Page:Celebrated Trials - Volume 1.djvu/102

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nobility to attend the king upon that solemn occasion, some of them, and especially the Duke of Buckingham, complained too freely of the extravagance of the expense, and laid the blame of the whole upon the cardinal, who being of a very vindictive nature, would never forgive; to which, it was said, another adventure also did not a little contribute, which was this: The Duke of Buckingham, according to his place, holding the silver bason for the king to wash his hands, Henry had no sooner done, but the cardinal dipped his hands into the water; but the duke disdaining to hold the bason to a man of so mean an extraction, though then a cardinal, spilt some of the water in his shoes. This the cardinal highly resented, and said, he would sit on his skirts for it; upon which the duke next day appeared at court without any skirts to his doublet, to the amazement of many there, who knew not the meaning of it. But the duke made no secret of it, and seeming to stand in defiance of the cardinal, things were pushed on to greater extremities. Nevertheless, none of those who were to attend the king to the interview, had so rich and splendid an equipage as the Duke of Buckingham; who coming to London in order to attend his majesty on his journey, and finding the king was not ready, he set out before and went to an estate he had in Kent. During his stay, there were grievous complaints made to him against Charles Knevet, who was his steward or surveyor, in those parts, for extortion and other oppressive acts; for which the duke thought fit to discharge him out of his service: and this act of justice laid the main foundation-stone of his ruin, so fatal did their servants prove to the house of Stafford.

The cardinal omitted all this time no proper opportunities to whisper into the king's ears strange surmises of the duke's unfaithfulness and disaffection to his majesty; and coming quickly to understand that Knevet was discarded, he thought him the most proper instrument he could meet with to facilitate the duke's ruin, and there-fore he seemed to enter into a confidence with Knevet, who was readily brought to give an account of the duke's life and actions. That he should hear him say, he should Manage matters so as to obtain the crown for himself, in case the king died without issue: and that he had had conference upon that head with George Nevil, Lord

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