raised of his advancement in after life, we feel also obliged to kiss the rod and plead ignorance. Certain however it is, that he was successively pauper puer serviens*, pauper puer or Tabardert, Fellow, and some years afterwards Provost of the College.

As soon as his probationary state in College was over, he seems at once to have thrown off his monastic habit, and for a while, at least, left the University; for not long after this we find him inducted into the Rectory of Aller in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, which he held until 1505. From his induction into this living, where he resided some time, our story is one almost of figures or dates of promotions, following each other in such rapid and brilliant succession, that competition seems to have fled from him as from the glance of

Westmorland. This is called by way of distinction the Old Foundation. The New Foundation was by John Mitchell, Esq. of Richmond, in Surrey, but in that Westmorland men have no interest. There are also five Exhibitions of £.100 a-year (about to be increased in value to about £.120) for natives of any Counties coming from certain schools in Yorkshire, Westmorland, and Cumberland, by Lady Betty Hastings; the Schools in Westmorland are those at Appleby and Heversham.

A poor serving child that waited on the Fellows in Hall and in their Chambers; a system of fagging which high and low on the Old Foundation were formerly subjected to. This service is now done by Bedmakers.

+ Tabarder or Tabitter, so called from the coat or upper gowns they wore, according to the fashion of those belonging to Heralds. But the Tyrant Reform has stripped even this little pauper puer of his badge of distinction.

Destiny. In 1485, he became Prebendary of South Grantham, (which he resigned for that of Chardstock in the same year) and of Horton in 1486, all in the Cathedral of Salisbury. In 1495 he was chosen Provost of Queen's, the duties whereof he discharged until his elevation to the see of Durham, a period of thirteen years or thereabouts. To this College (according to Godwin) he was a liberal benefactor. While Provost, namely, in September 1503 he was made Prebendary of Strenshall in the County of York; and in December following was instituted into the Deanery. In 1505 (21 Hen. 7) he became Dean of Windsor: and in the same year Master of the Rolls*. In 1507, as already stated, he was consecrated Bishop of Durham. the 22 September 1508 he was enthroned, in the room of Thomas Savage, in the Archbishoprick of York. His fortunes however were not to end even here; his star was still in the ascendant, and had to move onwards and to influence other regions still higher and more remote, but in an orbit for a time eccentric. On the 24th September 1509 (1 Hen. 8) he was sent as Legate to the Court of Romet. It is also said that he was Almoner to Henry VIIth, and sent by him Ambassador to the Emperor Maximilian, Charles the 8th of France, and other European Powers; but we feel satisfied that he is in these

*Surtees Hist. of Durham, cxiv.

On

13 Vol. Rymer's Foedera 265, contains his Commission (London 4to. 1712.)

matters taken for Christopher Urswick, as he undoubtedly is in his supposed writings on the Civil Law.

What were his duties on his mission to the Court of Julius the Second in 1509, and how he discharged them, may be in part gathered from the following extract. "By the intrigues of this ambitious Pontiff, (says Hume) a league had been formed at Cambray (1508) between himself, Maximilian, Lewis, and Ferdinand; and the object of this great confederacy was to overwhelm by their united arms the Commonwealth of Venice. Henry without any motive from interest or passion allowed his name to be inserted in the confederacy. This oppressive and iniquitous league was but too successful against the Republic. The great force and secure situations of the considerable monarchies prevented any one from aspiring to any conquest of moment, and though this consideration could not maintain general peace, or remedy the natural inquietude of men, it rendered the Princes of this age more disposed to desert engagements, and change their alliances in which they were retained by humour and caprice rather than by any natural or durable interest. Julius had no sooner humbled the Venetian Republic, than he was inspired with a nobler ambition, that of expelling all Foreigners from Italy, or to speak in the style affected by the Italians of that age, the freeing of that Country entirely from the dominion of Barbarians. He was

determined to make the tempest fall first upon Lewis, in order to pave the way for this great enterprise, he at once sought for a ground of quarrel with the Monarch, and courted the alliances of other Princes. He declared war against the Duke of Ferrara-the confederate of Lewis. He solicited the favor of England, by sending Henry a sacred rose perfumed with musk, and anointed with chrism. He engaged in his interests Bainbridge, Archishop of York, and Henry's Ambassador at Rome, whom he soon after created a Cardinal.*** Henry, naturally sincere and sanguine in his temper, and the more so on account of his youth and inexperience, was moved with a hearty desire of protecting the Pope from the oppression to which he believed him exposed from the ambitious enterprises of Lewis. Hopes had been given him by Julius, that the title of Most Christian King (which had hitherto been annexed to the Crown of France, and which was regarded as its most precious ornament) should in reward of his services be transferred to that of England. Impatient also of acquiring that distinction in Europe to which his power and opulence entitled him, he could not long remain neuter amidst the noise of arms, and the natural enmity of the English against France as well as their ancient claims upon that Kingdom led Henry to join that alliance which the Pope, Spain, and Venice had formed against the French Monarch. A herald was sent to Paris to exhort Lewis not to

VOL. I.

E

wage impious war against the Sovereign Pontiff, and when he returned without success another was sent to demand the ancient Patrimonial Provinces of Anjou, Maine, Guienne, and Normandy. This message was understood to be a declaration of war, and a Parliament being summoned readily granted supplies for a purpose so much favored by the English Nation*." Although Christopher Fisher was the bearer of this golden or sacred roset, all historians agree in ascribing to the Archbishop's skill and influence with the English Monarch his espousal of the cause of the Sovereign Pontiff, and joining the Holy League against Lewis-an interference fatal to the ambition of the French Monarch, as regards Milan and Naples, and no less fatal, without just cause or scintilla of interest in England, to the finest balance of power Europe ever saw, perhaps may ever see again. What countless treasures have been expended, what quantities of human blood been spilt by England in such like Quixotic errands! When will she learn to be wise, and content herself by fighting her own battles? But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good: it was out of gratitude to the Legate for this signal service, that Julius got for him what (according to Ciaconius) he had long coveted, namely, a Cardinal's cap. These additional honors were heaped upon Baynbrigg in the month of March 1511, under the

* Hume's Hist. of England.

+ See Rymer's Fœdera, 1510, p. 289.