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
beyond my apprehension I must again professe that having read many of his Letters for they are commonly sent to my Lord of Leicester and Burleigh out of France containing many fine passages and secrets yet if I might have been beholding to his Cyphers whereof they are full they would have told pretty tales of the times but I must now close up and rank him amongst the Togati yet chief of those that layed the foundation of the French and Dutch Warres which was another peece of his finenesse and of the times with one observation more that he was one of the great allayes of the Austerian embracements for both himself and Stafford that preceded him might well have been compared to the fiend in the Gospel that sowed his tares in the night so did they their feeds of division in the dark and it is a likely report that they father on him at his return that the Queen said unto him with some sensibility of the Sâ—anish designes on France Madam I beseech you be content not to fear the Spaniard hath a great appetite and an excellent digestion but I have fitted him with a Bone for this twenty yeers that your Majesty shall have no cause to doubt him provided that if the fire chance to slack which I have kindled you will be ruled be me and now and then cast in some English fewell which will revive the flame Willoughby MY Lord Willoughby was one of the Queens first sword men he was of the ancient extract of the Bartâ—â—s but more ennobled by his Mother who was Dutches of Suffolk He was a great Master of the Art Military and was sent Generall into France and commanded the second of five Armies that the Queen sent thither in ayd of the French I have heard it spoken that had he not slighted the Court but applyed himself to the Queen he might have enjoyed a plentifull portion of her grace and it was his saying and it did him no good that he was none of the Râ—plitia intimating that he could not creep on the ground and that the Court was not his Element for indeed as he was a great Souldier so was he of a sutable magnanimity and could not brook the obsequiousnesse and aâ—â—iduity of the Court and as he then was somewhat descending from youth happily he had an animam reâ—crendi and to make a safe retreat Sir Nicholas Bacon I Come to another of the Togati Sir Nicholas Bacon an arch peice of Wit and Wisedome he was a Gentleman and a man of Law and of great knowledge therein whereby together with his other parts of learning and dexterity he was promoted to be Keeper of the great Seal and being of Kin to the Treasurer Burleigh had also the help of his hand to bring him into the Queens favour for he was abundantly factious which took much with the Queen when it was suited with the season as he was well able to judge of his times he had a very quaint saying and he used it often to good purpose that he loved the jest well but not the losse of his friend he would say and that though he knew it Vansquisque siâ—â— fortune â—ober was a true and good principle yet the most in number were those that marred themselves but I will never forgive that man that looseth himself to be rid of his jest He was Father to that refined wit which since hath acted a disasterous part on the publike stage and of late sate in his Fathers room as Lord Chancellor those that lived in his age and from whence I have taken this little modell of him gives him a lively Character and they decipher him for another Soloâ— and the Synon of those times such a one as Aedipus was in dissolving of riddles doubtlesse he was as able an instrument and it was his commendation that his-head was the Mawle for it was a great one and therein he kept the Wedge that entred the knotty peeces that came to the Table and now I must again fall back to smooth and plain away to the rest that is behinde but not from the purpose There were about these times two Rivals in the Queens favour old Sir Francis Knowles Controuller of the House and Sir Henry Norris whom she called up at a Parliament to sit with the Peers in the higher House as Lord Norris of Râ—cott who had married the Daughter and Heir of the old Lord Williams of Tain a Noble person and to whom in the Queens adversity she had been committed to safe custody and from him had received more then ordinary observances Now such was the goodnesse of the Queens nature that she neither forgot the good turns received from the Lord Williams neither was she unmindefull of this Lord Norris whose Father in her Fathers time and in the businesse of her mother dyed in a noble cause and in the jnstification of her innocency Lord Norris MY Lord Norris had by this Lady an ample issue which the Queen highly respected for he had six sonnes and all Martiall brave men the first was William his eldest and Father to the late Earl of Bark-shire Sir Iohn Vulgarly called Generall Norris Sir Edward Sir Thomas Sir Henry and Maximilian men of an haughty courage and of great experience in the conduct of Millitary affairs and to speak in the Character of their merit they were such persons of such renown and worth as future times must out of duty owe them the debt of an honourable memory Knowles SIR Francis Knowles was somewhat of the Queens affinity and had likewise no incompetent issue for he had also William his Eldest and since Earl of Banbury Sir Thomas Sir Robert and Sir Francis if I be not a little mistaken in their names and Marshalling and there was also the Lady Lettice a Sister of these who was first Countesse of Essex and after of Leicester and these were also brave men in their times and places but they were of the Court and Carpet not led by the genious of the Camp Between these two Families there was as it falleth out amongst great Ones and Competitors for favour no great correspondency and there were some Seeds either of emulation or distrust cast between them which had they not been disjoyned in the residence of of their persons as it was the Fortune of their employments the one side attending the Court the other the Pavillion Surely they would have broken out into some kinde of hostility or at least they would have wrastled one in the other like Trees incircled with joy for there was a time when both these Fraternities being met at Court there passed a challenge between them at certain exercises the Queen and the old men being Spectators which ended in a flat quarrell amongst them all and I am perswaded though I ought not to judge that there were some reliques of this fewd that were long after the causes of the one Families almost utter extirpation and of the others improsperity
purpose of whom to make an example oâ— to use as her Tennis-Ball thereby to shew what she could do for she tost him up of nothing and to and fro to greatnesse and from thence down to little more then to that wherein she found him a bare Gentleman not that he was lesse for he was well descended and of good allyance but poore in his beginnings and for my Lord of Oxfords jest of him the Iack and an upstart we all know it savours more of emulation and his humor then of truth and it is a certain note of the times that the Queen in her choice never took into her favour a meer new man or a Mechanick as Commes observes of Lewis the eleventh of 〈◊〉 who did serve himself with persons of unknown Parents such as was Olivâ—r the Barber whom he created Earl of Dâ—â—â—yes and made him â—x secretis consilus and alone in his favour familiarity his approaches to the Vniversity and Innes of Court were the grounds of his improvement but they were rather excursions then sieges or settings down for he stayed not long in a place and being the youngest brother and the house diminished in Patrimony he foresaw his own destiny that he was first to roule through want and disabilâ—ty to subsist otherwayes before he could come to a repose and as the stone doth by long lying gather mosse he first exposed himself to the Land service of Ireland a 〈◊〉 which then did not yeild him food and rayment for it was ever very poore nor had he patience to stay there though shortly after he came thither again under the command of my Lord Grey but with his own Colours flying in the field having in the interim cast a new chance both in the Low-Countries and in a voyage to Sea and if ever man drew vertue out of necessity it was he therewith was he the great example of industry and though he might then have taken that of the Merchant to himself 〈◊〉 marâ— pâ—r terras currâ—t meâ—câ—tor ad Indos He might also have said and truely with the Phylosopher Omnia mea mecum porto For it was a long time before he could brag of more then he carried at his back and when he got on the winning side it was his commendation that he took pains for it and underwent many various adventures for his after perfection and before he came into the publike note of the world and it may appear how he came up per ardua Per varios casus per tâ—◠〈◊〉 reâ—unt not pulled up by chance or by any gentle admittance of Fortune I will briefly describe his native parts and those of his own acquiring which were the hopes of his rising He had in the outward man a good presence in a handsome and well compacted person a strong naturall wit and a better judgement with a bold and plausable tongue whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage and to these he had the aâ—juncts of some generall learning which by diligence he enforced to a great augmentation and perfection for he was an indefatigable Reader whether by Sea or Land and none of the least observers both of men and the times and I am confident that among the second causes of his grouth that variance between him and my Lord Grey in his descent into â—â—lanâ— was a principall for it drew them both over to the Councell Table there to plead their cause where what advantage he had in the cause I know not but he had much the better in the telling of his tale and so much that the Queen and the Lords took no slight mark of the man and his parts for from thence he came to be known and to have a cesse to the Queen and the Lords and then we are not to doubt how such a man would comply and learn the way of progression and whether or no my Lord of Leicester had then cast in a good for him to the Queen which would have done no harme I do not determine but true it is he had gotten the Queens ear at a trice and she began to be taken with his elocution and loved to hear his reasons to her demands and the truth is she took him for a kinde of Oracle which nettled them all yea those that he relyed on began to take this his suddain favour for an Allarum and to be sensible of their own supplantation and to project his which made him shortly after sing Fortune my soe c. So that finding his favour declining and falling into a recesse he undertook a new perigrination to leave that Terâ—a iâ—firma of the Court for that of the Warres and by declining himself and by absence to expell his and the passion of his enemies which in Court was a strange device of recovery but that he knew there was some ill office done him that he durst not attempt to minde any other wayes then by going aside thereby to teach envy a new way of forgetfulnesse and not so much as to think of him howsoever he had it alwayes in minde never to forget himself and his device took so well that at his return he came in as Rammes do by going backward with the greater strength and so continued to her last great in her grace and Captain of the Guard where I must leave him but with this observation that though he gained much at the Court yet he took it not out of the Exchequer or meerly out of the Queens purse but by his wit and the help of the Prerogative for the Queen was never profuse in the delivering out of her treasure but payed many and most of her servants part in money and the rest with grace which as the case stood was taken for good payment leaving the arreare of recompence due to their merit to her great Successor who payed them all with advantage Grevill SIR Faulk Grevill since Lord Brook had no mean place in her favour neither did he hold it for any short tearm for if I be not deceived he had the longest lease and the smoothest time without rub of any of her Favorits he came to the Court in his youth and prime or that is the time or never he vvas a brave Gentleman and honourably descended from Willoughby Lord Brook and Admirall to Henry the 7. neither illiterate for he vvas as he vvould often professe a friend to Sir Philip Sydâ—ey and there are of his now extant some fragments of his poem and of those times which do interest him in the Muses and which shews the Queens election had ever a noble conduct and it motions more of vertue and judgement then of fancy I finde that he neither sought for or obtained any great place or preferment in Court during all the time of his attendance neither did he need it for he came thither backt with a plentifull Fortune which as himself was wont to say was the better held together by a single life wherein he lived