Note 75 — THE PROLOGUE.

Dr. Fiddes and Mr. Grove remark, that this is a prejudiced statement of the case, and that Cavendish was misled by false information. It does not indeed appear that Wolsey used any indirect means to supersede Archbishop Warham, and the following passages in the correspondence of Sir Thomas More with Ammonius seem to prove the contrary. Sir Thomas says: “The Archbishop of Canterbury hath at length resigned the office of Chancellor, which burthen, as you know, he had strenuously endeavoured to lay down for some years; and the long wished for retreat being now obtained, he enjoys a most pleasant recess in his studies, with the agreeable reflection of having acquitted himself honourably in that high station. The Cardinal of York, by the Kings Orders, succeeds him; who discharges the duty of the post so conspicuously as to surpass the hopes of all, notwithstanding the great opinion they had of his other eminent qualities: and what was most rare, to give so much content and satisfaction after so excellent a predecessor.”

Ammonius, writing to Erasmus, says: “Your Archbishop, with the King’s good leave, has laid down his post, which that of York, after much importunity, has accepted of, and behaves most beautifully.”