WOLSEY'S ABSORPTION IN AFFAIRS.

17

In the Star Chamber and the Privy Council he reigned. supreme, the other lords scarce daring to question his

proposals, much less to prevent or impede the execution of his plans. His peremptoriness is thus reflected on by Skelton:

"He is set so high
In his hierarchy
Of frantic phrenesy
And foolish fantasy

That in the Chamber of Stars

All matters there he mars.

Clapping his rod on the Board,
No man dare speak a word,
For he hath all the saying
Without any renaying
He rolleth in his records,

C

And saith, 'How say ye my Lords?
Is not my reason good?'

'Good even, good Robin Hood!'
Some say 'yes' and some
Sit still as they were dumb.
Thus thwarting over them
He ruleth all the roast,

With bragging and with boast,
Borne up on every side

With pomp and with pride."

Outbursts, such as these, were undoubtedly greatly due to the excessive, and rarely relaxed, mental strain of the whole internal and foreign affairs, both political and ecclesiastical, which were entirely directed by him, and not less to the state of his health. His constitution appears to have never been robust; and when he first selected Hampton Court as a residence, he is said to have been influenced by the qualities of the springs in the vicinity, which are alleged to be beneficial for the stone-a disease from which he suffered. He was a victim, besides, to dropsy, and was several times, also, attacked by the sweating sickness-that strange and dreadful plague which for two centuries ravaged the homes of England, and he was constantly suffering from ague, quinsy, and colic. His condition in the summer of 1517 was such as to cause the gravest anxiety; and the King wrote affectionately to him, urging him to take air and exercise, and correct the weakness of his stomach.

Recommendations like these were easier to give than to follow, for Wolsey had no time for recreation; and, as he wrote to Henry, his digestion was so impaired that he could eat only tender food, and on this account he had been compelled to procure a dispensation from the Pope for the Lenten observances. This also was adroitly seized on by the venomous Skelton to point the arrows of his invective:

"To drynke and for to eate
Swete ypogras and swete meate
To kepe his flesshe chast
In Lent for a repast

He eateth capons stewed

Fesaunt and partriche mewed

Hames, checkynges and pygges."

The King, however, fully understood the difficulties of Wolsey's position, and appreciated the trials to which his ill-health subjected him, and the sacrifices which he made in his master's service. All his letters, indeed, at this period show the same easily familiarity, and cordial sympathy and affection for his "own good Cardinal."

And good cause had he to be grateful for Wolsey's devotion. While everyone else about the Court was thinking only of his own personal safety, Wolsey alone remained at his post, and through danger, infection, and sickness kept in view only his duty to his King and the State.

In addition to his office as Chief Minister, which combined all the departments that modern usage distributes among a cabinet of thirteen or fourteen ministers, he was now Lord Chancellor; and, as Mr. Brewer observes, "his administration of that great legal office was characterised by the same energy and fearlessness as distinguished his conduct in all other departments. For his zeal and ability as a judge we have the best testimony that could be had-the testimony of Sir Thomas More. His regularity, decision, and despatch cannot be questioned; his impartiality to all classes was never disputed. These formed the topics of satire and complaint. The lawyers hated him for his strict adherence to justice, his discouragement of petty legal artifices, endless forms, and interminable verbosity; the nobles hated him still more, because riches and nobility were no recommendation to partiality or favour, as they had been in the days of his predecessors." In confirmation of this estimate can be cited the view of the Venetian ambassador, who, though no friend of his, is found stating that "he favours the people exceedingly, and especially the poor, hearing their suits and seeking to despatch them instantly. He also makes the lawyers plead gratis for all paupers."

CHAPTER II.

DECORATION AND FURNITURE OF WOLSEY'S PALACE.

AFTER Wolsey's return from the meeting at the "Field of the Cloth of Gold," in 1520, he appears to have made more prolonged stays than heretofore at Hampton Court, which had now nearly arrived at that stage of completion in which he left it. We are not able exactly to define the limits of the Cardinal's palace, for after his death Henry VIII. carried out many alterations and additions, which in their turn have been subsequently modified; but we can form a rough idea of its extent. We have already noticed the West Front as being entirely Wolsey's; the same may be said of the First Green Court, which is the largest courtyard in the palace, being 167 feet from north to south, and 142 feet from east to west. It gives us no mean idea of Tudor palatial architecture; and now that the green turf which originally covered the area has been restored, we see it much as it appeared to the great Cardinal when riding through it on his mule. It has a look of warmth and comfort and repose, and an air of picturesque gloom which is in pleasing contrast with the staring vulgarities of the "cheerful" cockney buildings of the present day.

The internal arrangements, to judge from the old plans and records, must have been of great comfort and convenience, and do not at all confirm the current notion of the discomfort of old Gothic houses.

The Clock Court, access to which is had from the First Court through the archway of the Clock Tower, formed the inner and principal part of Wolsey's original palace; but the alterations that it has undergone since his time cause it to present a very different appearance now, chiefly in that the present Great Hall, which occupies the whole of its north side, though often called Wolsey's hall, was not erected by him, but, after his death, by Henry VIII., though it perhaps stands on the site of the smaller and older hall of the

DECORATION OF WOLSEY'S PALACE.

21

Cardinal's building; while the original south range is almost entirely obscured from view by the Ionic colonnade of Sir Christopher Wren. Here, however, we are in one of the most interesting corners of Hampton Court; for behind this colonnade are situated the very rooms occupied by Cardinal Wolsey himself.

Attached to this corner was one of the Cardinal's galleries in which he used to pace, meditating on his political plans,

on his chances for the popedom, and on the failing favour of the King. To this, which must have been demolished by William III., and to the other long galleries in the First Court, Cavendish makes reference in his metrical life of his

master:

"My gallories were fayer, both large and long
To walk in them when that it lyked me best.

On the north side of the last two mentioned courts is a long intricate range of building, inclosing various smaller courts, and containing kitchens and other offices, and bedrooms for the numerous members of his household. Much of this part of the building, together with the cloisters and