it is pretended, that this man either extorted fines from every one whom
he was pleased to find guilty, or took bribes to drop prosecutions, men
concluded, and with some appearance of reason, that he shared with the
cardinal those wages of iniquity.

* Strype's Memorials, vol. i. p. 125.

The clergy, and in particular the monks, were exposed to this tyranny;
and as the libertinism of their lives often gave a just handle against
them, they were obliged to purchase an indemnity by paying large sums
of money to the legate or his judge. Not content with this authority,
Wolsey pretended, by virtue of his commission, to assume the
jurisdiction of all the bishops' courts, particularly that of judging of
wills and testaments; and his decisions in those important points were
deemed not a little arbitrary. As if he himself were pope, and as if
the pope could absolutely dispose of every ecclesiastical preferment, he
presented to whatever priories or benefices he pleased, without regard
to the right of election in the monks, or of patronage in the nobility
and gentry.[*]

* Polyd. Virg. lib. xxvii.

No one durst carry to the king any complaint against these usurpations
of Wolsey, till Warham ventured to inform him of the discontents of his
people. Henry professed his ignorance of the whole matter. "A man," said
he, "is not so blind any where as in his own house: but do you, father,"
added he to the primate, "go to Wolsey, and tell him, if any thing be
amiss, that he amend it." A reproof of this kind was not likely to be
effectual: it only served to augment Wolsey's enmity to Warham: but one
London having prosecuted Allen, the legate's judge, in a court of law,
and having convicted him of malversation and iniquity, the clamor at
last reached the king's ears; and he expressed such displeasure to
the cardinal, as made him ever after more cautious in exerting his
authority.

{1519.} While Henry, indulging himself in pleasure and amusement,
intrusted the government of his kingdom to this imperious minister, an
incident happened abroad which excited his attention. Maximilian, the
emperor, died; a man who, of himself, was indeed of little consequence;
but as his death left vacant the first station among Christian princes,
it set the passions of men in agitation, and proved a kind of era in
the general system of Europe. The kings of France and Spain immediately
declared themselves candidates for the imperial crown, and empl