WOLSEY, or \VULCEY, THOMAS, a celebrated Cardinal, was born at Ipswich in 1471, and was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. Having been appointed master of the school dependent on the college, he had under his care three sons of the Marquis of Dorset, who presented him in 1500 to the rectory of Lymington. He became domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and af terwards chaplain to the House of Henry VII. In this situation he enjoyed the confidence of the king, who appointed him Dean of Lincoln. Upon the death of his royal master, he was recommended by the Bishop of Winchester to Henry VIII. whose favour he conciliated to such a degree, that he became his sole adviser. He became a privy councillor in 1510, then Chancellor of the Garter, and in 1513 he was promoted to the sees of Tour nay and Lincoln, and to that of York in 1514. He got possession on easy leases of the revenues of Bath, Worcester and Hereford, bishoprics which were held by non-resident Italians. He held in commendam the abbey or St. Albans, and other church preferments, and he was even permitted to hold the sees of Durham and Winchester along with that of York. When the pope perceived the influence which he had acquired over the king, he raised him in 1515 to the rank of a cardinal, and appointed him legate a latere, by which he acquired a legal pre-eminence over the Archbishop of Can terbury. Charles V. Frederick I. and the pope purchased his influence with his sovereign by pen sions, and Charles not only settled upon him the revenues of two Spanish bishoprics, but held out to him the hopes of the Papal crown.
Under the pretence of exacting respect for re ligion, he endeavoured to throw round hint all the splendour which his wealth and influence could command. Among his train of 800 servants were many knights and gentlemen, and some of the no bility sent their children into his family as a place of education, and allowed them even to bear offices as his servants. The richness of his equipage and grandeur, the costliness of his liveries, his apparel of silk and gold, and the splendid trappings of his horses, kept pace with the princely character of his establishment. A tall and handsome priest carried before him a pillar of silver, surmounted with a cross, and another priest, equally handsome, bore before him the cross of York, even in thod#io cese of Canterbury. When Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, resigned the chancellorship, the great seal was immediately delivered to Wolsey.
But the ambition and the follies of the cardinal were not unbalanced. A strict administration of justice took place while he held his high office. No chancellor, as Hume observes, " ever discover ed greater impartiality in his decisions, deeper penetration of judgment, or more enlarged know ledge of law and equity." The very tranquillity of the kingdom has been ascribed to the exact ad ministration of justice, brought about by means of his exertions. Science and literature found in him
a ready and a generous patron; and by his private bounty, as well as by the important institutions which he founded, he gave encouragement to every branch of knowledge. He not only founded several lectures at Oxford, but he erected the college of Christ church, and established a collegiate school in his native town.
The political conduct of Wolsey, and the events which led to his fate, have already been fully de tailed in our article ENGLAND, VOL VIII. p. 477. He died of dysentery in Leicester abbey on the 20th November 1530, in the 68th year of his age. A short time before be expired, he addressed the following words to Sir William Kingston, constable of the Tower, who had him in custody. "I have often kneeled before the king, sometimes three hours together, to persuade him from his will and appetite, but could not prevail: had I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs." See the lives of Wolsey by Cavendish, Fiddes, Galt, and an excellent one in the library of Useful Knowledge.
WOLVERHAMPTON,a large town of England, in Staffordshire, is situated on a gentle declivity on the Birmingham canal. Although the streets are irregular, yet the town is well built, and contains many excellent houses, chiefly of brick. It has two churches, the Collegiate church of St. Peter's, and that of St. John's. The former is situated on a rising ground to the east of the town, and consists of a lofty naive, two aisles, and- a chancel, with a fine Gothic embattled tower. The pulpit is of stone, and the church contains some good monu ments, and a curious stone font. In the church yard is a round column twenty feet high, and covered with rude sculpture. The church of St. John is a neat wooden building, completed in 1776. Besides three chapels on the establishment, there are numerous meeting-houses for dissenters. The other public buildings are a free school, which is a handsome brick building, two charity schools for fifty boys and forty girls, an hospital for a priest and six old women, and a work house.
The manufactures of Wolverhampton consist principally of locks, keys, and other hardware arti cles. A great part of the ironmongery is made by the farmers in the vicinity, who have forges, where they work when they are not employed in agricul ture. Both the men and women are regularly brought up to the business. The celebrated Anto nio de Dominis, archbishop of Spalatro, and the discoverer of the cause of the rainbow, was made dean and first prebendary of Wolverhampton by James I. The population of the town, and a small part of the parish in 1821 was 3338 houses, 4208 families, 14,047 in trade, and total number of inha bitants 18,380.