Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-15
wOLsEY's PORTRAITS.
No Authority for the Idea that I'll
Cardinal Had but One Eye.


Cardinal Had but One Eye.
There are very few portraits of Cardinal
Wolsey, yet a great deal has been said
and written about them, says Notes and
Queries. What all this amounts to may
be chiefly summed up in few short state
ments. 1. There is said to be no head of
Wolsey which is not in profile. 2. It is
said that his portraits were done in pro-
file because he had only one eye. 8. The
loss of his eye was caused by an infamous
disease of an infectious character. afford
ing additional evidence of the depravity
of his nature. 1t has, however. been
shown that there is at least one full-faced
portrait of Wolsey, which, though small,
is Of some authority and considerable in
terest; it is a drawing of the House of
Lords, taken by order of Thomas
Nriotbesley, Garter King-at-Arms, and
shows Wolsey with both eyes on the right
hand Of the King, and is reproduced by
Fiddes. Anstis believed that this draw
ing represented the Parliament held at
Blackfriars on April 10, 1924, and remarks
that If there was any truth in the story
that Wolsey lost an eye it must have been
subsequently to that year. 1t has. how
ever been pointed out that though the
portraits generally show only one eve.
yet sometimes it is the right eye, and
sometimes the left, and this seems to prove
that the pronle portraits were not the re-
suit Of lost eye. The assertion that
Wolsey lost one eye, though by many
writer's very confidently put forward. ap-
pears really to rest on no evidence but, in
| fact, only on the very scurrilOus lines Of
SHELTON, who bitterly hated Wolsey. and
said that he wore patch over his right
eye, and would probably lose it. If it is
true that he did so lose an eve. it must
have been late in life, and subsequently
taken. In Cavendish's Life of
Wolsey," edited by Singer in
| 1925, there are three drawings, respecting
which little more information is de-
| sirable. They purport to be illustrations
| copied from manuscript Of the ssLife"
| belonging to Francis Douce and bearing
date as ''copied by S. B., 1875" Two of
these ( ('sWolsey and the Two Dukes De-
manding the Great Seal from Him in 1927
| and "Wolsey Ill in Bed and DR.. Butts
| Coming to Him with a Message from the
King" in the same Year) distinctly show
| Wolsey with two eyes and no patch. If
/ these drawings are old they have some
| kindSof authority, while il they are
| modern 1t seems natural to ask. Why
| were they so drawn? And there is. vet
another point worthy of remark in both
lneoS uidWlHES, anu also IN the third.
s'Wolsey in Procession y and clearly show
ing his right eye. The Cardinal has a
good beard. His early portraits all show
a very smooth chin. Is there anything to
show that late in life he appeared beard
l cdr NO doubt there were thousands in
/ his lifetime who hated Wolsey, though
| probably but few who dared to speak
| against him; but after his fall, and still
more after his death, all that men knew,
and also what they suspected. might be
| freely said, and it IS hard to believe, if the
| evil charged against him was true, that
there should have been no one to take up
Skeletons accusation and show that there
was sound foundation for bis scandal.