and influence lay in his willingness to serve the king at all times. Cavendish, who acted as his servant and wrote his life, tells us that he lived in splendid style. In his household, waiting upon him, holding various offices, were many lords and gentlemen, and under them innumerable servants, clerks of the kitchen, yeoman of the scullery, yeoman of his chariot and his stirrup, cupbearers, carvers, and grooms. The head cook "went daily in velvet or in satin, with a chain of gold." He had doctors, chaplains, choristers innumerable, the list filling two or three pages of Cavendish's book. "When he went out in the morning his cardinal's hat was borne by some gentleman of worship right solemnly," also two great crosses. Then the gentlemen ushers going before him, bareheaded, cried aloud, "On before my lord and master, on before and make way for my lord the cardinal." Thus he went down through the hall, the sergeant-at-arms before him carrying a great mace of silver, and two gentlemen carrying two great pillars of silver. And when he came to the hall-door, there stood his mule caparisoned in crimson velvet, with saddle of same, with gilt stirrups. When he was mounted there were in attendance upon him two crossbearers and pillar-bearers, each upon a great horse, each in fine scarlet. Then he marched forward with a train of gentlemen, and gentlemen with four footmen, each bearing a gilt pole-axe in his hand. "And thus passed he forth until he came to Westminster hall door." His houses, or palaces, were fit for a king; one at Hampton Court, the other at Whitehall. They were filled with magnificent furniture, costly furnishings, beds of silk, arras, gold and silver plate, and tapestry in profusion. This gives us an idea of his splendor. Notwithstanding all this display, it is said he judged every estate according to its merits and deserts, sparing neither high nor low. Nor did he forget his old home, nor the university, nor the good education that had helped him to rise; with true generosity he founded a college at Oxford called Cardinal College, afterward renamed Christ Church College. Had Wolsey ever seen that part of the Catholic service when, as the fire consumes sumptuous apparel, the choristers sing, "sic transit gloria mundi" (80 passes away the glory of the world)? The time was drawing near when his glory would pass away. The king turned against him because he was not able to bring about a divorce from Queen Catherine. The king wished to marry Anne Boleyn. At last Anne Boleyn demanded and obtained from the king Wolsey's dismissal in disgrace. Cavendish says that he gave up to the king all of his riches, gold and silver plate, velvet, cloth of silver, cloth of gold, satin damask, tapestry and tufted taffeta. Then a sad parting took place between him and his servants as he broke up his great household, when he said farewell to his many servants, to whom he had been so kind and generous. Cavendish says, "Beholding this goodly number of his servants, he could not speak to them until the tears ran down his cheeks, which few tears seen by his servants caused the fountains of water to gush out of their faithful eyes in such sort as would cause a cruel heart to lament." Soon after this he was sent to his archbishopric of York, and the king selected as his own advisers Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell. Soon Wolsey was charged with high treason and summoned to London. His proud heart was broken, and when he reached Leicester Abbey he was so ill he could hardly sit upon his mule, and he died a few days later. As he lay dying and looked back over his strange life, through all his ambition and industry, his power and his splendor, he said, "If I had served my God as diligently as I have served my king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs.” This historical sketch will help to an understanding of such passages as these: "Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory." "Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me. "O Cromwell, Cromwell, Had I but served my God with half the zeal It is an interesting fact that Cromwell did not profit by Wolsey's experience. After rising from the state of a blacksmith's son to be Lord Chancellor of England, and almost as powerful as Wolsey had been, he at last came under King Henry's displeasure, and was executed, 1540, without the privilege of defending himself. He himself had introduced the law that persons accused of high treason against the king should not be heard in their own behalf. By a remarkable retribution he was the first to suffer under that law. WOLSEY'S FAREWELL TO CROMWELL Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not. Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king; There take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe, I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell, The Rainy Day is a little poem perfect in form and true in its interpretation of life. Notice in the first stanza the picture of a vine clinging to an old gray stone wall; it is the fall of the year, the wind is blowing through the cold rain, and the leaves are falling from the vine. If the reader is familiar with any such scene as this he should be led to tell about it before passing |