ii. col. 706, ed. 1692.
[18] P. 102 in the present edition.
[19] In the Autograph MS. it stands--"and _after_ Earl of Sussex," v.
p. 179 in the present edition.
[20] Milles's Catalogue of Honour, p. 667.
[21]
[Sidenote: A supposed anachronism explained.]
The reader will, it is hoped, excuse the _minuteness_ of this inquiry.
We have enough to teach us to take nothing upon trust that has been
said concerning this work: and some doubts have been expressed as
to the period at which it was written, grounded on a passage near
the conclusion. Cavendish tells us that when the Cardinal left the
hospitable mansion of the Earl of Shrewsbury at Sheffield, on the
borders of Yorkshire, "he took his journey with Master Kingston and
the guard. And as soon as they espied their old master in such a
lamentable estate, they lamented him with weeping eyes. Whom my lord
took by the hands, and divers times, by the way, as he rode, he would
talk with them, sometime with one, and sometime with another; at night
he was lodged at a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's, called Hardwick
Hall, very evil at ease. The next day he rode to Nottingham, and there
lodged that night, more sicker, and the next day we rode to Leicester
Abbey; and by the way he waxed so sick, that he was divers times likely
to have fallen from his mule." p. 536. This is an affecting picture.
Shakspeare had undoubtedly seen these words, his portrait of the sick
and dying Cardinal so closely resembling this. But in these words is
this chronological difficulty. How is it that Hardwick Hall is spoken
of as a house of the Earl of Shrewsbury's in the reign of Henry VIII.
or at least in the days of Queen Mary, when it was well known that
the house of this name between Sheffield and Nottingham, in which the
Countess of Shrewsbury spent her widowhood, a house described in the
Anecdotes of Painting, and seen and admired by every curious traveller
in Derbyshire, did not accrue to the possessions of any part of the
Shrewsbury family till the marriage of an earl, who was grandson to
the Cardinal's host, with Elizabeth Hardwick, the widow of Sir William
Cavendish, in the time of Queen Elizabeth? If I recollect right, this
difficulty perplexed that learned Derbyshire antiquary Dr. Samuel
Pegge, who has written somewhat at length on the question, whether
the Cardinal met his death in consequence of having taken poison.
See Gent. Mag. vol. xxv. p. 27, and vol. liii. p. 751. The editor of
the Topographer proposes to correct the text by reading Wingfield in
place of Hardwick; vol. ii. p. 79. The truth, however, is, that though
the story is told to every visitor of Hardwick Hall, that "the great
child of honour, Cardinal Wolsey," slept there a few nights before his
death; as is also the story, equally unfounded, that Mary Queen of
Scots was confined there; it was another Hardwick which received the
weary traveller for a night in this his last melancholy pilgrimage.
This was Hardwick upon Line in Nottinghamshire, a place about as far to
the south of Mansfield, as the Hardwick in Derbyshire, so much better
known, is to the north-west. It is now gone to much decay, and is
consequently omitted in many maps of the county. It is found in Speed.
Here the Earl of Shrewsbury had a house in the time of Wolsey. Leland
expressly mentions it. "The Erle [of Shrewsbury] hath a park and maner
place or lodge yn it caullid Hardewike upon Line, a four miles from
Newstede Abbay." Itin. vol. v. fol. 94. p. 108. Both the Hardwicks
became afterwards the property of the Cavendishes. Thoroton tells us
that Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son of Sir William, and father of
William Duke of Newcastle, "had begun to build a great house in this
lordship, on a hill by the forest side, near Annesley Woodhouse, when
he was assaulted and wounded by Sir John Stanhope and his men, as he
was viewing the work, which was therefore thought fit to be left off,
some bloud being spilt in the quarrel, then very hot between the two
families." Throsby's edit. vol. ii. p. 294.
[22] The reference is to Dr. Wordsworth's text; the passage will be
found at p. 77 of the present edition. The same strain of querulous
complaint occurs in his prologue to the Metrical Visions:
How some are by fortune exalted to riches,
And often such as most unworthy be, &c.
Afterwards he checks himself, and calls Dame Reason to his aid:
But after dewe serche and better advisement,
I knew by Reason that oonly God above
Rewlithe thos thyngs, as is most convenyent,
The same devysing to man for his behove:
Wherefore Dame Reason did me persuade and move
To be content with my _small estate_,
And in this matter no more to vestigate.
Here we have decisive proof that the writer's fortunes were not in the
flourishing condition which marked those of Sir William Cavendish at
this period, i. e. in the reign of Mary.
S. W. S.
[23]
[Sidenote: John Wilson of Bromhead.]
It formed part of the curious collection of manuscripts made by the
late John Wilson, Esq. of Bromhead near Sheffield, in Yorkshire; a
gentleman who spent a long life in collecting, and transcribing where
he could not procure possession of the original, whatever might throw
any light upon the descent of property, or on the history, language, or
manners of our ancestors. He was the intimate friend and correspondent
of Burton, Watson, Brooke, Beckwith, and indeed of all that generation
of Yorkshire antiquaries which passed away with the late Mr. Beaumont
of Whitley Beaumont. Mr. Wilson died in 1783. Cavendish's library was
not the best furnished apartment of his magnificent mansion. For the
satisfaction of the gentle Bibliomaniac, I shall transcribe the brief
catalogue of his books. "Chawcer, Froyssarte Cronicles, a boke of
French and English." They were kept in the new parler, where were also
the pictor of our sov^reigne lord the kyng, the pyctor of the Frenche
kyng and another of the Frenche quene: also 'two other tables, one
with towe anticke boys, & the other of a storye of the Byble.' In 'the
lyttle parler' was 'a payntyd clothe with the pictor of Kyng Harry the
VIII^{th} our sovereygne lord, & kyng Harry the VII^{th} & the VI^{th},
Edward the Forthe & Rychard the Third.'
[24] The authorities for this detail of the employments, rewards, and
honours of Sir William Cavendish are to be found in the Biographia and
the Peerages.
[25] Life and Times, &c. vol. iii. p. 98.
[26]
[Sidenote: Mary, Countess of Northumberland.]
Though little ceremony and probably as little time was used in
patching up these nuptials. As might be expected, they were most
unhappy. So we are told on the authority of the earl's own letters in
the very laboured account of the Percy family given in the edition
of Collins's Peerage, 1779; perhaps the best piece of family history
in our language. "Henry the unthrifty," Earl of Northumberland, died
at Hackney in the prime of life, about ten or twelve years after he
had consented to this marriage. Of this term but a very small part
was spent in company of his lady. He lived long enough, however, not
only to witness the destruction of all his own happiness, but the sad
termination of Anne Boleyn's life. In the admirable account of the
Percy family, referred to above, no mention is made of the lady who,
on these terms, consented to become Countess of Northumberland, in her
long widowhood. She had a valuable grant of abbey lands and tythes,
from which, probably, she derived her principal support. One letter of
hers has fallen into my hands. It presents her in an amiable position.
She is pleading in behalf of a poor man whose cattle had been impounded
by one of Lady Cavendish's agents. Its date and place is to the eye
Wormhill[27]; but the running hand of that age, when not carefully
written, is not to be depended on for representing proper names with
perfect exactness, and the place may be Wreshill, which was a house of
the Northumberland family. She died in 1572; and on the 17th of May
her mortal remains were deposited in the vault made by her father in
Sheffield church, where sleep so many of her noble relatives, some of
them in monumental honours.
[27] In justice to the amiable author of this essay, who is extremely
anxious to be accurate, I think it proper to apprise the reader that
the note taken from the former edition of his work at p. 127 must be
qualified by what is here stated. In a letter with which I have been
favoured, he says, "I have looked again and again at the letter, and
the word is certainly (if we may judge from the characters which the
lady's pen has formed) _Wormhill_: yet still I think it must have been
intended for _Wreshill_, as I have met with nothing else to show that
the lady had a house at Wormhill." S. W. S.
[28] Broadgate in Leicestershire. See the Funeral Certificate. They
were married on the 20th Aug. 1 Edw. VI., at two o'clock after midnight.
[29] Among the Wilson collection is a list of jewels presented to the
Countess of Shrewsbury by the Queen of Scotland.
[30] See "Memoirs of the Peers of England during the Reign of James the
First," p. 19. Lodge's "Illustrations," &c. iii. 50-64, and Harl. MS.
in Brit. Mus. No. 4836. fol. 325. and 6846. fol. 97.
[31] "Illustrations," &c. Introd. p. 17.
[32]
[Sidenote: Original Letter of Sir William Cavendish.]
To Besse Cavendysh
my wyff.
Good Besse, haveing forgotten to wryght in my letters that you shuld
pay Otewell Alayne eight pounds for certayne otys that we have bought
of hym ov^r and above x^{li} that I have paid to hym in hand, I
hertely pray you for that he is desyrus to receyve the rest at London,
to pay hym uppon the sight hereof. You knowe my store and therefore I
have appoyntyd hym to have it at yo^r hands. And thus faer you well.
From Chattesworth the xiii^{th} of Aprell.
W. C.
[33] Ath. Oxon. vol. i. col. 569. ed. 1691.
[34]
[Sidenote: Original title of the work.]
None of the publishers of this work have given us the original title.
I shall here transcribe it as it appears upon the manuscript in the
Library of the College of Arms.
Thomas Wolsey, late Cardinall intituled
of S^t Cicile trans Tiberim presbyter and
Lord Chauncellar of England, his lyfe
and deathe, compiled by George
Cavendishe, his gentleman Usher.
[35] Archæologia, vol. xi. p. 50-62.
[36] See page 4.
[37] See Vincent's Suffolk. MS. in Col. Arm. fol. 149, and compare
with Morant's Essex, vol. ii. p. 363, and with the account of the
Cavendishes in the Peerages.
[38] See page 84.
[39] See p. 100.
[40] Vol. i. p. 106.
[41] Vol. i. p. 122. It is singular enough that in this edition the
name of the Cardinal's attendant and biographer, by a slip of the pen,
is written _George_. See line 38. It is plain from the connexion that
this must have been an unintended blunder into the truth. It was duly
corrected in the later editions.
[42] Mr. Grove subsequently (in 1761) met with what he considered "an
antient and curious manuscript copy written about one hundred and
fifty years ago," and from this he printed an edition in 8vo, with a
preface and notes, the advertisement to which bears the above date.
It appears to be one of the rarest of English books, and was probably
never published: the copy with which I have been favoured by Richard
Heber, Esq. M. P. having no title-page. There are other curious tracts
in the volume on the subject of Wolsey, having separate titles bearing
no bookseller's name, but purporting to be printed _for the Author_ by
Dryden Leach, and all in 1761.
S. W. S.
[43] 4to, 1776, p. 116.
The Life of Thomas Wolsey,
sometime Archbishop of Yorke
and Cardinal,
intituled Sanctæ Ceciliæ trans Tiberim,
Presbiter Cardinalis, and L. Chancellor of England.
Written by
George Cavendish, sometime his Gentleman Usher.
------------This Cardinal,
Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour from his cradle.
He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading:
Lofty, and sour, to them that lov'd him not,
But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer.
And though he were unsatisfied in getting,
(Which was a sin), yet in bestowing--
He was most princely: Ever witness for him
Ipswich and Oxford! one of which fell with him,
Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;
The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,
So excellent in art, and yet so rising,
That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.
His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him;
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the blessedness of being little:
And, to add greater honours to his age
Than man could give him, he died fearing God.
SHAKSPEARE.
[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY.
ENGRAVED BY E. SCRIVEN.
AFTER THE ORIGINAL PICTURE.
_London, Published Jan^y. 1, 1825, by Harding, Triphook & Lepard._]
THE
LIFE
OF
CARDINAL WOLSEY.
THE PROLOGUE.
[Meseems it were no wisdom to credit every light tale, blasted abroad
by the blasphemous mouth of the rude commonalty. For we daily hear how,
with their blasphemous trump, they spread abroad innumerable lies,
without either shame or honesty, which _primâ facie_ showeth forth a
visage of truth, as though it were a perfect verity and matter indeed,
whereas there is nothing more untrue. And amongst the wise sort so it
is esteemed, with whom those babblings be of small force and effect.
Forsooth I have read the exclamations of divers worthy and notable
authors, made against such false rumours and fond opinions of the
fantastical commonalty, who delighteth in nothing more than to hear
strange things, and to see new alterations of authorities; rejoicing
sometimes in such new fantasies, which afterwards give them more
occasion of repentance than of joyfulness. Thus may all men of wisdom
and discretion understand the temerous madness of the rude commonalty,
and not give to them too hasty credit of every sudden rumour, until the
truth be perfectly known by the report of some approved and credible
person, that ought to have thereof true intelligence. I have heard and
also seen set forth in divers printed books some untrue imaginations,
after the death of divers persons, which in their life were of great
estimation, that were invented rather to bring their honest names into
infamy and perpetual slander of the common multitude, than otherwise.
The occasion therefore that maketh me to rehearse all these things is
this; for as much as I intend, God willing, to write here some part
of the proceedings of][44] Legate and Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of
York, and of his ascending and descending from honorous estate; whereof
some part shall be of mine own knowledge, and some of other person's
information.
Forsooth this cardinal was my lord and master, whom in his life I
served, and so remained with him, after his fall, continually, during
the term of all his trouble, until he died; as well in the south as in
the north parts, and noted all his demeanor and usage in all that time;
as also in his wealthy triumph and glorious estate. And since his death
I have heard diverse sundry surmises and imagined tales, made of his
proceedings and doings, which I myself have perfectly known to be most
untrue; unto the which I could have sufficiently answered according to
truth, but, as me seemeth, then it was much better for me to suffer,
and dissemble the matter, and the same to remain still as lies, than
to reply against their untruth, of whom I might, for my boldness,
sooner have kindled a great flame of displeasure, than to quench one
spark of their malicious untruth. Therefore I commit the truth to Him
who knoweth all things. For, whatsoever any man hath conceived in him
when he lived, or since his death, thus much I dare be bold to say,
without displeasure to any person, or of affection, that in my judgment
I never saw this realm in better order, quietness, and obedience,
than it was in the time of his authority and rule, ne justice better
ministered with indifferency; as I could evidently prove, if I should
not be accused of too much affection, or else that I set forth more
than truth. I will therefore here desist to speak any more in his
commendation, and proceed farther to his original beginning [and]
ascending by fortune's favour to high honours, dignities, promotions,
and riches.
_Finis quod G. C._
* * * * *
Truth it is, Cardinal Wolsey, sometime Archbishop of York, was an
honest poor man's son[45], born in Ipswich, within the county of
Suffolk; and being but a child, was very apt to learning; by means
whereof his parents, or his good friends and masters, conveyed him to
the University of Oxford, where he prospered so in learning, that,
as he told me [in] his own person, he was called the boy-bachellor,
forasmuch as he was made Bachellor of Arts at fifteen years of age,
which was a rare thing, and seldom seen.
Thus prospering and increasing in learning, [he] was made Fellow
of Magdalen College, and after appointed, for his learning, to be
schoolmaster there; at which time the Lord Marquess Dorset had three of
his sons there at school with him, committing as well unto him their
virtuous education, as their instruction and learning. It pleased
the said marquess against a Christmas season, to send as well for
the schoolmaster as for his children, home to his house, for their
recreation in that pleasant and honourable feast. They being then
there, my lord their father perceived them to be right well employed in
learning, for their time: which contented him so well, that he having
a benefice[46] in his gift, being at that time void, gave the same
to the schoolmaster, in reward for his diligence, at his departing
after Christmas upon his return to the University. And having the
presentation thereof [he] repaired to the ordinary for his institution
and induction; then being fully furnished of all necessary instruments
at the ordinary's hands for his preferment, he made speed without any
farther delay to the said benefice to take thereof possession. And
being there for that intent, one Sir Amyas Pawlet, knight, dwelling in
the country thereabout, took an occasion of displeasure against him,
upon what ground I know not[47]: but, sir, by your leave, he was so
bold to set the schoolmaster by the feet during his pleasure; the which
was afterward neither forgotten nor forgiven. For when the schoolmaster
mounted the dignity to be Chancellor of England, he was not oblivious
of the old displeasure ministered unto him by master Pawlet, but sent
for him, and after many sharp and heinous words, enjoined him to
attend upon the council until he were by them dismissed, and not to
depart without license, upon an urgent pain and forfeiture: so that he
continued within the Middle Temple, the space of five or six years, or
more; whose lodging there was in the gate-house next the street, which
he reedified very sumptuously, garnishing the same, on the outside
thereof, with cardinals' hats and arms, badges and cognisaunces of the
cardinal, with divers other devices, in so glorious a sort, that he
thought thereby to have appeased his old unkind displeasure.
Now may this be a good example and precedent to men in authority,
which will sometimes work their will without wit, to remember in their
authority, how authority may decay; and [those] whom they punish of
will more than of justice, may after be advanced in the public weal
to high dignities and governance, and they based as low, who will
then seek the means to be revenged of old wrongs sustained wrongfully
before. Who would have thought then, when Sir Amyas Pawlet punished
this poor scholar, that ever he should have attained to be Chancellor
of England, considering his baseness in every condition. These be
wonderful works of God, and fortune. Therefore I would wish all men
in authority and dignity to know and fear God in all their triumphs
and glory; considering in all their doings, that authorities be not
permanent, but may slide and vanish, as princes' pleasures do alter and
change.
Then as all living things must of very necessity pay the due debt of
nature, which no earthly creature can resist, it chanced my said Lord
Marquess to depart out of this present life[48]. After whose death this
schoolmaster, considering then with himself to be but a small beneficed
man, and to have lost his fellowship in the College (for, as I
understand, if a fellow of that college be once promoted to a benefice
he shall by the rules of the house be dismissed of his fellowship),
and perceiving himself also to be destitute of his singular good lord,
thought not to be long unprovided of some other succour or staff, to
defend him from all such harms, as he lately sustained.
And in his travail thereabout, he fell in acquaintance with one Sir
John Nanphant[49], a very grave and ancient knight, who had a great
room[50] in Calais under King Henry the Seventh. This knight he served,
and behaved him so discreetly, and justly, that he obtained the
especial favour of his said master; insomuch that for his wit, gravity,
and just behaviour, he committed all the charge of his office unto his
chaplain. And, as I understand, the office was the treasurership of
Calais, who was, in consideration of his great age, discharged of his
chargeable room, and returned again into England, intending to live
more at quiet. And through his instant labour and especial favour his
chaplain was promoted to the king's service, and made his chaplain. And
when he had once cast anchor in the port of promotion, how he wrought,
I shall somewhat declare.
He, having then a just occasion to be in the present sight of the
king daily, by reason he attended, and said mass before his grace in
his private closet, and that done he spent not the day forth in vain
idleness, but gave his attendance upon those whom he thought to bear
most rule in the council, and to be most in favour with the king,
the which at that time were Doctor Fox, Bishop of Winchester, then
secretary and lord privy seal, and also Sir Thomas Lovell, knight, a
very sage counsellor, and witty; being master of the king's wards, and
constable of the Tower[51].
These ancient and grave counsellors in process of time after often
resort, perceived this chaplain to have a very fine wit, and what
wisdom was in his head, thought [him] a meet and an apt person to be
preferred to witty affairs.