Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

ecoming length. When Wolsey said mass, it was
after the manner of the Pope himself; bishops and
abbots aided him in the function, and some of the
first nobility gave him water and the towel.[8]
But with his pomps, pleasures, and hospitalities
he mingled manifold labors. His capacity was
great, and seemed to enlarge with the elevation of
his rank and the increase of his offices. His two
redeeming qualities were the patronage of learning
and the administration of justice. His decisions in
Chancery were impartial and equitable, and his
enormous wealth, gathered from innumerable
sources, enabled him to surround himself with
scholars, and to found institutions of learning, for
which lie had his reward in the praises of the
former, and the posthumous glory of the latter.
Nevertheless he did not succeed in making himself
popular. His haughty deportment offended the
people, who knew him to be hollow, selfish, and
vicious, despite his grand masses and his
ostentatious beneficence.
The rise at this hour of such a man, who had
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