Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/213

] of them. He is willing to give up everything, even the shirt from his back, and live in a hermitage, if the king would but desist from his displeasure."



On the 17th of October Henry sent the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk to demand the Great Seal; and they are said to have done that duty with some ungenerous triumph. But Wolsey delivered up his authority without complaint, and only sent in an offer surrendering all his personal estate to his gracious master, on condition that he might retire to his diocese on his church property. But the property of Wolsey had long been riveting the greedy eye of Henry, and, next to Anne Boleyn, that was, probably, the "weight which pulled him down." A message was soon brought him by the same noblemen, that the king expected an entire and unconditional submission, whereupon he granted to the king the yearly profits of his benefices, and threw himself on his mercy. It was then intimated that His Majesty meant to reside at York Place (Whitehall) during the Parliament, and that Wolsey might retire to Esher Place, in Surrey, a house belonging to his bishopric of Winchester. The fallen cardinal prepared to obey, but before leaving his splendid abode of York Place, he delivered a complete inventory of its contents to the king's messenger. These contents are thus described by Cavendish, his own secretary:—"In his gallery were set divers tables, upon which were laid divers and great stores of rich stuffs; as whole pieces of silk of all colours, velvets, satins, muffs, taffetas, grograms, scarlets, and divers rich commodities. Also, there were a thousand pieces of fine hollands, and the hangings of the gallery with cloth of gold and cloth of silver, and rich cloth of bodkin of divers colours, which were hanged in expectation of the king's coming. Also, on one side of the gallery were hanged the rich suits of capes of his own providing, which were made for the colleges of Oxford and Ipswich; they were the richest that ever I saw in all