WAS WOLSEY A BUTCHER’S SON ?
The rumor formerly ran undisturbed, that Cardinal Wolsey was the son of a butcher; but his biographer, Cavendish, says nothing of VYolsey’s father being in trade. He tells us that he was “an honest man;” A rare tract, entitled “ Who was Cardinal Wolseyl”, states that Wolsey was born at Long Melford, near Ipswich, at which place his father was a butcher. Steovens considers the term ‘beech’ has a peculiar application to Wolsey as the son of a butcher. Thus : “I wonder That such a leech can with his very bulk Take up the rays o’ the beneficial sun.” Kimj Henry VIII., acti. sc. 1. Again, Falstaff, in Henry IV, is called by Prince Henry “ a greasy tallow keecb.” A “ keecb ” is a lump of fat; and it appears to us that Buckingham, in the first quoted passage, denounces Wolsey, not as a butcher’s son, but as an overgrown bloated favorite, that ,v. ■■ Can’with bis very hulk Take up the rays o’ the beneficial sun.” —Curiosities of History.
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Dunstan Times, Issue 684, 28 May 1875, Page 4
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172WAS WOLSEY A BUTCHER’S SON ? Dunstan Times, Issue 684, 28 May 1875, Page 4
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