In short, as his secret movements in England, and his correspondence with Rome were detected, he was arrested for high treason by the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Walter Walsh, and ordered up to London for trial. By various historians it has been supposed, that this step was adopted with the view of rendering Wolsey more conformable to the divorce. But had he not subscribed the threatening address to Clement? and except it was actually found out that this was only a stroke of policy, how could he seem more conformable? He was arrested on Friday the 4th of November, and on the 6th he was upon his way to London; the very day he had fixed for his being enthroned at York, as Archbishop. "The Lords of Norfolk and Suffolk have told me," said the French ambassador, in writing to his court on the 10th of November, "that they have many important matters against him, and many grave accusations; and among these, as the King informed me, that he has been machinating against his Majesty, both in the kingdom and abroad; and has mentioned to me where and how; and that one of his own servants had discovered it, and laid the accusation. These new things much aggravate the old ones. I greatly lament his misfortune, but cannot remedy it."12

Wolsey professed himself to have no fear, but he could not disguise it; the shock was unexpected at the moment, and he soon sunk under it; for though he set out on his journey in safe keeping, he could move no farther than Leicester Abbey. The most melancholy feature of his dying hour was, that he literally expired with the language of a persecutor on his lips. Addressing himself to Sir William Kingston, the Constable of the Tower, whom Henry had sent down to convey him, he said: -"Well, well, Master Kingston, I see the matter against me, how it is framed; but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my grey hairs. I pray you, with all my heart, to have me most humbly commended unto his royal Majesty. And say furthermore, that I request his Grace, in God's name, that he have a vigilant eye to depress this new sect of Lutherans, that it do not increase within his dominions through his negligence, in such a sort, as that he shall be fain at length to put harness upon his back to subdue them;" and after exhausting himself by a long harangue in the same style, referring to Wickliffe and Sir John Oldcastle, he closed with these words,-"from the which mischief, God, of his tender mercy defend us! Master Kingston, farewell. I can no more, but wish all things to have good success. My time draweth on fast. I may not tarry with you. And forget not, I pray you, what I have said and charged you withal : for when I am dead, ye shall peradventure remember my words much

12 Le Grand 3, p. 529. This was evidently the language of sympathy and regret,-it was that of his former friend and inmate, Giovanni Joacchino Passano, commonly called Joachin, and afterwards Seigneur de Vaux, originally a Genoese merchant.

better." "And even with these words," adds Cavendish, "he began to draw his speech at length, and his tongue to fail; his eyes being set in his head, his sight failed him."

He had arrived at this Abbey only on Saturday evening, and now breathed his last, at eight o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, the 29th of November. The body was dressed in his robes, and in less than twenty-two hours committed to the grave; for by six o'clock on Wednesday morning, Cavendish, his confidential servant, and the other parties, had left for London.

Thus the man who had been literally clothed in purple or scarlet and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day,-having daily in his hall three special tables spread for his principal officers; who had the highest nobility for his household servants; his steward, treasurer, and comptroller in waiting, with their white robes, as in the King's palace; his master-cook, in damask satin, with a chain of gold round his neck; with hundreds of individuals, of various ranks, in daily attendance on his person: This man who had a most penetrating judgment, in consequence of a well furnished mind;—who had raised himself from humble rank to the highest degree of power, of wealth, and of worldly dignity, which had ever been enjoyed by any English subject;—who had not only governed England for the space of twenty years, but influenced the most important affairs of Europe; and during that period, had been courted, flattered, caressed, by the Kings of the civilized world;-this man dies, not merely in obscurity, but disgrace; and though the charge of high treason hung over him unrefuted, with his last breath he enforces persecution !!

In vain had he for years, been preparing for himself a monument of brass. of exquisite workmanship and at great expense. He may be buried in an abbey, but the very grave will, before long, be so treated, that no man in England shall be able afterwards to point to the spot where his bones were laid! Since 1524, or in other words, for the las six years of his prodigious power, though uncertain whether he should be interred in Italy or England, Wolsey had been preparing for posthumous glory. "He had begun," says Lord Herbert, "a monument for himself long since, (wherein, as appears by our records, he had not omitted his own image), which one Benedetto, a statuary of Florence, took in hand in 1524, and continued till 1529, receiving for so much as was already done 4250 ducats; the design whereof was so glorious, that it exceeded far that of Henry the Seventh. Nevertheless, dying in this manner, King Henry made use of so much as he found fit, and called it his. Thus did the tomb of the Cardinal partake the same fortune with his college, as being assumed by the King."

Wolsey was the man with whom the dissolution of monasteries originated, employing Crumwell as one subordinate agent; and it is a singular

fact, that he had thus laid the train for his final resting-place being very soon disturbed. In less than seven years after this, and by this same Crumwell's authority, his servant and successor, Leicester Abbey was dissolved the very place where Wolsey was now interred, had been bereaved of all its ornaments and plate, its lead and bells; and the visitors were only waiting one word from Crumwell to deface the buildings.13

A hundred years after this, Corbet, the Bishop of Norwich, supposing he had found the spot, in his own uncouth rhyme, exclaims:

"And though from his own store Wolsey might have

A Palace or a College for his grave,

Yet here he lies interr'd,-as if that all

Of him to be remember'd, were his fall.

Nothing but earth to earth, nor pompous weight

Upon him, but a pebble or a quoit."14

About the year 1716, the very place of interment could not be ascertained. "That great lover of antiquity, Brown Willis, Esq.," says Carte the English historian, “having an extraordinary veneration for Cardinal Wolsey as the original founder of Christ Church in Oxford, desired me to try if I could find out the sepulchre of the Cardinal, which I did, hoping that when I had provided tools and labourers, some others would have contributed with me to the expense; but finding that only one person would contribute twelve-pence, I desisted."

66

"In the year 1787," says the Cambridge Chronicle of the 2d of June, as a labourer was digging for potatoes upon the spot where the high altar was supposed to stand, he found a human skull, with several other bones, all perfect. From the situation of the place, and other circumstances, it was conjectured, at the time, that this might be the identical skull of Wolsey!"

Thus, when he died, he carried nothing away, neither did his glory descend after him. Perhaps there never was another instance in the history of this country, which reminds one so strongly of that "great power" which the King of Israel said he saw "spreading like a green bay tree,-yet he passed away, and lo, he was gone: yea, I sought him, but he could nowhere be found!" Monuments, indeed, he left behind, which still remain as proofs of his taste in that age, as well as of his prodigious wealth; nor is the nation, even at this moment, entirely free of a peculiar influence, which, as Vicar-General, he first imparted to Henry the Eighth. This will be explained hereafter, when once Crumwell has stepped into his shoes, as the second, and far more influential, but the last Vicar-General.

The virulent opposition now manifested to Tyndale's translation of the Scriptures, and his other writings, it will be un

13 Cotton MS. Cleop. E. iv. fol. 215.

14 Corbet's Northern Journey.

derstood, could only refer to his publications before this year; so that what we are now going to relate, may be regarded as no slender testimony to their powerful effects upon his native country. As for the "Practice of Prelates," as soon as it begins to be known and felt, we shall find other measures resorted to, besides that of denunciation in England.

The first person who excites notice in 1530, was that poor old and blind, literally blind man, the Bishop of Norwich once more. He felt sorely annoyed by the circulation and effects of these English books. Three years ago, he had contributed, with great good will, towards the purchase made by Warham, of Tyndale's New Testaments,-a vain expedient, as might have been anticipated, to prevent their getting into the hands of the people. But he was as warm in the cause as ever, and his own words will best display the spirit with which he was agitated, though now in the eightieth year of his age! letter is addressed, as before, to his friend, the Archbishop.

His

"After most humble recommendations, I do your Grace to understand, that I am accumbered with such as keepeth and readeth these erroneous books in English, and believe and give credence to the same, and teacheth others, that they should so do. My Lord, I have done that lyeth in me for the suppression of such persons; but it passeth my power, or any 'spiritual' man for to do it. For divers saith openly in my diocess, that the King's Grace would that they should have the said erroneous books, and so maintaineth themselves of the King.15 Whereupon I desired my L. Abbot of Hyde,16 to shew this to the King's Grace, beseeching him to send his honourable letters, under his seal, down to whom he pleases in my diocess; that they may show and publish that it is not his pleasure, that such books should be had or read, and also punish such as saith so.-The said Abbot hath the names of some that cracketh in the King's name, that their false opinions should go forth, and will die in the quarrel; that their ungracious opinions be true; and trusteth by Michaelmas day there shall be more that shall believe of their opinion, than they that believeth the contrary. If I had known that your Grace had been at London, I would have commanded the said Abbot to have spoken with you; but your Grace may send for him, when ye please, and he shall show you my whole mind in this matter, and how I thought best for the suppression of such as holdeth these erroneous opinions; for if they continue any time, I THINK THEY SHALL UNDO US ALL!

"The said Abbot departed from me on Monday last; and sith that time I

15 This may seem strange,- but it is by no means unaccountable. The reader may call to mind the anecdote respecting “The Obedience," p. 219. Henry was a strangely capricious being. saying one thing to day, and doing another to-morrow. Any of his loose expressions of favour would be eagerly caught up, and often repeated, so that nothing was more likely to follow than the impression of which Nix here complains. But ere long the Lords of Parliament, led on by the Bishops, will try to fix his Majesty, and make the royal trumpet give a certain sound.

16 John Salcot, alías Capon, D.D. Abbot of Hyde, who was made Bishop of Bangor afterwards at Croydon by Cranmer 19th April 1534, when he surely must have professed other sentiments.

have had much trouble and business with others in like matters; as they say, wheresomever they go, they hear say, that the KING's pleasure is, the New Testament in English shall go forth, and men should have it, and read it. And, from that opinion, I can by no means turn them, but (except) I had greater authority to punish them than I have. Wherefore, I beseech your good Lordship to advertise the King's Grace, as I trust the said Abbot hath done before this letter shall come unto your Grace, that a remedy may be had.

"But now it may be done well in my diocess; for the gentlemen and the commonality be not greatly infected; but merchants, and such that hath their abiding not far from the sea. The said Abbot of Hyde can shew you of a Curate, and well learned, in my diocess, that exhorted his parishioners to believe contrary to the Catholic faith. There is a College in Cambridge, called Gunnel Hall, of the foundation of a Bishop of Norwich. 17 I hear of no clerk that hath come out lately of that College, but savoureth of the frying-pan, though he speak never so holily.18

"I beseech your Grace to pardon me of my rude and tedious writing to you : the zeal and love that I owe to Almighty God cause me this to do! And thus Almighty God long preserve your Grace in good prosperity and health. At Hoxne, the xiiii day of May 1530, Your obediensary and daily orator." 19

But there was no occasion for this miserable old man being so urgent. Little did he know how deeply Warham and his brethren were impressed with the impending danger, if these books were not seized and burnt. The highest authorities were now all alive to the perils of the hierarchy. For some time, the united strength of the most able opponents in the kingdom-Lord Chancellor More, Warham, Tunstal, and Gardiner, had been employed in framing an authoritative list of all the heresies detected in Tyndale's writings, with a denunciation of them all. Tyndale's name, too, in connexion with his New Testament and Pentateuch, was now still more distinctly branded, even by royal authority. These prelates and their assistants had contrived to find out about two hundred heretical sentences in only six publications, of which one hundred and seven were charged upon "Tyndale and Fryth."

"All which great errors and pestilent heresies, being contagious and damnable, with all the books containing the same, with the translation also of Scripture corrupted by William Tyndal, as well in the Old Testament as in the New, and all other books in English containing such errors; the King's Highness present in person, by one whole advice and assent of the Prelates and clerks, as well of the Universities, as of all other assembled together, determined utterly to be repelled, rejected, and put away out of the hands of his people, and not to be suffered to get abroad among his subjects."

17 Referring to Gonvill, now Gonville and Caius College.

18 These men seem to insinuate that they literally smell a heretic, for it was a cant phrase among them. West, the Bishop of Ely, applied it to Dr. Barnes. Indeed, a similar style was as old as the days of Chaucer-" I smell a Loller in the wind,”