tween the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk up Westminster-Hall to the Stone-Chamber, and there they honourably placed him in the high judgment-seat of chancellor" (for the chancellor was, by his office, the president of that terrible tribunal). "The Duke

of Norfolk, by the command of the king, spoke thus unto the people there with great applause and joy gathered together."*

"The king's majesty (which I pray God, may prove happy and fortunate to the whole realm of England) hath raised to the most high dignity of chancellorship Sir Thomas More, a man for his extraordinary worth and sufficiency well known to himself and the whole realm, for no other cause or earthly respect, but for that he hath plainly perceived all the gifts of nature and grace to be heaped upon him, which either the people could desire or himself wish, for the discharge of so great an office. For the admirable wisdom, integrity, and innocency, joined with most pleasant facility of wit, that this man is endowed withal, have been sufficiently known to all Englishmen from his youth, and for these many years also to the king's majesty himself. This hath the king abundantly found in many and weighty affairs, which he hath happily despatched both at home and abroad; in divers offices which he hath borne in most honourable embassages which he hath undergone; and in his daily counsel and advice upon all other occasions. He hath perceived no man in

*This joy appears to have been general, with the exception of certain spirits soured by the German leaven, which they had brought with them from over the water. More thus speaks of the leader of the party, who was his great opponent:

"Tyndall was fain to make a show of his high worldly wit, and that men should see that there was nothing done among princes, but he was fully advertised of all their secrets. Thus dealings between the king's highness, and the late lord cardinal, and the Reverend father Cuthbert, then Bishop of London, and myself, that it was wittly devised that the cardinal should leave the chancellorship to me, and the bishopric of Durham to my said lord of London, for a while, till he list himself to take them both again. Was not this a wily devise, trow ye?"

his realm to be more wise in deliberating, more sincere in opening to him what he thought, nor more eloquent to adorn the matter which he uttered. Wherefore, because he saw in him such excellent endowments, and that of his especial care he hath a particular desire that his kingdom and people might be governed with all equity and justice, integrity and wisdom, he of his own most gracious disposition hath created this singular man lord chancellor; that, by his laudable performance of this office, his people may enjoy peace and justice; and honour also and fame may rebound to the whole kingdom. It may, perhaps, seem to many a strange and unusual matter, that this dignity should be bestowed upon a layman, none of the nobility, and one that hath wife and children; because heretofore none but singular learned prelates, or men of greatest nobility, have possessed this place; but what is wanting in these respects, the admirable virtues, the matchless gifts of wit and wisdom of this man, doth most plentifully recompense the same. For the king's majesty hath not regarded how great, but what a man he was; he hath not cast his eyes upon the nobility of his blood, but on the worth of his person; he hath respected his sufficiency, not his profession; finally, he would show by this his choice, that he had some rare subjects amongst the ranks of gentlemen and laymen, who deserve to manage the highest offices of the realm, which bishops and noblemen think they only can deserve. The rarer therefore it was, so much both himself held it to be the more excellent, and to his people he thought it would be the more grateful. Wherefore, receive this your chancellor with joyful acclamations, at whose hands you may expect all happiness and content."

"Sir Thomas More, according to his wonted modesty, was somewhat abashed at this the duke's speech, in that it sounded so much to his praise; but recollecting himself, as place and time would give

him leave, he answered in this sort:- Although most noble duke, and you, right honorable lords, and worshipful gentlemen, I know all these things, which the king's majesty, it seemeth, hath been pleased should be spoken of me at this time and place, and your grace hath with most eloquent words thus amplified, are as far from me, as I could wish with all my heart, they were in me, for the better performance of so great a charge; and although this your speech hath caused in me greater fear than I can well express in words; yet this incomparable favour of my dread sovereign, by which he showeth how well, yea how highly he conceiveth of my weakness, having commanded that my meanness should be so greatly commended, cannot be but most acceptable unto me : and I cannot choose but give your most noble grace exceeding thanks, that what his majesty hath willed you briefly to utter, you, of the abundance of your love unto me, have in a large and eloquent oration dilated. As for myself, I can take it no otherwise, but that his majesty's incomparable favour towards me, the good-will and incredible propension of his royal mind (wherewith he hath these many years favored me continually), hath alone, without any desert of mine at all, caused both this my new honour, and these your undeserved commendations of me. For who am I, or what is the house of my father, that the king's highness should heap upon me, by such a perpetual stream of affection, these so high honours? I am far less than any the meanest of his benefits bestowed on me; how can I then think myself worthy or fit for this so peerless a dignity? I have been drawn by force, as the king's majesty often professeth, to his highness's service, to be a courtier; and to take this dignity upon me, is most of all against my will. Yet such is his highness's benignity, such is his bounty, that he highly esteemeth the small dutifulness of his meanest subjects, and seeketh still magnificently to recompense his servants; not

M

only such as deserve well, but even such as have but a desire to deserve well at his hands, in which number I have always wished myself to be reckoned, because I cannot challenge myself to be one of the former. This being so, you may all perceive with me how great a burden is laid upon my back; in that I must strive in some sort with my diligence and duty to correspond with his royal benevolence, and to be answerable to that great expectation, which he and you seem to have of me; wherefore, those so high praises are so much more grievous unto me, by how much more I know the greater charge I have to render myself worthy of, and the fewer means I have to make them good. This weight is hardly suitable to my weak shoulders; this honour is not correspondent to my poor desert: it is a burden, not a glory; a care, not a dignity; the one therefore I must bear as manfully as I can, and discharge the other with as much dexterity as I shall be able. The earnest desire which I have always had, and do now acknowledge myself to have, to satisfy by all the means I possibly can, the most ample benefits of his highness, will greatly excite and aid me to the diligent performance of all, which I trust also I shall be more able to do, if I find all your good wills and wishes both favourable unto me, and conformable to his royal munificence: because my serious endeavours to do well, joined with your favourable acceptance, will easily procure that whatsoever is performed by me, though it be in itself but small, yet it will seem great and praiseworthy; for those things are always achieved happily, which are accepted willingly; and those succeed fortunately, which are received by others courteously. As you, therefore, hope for great matters and the best at my hands, so, though I dare not promise any such, yet do I promise truly and affectionately to perform the best I shall be able."

When Sir Thomas More had spoken these words, turning his face to the high judgment seat of the

Chancery, he proceeded in this manner:-" But, when I look upon this seat, when I think how great and what kind of personages have possessed this place before me, when I call to mind who he was that sate in it last of all-a man of what singular wisdom, of what notable experience, what a prosperous and favourable fortune he had for a great space, and how at last he had a most grievous fall and died inglorious-I have cause enough, by my predecessor's example, to think honour but slippery, and this dignity not so grateful to me as it may seem to others; for both is it a hard matter to follow with like paces or praises, a man of such admirable wit, prudence, authority, and splendour, to whom I may seem but as the lighting of a candle when the sun is down; and also the sudden and unexpected fall of so great a man as he was, doth terribly put me in mind that this honour ought not to please me too much, nor the lustre of his glittering seat dazzle mine eyes. Wherefore I ascend this seat as a place full of labour and danger, void of all solid and true honour; the which by how much the higher it is, so much the greater fall I have to fear, as well in respect of the very nature of the thing itself, as because I am warned by this late fearful example. And truly I might even now, at this very entrance, stumble, yea, faint, but that his majesty's most singular favour towards me, and all your good wills, which your joyful countenance doth testify in this most honourable assembly, do somewhat recreate and refresh me; otherwise this seat would be no more pleasing to me, than that sword was to Damocles, which hung over his head, tied only by a horse-hair when he had store of delicate fare before him, seated in the chair of state of Dyonysius the Tyrant of Sicily. This therefore shall always be fresh in my mind, this will I have still before mine eyes, that this seat will be honourable, famous, and full of glory unto me, if I shall with care and diligence, fidelity and wisdom,