l62 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 





describing it as the reverse of a desirable country 

 residence, and as being remarkable for its moist and 

 corrupt air. And yet it seemed to me an attractive 

 place enough when I was there the other afternoon. A 

 fallen minister however is not likely to be pleased with 

 any palace ; and I dare say that Wolsey from sheer 

 enmii and lack of company used often to steal up to the 

 Bear (disguised as a pedlar of course according to 

 immemorial prescription), spend a pleasant evening on 

 the ingle bench with the local boors, hear them discuss 



^ his own disgrace 



" ;'. " and his chances of 



restoration to royal 

 favour, and then 

 steal back again to 

 the lonely house by 

 the Mole — late and 

 beery. 



Not that the beer 

 of the Bear would 

 have done the car- 

 dinal any harm, if 

 it was as good a 



tap then, that is to 

 say, as it is now. It 

 probably brought 

 him a temporar3n'e- 

 turn of luck, for in 

 1530 he was taken 

 into favour again, and left Esher Place for the north. At 

 Esher however the memory of the Ipswich butcher 

 boy (who of course never was a butcher boy at all — 

 are any of our fond historical beliefs to remain un- 

 subverted T) is preserved ; as also is the memory of 

 another great man who lived in the neighbourhood, 

 travelled much on the Portsmouth Road, rose from 

 almost as low a grade as the great cardinal, was 

 equally successful in making by force his merit known. 



Water Gate, Wolsey s Palace, Esher. 



