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Originally published in London 1912. Contents include: CHAPTER I. THE STATE OF EUROPE, 1494-1512 1. CHAPTER II THE FRENCH ALLIANCE, 1512-1515... 18. CHAPTER III THE UNIVEBSAL PEACE, 1515-1518.... 35. CHAPTER IV THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD, 1518-1520 ... 51. CHAPTER V THE CONFEBENCE OF CALAIS, 1520-1521 .... 66. CHAPTER VI TBOB IM IBEIAL ALLIANCE, 1521-1523 . . . . . 84. CHAPTER VII PAQB RENEWAL OF PEACE, 1523-1527 ...... 101. CHAPTER VIII WOLSET'S DOMESTIC POLICY . 123. CHAPTER IX THE KING'S DIVOEOE, 1527-1529 . . . . * 150. CHAPTER, X THE FALL OF WOLSEY, 1529-1580 . . . * .184. CHAPTER XI THE WORE: OF WOLSEY 211. CHAPTER I: THE STATE OF EUROPE 1494-1512. ALL men are to be judged by what they do, and the way in which they do it. In the case of great statesmen there is a third consideration which challenges our judgment what they choose to do. This consideration only pre sents itself in the case of great statesmen, and even then is not always recognised. For the average statesman does from day to day the business which has to be done, takes affairs as he finds them, and makes the best of them. Many who deliberately selected the questions with which they dealt have yet shrunk from the responsi bility of their choice, and have preferred to represent their actions as inevitable. Pew can claim the credit of choosing the sphere of their activity, of framing a con-; n0cted policy with clear and definite ends, and of applying their ideas to every department of national organisation, In short, statesmen are generally opportunists, as such; and this has been especially the case with English statesmen amongst Wctoy stands out as a notable exception. Jfar claims recognition on grounds which apply to himself alone. His name is not associated with any great achievement, he worked out no great measure of reform, nor did he contribute any great political idea which was fruitful in after days. He was, above all things, a prac tical man, though he pursued a line of policy which few understood, and which he did not stop to make intelli gible. No very definite results came of it immediately, and the results which came of it afterwards were not such as Wolsey had designed. ' Yet, if we consider his actual achievements, we are bound to admit that he was probably the greatest political genius whom England has ever produced; for at a great crisis of European history he impressed England with a sense of her own importance, and secured for her a leading position in European affairs, which since his days has seemed her natural right. Thus Wolsey is to be estimated by what he chose to do rather than by what he did. He was greater than his achievements. Yet Wolsey's greatness did not rise beyond the conditions of his own age, and he left no legacy of great thought or high endeavour. The age in, which he lived was not one of lofty aspirations or noble aims \ but it was one of large designs and restless energy. No designs were cast in so large a mould as were those of Wolsey; no statesman showed such skill as he did in weaving patiently the web of diglonaatic intrigue. His resources were small, and he husbanded them with care* He had a master who only dimly understood his objects, and whose personal whims and caprices had always to be conciliated. He was ill supplied with agents. His schemes often failed in detail; but he was always ready to gather together the broken threads and resume his work without repining.

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