Thomas Cromwell is now about fifty years old. He has a labourer's body, stocky, useful, running to fat. He has black hair, greying now, and because of his impermeable skin, which seems designed to resist rain as well as sun, people sneer that his father was an Irishman, though really he was a brewer and a blacksmith at Putney, a shearsman too, a man with a finger in every pie, a scrapper and a brawler, a drunk and a bully, a man often hauled before the justices for punching someone, for cheating someone. How the son of such a man has achieved his present eminence is a question all Europe asks.
Thomas Cromwell, now around fifty, possesses a stocky and laborious physique, showing signs of age. His once-black hair is greying, and his tough skin appears resilient against both weather elements. Due to these features and his father's Irish background, people disparage him, assuming he comes from humble and questionable origins. His father was a brewer and blacksmith known for his rough behavior, reputation for fighting, and frequent legal troubles, making Cromwell's...
