this so great a Fear What Act or Doing is there but Men and Women have dyed in it Mâ—â—y of Feavors more of Surfeits some of Cold some of overmuch Heat a great number of sorrow not a few of Gladness some in Talking some in Sneezing some in Gasping some ailing nothing but making them ready in the Morning What would you make of this but that Death is ready at al Times anâ— Hours to us that are Mortal K Henry the First who for his Surname was called The â—air Clerk or Learned Man dyed of eating of a Lamprey His Prince and eldest Son and his fair Daughter were both drowned in the Sea What shall never King eat Lampreys again Nor the Daughters nor Sons of Kings come in Ships or Boats for that Cause How often do you see that they shun it for all that except the Weather be tempestuous K. William Rufus was slain with an Arrow in hunting Shall Kings therefore give over all pastime or let no Man bear Bows while they be in Hunting How many do you see yearly drowned in the Thames And who forsaketh notwithstanding to row in a Barge or Wherry How many thousand of Children be born every day in one Place or other How many Hundreds think you in the City of London and in the Shire of Essex in a Month And if two dy in a year in Childbed it is a great Mervail And yet even they commonly dy of some Fear or some Fright or some Ague or some other Cause than the very Birth going before So that it is not Ten but a Hundred or a Thousand to one that the Woman shall escape who travaileth with Child And yet they do not amiss to commit themselves to God and to require his Aid at all such good and natural Works And they have the more Comfort as I think when they be in pain But to make this so perillous a Case and so fearful a Matter and so dangerous a Battel I do assure you I se no Cause And because you reckoned up so many Diseases whereunto natural Men and Women be subject And therefore you would be loth this also should be added You shall see how much contrary I am to you I think that bringing forth of Children doth not only preserve Women from many Diseases and other Inconveniences but it doth also clear their Bodies amend the Colour prolong their Youth If I should bring unto you th' authority and Reasons of Physic therefore altho it be easy to do yet would you ask me who the Devil made me a Physician And you would say yoa had no leisure to look over and try those Books which you may easily look and se the Conclusion Mark in the Court and in all other places where ye go Look what Ladies and Gentlewomen be most fruitful and have most Children if they look not for their Age moâ— youngly best coloured and be cleareâ—t 〈◊〉 Diseases Mark again them which be 〈◊〉 after they pass once Fourty or Fourty five years and toward Fifty if they look not withered yea either Red or Tawny coloured and older than they be by a great way I could bring you ready Examples not far hence where be three Sisters marryed Theldest hath Ten or Twelve Children the middlemost but one or two and the youngest had never a one who being best kept and most at Ease yet theldeit Sister being Ten years elder looketh Twenty years younger than the youngest And thâ—â—â—dlemost according to the Rate 〈◊〉 Children And I could name â—â—â—ugh to you in the Court and in 〈◊〉 and whensoever you wil I wiâ—â—â—hew you them But I would have you Mr. Agamus to mark this that I say And if you find my Sayings true then never be in that Heresy that you be in But rather think that for the Queens Majesties own Person and the Preservation of her Body Health Colour Beauty Grace and Youth it is an Hundred times better for her Highness to Mary and to have Children than to live sole Now let us come to the Grief of Mind For this was another piece whereby ye crept so into us that no Husband pleased you neither Stranger nor English neither whom her Highness would please nor whom she would not please And ye thought there would be no long Agreement Seing no Man nor Woman doth always agree with himself much less he can agree with another And hereupon ye builded your mervelous Forces and Castles What Inconveniences come with Disaggrements What Grief of the Graunting What Hatred of the Denying What Danger of the Dissension And you helped your self stoutly with the Histories of Queens and Noblewomen who have been greatly troubled vexed and brought to Extremities 〈◊〉 â—hose means I wil venture with you wheâ—â— begun and there joine with you where yâ—â— think your self strongest Can never Man â—â—ree long with himself Mary so much the â—â—tter say I. We do not think al one of thingâ— when we be Children and when we be Men nor when we be young Men and when we be old Mary we be the wiser For as Wisdom cometh Error goeth away Folly and Wisdom cannot agree That which to Childishness and Folly of Youth appeareth good to gray Age appeareth Lightnes and nothing worth Were it not better that this Dissension and Debate in our selves were at the first but that God would so train us up that we might se how we did profit Have we not after a little Wisdom cometh to us this Debate in our selves every day The Appetite draweth one way and Reason another Th' one would run at randome th' other holdeth back What do good Fathers to their Children but provide for them a Dissenter a Schoolmaster who should by godly Perswasion yea and sometimes Rebukes keep them from that which they most desire Doth not two Eyes se better than one Do not the contrary Opinions declared open the better the Truth Why doth else the Judge hear both Parties before he give Sentence And wherefore be Counsillors but because they be not always of the same Affection that the Prince is And by this Dissenting is the best way found out For even as when in a heap of Sand or Mould there is espied a bright thing like Mettal by sifting of it and washing it will come to a neerer Guess and by farther Travail be tryed whether it be Gold or no So when a thing glistereth and appeareth gay the same being sifted in Consultation among divers Judgments at the last doth so come to the strong Water or Ramentation or to the Test til it appeareth in his Clearness how it is to be reputed Or els Copper may sometimes be taken for Gold and a vain thing that wil consume like Brimstone may be praised for good Mettal And I pray you who shall more carefully look to or more faithfully counsil or be more circumspectly fearful for the managing of her Highness Affaires than an Husband should do Or who can more amiably more frankly more certainly or more secretly
preserve her long to Reign over her People and that his Grace and Mercy would turn all to the best In the midst of these Cares of our Ambassador the Lord Burghley wrote to him of a Matter that put him and his Collegue into a great Consternation It was concerning the Queen's falling Sick of the Small-Pox and withal of her speedy Recovery again His careful Mind for this Matter he thus exprest in his next Letter to the said Lord That he and his Fellow read the News of the Queen's Illness together in a marvellous Agony but having his Medicine ready which was that her Majesty was within an Hour recovered it did in part heal them again But that as his Lordship wrote of himself that the Care did not cease in him so he might be assured it did as little cease in them Calling to their remembrance and laying before their Eyes the Trouble the Uncertainty the Disorder the Peril and Danger that had been like to follow if at that Time God had taken her from them whom he styled The Stay of the Common-wealth the Hope of their Repose and that Lanthorn of their Light next God Not knowing whom to follow nor certainly where to light another Candle Another great Solicitude of his at this Time was as the Queen's Sickness so her Slowness to resolve and the tedious Irresolutions at Court. Of which he spake in some Passion after this sort That if the Queen did still continue in Extremities to promise in Recoveries to forget what shall we say but as the Italians do Passato il pericolo gabbato il fango He told that Lord moreover That he should perceive by their Proceedings in their Embassy what justly might be required was easie to be done But if her Majesty deceived her self and with Irresolution made all Princes understand that there was no Certainty of her or her Council but dalliance and farding off of Time she should then first Discredit her Ministers which was not much but next and by them discredit her self that is to be counted uncertain irresolute unconstant and for no Prince to trust unto but as to a Courtier who had Words at will and true Deeds none These were Expressions proceeding somewhat as may be perceived from his Spleen and partly from his present Indisposition of Body Which he seemed to be sensible of For he begged his Lordship's Pardon for what he had said rendring his Reason That he had been kept there so long that he was then in an Ague both in Body and in Spirit And that as the Humours in his Body made an Ague there of which he wisht it would make an end so that irresolution at the Court he hoped would help to conclude that he might feel no more Miseries Which he feared those that came after should feel Because we will not see said he The Time of our Visitation Thus did Smith express his Discontents into the Bosom of his trusty Friend for the Mismanagement of publick Affairs as he conceived discovering as his Zeal and Affection to the Queen and the State so the Temper of his Mind somewhat enclined to Heat and Choler This he writ from Blois on Good-Friday While Sir Thomas Smith was here Ambassador the Treaty of Marriage was in effect concluded between the Prince of Navarre and the Lady Margaret the present French King's Sister Which lookt then very well toward the Cause of Religion and both that Ambassador and his Collegues Walsingham and Killigrew liked it well One Matter in Debate and the chief was about the manner of Solemnizing the Marriage Whereupon they sent to the Queen of Navarre a true Copy of the Treaty of the Marriage between King Edward the Sixth and the late Queen of Spain the French King's Sister Wherein it was agreed that she should be Married according to the Form of the Church of England Which stood the said Queen of Navarre in such good stead that she produced it to the Queen-Mother of France To which they took Exceptions and said it was no true Copy of the Treaty Whereupon she the Queen of Navarre sent to Sir Tho. Smith who happened to be at that very Treaty By her Messenger she signified that she sent to him to know because he was a Dealer in the same whether he would not justifie it to be a true Copy To whom Sir Thomas answered That knowing the great good Will his Mistress did bear her and how much she desired the good Success of that Marriage as a thing that tended to the Advancement of Religion and Repose of this Realm he could not but in Duty avow the same and be willing to do any good Office that might advance the said Marriage CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre SIR Thomas being still abroad in France the Queen conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter in the Month of April as some Reward of the League that he had taken so much pains in making For which he thanked her Majesty and said it must needs be to him many times the more welcome because that without his Suit and in his Absence her Highness of her gracious goodness did remember him About Iune 1572. he came home with the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral who was sent over to take the Oath of the French King for the Confirmation of the Treaty Which being done by the Queen's Command he was no longer to abide in France but to return at his best Convenience It was not long from this Time that the old Lord Treasurer Marquess of Winchester died and the Lord Burghley Secretary of State succeeded in his Place Then Smith was called to the Office of Secretary viz. Iune 24. having sometime before assisted the Lord Burghley in that Station And surely it was the Opinion of his great Learning as well as his long Experience and other Deserts that preferred him For his Learning had rendred him very famous in the Court A Poet in those Times writing an Heroick Poem to the Queen therein describing all her great Officers one after another thus depainted this her Secretary Inde tibi est altis SMYTHUS à gravibúsque Secretis Doctrinae Titulis Honoris fulgidus ut qui Pierius Vates prompto facundus ore Et cui solliciti exquisita Peritia Iuris Astronomus Physicusque Theologus insuper omni Eximiè multifaria tam structus in Arte Ut fedes in eo Musae fixisse putentur Wherein of all the Queen 's Wise and Noble Counsellors Smith her Secretary is made to be the deeply Learned Man about her as being an ingenious Poet an excellent Speaker of exquisite Skill in the Civil Law in Astronomy in natural Philosophy and Physick in Divinity and in a word so richly furnished in all the Arts and Sciences that the Muses themselves might be supposed to
of Lyons their General being an Hart. First I do not see that every Prince maketh his War himself there in Presence nor that every one of them is that Lyon which they speak of And if it be in a Country where Peace may be had and the Realm so well Walled in as ours is by the Sea I cannot perceive but a good Prince may do more good in well-ordering this Câ—mmon-wealth at Home than seeking moâ—â— Conquests Abroad The Romans doubted whether Numa did less good to Rome with keeping it in Peace forty years than Romulus the first Founder did with maintaining so many VVars and Conquests And Augustus was rather a Father of the Country when the Civil VVars ended when he kept Peace with all Nations and Govern'd well the Empire than he himself was in his Proscriptions being Triumvir or in his Civil VVars against Antonius and did then more good to Rome in shutting of Ianus his Temple than did Iulius Caesar in his VVars against the old Pompey yea or else in his long Wars against France And have not Queens been Warriors What was Semiramis and Zenobia Maud the Empress and the late Queen Margaret Amula Suenta that we spake of before was reported to be the VVarrior in the Victory which her unkind Husband Theodotus got over Theobertus King of Mettes and the Burâ—undians and Almains For her VVisdom not their Manliness did it as appears by his vile Cowardliness after her Death But if Queens make Peace and keep the Realm flourishing in good Order and Quiet and overcome their own and their Under-governors Affections of Robbing and Oppressing the poor Subjects they make a Greater and more Commendable Conquest than ever Sylla or Marius Pompeius or Caesar did yea or Carolus the last Emperor of Rome in taking the French King or winning Tunis and Goleta And if VVars should happen to come why may not the Queen make and maintain her Wars as well by a General of her appointing sought out by her Wisdom as all other Princes commonly do And Plutarchus doth well note that Augustus himself had small advantage in all Wars wherein he had the Conduct himself as himself also was in great danger but those which he did manage by Legats and Generals all did prosper well and fortunately with him But of Wars we have spoken enough wherein it is no more need that the Prince should be in Presence than it is that all the Senate of Venice now or the Senate of Rome in times past should always have been in Presence and Person in their Wars For it is their Wit and Policy their Fore-seeing and VVisdom as well in maintaining of the War as in chusing of their Captain that obtaineth the Victory And I pray you did not th' one Conquer as much and doth not th' other keep as well their Conquest as ever Alexander and his Successors did Then it may appear it is not the Presence but the Wisdom of the Prince the Manly Look but the Sober Discretion the Beard but the Chearful Heart that bringeth the Victory and keepeth the Land conquested And this I say may as well be in a Queen as in a King in a Wise and Discreet Lady unmarried as in any Husband she shall take unto her One thing must I needs say if it be chargeable for a Realm to maintain one Prince or King it must needs be more chargeable for a Realm to maintain two If they cry out of the Takers for the taking for one House or Train for two they shall have more cause And do you think that whensoever the Queens Majesty shall take an Husband the Court can be unaugmented I am sure Reason Order and Experience sheweth the contrary Well if the greater Train bring the more Expences the more Officers do require the more Charge the greater Family doth consume the larger Provision of Victuals And if the Realm as Reason it is must bear all these and yet all things done as well now as it shall be then I cannot but conclude even of Husbanding but as good Husbands do that the Affairs of the Realm being as well done th' one way as th' other the best cheap must appear the best way Which is as ye see that the Queens Majesty should remain as she doth now still Sole and unmarried neither intangle her self with a Husband either strange or born in the Realm I have now passed over my three Parts not so fully as one of you would do who have their Tongues and Wits so ready so fine and so eloquent But after my rude and homely mâ—nner I have declared unto 〈◊〉 that simple sole Life and Virginity doth please God better and is better esteemed and an higher Vertue than Marriage And as it is more Heroical so more comely for a Queen which is a Monarch and a Soveraign Prince born I have also proved that for her Person it is most sure and less dangerous for her Mind more quiet and less doubtful and lastly you see I lack no Reasons to shew that it is better and more commodious for the Realm Why then should this Opinion be counted either wicked or strange or unreasonable And with this he held his Peace and none of the other were hasty to answer Whether it were because they did Meditate and Record with themselves what he had said or what and how they should confute him or no I know not but I perceive that they looked not for such an Oration At the last the Fourth brake Silence who save that he would gladly have the Queens Majesty marry for the rest he was indifferent And he as you know if I should tell you his Name hath not his Tongue ready for he stuttereth stammereth and if he be moved uneth he can bring forth a right Word And commonly those Men be of the greatest Heart and Courage and testy with it as the Greeks call them It appeared that he was moved with this Oration For with much ado he brought out his Words The effect whereof was this Mary quoth he this is a Tale indeed and Arguments well picked out You may well be called Mr. Agamus or Misogamos Surnamed in right English Wedspite or Spitewed For I never heard Man speak so despitefully against Wedding and Marriage of the Queens Majesty in my Life I think you be one of St. Frauncis or St. Benets Scholars I would to God my Tongue would serve me but half so well as yours I would ask no help to answer you But now seeing my Tongue will not follow I shall desire these Two to take my part Who altho' within themselves they be not of one Opinion yet with me against you they agree And seeing they can do it well enough my Stuttering and Stammering should be but superfluous Then quod the one of the other if you be so ready to Christen and Name the Child belike as soon as I have told the Tale you will be my Godfather and give me a Name Nay saith he I can
He could not be so good as his Father was for so much as Cyrus had left such a Son to rule after him as Cambyses Servants told him he was and Cambyses thought himself to be But Cambyses himself had not yet gotten any Child This Fable of Crasus as Herodotus saith so tickled Cambyses that he escaped therby and told the Truth Why say you no more had Q. Mary and Child Mary Sir I do not compare the Queens Highness to Q. Mary but yet I wil say that Queen Mary did what lay in her more for that purpose than Q. Elizabeth doth And I would She would as wel in that as in al other Things pass Q. Mary It al be wel now as you say it is We have Peace we have Plenty We have Quiet at home Friendship abroad What should we desire more As we have great Cause to give Almighty God Thanks for it and to rejoyce and Congratulate with the Queens Highnes for that So have we the more Cause â—o fear the greater Occasion to foresee the â—â—ster Warning to provide that this Estate might continue Except we shal be no wiser than the Grashoppers to whom because they did not provide in Summer wherewithal to live but applied al their Time to Singing and Dauncing the Ants did say when Winter came and their Need appeared that they must weep and repent then without Remedy We al rejoyce in the Queens highnes and have great Cause God prospereth al things in her Highnes hands above al Expectation and almost more than we can desire Because the Weather is so fair shal we not look for a Storm Because this is a Summer shal we think that Winter wil never come If we do se only that is present if we have no regard what shal come after If we had no consideration as wel for our Prosperities as for our selves We are not worthy to be called Men but Beasts Who whether of Reason or no. I know not but certainly of a certain Instinct of Nature seem to have a care and hoard up store for the time to come Wherefore if we have cause to like in her Majesty those Princely and Heroical Gifts which Nature hath bestowed on her Highnes That goodly Personage and Stature resembling her Father so noble a Prince and so wel beloved to the Realm If her Beauty doth not only please us but bring al other in Admiration that se her If th'excellency of Wit the great Understanding that Knowledg of so many Tongues the Dexterity of Entertaining and the Gravity in Communication and al other the Princely and Heroical Vertues which be so clear and resplendent in her Majesty do ravish us in Admiration of her Highnes Except we should do as the Grashoppers do content our selves with the Time present and look no further what can we do but wish pray desire and long for the Propagation and Continuation of the same among us Like as we do with Flowers which we like with Apples and other Fruit which do please us above al others we desire to have more of the same kind set in our Garden and more of the same Fruit grafted in our Orchyard that our Posterity may take pleasure in them as wel as we This is so natural so goodly and so reasonable that methinks it was but a strange Question of you to ask What we lacked And if I could cal this Realm of Eâ—gâ—aâ—d to speak what it lacked and what Fault it found I dare say it would not only wish but expotulaâ—e and accuse her Highnes and say Did not I bring thee up O Queen Did not I nourish thee Hath not God in thy Youth saved thee from so many Dangers From Prison from Punishment from Death because thou mightest reign and rule my People in the Fear of God and the Knowledg of his Son And that thou mightest once again bring in the Light of the Gospel and cast off the Romish Yoke and keep the Race of the Mixed Rose which brought again the amiable Peace â—ong exiled from among my Children by the Striving of the two Roses And wilt thou now as much as lyeth in thee let it be extinct What if thy Noble Father had lived Sole as thou doest What if that good Lady thy Mother had don so Should I not have lacked thee in whom I have now such Joy and Comfort as I never had the like in any Prince Remember what is the Nature Property and Duty of that Sex and Kind of which thou art Is it not to bring forth young Babes to nourish them in their tender Age to have that Carefulnes Motherly-Love and Tendernes over them which no Man can have And why do I not se one in thy Armes whom thou mightest kiss and embrace and play withal of thine own Which after thee should rule and govern this Realm and be the Staff of thine old Age and mine This thou owest to the Noble King thy Father This to the Wife Prince thy Grandfather This to al thy Auncesters This thou doest to me And if this be the Property and th' end wherunto Women were first ordained to bring forth Children and to propagate the Name of their Stock and Family why wilt thou O Queen having so many high and excellent Vertues stain them al with this Wickednes degenerate from this Nature What meaneth St. Paul when he saith of Women That they shal be saved by the bearing of Children if they tary in the Faith And what wilt thou O Queen deny it always Why should the wife and couragious Prince thy Father put away the Superstitioâ—s Nuns if now his Daughter should take their Property and as it were their Order upon her Defer stil and stil And how long wil it be Time goeth away Age draweth on Youth flyeth Opportunity is spent And wilt thou not se the bringing up of thy Jewel of that Tresure of the Realm Wilt thou not se him trained up in such Vertue and Nourture as thy self was Shal I tary so long for it til Age shal drive thee away and so leave that thy Jewel and mine to be brought up by the wide World What I like in thee that do I desire to se in the Prince that should succeed thee And who can be better School-master Nurse Bringer-up of him than my ELIZABETH can be the Mother of my Infant And such a Mother as in a King of most Power no Realm can desire more Princely and Heroical Vertues And for the Pain thou shalt have again this most plesant Recompence that as thou shalt wax old so shalt thou se thy self wax as it were young again in him Now I am sure would England say Thou wouldest wish with al thy Heart for the Love that I know thou dost bear me thy Country not to leave after thee a Child to Govern me but either a man of perfect Age or at the least a young â—an very neâ—r such Time as Princes shoulâ— take the Government themselves And how is that possible it
thou do stil prolong Doubt and Defer as now thou dost Thus meâ—â—â—nks England might speak wel enough to her Majesty Whose Word I trust her Highneâ— wil both hear and weigh when it shal please God to put it in her Highnes mind But I wil return to your other Argaments Mr. Agamus You were something long in proving that the Queens Majesty may in Peace by her Council in War by her General govern and conduct al things as wel as tho She were there in Person her self Hardly wil I graunt that the one should be as wel as th' other I se in al other things that Oculus Domini non solum pascit Equum optime as he said but also Colit stercorat Agrum The Italians have a Proverb La â—â—ccia d'buomo saccia de Leone The Face of a man is the Face of a Lion Meaning that the Presence of a man himself to whom the thing doth appertain to Terror to Diligence to setting forward of that which is intended doth furmount and pass al other things As when our late Sovereign K. Henry VIII â—ay against Boloign and another Camp with right good Captains before Montrel the Courage of the Soldier the Provision of the Victuals the Effect of the Enterprize ye know was not like For th' one fought under the Princes Ey th' other as it were behind him th' one saw present Reward or Pain th' other had but trust of their Captains Report As touching the Romans where do you se or read in their Histories that the Leaâ—tes which we call Generals or Lieutenants did so wel as the Consuls or Proconsuls in any War Who altho they were but as other of the Senate yet for that Time they had a Kingly and Sovereign Authority especially abroad And yet the Romans thought not that enough but when any danger came they made Dictaâ—â—â—ent Who from the Time of his Dictatorship was a very King or Monarch as ye know well enough So much did they think that Legats and Generals could not do th'enterprize so wel as he that hath the Princely Fasces as they cal them and the Sceptre And who that readeth the Veuctian Histories shal se that altho their Captain or General hath one of their Senate called Proveditore with him By whose Counsil if he do he doth avoid the danger of judgment Yet for because he is not indeed Consul or Dictator ye see their Wars go but coldly forward And this you knowing which Thing I marked in your Tale you praise them for the keeping that which they get wherefore I peradventure could shew some Causes Indeed for good Warriors I never heard Man yet give them the Prize And if I should grant this that the Generals in War do as wel as the Prince in Person which thing you see I am very loth to do and if it had not been strange and a thing to be wondered at in Octavius Augustus Plutarch would not have noted it But if I should grant it yet as the Greeks say One City is before another and there is difference in Generals and Lieutenants not only in knowledge of the Feats of War and in the Hardines of Courage and Wisdom to atchieve them but also in Estimation of the Soldier And who can be more esteemed or go more nâ—er to do as much in the Wars and with Soldiers as the Queen her Self if She were a Warriour or there in Person should do as either he which is the King or the Queens Husband In K. Henry III. his Time I read of Prince Edward who was after called Long Shanks and in the Time of Edward III. of the Black Prince and Henry V. that they did as much as their Fathers and that their Soldiers would under their Banners sight as valiant and go as far as they would govern their Fathers being then Kings of England And no marvail They did not only look shortly to have them their Sovereign Masters but they knew in the mean time how dear those Persons were to their Fathers Which two things did work so much in their Hearts and Minds that there was smal Want of the Royal Presence So much think I it doth excel to the Encouragement of the Soldier to the Hope of the Capitain to the Terror of the Enemy to understand that the Husband of the Queen he whom her Highnes Loveth above al men and whom She trusteth most and who can commend their Doings at al Times to her Highnes to be in the Field over it is of any other Lieutenant or General whosoever he be At one thing I assure you you had almost made me to laugh when that you spoke so husbandly of Husbanding I perceive the Queens Majesty doth not wel that you are not one of the Green-cloth you would husband the Matter so wel and teach them al to save mony And for one thing ye might do wel there because I perceive ye love no Takers But if you were once of them I fear me you would love Takers better and bear with them as wel as al the rest do Oh! merciful God do you look to save mony and do not care to save your Head You do consider how a few Expences may be saved and do not se how your Posterity shal be spent and consumed Cal to remembrance I pray you what was spoken you wot Where and When a little before the Speaker of the Parlament went to move that Petition to her Highnes wherof I spake even now I would to God her Majesty might live ever I would she should not dye but now I know that being born of mortal Parents there is no Remedy She must once run this Race that al her Progenitors have don before and al mortal Men and Women shal follow When that is don what a Damp shal England be in What an Eclipse wil that be if God do not either send a Prince before of her Body or els incredible Aggrement of the Nobility and Commons We hear what the Daulphin did attempt by the Title of his Wife the Scottish Queen after the Death of Q. Mary Happy is the Queens Majesty by the great Consent of her Subjects and happy be her Subjects by the Life and Prosperity of her Highnes But if there come any Dissension for the Trials of Titles If there come Part-takings who should wear the Crown what a more miserable Realm should there be in the whole World than this of England I am afraid to speak and I tremble to think what Murthers and Slaughters what Robbing and Riâ—ling what Spoiling and Burning what Hanging and Heading what Wasting and Destroying Civil War should bring in if ever it should come From the Time that K. Richard II. was deposed in whom al the Issne of the Black Prince was extinct unto the Death of K. Richard III the unkind and cruel Brother of Edward IV. whose Daughter was Maried as ye know to K. Henry VII by reason of Titles this poor Realm had never long Rest. Noble men
yet had I rather overburthen my self than leave my Country undefended or to see my Country-men so much disgraced Our Question is Whether if it please the Queens Majesty to Marry it were better that her Majesty took an English man or a Stranger Here you come with your fine and logical Distinction and bring in the Causes Essential and Accidental of Marriage as tho' we were in a School of Dunsery and not in a Discourse of Pleasure where we would seek out the Truth without any Fraud or Circumvention I pray you either mince not the matter so finely or else go not so lightly away with every piece before it be either granted to you or else fully proved And first to the three Essentials which you make I will never grant that the English man and the Stranger be equal For even for the first I mean getting of Children if you ask mine Opinion altho' after Marriage by the Law of God whosoever the Father be the Prince or Child which is gotten shall be most rightful Heir of England and an English man yet it must needs be better an hundredfold that our Prince be a mere English man as well by the Father as by the Queen his Mother than half English which shall have any part of Strangers Bloud in him We laugh at this and you think that I speak now of the Honour and of the Affection which I have to our Country above other No I speak not of Affection but as great Causes move me For I would the Prince of this Realm should be wholly English and that no other Realm had any Duty to claim of him but that he should think this his whole and only Country and natural Soil So shall he never set by others Countries but by this So shall he not prefer sickle Strangers to his trusty Subjects So shall he ever covet to adorn magnifie and exalt this Realm and drive away no Part of his Love from it to another Whereas if he should have to his Father a Stranger it cannot be but he must have a natural Mind and Affection to this his Father's Country and his elder Country and either as much or more than to England Of which thing this Realm already hath had Proof enough The Danes enjoyed once this Realm too long Of which altho' some of them were born here yet so long as the Danes Blood was in them they could never but favour the poor and barren Realm of Denmark more than the rich Country of England The Normans after wan and possessed the Realm So long as ever the Memory of their Blood remained the first most and so less and less as by little and little they grew to be English What did they Keep down the English Nation Magnifie the Normans the rich Abbies and Priories they gave to their Normans the Chief Holds the Noble Seignories the best Bishopricks and all Yea they went so low as to the Parsonages and Vicarages if one were better to the Puâ—se than another that a Norman had Poor English men were glad to take their Leavings And so much was our Nation kept under that we were glad to dissemble our Tongue and learn theirs Whereupon came the Proverb Iack would be a Gentleman if he could speak French But as the Norman Bloud and Tongue â—anished away so by little and little Thanks be to God this Mischief began to cease and the Princes by Process of Time made mere English merely favoured this our Nation And is not this a good Cause think you why I should wish the Queens Highness Husband to be of our Country and the Prince her Majesty's Son to be a mere English man For as we have seen by these and other Proofs in Time past if the Prince should be a Frenchman he would favour the French if an Italian the Italians if a Dane or a Swedener he would also favour his Country and Country-men And is not the whole at least the greatest part of the Love which we English men should require of him to be derived thither And you may be assured as the People see the Prince part his Love so will they part theirs Which Love I would have and wish always to be whole intire and perfect in both That there should not arise a Seditious Person to say Non est nobis Pars in David nec Hareditas in filio Jesse Unusquisque ad Tentorium O Israel As for the second which is the Avoiding of Adultery and Fornication it lyeth more in the Gift of God and the Godliness of the Mind of the Married Person than in the Quality of his or her Make. But will not evil Examples think you do much And I pray you what Nation is there where Matrimony is so indifferently of each and so godly of both kept as in England The Italians be so jealous that almost every private man there doth not think himself sure of his Wife except he keep her close in a Mew as here in England men keep their Hawks Again he for his part taketh so much Liberty that to resort to Courtezans to describe his Loves and Pastimes with others besides his Wife so it be in fine Rhythme and wittily contrived Verse he taketh rather an Honour than a Dishonour Do you think her Majesty brought up in English Manner can like this suspicion against the Wife Or this Licentious Liberty of the Husband And yet if her Grace should take an Italian this is the Manner of his Country The French man in jealousie is not so much nor doth so streightly as in prison keep hiâ— Wife as doth the Italian Mary for his own Liberty he will give the Italian no place Their own French Books do shew no lessâ— and whoso is conversant with them 〈◊〉 understand the same And if her Majesty should Marry a French man think you he would not have some great piece of his Country Manners The Scots be in so natural League wiâ—â— France that he is no true Scot unless he speak and do French-like The Spaniard will rule and standeth all up on Honour For other Liberty of such Pastime he will give place to none but go afar as any yet he will do Penance peradventure in Lent or at Easter and whip himsâ—lâ— then in a Visor naked supposing to make God and his Wife amends by it as he thinketh and to salve his fond Conscience But for our English Manners I dare say we esteem iâ— mâ—re honourable and more Godly not with such Untroth to oâ—fend our Wives than first to take Liberty and then to make so mad Amends The Dutch men and the Dane and all such Countries as draw in Language and Conditions towards them with the great Love which they have to Drink do shadow the other Vice and either may so excuse them that they did it overcome with Drink or else indeed for two much pleasure in the one care less for the other But what excuse is that with Vice to elâ—de Vice Or else what
these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time
to the Substance of the Realm and Riches both publick and private it would be no less Pity to think than it is needless to tell unto you especially For first what Debt the Realm was left in to be paid beyond the Seas you heard it declared by Mr. Secretary in the first Parliament of the Queens Majesty and how much it did exceed the Debt of King Edward VI. What was owing also to the Subjects within the Realm It was marvellous to hear how the private Substance was diminished Part might be seen by the Subsidy Books And in the first Parliaments of King Philip and Queen Mary You heard a Burgess of London make plain Declaration and proof that the City of London alone was worse in Substance in those Five Years by 300000 l. than it was at the Death of the late King Edward And if you will say that King Philip being so occupied with continual Wars in which the Emperor his Father left him could not be rich but her Majesty may take one that shall bring in great Wealth and Treasure and whom his Friends have lâ—st very rich This may be done I do not deny altho' it be unlikely that any Prince would be so unnatural to Rob Spoil make bare poor and naked his own Country or Realm to enrich this But if he should do doth he not think you look to be a Gainer by it I think he doth not mean to cast his Money away but possibly he may look for the greater Usury the longer he tarrieth for it and do as some men do adventure a little to get a great Treasure But grant that he looketh for nothing Even for mere Love and Royalty he will bestow the Money here in the Realm he will enrich the Queen's Majesty he will frankly spend all What shall he do when all is spent We see the Treasure of King Henry VII All the Treasure which Maximilian lâ—ft to the Emperour Charles and which came to him out of the Indiâ—s and other Countries which I take to be as rich to his Coffers as the Indies had an end That which in long time is slowly gathâ—red is if Occasion so serve soon spâ—nt and consumed I pray God then this sudden Riches make not again a long Repentaâ—â—â— this sudden joy a long Rueing this spâ—â—dy â—â—riching a longer Taking Whereas if we were content with our own as we know thâ— Coming in so we measure the spending If we will say that Yearly there shall come in the Revenues of that Realm which shall supply again the empty Coffers First I will ask you if that Realm you do speak of is kept with nothing And where that Realm shall stand that hath no Enemies near it no Garrison on the Frontiers no Soldiers to be paid no Officers to be kept no Charge to go out I know few Regions but all that ever can come of them ordinarily can do no more but keep their own ordinary Charges For I see when they have any extraordinary thing as War or Marriage to be made the Princes are constrained to seek extraordinary means by Subjects Love and other Devices to bear them I see this in France in Italy in Spain The rich Indies be so rich to the King of Portugal for all that He is only the Merchant of Spices to all Europe Yet now almost every man doth see that he is scarcely with the Revenues of them able to bear their Charges As Milain and Nâ—ples so the Charges of keeping them is no doubt incrâ—dible to him that hath not marked nor known it And the Accounts â—ruly made I assure you small Gains King Philip hath of them And if the Prince being away from thence remaining the Enemies should invade the Realm you speak of should it not be necessary trow you to employ that Revenue and more upon it Or if the People seeing their Treasure so wasted and their Realm impoverished should repine at it as some Countries would do and refuse to pay any more or if any other in his Absence should take upon him to usurp the State and pretend some Titles as we see to Ambitious Heads there never lack Titles either of Kindred or Commonwealth to Claim to themselves the Soveraignty what Gain shall be looked for from thence Nay what Charges shall we be put to by it Either we must abandon that Realm which were the greatest Dishonour that could be or else employ all our Force and Treasure to the Recovery thereof Either of which if they should chance as few Realms be long without them then casting our Cards aright we shall find very small Advantage And for Proof of this which I say we will but examine your own Examples Mary the Scotch Queen was highly advanced you say to the Dolphin who afterwards was the French King called Francis the Second But what Ricâ—es came by that Match to the Realm of Scotland Ask the Scots who for the great Oppreâ—â—ion which they suffered by the French and the great impoverishing of the poor Realm were fain to demand aid of us their old Enemies and yet in their Distress their most sure Friends and faithful Neighbours And then what Aid had she of the French I pray you when for the Misgovernment of them the â—â—bjects of her purchased Reâ—â—m she had almost lost the Government of her own natural and as I would call it Patrimonial Râ—alm which came to her by Inheritance from her Auncestors We will come to the third Mâ—ry the Daughter and Heir of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy because here you think to have your strongest Bulwark she Marrying Maximilian the Emperor's Son I cannot deny but her Posterity is now in divers places of Christendom the chief Rulers and Governors But I will deny that her Country of Burgundy is in so good an Estate as it was in her Fathers time For then it was Head and Chief but now it is Subject to the House of Austrich Then the Burgundians were reckoned the hardiest and most valiant Warriors now be the Spaniards Almains and Italians before them Their Riches were then a Terror to France a Marvel to all the World now it is but a little Patch to King Philip's Power And if they were not as well taxed and assessed in the Emperor Charles and this Mighty and Puissant King Philip's Time as ever they were the Burguudians were much to Blame to groan so fast Take Antwerp apart and a few small things by the Sea side which have had another Cause of Increase let us see if all the rest of the Cities be not greatly in Decay and in far worser State than they were when they had but a Duke to their Head As when one River falleth into another they do increase indeed and make larger Water but yet the lâ—ss River thereby loseth both his Name and strength And the biggest River that is falling into the Sea looseth his Force and Power and is salted as well as the rest be So a Kingdom swalloweth up
that which was gotten by her Ancestors and had been kept by the English so long But because we shall better and more near at hand see the Advantage of heaping Realms together King Edward III. and the Black Prince goâ— almost all France His next Successor therefore must needs have his Power marvellously encreased So may it appear For tho' he were confessâ—d the riâ—ht Heir yet a Nobleman of this Realm of England bereaved him of both France and England King Henry V. again drove the Dâ—uphin to a very streight Room in France Wherefore by your Reason his Power must be marvellously augmented which he did leave to his Son Did not a Duke of his Realm dispossess him of his Crown for all the help that Queen Margaret his Wife and Daughter to Reigner Duke of Anjou and King of Sicily Naples and of Ierusalem could bring from her Father and all those four Realms to the Aid of her Husband or the Prince her Son So that for that Matter the Italian Proverb seemeth true â—hi troppe abbraccia poco stringe He that embraceth too much holdeth fast but a little Now for Encrease of Riches let us go as near Many would judge that the getting and keeping of Bulloâ—gn and Bullâ—â—gnâ—is in France now in the Time of King Henry VIII and the obtaining and holding of â—addingtâ—n and the Pâ—ethes and a great Part of the Lowdian in Scotland should have brought in great Riches to this Realm It was that almost bâ—ggered England For thereby our fine Gold was conveyed away our good Silver appâ—arâ—d not our Mâ—ssy and old Plate was mâ—â—lâ—d And every man seeth that not only our good â—â—n was wonderfully consumed but that which was leâ—t pitiously altered and mâ—dâ— worse The Gold much debased and at the lâ—â—t for Sterling Silver we had two 〈◊〉 oâ— Copper and scarce the Third part 〈◊〉 metal remaining in the Coin Which now without any such Revenues either out oâ— France or Scotland thanks be to God and the Queens Highness beginneth well to amend again Whether think you King Henrâ— IV. which had but England left his Kingdom richer to his Son King Henry V. than he with all his Conquests to his Son King Henry VI. who hâ—d nothing in France but Câ—lais Did not King Henâ—y VII leave more Riches in his Coâ—â—râ— to King Henry VIII who Conquered both in France and Scotland than he lâ—ft to King Edward VI. And do yoâ— not perceive that Qâ—eâ—n Mary who wrote that she was Queen of so many Kingdoms Dutchess of so many Dukedoms Marchioness and Countess of so many Marchionâ—s and Earldoms c. did not â—ave lâ—ss â—ichâ—s in her Coâ—â—â—rs and â—â—alth in the â—â—alm at the Time of her Death than ever any of her Pâ—oâ—â—nitoâ—â— did My Mastâ—â—â— say wâ—at you will and call me as it plâ—ase you â—ithâ—r Enemy to Sâ—ranâ—â—râ— the Pattern or â—dâ—a of an old English mâ—n Fam. friend or what you â—iâ— I say and see that it is ENGLAND alone that shall make her Highness strong ENGLAND and no other her true Patrimony Riches Power and Strength whereto she must trust ENGLAND her Highness native Country alone being well tilled and Governed shall be better to her Majesty in the End than all those Empires Kingdoms Dukedoms and Marchionates and other Rabblements of gay Titles which are but Wind and Shadows and Makers of Cares and Costs Which are no Profit but rather Hindrance and Loss as at last will be proved and as you may perceive by these Discourses her Predecessors have proved Now Mr. Philoxenus or Lewelyn or Lovealien for I thank my Godfather neither you nor I can lack Names I have sufficiently as methinketh answered you to your Six Parts Causes or Occasions which you make of Marriage You see that for Succession that Prince shall be to the Realm most loving most tender and most natural which hath both his Parents mere English And such an one hath England most cause to Love who is mere Hâ—rs of whom no other Region may claim any part You see that for Plâ—asure Comfort and Ioy which in Matrimony the one should have of the other the English man for Likeness of Manners for naturalness of Education yea and because he is most tryed and best known is most likely to be more kind loving and natural than the Stranger who is both different in Tongue and Manners rather stumbled on by Fortune than chosen by certainty You see how it is to the Realm most Honourable and to her Grace most allowable not to despise and contemn or to reckon inferiour to any other Country men those which her own Region and Country bringeth up Ye see that Strength which Foreign Princes bring is rather a Weakning than a Strengthening rather to be suspected than trusted Ye see also that the Stranger ever is like to have and also more like to impoverish than to enrich the Realm And that the Realm it self by good Government both is able enough to enrich the Princes thereof and hath enriched them when they have been contented alone with it rather than when they have sought and gotten great Augmentations of other Countries Which things if you will weigh in a just Pair of Ballances without being affected so much as you are to Strangers I do not doubt but ye will condescend now at the last to my Opinion and Judgment and think as ever I have thought that for all Purposes it were better for the Queens Majesty if it could stand with her Pleasure to Marry an English man than any other Stranger whatsoever he be NAY said he whom they called Mr. Godfather stammering after his manner speak to me Man that am indifferent never speak to him For ye are not so far in with England and English men as he is with Strangers or to this our Host here Let him give judgment For he hath been attentive enough I am sure he hath born away all that hath been spoken Come on quoth he to me what â—say you to the Matter Mary quoth I it were a Presumption indeed to speak before my Prince without Commission I trust her Highness shortly will give sentence her self and not with Words but with Deeds shew who took the better Part to the great Contentation of us all But yonder hath one stood a good while to call us to Supper I have caused him to stay whilst all were ended Why is it Supper time so soon quoth one of them it may be so by the Day but methought the Time was very short So it appeared to me quoth I But Supper tarrieth for you Well we must obey our Host said they and so walked in fair and softly jesting one with another at their new Names NUM IV. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire Uncle and Heir of Edward Smith Esquire deâ—eased Son and Heir of Sir William Smith the Younger and Heir of Sir William Smith the Elder who was Nephew and Heir of Sir Thomas Smith Kt.
generally afterwards received a late Learned Professor of that Language in Basil named Witstein made an Oration in that University lately Printed to confute it and to revive the old exploded Sounds And as he was thus useful to Learning in the University so he was also to Religion He was bred up in the Protestant Doctrine a pretty rare matter in those Times and he never flinched from it All his Kindred of his Father's side were neither Neutrals nor Papists as he wrote somewhere of himself all enclining to the Truth and Gospel Old and Young and so known and noted This he wrote to some because certain Backbiters in King Edward's Days had charged him to have been a Neutral The Reason whereof seemed to be because he did not run so fast in the Reformation under that King as some Hot-spurs would have him who knew not what the matter meant For he was publickly known to be a Protestant in the time of King Hâ—nry VIII living then in Cambridge and being there in place of Eminence when the Bishop of Winchester the Chancellor of that University was severe towards those that professed the Gospel and threatned Fire and Faggot-bearing Smith publickly defended them and opposed those rigorous Methods and staved off many And this he did before all Cambridge and all the Justices of Peace in the Shire and saved many and so continued He stood up and pleaded for the Professors and Profession of the Gospel publickly both in the University before all the Learned Men and not only so but in the Convocation before all the Bishops and in the Parliament-House before the Lords and Commons as he writ in Vindication of himself And being a Man of Reputation among them the University made use of him once as their Messenger and Advocate to the Court to address to Queen Katharine Par to whom he brought their Letters beseeching her Intercession to the King on their behalf being now as they apprehended in imminent Jeopardy For the Parliament in the 37th that is that last Year of that King's Reign had given him all the Colleges in the Kingdom whereat the University was sore afraid Dr. Smith repaired to that good Queen entreating her to prevail with his Majesty that not withstanding the late Act they might enjoy their Possessions as before And she did as she was a true Lover and Patroness of Learning and Religion effectually apply to the King and had her Request in that behalf granted and to that purport she wrote her Letters to the University of which Smith was also the Bringer wherein she called him their Discreet and Learned Advocate and having admonish them that she would have their University to be an University of Divine Philosophy as well as of Natural or Moral she let them understand that she had according to their Desire attempted her Lord the King's Majesty for the stay of their Possessions And That notwithstanding his Majesty's Property and Interest through the Consent of the High Court of Parliament his Highness was such a Patron of good Learning that he would rather add and erect new occasion therefore than confound those their Colleges So that Learning might hereafter ascribe her very Original whole Conservation and sure Stay to our Sovereign Lord as she expressed her self In his publick Academical Performances he acquitted himself with wonderful Applause and Admiration of all the Hearers And at a Commencement which happened as near as I can guess this Year being now the King's Professor both his Disputations and his Determinations were such that Haddon as good Judge in a Letter to Dr. Cox giving him some Account of that Commencement told him That had he been there he would have heard another Socrates and that he caught the forward Disputants as it were in a Net with his Questions and that he concluded the profound Causes of Philosophy with great Gravity and deep Knowledge Dr. Smith's Places and Preserments in Cambridge and elsewhere as they brought him in tolerably fair Incomes so they together with his Eminent Vertue and Learning reconciled him great Respect For he had the Lecture in the Civil Law bâ—ing the King's Professor in that Science for which he received 40 l. per Annum He was Chancellor to the Bishop of Ely which was worth to him 50 l. per Annum Besides he had a Benefice viz. of Leverington in Cambridgeshire which came to the Value of 36 l. per Annum So that his Preferments amounted to 120 l. a Year and upwards And such a good Husband he was that he made some Purchases before and some soon after his leaving the University as we shall hear by and by And this was the Port he lived in before his leaving of Cambridge He kept Three Servants and Three Guns and Three Winter Geldings And this stood him in 30 l. per Annum together with his own Board CHAP. IV. Smith is removed into the Protector 's Family His Preferments under King Edward Made Secretary Goes an Embassie Doctor Smith was often at King Henry's Court and taken notice of by that King and was growing so dear to him as to be received in Place and Office under him had he lived a little longer But soon after K. Henry's Death he was removed from Cambridge into the Duke of Somerset's Family where he was employed in Matters of State by that Great Man the Uncle and Governour of the King and Protector of his Realms Into whose Family were received many other very Learned and Pious Men. Long he had not been here but the University earnestly address'd to him to stand their Friend in some certain weighty Matter wherein not any single Cause of theirs was in hazard but themselves and their All. Which without Question was the Danger the University was in upon the Bill in Agitation in the Parliament-House for giving the King the Chauntries Hospitals Fraternities and Colleges which last Word took in the Societies of the Universities At which they look'd about them and made all the Friends they could at Court to save themselves And as they applied now to Cheke so to Smith also in this elegant Latin Epistle which was drawn up by the exquisite Pen of Ascham their Orator wherein may be observed what a general Opinion there went of his compleat Learning Si tu is es Clarissime SMITHE in quem Academia haec Cantabrigiensis universas vires suas universa Victatis jura enercuecrit si tiki uni omnia Doctrinae sâ—ae genera omnia Reipub. Ornamenta licentissimè contulerit si fructura gloriae suae in te uno jactaverit si spem Salutis suae in â—â—â—otissimùm reposuèrit Age ergo mente-ic cogitatione tua complectere quid tu vicisson illi debes quid illa quid Literae quid Respublica quid Deus ipse pro tantis Vietatis officiis quibus sic Dignitas tua efflorescit justissime requirit Academia nil debet tibi imo omnia sua
that the Matter of Religion should be contained therein To which Smith replied That that could not be and that no general Words could contain it if the Party that was bound would say that it was against his Conscience or he meant it not To which the King said That he would write to the Queen his Sister with his own Hand what he meant as to that and that he would as well defend her even in that Cause as if it were exprest in Words and that which he said he would keep tho' he dyed for it But this King was a great Dissembler which our Ambassador probably knew well enough but gave him this discreet Answer That for him he thought no less and he was sure the Queen his Mistress took him to be a faithful Prince and constant to his Words as any was Living But when they spake of Treaties they were not made in Words nor in such Letters missive but after another Authentical sort Sworn and Sealed Without which he could not he said for his part take it substantially and orderly done And besides that the Treaty was not Personal but Perpetual for him and his Successors And when the Queen-Mother would have shuffled off this and some other Articles saying That when Mareshal Montmorancy should be sent over into England from the French King to the Queen and the Earl of Leicester should come to that Court from the said Queen to see the League sworn by each Prince then all things should be done as the Queen should desire Smith answered That he knew the Fashion of Leagues And that it must be agreed upon between the Commissioners that no Words be altered then Subscribed with the Hands of both the Parties the French Commissioners delivering the Part Signed with their Hands to those of England and the Commissioners of England next to them Then the Prince causeth it to be made under the Great Seal of the Realm and so to be delivered to each others Ambassador And that he that came to see it Sworn to might make a new League if the Princes would but to alter that that was made he could not For the Princes were bound to Ratify and Swear to that on which the Commissioners were agreed And that it were not Wisdom as he added to send such Personages as they spake of to an uncertain League And he might consider that Queen Elizabeth his Mistress would not do it This Conference happened March the 1st 1571. After much Pains this Article and another about the Scotch Queen was agreed and Queen Elizabeth was only to give her consent to finish this happy and advantageous League And to excite the Queen hereunto Sir Thomas with Halsingham did freely give her advice to this Tenor That it was for the Assurance of her Person and Crown as she was a Prince lawful and natural and had a Crown Imperial And that she did it so by her Laws as God's Laws and Hers willed it to be done That foreign Princes that were her Friends would and must take it well and that such as were not would rather laugh at her and be glad of it if she did it not and when they should see Time take occasion to endanger her Majesty thereby The Queen soon after signified her Consent And so in the Month of April ensuing at Blois the League was concluded and signed the 18th or 19th Day Which according as Smith and his Collegue did conceive should be with as great Assurance and Defence of the Queen as ever was or could be the two Realms being so near and ready to defend her if it were required And in case Spain should threaten or shew ill Offices as it had of late done against the Queen's Safety it would be afraid hereafter so to do seeing such a Wall adjoyned as Smith wrote Which he therefore hoped would be the best League that ever was made with France or any other Nation for her Majesty's Surety His good Conceit he had of this League did further appear by what he wrote in another Letter soon after to the Lord Burghley That now it could not be said That her Majesty was altogether alone having so good a Defence of so Noble Couragious and so faithful a Prince of his Word but herein our Ambassador was mistaken in his Man none being so false of his Word and treacherous as he all covered over with most artificial Dissimulation and so near a Neighbour provided for and bespoken beforehand against any need Partly that and partly the Trouble in Flanders which he trusted God had provided to deliver his poor Servants there from the Antichristian Tyranny should make her Highness enjoy more quietly both England and Ireland and a better Neighbour of Scotland When Monsieur De Foix came to him and his Collegue with the Draught of the whole League in French which before was in Latin and the Matters that past Pro and Con which he said was that the King might understand it and had made a new Preface Smith did not much stick at it And acquainting the Secretary Cecil now Lord Burghley with it he opened to him the Reason of it I am old said he I love not much Talk and would fain be dispatched honestly homeward So the Effect be there indeed and our Queen not deceived I care for no more that done Smith loved to do his Business well and soundly and yet to knit it up with Brevity and Expedition Thus again when the French Deputy urged much in this Treaty the Scotch Queen that she might be sent safe home to her Country a thing which the English Ambassadors had order not to deal in by no means he began to amplify upon that in a long Oration But at the Conclusion Smith told him in short For all your Reason you must pardon me I know you are a good Rhetorician and you have Rhetorical Ornaments at will to make and so have I on the contrary side if I would bestow my Time in that sort We are the Queen's Majesty's Servants and we have shewed our Reasons so good that no Man could deny that we should not agree unto it While Smith was in this Country he was forced to follow the Court from Place to Place but it being Winter pinched him sore At Tholouse it almost cost him his Life and had made an End of him had it not been for Strong Waters which he used for his Stomach Morning and Evening At Blois where he remained after Candlemas he endured the greatest Cold that ever he felt and most continual And notwithstanding the Cordial Waters he used he was scarce able to resist the extream Cold of the Weather there being for thirty Days together continual Frost and Snow Neither was there Wood plenty nor good Chimneys for Fire And in his Bed-chamber he could make no Fire at all In this Embassy the League being concluded the Queen-Mother one Day in March Anno exeunte in the King's Garden at Blois
Secondly Concerning Laws for the Politick Government of the Country to be possest for the Preservation of it Thirdly In what Orders to proceed in this Journey from the beginning to the End which Sir Thomas called A Noble Enterprise and A Godly Voyage His Son being now with his Colony upon the Place proceeded commendably in order to the Reduction of it He was in a good forwardness of reducing Sarleboy to Obedience For they had much Converse together and came at length to Articles of Agreement The main of which was that he should be made a Denizon of England by the Queen and hold his Land of her and him and the same Privilege should the rest of his Scots enjoy Paying to the Queen a yearly Rent in acknowledgement and he to become Homager to Her by Oath and so to be a faithful Subject or else lose his Right Mr. Smith also began a new Fort in this Country He laboured also to unite the English and Scots that were there who did not it seems very well agree That their strength being united they might be the more able to withstand the Wild Irish. And this the Scots were for promoting as considering that if the English and they should strive together when the one had weakened the other the Wild Irish like the Puthawk it was Sir Thomas's own similitude might drive them out or carry away both Besides the Pains Sir Thomas had already taken for the settlement of the Ardes he drew up this year Instructions to be sent from the Queen to his Son Containing directions upon what terms Sarleboy and his fellows should hold their Lands of her Majesty and him Likewise he drew up a draught for explaining certain Words doubtful in the Indentures between the Queen and him and his Son As about his Sons soldiers if they should Marry in that Country as it was likely they would The Secretary entreated the Lord Treasurer to steal a little leisure to look these Writings over and correct them so that he might make them ready for the Queens signing And this he hoped when once dispatched might be as good to his Son as Five Hundred Irish soldiers At Mr. Smith's first coming hither he found some few that claimed themselves descended of English blood namely the Family of the Smiths and the Savages and two Surnames more And these presently joyned with the English and combined with them against the Wild Irish. But all the rest were mere Irish or Irish Scots and natural Haters of the English The Queen had a Force of men in those Parts for necessary Defence and for the keeping of Knockfergus a very important Place for curbing the Irish. But to retrench her Charge in Ireland she was minded now to discharge them as she had done some already expecting that Smith should secure those Quarters nor would she grant any Foot or Horse to him Sir Thomas therefore in February interceded with her by the means of the Lord Treasurer that at least for that year she would suffer those Bands to be there to Countenance and support the New begun Aid and Fort and not to leave it so naked as it had been it seems all that Winter by Cassing those Bands that were heretofore the Defence of Knockfergus and the Bar of the North. And he told the Lord Treasurer upon this Occasion that it was certain if his Son had not retrieved a Band of the Lord of Harvey's at his own Charge Knockfergus had been in great danger or else clean lost But while these matters thus fairly and hopefully went on Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a wild Irish man Yet Sir Thomas did not wholly desist but carried on the Colony and procured more Force to pass over there For in March Anno exeunte his Son being but newly if yet dead there were Harrington Clark and some others Adventurers on this Design that gave certain Summs of Money for Lands there to be assured to them In the beginning of March 1572 the Ships Captains and Soldiers were ready to be wasted over When unhappily some Persons concerned had started some new Matter in regard of the Bargain Which put a stop to their Departure And one Edward Higgins the Chief of the Gentlemen and Captains that were going over and forward in this generous Expedition was hindred for want of the money agreed upon Hence it came to pass that the Captains lay at great Charges when their Ships Mariners and Soldiers were ready and they did nothing but dispend their Money This troubled Sir Thomas not a little as appears by a Letter he wrote to one Mrs. Penne a Gentlewoman that had an Influence upon some of these Persons that made the stop To whom therefore Sir Thomas applied himself praying her to call upon them to consider at what Charge the Captains did lie and to do what she could in any wise to help them away Whereby she should do the Queens Majesty good service and him and them great Pleasure It being a matter said he which indeed for the goodness of it I take much to heart This was writ from Greenwich the 6th of March This Care the Secretary continued For a year or two after I find him drawing out other Passports and Licences for transportation of Victuals for certain that went to the Ardes and expressing himself then to a Friend that it stood him upon both in Profit and Honesty not to let the present Month pass which was May An. 1574. And so during his Life Sir Tho. laboured in the Civilizing and Settlement of this his Colony But upon his Death it seems to have lain neglected for some Time And tho' the Family and Heirs of Sir Thomas who are extant to this day have often claimed their Interest in this Land which their Ancestor did so dearly purchase and well deserve yet they enjoy not a foot of it at this present For as I have been informed by some of that Worshipful Family Sir William Smith Nephew and Heir to our Sir Thomas Smith was meerly tricked out of it by the Knavery of a Scot one Hamilton who was once a Schoolmaster tho' afterwards made a Person of Honour with whom the said Sir William was acquainted Upon the first coming in of King Iames I. He minded to get these Lands confirmed to him by that King which had cost Sir Thomas besides the death of his only Son 10000 l. being to go into Spain with the English Ambassador left this Hamilton to solicite this his Cause at Court and get it dispatch'd But Sir William being gone Hamilton discovered the Matter to some other of the Scotch Nobility And he and some of them begged it of the King for themselves pretending to his Majesty that it was too much for any one Subject to enjoy And this Hamilton did craftily thinking that if he should have begged it all for himself he might perhaps have failed of success being so great a Thing but that
men wherein I must needs confess that there is a Disparagement for that these Men were not Noble by Birth and therefore not meet to Match with such Noble Women But for the Queens Majesty to Marry one of her Noblemen is no disparagement at all Neither is the Comparison like And in this case ye do make me to marvel at you and to doubt what you do think of the Nobility of this Realm of England as tho' they are not as Noble as the Nobility is of other Realms Is not a Duke of England an Earl a Baron and their Sons as much to be counted Noble as they be in other Realms That I think you cannot deny How then should the Queens Majesty be more disparaged Marrying here one of that Degree than there For mâ—thinks you do so speak that if her Highness Married a Duke or a Nobleman of another Realm then it were no Disparagement Which if you grant then either grant this also or shew the Diversity Ye will say because here they be all her Highness Subjects So surely they be But her Subjects be of divers Sorts and Dâ—grees Whereof the Nobility is as the Right Arm of the Prince the Glory and Beauty of the Realm the Root and Nursery of her Highness Stock and Family Off-springs of Kings and Queens of England and whom her Highness and all her Progenitors calleth always in her Letters and Writings and common Talk Cousins Which word Cousins betokeneth that in mingling of that Bloud there can be no disparagement And so much as you would seem in your Talk to embase that Order and Estate so much you must needs appear â—to abase and contemn the Queens Majesty's own Bloud to whom they be and always have been accounted Allied and as Cousins And is it a Disparagement for the Queen of England to Marry an Englâ—sh man Why more than to the King of England to Marry an English woman The Authority is all one And as well is the English woman a Subject to the Crown as the English man Do you think that King Henry VIII her Majesty's Father was disparaged when he Married her Highness Mother or Queen Iane or Queen Katharine Par And that he was always disparaged save once when he Married his Brothers Wife which was a Stranger And think you that all the rest of the Kings of England of whom a great number Married their own Subjects were Disparaged Methinks this is a strange and unnatural Opinion If it be an Honour to be a Kings Wife or a Queens Husband not only to the Person but also to the Region out of the which they come no Country may justlier crave that Honour nor to none the Prince doth more justly owe that Love than to her own Country where she was born and where she is Queen And if ye would be loth to suffer and would spâ—nd your Blood rather than this Realm should be Tributary or Subject to any other yea you would not gladly see that any foreign Prince should do so much here or be so much set by here and have so much Power as your Natural Prince and Queen And if you may justly call that a Dispâ—ragement when this Realm which is the Head of Nations round about is put under the Girdle of another Who maketh more Dispaâ—agement I pray you the foreign Prince to be the Queens Husband or the English Subject But you are of the Opinion as I perceive that Eraâ—mus speaketh of that thinketh it not comely for a Kings Daughter to be coupled but with a King or a Kings Son To whom he answereth as well as if he had studied this oâ—r Case This is private mens Affâ—ction saith he from which Princes ought to flee as fast as they may If the Marry saith he to one who is not of such Power as the or her Father what is that to the Purpose if that he be for the Realm more expâ—dient It is more â—onour to the Prince to neglect that foreign Dignity of the Marriage than to prefer her Womanly Affection to the Profit of the Realm So far is that great learned and wise man from your Opinion that he calleth the Marriage with Strangers Uneven Marriages and as a man would say Disparagements when he saith there lacketh both that Love and Dearness which the common Country Likeness of Body and Mind doth bring and that Natural and traâ— and uncounterfeit Affection which those Marriages have which are made between them that have all one Country He saith also as I have said before that hardly the Country acknowledge them that are born oâ— those uneven Marriages for their own or that those that are so born cannot with all their Hearts love their Country but as their Blouds be mingled out of divers Countries so their Love is but as it were half dealed and parted in twain And did noâ— this man think you as a Prophet declare that thing which we did see of late in Qâ—eâ—n Mary Did not her vehement Love towâ—rd Spain and Spaniards dâ—clare that she was bâ—â— half English as it were in Affection so thâ—â— mingled Bloud in her Nature could not â—idâ— it self And if the Case standeth so and 〈◊〉 be so much to be looâ—t unto as ye will have it better it were for her Highness and more honourable as it may appear evidâ—ntly to make one of her Noblemen by that means equal to a foreign Prince who shall alwayâ— be ready to obey and Honour her than to take a foreign Prince from abroad who shall look to command and be her Superior And because that Poetry is reckoned of a great learned man to be the eldest Philosoâ—â—y for long before the Philosophy of Thales and Socrates began most Ancient Writers called Poets by fained examples or else by Deeds done described like Fables did instruct men and cause the witty Reader in them to see the good success and happy Fortune of Well-doings and the evil Success and Inconveniences which follow of Evil-doings that so we might have as it were shewed before our Eyes what to follow and what to eschew â—â—t us weigh and consider what they write of this Matter and what Examples they make of those Heroical and Noble Women who forsaking their own Country men fell into the Love of Strangers How good how true how Loving I pray you were your Strangers to them Was not that lâ—sâ—y and valiant Warriour Iason soon gotten and most unkindly and uncourteously did forsake Mâ—dea of Colches who not onely saved his Life but for his Love lost her Country and to save her Lovers Life did abandon the Lives of her Father and Brother How long was Theseus of Athens kind to Arâ—adne King Mâ—nâ—s's Daughter who saved his Life else to have been destroyed in the Labyrinth How true was Dâ—mophon to Phillis of Thracia Hercules to Omphale of Lydia or Aâ—nâ—â—s to Dido of Carthâ—ge All these Queens or Queens Daughters who contemning the Noblemen of their own Country as unequal unto them chose
a Dukedom adjoyning and the bigger Kingdom the less And if they fall both into the Lap of a Mighty great Monarch as the Emperor of Rome of the Turks or of the Persians security they may have but their Honour and Liberty is clean lost whether Conquest giveth it them or Marriage Howbeit of these the Empire of the Romans doth least oppress and leaveth most Liberty Which is not for fault of Will but of Strength What intended Charles the last Emperor to do to the Almains What attempted his Predecessors against the â—wissers What hath he brought to pass at Naples and Milan And what did King Francis to Piedmont These may be Mirors and Examples to us to consider and see what Advancement it would be to us to fall into the Hands and Power of a Prince that is a Stranger and Stronger than We be Now if you will say there may be Covenants made Bonds taken and for the more surely by the Parliaments of both Realms the Conditions of Matrimony may be enacted and such Assurances devised as there may be no doubt of any Inconveniences to follow Indeed this is a Device but I pray you let me tell you of a Question that not long ago a Baron of England moved in the Parliament to this Purpose And if you can assoil it you shall move me much If the Bands be broken between the Husband and the Wife either of them being Princes and Soveraigns in their own Country who shall sue the Bands Who shall take the Forfeit Who shall be their Judge And what shall be the Advantage If you will not Answer I will tell you Discord Dissension War Bloodshed and either extream Enmity or else the one Part must at length break and yield If you will say Tush He will not do against his Promise he will not break his Accord and Agreement he will so much consider his Honour and Love that what he hath once said he will always stand to Well granting that I pray you what needs any Bonds Whereupon cometh this Mistrusting but upon Fear So long as Love lasteth and he standeth in that Mind in which â—e was when he made the Bonds I my self do not doubt but he will keep them because he so mindeth And then the Bonds be superfluous But if his Mind fortune to alter or change and so he misliketh the Conditions whereto he hath agreed and will not keep the Covenants what shall these Bonds avail To which you have neither Place of Iudgment Persons of Plaintiff or Defendant and least of all a competent Judge to compel the wrong Doer to abide right And if it were done what pleasure shall the Compelled Party have of the Compeller Or what Trust can the Compeller have of the Compelled Nay Bonds Covenants Indentures and Conditions be far from the free Love Sincerity and hearty Doings of Love when the Hearts Minds and Bodies be united Can there be a surer Bond than that which maketh them all one And if they be not so then they be two and what two Marry Princes which know to Rule and not to be Ruled and who may not abide to be compelled or enforced Nor is it so meet that otherwise they should but only by Perswasion nor indeed cannot without Battle or Bloodshed I think an Article comprized in the Conditions by Act of Parliament with King Philip was that we should not for his Cause enter into War with France But yet I trow we did to our no small Loss And you heard rehearsed by Agamus how well Iaques de la Nardâ— kept his Bonds to Queen Iane of Naples But let us leave all this and have respect only to our Gain and that the Queens Majesty shall have her Honour and Power marvellously advanced and her Dominion enlarged into I cannot tell how many Miles This is the fair shew Look what followeth The greater Monarchy the larger Frontiers â—he more Garrisons the more intricate Titles the more ready occasions for War Which must needs be the Consuming of Money of disquieting her Subjects of emptying the Realm of able men We had two Emperors of Rome came out of the Isle when it was Britain Constant and Constantine This you will say was a great Honour to the Realm that a Nobleman of England should hold the Crown of the Empire Not now when it is in manner but little but then when to be Emperor of Rome was to rule all the World And so would I say too if I did not consider as well the sequel thereof as the first fair shew For in taking the Power from hence they took so many of the good Warriors expert Captains tall and likely men that they left the Britains so weak that the Scots and Princes over them overcame them in every Place They were sain to ask Aid of the Saxons And of them who came for their Aid they and their Posterity for ever were driven down out of the whole Country of England into the barren Mountains of Wâ—les King Edward III a Prince most valiant and Victorious with those Victories in France and continual carrying over of men to people such Towns Cities and Fortresses as he had won there did make the People here at home so thin and those that were left so desirous rather to spoil than to labour that from the Twentieth of his Reign to the 26 th or 27 th he and all the Council of the Realm were most troubled and occupied how to cause the Fields of England to be Tilled as may appear by the Acts of Parliament made in that space And if this Disadvantage be in Victory what shall be in the Loss If it be thus in Conquering what shall it be in being Overcome As for such Wars as we have for our own to do I have not seen it neither read but with our own Nation we have been able to man them well enough and have not used or have not much been helped with the Power of other Princes allied Which thing also Nicâ—lao Michiavelli hath Noted And read you the Histories and you shall see that when we had most help of them then lâ—ast was done And first of France at Agincourt at Cressy and at Poitiers wherein the greatest Battails were foughten and the most noble Victories obtained there was but our own Nation and the King of England's Subjects King Edward I in so often conquering all Scotland used but his own Subjects And hitherto sith the Time of William the Conqueror we have thanks be to God been able to defend our selves against the French and the Scots always allied together without the Help of Forâ—ign Aid So that we have at the end saved our Realm and rather gotten of them than lost And King Henry VIII Marrying at home did not only save but also got both in France and Scotland and kept also that which he had gotten Qâ—eâ—n Mary having by Marriage all these Helps which you so greatly praise so far she was from getting now that she lost