and dyed a constant Courtier of the Ladies Essex MY Lord of Essex as Sir Henry Wotton a Gentleman of great parts and partly of his times and retinue observes had his introduction by my Lord of Leicester who had married his mother a tye of affinity which besides a more urgent obligation might have invited his care to advance him his fortune being then and through his Fathers infelicity grown low but that the sonne of a Lord Ferrers of Charley Viscount Hartford and Earl of Essex who was of the ancient Nobility and formerly in the Queens good grace could not have a room in her favour without the assistance of Leicester was beyond the rule of her nature which as I have elsewhere taken into observation was ever inclineable to favour the nobility sure it is that he no sooner appeared in Court but he took with the Queen and Courtiers and I beleeve they all could not choose but look thorough the Sacrifice of the Father on his living sonne whose Image by the remembrance of former passages was a fresh like the bleeding of men murdered represented to the Court and offered up as a Subject of compassion to all the Kingdome There was in this young Lord together with a most goodly person a kinde of urbanity or innate curtesie which both wonne the Queen and too much took upon the people to gaze upon the new adopted sonne of her favour and as I go along it were not amisse to take into observation too notable quotations the first was a violent indulgency of the Queen which incident to old age where it encounters with a pleasing and sutable object towards this Lord all which argued a none perpetuity the second was a fault in the object of her grace my Lord himself who drew in too fast like a childe sucking on an over uberous Nurse and had there been a more decent decorum observed in both or either of those without doubt the unity of their affections had been more permanent and not so in and out as they were like an instrument ill tuned and lapsing to discord The greater errour of the two though unwillingly I am constrained to impose on my Lord of Essex or rather on his youth and none of the least of his blame on those that stood Sentinels about him who might have advised him better but that like men intoxicated with hopes they likewise had suckt in with the most and of their Lords receipt and so like Caesars would have all or none a rule quite contrary to nature and the most indulgent parents who though they may expresse more affection to one in the abundance of bequests yet cannot forget some Legacies just distributives and dividents to others of their begetting and how hatefull partiallity proves every dayes experience tells us out of which common consideration might have framed to their hands a maxime of more discretion for the conduct and management of their now graced Lord and Master But to omit that of infusion and to do right to truth my Lord of Essâ—x even of those that truly loved and honoured him was noted for too bold an ingrosser both of fame and favour and of this without offence to the living or treading on the sacred urne of the dead I shall present a truth and a passage yet in memory My Lord Mouâ—â—â—â—y who was another childe of her favour being newly come to Court and then but Sir Charles â—luns for my Lord William his Elder Brother was then living had the good fortune one day to runne very well a Tilt and the Queen therewith was so well pleased that she sent him in token of her favour a Queen at Chesse of gold richly ennameled which his servants had the next day fastned on his Arme with a Crymson ribband which my Lord of Essex as he passed through the Privy Chamber espying with his cloak cast under his Arme the better to commend it to the view enquired what it was and for what cause there fixed Sir Foulk Grevill told him that it was the Queens favour which the day before and after the Tilting she had sent him whereat my Lord of Essex in a kinde of emulation and as though he would have limited her favour said now I perceive every fool must have a favour This bitter and publikely affront came to Sir Charles Bluâ—ts eare who sent him a challenge which was accepted by my Lord and they met neer Marrybone Park where my Lord was hurt in the thigh and disarmed the Queen missing the men was very curious to learn the truth and when at last it was whispered out she swore by Gods death it was fit that some one or other should take him down and teach him better manners otherwise there would be no rule with him and here I note the innition of my Lords friendship with Mountâ—oy which the Queen her self did then conjure Now for fame we need not go farre for my Lord of Essex having borne a grudge to Generall Norris who had unwittingly offered to undertake the action of Britain with fewer men then my Lord had before demanded on his return with victory and a glorious report of his valour he was then thought the onely man for the Irish Warre wherein my Lord of Essex so wrought by despising the number and quality of Rebels that Norris was sent over with a scanted force joyned with the reliques of the veterane Troops of Britain of set purpose as it fell out â—o ruine Norris and the Lord Buâ—rows by my Lords procurement sent â—his heels and to command in chief and to confine Norris onely to his Government at Munser which brake the great heart of the Generall to see himself undervalued and undermined by my Lord and Burrows which was as the Proverb speaks it Imberbes docere senes My Lord Burrows in the beginning of his persecution dyed whereupon the Queen was fully bent to have sent over Mountioy which my Lord of Essex utterly disliked and opposed vvith many reasons and by arguments of contempt against Mountioy his then professed friend and familiar so predominant vvere his vvords to reap the honour of closing up that Warre and all other Novv the vvay being opened and plained by his ovvn Workmanship and so handled that none durst appear to stand for the place at last vvith much ado he obtained his ovvn ends and vvithall his fatall destruction leaving the Queen and the Court vvhere he stood firm and impregnable in her grace to men that long had sought and vvatcht their times to give him the trip and could never finde any opportunity but this of his absence and of his ovvn creation and these are the true observations of his Appetite and inclinations vvhich vvere not of any true proportion but carried and transported vvith an over desire and thiâ—stines after fame and that deceitfull fame of popularity and to help on his Catastrophe I observe likevvise tvvo sorts of people that had a hand in his fall the first vvas the
somevvhat after vve shall finde the horse and foot Troopes vvere for three or four yeers together much about 20000 Which besides the Navall charge vvhich vvas a dependant of the same Warre in that the Queen vvas then forced to keep in continuall pay a strong Fleet at Sea to attend the Spanish Coasts and Ports both to allarum the Spaniard and to interpret his Forces designed for the Irish assistance so that the charge of that Warre alone did cost the Queen 300000. pâ—â—annum at least vvhich vvas not the moytie of her other disbursements an expence vvhich vvithout the publique aide the State and the Royall reccipts could not have much longer endured vvhich out of her ovvn frequent Letters and complaints to the Deputy Mountioy for casheering part of that List as soon as he could may be collected for the Queen vvas then driven into a strait We are naturally proan to applaud the times behinde us and to villifie the present for the current of her fame carries it to this day hovv Royalâ—y and victoriously she lived and dyed vvithout the grievance and grudge of the people yet that truth may appear vvithout retraction from the honour of so great a Princesse It is manifest she left more debts unpayed taken upon the credit of her Privy-Seals then her Progenitors did or could have taken up that vvay in a hundred yeers before her vvhich vvas an inforced peece of State to lay the burthen on that horse that vvas best able to bear it at the dead lift vvhen neither her receipts could yeild her relief at the pinch nor the urgency of her affairs endure the delayes of Parliamentary assistance and for such aides it is likevvise apparent that she received more and vvith the love of the people then any tvvo of her predecessors that took most which was a Fortune strained out of the Subject through the plause ability of her Comportment and as I would say without offence the prodigall distribution of her Graces to all sorts of Subjects for I beleeve no Prince living that was so tender of honour and so exactly stood for the preservation of soveraignty that was so great a Courtier of her people yea of the Commons and that stoopt and descended lower in presenting her person to the publike view as she past in her progresses and perambulations and in the ejaculation of her prayers on her people and truly though much may be given in praise of her magnanimity and there with comply with her Parliaments and for all that come off at last with honour and profit yet must we ascribe some part of the commendation to the wisedomes of the times and the choice of Parliament men for I finde not that they were at any time given to any violent or pertinatious dispute elections being made of grave and discreet persons not factious and ambitious of fame such as came not to the house with a malevolent spirit of contention but with a preparation to consult on the publike good rather to comply then contest with her Majesty neither do I finde that the house was at any time weakned and pestered with the admission of too many young heads as it hath been of later times which remembers me of Recorder Martins speech about the tenth of our late Soveraign Lord King Iames when there were accounts taken of forty Gentlemen not above twenty and some not exceeding sixteen which moved him to say that it was the ancient custome for old men to make Laws for young ones but that then he saw the case altered and that there were children elected unto the great Councell of the Kingdome which came to invade and invert nature and to inact Laws to govern their Fathers sure we are the house alwayes took the common cause into their consideration and they saw the Queen had just occasion and need enough to use their assistance neither do I remember that the house did ever Capitulate or preferre their private to the publike c. The Queens necessities but waited their times and in the first place gave their supply and according to the exigency of her affairs yet failed not at last to obtain what they desired so that the Queen and her Parliaments had ever the good Fortune to depart in love and on reciprocall tearms which are considerations which have not been so exactly observed in our last assemblies as they might and I would to God they had been for considering the great debt lest on the King and in what incumbrances the house it self had then drawn him his Majesty was not well used though I lay not the blame on the whole suffrage of the house where he had many good friends for I dare avouch had the house been freed of half a dozen of populer and discontented persons such as with the fellow that burnt the Temple at Ephesus would be talked of though but for doing of mischief I am confident the King had obtained that which in reason and at his first accession he ought to have received freely and without any condition But pardon the digression which is here remembred not in the way of aggravation but in true zeal to the publike good and presented in caveat to future times for I am not ignorant how the spirit of the Kingdome now moves to make his Majesty amends on any occasion and how desirous the Subject is to expiate that offence at any rate may it please his Majesty gratiously to make tryall of his Subjects affection and at what price they now value his goodnesse and magnanimity But to our purpose the Queen was not to learn that as the strength of her Kingdome consisted in the multitude of her Subjects for the security of her person rested in the love and fidelity of her people which she politiquely affected as it hath been thought somewhat beneath the hight of her spirit and naturall magnanimity Moreover it will be a true note of her providence that she would alwayes listen to her profit for she would not refuse the informations of mean persons with purposed improvement and had learned the Phylosophy of Hoc agâ—re to look into her own work of the which there is a notable example of one Carwarden an under Officer of the custome house who observing his time presented her with a paper shewing how she was abused in the under renting of her customes and therewithall humbly desired her Majesty to conceal him for that it did concern two or three of her great Councellors whom customer Smith had bribed with 200. a man so to loose the Queen 2000. per annum which being made known to the Lords they gave strickt order that Carwarden should not have accesse to the back stairs till at last her Majesty smelling the craft and missing Carwarden she sent for him back and encouraged him to stand to his information which the poor man did so handsomely that within the space of ten yeers he brought Smith to double his rent or to leave the customes to new
you in the mean time see that you lodge in the Court vvhich vvas then at White-Hall vvhere you may follovv your Book read and discourse of the Warres But to our purpose it fell out happily to those and as I may say to those times that the Queen during the calm of her raign vvas not idle not rockt a sleep vvith security for she had been very provident in the Reparation and Augmentation of her Shipping and Ammunition and I knovv not vvhether by a foresight of policy or an instinct it came about or vvhether it vvas an act of her compassion But it is most certain that she sent Levies and no small Troopes to the assistance of the revolted States of Holland before she had received any affront from the King of Spain that might deserve or tend to a breach in hostility vvhich the Papists to this day maintain vvas the provocation and cause of the after Warres but omitting vvhat might be said to this point those Netherland Warres vvere the Queens Seminaries and the Nurseries of very many brave Souldiers and so vvere likevvise the Civill Warres of France vvhither she sent five severall Armies the Fenceschooles that inured the youth and Gallantry of the Kingdome and it was a Militia wherein they were daily in acquaintance with the discipline of the Spaniardâ— who were then turned the Queens inveterate enemies And this have I taken into observation her Diâ—s Halciâ—nii those yeers of hers which were more serene and quiet then those that followed which though they were not lesse propitious as being touched more with the point of honour and victory yet were they troubled and ever clouded over both with domestiques and forraign macchinations and it is already quoted they were such as awakened her spirits and made her cast about how to defend rather by offending and by the way of diversion to prevent all invasions then to expect them which was a peice of policy of the times and with this I have noted the causes or principia of the Warres following and likewise pointed to the seed-plots from whence she took up those brave men and plants of honour which acted on the theatre of Mars and on whom she dispersed the rayes of her grace which were persons in their kindes of rare vertues and such as might out of height of merit pretend interest to her favour of which rank the number will equall if not exceed that of the Gown-men in recount of whom I proceed with Sir Philip Sydney Sir Philip Sydney HE was sonne to Sir Henry Sydney Lord Deputy of Ireland and President of Wales a person of great parts and in no mean grace with the Queen his Mother was Sister to my Lord of Leicester from whence we may conjecture how the Father stood up in the place of honour and imployment so that his descent was apparantly noble on both sides for his education it was such as travell and the university could afford or his Tutors infuse for after an incredible proficiency in all the species of learning he left the Academiall life for that of the Court whither he came by his Vncles invitation famed aforehand by a noble report of his accomplishments which together with the state of his person framed by a naturall propension to Armes he soon attracted the good opinion of all men and was so highly prized in the good opinion of the Queen that she thought the Court deficient without him and whereas through the fame of his deserts he was in the election for the Kingdome of Pole she refused to further his advancement not out of emulation but out of fear to loose the jewell of her times he married the Daughter and sole heir of Sir Francis Walsingham then Secretary of State a Lady destinated to the Bed of honour who after his deplorable death at Zutphen in the Netherlands where he was Governour of Vlâ—ishing and at the time of his Vncles being there was married to my Lord of Essex and since his death to my Lord of Saint Albons all persons of the sword and otherwise of great honour and vertue They have a very quaint and factious figment of him that Marâ— and Mercury fell at variance whose servant he should be and there is an Epigrammist that saith that Art and Nature had spent their excellencies in his fashioning and fearing they should not end what they begun they bestowed him on Fortune and nature stood musing and amased to behold her own work But these are the petulancies of Poets Certain it is he was a noble and matchlesse Gentleman and it may be justly said without hiperboles of fiction as it was of Coto 〈◊〉 that he seemed to be borne to that onely which he went about Versalitis ingenii as Plutarch hath it but to speak more of him were to make him lesse Sir Francis Walsingham SIR Francis Walsingham as we have said had the honour to be Sir Philip Sydneys Father in Law he was a Gentleman at first of a good house but of a better education and from the Vniversity travelled for the rest of his learning he was doubtlesse the best Lingâ—ist of the times but knew best how to use his own tongue whereby he came to be imployed in the cheifest affairs of State he was sent Ambassador into France and stayed there Leiger long in the heat of the Civill Warres and at the same time that Monsieur was here a Suitor to the Queen and if I be not mistaken he played the very same part there as since Gundamâ—re did heer at his return he was taken principall Secretary and was one of the great Engines of State and of the times high in the Queens favour and a watchfull servant over the safety of his Mistris They note him to have had certain curiosities and secret wayes of intelligence above the rest but I must confesse I am to seek Wherefore he suffered Parry to play so long on the hook before he hoysed him up and I have been a little curious in the search thereof though I have not to do with the Arcanâ— Imperii For to know is sometimes a burthen and I remember that it was Ovids câ—imen aut error that he saw too much But I hope these are Collateralls of no danger but that Parry having an intent to kill the Queen made the way of his accesse by betraying of others and impeaching of the Priests of his own correspondency and thereby had accesse and conference with the Queen and also oftentimes familiar and private conference with Walsingham will not be the quere of the Mystery for the Secretary might have had end of discovery on a further maturity of the Treason but that after the Queen knew Parryes intent why she should then admit him to private Discourse and Walsingham to suffer it considering the condition of all assaylngs and to permit him to go where and whether he listed and onely on the security of a dark sentinell set over him was a peece of reach and hazard