Such, my young friends, was the commencement of the rise of this great man; and from it we may learn a lesson of dispatch and assiduity well to follow. I have not space here to relate to you the life of this extraordinary man, but I can tell you that he rose from one place of high trust to another, till he had almost reached the pinnacle of human greatness. His table was surrounded by the wise and learned of the age; the pomp and magnificence of his retinue surpassed that of the king; he had attained the dignity of Cardinal, and was virtually at the head of the Church in England; prime political minister, and the chief judge of law and equity;—but all these high powers could not preserve him from the fall that awaited him, and it was for him to furnish one of the most striking instances of the instability of fortune, and the ingratitude of his fellow men, which the whole compass of history affords. King Henry VIII had formed a desire to put away his first wife, Katherine of Arragon, and to marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey was struck with alarm, and, it is said, fell on his knees before the King to dissuade him from his wicked design. The duty he owed to religion and to the church would not allow him to side with heresy, and therefore he was put into, what is called, a false position between the King on one side and the Pope on the other,—to both he was bound to act with fidelity, the service of one was contrary to the interests of the other—he was placed in a situation where his honesty had the effect of making him equally offensive to both parties; there was no chance for him whatever. Of course one so powerful and at the same time so influential, had numerous enemies, and the ministers of Henry VIII were his bitter foes; and articles of impeachment were drawn up against the Cardinal, who was charged with superiority of talent, and surpassing assiduity in business—with being eloquent in discourse—liberal and lofty-minded. The main strength of his enemies lay in the House of Lords, among the nobility, the prelates, and the abbots, and the bill of impeachment passed this branch of the legislature, but in the house of Commons, Thomas Cromwell, who had been devoted to Wolsey, so manfully exposed, the absurdity of the charges, and so powerfully vindicated the integrity of his old master, that the Commons, to their immortal honor, threw out the bill as unworthy of investigation.