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his extended views in favour of learning, to regulate the wages of servants, and the component parts of a dinner. Indifferent to the general sarcasm, and wisely considering no object of utility as beneath his attention, Wolsey took his own course, and, in a few months afterwards, began the arduous office of reforming the household of the king, and reducing it to a more economical system. The new arrange. Jan. 8. ments were framed at Eltham, by various members of the privy council, under the direction of the cardinal. It was found, on an inspection of Henry's domestic concerns, that many officers of the guard, having lived in the service of the preceding king, had become very old, and that they now required servants, who were paid by them to perform those services to which these aged domestics were insufficient. The incapacitated officers were therefore discharged, and sent into their several counties, and younger men were put in their places, with double salaries, being obliged to perform their duties without assistance. The dismissal of so many old servants necessarily created great dissatisfaction, but was one of those necessary, although unpopular acts, which are sometimes expedient, and result from conscientious motives in those who have the management of affairs. It must be observed,

that Wolsey, who was greatly beloved and respected by the inferior domestics in his own household, as his subsequent misfortunes proved*, had not the cruelty to turn these poor people away without a provision, as they had still their pay as yeomen of the guard. It is more than probable too that many abuses were discovered by the vigilant eye of Wolsey, which revealed in no very favourable colours these spoiled and pampered attendants upon Henry, who was one of the most undignified and injudicious masters in existence; and whose indulgence and familiarity towards the younger part of his household had already, as it has been stated, required the interference of his council. Some extracts from the ordinances framed by Wolsey, which; from the place whence they were dated, obtained the name of the "statutes of Eltham," evince, that the correcting hand of the Cardinal was not brought into action before it was absolutely required. These regulations are entitled "articles devised by his royal highness with the advice of his council for the establishment of good order and reformation of sundry errors and misuses in his household and chambers." They are dated, "apud Eltham, mense Jan. 22. ;" the day on which Wolsey is

* Cavendish's Life of Wolsey.

stated, by Hall, to have concluded his labours : the year is not mentioned.*

In the first place, "The servants are enjoined not to steal any nobleman's locks or keys, tables or forms, when his highness (as the king is here termed,) goes out to visit." "Master cooks are not to employ such scullions as go about naked, nor such as lie all night on the ground before the kitchen fire." "All unthrifty and common women that follow the court to be banished; no dogs are to be kept, except a few spaniels for the ladies; dinner is to be at ten, and supper at four. Between six and seven in the morning the proper officers are desired to make the fire in, and to straw his highness's chambers." "The officers of the privy chamber, who had it seems again transgressed, were to leave off hearkening and inquiring where the king goes, be it early or late going to bed, or any other matter." This injunction was the more necessary as the passion of the monarch for Anne Bullen had now begun to be the subject of conversation. "The six gentlemen of the privy chamber are to have a diligent look to his grace that by his look and countenance they may know what he lacks, or what is his pleasure:" "Mr. Norris," who afterwards fell a victim to the jealousy of his master, "was to be *Archæologia, vol. iii. pp. 157, 158.

gentleman waiter, and was alone allowed to follow the king to his chamber." "William Brereton was to be groom of his chamber, and

young Weston page of it." The morality

and cleanliness of the barber are next enjoined, and a gift is promised to every officer who marries, as also to each person who brings his highness a present. Then follow certain proclamations: "All vagabonds and beggars are to depart the court;""no person is to hunt or hawk within four miles of the king's houses." The royal residence, it seems, was not only infested with vagabonds, but with unbidden guests, for "all noblemen and gentlemen who have repaired to the parliament are commanded to depart to their own houses under pain of his highness's displeasure; or to be further punished as the king and his council should think fit." So much for the morals of this unruly household. It appears that the victualling department wanted some revision by the injunc tion that "no manner of meat, except such as is of a convenient and reasonable price, to be provided." "Coals are only to be allowed for the king and queen's, and for the lady Mary's apartTwenty-four loaves a day are allowed to the grey-hounds," the expence of which probably occasioned the prohibition of any dogs

ments."

ladies. "The messes for his highness's table are settled both for fish-days and flesh-days," and among other provisions for the former a porpoise is named; "if too big for a horseload, a further allowance is to be made for the purveyor." "The queen's maids of honour are to have a chet loaf or manchet (a small loaf,) a gallon of ale and a chine of beef for their breakfast." "Neither hops nor brimstone were to be put in the ale." A proportionate distribution of "prichets, sizes, and wax lights" is enjoined. It was during this year that Wolsey finished the splendid palace of Hampton, the site of which he had purchased from

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Lord St. John, and presented it to the king. According to Dr. Fiddes, the partial biographer of Wolsey, this gift, the most splendid that any monarch of England ever received from a subject, was merely an offering of gratitude, on the part of the minister.* The public, however, at the time of the donation, considered it as a measure of policy to ward off those attacks of envy to which the prosperous are ever liable, and to which Wolsey, from his lowly origin and his haughty demeanour, was peculiarly exposed. The building of this splendid monument of Wolsey's taste and magnificence, was not entirely completed by him, but was finished by *Fiddes, p. 373.