e 1167: Wriothesley, _Chron._, i., 181.]

Midway between the stalls and the Altar the tomb of Queen Jane Seymour
was opened to receive the bones of her lord. Hard by stood that
mausoleum "more costly than any royal or papal monument in the
world,"[1168] which Henry VII. had commenced as a last resting-place
for himself and his successors, but had abandoned for his chapel in
Westminster Abbey. His son bestowed the building on Wolsey, who
prepared for his own remains a splendid cenotaph of black and white
marble. On the Cardinal's fall Henry VIII. designed both tomb and
chapel for himself _post multos et felices annos_.[1169] But King and
Cardinal reaped little honour by these strivings after posthumous
glory. The dying commands of the monarch, whose will had been
omnipotent during his life, remained unfulfilled; the memorial chapel
was left incomplete; and the monument of marble was taken down,
despoiled of its ornaments and sold in the Great Rebellion. At length,
in a happier age, after more than three centuries of neglect, the
magnificent building was finished, but not in Henry's honour; it was
adorned and dedicated to the memory of a prince in whose veins there
flowed not a drop of Henry's blood.

[Footnote 1168: _L. and P._, iv., Introd., p.
dcxviii.]

[Footnote 1169: _Ibid.; cf._ Pote, _Hist. of
Windsor Castle_, 1749.]

CHAPTER XVI. (p. 427)

CONCLUSION.

So died and so was buried the most remarkable man who ever sat on the
English throne. His reign, like his character, seems to be divided
into two inconsistent halves. In 1519 his rule is pronounced more
suave and gentle than the greatest liberty anywhere else; twenty years
later terror is said to reign supreme. It is tempting to sum up his
life in one sweeping generalisation, and to say that it exhibits a
continuous development of Henry's intellect and deterioration of his
character. Yet it is difficult to read the King's speech in Parliament
at the close of 1545, without crediting him with some sort of ethical
ideas and aims; his life was at least as free from vice during the
last, as during the first, seven years of his reign; in seriousness of
purpose and steadfastness of aim it was immeasurably superior; and at
no time did Henry's moral standard vary greatly from that of many whom
the world is content to regard as its