly replied, "I only wait the pleasure of Heaven to render my poor soul into the hands of my Creator." After this, having spent about an hour at confession, upon a second visit from Kingston, finding his dissolution at hand, he said, "I pray you have me heartily recommended to his royal Majesty, and beseech him on my behalf to call to his remembrance all matters that have passed between us from the beginning, especially with regard to his business with the queen;* and then will he know in his conscience, whether I have offended him. He is a prince of a most royal

*The charge however, frequently urged against Wolsey (that through his intrigues Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, suggested scruples to Henry upon the subject, as his 'ghostly 'father') appears from a note of Dr. Wordsworth's to be unfounded. (Eccl. Biogr. I. 428.)

carriage, and hath a princely heart; and, rather than he will miss or want any part of his will, he will endanger the one-half of his kingdom I do assure you, that I have often kneeled before him, sometimes three hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could not prevail. Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the King, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs: but this is the just reward that I must receive for my indulgent pains and study, not regarding my service to God, but only to my prince. Therefore let me advise you, if you be one of the privy-council, as by your wisdom you are fit, take care what you put into the King's head; for you can never put it out again." He then, after a very severe warning against the Lutherans, added, Mr. Kingston, farewell; I wish all things 'may have good success; my time draweth on fast." His speech now failed him, and he died about eight o'clock, the guards having been called in to see him expire. After his death he was laid in an oaken coffin with his face uncovered, that every one might be permitted to view him; and, early in the morning on St. Andrew's Day, he was buried in the middle of one of the Abbey-Chapels.

In person, the Cardinal was tall and comely, and in air and manner extremely graceful; but he had a blemish in one of his eyes, upon which account he was always painted in profile.* As a statesman, his

* Imagine luscâ, if that be the true meaning of the Latin, (Letter from Dr. Smith to Mr. Hearne.) "That which is carved in wood," says Granger," in the central board of the gateway, which leads to the Butchery of Ipswich, has such an appearance of antiquity, that it is supposed to have been done when he was living by the side of it, is a butcher's knife.". "The blemish or loss of his eye has been imputed, perhaps falsely, to an infamous distemper."

abilities were extraordinary, and under his administration England became formidable to all the powers of Europe. But in his foreign negotiations, it must be acknowledged, he was frequently influenced by his own private views.

In strong vindication of his character it has been urged, that the latter part of Henry's reign was more criminal than it's commencement: 66 but it may be doubted (says Lord Herbert) whether the impressions he gave did not occasion divers irregularities which were observed to follow: for he had made it a rule to submit implicitly to the King's pleasure, and had taught him that pernicious doctrine, that no law had the force to curb his prerogative, which increased Henry's arbitrary disposition."

In prosperity, Wolsey was proud and haughty; in adversity, abject and pusillanimous. His vices were of that description, which most disgraced his sacred profession. At the same time, his virtues were of the public kind; for he greatly promoted and encouraged literature,* patronised and cultivated the polite and useful arts, and was in general a liberal friend to the poor. "His ambition," says Lloyd in his British Worthies,' " gave him the opportunity to increase his parts: he was as pregnant at Ipswich School, as he was promising in Magdalen College."-" At Oxford he read books, at my Lord's (of Dorset) he read men and observed things. His patron's two parsonages bestowed upon him was not so great a favour, as the excellent principles instilled into him;

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*Of his early intimacy with Erasmus, and it's gradual decay as Wolsey rose to honours which opened between him and the sage scholar an impassable gulf, Chalmers has given a masterly account in his History of the University of Oxford.'