Physitians reported to an Earle of this Land that his Lordship had a bottle for his bed-head of ten pounds the Pint to the same effect But my Masters whether are we fallen unadvisedly I am ashamed to have made mention of so base filthinesse Not without good cause quoth I but that we are here alone and no man heareth us Wherefore I pray you let us returne whereas we left and when you named my Lord of Leicesters Daughter borne of the Lady Shâffield in Dudley Castle there came into my head a prety story concerning that affaire which now I will recount though somewhat out of order thereby to draw you from the further stirring of this unsavory puddle and foule dunghill whereunto we are slâpped by following my Lord somewhat too far in his paths and actions Wherefore to tell you the tale as it fell out I grâw acquainted three months past with a certain Minister that now is dead and was the same man that was used in Dudley Castle for complement of some sacred ceremonies at the birth of my Lord of Leicesters daughter in that place and the matter was so ordained by the wily wit of him that had sowed the seed that for the better covering of the harvest and secret delivery of the Lady Sheffield the good wife of the Castle also whereby Leicesters appointed gossips might without other suspition have accesse to the place should faine her selfe to be with childe and after long and sore travell God wot to be delivered of a cushion as she was indeed and a little after a faire coffin was buried with a bundell of clouts in shew of a childe and the Minister caused to use all accustomed prayers and ceremonies for the solemne interring thereof for which thing afterward before his death he had great griefe and remorse of conscience with no small detestation of the most irreligious device of my Lord of Leicester in such a case Here the Lawyer began to laugh a pace both at the device and at the Minister and said now truly if my Lords contracts hold no better but hath so many infirmities with subtilties and by-places besides I would be loth that he were married to my daughter as mean as she is But yet quoth the Gentleman I had rather of the two be his wife for the time then his guest especially if the Italian Chyrurgian or Physitian be at hand True it is said the Lawyer for he doth noâ poison his wives whereof I somewhat mervaile especially his first wife I muse why he chose rather to make her away by open violence then by some Italian confortive Hereof said the Gentleman may be diverâ reasons alleaged First that he was not at thât time so skilfull in those Italian wares nor had about him so fit Physitians and Chyrurgions for the purpose nor yet in truth doe I thinke that his minde was so setled then in mischiefe as it hath beene sithence For you know that men are not desperate the first day but doe enter into wickednesse by degrees and with some doubt or staggering of conscience at the beginning And so he at that time might be desirous to have his wife made away for that she letted him in his designements but yet not so stony-hârted as to appoint out the particular manner of her death but rather to leave that to the discretion of the murderer Secondly it is not also unlike that he prescribed unto Sir Richard Varney at his going thither that he should first attempt to kill her by poyson and if that tooke not place then by any other way to dispatch her howsoever This I prove by the report of old Doctor Bayly who then lived in Oxford another manner of man then he who now liveth about my Lord of the same name and was Professour of the Physicke Lecture in the same University This learned grave man reported for most certaine that there was a practice in Cumner among the conspiratours to have poysoned the pooâe Lady a little before she was killed which was attempted in this oder They seeing the good Lady sad and heavy as one that wel knew by her other handling that her death was not far off began to perswde her that her disease was abundance of melancholly and other humors and therefore would needs counsaile her to take some potion which she absolutely refusing to do as suspecting still the worst they sent one day unwares to her for Doctor Bayly and desired him to perswade her to take some little potion at his hands and they would send to fetch the same at Oxford upon his prescription meaning to have added also somewhat of their owne for her comfort as the Doctor upon just causes suspected seeing their great importunity and âhe small need which the good Lady had of Physick and therefore he flatly denied their request misdoubting as he after reported lest if they had poisoned her under the name of his Potion he might after have beene hanged for a colour of their sinne Marry the said Doctor remained wâll assured that this way tâking no place she should not long escape violence as after ensued And âhe thing was so beaten into the heads of the principall men of the University of Oxford by these and other meanes as for that she was found murdered as all men said by the Crowners inquest and for that she being hastily and obscurely buried at Cumner which was condemned above as not advisedly done my good Lord to make plain to the world the great loue he bare to her in her life and what a griefe the losse of so vertuous a Lady was to his tender heart would needs have her taken up againe and reburied in the University Church at Oxford with great pomp and solemnity that Doctor Babington my Lords Chaplain making the publike funerall Sermon at her second buriall tript once or twice in his speech by recommending to their memories that vertuous Lady so pitifully murdered instead of so pitifully slaine A third cause of this manner of the Ladies death may be the disposition of my Lords nature which is bold and violent where it feareth no resistance as all cowardly natures are by kinde and where any difficulty or danger appeareth there more ready to attempt all by art subtilty treason and treachery And so for that he doubâed no great resistance in the poore Lady to withstand the hands of them which should offer to break her neck he durst the bolder attempt the same openly But in the men whom he poisoned for that they were such valiant Knights the most part of them as he durst as soon have eaten his scabard as draw his sword in publike against them he was inforced as all wretched irefull and dastardly creaâures are to supplant them by fraud and by other mens hands As also at other times he hath sought to doe unto divers other noble and valiant personages when he was
subjection to the Frenâh And as for Portâgâll â hâve heard some of âhe chiefest Catholiques among them say in this late contention about their Kingdome that rather then they would suffer the Castilian to come in upon them they would be content to admit whatsoever aids of a contrary religion to themselves and to adventure whatsoever alteration in religion or other inconvenience might befâll them ây that means rather then endanger their subjâction to their ambitious neighbour The like is reported in divers histories of the Grecians at this day who doe hate so much âhe name and dominion of the Latines as thây had rather to endure all the miseries which daâly they suffer under the Turke for their relâgion and otheâwise then by calling for aid from the West to hazard the subjection to the said Lâtines So that by these examples you see that feare and horrour of externall subjection may sâay men in states and consequently also both Papâsts and Puritans in the state of England from pâssiâg to the second kind or degree of treason albeit they were never so deepe in the first and had both ability time will and oportunity for the other Here I presumed to interrupt their Speech and said that this seemed to mee most cleare and that now I understooâ what the Lawyer meant before when he affirmed that albeit the most part of Papists in generall might be said to deale against the state of England at this day in that they deal so earnestly for the maintenance and increase of their religion and so to incurre some kind of treason yet perhapâ not so far-forth nor in so deepe a degree of proper treason âs in this booke is presumed or inforced though for my part said I I do not see that the book presumeth or inforceth all Papists in generall to be properly traytors but onely such as in particular are therein named or that are by law attainted condemned or executed and what will you say quoth I to those in particular Surely quoth he I must say of these much after the manner whiâh I spâke before that some here named in this book are openly knowne to have beene in the secoâd degree or kind of treason as Weslmeâland Norâon Sanders and the like But divers others namely the Priests and Seminaries that of late have sufâered by so much as I could see delivered and pleaded at their arraignements or heard protested by them at their deaths or gathered by reason and discourse of my sâlfe for that no forraine Prince or wise councellor would ever commit so great matters of state to such instruments I cannot I sây but thiâke that to the wise of our state that had the doing of this busines the first degree of treason wherein no doubt they were was sufficient to dâspatch and make them away especially in such suspitious times as these are to the end that being hanged for the first thây should never bee in daâger to fall into the second nor yet to draw other men to the same which peâhaps was most of all misdoubted After the Lawyer had spâken this I held my peace to heare what the Gentle man would answer who walked up and down two whole turnes in the Gallery without yeelding aây word again and then staying upon the sudden cast his eyes sadly upon us both and said My masters howsoever this be which indeed appertaines not to us to judge or discus but rather to perswade our selves that thâ state hath reason to do as it doth and that it must oftentimes as well prevent inconveniences âs remedy the same when they are happened yet for my owne part I must confesse unto you that upon some consideratâons which use to come unto my mind I take no sâall griefe of these differences among us which you terme of divers and different religions for which we are driven of necessity to use discipline toward divers who possibly otherwise would be no great malefactors I know the cause of this diffârence is grounded upon a principle not easie to cure which is the judgement and conscience of a man whereunto obeyeth at length his will and affâction whatsoever for a time he may otherwise âissemble outwardly I remembâr your speech bâfâre of the doubtfull and dangerous inclination of suâh as live discontented in a State of a different religion especially when either in deed or in their owne conceipt they are hardly dealt withall and where every mans particular punishment is taken to reach to the cause of the whole I am not ignorant how that misery procureth amity and the opinion of calamity moveth affection of mercy and compassion even towards the wicked the better fortune alway is subject to envie and he that suffereth is thought to have the better cause my experience of the divers reignes and proceedings of King Edward Queene Mary and of this our most gracious Soveraigne hath caught me not a little touching the sâquell of these affairs And finally my good friendâ I must tell you plaine quoth he and this he spake with great asseveration that I could wish with all my heart that either these differences were not among us at all or else that they were so temperatly on al parts pursued as the common state of our country the blessed reigne of her Majesty and the common cause of true religion were not endangered thereby But now and there he brake off and turnââ aââe The Lâwyer seeing him hold his peace and depart he stepped after him and taking him by the gowne said merrily Sir all men are not of your complexion some âre of quicker and more stârriâg Spirits and doe lâve to fish in water that is troubled for that thây âoe partâcipate the Black-moores humour thât dwâll in Guinea whereof I suppose you hâve heard and seene also some in this Land whose exârcise at home is as some write the one to hunt catch and sell thâ other and alwayâs âhe stronger to make money of the weakâr for the time But now if in Eâgland we should live in peace and unity of the state as thây doe in Germâny notwithstaâding thâir differences of Religion and thât the onâ shâulâ not prey upon the other theâ shâulâ the great âaulcons fâr the Fâeld I meane the favourites of the time faile whereon to fâed which wâre an inconveniencâ as you knâw Truly Siâ said the Gântleman I thânke you rove neerer the maâke then you weeâe for if I be not deceived the vâây ground of muâh of thâse broiles whâreâf we talke is but a very pâây nât in the minds of the Prâncâ or State whâse inâentions no doubt be most jâst and holy bât in the greedy imagiââtion and suâtâle conâât of him who at this prâsânt in râspâct of oâr sinnâs is pârmitted by God to tyranâize both Prince aâd State and beâng himsâlfe of no religion feedeth notwithstandiâg upân our differencâs in ââligion to the fatting of âimsâlfe and
the good provâdence of God recovering againe letâed the execution of the bargain and my Lord of Huntington having occasion to joyne amity with Leyâester had more respect to his owne commodity then to his friends security as commonly in such persons and cases it falleth out and so discovered the whole device unto him who forgat not after from time to time to plague the deviser by secret means untill he had brought him to that poore estaâe as all the world seeth though many men be âot acquainted with the true cause of this his disgrace and bad fortune To this answered the Lawyer Iâ good faith Gentlemen you open great mysteries unto me which either I knew not or considered not so particularly before and no marvell for that my profession and exercise of Law restraineth me from much company keeping and when I happen to be among some that could tell mee much herein I dare not either aske or heare if any of himselfe beginne to talke lest afterward âhe speech comming to light I be fâtched over the coales as the proverb is for the same under pretence of another thing But you who are not suspected for religion have muââ greatâr priviledge in such matters both to âeare and speake agâine which men of mine estate dare not doeâ Onely this I knew before that throuâhout all England my Lord of Leycester is taken for Dominus fac totum whose excellency above othâââ iâ infinâte whose authority is abâoluâe whose coÌâândment is dreadfull whose dislâke is dângâroââ and whose fâvour is omnipotent And for his will though it be seldome Law yet alwayeâ is his power above lawââ anâ thârefore wâe Lawyers in all cases brought unto us have as greât râgârd to his inclination as Astronomers have to thâ Plânet dominant or as Seamen have to the North Pole For as thây âhat faile doe direct âheir course according to thâ situation and dirâction of that starrâ whiâh guideth them at âhe Pole and as Astronomers who make Prognostications doe foretell things to come according to the aspect of the Planet dominant or bearing rule for âhe time so we doe guide our Clients baâke anâ do prognosticate what is like to ensue of his cause by the aspâct and inclination of my Lord of Lâycester And for that reason as soone as âver wee heare a case proposed oâr custome is to ask what part my Lord of Lâyââster is lâke to favour in âhe matter for in all mâttârs lâghtly of aây ââportance he hath a parâ or what may be gathered of his inâlinatiââ therein and accordâng to that we give a guess more or lesse what end will ensue But this ây Masters is from the purpose and thârefore returning to youâ former speech agaââe I do say that albâ6it I was not privy before to the particulâr pâovâsions of my Lord and hiâ frâends in such and such places yet seeing him acâompted Lord Generall over all the whole Realme and to have at his commandement all these severall commodities and forces pertainiâg to her Majesty which you have mentioned before and so many more as be in the Realme and not mentioned by yâu for in fine he hath al I could not but account him as hee is a potent Prince of our State for all furniture needfull to defence or offence or rather the onely Monarch of our Nobility whâ hâth sufficient nâedfull to plunge his Pâince if he should bee discontented especially for his abundance of money which by the wise is tearmed the Sinewes of Martiall actions wherein by all mens judgements hee is better furnâshed at this day then ever any subject of our land either haâh beene heretofore or lightly may be hereafter both for bankes wiâhout the Realme and stuffed coffers within Insomuch that being my selfe in the last Parliament when the matter was moved for the grant of a Subsidie after that one for her Majesty had given veây good reâsons why her Highnesse was in want of money and consequently needed the assistance of her faithfull subjects therein another that sate next me of good account said in mine eare secretly these reasons I doe well allow and am contented to give my part in money but yet for hâr Majesties need I could make answer as one answered once the Emperour Tiberius in the like case and cause Abundè ei pecuniam fore si à liberto suo in soâietatem recipiâtur that her Majesty should have Money enough if one of her servants would vouchsafe to make her Highnesse partaker with him meaning thereby my Lord of Leycester whose treasure must needs in one respect be greater then that of her Majesty for that he layâth up whaâsoever he getteth and his expences he casteth upon the purse of his Princesse For that said the Gentleman whether he doe or no it importeth little to the matter seeing both that which hee spendeth and that he hordeth is truly and propârly his Princes Treasure and seeing hee hath so many and dâvers wâyes of gaining what should he mâke accouââ of his own private expences if hee lay âut onâ for a thousand what can that make him âhâ poorer hee that hath so goodly land possâssiââs Seigniories and rich âffiâes of his owne as he is knowne to have hee that hath so speciall fâvour and authority wiâh the Prince as he can obtaine whatsoeveâ he listââh to demand hââhât âath his part and pârtion iâ all sures besides that ãâã grace or els for the most pârt are endeâ by Lâw he thât may âhop and change what lanâs hee listeth with hâr Mâjâsty ãâã them of al their woods and other câmmoâities and rack them afterward to the uttermost penny and then returne the sâme so tenter-stretched and bare shorne into hâr Majesties hands againe by fresh âxchange rent for rent for other lands never ãâã sâd before hee that possesâeth so many gainfull Lâcences to himselfe alone of Wine Oylâs Curranâs âloath Velvets with his new office for Licence of alienation most pernicious unto the Commonwealâh as hee useâh the same with many other the like which were suffiâient to enrich whole Toânes Coâporations Countries and Commonwealths he that hath the art to make gaiââull to himselfe every offence displeasure and fâlling ouâ of her Majesty with him and every angry countânance cast upon him he that hath his share in all offices of great profit and holdeth an absâlute Monopâly of the same he that dispâsââh at hâs will the Ecclesiâsticâll liviâgs of the Realme maketh Bishops nâne but suâh as will doe reason or of his Chaplains whom he listeth and retaineth to himselfe so much of the living as liketh him best hee that sweepeth away the glebe from so many Benefices throughout the Land and compoundeth with the person for the râst He that so scoureth the University and Collâdââs where he is Câancellouâ and selleth both Heaâships and Scholârs places and all oâhâr offices roomes and dignities thaâ by art or violânce may
mens humours oft I fed Whilst hope this while a good opinion bred To learned Schollers I was something franck Not for the love that I to leaâning bore But either to get praise or pick a thanke Of such as could the Musâs aide implore To consecrate my name for evermore For he is blest that so befriended dyes Whose praise the Musâs will immortalize You that desire to have your fame survive When you within your graves intomb'd shall lye Cherish those sacred Sisters while you live For they be daughters of Dame memory Of âhe thundâing Monarch of the sky They have the gift to register with pen Th' eternall fame or infamy of men The Students of the Vniversity Oxford whereof I was the Chancellor That Nurse of science and Philosophy Knowing the greatnesse of my wit and power Did honour me as the faire springing flower That in the Princesse favour highly grew Whom she with showârs oâ gold did of bâdew At my command both Dee and Allen tended By Magick Art my pleasure to fulfill These to my service their best studies bended And why they durst not disobey my will Yea whatsoever was of secret skill In Oxford or in Cambridge to be sold I bought for love for feare or else for gold Doubtlesse the most renown'd Philosophers As Plato and Pithagoras have sought To learne the Hierogliphick Characters And secrets which by Magick skill are wrought Such as th' Egyptians sewes and Chaldees taught Th'art's not ill if men doe not abuse it No fault so bad but some men will excuse it Lopus and Iulio were my chiefe Physitians Men that were cunning in the Art to kill Good Schollers but of passing ill conditions Such as could ridde mens lives yet no blood spill Yea and with such dexterity and skill Could give a dram of poyson that could slay At end of the yeare the moneth the weeke or day I never did these wicked men imploy To wrong my Prince or my true loving friend But false deceitfull wretches to destroy And bring them to an vnexpected end Let them looke to it that did most offend Whose names are Registred in Pluto's scroules For I will never answer for their soules Knights and Esquires the best in every shire Did waite on me in England up and downe And some among them did my Livery weare My smiles did seeme to promise them renowne But dismall haps insu'd when I did frowne As when the starre Arcturus doth appeare Of raging Tempests Sea-men stand in feare As for the Souldiers and the men of warre At home in service some I did retaine Others I sent abroad not very farre At my commandment to returne againe These I with cost did secretly maintaine That if ought chanced otherwise then well I might haue sent my foes to heauen or hell Likewise I brought the Lawyers in some awe The worthy students of the Innes of court That then applied them to the common Law Did yeeld to me in matters of import Although sometimes I did the Lawe extoât And whether right or wrong my cause once heard To plead against me made great Lords afeard So the Lord Barkley lost good lands by me Whereof perchance at fiâst he did not dreame Might many times doth overcome the right It is in vaine to strive against the streame When he that is chiefe subiect in the Realme Vpon his Princes favour rests him bold He cannot or he will not be controld Thus by the Queene my puissance was upheld And for my foes I euer was too strong The grace I had from her all feare expeld I might wrong others but not suffer wâong So many men did unto me belong Which on my favour chiefely did depend And for my sake both goods and land would spend The best esteemed Nobles of the land On whose support the publique state relied Were linckt with me in friendships faithfull band Or else in kindred nerely were allied Their perfect loues and constant hearts I tried The inferior sort at our devotion stood Ready to execute what we thought good The Earle of Warwicke my owne loving brother My sisters Husband th' Earle of Huntington The bounteouâ Earle of Bedford was another Of my best friends belov'd of every one Sir Henry Sidneys power in Wales well knowne And there the Earle of Pembroke chiefe of all Of kinâe my ââiend what ever thence might fall In Barwicâ my wives Vncle had chiefe power The Lord of Hunsdon my assured fâiend In Ireland the Lord Grey was Governour Gernsey and Iersey likewise did depend Vpon such men as did my will attend Hopton my man Lieutenant of the Tower Was prompt to doe me service at an houre Sir Edward Horsey in the Isle of Wight And noble Sir George Câây next bore sway Men of great courage and no little might To take my part in any doubtfull fray In London the Recorder Fleetwood lay That often us'd good words that might incense The Citizens to stand in my defence The Premises did likewise take my part As I in private quarrels oft have tryde So that I had the very head and heart The Court and City leaning on my side With flattery some others with gifts I plyd And some with threats stern looks angry words I wonne to my defence with Clubs and Swords Thus I by wisedome and fine poilicie Maintain'd the reputation of my life Drawing to me the flowre of Chivalrie To succour me at need in civill strife Men that lov'd change in every place were rife And all the realme was with my power possest Think what this might have wrought but judge the best Like Claudius Marcellus drawne through Rome In his faire chariot which with Trophees deckt Crowned with Garlands by the Senates doome Whom they five times their Consul did elect That from their foes he might their lives protect When he wiâh conquest did his Country greet Loaden with spoyles lay prostrate at his feet So did I ride in tryumph through chiefe townes As if I had beene Vice-roy of this Land My face well grac'd with smiles my purse with crowneâ Holding the reynes of honour in my hand I managed the state I did command My lookes with humble majesty repleat Made some men wish me a Kings royall seat Thus waxt I popular to purchase fame To me the common peoples knees did bow I could my humour still so fitly frame To entertaine all men to outward shew With inward love for few my heart did know And that I might not seeme puft up with pride Bare-headed oft through Cities I did ride While some cry'd out God save you gracious Lord Lord how they did my fame hyperbolize My words and gestures did so well accord As with their hearts I seem'd to simpathize I charm'd their eares and did inchant their eyes Thus I was reckoned their chiefe Potentate No poller but a piller of the stâte Then I was call'd the life and th' heart o'th'Court And some I wot wisht I had beene the head I had so great a trayne
subtile fiâe and sox I âe the âever he was â like wâll the good motion propounded by the foresaid Gentlemaâ to his frâend at the same time and doe assure my self âât would be most pleasant to the Realme ând profitâble to her Majâsty to wit that this mans actions might be called publiquâly to triall and liberty given to good subjects to say what they knâw against the same as it was permitted in the fiâst yeer of Kinâ Henry the eight agâinst his Grandfather and in the first of Queen Mary against his Father and then I would not doubt but if these two his Ancestors were found worthy to lose their heads for treason this man would not be found unworthy to make the third in kindred whose treacheries doe farre sââpasse them both After thâ Gentleman hâd saâd this âhe Lawyâr stood still somewhat smiling to himsâlfe looking round about him as though he had bin hâlfe afraid and then sâid My masters doe you read over or study the Statutes that come forth have you not heard of the proviâo madâ in the last Parliament for punishment of those who speake so broad of such mân as my Lârd of Leicâstâr is Yes said the Gentleman I hâve heârd how that my Lord of Leicâster was very carefull and dilâgent at thât time to have suâh a Law to passe against talkârs hoping bâlikâ that his L. undeâ tâat generall restrâiât mighââye the more quiââly in harbor from thâ tempest of menâ toâââs which âaââed busily at that time of diâârs hâs Lorâshâpâ actions and asianâ whiâh perhaps himsâlf would have wished to pâssâ wiâh âore sâcresie As of his discontântment and pââpârâtion to rebâllion upon Monsâeurs fiâst coâiâg inâo the Land of his disgrâce and chââkâ râcââveâ iâ Câuââ of thâ ãâã dââth of the nobâe Pââle of Essâx of thâs mâns hâstly ãâ¦ã widow whoâ he seât up ând downe thâ Coântâây âom hââse tââouse by privâew ãâ¦ã to avâid the sight knowledge of thâ Qâeeâes Mâjesty Aâd albeât he hâd notâon by usâd her at hiâ good king bâfâre for saâisfyiââ of hâs owne last but âlso mârried and remarried her for contentation of her friends yet denied he the sâme by solemne oath to her Majesty and received the holy Communion thereupon so good a conscience he hath and conseqâentlâ threatned most shârp revenge towards all subjects which should dâre to speake thereof and so for the conââaling both of this and other his doings which he desired not to have publâkâ no maâvaâle though his Lorâshâp were so diligent a proâuâer of that law fâr silence Indeed said I it is very probable that his Lordshâp wâs in great distresse about that time when Monsiâuâs matteâs were in hând and that he did many things and purposed more whâreof he desired lâssâ spâech âmong the people âspecially afterwards whân hâs said desigâements tooke nât place I was my sâlfe that yâer not fâr from Warwiâk when he câme thither from the Court a full Mââe content and when it was thâught most certainly throughoât the Realm that he would hâve takân armes sooâ after if the marriage of her Majesty wiâh Monsâeuâ hâd gone fârward The thiâg in Cambridge anâ in all the Couâtâey âs I roâe was in âvâry maâs ãâã and it was a wonder to see not oâely âhe counâenâncâs but alsâ the bâhâviour and to ãâã the bold spââches of all such as were of his fâction My Lârd himselfe had given oât a little before at ãâã worâh that thâ matteâ woulâ cosâ maây brâkân hââds before ãâ¦ã next and my Lord of Waâwiâk hâd sâid opânly at his table in Greânwiâh Sir ãâ¦ã bâing by if I be not decâived thââ ãâ¦ã not âo âe suffârâd I meane the marrââgâ whiâh woâdâ of his oââe câming abroad ãâ¦ã by his own Lady then also preâeât ãâ¦ã common compânioâ ãâ¦ã Lordships part against the Queenes Mâjesty Such running there was such seâding and posting about the Realme such amplification of the poweâs and forces of Casimâre and other Princes ready as was affirmed to present themselves unto his aid for dâfence of the Realme and Râligion against strangers for that was holden to be his cause such numbring of parties and complices within the Realme whereof himsâlfe shewed the Catalogue to some of his friânâs for their comfort such debasing of them thât fâvoureâ the marriâge especially two or three Counâellâurs by name who were said to be the câuse of all and for that were appointed out to be shaâply punâshed to the âerrour âf all others such letters were written and intercâpâed of purpose impârting great powers to be ready and so mâny other things done and designed tending all to mânifest and open warre as I began hartâly âo be afrâid and wished my selfe baâke at Cambridge againâ hoping that bâing therâây Scholârs gâwne should excuse âe from necâssiây of âighting or if not I wâs resolved by my Lords good leâve to follow Aâistotle who prefâârâth âlway the Lyon beâore the Beare assuring my selfe withall thât hiâ Lordship should hâve no bâtter succâsse in this if it came to âriâll then his Faâher hâd in as bad a cause and so much the more for that I wâs privie to the mindes of some of his friends who mânt to hâve deceived him âf âhe matteâ hâd broken out And amongst othâr there was a certaân Vice-prâsident in the Wââld who being left in theâr come and absence of another to pâocure friânds said in a place secreâly not fâr from Ludlâw that if the mattâr came to blâwes he would follow his Mistresse and leave his Mastâr in the briars Marry sir qd the Geâtlâman and I trow many more would have followed that example For albeit I know âhat the Pâpâsts were most named and misdâubâed of his part in that cause for their open indiâation towards Mânsieur consequently for greater discredit of the thing it selfe iâ was given out every where by this Champâon of religion that her Majesties cause was the Papists cause even as his Father hâd done in the like enterprise before him though all upon dissimulation as appeared at his death where he professed himself an earnest Papist yet was there no man so simple in âhe Râalm which descried not this vizârd at the fiâst neither yet any good subject as I suppose who sâeing her Mâjâsty on the one part would not have taken against the other part what so ever he had beene And much more the thâng it selfe in controversie I meane the marriage of her royall Mâjesty with the brother and heire apparant of France being taken and judged by the best wisâst and faithfâllest Protâstants of the Realme to be âoth honourable convenâent profitable and needfull Whereby onely as by a most soveraigne and present remedy all our maladies both abroad and at home had at once been cured all foâraign enemies and domestical conspirators all differences all dangers all feares had ceased together France had bâene ours most assured Spaiâe
Sunday before the Earles deaâh ensuing the Friday after and when she wâs dead hâr body was swolne unto a monstrous bignesse and deformity whereof the good Earle hearing the day following lamented the case greatly and said in the presence of his Servants Ah poore Alice the cup was not prepared for thee albeit it were thy hard destiny to taste thereof Yong Honnies also whose father is Master of the châldren of her Mâjesties chappell being at that time Page to the said Earle and accustomed to take the taste of his drinke though since entertâined also among other by my Lord of Leicester for better covering of matter by his taste that he then tooke of the compound cup though in very small-quantity as you know the fashion is yet was he like to have lost his life but escaped in the end being yong with the losse onely of his haire which the Earle perceiving and taking compassion of the youth called for a cup of drinke a little before his death and drunke to Honnies saying I drinke to thee my Robin and be not afraid for thiâ is a better cup of drinke then that whereof thou tookest the taste when we were both poysoned and whereby thou hast lost thy haire and I must lose my life This hath yong Honnies reported openly in divers places and before divers Gentlemen of worship siâhence his coming into England and the foresaid Lea Iâishman at his passage this way towards France after he had been present at the forenamed Mistris Draykâts death with some other of the Eaâles servants have and doe most constantly report the same where they may do it without the terrour of my Lord of Leicesters revenge Whârefore in this matter there is no doubt at all though most extreame vile and intollerable indignity that such a man should be so openly murdered without punishment What Noble-man within the Realme may be safe if this be suffered or what worthy personage will adventure his life in her Majesties service if this shall be his reward But Sir I pray you pardon me for I am somewhat perhaps too vehement in the case of this my Patron and noble Peere of our Realme And therefore I beseech you to goe forward in your talke whereas you left I was recounting unto you others said the Gentleman made away by my Lord of Leicâster with like art and the next in order I think was Sir Nicelas Throgmarton who was a man whom my Lord of Leicester used a great while as all the World knoweth to overthwart and crosse the doings of my Lord Treasurer then Sir William Cicill a man specially misliked alwayes of Leicester both in respect of his old Master the Duke of Somerset as also for that his great wisdome zeale and singular fidelity to the Realme was like to hinder much this mans designments wherefore understanding after a certaine time that these two Knights were secretly made friends and that Sir Nicholas was lâke to detect his doings as he imagined which might turne to some prejudice of his purposes having conceived also a sâcret grudge and griefe against him for that he had written to her Majesty at his being Embassadour in France that he heard reported at Duke Memorances table that the Queene of England had a meaning to marry her Horsâkeeper he invited the said Sir Nicholas to a supper at his house in London and at supper time departed to the Court being called for as he said upon the sudden by her Mâjesty and so perforce would needs have Sir Nicholas to sit and occupie his Lordships place and therein to be served as he was and soone after by a surfeit there taken he died of a strange and incurable vomit But tâe day before his death he declared to a deare friend of his all the circumstance and cause of his disease which he affirmed plainly to be of poison given him in a Salet at supper inveying most earnestly against the Earles cruâlty and bloody disposition affirming him to be the wickedest most perilous and peâfidious man under heaven But what availed this when he had now received the bait This then is to shew the mans good fortune in seeing them dead whom for causes he would not have to live And for his art of poisoning it is such now and teaâheth so far as he holdeth all his foes in England and elsewhere as also a good many of his friends in fear therof and if it were knowne how many he hâth dispatched or assaulted that way it would be marvailous to the posterity The late Eale of Sussex wanted not a scruple for many yeers before his death of some dram received that made him incurable And unto that noble Gentleman Monsieur Simiers it was discovered by great providence of God that his life was to be attempted by that art and that not taking place as it did not through his owne good circumspection it was concluded that the same should be assâulted by violence whereof I shall have occasion to say more hereafter It haâh beene told me also by some of the servaâts of the late Lady Lenox who was also of the blood Royall by Scotland as all men know and consequently lâttle liked by Leicester that a little before her death or siâknesse my Lord tooke the paines to come and visit her with extraordinary kindnesse at her house at Hackney bestowing long discourses with her in private but as soone as he was departed the good Lady fell into such a flâx as by no meanes could be slayed so long as she had life in her body whereupon both she her selfe and all such as were neere about her saw her disease and ending day were fully of opinion that my Lord had procured her dispatch at his being there Whereof let the women that served hâr be examined as also Fowler that then had the chiefe doings in her affâiâes and since hath beene entertained by my Lord of Leicester Maâet also a stranger borne tbat then was about her a sober and zealous man in religion and otherwise well qualified can say somewhat in this point as I thinke if he were demanded So that this art and exercise of poisoning is much more perfect with my Lord then praying and he seemeth to take more pleasure therein Now for the second point which I named touching marriages and contracts with Women you must not marvaile though his Lordship be somewhat divers variable and inconstant with himselfe for that according to his profit or pleasure and as his lust and liking shall vary wherein by the judgement of all men he surpasseth not onely Sardânapaâus and Nero âut even Heliogâbatus himselfe so his Lordshâp also changeth Wâves and Minions by killing the one denying the other using the third for a time and he fawning upon the fourth And for this câuse he hath his tearmes and pretences I warrant you of Contracts Precontracts Postcontracts Protracts and Retracts as for example after he had killed
is no one Colledge or other thing of commodiây wâthin that place where hence hâ hath âo pââled whatsoever was possibly to be gâthered eââher by art or violânce Touâhing Oxford saiâ I for that I am an Uâiversâty man my selfe and have both experience of Câmbridgâ ând good acquaintance with divers students of ââe other university I can tell you enoâgh buâ ãâã fine all tendeth to âhis conclusion thât bâ hââ Chancellorship is cancelled almost all hâpe of good in thââ Universiây and by his pââtâctâon it is vâry likâ soone to come to dâstrâctâoâ And suââly if there were no oâher thiâg to declarâ the odâes and diffârânce betwixt him and our Chââceâlâur âhom he cannot beare for ââat evâây way hâ sâeth âim to pâsse him in âll honour anâ vertue it were sufficient to behold the prâsent state of the two Universities whâreof thây are heads and governours For our own I will not sây much lest I might peâhaps seeme partiâll but let thâ thing speak for it selfe Consider the fruit of the Garden and therby you may judge of thâ Gârdiners diligence Looke upon the Bishopricks Pastoâships and Pulpits of England and see whence principally they have recâived their furniture for advancement of the Gospell And oâ the contrary side looke upon the Semânaries of Papistry aâ Rome and Rhems upon the Colledges of Jesuists and other companies of Papists beyond the seas and see where-hence thây are eâpecially fraught The Priests and Jesuists here executed within the land and other that remaine either in prâson or abroad in corners are they not all in a manner of that Universiây I speak not to the disgrace of any good that remaine there or that have issued out thânce into the Lords Vineyârd but for the most part there of âhiââur time have they not either gone beyond âhe seas or left their places for discontentment in Religion or else become Servingâen or followed the bare name of Law or Physick without greatly profiting therein or furâhering âhe service of Gods Church or their Commonwealth And wherehence I pray you ensueth all this but by reason that the chiefe Governour thereof is an Atheist himselfe and useth the place onely for gaine and spoile for herehence ât commeâh that all good order and discipline is dissolved in that place the fervour of study extinguished the publique Lectures abandoned I meane of the more part the Tavernes and Ordinary tables frequented the apparell of Students growne monstruous and the statutes and good ordinance both of the University and of every Colledge and Hall in private brâken and infriâged ât my Lords good pleasâre without respect eâthâr of oath custome or reason to the contrary The heads and Officers are put in and out at his onely discretion and the Scholars places either told or dâspâsed by his letters or by these of his servants and followers nothing can be had thâre now without present monây it is as common buying and selling of places in that University as of horses in Smithfield whereby the good and vertuous are kept out and companions thrust in fit to serve his Lord afterward in all affaires that shall occurre And as for leases of Farmes Woods Pastures Personages Benefices or the like which belong any way to any part of the University to let or bestow these his Lord and his Servants have so fleeced shorne and scraped already that there remaineth little to feed upon hereafter albeit hee want not still his ãâã and intelligences in the place to advertâse him from time to âiâe when aây new little morsell is offâred Anâ the principall instruments which for this purpose hâ hath hâd there before âhis hâvâ been two Physitians Bayây and Culpiper both knâwne Papists a little while agoe but now jâst of Gâlens religion and so much the fitter for my Lords humour for his Lordship doth alwaies covet to be furnished with certaine chosen men about ãâã for âivers affairs as thâse two Galenâsts in the Universiây Deâ and Aââen two Aâheists for figuring and conjuring Iuâio the Italian and Lopaâ the Jew for poâsoning and for the art of destroying children in womens bellies Verneis for muâdering Digbies for Bauds and the like in occupations which his Lordship exerciseth Wherefore to returne to the speech where we began most âleare it is that my Lord of Lâycesteâ hath meanes to gâine and gâther also by the University as wâl aâ by the country abroad Wherin as I am told he beareth hâmselfe so absolute a Lord as if he were their King and not their Chancâllour Nay far more then if he wâre the generall and pârticular founder of all the Colledges and othâr houses of the University no man daring to contrary oâ interrupt the leasâ word or signification of his will but with hâs extreame danger which iâ a proceeding more fit for Phalâris the tyrant or some Governour in Târâary then for a Chancellour of a learned Universiây To this answâred the Lawyer for my Lords wrath towards such as will noâ stand to his judgment and opinion I can mâ selfe be a sufficient witnesse who having had oftân occasion to deale for composition of mâtters betwixt his Lordship and others hâve seene by experience that alwayes they have sped beââ wâo stood least in contenâion with him whatsoever their cause were For as a great and violent river the more it is stopped or contraried âhe more it riseth and swelleth bigge and in the end dejâcteth with more force the âhing thât made râsistance so his Lârdship being the great and mighây Potentate oâ this Realme and accustomed now to have his will in all things cannot beare to bee crossâd or resisted by any man though it were in his owne necessaây defence Hereof I havâ seene exâmples in the causes of Snowden forest in Wales of Denbighe of Killingworth of Drayton ând others where the paââies that had ânterest or thought themselves wronged had beene happy if they âad yeelded at the fiâst to hâs Lordships plâasure wiâhout further question for âhen had they escaped much trouble chârges displeasure and vexation when by âesistance they incurred to their great ruine and losse of life to some and in the end were faine to submit themselves unâo his will wiâh far worse conditions then in the beginning were offered unto them which thing waâ pittifull indeed to bâhold but yet sââh is my Lordâ disposition A noble disposition quoth the Gentleman thât I must give hâm my âoat if hee demând the âame and that quickly âlso for feare lest iâ I stagger or mâke doubt therâof hee coâpell me to yeeld both coat and doublet in penance of my stay I have read of some such Tyrants abroad in the world marry their end was alwayes according to their life as it is very like that it will be also in this man for that there is smal hope of his amendment and God passeth not over commonly such matters unpunished in this life as
well as in the life to come But I pray you siâ sââing mention is now made of the former oppâessiâns so much talked of throughout the realm thaâ you will take the pains to explain the substânce therof unâo me for albeit in generall every mân doâh know âhe same and in heart doe detest the tyranny thâreof yet we abroad in the Countrey doe doâ understand it so well and distinctly as you âhat be Lawyers who have seene and understood âhe whole processe of the same The case of Kâllingworth and Dânbigh said the Lawyer are much alike in matter and manner of proceeding though different in time place and importance Fâr that the Lordshâp in Dânbigh in Northwâles being given unto him by her Majesty a great while agoe at the beginning of his rising which is a Lârdship of singular great importance in that Countrây having as I have heard well neere 200. worshipfull Gântlemen freeholders to thâ same the tenants of the place considering the prâsenâ state of things ând having learned the hungry disposition of theâr new Lord made a common purse of a thâusand pouâds to present him withall at his fiâst entranâe whâch though he received as he râfuseth nothâng yet accounted he the sum of small effect for satisfâction of his appetiâe and therâfore applied hâmselfe not onely to mâke the utâermost that he could by Leases and such like wayes of commoditie but also he wâuld needs enforce the Fâeeholâers to raise thâir old rent of the Loâdship from two hundreth and fifây pounds a yeere or thereabouts at which rate he had receivâd the same in gifâ from her Mâjesty ânto eâght or nine hundreâh pounds by the yeere For that he had found out forsooth an old record as he said whereby he could prove that in ancient time long past that Lordship had yeelded so much old rent and therâfore he would now enforce the present tenants to makâ up so muâh againe upon their lands whâch they thought was against all reason for them to doe but my Lord perforce would have iâ so and in the end compelled them to yeeld to his will to the impoverishing of all the whole Countrey about The like proceeding he used with the tenants about Kâllingworth where he received the said Lordshâp and Castle from the Prince in gift of twenty foure pounds yeerely rent or thereabout hath made it now better then five hundreth by yeere by an old record also found by great fortune in the hole of a wall as is given out for he haâh singular good luck alwayes in finding out records for his purpose by vertue whereof he hath taken from the tenants round about their Lands Woods Pastures and Commons to make himselfe Paâkes Chaces and other commodities therwith to the subversion of many a good family which was maintained âhere before this devourer set foot in that Countrey But the matter of Snowden Forest doth passe all the rest both for cunning and cruelty the tragedy whereof was this he had learned by hâs intelligencers abroad whereof he had great store in every part of the Realme âhat there was a goodly ancient Forest in Norâh wales which hath almost infinite borderers about the same for it lyeth in the middest of the Countrey beginning at the hils of Snowden whereof it hath his name in Carnarvanshire and reaâheth every way towards divers other shires When my Lord heard of thâs he entered presently into the conceit of a singular great prây going to her Majesty signified that her highnesse was often times abused by the incroaching of such as dwelt upon her Forests which was neâessary to be restrained and therefore beseeched her Mâjesty to bestow upon him âhe âncrochments only which he should be able to finde out upon the Forest of Snowden which was granted And thereupon he chose out Commissioners fit for the pârpose and sent them into Wales with the like Commission as a certaine Emperour was wont to give his Majestrates when they departed from him to governe as Suetonius writeth Scitis quid velim quibus opus habeo You know what I would have and whât I have need of Which recommendation these Commissioners taking to hearâ omitted no diligence in execution of the same and so going into Wales by such meanes as they used of setting one man to accuse another brought quickly all the Countrey round about in three or foure shires within the compasse of Forest ground and so entred upon the same for my Lord of Leicâsters Whereupon when the people were amâzed and expected what order my Lord himselfe would take therein his Lord was so far off from refusing any part of that which hiâ Commissioners had presented and offered him as he would yet furâher stretch the Forest bâyond the Sea into the Isle of Anglesey and make that also within his compasse and bounder Which when the Commonâlty saw and that they profited nothing by their complaâning and cryâng out of this tyranny they appointed to send some certaine number of themselves to London to mâke supplication to the Prince and so they did choosing out for that purpose a dozen Gântlemen and many more of the Commons of the Countrey of Llin to deale for the whole Who comâng to London and exhibiting a most humble suppliâation to her Mâjesty for redresse of their oppression received an answer by the procurement of my Lord of Leycester that they should have justice if the commonalty would returne home to their houses and the Gentlemen remaine there to solicite the cause Which as soone as they had yeelded unto the Gentlemen were all taken and cast into prison and there kept for a great space and afterward were sent downe to Ludlow as the place most eminent of all these Countries there to weare papers of perjury and receive other punishments of infamy for their complaining which punishments notwithstanding afterward upon great suit of the parties and their friends were turned into great fines of money which they were constrained to pay and yet besides to agree also with my Lord of Leycester for their owne lands acknowledging the same to be his and so to buy it of him againe Wherby not onely these private Gentlemen but all the whole Countrey thereabout was and is in a manner utterly undone And the participation of this injury reacheth so far and wide and is so generall in these parts as you shall scarce finde a man that cometh from that coast who feeleth noâ the smart thereof being either impoverished beggered or ruinated thereby Whereby I assure you that the hatred of all thââ Countrey is so universall and vehement against my Lord as I think never thing created by God was so odious to that Nation as the very name oâ my Lord of Leicâster is Which his Lordship wel knowing I doubt not but that he will take heeâ how he go thither to dwell or send thither his posterity For his posterity quoth the Gentleman I suppose he
hath little cause to be solicitour for that God himselfe taketh care commonly that goods and honours so gotten and maintained as hiâ be shall never trouble the third heire Marry for himselfe I confesse the matter standing as you sây that he hath reason to forbeare that Country and to leave off his building begun at Denbigh as I heare say he hath done for that the universall hatred of a people is a perilous matter and if I were in his Lordships case I should often thinke of the end of Nero who after all his glory upon fury of the people was adjudged to have his head thrust into a Piloây and so to be beaten to death with rods and thongs Or rather I should feare the successe of Vitellius the third Empâror after Nero who for his wickednesse and oppression of the people was tâken by them at length when fortune began to faââeâh hâm and led out of his Palace naked with hooks of Iron fastned in his flâsh and so drâwn through the City with infamy whâre loâen in the streets with filth and ordure cast upon him and a priâk put under his chin to the end he should not loâke downe or hide hiâ fâce was brought to the banke of Tyber and there afâer many hundred wounds received was cast into the river So implacable a thing is the furâur of a muâtitude whân it is once stirred and hath place of reveâge And so heavy is the hand of God upon tyrants ân this world when it pleaseth his divine Majesty to take revenge of the same I have read in Leanâer in his description of Italy how that in Spoleto if I be not dâceived the chiefe City of the Country of Umbria there was a strange tyrant who in the time of his prosperity contemned all men and forbare to injury no man that came within his claws esteeming himself sure enough for ever being called to render account in this life and for the next he cared little But God upon the sudden turned upside-downe the wheele of his felicity and cast him into the peoples hands who tooke him and bound his naked body upon a planke in the Mârket place with a fire and iron tongues by him and then made proclamation that seeing this man was not otherwise able to make satisfaction for the publique injuries that he had done every private person annoyed by him should come in order and with the hot-burning tongues there ready should take of his flesh so much as was correspondent to the injury received as indeed they did untill the miserable man gave up the ghost and after too as this author writeth But to the purpose seeing my Lord careth little for such examples and is become so hardy now as he maketh no account to injury and oppresse whole Countries and Commonalties together it shall be bootlesse to speake of his proceedings towards particular men who have not so great strength to resist as a multitude hâth And yet I can assure you that there are so many and so pitifull things published daily of his tyranny in this kinde as doe move great compossion towards the party that doe suffer and horrour agâinst him who shameth not daily to offer such injury As for example whose heart would not bleed to heare the case before mentioned of Mâster Robinson of Staffordshire a proper yong Gentleman and well given both in religion and other vertues whose Father died at Newhaven in her Mâjâsties service under this mans brother the Earlâ of Warwick and recommended at his death this his eldest Son to the special protection of Leicester and his Brother whose servant also this Robinson hath bin from his youth upward and spent the most of his living in his service Yet notwithstanding all this when Robinsons Lands were intangled with a certaine Londoner upon interest forâs former maintenance in their service whose title my Lord of Leicester though craftily yet not covertly under Ferris his cloak had gotten to himselfe he ceased not to pursue the poore Gentleman even to imprisonment arraignment and sentence of death for greedinesse of the said living together with the vexation of his brother in law Master Harcourt and all other his friends upon pretence forsooth that there was a man slaine by Robinsons party in defence of his owne possession against Leicesters intruders that would by violence breake into the same What shall I speake of others whereof there would be no end as of his dealing with Mâster Richard Lee for his Manor of Hooknorton if I faile not in the name with Master Ludowick Grivell by seeking to bereave him of all his lâving at once if the drift had taken place with George Witney in the behalfe of Sir Henry Leâgh for inforcing him to forgoe the Controlership at Woodstock which he holdeth by Patent from King Henây the seventh with my Lord Barkley whom he enforced to yeeld up his lands to hâs brother Warwick which his ancestors had held quietly for almost two hundreâh yeeres together What shall I say of his intollerable tyranny upon the last Arâhbishop of Canterbury fâr Dâctor Iulio his sâke and that in so foule a matteâ Vpon Sir Iohn Thâoâmaâton whom he brought pitifully to his grave before his time by continuall vexations for a peece of faithfull service done by him to his Countrey and to all the line of King Henry against this mans Father in King Edward and Queen Maries dayes Upon divers of the Lanes for one mans sake of that name before mentioned that offered to take Killing worth-Castle upon some of the Giffords and other for Throgmartons sake for that is also his Lords disposition for one mans cause whom he brooketh not to plague a whole generation that any way pertaineth or is allied to the same his endlesse persecuting of Sir Drew Drewây and many other Courtiers both men and women All these I say and many others who daily suffer injuries rapines and opprâssions at his hands throughout the Realme what should it availe to name them in thâs place seeing neither his Lord careth any thâng for the same neither the parties agrieved are like to attain any least release of affliction thereby but rather âouble oppression for their complaining Wherâfore to return again wheras we began you see by this little who and how great what manner of mân my Lord of Leycester is this day in the state of England You see and may gather in some part by that which hath bin spoken his wealth his strength his cunning his disposition His wealth is excessive in all kinde of riches for a private man and must needs be much more then any body lightly can imagine for the infinite wayes he hath had of gaine so many yeâres together His strength and power is absolute and irresistable as hath beene shâwed both in Chamber Court Councell and Country His cunning in plotting and fortifying the same
both by force and fraud by Mines and countermines by trenches bulwarkeâ flaukers and rampiers by friends enemies alsies servants creatures and dependents or any other that may serve his turne is very rare and singular His disposition to cruelty murder treason and tyranny and by all these to supream Soveraignty over other is most evident and cleare And then judge you whether her Majesty that now raigneth whose life and prosperity the Lord in mercy long preserve have not just cause to feare in respect of these things onely if there were no other particulars to prove his aspiring intent besides No doubt quoth the Lawyer but these are great matters in the question of such a cause as is a Crown And we have seen by example that the least of these four which you have here named or rather some little branch contained in any of them hath bin sufficient to found just suspition distrust or jealousie in the heads of most wise Princes towards the proceedings of more assured subjects then my Lord of Leycester in reason may be presumed to be For that the safety of a state and Prince standeth not onely in the readinesse and hability of resisting open attempts when they shall fall out but also and that much more as Statists write in a certaine provident watchfulnesse of preventing all possibilities and likelihoods of danger of suppression for that no Prince commonly will put himselfe to the curtâsie of another man be he never so obliged whether he shâll retaine his Crowne or no seeing the cause of a Kingdome acknowledgeth neither kindred duty faith friendship nor society I know not whether I doe expound or declare my self well or no but my meaning is that wheras every Prince hath two points of âssurance from his subject the one in that he is faithfull and lacketh will to annoy his Soveraigne the other for that he is weake and wanteth ability to do the same the first is alwayes of more importance then the second and consequently more to be eyed and observed in policy for that our will may be changed at our pleasure but not our ability Considering then upon that which hath beene said and specified before how that my Lord of Leicester hath possessed himself of all the strength powers and sinewes of the Realme hath drawne all to his own direction and hath made his party so strong as it seemeth not resistable you have great reason to say that her Majesty may justly conceive some doubt for that if his will were according to his power most assured it is that her Majesty were not in safety Say not so good sir quoth I for in such a case truly I would repose little upon his will which is so many wayes apparant to be most insatiable of ambition Rather would I thinke that as yet his ability serveth not eiâher for time place force or some other circumstance then that any part of good will should want in him seeing that not onely his desire of soveraignty but also his intent and attempt to aspire to the same is sufficiently declared in my conceit by the very particulars of his power and plots already set downe Which if you please to have the patience to heare a Scholars argument I will prove by a principle of our Philosophy For if it be true which Aristotle saith there is no agent so simple in the world which worketh not for some finall end as the bird buildeth not her nest but to dwell and hatch her yong ones therein and not onely this but also that the same agent doth alwayes frame his worke according to the proportion of his intended end as when the Fox or Badger maketh a wide earth or den it is a signe that he meaneth to draw thither great store of prey then must we also in reason thinke that so wise and politick an agent as is my Lord of Leicester for himselfe wanteth not his end in these plottings and preparations of his I meane an end proportionable in greatnesse to his preparations Which end can be no lesse nor meaner then supreame Soveraignty seeing his provision and furniture doe tend that way and are in every point fully correspondent to the same What meaneth his so diligent besieging of the Princes person his taking up the wâyes and passages about her his insolency in Court his singularity in the Councell his violent preparation of strength abroad his enriching of his complices the banding of his faction with the abundance of friends every where what doe these things signifie I say and so many other as you have well noted and mentioned before but onely his intent and purpose of Supremacy What did the same things portend in times past in his Father but even that which now they portend in the Sonne Or how should we thinke that the Son hath another meaning in the very same actions then had his Father before him whose steps he followeth I remember I have heard oftentimes of divers aâcient and grave men in Cambridge how that in King Edwards dayes the Duke of Northumberland this mans Father was generally suspected of all men to mean indeed as afterward he shâwed especially when he had once joyned with the house of Suffolk and made himselfe a principall of that faction by marriage But yet for that he was potent and protested every where and by all occasions his great love duty and speciall care above all others that he bare towarâs his Prince Country no mân durst accuse him openly untill it was too lâte to withstand his power as commonly it falleâh out in such affaires and the like is evident in my Lord of Leycesters actions now albeit to her Mâjesty I doubt not but that he will pretend and protest as his Father did to her Brother especially now after his open association with the faction of Huâtington which no lesse impugneth under this mans protection the whole line of Henry the seventh for right of the Crowne then the house of Suffâlke did under his Father the pârticulâr progeny of King Henry the eight Nay rather much more quoth the Gentleman for that I doe not read in King Edwards raigne when the matter was in plotting noâwithstanding that the house of Suffolkâ durst ever make open claime to the next succâssion But now the house of Hastângs is bâcome so confident upon the strength favor of their fautors as they dare both plot practice pretend all at once and fâar not to set out their title in every place where they come And do they not fear the statute said the Lawyer so rigorous in this point as it maketh the matter treason to determine of titles No thây need not quoth the Gentlemaâ seeing their party is so strong and terrible as no man dare accuse them seeing also they well know that the procurement of that Statute was oâely to endanger or stop the mouthes of the true Successors
whiles themselves in the meane space went about under hand to establish their owne ambushment Well quoth the Lawyer for the pretence of my Lord of Huntington to the Crowne I will not stand with you for thât it is a matter sufficâently known and seen throughout the Realme As also that my Lord of Leycesteâ is at this day a principall favourer and patron of that cause albeit some yeers past he were an earnest adversary and enemy to the same But yet I have heard some friânds of his in reasoning of these matters deây stoutly a point or two which you have touched here and doe seeme to beleeve the same And that is first that howsoever my Lord of Leicester do meane to helpe his friend when time shall serve yet pretendeth he nothing to the Crowne himselfe The second is that whatsoever may be meant for the title or compassing the Crowne after her Mâjesties death yet nothing is intended during her raigne And of both these points thây alledge reasons As for the first that my Lord of Leycester is very well knowne to have no title to the Crowne himselfe either by discent in blood alliance or otherwâyes For the second that his Lord. hath no cause to be a Mâlecontent in the present government nor hâpe for more preferment if my Lord of Huntington were King to morrow next then he receiveth now at her Majâsties hands having all the Realme as hath bin shewed at his owne disposition For the first quoth âe Gentleman whether he meane the Crowne for himsâlfâ or for his friend it importeth not much seeing both wayes iâ is âvident that he meaneâh to hâve all at his owne disposition And albeit now for the avoyding of envy he give it out as a crafty Fox that he meaneth not but to run wiâh other men and to hunt wâth Huntington and oâhââ hounds in the sâme chase yet is it not unlike but that he will plây the Beare when he coâeth to divâding of the pray and will snatch the best pârt to himselfe Yea and these sâlf same peâsons of his traine anââaction whom you call his friend though in publâque to excuse his doings and to cover the wholâ plot they will and must deny the matters to be so meant yet otherwise they both thinke hope and know the contrary and will not stick in secret to speâk it and among thâmselves it is their talke of consolation The words of his speciall Councellour the Lord North are known which he uttered to his trusty Pooly upon the receit of a letter from Court of her Majesties displeasure towards him for his being a witnesse at Leycesters second marriage with Dâme Lettice although I know he was not ignorant of the first at Wanstead of which displeasure this Lord making fâr lesse accompt then in reason he should of the just offence of his soveraigne said that for his owne part he was resolved to sinke or swimme with my Lord of Leycester who said he if once the Cards may come to shaffling I wâll use but his very own words I make no doubt but he alone shall beare away the Bucklers The words also of Sir Thomas Layton to Sir Henry Nevile walking upon the Taâresse at Windsor are known who told him after long discourse of their happy conceived Kingdome that hee doubted not but to see him one day hold the same office in Windsor of my Lord of Leycester which âow my Lord did hold of the Queene Meaning thereby the goodly office of Constableship wiâh all Royâlties and honours belonging to the same which now the said Sir Henry exerciseth onâly as Deputy to the Earle Which was plainely to signifie that he doubted not but to see my Lord of Leycester one day King or els his other hope could never possibly taââ effect or come to passe To the same point âended the words of Mistressâ Anne West Daâe Lettice sister unto the Lady Anne Askew in the great Chamber upon a day when her brothâr Robert Kâowles had danced disgratiously and scornfully before the Queen in pâesence of the French Which thing for that her Majesty tooke to proceed of wisâin him âs for dislâke of the strangers in presence and for the quarrell of his sister Essex it pleased her Majesty to check him for the same with additioâ of a reproachfull word or two full well deserved as though done for despite of the forced abseâce from that place of honour of the good old Gentlewoman I mitigate the worâs his sister Which words the other young twig receiving in deepe dudgen brake forth in great choler to her forenamed companion and said Thât she nothing doubted but that one day shee should see her sister upon whom the Queene railed now so much for so it pleased her to tearme her Majesties sharpe speech to sit in her place and throne being much worthier of the same for her qualities and rare vertues then was the other Which undutâfull speech albeit it were over-heard and condemned of divers that sate about them yet none durst ever report the same to her Majesty as I hâve heard sundry Courtiers affirme in respect of the revenge which the reporters should abide at my Lord of Leycesters hands whensoever the mâtâer should come to light And this is now concerning the opinion and secret speeches of my Lords owne friends who cannot but utter their conceit and judgement in time and place convenient whatsoever they are wâlled to give out publikely to the contrary for deceiving of such as will beleeve faire painted words against evident and manifest demonstration of reason I say reason for that if none of these signes and tokens were none of these preparations nor any of these speeches and detections by his friends that know his heart yet in force of plain reason I could alleadge unto you three arguments onely which to any man of intelligence wâuld easily perswade and give satisfactâon that my Lord of Leycester meaneth best and first for himsâlfe in this suât Whiâh three arguments for that you seeme to be attent I will not stick to run over in all brevity And the first is the very nature and quality of ambition it self which is such as you know that it never stayeth but passeth from degree to degree and the more it obtaineth the more it covereth and the more esteemeth it selfe both worthy and able to obtaine And in our matter that now we handle even as in wooing he âhât suâth to a Lady for another and obtaineth her good will entereth easily into conceit of his owne woâthinesse thereby and so commonly into hope of speedinâ himselfe while he speaketh for his friend so much more in Kingdomes he that sâeth himself of power to put the Crowne of another mans head will qâckly step to the next degree which is to set it of his owne seeâng that alwayâs the charity of such good men is wont to be so orderly as according to âhe precepâ it bâginneth
the House of Yorke before the union of the two great Houses raiseth up againe the old contention betweene the Families of Yoâke and Lancaster wherein so much English bloud was spilt in times past and much more like to bee powred out now if the same contention should bee set on foot againe Seeing that to the controversie of Titles would bee added also the controversie of Religion which of all other differences is most dangerous Sir quoth the Gentleman now you touch a matter of consequence indeed and such as the very naming thereof maketh my heart to shake and tremble I remember well what Philip Cominus setteth downe in his History of our Countries calamity by that contention of those two Houses distinguished by the Red Rose and the White but yet both in their Armes might justly have borne the colour of Red with a fierie sword in a black field to signifie the abundance of bloud and mortality which ensued in our Countrey by that most wofull and cruell contention I will not stand here to set downe the particulars observed gathered by the foresaid author though a stranger which for the most part he saw himselfe while hee lived about the Duke of Burgundy and King Lewes of France of that time namely the pittifull description of divers right Noble men of our Realme who besides all other miseries were driven to begge openly in forraine Countries and the like Mine owne observation in reading over our Country affaires is sufficient to make me abhorre the memory of that time and to dread all occasion that may âead us to the like in time to come seeing that in my judgement neither the Civill warres of Marius and Silla or of Pompey and Caesar among the Romanes nor yet the Guelphians and Gibilines among the Italians did ever worke so much woe as this did to our poore Countrey Wherein by reason of the contention of Yorke and Lancaster were foughten sixteene or seventeen pitched fields in lesse then an hundred yeares That is from the eleventh or twelfth yeare of King Richard the second his raigne when this controversie first began to bud up unto the thirteenth yeare of K. Henry the seventh At what time by cutting off the chiefe titler of Huntingtons house to wit yong Edward Plantaginet Earle of Warwick Son and Heire to George Duke of Clarence the contention most happily was quenched and ended wherein so many fields as I have said were foughten between Brethren and Inhabitants of our owne Nation And therein and otherwise onely about the same quarrel were slaââ murdered and made away about nine or ten Kings and Kings Sonnes besides above forty Earles Marquesses and Dukes of name but many more Lords Knights and great Gentlemen and Captaines and of the Common people without number and by particular conjecture very neare two hundred thousand For that in one Battell fought by King Edward the fourth there are recorded to be slaine on both parts five and thirty thousand seven hundred and eleven persons besides others wounded and taken prisoners to be put to death afterward at the pleasure of the Conquerour at divers Battels after ten thousand slaine at a Battell And in those of Barnet and Tukesbury fought both in one yeare This suffered our afflicted Country in those dayes by this unfortunate and deadly contention which could never be ended but by the happy conjunction of those two Houses tâgether in Henry the seventh neither yet so as appeareth by Chronicle untill as I have said the state had cut off the issue male oâ the Duke of Clarence who was cause of divers perilâ to King Henry the sevenâh though he were in prison By whose Sister the faction of Huntinâton at thiâ day doth seeke to raise up the same contention againe with farre greater danger both to the Reaâmâ and to her Majesty that now raigneth then ever before And for the Realme it is evident by that it givetâ roome to strangers Competitours of the House oâ Lancaster better able to maintaine their owne titlâ by sword then ever was any of that linage before tâem And for her Majesties perill present it is nothing hard to conjecturâ seeing the same title in thâ fore-said Earle of Warwick was so dangerous anâ troublesome to her Grandfather by whom she holdeth as hee was faine twiââ to take armâs in defence of his right against the said title which was in those dayes preferred and advanced by the friendâ of Clarence before that of Henry as also this of Huntington is at this day by his faction before that of her Majesty though never so unjustly Touching Huntingtons title before her Majesty quoth the Lawyer I will say nothing because in reason I see not by what pretence in the World he may thrust himselfe so farre forth seeing her Majesty is descendâd not onely of the House of Lancaste but also before him most apparentây from the House of Yorke it selfe as from the eldest Daughter of Kâng Edwârd the fourth being the eldest Brother of that House Whereas Huntington claimeth onely by the Daughter of George Duke of Clarence the younger Broâher Marry yet I must confesse that if the Earle of Warwicks title were better then that of King Henry the seventh which is most false though many attempted to defend the same by sword then hath Huntângton some wrong at this day by her Majesty Albeit in very truth the atâaints of so many of his Ancestours by whom he claâmâth would answer him also sufficiently in that behalfe if his title were otherwise allowable But I know besides this they have another fetch of King Richard the third whereby he would needs prove hâs elder Brother King Edwaâd to bee a Bastard and consequently his whole line aswell male as female to be void Which devise though it be ridiculous and was at that time when it was first invented yet as Richard found at that time a Doctor Shaw that shamed not to publish and defend the same at Pauls Crosse in a Sermon and John of Northumberland my Lord of Lâyceââers Father found out divers Preachers in his time to set up the title of Suffolke to debase the right of K. Henries daughter both in London Cambridge Oxford and other places most apparently against all Law and reason so I doubt not but these men would finde out also both Shawes Sands and others to set out the title of Clareâce before the whole interest of King Henry the seventh and his posterity if occasion served Which is a point of importance to bee considered by her Majesty albeit for my part I meane not not now to stand thereupon but onely upon that other of the House of Lancaster as I have said For as that most honourable lawfull and happy conjunction of the two adversary Houses in King Henry the seventh and his Wife made an end of the shedding of English bloud within it selfe and brought us that most
desired peace which ever since wee have enjoyed by the raigne of their two most noble issue so the plot that now is in hand for the cutting off the residue of that issue and for recalling backe of the whole Title to the House of Yorke againe is like to plung us deeper then ever in civile discord and to make us the bait of all forraine Princes seeing there be among them at this day some of no small power as I have said who pretend to bee the next heires by the House of Lancaster and consequently are not like to give over or abandon their owne right if once the doore bee opened to contention for the same by disanulling the Line of King Henry the seventh wherein onely the keyes of all concord remaine knit together And albeit I know well that such as be of my Lord of Huntingtons party will make small accompt of the Title ãâã Lancasteâ as lesse rightfull a great deale then that of Yorke and I for my part meane not greatly to avow the same as now it is placed being my selfe no favourer of forraine Titles yet indifferent men have to consider how it was taken in times past and how it may againe in time to come if contention should arise how many Noble personages of our Realme did offer themselves to die in defence thereof how many Oaths and Lawes were given and received throughout the Realme for maintenance of the same against the other House of Yorke for ever how many worthy Kings were crowned and raigned of that House and Race to wit the foure most Noble Henries one after another the fourth the fift the sixt and the seventh who both in number government sanctity courage and feats of armes were nothing inferiour if not superiour to those of the other House and Line of Yorke after the division betweene the Families It is to bee considered also as a speciall signe of the favour and affection of our whole Nation unto that Family that Henry Earle of Richmond though discending but of the last Sonne and third Wife of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster was so respected for that onely by the universall Realme as they inclined wholly to call him from banishment and to make him King with the deposition of Richard which then ruled of the House of Yorke upon condition onely that the said Henry should take to Wife a Daughter of the contrary Family so great was in those dayes the affection of English hearts towards the Line of Lancaster for the great worthinesse of such Kings as had raigned of that Race how good or bad soever their Title were which I stand not here at this time to discusse but onely to insinuate what party the same found in our Realme in times past and consequently how extreame dangerous the contention for the same may be hereafter especially seeing that at this day the remainder of that Title is pretended to rest wholly in a stranger whose power is very great Which we Lawyers are wont to esteeme as a point of no smaâl importance for justifying of any mans title âo a Kingdome You Lawyers want not reason in that Sir quoth I howsoever you want right for if you will examine the succession of governements from the beginning of the Wârld untill this day either among Gentile Jew or Christian people you shall finde that the sword haâh âeene alwayes bâtter thân halfe the title to get estâbliâh or maintaâne a Kingdome which maketh ãâã âhââore apalled to heare you discourse in such sort of new contentions and forraine titles accompanied wâth such power and strength of the titlers which cannot bee but infinitely dangerous and fatall to our Realme if once it come to actâon both for the division thât is like to be at home and the variety of partâes from abâoad For as the Prince whoâ you signifie will not faile by all likelyhood to pursue his title with all forces that hee can make if occasion were offered so reason of state and policy will enforce other Princes adjoyning to let and hinder him therein what they can and so by this meanes shâll we become Juda and Isrâel among our selves one killing and vexing the othâr with the sword and to forraine Princes we shall be as the Iland of Salamina was in old time to the Athenians and Megatians and as the Iland of Cicilia was afterward to the Grecians Carthaginians and Romans and as in our dayes the Kingdome of Naples hath beene to the Spaniards French-men Germans and Venetians That is a bait to feed upon and a game to fight for Wherefore I beseech the Lord to avert from us all occasions of such miseries And I pray you Sir for that wee are fallen into the mention of these matters to take so much paines as to open unto me the ground of these controversies so long now quiet betweene Yorke and Lancaster seeing they are now like to bee raised againe For albeit in generall I have heard much thereof yet in particular I either conceive not or remember not the foundation of the same and much lesse thâ state of their severall titles at this day for that it is a study not properly pertaining unto my profession The controversie betweene the Houses of Yorke and Lancaster quoth the Lawyer took his actuall beginning in the issue of King Edward the third who died somewhat more then two hundred yeares agone but the occasion pretence or cause of that quarrell began in the children of King Henry the third who died an hundred yeares before that and left two Sonnes Edward who was King after him by the name of Edward the first and was Grandfather to Edward the third and Edmond for his deformity called Crookebacke Earle of Lancaster and beginner of that House whose inheritance afterward in the fourth discent fell upon a Daughter named Blanch who was married to the fourth Son of King Edward the third named John of Gaunt for that he was borne in the City of Gaunt in Flanders and so by this his first wife hee became Duke of Lancaster and heire of that House And for that his Son Henry of Bolingbrooke afterward called King Henry the fourth pretended among other things that Edmond Crookeback great Grandfather to Blanch his mother was the elder Sonne of King Henry the third and unjustly put by the inheritance of the Crowne for that he was Crook-backed and deformed hee tooke by force the Kingdome from Richard the second Nephew to King Edward the third by his first Sonne and placed the same in the House of Lancaster where it remained for three whole discents untill afterward Edward Duke of Yorke descended of Iohn of Gaunts yonger brother making claime to the Crowne by title of his Grandmother that was heire to Lionel Duke of Clarence Iohn of Gaunts elder Brother tooke the same by force from Henry the sixt of the House of Lancaster and brought it backe againe to the
at his his companions hanâs when she onâly shall be the obstacle of all their unbridled and impatient deâres Cleare it is quoth the Lawyer that the nearenesse of aspirors to the ââowne endangereth greatly the present possessors as you have well proved by reason and I could shew by divers examples if it were need For when Henrie Bullingbrooke Duke of Lancaster saw not onely Richard the second to be without issue but also Roger Mortimer Earle of March that should have succeded in the Crowne to bee slaine in Ireland though before as is thought he meant not to usurpe yet seeing the possibility and neare cut that he had was inuited therewith to lay hands of his Soveraignes blond and dignity as he did The like is thought of Richard Duke of Glocester that he nâver meant the murther of his nephewes untill he saw their father dead and themselves in his owne hands his brother also Duke of Clarence dispatched and his onely sonne and heire âarle of Warwick within his owne power Wherefore seeing that it hath not pleased Almighty God for causes to himselfe best known to leave unto this noble Realm any issue by her most excellent Maiestie it hath been a poynt of great wisedome in mine opinion and of great safety to her Highnes person state dignity to preserve hitherto the line of the next Inheritors by the house of Scotland I meane both the mother and the sonne whose deaths hath been so diligently sought by the other Competitors and had beene long ere this atchieved if her Majesties owne wisedome and royall clemency as is thought had not placed speciall eye upon the conservation thereof from time to time Which Princely providence so long as it shalâ endure must needs be a great safety and fortresâ to her Majesty not onely against the claimes aides or annoyance of forraine Princes whâ wil not be so forward to advance strange titles while so manifest heires remain at home nor yeâ so willing in respect of policy to âelpe thaâ line to possession of the whole Island but also against practices of domesticall aspirers as yoâ have shewed in whose affairs no doubt but these two branches of Scâtland are great bâocks as also speciall bulwarks to her Majesties life and person seeing as you say these copartners make so little account of the other of that line who should ensue by order of succession Marry yet of the two I thinke the youth of Scotland be of much more importance for their purpose to bee made away both for that hee may have issue and is like in time to be of more ability for defence of his owne inheritance as also for that he being once dispatched his mother should soone ensue by one slight or other which they would devise unwitting to her Majesty albeit I must needes confesse that her Highnesse hath used most singular prudence for prevention thereof in placing her restraint with so noble strong and worthy a Peere of our Realme as the Earle of Shrewsburie is whose fidelity and constancy being nothing plyable to the others faction giveth them little contentation And for that cause the world seeth how many sundry and divers devices they have used and do use dayly to slander and disgrace him and thereby to pull from him his charge committed To this the Gentleman answered nothing at all but stood stâll musing with himselfe as though hee had conceived some deep matter in his head â and after a little pause he began to say as followeth I cannot truly but much marvaile when I do compare some things of this time and government with the doings of formâr Princes Progenitors to her Majesty Namely of Henrie the 7. and Henrie the 8. who had so vigilant an eye to the laterall line of King Edward the 4. by his brother of Clarence as they thought it necessary not only to prevent all evident dangers that might ensue that way but even the possibilities of all perill as may well appear by the execution of Ed. Earl of Warwick before named Son and heire to the said Duke of Clarence and of Maâgaâet his sister Countesse of Salisbury with the Lord Henry Montague her sonne by whose Dauâhter the Earle of Huntington now claimeth All which were executed for avoyding of inconveniencies and that at such times when no imminent danger could be much doubted by that Line especially by the latter And yet now when one of the same house and Line of more ability and ambition than ever any of his Ancestors were maketh open title and claime to the Crowne with plots packs and preparations to most manifest usurpation against all order all law and all rightful succession and against a special statute provided in that behalfe yet is he permitted boâne out favoured and friended therein and no man so hardy as in defeâcââf her Majestie and the Realme to contrââle hiâ for the same It may be that her Majestie is brought into the same oâinion of my Lord of Huntingtons fidelity as Iulius Caesar was of Marcus Brutus his dearest obliged friend of whose ambitious practises and aspiring when Caesar was advertised by his carefull friends he anâwered that hee well knew Brutus to be ambitious but I am sure quoth he that my Brutuâ will never attempt any thing for the Empire while Caesar liveth ând after my death let him shift for the same among others aâ he can But what ensued Surely I am loath to tell the event for ominations sake but yet all the world knoweth that ere many moneths passed this most noble and âlement Emperour was pittifully murthered ây the same Brutus and his partners in the publique Senate when least of all he expected such treason So dangerous a thing it is to be secure in a matter of so great sequell or to trust them with a mans life who may pretend preferment or interest by his death Wherefore would God her Majestie in this case might be induced to have such due care and regard of her own estate and royall person as the weighty moment of the matter requireth which containeth the blisse and calamity of so noble and worthy a kingdome as this I know right well that most excellent natures are alwayes furthest off from diffidence in such people as proves love and are most bounden by dutie and so it is evident in her Maiestie But yet surely this confidence so commendable in other men is scarce allowable oftentimes in the person of a Prince for that it goeth accompanyed with so great perill as is inevitable to him that will not suspect principally when dangers are foretold or presaged as commonly by Gods appoyntment they are fâr the speciall hand he holdeth over Princes affaires or when there is probable conjecture or just surmise of the same We know that the forenamed Emperor Caesar had not onely the warning given him of the inclination and intent of Brutus to usurpation but even the very day when
of doubt that Leicester the caster of these shadowes doth look to play his part first in these troublesome affaires so doe I heartily feare that unlesse the tyranny of this Leicestrian fury bee speedily stopped that such miserie to Prince and people which the Lord for his mercies sake turne from us as never greater fell before to our miserable Countrey is far nearer hand than is expected or suspectâd And therefore for the prevention of these calamities to tell you plainly mine opinion good Sirs and therewith to draw to an end of this our conference for it waxeth late I would thinke it the most necessarie poynt of all for her Majesty to call his Lordship to account among other and to see what other men could say against him at length after so mâny yeares of his sole accusing and pursuing of others I know and am very well assured that no one act which her Majestie hath done since her comming to the Crowne as shee hath done right many most highly to be commended nor any that lightly her Majesty may doe hereafter can be of more utility to Her selfe and to the Realme or more gratefull to her faithfull and zealous subjects than this noble act of Iustice would be for tryall of this mans deserts towards his Countrey I say it would be profitable to her Majesty and to the Realme noâ onely in respect of the many dangers befoâe mentioned hereby to be avoyded which are like to ensue most certainly if his courses bee still permitted but also for that her Majesty shall by this dâliver Her selfe from that generall grudge and griefe of mind with great dislike which many subiects otherwise most faithfull have conceived against the excessive favour shewed to this man so many yeares without desert or reason Which favour he having used to the hurt annoyance and oppression both of infinite severall persons and the whole common-wealâh as hath bin said the griefe and resentment thereof doth redound commonly in such cases not only upon the person delinquent alone but also upon the Soveraigne by whose favour authority he offers such iniuries though never so much against the others inteÌt dâsire or meaning And hereof we have examples of sundry Princes in all ages and Countries whose exorbitant favour to some wicked subiect that abused the same hath bin the cause of great dânger and ruine the sins of the favourite being returned and revenged upon the favourer As in the Historie of the Grecians is declared by occasion of the pittifull murther of that wise and victorious P. Philip of Macedony who albeit that he were well assured to have given no offence of himself to any of his subiects consequently feared nothing but conversed openly and confidently among them yet for that hee had favoured too much one âuke Attalus a proud ând insolent Courtier and had born him out in certain of his wickednes or at least not punished the same after it was detected and coâplained upon the parties grieved accounting the crime more proper and heinous on the part of him who by office should do iustice protect other than of âhe perpetrator who followeth his own passion and sensuality let pass Attalus made their âevenge upon the bloud life of the K himself by one Pausanias suborned for that purpose in âhe marriage day of the Kings owne daughter Great store of like examples may be repeated âut of the stories of other countries nothing beâng more usuall or frequent among all nations âhan the afâlictions of realms and kingdoms and the overthrow of Princes and great Potentates themselves by their too much affection towards some unworthy particular persons a thing in deed so common and ordinary as it may welâ seem to be the speciall Rock of all other whereat Kings Princes doe make their shipwracks For if we look into the states and Monarchie all Christendoâe and consider the ruines thaâ have bin of any Princes or Ruler within the same we shall find this poynt to have bin a great and principall part of the cause thereof and in our owne state and countrey the matteâ is too evident For whereas since the Conqueââ we number principally three just and lawfuââ Kings to have come to confusion by alienatioâ of their subjects that is Edward the seconâ Râch the second and Henrie the sixt this onlâ point of too much favour towards wicked persons was the chiefest cause of destruction in a threâ As in the first the excessive favour tâwards Peter Gaveston and two of the Spencer In the second the like extraordinarie and indicreet affecâion towards Robert Vere Eurle oâ Oxford and Marquesse of Dublin and Thomââ Mowbray two most turbulent and wicked meâ tâat set the K. against his own Vncles the nobility In the third being a simple and hoââ man albeit no great exorbitant affection wââ seene towards any yet his wife Queen Margârets too much favour and credit by him nâ controled towards the Marquesse of Suffolkâ that after was made Duke by whose instinââ and wicked Counsell she made away first tââ noble Duke of Gloucester and afterward coâmitted other things in great prejudice of tââ Realme and suffered the said most impious aââ sinfull Duke to range and make havock of all sort of subjects at his pleasure much after the fashion of the Earle of Leicester now though yet not in so high anâ extreame a degree this I say was the principall and originall cause both before Goâ and man as Polidore well noteth of all the calamity and extreme desolation which after ensued both to the King Queene and their onely child with the utter extirpation of their family And so likewise now to speak in our particular case if there be any grudge or griefe at this day any mislike repining complaint or murmure against her Majesties government in the hearts of her true and faithfull subjects who wish amendment of that which is amisse and not the overthrow of that which is well as I trow it were no wisedome to imagine there were none at all I dare avouch upon Conscience that either all or the greatest part thereof proceedeth from this man who by the favor of her Majesty so afflicteth her peoâle as never did before him either Gaveston Spencer Fere or Mowbray or any other mischievous âirant that abused most his Princes âavour within our Realme of England Whereby it is evident how profitable a thing it should bee to the whole Realme how honourable to her Majeâây and how gratefull to all her subjects if this man at length might be called to his account Siâ quoth the Lawyer you alleage great reason and verily I am of opinion that if her Majesty knew but the tenth part of this which you have here spoâen as also her good subjects desires and complaint in this behalfe she would well shew that her Highnesse feareth not to permit iustice to passe upon Leicester or any other within her Realme
way of aspiring in Duke Dudley Gentleman Leycesters power in the privy Chamber Leycester married at Waenstead when her Maiesty was at M. Stoners Houf Doctor Culpeper Physition Minister No sute can passe but by Leycester Read Polidore in the 7. yeare of King Richard 1. and you shall find this proceeding of certaine about that K. to be put as a great cause of his overthrow No preferments but by Leycester to Leycestâians Leycesters anger and insolency Leycesters peremptory dealing Breaking of order in her Maiesties houshold Leycesters violatâng of all order in the Country abroad Lawyer A Leycestrian Commonwealth Gentleman Leycester called the heart and life of the Couât A demonstration of Leycesteâs tyranny in the Court. Leycester provideth never to come in the Qâeânes danger againe Anno Regni 3â Leyâesters puissance in the privy Councell L Keeper L. Chamberlain Matters wherin the Councell are inforced to wink at Leycester Leycesters intelligence with the rebellion in Ireland Acteons case now come in England Salvatour slaine in his bed Doughty hanged by Drake The story of Gates hanged at Tiborne Scholar This relation of Gates may serve hereafter for an addition in the second ediââon of this booke Gentleman The deck reserved for Leycester Leycesters puissanâ violence with the Prince her sâlfe The Earle of Sussex his speech of the Earle of Leycester The Lord Burghley Leycesterâ power in the countrey abroad Yorke Earle of Huntington Barwick The Lord Hunâden Wales Sir Henây Sidney The Earle of Pembrooke The West Earle of Bedford The Lord Grey â Her Maiesty âs he saith for striking of Master Fortesene calling him lame wretch that grieved him so for that he was hurt in her service at Lieth as he said he would live to be revenged * In Scotland or elswhere against the next inheritors or presenâ possessor Sir Iohn Parott Sir Edward Horsey Sir George Carew Sir Amias Paulet Sir Thomas Layton Her Maiesties stable her armour munition and artillery The Tower London Sir Rowland Heyward c. Mad Fleetwood Gentleman Scholar My Lord of Huntingtons preparation at Ashby Killingworth Castle Ralph Lane The offer and acceptation of Killingworth Castle Lawyer The prerogative of my Lord of Leycester Leycester the Star directory to Lâwyers in their claents affaires Leycesters furniture in money The saying of a Knight of the Shire touching Leycesters mony Gentleman The infinit waies of gaining that Leycester hath Sures Lands Licences Falling out with her Maiesty Offices Clergy Beneficeâ Vniveâsity Oppressions Rapines Princes favour Presents Lawyeâ Leycesters home gaine by heâ Maâesties faâour A pretty story Leycesters forraine gaine by her Maiesties favour Leycesters bribe for betraying of Callis Gentleman Leycesters father sold Bulloâgne Earles of Arundel and South-hampton pât out of the Councell by D. Dudley Lawyer Leycesters gaine by falling out with her Maiesty Gentleman Leycesters fraudulent chaâge of lands wiâh her Maiesty whereby he hath notably endammaged the Crowne Leycesters licenses Sâlkes and Velvetâ The Tyrannicall licence of alienation Gentleman Edmund Dudley Edmund Dudleis booke written in the Tower Gentleman The supplanting of the race of Henry the 7. The inserting of Huntington Edmund Dâdleies brood more cunning then himselfe Northumberland and Leycester with their Prince will not be roled Lawyer Gentlâman Leycester Master of Art and a cunning Logitioner Scholar Leycesters abusing and spoiling of Oxford The Lord Treasârer Caâbridge The disorders of Oxford by the wickednesse of their Chancellor Leases Leycesters instrumenâs * At Diââies house in Warwick shiâe dame Lettice ãâã and some othââ such pieces of pleasure Lawyeâ The perill of standing with Leycester in any thing * Poore men resisting Warwicks inclosure at North hall weâe hanged for hâ pleasure by Leycesters auâhority Gentleâân Great Tyranny Lawyer The Lordship of Denbigh and âeicesters oppression used therein The Manor of Killingworth and Leycesters oppression there The cause of Snowden forest most pitifull An old tyrannicall Commission A rediculouâ demonstration of excessive avaries A singular oppression Leycester extreamly hated in Wales Gentleman The end of tyrants Nero Vitellius A most terrible revenge taken upon a tyrant Leycesters oppression of particular men Master Robinson Master Harcourt M. Richrâd Lee. Ludowick Grâvel George Witney âord Barkley Archbâshop of Caâterbury Sir Iohn Throgmatton Lane Gifford Sir Drew Drewry The presentstate of my Lord of Leycester Leicesters wealth Leycest strength Leycest cunning Leycesters disposition Lawyer Causes of iust feare for her Maiesty A point of necessary policy for a Prince Scholar A philosophicall argument to prove Leycesters intent of soveraignty The preparationâ of Leycestâr declare his intended end How the Duke of Northumberland dissembled his end Gentleman The boldnesse of the titlers of Clarence Lawyer Gentleman The abuse of âhe Statute for silence in the true succession Lawyer Two excuses alleadged by Leycesters friends Gentlemen Whether Leycester meane the Crown siâceâely for Huntângton or for himselfe The words of thâ Lord North to Master Pooly Pooly told this to Sir Robert Iermine The words of Sir Thomas Layton brother in law to my Lord. The words of Mistris Anne West sister unto this holy Countesse Three arguments of Leycesters meaning for himselfe before Huntington The first arguâent the Nature of ambâtion The second argument Leycesters particular disposition Leycesters disposition to tamper for a Kingdome I meane the noble old Earle of Pembrooke The undutifull devise of Naturall issue in the Statutâ of succession The marriage of Arbella The third argument The nature of the cause it selfe The nâture of old reconciled enmity The reason of Machavell The meaning of the Duke of Northumberland with Suffolke South-house Lawyer The meaning of the D. of Northumberland towards the D. of Suffolke Scholar Gentleman The practise of King Richard for dispatching hâs Wife A new Triumvirââââtween ââtween Leycester Talbot and âhâ Coântesse of Shrâveâbury Lawyer Huntington Gentleman The sleights of Leycester for bringing all to himselfe Scambling between Leâcester Huntington at the upshot Richard of Glocester Aât 1. Edw. 5. 2. That the conspiratorâ meane in her Majesties dayes âoure considerations A thing worthy to be noted in ambitious men Hâstor 5. The Peâcies The two Neviles Leycesteâs hatred to her Majesty The evill nature of ingratitude Lâycesters speeches of her Majesty in the time of his disgrace The causes of hatred in Leycester towards her Majesty The force of female suggestions An evident conclusion that the execution is meant in time of her Majesty An errour of the Father now to bee corrected by the Sonne Lawyer Gentleman Her Majestâes life and death to serve the conspiratours turne A Proclamation with halters Lawyer Papisticall blessing The statute of concealing the heire apparant Richard going towards Hierusalem began the custome by Parliament as Polidore noteth Anno 10. of Richard the second to declare the next heire The danger of our Countrey by concealing the next heire Great inconveniences Sir Christopher Hattons Oration Intollerable Treasons The miseries to follow upon her Majesties death The danger to her