The great Hall of Christ’s Church College, Oxford, still further serves to keep in mind the memory and the munificence of Cardinal Wolsey: it must be remembered, however, in estimating his munificence that he had only to confiscate the revenues of a small monastery to make himself full-pocketed for the endowment of a college. ’Tis certain that he loved learning, and that he did much for its development in the season of his greatest power and influence; certain, too, that his ambitions were too large for the wary King, his master, and brought him to that dismal fall from his high estate, which is pathetically set forth in Shakespeare’s Henry VIII.: “----Farewell to all my greatness! This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms And bears his blushing honors thick upon him; The third day comes a frost--a killing frost; And--when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a ripening--nips his root And then he falls as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory; But far beyond my depth; my high-blown pride At length broke under me; and now has left me, Weary, and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream that must forever hide me.” Another favorite of Henry in the early days of his kingship, and one bearing a far more important name in the literary annals of England than that of Wolsey, was Sir Thomas More. He was a Greek of the very Greeks, in both character and attainment. Born in the heart of London--in Milk Street, now just outside of the din and roar of Cheapside, he was a scholar of Oxford, and was the son of a knight, who, like Sir Thomas himself, had a reputation for shrewd sayings--of which the old chronicler, William Camden,[71] has reported this sample:-- “Marriage,” said the elder More, “with its chances, is like dipping one’s hand into a bag, with a great many snakes therein, and but one eel; the which most serviceable and comfortable eel might possibly be seized upon; but the chances are largely in favor of catching a stinging snake:”