ing over the wonders of that career which had brought him, if not from
the humble estate of the son of a butcher, yet from an origin of no great
condition, or it could not have remained dubious to this period--the
wealthiest man in Europe, the most potent in political influence, and the
ardent aspirant to the Popedom itself....

It was only at Hampton Court that his vast train of servants and
attendants, with the nobility and ambassadors who flocked about him, could
be fully entertained. These, as we learn from his gentleman-usher,
Cavendish, were little short of a thousand persons; for there were upon
his "cheine roll" eight hundred persons belonging to his household,
independent of suitors, who were all entertained in the hall. In this hall
he had daily spread three tables. At the head of the first presided a
priest, a steward; at that of the second a knight, as treasurer; and at
the third his comptroller, who was an esquire.... Besides these, there was
always a doctor, a confessor, two almoners, three marshals, three ushers
of the hall, and groom. The furnishing of these tables required a
proportionate kitchen; and here were two clerks, a clerk-comptroller, and
surveyor of the dressers; a clerk of the spicery; two cooks, with laborers
and children for assistants: turnspits a dozen; four scullery-men; two
yeomen of the pastry, and two paste-layers. In his own kitchen was his
master-cook, daily drest in velvet or satin, and wearing a gold chain.
Under him were two other cooks and their six laborers; in the larder a
yeoman and groom; in the scullery a yeoman and two grooms; in the ewry two
yeomen and two grooms; in the buttery the same; in the cellar three yeomen
and three pages; in the chandlery and the wafery, each two yeomen; in the
wardrobe the master of the wardrobe and twenty assistants; in the laundry,
yeoman, groom, thirteen pages, two yeoman-purveyors and groom-purveyor; in
the bake-house, two yeomen and two grooms; in the wood-yard one yeoman and
groom; in the barn a yeoman; at the gate two yeomen and two grooms; a
yeoman of his barge; the master of his horse; a clerk and groom of the
stables; the farrier; the yeoman of the stirrup; a maltster; and sixteen
grooms, each keeping four horses.

There were the dean and sub-dean of his chapel; the repeater of the choir;
the gospeler, the epistler, or the singing priest; the master of the
singers, with his men and children. In the vestry were a yeoman and two
grooms.