courts to the north-east, called the Round Kitchen and Chapel Courts, seem also to have been the work of the great Cardinal. The Chapel, however, was remodelled, if not entirely rebuilt, by Henry VIII., though we may assume that it occupies the same site as that of Wolsey and the ancient one of the Knights Hospitallers, whose tombs perhaps lie beneath the kitchens and other offices contiguous to the Chapel Court.

When, therefore, we take into consideration William III.'s demolitions, which included some of the Cardinal's original structure as well as Henry VIII.'s additions, we may conclude that Wolsey's palace cannot have been very much smaller than the existing one, which covers eight acres, and has a thousand rooms.

For the execution of the ornamental work about the building, and for the internal decoration of the rooms, he employed the best carvers, painters, and gilders in London, many of them being Italians who had come over to this country attracted by his liberal patronage of the arts. Sometimes he sent to Italy direct for decorative work. The terra-cotta medallion busts of the Roman Emperors, surrounded with rich arabesque borders, which are affixed to the turrets on each side of the gateways of the courts, were ordered by him of Joannes Maiano.

Another specimen of Italian work is to be seen over the inner side of the gateway under the Clock Tower. It displays the arms of Wolsey, affixed to an archiepiscopal cross, supported by two cherubim and surmounted by a cardinal's hat. Above is his monogram T. W., entwined with a cordon, between the date MDXXV; and below is his motto: DOMINVS MICHI ADIVTOR.

The prominence given to Wolsey's arms, which were often on public occasions placed side by side the King's, was another source of exasperation to his enemies. Roy, another satirist who lashed the proud Cardinal, in his satire, “Rede me and be not wrothe," gives a coarsely-drawn coat-of-arms, representing a sort of burlesque or caricature of his real arms, and showing quarterly three bulls' heads, three butchers' hatchets dripping with blood, and, instead of the lion, a mastiff passant with a royal crown in his mouth. The shield is supported by two devils; while at the back, in place of

CARDINAL WOLSEY'S ARMS.

23

he cross, is a thick club, and the whole is surmounted by a

DOMINVS MICHI
ADIV TOR

ARMS OF CARDINAL WOLSEY. (In terra-cotta.)

cardinal's red hat. Accompanying this heraldic satire are

the verses:

"Of the prowde Cardinall this is the shelde
Borne up between two angels of Sathan,
The six blouddy axes in a bare field

Sheweth the cruelty of the red man,

"The mastiff cur" and "the butcher's dog" are appellations, which became nicknames as it were, applied to him in allusion to his being supposed to be the son of a butcher of Ipswich, and which abound in the abusive publications of the time.

Of the internal decoration of the rooms of Wolsey's palace

we have but few surviving remains. There is one little room, however, on the east side of the Clock Court, called "the Cardinal's Closet," which, though much reduced in size and injured by time, preserves in many essentials its pristine state. It is now open to public inspection, and is described in the author's New Guide to the Palace, p. 150. The ceiling is the chief point of interest, and is very beautiful, being of pure cinque-cento design in octagonal panels, with decorative scroll-work and other ornaments in relief. The ribs are of moulded wood, with balls and leaden leaves at their intersections these, and the ornamental work within the panels, are gilt, the ground being of light blue. It is observable

DECORATIVE FRIEZE IN CARDINAL WOLSEY'S CLOSET.

that Cavendish, in the poem already quoted, makes particular reference to the "roofs with gold and byse," byse being a rich light blue paint :

"My buildings sumptuous, the roofs with gold and byse,
Shone like the sun in mid day sphere

Craftily entailed, as cunning could devise,

With images embossed, most lively did appear;

Expertest artificers that were both far and near,

To beautify my houses, I had them at my will,
Thus I wanted nought my pleasures to fulfil."

Round the upper portion of the walls, on two sides, is a finely wrought cornice or frieze, in the same style as the ceiling, recalling the lines:

Cornice or frieze with bossy sculpture graven ;

The roof was fretted gold."

The whole decoration of this room, faded though it is by time, gives us that idea of splendour and richness, without