ORIGINAL LETTERS, ETC. LETTER CII. Cardinal Wolsey in his distress to Thomas Cromwell. [MS. COTTON. VESP. F. XIII. fol. 76. Orig.] The Letter here presented to the reader was printed some years ago, by the Editor of the present Volumes, in the Archæologia of the Society of Antiquaries. Wolsey, who knew the talents of Cromwell, seems to have placed great reliance on his integrity and affection. Cromwell, according to Cavendish in his life of Wolsey, became a member of the lower House of Parliament in the month of November 1529, within a short time from which the present Letter must have been written. He appears to have protected his master in the Lower House with great dexterity and address. Fox, in his Acts and Monuments, has related an anecdote of Cromwell which may be worth introducing here. It occurred in 1540, at the table of Archbishop Cranmer, when certain guests were making a comparison of the qualities of the two prelates Cranmer and Wolsey. "The Lord Cromwell being somewhat touched to hear the Cardinal's service cast in his teeth," said "that he could not deny but he was servant sometime to Cardinal Wolsey, neither did repent the same, for he received of him both fee, meate, and drinke, and other commodities: but yet he was never so farre in love with him as to have waited on him to Rome if he had been chosen Pope." MYN owne enterly belouyd Cromwel, I beseche yow, as ye loue me and wyl euyr do any thyng for me, re pare hyther thys day as sone as the Parlement ys brokyn vp, leyng aparte all thyngs for that tyme; for I wold nut onely commynycat thyngs vnto yow wherin for my comfort and relief I wold haue your good, sad, dyscret aduyse and counsell, but also opon the same commytt sertyng thyngs requyryng expedicion to yow, on my behalf to be solycytyd: this, I pray yow therfor, to hast your commyng hyther assafore, with owt omyttyng so to do as ye tendyr my socor, reliff, and comfort, and quyetnes of mynde. And thus fare ye wel: from Asher, in hast, thys Satyrday, in the mornyng, with the rude hande and sorowfull hert of your assuryd louer T. CARLIS EBOR. I haue also serteyn thyngs consernyng yowr sylf wych I am suere ye wolbe glad to here and knowe: fayle not therfor to be here thys nygth, ye may retorne erly in the mornyng ageyn yf nede shul so requyre. Et iterum vale. a M. Agusteyn shewyd me how ye had wryttyn onto me a Lettre wherin ye shuld adu❜tyse me of the commyng hyther of the Duke of Norfolke: I assure yow ther cam to my hands no suche Lettre. * Augustinus de Augustinis, or Mr. Augustine as he is more usually called, was the Cardinal's Physician. In the Cottonian Manuscript Titus B. 1. fol. 365. there is a Letter of his, to Thomas Cromwell, in Italian, requiring speedy medical assistance, apparently for Cardinal Wolsey. It is dated Asher, Jan. 19th, 1529-30. LETTER CIII. Cardinal Wolsey to Dr Stephen Gardener, afterwards Bishop of Winchester. [MS. LANSDOWNE BRIT. MUS. 1296. art. 12. Orig.] Wolsey, in the fatal reverse of his fortunes was entirely deserted by the Nobility. In his elevation he had treated them with scorn and rudeness; and the consciousness of this added much to his dejection. When the blow of adversity first fell upon him he seems to have believed that no friends were left to him in the world but CROMWELL and GARDENER. Skelton has enlarged upon his treatment of the Nobility in his "Why come ye not to Courte:" "The Erle of Northumberland Dare take nothing on hand. Into a mouse hole they wold Dare not loke out a dur For drede of the maystife cur, "For and this curre do gnar, For all their noble bloude He pluckes them by the hood, Their wittes he sayth are dul; But Wolsey carried his hauteur even further than this; as another extract from Skelton will show, respecting the waiting of persons who attended him on business: "My Lord is not at layser. Syr ye must tary a stound Tyl better layser be found; And Syr ye must daunce attendance, And take patient sufferaunce, |