WOLSEY'S HORSEMANSHIP 143 



King Henry, we are told, was thereupon "both 

 amazed and delighted," and with great rapidity 

 the story of the chaplain's remarkable ride to 

 Paris and back again was noised abroad. 



Wolsey's reputation for horsemanship was 

 firmly established from that time forward, and 

 Henry, to mark his appreciation of the chaplain's 

 exploit, bestowed upon him the deanery of 

 Lincoln, and not long afterwards made him his 

 almoner. Thus did the man obtain his first 

 step to power who one day was to become the 

 all-powerful Cardinal. 



I have not been able to find in any books or 

 documents particulars concerning the horses rid- 

 den by Wolsey in that famous journey. From 

 what has been said, however, we may conclude 

 that he rode horses of a stamp very different 

 from the heavy, clumsy animals so plentiful in 

 England at the time, for to have covered so 

 many miles in so few hours the horses must have 

 been of the swiftest, especially when it is remem- 

 bered that the roads at that period were of the 

 roughest possible description. 



In later years, owing partly to his increasing 

 weight, Wolsey almost entirely gave up riding. 

 Yet the interest that he had always taken in 

 horse breeding remained, and though his many 

 and arduous duties occupied much of his leisure 

 he nevertheless found time to devote some 

 of his attention to the rearing of riding and 



