110) his lordship".[287] Sir Thomas More, in describing the negotiations for the peace of 1518, reports that only after Wolsey had concluded a point did he tell the council, "so that even the King hardly knows in what state matters are".[288] A month or two later there was a curious dispute between the Earl of Worcester and West, Bishop of Ely, who were sent to convey the Treaty of London to Francis.

Worcester, as a layman, was a partisan of the King, West of the Cardinal.

Worcester insisted that their detailed letters should be addressed to Henry, and only general ones to Wolsey.

West refused; the important letters, he thought, should go to the Cardinal, the formal ones to the King; and, eventually, identical despatches were sent to both.[289] In negotiations with England, Giustinian told his Government, "if it were necessary to neglect either King or Cardinal, it would be better to pass over the King; he would therefore make the proposal to both, but to the Cardinal first, _lest he should resent the precedence conceded to the King_".[290] The popular charge against Wolsey, repeated by Shakespeare, of having written _Ego et rex meus_, though true in fact,[291] is false in intention, because no Latin scholar could put the words in any other order; but the Cardinal's mental attitude is faithfully represented in the meaning which the familiar phrase was supposed to convey.
[Footnote 284: _Ven._ Cal., ii.

1287.] [Footnote 285: _L.