that Familiarity with them that he wisht Tâ—â—s ' with thâ—se in Paris his Converse was so much that he called them his Convictores But he added that he had his Convictrices too i. e. his She Companions and daily Guests which created him as much Sorrow and Anxiety as the others did pleasure And these were as he explained himself Solicitudes Cares Damage to his Domestick Concerns in England greater Charges than he could well bear doubtful Disputations various Emulations and Opinions While Smith was here he procured the Printing of the Answer to Osorius for the Vindication of the Queen and the Proceedings of the Realm in the Reformation of Religion as was mentioned before when the Reader was told of the Difficulty that Smith met with while he required that State 's Allowance for the publishing thereof But at last he got it into the Press at his own Charge Which made Dr. Haddon the Author after the publishing of the Book write to him Mulâ—um tibi Responsum debet Osorianum i. â— That the Answer to Osorius owed much to him And as for Smith's Judgment of this Answer it was this as he wrote to the said Haddon That he conflicted with an Adversary too unequal for him For Osorius brought nothing beside the bare Imitation of Cicâ—ro and the Ignorance of that he undertook to treat of Which Haddon pointed him to as it were with his Finger Yet with much Modesty and without sharpness of Words By April 1564. Smith had so compleated the printing of the Book that he sent over some Copies to the Secretary The aforesaid Dr. Haddâ—n Master of the Requests was the Queen's Ambassador at Bruges at the same time that our Smith was in the like Quality in France Between whom a friendly and learned Correspondâ—nce was maintained They both were Ambassadors abroad in the Years 1562 1564 1565 1566. Divers of the Letters written between them are printed in Haddon's Posthumous Pieces published by Hatcher of Cambridge An. 1567. Smith was a great Lover and Reader of Plato as Haddon was of Tully In relation to which thus did Haddon from Burges write to Smith in France Your Plato will not suffer you nor my Tully me to be our own who would have us serve our Country and as we at first received all that we have from it so to return all back to it again This he said to comfort Smith and himself under their present Distances from their Country their Pains and Expences in their Embassies for the Service of their Queen and Country The troubles whereof they were apt sometimes to lay to heart At another Time viz. in the Year 1562. Haddon appealed to Smith as a Judge in a Dispute between him and the French Ambassador at Bruges upon Cicero's Skill both in Law and Philosophy For Haddon happening to Sup once with that Ambassador upon some occasion Cicero was cited when the Ambassador did admit him to be the best Orator but he would not allow him at all to be skilled in Law and that he was but a mean Philosopher Haddon stood up for the Honour of his Master and affirmed that he was a very good Lawyer and a most excellent Philosopher Whereupon they fell into a very hot Argument that they could hardly make an end Concerning this he took occasion in his next Letter to write unto Smith telling him that he wished this Controversy might have had his Judgment Cui non minus uni tribuo quam Platoni Poeta nescio quis à reliquis destitutus i. e. To whom alone he attributed as much as a certain Poet did to Plato when he had none else of his side Smith on the next occasion in his to Haddon thus communicated his Judgment That if any doubted whether Cicero was a Lawyer it was not to be wondered at because Men for the most part are ignorant of Age and Times That Cicero was not of those in that Time that professed the Civil Law but yet he was Iureconsultissimus Admirably skilled in it Which not only many of his Pleadings and Orations demonstrate but his Topics to Trebatius And he esteemed himself so to have prosited herein that he openly declared one Day If they vexed him he would the third Day after profess the Civil Law But he never saw indeed Accursius nor Bartholus nor Baldus nor Iason nor the Digests nor Code of Iustinian A good Reason why because they were not in being in his Time But so thorowly had he learned the Laws of that Time that unless he had been an Orator he had been esteemed the Learnedest Civilian If he that is a Lawyer deny him to be a Philosopher that Answer will easily be given to him that Apelles gave the Shooe-maker Let him not give his Iudgment beyond his Slipper But for his Philosophy he betook them that denied it to his Book De Deo De Divinatione or what he treated of in his other Philosophical Dissertations In April 1564. Secretary Cecil writ our Ambassador the News of the Disturbance at Court occasioned by Iohn Hales's Book wrote in the last Parliament Which was the cause of his being cast into Prison and several others of the Court committed or banished the Court. Of this Haddon who was now at home had also acquainted him and called it Tempestas Halisiana i. e. The Storm raised by Hales This Hales was a passing good Scholar an hearty Protestant thorowly acquainted with the State of this Kingdom and a great Antipapist he had been a Courtier to King Edward and an Exile under Queen Mary and now under this Queen Clerk of the Hanaper And fearing the Succession of the Scotch Queen a Papist to the Crown if Queen Elizabeth should die unmarried and childless he by private Consultation with others resolved to take upon him to write a Discourse to discuss the Title to this Crown after the Queen And having in a Book confuted and rejected the Line of the Scotch Queen made the Line of the Lady Frances that had been Married to Grey Duke of Suffolk who was Daughter to the Younger Sister of King Henry VIII to be only next and lawful Heir She was Mother to the Lady Katharine Grey who had been privately Married to Edward Seimour Earl of Hertford And were now both in the Tower for that Marriage and under the Queen's Displeasure In April Hales was committed to the Fleet for this bold and presumptuous Act and afterwards to the Tower where he continued a great while Especially because he communicated these his Conceits to sundry Persons The Lord Iohn Grey Uncle to the Lady Katharine was in trouble about it and so was the Lord-Keeper Bacon And besides all this Hales had procured Sentences and Counsels of Lawyers from beyond Seas to be written in maintenance of the Earl of Hertford's Marriage which seemed to have been by their Consents only For which the Marriage had been declared invalid and null by the Archbishop of Canterbury But hereat
generally afterwards received a late Learned Professor of that Language in Basil named Witstein made an Oration in that University lately Printed to confute it and to revive the old exploded Sounds And as he was thus useful to Learning in the University so he was also to Religion He was bred up in the Protestant Doctrine a pretty rare matter in those Times and he never flinched from it All his Kindred of his Father's side were neither Neutrals nor Papists as he wrote somewhere of himself all enclining to the Truth and Gospel Old and Young and so known and noted This he wrote to some because certain Backbiters in King Edward's Days had charged him to have been a Neutral The Reason whereof seemed to be because he did not run so fast in the Reformation under that King as some Hot-spurs would have him who knew not what the matter meant For he was publickly known to be a Protestant in the time of King Hâ—nry VIII living then in Cambridge and being there in place of Eminence when the Bishop of Winchester the Chancellor of that University was severe towards those that professed the Gospel and threatned Fire and Faggot-bearing Smith publickly defended them and opposed those rigorous Methods and staved off many And this he did before all Cambridge and all the Justices of Peace in the Shire and saved many and so continued He stood up and pleaded for the Professors and Profession of the Gospel publickly both in the University before all the Learned Men and not only so but in the Convocation before all the Bishops and in the Parliament-House before the Lords and Commons as he writ in Vindication of himself And being a Man of Reputation among them the University made use of him once as their Messenger and Advocate to the Court to address to Queen Katharine Par to whom he brought their Letters beseeching her Intercession to the King on their behalf being now as they apprehended in imminent Jeopardy For the Parliament in the 37th that is that last Year of that King's Reign had given him all the Colleges in the Kingdom whereat the University was sore afraid Dr. Smith repaired to that good Queen entreating her to prevail with his Majesty that not withstanding the late Act they might enjoy their Possessions as before And she did as she was a true Lover and Patroness of Learning and Religion effectually apply to the King and had her Request in that behalf granted and to that purport she wrote her Letters to the University of which Smith was also the Bringer wherein she called him their Discreet and Learned Advocate and having admonish them that she would have their University to be an University of Divine Philosophy as well as of Natural or Moral she let them understand that she had according to their Desire attempted her Lord the King's Majesty for the stay of their Possessions And That notwithstanding his Majesty's Property and Interest through the Consent of the High Court of Parliament his Highness was such a Patron of good Learning that he would rather add and erect new occasion therefore than confound those their Colleges So that Learning might hereafter ascribe her very Original whole Conservation and sure Stay to our Sovereign Lord as she expressed her self In his publick Academical Performances he acquitted himself with wonderful Applause and Admiration of all the Hearers And at a Commencement which happened as near as I can guess this Year being now the King's Professor both his Disputations and his Determinations were such that Haddon as good Judge in a Letter to Dr. Cox giving him some Account of that Commencement told him That had he been there he would have heard another Socrates and that he caught the forward Disputants as it were in a Net with his Questions and that he concluded the profound Causes of Philosophy with great Gravity and deep Knowledge Dr. Smith's Places and Preserments in Cambridge and elsewhere as they brought him in tolerably fair Incomes so they together with his Eminent Vertue and Learning reconciled him great Respect For he had the Lecture in the Civil Law bâ—ing the King's Professor in that Science for which he received 40 l. per Annum He was Chancellor to the Bishop of Ely which was worth to him 50 l. per Annum Besides he had a Benefice viz. of Leverington in Cambridgeshire which came to the Value of 36 l. per Annum So that his Preferments amounted to 120 l. a Year and upwards And such a good Husband he was that he made some Purchases before and some soon after his leaving the University as we shall hear by and by And this was the Port he lived in before his leaving of Cambridge He kept Three Servants and Three Guns and Three Winter Geldings And this stood him in 30 l. per Annum together with his own Board CHAP. IV. Smith is removed into the Protector 's Family His Preferments under King Edward Made Secretary Goes an Embassie Doctor Smith was often at King Henry's Court and taken notice of by that King and was growing so dear to him as to be received in Place and Office under him had he lived a little longer But soon after K. Henry's Death he was removed from Cambridge into the Duke of Somerset's Family where he was employed in Matters of State by that Great Man the Uncle and Governour of the King and Protector of his Realms Into whose Family were received many other very Learned and Pious Men. Long he had not been here but the University earnestly address'd to him to stand their Friend in some certain weighty Matter wherein not any single Cause of theirs was in hazard but themselves and their All. Which without Question was the Danger the University was in upon the Bill in Agitation in the Parliament-House for giving the King the Chauntries Hospitals Fraternities and Colleges which last Word took in the Societies of the Universities At which they look'd about them and made all the Friends they could at Court to save themselves And as they applied now to Cheke so to Smith also in this elegant Latin Epistle which was drawn up by the exquisite Pen of Ascham their Orator wherein may be observed what a general Opinion there went of his compleat Learning Si tu is es Clarissime SMITHE in quem Academia haec Cantabrigiensis universas vires suas universa Victatis jura enercuecrit si tiki uni omnia Doctrinae sâ—ae genera omnia Reipub. Ornamenta licentissimè contulerit si fructura gloriae suae in te uno jactaverit si spem Salutis suae in â—â—â—otissimùm reposuèrit Age ergo mente-ic cogitatione tua complectere quid tu vicisson illi debes quid illa quid Literae quid Respublica quid Deus ipse pro tantis Vietatis officiis quibus sic Dignitas tua efflorescit justissime requirit Academia nil debet tibi imo omnia sua
that the Matter of Religion should be contained therein To which Smith replied That that could not be and that no general Words could contain it if the Party that was bound would say that it was against his Conscience or he meant it not To which the King said That he would write to the Queen his Sister with his own Hand what he meant as to that and that he would as well defend her even in that Cause as if it were exprest in Words and that which he said he would keep tho' he dyed for it But this King was a great Dissembler which our Ambassador probably knew well enough but gave him this discreet Answer That for him he thought no less and he was sure the Queen his Mistress took him to be a faithful Prince and constant to his Words as any was Living But when they spake of Treaties they were not made in Words nor in such Letters missive but after another Authentical sort Sworn and Sealed Without which he could not he said for his part take it substantially and orderly done And besides that the Treaty was not Personal but Perpetual for him and his Successors And when the Queen-Mother would have shuffled off this and some other Articles saying That when Mareshal Montmorancy should be sent over into England from the French King to the Queen and the Earl of Leicester should come to that Court from the said Queen to see the League sworn by each Prince then all things should be done as the Queen should desire Smith answered That he knew the Fashion of Leagues And that it must be agreed upon between the Commissioners that no Words be altered then Subscribed with the Hands of both the Parties the French Commissioners delivering the Part Signed with their Hands to those of England and the Commissioners of England next to them Then the Prince causeth it to be made under the Great Seal of the Realm and so to be delivered to each others Ambassador And that he that came to see it Sworn to might make a new League if the Princes would but to alter that that was made he could not For the Princes were bound to Ratify and Swear to that on which the Commissioners were agreed And that it were not Wisdom as he added to send such Personages as they spake of to an uncertain League And he might consider that Queen Elizabeth his Mistress would not do it This Conference happened March the 1st 1571. After much Pains this Article and another about the Scotch Queen was agreed and Queen Elizabeth was only to give her consent to finish this happy and advantageous League And to excite the Queen hereunto Sir Thomas with Halsingham did freely give her advice to this Tenor That it was for the Assurance of her Person and Crown as she was a Prince lawful and natural and had a Crown Imperial And that she did it so by her Laws as God's Laws and Hers willed it to be done That foreign Princes that were her Friends would and must take it well and that such as were not would rather laugh at her and be glad of it if she did it not and when they should see Time take occasion to endanger her Majesty thereby The Queen soon after signified her Consent And so in the Month of April ensuing at Blois the League was concluded and signed the 18th or 19th Day Which according as Smith and his Collegue did conceive should be with as great Assurance and Defence of the Queen as ever was or could be the two Realms being so near and ready to defend her if it were required And in case Spain should threaten or shew ill Offices as it had of late done against the Queen's Safety it would be afraid hereafter so to do seeing such a Wall adjoyned as Smith wrote Which he therefore hoped would be the best League that ever was made with France or any other Nation for her Majesty's Surety His good Conceit he had of this League did further appear by what he wrote in another Letter soon after to the Lord Burghley That now it could not be said That her Majesty was altogether alone having so good a Defence of so Noble Couragious and so faithful a Prince of his Word but herein our Ambassador was mistaken in his Man none being so false of his Word and treacherous as he all covered over with most artificial Dissimulation and so near a Neighbour provided for and bespoken beforehand against any need Partly that and partly the Trouble in Flanders which he trusted God had provided to deliver his poor Servants there from the Antichristian Tyranny should make her Highness enjoy more quietly both England and Ireland and a better Neighbour of Scotland When Monsieur De Foix came to him and his Collegue with the Draught of the whole League in French which before was in Latin and the Matters that past Pro and Con which he said was that the King might understand it and had made a new Preface Smith did not much stick at it And acquainting the Secretary Cecil now Lord Burghley with it he opened to him the Reason of it I am old said he I love not much Talk and would fain be dispatched honestly homeward So the Effect be there indeed and our Queen not deceived I care for no more that done Smith loved to do his Business well and soundly and yet to knit it up with Brevity and Expedition Thus again when the French Deputy urged much in this Treaty the Scotch Queen that she might be sent safe home to her Country a thing which the English Ambassadors had order not to deal in by no means he began to amplify upon that in a long Oration But at the Conclusion Smith told him in short For all your Reason you must pardon me I know you are a good Rhetorician and you have Rhetorical Ornaments at will to make and so have I on the contrary side if I would bestow my Time in that sort We are the Queen's Majesty's Servants and we have shewed our Reasons so good that no Man could deny that we should not agree unto it While Smith was in this Country he was forced to follow the Court from Place to Place but it being Winter pinched him sore At Tholouse it almost cost him his Life and had made an End of him had it not been for Strong Waters which he used for his Stomach Morning and Evening At Blois where he remained after Candlemas he endured the greatest Cold that ever he felt and most continual And notwithstanding the Cordial Waters he used he was scarce able to resist the extream Cold of the Weather there being for thirty Days together continual Frost and Snow Neither was there Wood plenty nor good Chimneys for Fire And in his Bed-chamber he could make no Fire at all In this Embassy the League being concluded the Queen-Mother one Day in March Anno exeunte in the King's Garden at Blois
have taken up their Seat in him And thus we see Smith re-enstated again in that Place which four and twenty Years ago he enjoyed under King Edward Smith now being Secretary and Walsingham Resident in the French Court and the matter of the Match for Duke D'Alenson and the Queen transacted earnestly this Year the main of this Matter went through Smith's Hands And thus it stood The French King and Queen-Mother and the Duke and that Court were extreamly eager for it and so was the English Nation too supposing it the best way for the Security of her Majesty and her Crown But the Queen her self was but cold in the Matter And when an Interview was moved between her and the Duke she refused to yield to it upon some Scruples Whereat Secretary Smith to set it forward that it might not be suspended on such a Point devised that the Duke should come over hither without the Ceremony of an Invitation For as he wrote to Walsingham in August he was sorry so good a Matter should upon so nice a Point be deferred Adding That one might say that the Lover would do little if he would not take pains once to see his Love but she must first say Yea before he saw her or she him Twenty Ways said he might be devised why he might come over and be welcome and possibly do more in an Hour than he might in two Years otherwise Cupido ille qui vincit omnia in oculos insidet ex oculis ejaculatur in oculos utriusque videndo non solum ut ait Poeta Faemina virum sed Vir faeminam What Force I pray you can Hear-say and I think and I trust do in comparison of that cum Praesens praesentem tuctur alloquitur furore forsitan amoris ductus amplectitur And saith to himself and openly that she may hear Tenâ—ne te mea an etiamnum somno volunt Faeminae videri cogi ad id quod maximè cupiunt If we be cold it is our Part Besides the Person the Sex requires it Why are you cold Is it not a Young Man's part to be Bold Couragious and to adventure If he should have a Repulse he should have but Honorificam Repulsam The worst that can be said of him is but a Phaeton Quam si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit Ausis Adding that so far as he could perceive this was the only Anchor this the Dye to be cast for us Or else nothing was to be lookt for but still and continual Dalliance and Doubtfulness so far as he could see Thus in his Royal Mistresses and the Nations Behalf he could talk and direct like a Master of Love This Device and Counsel I suppose was hinted to the French Court And it was not long but Duke D'Alenson accordingly came over to make his Address to the Queen The Parisian Massacre happening in August so treacherous and so inhumane that all the World stood amazed at it Secretary Smith abhorred and wrote his Thoughts of it in this following Letter to Walsingham then Ambassador there Sir this Accident in France seemeth to us so strange and beyond all Expectation that we cannot tell what to say to it And the Excuse tam Exilis so slender or fraudulent namely That the Hugonots had intended to have made some dangerous Disturbances in the Kingdom and therefore the King was forced to do this for his own safety that we wot not what to think of it The Matter appears all manner of ways so lamentable the King so suddenly and in one Day to have dispoiled himself and his Realm of so many notable Captains so many brave Soldiers so wise and so valiant Men as if they were unguilty of that which is laid unto them it is most pitiful If they were guilty Cur Mandati Causa damnati sunt ac caesi In such sudden and extream Dealings Cito sed sera Poenitentia solet sequi If it were sudden and not of long Time premeditated before And if so the worse and more infamous Thus you see what privately any Man may think of this Fact I am glad yet that in these Tumults and bloody Proscriptions you did Escape and the young Gentlemen that be there with you and that the King had so great Care and Pity of our Nation so lately with strait Amity Confederate with him Yet we hear say that he that was sent by my Lord Chamberlain to be School-master to young Wharton bâ—ing come the Day before was then slain Alas he was acquainted with no body nor could be partaker of any evil Dâ—â—ling How fearful and careful the Mothers and Parents be here of such young Gentlemen as be there you may easily guess by my Lady Lane who prayeth very earnestly that her Son may be sâ—nt home with as much speed as may be And if my Lady your Wife with your Daughter and the rest with such as may be spared were sent away home until this Rage and Tempest were somewhat appeased you shall be the quieter and disburthened of much of your Care You would not think how much we are desirous to hear what End these Troubles will have whether it rangeth further into all France or die and will cease here at Paris Our Merchants be afraid now to go into France And who can blame them Who would where such Liberty is given to Soldiers and where Nec Pietas nec Iustitia doth refrain and keep back the unruly Malice and Sword of the raging Popular Monsieur La Mote is somewhat spoken to in this Matter And now the Vintage as you know is at hand but our Traffick into Roan and other Places in France is almost laid down with this new Fear It grieveth no Man in England so much as me And indeed I have in some respect the greatest Cause I suppose because he was the great maker of the League between that King and the Queen and did so assure the Qâ—een of the Ingrity Truth and Honour of the said King Fare you well From Woodstock the 12th of September 1572. Your always assured Tho. Smith POSTSCRIPT I Most heartily thank you for the Book of the past Troubles in France But alas who shall now write worthily of the Treasons and Cruelties more barbarous than over the Scythians used And in the same Month when upon some Treachery feared to be acted upon Walsingham he was sent for home for some Time and Tidings being brought of the Massacres upon the Protestants at Roan and other Places as well as at Paris thus did this good Man express his Detestation of these Practices The cruel Murthers of Roan are now long ago written unto us when we thought all had been done And by the same Letters was written unto us that Diep was kept close and the same Executions of the true Christians lookt for there but as then not executed Howbeit Sigoigne did warrant all our English Men to be out of danger and not to be afraid But what
the Work and for Disbursing Money by Accounts And to him the Earl of Leicester had given order for Iron Cask and Lead And one Cole was appointed by Sir Thomas to be over the Works to be the chief Doer and Worker of the Melting and not to go from the Work There was also a Clerk to keep the Reckoning to see what the Labourers did daily and Weekly what was melted and made in Coperas and Allom. But notwithstanding all Smith's hastening the Matter suffered Delay and was retarded by Medley the chief Undertaker who loitered in London till the 7th of March making Excuses of wanting Money to defray his Charges here that he did not perceive that the rest were all agreed that he thought himself hardly dealt withal if he should not be allowed for the Charges in making Experiments now this two Years and more and for his Buildings and Vessels the sum of 400 l. But in reply to him Smith urged that for two Years past Medley and Topcliff who was his Partner had made Crocus of which they might have made Benefit for the Re-embursing of themselves They said they sent it away for Essays and part of it was purloined Smith said again that he might as well as they claim to have his Allowance he and Sir Humphrey Gilbert being out of Purse 400 l. in making Tryals paid into the Hands of Medley and to the Lord Mountjoy And he resented these Prolongations to my Lord Burgbley in this manner That Medley's Skill began by this Time to be known which made him jealous that his Delays would wholly spoil their Business That Sir Iohn Perot had a whole Discourse of the compleat manner of the Work in Writing That the Lord Mountjoy had gotten one of Medley's chief Workmen to him That divers in the Countries knew the Earths and the Working of them And yet said he discontentedly we do nothing and wished that he might go down himself For which he was very earnest undertaking within fourteen Days to bring Things to a full certainty as to the understanding what Truth or Likelihood there was in the Matter Assuring his Lordship that he was not satisfied until they were certified from thence by Order and by Accounts That they might compare the Time the Charge and the Labour with the Gains that came of it and in what kind it was and should arise And that the ill Success which it seems they met with at Poole and at the Lady Mountjoy's Works taught to trust little to Words and Promises nor to Experiments made afar off nor to the Accounts of Men of that Faculty i. e. Alchymists Fain they would be fingering of Money said he But when it is once in their Hands we must seek it in the Ashes I find no more of this but I make no doubt Sir Thomas smarted in his Purse for his Chymical Covetousness and Gilbert seems to have been impoverished by it And Medley was beggered For I find him in the Counter two Years after viz. in the Year 1576. made a Prisoner there by Courtis and some others who were Commissioners from the Lord Burghley Lord Treasurer for Debt I make no Question Tho' the Lady Mary Sydney Wife to Sir Henry Sydney was concerned for him having it is probable some Opinion of his Skill in Chymistry and wrote to the said Lord in his favour and against those that prosecuted him But he gave her his grave and wise Counsel with respect unto him knowing better than she what kind of Man he was Thus did this Matter detain Sir Thomas Smith three or four Years to his no little Care and Cost too CHAP. XII Smith waits upon the Queen at Audley-End Goes on Embassy to France Concludes a League Concerned in Proposals of a Match for the Queen THE Queen was at Audley-End in August this Year Here Sir Thomas Smith now was Perhaps repairing thither to Congratulate her Majesty's Coming so near Walden his native Town or to wait upon her for some Favour for that Place or otherwise At that Juncture a good Portion of Gold was intercepted going into Scotland to the Lord Hâ—rris for the help of the Scotch Queen's Party together with a Letter in Cypher sent by Higfâ—rd the Duke of Norfolk's Secretary By which it was concluded the Duke was again medling in the Matter of Matching with her for which he had a Reprimand some time before this and promised the Queen to concern himself no more in that Affair Higford was upon this taken up and Committed to the Tower in London And Sir Thomas was sent thither on the 1st of September to take his Examination Who confest to him That the Duke commanded him to write to one Lawrence Banister the Duke's Man that he should see secretly conveyed 600 l. to the said Lord Herris to be by him conveyed to Liddington and Graunge Whereupon the Duke was put into the Tower And Smith was one of those that by the Queen 's Appointment attended him thither Another Embassy now fell upon Smith Mr. Francis Walsingham the present Ambassador in France growing very indisposed in his Health desired to be released of his Employment Whereupon tho' Henry Killigrew Esq was sent Ambassador in October thither in November the Lord Grey or Sir Peter Grey were intended to go and assist Walsingham But in December Sir Thomas Smith who was now one of the Privy Council was the Man pitched upon His Business was to Treat of Entrance into a strait League of Amity with that King and withal in case that Court renewed the Motion for Marriage with the Duke of Alanson which was in Transaction the summer past but received some Interruption he was to Treat thereof For however averse or negligent the Queen seemed to be in it before yet now her Courtiers so earnestly calling upon her for her own Surety and that of her State which would be much advanced through the hope of her Issue she shewed so good Disposition thereto that the Earl of Leicester wrote to Sir Thomas that she so earnestly and assuredly affirmed to him the same good Disposition that he verily thought that yet once again with good Handling a good Conclusion would follow Smith received his Dispatch about the 6th of December He plyed the Business he was sent for diligently For it was thought very necessary to join in a good League with France to check the Greatness of Spain and to be the better secured against his Threatnings In this Treaty it is worth taking notice of one Article in Debate Which was that the two Princes should mutually assist each other And if the Queen were invaded for the Cause of Religion that the French King should yield her his Assistance This Article when almost all the rest were well accorded that King declined to have put into the Treaty tho' he promised to perform it most faithfully And tho' it were not expresly mentioned in the League yet such general Words should be used
preserve her long to Reign over her People and that his Grace and Mercy would turn all to the best In the midst of these Cares of our Ambassador the Lord Burghley wrote to him of a Matter that put him and his Collegue into a great Consternation It was concerning the Queen's falling Sick of the Small-Pox and withal of her speedy Recovery again His careful Mind for this Matter he thus exprest in his next Letter to the said Lord That he and his Fellow read the News of the Queen's Illness together in a marvellous Agony but having his Medicine ready which was that her Majesty was within an Hour recovered it did in part heal them again But that as his Lordship wrote of himself that the Care did not cease in him so he might be assured it did as little cease in them Calling to their remembrance and laying before their Eyes the Trouble the Uncertainty the Disorder the Peril and Danger that had been like to follow if at that Time God had taken her from them whom he styled The Stay of the Common-wealth the Hope of their Repose and that Lanthorn of their Light next God Not knowing whom to follow nor certainly where to light another Candle Another great Solicitude of his at this Time was as the Queen's Sickness so her Slowness to resolve and the tedious Irresolutions at Court. Of which he spake in some Passion after this sort That if the Queen did still continue in Extremities to promise in Recoveries to forget what shall we say but as the Italians do Passato il pericolo gabbato il fango He told that Lord moreover That he should perceive by their Proceedings in their Embassy what justly might be required was easie to be done But if her Majesty deceived her self and with Irresolution made all Princes understand that there was no Certainty of her or her Council but dalliance and farding off of Time she should then first Discredit her Ministers which was not much but next and by them discredit her self that is to be counted uncertain irresolute unconstant and for no Prince to trust unto but as to a Courtier who had Words at will and true Deeds none These were Expressions proceeding somewhat as may be perceived from his Spleen and partly from his present Indisposition of Body Which he seemed to be sensible of For he begged his Lordship's Pardon for what he had said rendring his Reason That he had been kept there so long that he was then in an Ague both in Body and in Spirit And that as the Humours in his Body made an Ague there of which he wisht it would make an end so that irresolution at the Court he hoped would help to conclude that he might feel no more Miseries Which he feared those that came after should feel Because we will not see said he The Time of our Visitation Thus did Smith express his Discontents into the Bosom of his trusty Friend for the Mismanagement of publick Affairs as he conceived discovering as his Zeal and Affection to the Queen and the State so the Temper of his Mind somewhat enclined to Heat and Choler This he writ from Blois on Good-Friday While Sir Thomas Smith was here Ambassador the Treaty of Marriage was in effect concluded between the Prince of Navarre and the Lady Margaret the present French King's Sister Which lookt then very well toward the Cause of Religion and both that Ambassador and his Collegues Walsingham and Killigrew liked it well One Matter in Debate and the chief was about the manner of Solemnizing the Marriage Whereupon they sent to the Queen of Navarre a true Copy of the Treaty of the Marriage between King Edward the Sixth and the late Queen of Spain the French King's Sister Wherein it was agreed that she should be Married according to the Form of the Church of England Which stood the said Queen of Navarre in such good stead that she produced it to the Queen-Mother of France To which they took Exceptions and said it was no true Copy of the Treaty Whereupon she the Queen of Navarre sent to Sir Tho. Smith who happened to be at that very Treaty By her Messenger she signified that she sent to him to know because he was a Dealer in the same whether he would not justifie it to be a true Copy To whom Sir Thomas answered That knowing the great good Will his Mistress did bear her and how much she desired the good Success of that Marriage as a thing that tended to the Advancement of Religion and Repose of this Realm he could not but in Duty avow the same and be willing to do any good Office that might advance the said Marriage CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre SIR Thomas being still abroad in France the Queen conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter in the Month of April as some Reward of the League that he had taken so much pains in making For which he thanked her Majesty and said it must needs be to him many times the more welcome because that without his Suit and in his Absence her Highness of her gracious goodness did remember him About Iune 1572. he came home with the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral who was sent over to take the Oath of the French King for the Confirmation of the Treaty Which being done by the Queen's Command he was no longer to abide in France but to return at his best Convenience It was not long from this Time that the old Lord Treasurer Marquess of Winchester died and the Lord Burghley Secretary of State succeeded in his Place Then Smith was called to the Office of Secretary viz. Iune 24. having sometime before assisted the Lord Burghley in that Station And surely it was the Opinion of his great Learning as well as his long Experience and other Deserts that preferred him For his Learning had rendred him very famous in the Court A Poet in those Times writing an Heroick Poem to the Queen therein describing all her great Officers one after another thus depainted this her Secretary Inde tibi est altis SMYTHUS à gravibúsque Secretis Doctrinae Titulis Honoris fulgidus ut qui Pierius Vates prompto facundus ore Et cui solliciti exquisita Peritia Iuris Astronomus Physicusque Theologus insuper omni Eximiè multifaria tam structus in Arte Ut fedes in eo Musae fixisse putentur Wherein of all the Queen 's Wise and Noble Counsellors Smith her Secretary is made to be the deeply Learned Man about her as being an ingenious Poet an excellent Speaker of exquisite Skill in the Civil Law in Astronomy in natural Philosophy and Physick in Divinity and in a word so richly furnished in all the Arts and Sciences that the Muses themselves might be supposed to
Secondly Concerning Laws for the Politick Government of the Country to be possest for the Preservation of it Thirdly In what Orders to proceed in this Journey from the beginning to the End which Sir Thomas called A Noble Enterprise and A Godly Voyage His Son being now with his Colony upon the Place proceeded commendably in order to the Reduction of it He was in a good forwardness of reducing Sarleboy to Obedience For they had much Converse together and came at length to Articles of Agreement The main of which was that he should be made a Denizon of England by the Queen and hold his Land of her and him and the same Privilege should the rest of his Scots enjoy Paying to the Queen a yearly Rent in acknowledgement and he to become Homager to Her by Oath and so to be a faithful Subject or else lose his Right Mr. Smith also began a new Fort in this Country He laboured also to unite the English and Scots that were there who did not it seems very well agree That their strength being united they might be the more able to withstand the Wild Irish. And this the Scots were for promoting as considering that if the English and they should strive together when the one had weakened the other the Wild Irish like the Puthawk it was Sir Thomas's own similitude might drive them out or carry away both Besides the Pains Sir Thomas had already taken for the settlement of the Ardes he drew up this year Instructions to be sent from the Queen to his Son Containing directions upon what terms Sarleboy and his fellows should hold their Lands of her Majesty and him Likewise he drew up a draught for explaining certain Words doubtful in the Indentures between the Queen and him and his Son As about his Sons soldiers if they should Marry in that Country as it was likely they would The Secretary entreated the Lord Treasurer to steal a little leisure to look these Writings over and correct them so that he might make them ready for the Queens signing And this he hoped when once dispatched might be as good to his Son as Five Hundred Irish soldiers At Mr. Smith's first coming hither he found some few that claimed themselves descended of English blood namely the Family of the Smiths and the Savages and two Surnames more And these presently joyned with the English and combined with them against the Wild Irish. But all the rest were mere Irish or Irish Scots and natural Haters of the English The Queen had a Force of men in those Parts for necessary Defence and for the keeping of Knockfergus a very important Place for curbing the Irish. But to retrench her Charge in Ireland she was minded now to discharge them as she had done some already expecting that Smith should secure those Quarters nor would she grant any Foot or Horse to him Sir Thomas therefore in February interceded with her by the means of the Lord Treasurer that at least for that year she would suffer those Bands to be there to Countenance and support the New begun Aid and Fort and not to leave it so naked as it had been it seems all that Winter by Cassing those Bands that were heretofore the Defence of Knockfergus and the Bar of the North. And he told the Lord Treasurer upon this Occasion that it was certain if his Son had not retrieved a Band of the Lord of Harvey's at his own Charge Knockfergus had been in great danger or else clean lost But while these matters thus fairly and hopefully went on Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a wild Irish man Yet Sir Thomas did not wholly desist but carried on the Colony and procured more Force to pass over there For in March Anno exeunte his Son being but newly if yet dead there were Harrington Clark and some others Adventurers on this Design that gave certain Summs of Money for Lands there to be assured to them In the beginning of March 1572 the Ships Captains and Soldiers were ready to be wasted over When unhappily some Persons concerned had started some new Matter in regard of the Bargain Which put a stop to their Departure And one Edward Higgins the Chief of the Gentlemen and Captains that were going over and forward in this generous Expedition was hindred for want of the money agreed upon Hence it came to pass that the Captains lay at great Charges when their Ships Mariners and Soldiers were ready and they did nothing but dispend their Money This troubled Sir Thomas not a little as appears by a Letter he wrote to one Mrs. Penne a Gentlewoman that had an Influence upon some of these Persons that made the stop To whom therefore Sir Thomas applied himself praying her to call upon them to consider at what Charge the Captains did lie and to do what she could in any wise to help them away Whereby she should do the Queens Majesty good service and him and them great Pleasure It being a matter said he which indeed for the goodness of it I take much to heart This was writ from Greenwich the 6th of March This Care the Secretary continued For a year or two after I find him drawing out other Passports and Licences for transportation of Victuals for certain that went to the Ardes and expressing himself then to a Friend that it stood him upon both in Profit and Honesty not to let the present Month pass which was May An. 1574. And so during his Life Sir Tho. laboured in the Civilizing and Settlement of this his Colony But upon his Death it seems to have lain neglected for some Time And tho' the Family and Heirs of Sir Thomas who are extant to this day have often claimed their Interest in this Land which their Ancestor did so dearly purchase and well deserve yet they enjoy not a foot of it at this present For as I have been informed by some of that Worshipful Family Sir William Smith Nephew and Heir to our Sir Thomas Smith was meerly tricked out of it by the Knavery of a Scot one Hamilton who was once a Schoolmaster tho' afterwards made a Person of Honour with whom the said Sir William was acquainted Upon the first coming in of King Iames I. He minded to get these Lands confirmed to him by that King which had cost Sir Thomas besides the death of his only Son 10000 l. being to go into Spain with the English Ambassador left this Hamilton to solicite this his Cause at Court and get it dispatch'd But Sir William being gone Hamilton discovered the Matter to some other of the Scotch Nobility And he and some of them begged it of the King for themselves pretending to his Majesty that it was too much for any one Subject to enjoy And this Hamilton did craftily thinking that if he should have begged it all for himself he might perhaps have failed of success being so great a Thing but that
this so great a Fear What Act or Doing is there but Men and Women have dyed in it Mâ—â—y of Feavors more of Surfeits some of Cold some of overmuch Heat a great number of sorrow not a few of Gladness some in Talking some in Sneezing some in Gasping some ailing nothing but making them ready in the Morning What would you make of this but that Death is ready at al Times anâ— Hours to us that are Mortal K Henry the First who for his Surname was called The â—air Clerk or Learned Man dyed of eating of a Lamprey His Prince and eldest Son and his fair Daughter were both drowned in the Sea What shall never King eat Lampreys again Nor the Daughters nor Sons of Kings come in Ships or Boats for that Cause How often do you see that they shun it for all that except the Weather be tempestuous K. William Rufus was slain with an Arrow in hunting Shall Kings therefore give over all pastime or let no Man bear Bows while they be in Hunting How many do you see yearly drowned in the Thames And who forsaketh notwithstanding to row in a Barge or Wherry How many thousand of Children be born every day in one Place or other How many Hundreds think you in the City of London and in the Shire of Essex in a Month And if two dy in a year in Childbed it is a great Mervail And yet even they commonly dy of some Fear or some Fright or some Ague or some other Cause than the very Birth going before So that it is not Ten but a Hundred or a Thousand to one that the Woman shall escape who travaileth with Child And yet they do not amiss to commit themselves to God and to require his Aid at all such good and natural Works And they have the more Comfort as I think when they be in pain But to make this so perillous a Case and so fearful a Matter and so dangerous a Battel I do assure you I se no Cause And because you reckoned up so many Diseases whereunto natural Men and Women be subject And therefore you would be loth this also should be added You shall see how much contrary I am to you I think that bringing forth of Children doth not only preserve Women from many Diseases and other Inconveniences but it doth also clear their Bodies amend the Colour prolong their Youth If I should bring unto you th' authority and Reasons of Physic therefore altho it be easy to do yet would you ask me who the Devil made me a Physician And you would say yoa had no leisure to look over and try those Books which you may easily look and se the Conclusion Mark in the Court and in all other places where ye go Look what Ladies and Gentlewomen be most fruitful and have most Children if they look not for their Age moâ— youngly best coloured and be cleareâ—t 〈◊〉 Diseases Mark again them which be 〈◊〉 after they pass once Fourty or Fourty five years and toward Fifty if they look not withered yea either Red or Tawny coloured and older than they be by a great way I could bring you ready Examples not far hence where be three Sisters marryed Theldest hath Ten or Twelve Children the middlemost but one or two and the youngest had never a one who being best kept and most at Ease yet theldeit Sister being Ten years elder looketh Twenty years younger than the youngest And thâ—â—â—dlemost according to the Rate 〈◊〉 Children And I could name â—â—â—ugh to you in the Court and in 〈◊〉 and whensoever you wil I wiâ—â—â—hew you them But I would have you Mr. Agamus to mark this that I say And if you find my Sayings true then never be in that Heresy that you be in But rather think that for the Queens Majesties own Person and the Preservation of her Body Health Colour Beauty Grace and Youth it is an Hundred times better for her Highness to Mary and to have Children than to live sole Now let us come to the Grief of Mind For this was another piece whereby ye crept so into us that no Husband pleased you neither Stranger nor English neither whom her Highness would please nor whom she would not please And ye thought there would be no long Agreement Seing no Man nor Woman doth always agree with himself much less he can agree with another And hereupon ye builded your mervelous Forces and Castles What Inconveniences come with Disaggrements What Grief of the Graunting What Hatred of the Denying What Danger of the Dissension And you helped your self stoutly with the Histories of Queens and Noblewomen who have been greatly troubled vexed and brought to Extremities 〈◊〉 â—hose means I wil venture with you wheâ—â— begun and there joine with you where yâ—â— think your self strongest Can never Man â—â—ree long with himself Mary so much the â—â—tter say I. We do not think al one of thingâ— when we be Children and when we be Men nor when we be young Men and when we be old Mary we be the wiser For as Wisdom cometh Error goeth away Folly and Wisdom cannot agree That which to Childishness and Folly of Youth appeareth good to gray Age appeareth Lightnes and nothing worth Were it not better that this Dissension and Debate in our selves were at the first but that God would so train us up that we might se how we did profit Have we not after a little Wisdom cometh to us this Debate in our selves every day The Appetite draweth one way and Reason another Th' one would run at randome th' other holdeth back What do good Fathers to their Children but provide for them a Dissenter a Schoolmaster who should by godly Perswasion yea and sometimes Rebukes keep them from that which they most desire Doth not two Eyes se better than one Do not the contrary Opinions declared open the better the Truth Why doth else the Judge hear both Parties before he give Sentence And wherefore be Counsillors but because they be not always of the same Affection that the Prince is And by this Dissenting is the best way found out For even as when in a heap of Sand or Mould there is espied a bright thing like Mettal by sifting of it and washing it will come to a neerer Guess and by farther Travail be tryed whether it be Gold or no So when a thing glistereth and appeareth gay the same being sifted in Consultation among divers Judgments at the last doth so come to the strong Water or Ramentation or to the Test til it appeareth in his Clearness how it is to be reputed Or els Copper may sometimes be taken for Gold and a vain thing that wil consume like Brimstone may be praised for good Mettal And I pray you who shall more carefully look to or more faithfully counsil or be more circumspectly fearful for the managing of her Highness Affaires than an Husband should do Or who can more amiably more frankly more certainly or more secretly
these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time