conflict for a time, but the old woman grasped his throat, and got him to the edge of the river. She meant to plunge him in, as she had others, but by an accidental slip of the foot she fell over the bank, into the river, and Fleming and the old woman sunk together.

The lightning flashed vividly, and the comrade of Fleming was struck senseless. The current swept the boat from the shore, and it floated down to the village of Dellingham. Ever after, the mystery of the hut sounded abroad, and no one ventured to go to it again.

The noble dog that had been killed by Fleming, laid as a prey for the eagle, the wolf and the worm.

The adders passed and repassed the door; the wolf barked, and the eagle screamed at the intrusion of each other; at last, the satisfied reptiles crept off one by one; some to their deep holes in the rocks, and others lay coiled, basking in the sun. The gloomy and desolated hut which remained the habitation of the old woman for threescore years, finally mouldered and decayed, and became the shelter for the animals of the forest of Dellingham.

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

THIS celebrated prelate and statesman was born at Ipswich, in March, 1471. A house in St. Nicholas's parish is still shown as his reputed birth-place. His father, Robert Wolsey, though of mean condition, possessed some property. Persuaded of the genius of his son, he sent him early to Ipswich school, and destined him for the church. At the age of fifteen he was a student in Oxford, and obtained the degree of bachelor of arts, which procured him, at the university, the name of the boy bachelor. His industry and parts soon obtained him the honour of being elected a fellow of Magdalen College, appointed master of the school, and entrusted to educate the sons of the marquis of Dorset, who was so pleased with Wolsey's conduct, that he presented him with the rectory of Lymington, in Somersetshire. He shortly after removed from Lymington; and, at the recommendation of archbishop Dean, was nominated one of the chaplains to king Hen

ry VII. On the accession of the eighth Henry, riches and honours flowed on Wolsey he received a grant of lands and tenements in London, was admitted to the privy council, and appointed almoner. Soon after, the king gave him the rectory of Torington; made him canon of the collegiate church at Windsor, and registrar of the order of the garter. Bishop Bambridge appointed him a prebendary of the cathedral of York, (1512) where he was soon advanced to the deanery.

In 1513,on the conquest of Tournay, Henry conceiving he had a right to dispose of the bishopric,gave it to Wolsey; and in the same year he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln. In 1514, he was advanced to the episcopal dignity of archbishop of York.

In the forty-fifth year of his age (22d December, 1515), Wolsey was advanced to the rank of Cardinal, and was installed in Westminster Abbey, with circumstances of pomp seldom exceeded at coronations of kings.

About the same time, the great seal was given to him for life, with the dignity of chancellor of the realm. Henceforth he may be regarded as the dictator of England; for, although the king appeared personally

in every important transaction, the Cardinal had acquired such an ascendency, that the emanations of the royal will were, in fact, only the reflected purposes of the minister. On Tourney being restored to France, the Cardinal received a pension of 12,000 livres as an equivalent for the revenues of the bishopric, which he agreed to resign.

On the death of Leo X., Wolsey aspired to the tiara; but the Italian cardinals had strong objections to him on account of his country and character; (regarding all foreigners as barbarians ;) and the knowledge they had of his known endeavours to curtail the licentiousness of the clergy, tended to prevent his election.

May 26, 1522, he arrived at Dover, and there received the emperor Charles with great pomp; from whence, in company with Henry VIII. he escorted him to Greenwich. On Whitsunday he went to St. Paul's with the court, and performed the services with a degree of ostentatious pomp never surpassed by the Popes themselves. Two barons held the basin and towel before the mass; two earls after the gospels; and two dukes served him at the last lavation.

On the accession of Julio di Medici to the see of Rome, he appointed Wolsey legate for life, and conferred on him all the papal possessions in England which he could alienate.

Wolsey was now at the height of all his earthly glory. His house exhibited the finest productions of art: the walls of his chambers were hung with cloth of gold, and tapestry still more precious, representing the most remarkable events in sacred history; his floors were covered with embroidered carpets; and the sideboards of cypress were loaded with vessels of gold. The sons of the nobility, according to the fashion of the age, attended him as pages; he had also always nine or ten lords, who had each two or three servants to wait on them, except the earl of Derby, who had five.

The entertainment which the Cardinal gave at Hampton Court to the French commissioners, who were sent to ratify the league, exceeded in splendour every banquet which had before that time been exhibited in England. Two hundred and eighty beds, with beds of the costliest silks and velvets, and as many ewers and basins of