The heavy veil that shrouds in mystery the early life of Thomas Cromwell is not completely lifted until after he becomes counsellor to the King, but even before and during his service with Wolsey, we catch several interesting glimpses of him. Especially important is the information we possess concerning the part he played in the Parliament of 1523. We have no means of knowing how he obtained a seat there, but there are fortunately preserved two documents of undoubted authenticity that shed much light on the attitude he assumed towards the problems which came up for discussion. The first is a speech which exists to-day at the Public Record Office in the hand of one of Cromwell’s clerks, and contains a distinct and careful enunciation of the policy which the future minister actually pursued in after years. The second is a letter from Cromwell to a friend, John Creke, in Biscay, in which he tells how he ‘amongyst other indured a parlyament[46].’ This epistle is in itself an excellent index to the character and political ideals of its author. Cromwell’s ill-concealed contempt for the vague discussions and fruitless arguments of the Commons, who finally in disgust left off where they began, his evident disappointment that the ‘right large subsydye’ had been granted in spite of his disapproval, and his sneering statement that this Parliament had failed as signally as its predecessors had, to do anything of real practical value to King or realm, but had wasted its time in foolish theorizing and useless debate--all are perfectly consistent with the characteristics revealed by his later policy and actions. In order to understand the speech which Cromwell wrote to deliver in this Parliament, a preliminary survey of some of the business that lay before the House may be helpful. The period immediately previous to the session of 1523 had been occupied by Henry and Wolsey in sending messages to the powerful and traitorous Duke of Bourbon, to obtain from him a recognition of the King’s title to the throne of France. The breach between England and France was becoming wider every day. Charles V. had of course seized the favourable opportunity to ally himself with Bourbon and Henry, and had as usual succeeded in making the latter do the lion’s share of the work, and pay practically all the bills. Loans to the Emperor and to the Duke, and the expense of keeping up the defences in the north, where Scotland daily threatened to break out into open war, had drained the country’s resources to their lowest ebb.