told him, first of all, that he must give up being Lord Chancellor, which he did. Then, that he need not come to London any more; but had best keep down at Richmond, where he was lodging."

"Richmond!" interposes another; "I thought his country place was called Hampton, or Hampton Court, or such like."

No, no; Richmond. He used to live at Hampton Court, the cardinal did; but he gave that up to the king long ago. He said he had built the great house on purpose to make a present of it to the king."

Yes; all for nothing."

"And did the king take it?"

"Ay, did he; only he told the cardinal that he was welcome, if he liked, to make use of a place of his at Richmond, when he wanted to get away from London."

Mighty kind that of the king," remarks another speaker; "but go on with your story, master draper." Well, the king told him to keep himself down at Richmond, which he did. By-and-by came another order; my lord cardinal was to give up all his money and property and estates and what not.”

"But was there law for that?" an objector asks.

"King's law," quoth the narrator, pithily. "No other that I know of; but for all that the cardinal did as he was told; for he had grown wonderfully meek by this time."

Well, and then ?”

And how was the poor man to live and pay his way, when his money and estates were all taken from

him?" asks a sympathizing listener. "He had many servants, hadn't he?"

"A whole head-roll of them, high and low. More in livery and out of livery than the king himself in his royal palace of Greenwich; so they say who ought to know."

"Didn't he have to part with them?" "Of course he did. But when it came to that, many of them refused to leave him. He had been such a kind master to them, they said, that they would serve him for nothing if he would let them. And his higher servants, such as his chaplains and others, made up a purse for him to help him."

"I think that is the best thing I ever heard of the cardinal," observes one of the hearers; "for it has always been said of him that his pride was almost past bearing."

"No doubt; and perhaps it was his pride that made him treat his servants well; there's no telling how such things work. All I can say is that I tell the story as I heard it."

But," says another, "if my lord cardinal was told to keep at Richmond, how came he to be in these parts?"

Why, it was looked upon that he was too near the court. His enemies were afraid of his getting into the king's good graces again; so what do they do but get an order for him to go down into Yorkshire, and attend to his church duties there, he being Archbishop of York as well as cardinal. So he went, taking all his goods that were left to him, and his servants. And that was the last that was heard or

known of him by those who told me; so what this new thing of his being a prisoner on his way back to London means, is more than I can tell or guess."

As we can get nothing more from this burgess of Leicester, who is pretty correct as far as his information goes, we will take up the story where he leaves off, and continue it in the words of two of his biographers.1

2

Wolsey, notwithstanding his reduced fortune, had still a train of 160 persons, and twelve carts to carry his baggage. He made short stages, sleeping at different religious houses, where he was hospitably entertained. On Maundy Thursday (1530), being at the abbey of Peterborough, he washed, wiped, and kissed the feet of fifty-nine3 beggars, on whom he bestowed liberal alms. Having paid a visit to Sir William Fitzwilliam, a wealthy knight of that country, he spent the summer and autumn at Southwell, Scorby, and Cawood Castle, near York, acquiring immense popularity by his condescension, his kindness, his hospitality, and his piety. On Sundays and holidays he rode to some country church, celebrated mass himself, ordered one of his chaplains to preach to the people, and distributed alms to the poor. He spent much of his time in adjusting differences in families and between neighbours. His table, plentifully but not extravagantly supplied, was open to all the gentry of the country,

1 Lord Campbell, and the old chronicler, Cavendish.

2 Wolsey had been supplied by the king with a sum of money to bear the expenses of this journey.

3 Wolsey was fifty-nine years old. The number of persons whose feet he washed was intended to correspond with his age.

and he gave employment to hundreds of workmen in repairing the houses and churches belonging to his see.'

Though Wolsey had lost all his immense private property and estates, he had still the revenues of his Archbishopric for his maintenance. It will also be seen, by the reader of the above account, that, unless his humility and devotion was put on, the school of adversity was a good school for him. good school for him. And as we have no right to judge of any person's heart, except by the outward conduct, and then only with great caution, we may hope that the proud great man was, in these last days of his life, softened by the reverses he had experienced.

Although Wolsey was Archbishop of York, he had never gone through the ceremony of installation; and this was now "appointed to take place in York Minster, on the 7th of November; and preparations were made for its being performed with great pomp and magnificence. Presents of game and other provisions poured in from all quarters for the entertainment he was that day to give; and on the morrow he had agreed to dine with the Lord Mayor of York, when the greatest efforts were to be made to do him honour. But before the time arrived he was a prisoner on a charge of high-treason, and he had sustained a shock which soon brought him to the grave.

“On Friday, the 4th of November, about noon, when the cardinal was sitting at dinner in the hall, with his officers, suddenly entered the Earl of Northumberland, who had once been his page. Wolsey

M

apologized to him that dinner was nearly over; and seeing him attended by the old servants of the family, said,

"Ah, my lord, I perceive well that you have observed my old precepts and instructions which I gave you when you were abiding with me in your youth, to cherish your father's old servants, whereof I see here present with you a great number. They will live and die with you, and be true and faithful servants to you, and glad to see you prosper in honour, the which I beseech God to send you, with long life.' The cardinal then conducted the earl to a chamber, where, no one else being present but Cavendish, who, as gentleman usher, kept the door, the earl, trembling, and with a very faint soft voice, said unto my lord, laying his hand upon the cardinal's arm,

"My lord, I arrest you of high treason.'

"When the cardinal had a moment's time to recover from the stupor caused by this blow, he wept bitterly; more for the sake of others than himself. At the next meal, however, he summoned firmness to appear in the hall; but there was not a dry eye among all the gentlemen sitting at table with him.

The particular charge to be brought against Wolsey has never been ascertained; the general opinion is that Henry had been induced to believe that he was carrying on some secret correspondence of a suspicious nature with the court of France; and that a certain foreign doctor in his service had given some false information against him.

"The next day after his arrest, he was committed to the special custody of five of his domestics, and sent