"Your majesty
will find a hundred hogsheads in that cellar, and each hogshead filled
with gold."
"You amaze me!" cried the king, feigning astonishment. "And all this
you freely give me?"
"Freely and fully, sire," replied Wolsey. "Nay, I have saved it for you.
Men think I have cared for myself, whereas I have cared only for your
majesty. Oh! my dear liege, by the devotion I have just approved to
you, and which I would also approve, if needful, with my life, I beseech
you to consider well before you raise Anne Boleyn to the throne. In
giving you this counsel, I know I hazard the favour I have just regained.
But even at that hazard, I must offer it. Your infatuation blinds you to
the terrible consequences of the step. The union is odious to all your
subjects, but most of all to those not tainted with the new heresies and
opinions. It will never be forgiven by the Emperor Charles the Fifth,
who will seek to avenge the indignity offered to his illustrious relative;
while Francis will gladly make it a pretext for breaking his truce with
you. Add to this the displeasure of the Apostolic See, and it must be
apparent that, powerful as you are, your position will be one of infinite
peril.
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