Sit still as they were dumb.
Thus thwarting over them,
He ruleth all the roast
With bragging and with boast.
Borne up on every side
With pomp and with pride."

As a proof of his sensuous tastes, Cavendish wrote:

"The subtle perfumes of musk and sweet amber
There wanted none to perfume all my chamber."

(_f_) _His Fool_

That Wolsey, like Henry, was possessed of a sense of humour we have
abundant evidence in his utterances. Yet he kept a Fool about
him--possibly in order that he might glean the opinions of the courtiers
and common people. After Wolsey's fall, he sent this Fool as a present to
King Henry. But so loth was the Fool to leave his master and to suffer
what he considered a social descent, that six tall yeomen had to conduct
him to the Court; "for," says Cavendish, "the poor fool took on and fired
so in such a rage when he saw that he must needs depart from my lord. Yet,
notwithstanding, they conveyed him with Master Norris to the Court, where
the King received him most gladly."[4]

(_g_) _Hampton Court_

At his Palace of Hampton Court there were 280 beds always ready for
strangers. These beds were of great splendour, being made of red, green
and russet velvet, satin and silk, and all with magnificent canopies. The
counterpanes, of which there were many hundreds, we are told, were of
"tawny damask, lined with blue buckram; blue damask with flowers of gold;
others of red satin with a great rose in the midst, wrought with
needlework and with garters." Another is described as "of blue sarcenet,
with a tree in the midst and beastes with scriptures, all wrought with
needlework." The splendour of these beds beggars all description.

(_h_) _His Plate_

His gold and silver plate at Hampton Court alone, was valued by the
Venetian Ambassador as worth 300,000 golden ducats, which would be the
equivalent in modern coin of a million and a half! The silver was
estimated at a similar amount. It is said that the quality was no less
striking than the quantity, for Wolsey insisted on the most artistic
workmanship. He had also a bowl of gold "with a cover garnished with
rubies, diamonds, pearls and a sapphire set in a goblet." These gorgeous
vessels were decorated with the Cardinal's hat, and sometimes too, less
appropriately perhaps, with images of Christ!

It is said that the decorations and furniture of Wolsey's Palace were on
so splendid a scale that it threw the King's into the shade.