The remains of the Cardinal were interred in the Abbey Church at Leicester, after having been viewed by the Mayor and Corporation, (for the prevention of false rumours,) and were attended to the grave by the Abbot and all the brethren.  This last ceremony was performed by torchlight, the canons singing dirges, and offering orisons, at between four and five o’clock of the morning, on St. Andrew’s Day, November the 30th, 1530.

Leicester Abbey was founded (according to Leland) [7] in the year 1143, in the reign of King Stephen, by Robert Bossue, Earl of Leicester, for black canons of the order of St. Augustine, and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  It is situated in a pleasant meadow, to the north of the town, watered by the river Soar, whence it acquired the name of St. Mary de Pratis, or de la Pre.  This monastery was richly endowed with lands in thirty-six of the neighbouring parishes, besides various possessions in other counties, and enjoyed considerable privileges and immunities.  Bossue, with the consent of Lady Amicia, his wife, became a canon regular in his own foundation, in expiation of his rebellious conduct towards his sovereign, and particularly for the injuries which he had thereby brought upon the “goodly towne of Leycestre.”  At the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. the revenues of this house were valued according to Speed at L1062. 0s. 4d., Dugdale says L951. 14s. 5d.; and its site was granted in the 4th of Edward VI. to William, Marquess of Northampton.[8]

    [1] Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey, p. 1. edit. 1641.  Most of his
        biographers affirm that he was the son of a butcher.

    [2] “Northern Tour.”  The same author observes, that “the death of
        Wolsey would make a fine moral picture, if the hand of any master
        could give the pallid features of the dying statesman, that
        chagrin, that remorse, those pangs of anguish, which, in the last
        bitter moments of his life, possessed him.  The point might be
        taken when the monks are administering the comforts of religion,
        which the despairing prelate cannot feel.  The subject requires a
        gloomy apartment, which a ray through a Gothic window might just
        enlighten, throwing its force chiefly on the principal figure,
        and dying away on the rest.  The appendages of the piece need only
        be few and simple; little more than the crozier and red hat to
        mark the cardinal and tell the story.”

    [3] Stow’s “Annals,” p. 557, edit. 1615.

    [4] Shakspeare introduces this memorable saying of the cardinal into
        his play of “Henry the Eighth:”—­

          —­“O Cromwell, Cromwell,
          Had I but serv’d my God with half the zeal
          I serv’d my king, he would not in mine age
          Have left me naked to mine enemies.”