6

LIFE OF HOLBEIN.

tertainment, and hung up all Holbein's pieces,disposed in the best order, and in the bestlight, in the great hall of his house. Theking, upon his first entrance, was so charmedwith the sight of them, that he asked, ki Whe-ther such an artist were now alive, and to behad for money ?" on which Sir Thomas pre-sented Holbein to the king, who immediatelytook him into his service, with a salary of 200florins, and brought him into great esteemwith the nobility of the kingdom. The kingfrom time to time manifested the great valuehe had for him; and upon the death of QueenJane, his third wife, sent him into Flanders,to draw the picture of the Duchess Dowager ofMilan, widow of Francis Sforza, whom theEmperor Charles V. had recommended to himfor a fourth wife; but the king's defectionfrom the See of Rome happening about thattime, he rather chose to match with a protes-tant princess. Cromwell, then his prime mi-nister (for Sir Thomas More had been re-moved, and beheaded), proposed Anne of

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