.

(p.

078) THE THREE RIVALS.
The edifice which Wolsey had so laboriously built up was, however, based on no surer foundation than the feeble life of a sickly monarch already tottering to his grave.

In the midst of his preparations for the conquest of Milan and his negotiations for an attack upon Spain, Louis XII.

died on 1st January, 1515; and the stone which Wolsey had barely rolled up the hill came down with a rush.