armies of Francis and the Emperor had been contending in Italy. Francis was taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, and, after remaining some time in captivity, was restored to his kingdom in 1526. Wolsey, now bitterly enraged against Charles V. (who, the preceding year, had rated him, in no measured terms, for his ill faith), used all his endeavours to persuade Francis to engage in another war, and, whether from political motives, or from a desire of revenge against Charles, he seems, on this occasion, to have conceived the design of bringing about the divorce of Catherine, and marrying Henry to the Duchess D'Alençon, sister of Francis. The absolute refusal, on the part of this lady, put an end to the scheme, but it was too late to set at rest the doubts which were raised in the King's mind, and which soon received tenfold strength from the charms of Anne Boleyn. The year 1527 was signalised by the embassy of Wolsey to France, to confer with Francis, respecting the liberation of the Pope, then prisoner to the Emperor. He was attended, on this occasion, with a train of 1,200 noblemen and gentlemen, and with everything that could be devised to render his progress magnificent. It was the most gorgeous of all his displays, and it was the last. Application had been made to Rome for the King's divorce, and there is reason to believe that Wolsey at first sent private instructions to retard the proceedings. In vain he used afterwards every exertion and argument to induce the Pope to grant the suit the favourable moment was past, and his Holiness was afterwards too much at the mercy of the Emperor to venture to comply. Equally vain were the endeavours, even if sincere, to induce Cardinal Campeggio, who was sent over to negotiate, to grant the desired boon ; and if, as there is reason to think, one of Wolsey's letters, written to delay the matter in its first stage, came into the King's possession, it is no wonder that the breaking up of the commission, and departure of Campeggio, should be the signal for Wolsey's disgrace.

His degradation was as rapid and as signal as his advancement had been. His goods were confiscated; he was deprived of the Great Seal, and was impeached for high treason-a charge which, however, could not be sustained; and was next charged, under the statute of præmunire, with having procured bulls from Rome, which he at once avowed to have done, but pleaded that it was with the King's knowledge and consent.

If sudden prosperity reveals the dispositions of a man, adversity is no less a test of the moral strength, and force of character; the poet tells us that

"Pigmies are pigmies still, though perched on Alps,
And pyramids are pyramids in vales."

And it must be confessed that Wolsey in his abasement exhibited nothing of the dimensions of the pyramid. He was overwhelmed with grief and mortification, at the news of his disgrace, and abandoned himself to the most unmanly lamentations. He received with paroxysms of delight the slightest indications of returning favour; and once, when the King sent him a ring, accompanied with a kind message, fell on his knees in the mud, and exhibited the most extravagant transports of joy.

Upon his disgrace he first retired to Esher, and was soon afterwards

permitted, or enjoined, to reside in his diocese of York, and took up his abode at Cawood, and then at Southwell, near York. Here he exhibited a complete alteration of manner: he became noted for urbanity, hospitality, and kindness to the poor, as well as for attention to his clerical functions. But ambitious thoughts were not extinguished: he was suspected of forming designs of a dangerous character, and is even said. to have purchased a bull to curse the King if he did not restore all his former dignities; and was on the eve of a splendid installation in his archiepiscopal cathedral, when an officer of the crown arrived to arrest him for high treason, and conduct him to the Tower. His haughty spirit was broken by this sudden and new disgrace; he was taken ill soon after his departure, with some difficulty reached Leicester Abbey, and, after lingering a few days, expired on the 29th November, 1530, in the 60th year of his age.

We must not dismiss the subject without adding the due meed of praise for the Cardinal's love of learning; and for the justice and firmness which he displayed in the administration of the business of the Court of Chancery. We may make some allowance for human frailty, and for the peculiar trials to which sudden elevation exposes a man; and we may concede that the Cardinal might often receive the blame of proceedngs which originated with the King; yet, with every concession, we cannot place him in the ranks of truly great men.

Nevertheless, great as were the failings, and unamiable the disposition and deportment of this extraordinary individual, a feeling of sadness involuntarily steals over the mind, as we contemplate his strange history. This may, perhaps, be owing to the magic art with which our great poet has painted the closing scenes of his life, and those mournful exclamations,

"Oh, 'tis a burden, Cromwell, 'tis a burden
Too heavy for the man that hopes for heaven;"

and again,

"O Cromwell, Cromwell,

Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me to naked mine enemies;"

sound in our ears like a solemn knell. And there is, besides, something within us which leads us to sympathise with fallen greatness.

"The roofless cot, decayed and rent,

Will scarce delay the passer by;

The tower, by war or tempest bent,

While yet there frowns one battlement,

Demands and daunts the stranger's eye.

Each ivied arch and pillar lone

Pleads haughtily for glories gone."

February 2nd, 1846.

G. H. W.

[These sketches will be continued from time to time, as occasion may serve, and without any reference to chronological order.-ED.]

BENEFIT SOCIETIES.

THE history of a benefit or friendly society would, if properly written, be scarcely less interesting than the annals of a nation. It would not, indeed, display to us a brave and independent people struggling against foreign invasion or domestic tyranny; but it would take us into the cottage of the artisan or peasant, and depict his zealous endeavours to avoid that dependence upon the charity of others, which must ever be distasteful to the honest and the free. Nor would this history be destitute of episodes replete with pathos. What hours of toil! What fond desires subdued! What sacrifices of little enjoyments! What struggles between inclination and duty! What moments of well-deserved triumph when the struggle was ended,-must not this history record, ere it could chronicle the fact of one poor monthly subscription! What wretchedness would it not depict, if it treated of a failing society, and truly recounted the agonies of those who had invested their little savings, only to lose them when they most required support!

A faithful history of all the benefit societies in the kingdom, from their earliest foundation to the present time, would cast a strong light upon the social condition of the English labourer, and depict him in a very favourable point of view. It would exhibit plainly the strong, sound, practical good sense of the British people; who, in times of great and daily-increasing distress, have sought to alleviate that distress, rather by increased exertions on their own part, than by appeals to the charity of others; and, with a self-confidence worthy of the first nation in the world, have relied upon their own heads and hands for the support of themselves in sickness, and their widows in affliction.

us.

But histories so minute as the first, or so comprehensive as the second, at once exceed our powers of execution, and the limits prescribed to We must leave these tasks, therefore, to be performed by worthier hands, and pass on to a detail of the fundamental principles which must be observed in the construction of these societies, and without which they can only terminate in failure.

We are unable to say when benefit societies were first established in this country, but their public history dates from 1773, when they first attracted the notice of the legislature. The celebrated Dr. Price wrote upon them at great length; and several enactments were made by Parliament at different times, for their maintenance and regulation.

By the year 1820, they had increased to such an extent, that a writer in the "Edinburgh Review," for the January quarter of that year, estimated their members at one-eighth of the whole population, and their disbursements at £1,500,000 per annum. Nevertheless, they do not seem to have been constructed upon very sound or well-ascertained principles, so that failures frequently occurred, arising rather from miscalculation than mismanagement. These failures induced the Highland Society, whose members perceived the perfect propriety and practicability of benefit societies, to procure, draw up, and publish certain statistical tables for the guidance and regulation of future institutions. Upon these data most subsequently-instituted societies have been based; and

of them we now purpose to give such a summary as will enable our readers to perceive how a benefit society should be constituted, in order to become permanently successful.

A benefit society, in its most simple acceptation, is literally a Health Insurance Company, and only differs from a Life Insurance Company in this particular, that whereas, in framing the regulations of the latter, regard need only be had to the rate of mortality,--in establishing the former, regard must be had both to the rate of mortality and the rate of sickness. The rate of mortality must, however, be ascertained, first, because if we start a society, say, with a thousand members, each aged 21, we must, before we can calculate our funds, learn in what proportion the members are likely to die off, or, in other words, how long each member will continue to pay his annual subscription. For this purpose we have recourse to the following tables, which exhibit, as they stand in our pages, the proportions in which 10,000 persons gradually die off, between the ages of 20 and 90.

It must be observed, that there is a considerable discrepancy between the averages of these three tables; the Carlisle tables giving a much more favourable average duration of life and probability of longevity, than either the Northampton or the Swedish. The Northampton tables were framed on the bills of mortality, from the year 1735 to the year 1780; the Swedish tables are based upon similar bills, from the year 1755 to the year 1776; and the Carlisle tables have been framed in the present century, and show, that circumstances in civilised countries are more favourable now to the duration of life than they were in the past century. Into the causes of this improvement, we cannot now inquire, but must state that, for reasons to which we shall presently advert, benefit societies ought to adopt either the Carlisle tables, or a medium of the three. Let us suppose, however, that we have ascertained the proportion in which our thousand members, each aged 21, will die off, until all be gone; let us suppose that each member pays an annual subscription of £1, as long as he lives; let us put together these yearly accumulating subscriptions, and allow four per cent. interest upon them (for the Government will give us that interest); let us consider that the entrance fees will liquidate all expenses; and we shall then have the full amount of the funds upon which we are to depend. We now require to know how much these funds will permit us to allow per

weck to those members who shall chance to be afflicted with sickness. For this purpose, we make use of another table, which exhibits the average amount of yearly sickness with which individuals are afflicted at different ages. In youth, the average yearly amount of sickness is so small, that we are compelled to express it in decimals of a week; but with increasing age, the amount of sickness increases also. The table is as follows:

We must now take these averages of sickness, and see what one £1 per week, paid to each member during his sickness, will amount to in all, during the whole existence of the society. If the amount be equal to the amount accumulated in all the annual subscriptions, then we may fairly conclude £1 per week sick money is not too great an allowance for an annual subscription of £1; but if, on the contrary, the amount of the money thus disbursed be double the amount of the money thus collected, then we must only allow ten shillings per week sick money in return for the £1 annual subscription. These are the data upon which we must base our calculations; but if the Highland Society's report be correct, an annual subscription of £1, from the age of twenty-one, will justify a benefit society in making an allowance of £1 0s. 7d. weekly, sick money. Benefit societies do not, however, confine themselves to the making of allowances during a period of sickness. There are three other purposes for which they have been instituted: for the payment of life annuities to members after the age of seventy; for the payment of sums of money upon the death of members; and for the granting of pensions to the widows of members. According to the aforesaid report, a man who pays an annual subscription of £1 to either of these schemes, from the age of twenty-one, is entitled to

A life annuity, after seventy, of .

£ S. d. 58 0 21

Or an endowment after death (for any purposes) of 59 19 2
Or a pension to his widow for her life of

5 12 6

The four schemes may be combined and carried out by one society, thus:

Making a total annual subscription of £1 4 6