[197] To administer the extreme unction. “The fyfth sacrament is anoyntynge of seke men, the whiche oyle is halowed of the bysshop, and mynystred by preestes to them that ben of lawfull age, in grete peryll of dethe: in lyghtnes and abatynge of theyr sikenes, yf God wyll that they lyve; and in forgyvynge of theyr venyal synnes, and releasynge of theyr payne, yf they shal deye.” Festival, fol. 171. W.
[198] He died Nov. 29, 1530. Le Neve’s Fasti, p. 310.
According to the superstitious credulity of that age, the death of Wolsey was said to have been preceded by a portentous storm. See Letters from the Bodleian, Vol. ii. page 17. In a letter from Dr. Tanner to Dr. Charlett, dated Norwich, Aug. 10, 1709, is the following passage:
"On the other side is a coeval note at the end of an old MS. belonging to our cathedral, of the odd exit of the great Cardinal Wolsey, not mentioned, I think, in Cavendish, or any of the ordinary historians,—much like Oliver’s wind.
“Anno Xti, 1530, nocte immediate sequente quartum diem Novemb. vehemens ventus quasi per totam Angliam accidebat, et die proximè sequente quinto sc. die ejusdem mensis circa horam primam post meridiem captus erat Dn̄us Thomas Wulsye Cardinalis in ædibus suis de Cahow [Cawood] infra Diocesam suam Eboracensem; et postea in itinere ejus versus Londoniam vigilia St. Andreæ prox. sequente apud Leycestriam moriebatur, quo die ventus quasi Gehennalis tunc fere per totam Angliam accidebat, cujus vehementia apud Leystoft infra Dioc. Norwicensem et alibi in diversis locis infra Regnum Angliæ multæ naves perierunt.”
Ad finem Annalium Bartholomæi Cotton. MS. in Biblioth. Eccl. Cath. Norwic. habetur hæc notata.
[199] The excellent author of the dissertation on this life doubted whether this passage was not an interpolation, because “Wolsey is spoken of in terms so different from those used in other parts of the book.” But it is only a proof of the integrity of the biographer, whose upright heart and devout catholic spirit would not conceal the truth.
[200] This passage follows in the more recent MSS. “riding that same day, being Wednesday, to Northampton; and the next day to Dunstable; and the next day to London; where we tarried untill St. Nicholas Even, and then we rode to Hampton Court.”
[201] Here is another addition, in the more recent MSS. to the following effect: “Who hath gotten diverse other rich ornaments into his hands, the which be not rehersed or registered in any of my lords books of inventory, or other writings, whereby any man is able to charge him therewith, but only I.”
[202] Mrs. Anne Gainsford.