His overthrow heaped happiness upon him;
 For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
 And found the blessedness of being little;
 And, to add greater honours to his age
 Than man could give him, he died fearing God.

No amount of historical inquiry will ever suffice to displace in the public mind a portrait bearing Shakespeare’s signature. The Wolsey of the play is not easy to reconcile with the Wolsey Griffith described after his disappearance from the stage: but these words are still a part of the Shakespearean portrait.