expectation of the Nation that lacked nothing to intaile servitude upon them but an Heire of her body which yet had not been wanting according to report but supplied by a Cushion but that the generosity of the Spaniard and the perswasion of a better successe from your imbraces which his hopes flattered him with did for the present make him to detest it The cause it was after voyced to be a false conception All which I have heard often And read some where though the Author hath escaped my memory Nor could Lecester render his bed vacant to a more thriving end as he is rumor'd to have done than to make roome for the greatest and most fortunate Princes the Sun ever looked upon without blushing in relation to Oppression or Blood This may be allowed upon the score of probability That his Lordship would hardly have been so rampant and uncivill without some extraordinary invitation as to draw a blow in her presence from an other Privy-Counsellor more zealous possibly than discreet to whom when the Queen sayd He had forfieted his hand his reply was he hoped she would suspend that iudgment till the Traylor had lost his head who did better deserve it But this accident bordering so neere the confines of her Honor did admit no farther debate it being no other than she in a lesse sprightfull humor might have given him her selfe none being more flexible to all kind of Iollities than the mindes of Princes when unbent from publique affaires Now whether these Amorosities were naturall or meerely poeticall and personated I leave to conjecture That may ever find imployment in the actions of Kings This I am sure of these gaudy gleams of favour shone not long upon any single person but were soone eclipsed upon the apparition of a fresh Sparke And here to conclude any farther discourse of Lecester he was a man of eminency for Person but branded by his enemies of which he had not a sew for a defect in Wisdom or Integrity during his aboad in the Nether-lands where with no good succesle he executed the place of the Queens Generall 20. This Princess used never to precipitate a retaltation in reference to forraine Injuries by which her Enemies had leasure given them to consider of a reparation no lesse than her selfe of Revenge in case of Contumacy and time to put her strength in the better array Manifest throughout her whole expedition into Scotland where though she had fomented such a party of the Nobility of that Nation as were able to receive and secure a force of her own which upon their intercession she sent yet was it without any Commission to fight or take notice of the Crowne of France from whom the Scotch Queen was immediatly assisted but only against the house of Guise that were meerly instrumentall in behalfe of their Sister Mary Contrary to the most ordinary practice of our lesse advised Monarches who to gratify the clamor of a few imbarged Merchants and to vindicate an honor capable of diminution but from a totall neglect or visible incapacity of being ever able to right it selfe doe like inconsiderate Bees in a rash and passionate Distemper by misimploying their Stings all the naturall force they have render themselves for the future weak and contemptible by an unseasonable demonstration of the worst they can doe which till experimented is for the most part imagined greater than in truth it is 21. Her frequent calling Parliaments and not staying till she was compelled kept them in so moderate a temper as they were more awfull to the country than the Court where some grievances might be connived at but never approved so the easier accompted for when cal'd to question nor doe I find her concession granted to any Statute for her peoples good by way of exchange but purely out of grace and for the most part before it was desired Wisely projecting that when Necessity is the Chapman the Market doth naturally runne high Therefore being chast from all other intrusion upon the nations liberty but what respected common safety and the honour of the Crowne she was able without murmer to commit such of the house of Commons as presumed to medle or enquire who was most fit or had the best right to succeed her Neither was she lesse tender and jealous of Disputes in Religion an apple in the eye of Goverment which if once suffered to roll and grow wanton will render the peoples mindes unsteady betwixt the obedience they owe to God and their Prince sondly imagining the first may gratified at the prejudice of the latter Zeale being the Flint and ambition the Steele out of which the sparkes of Rebellion have in our dayes kindled the most fatall mischiefes which she kept during her reigne from clashing by denying the Parliament all farther debate of Ecclesiasticall ceremonies And shewing them their no lesse injustice than levity to question what they had so firmly estated in her Person who was yet resolved to introduce no more than what was lately confirmed by themsesves or their Fathers so notorious to all as the Doctrine professed most generally in England bore in forraigne nations the name of Parliament-Faith Nor was this her prudent restraint looked upon with any great reluctancy by any but Cartwright and some such adle heads whose Iudgments were trimmed according to the Mode of Amsterdam of whose distempered passions the Queen made so much advantage as to keep the Church humble and quiet whilest she gelt their Sees by exchanges and other mortifications of their power and estates which during her life were not suffered to blaze out in their Ecclesiasticall offices as since they did which is the only visible cause can be given why so much worth as resided in this Princess is so little celebrated And all this wheeled about with the lesse disturbance of the higher Orbes because few opposers of Church-discipline were in her dayes eligible or so much in favour with the people being for the most part oppressors or indicted of hypocrisy the most eminent for Parts Titles or Estates as it fals out in relation to new schismes growing weary or full satisfied with the profit already gained by the great leap themselves or their Ancestors had made from Rome Nor were the poorer sort better apayd when they compared the Present hospitality with that reported of old before the Religious houses were demolished the cause I have not seldome my selfe heard them wish a returne to the Catholick Church under the title of the old Learning Not so well pleased with the saving doctrine of the Protestant profession as they formerly were under the more liberall distributions of the Monasteries Nor was it the guise of thse prudent times to dissolve Parliaments in discontent by which a quarrell seemed to be pitcked with the whole nation But to adjourne them in Love Wherefore having to doe with the same men she was seldome compelled to alter her course it being unpossible that a Prince who had her peoples
Crowne to her Sister Elizabeth not only swept and washed from all Competition or Claimes by the bloud of Queene Ieane but garnished with the applause and consent of the people no less amazed at the huge fires she had daily kindled to devoure the enimies of the Court of Rome then jealous of the partiality shewne to the Priests whose exactions were become no lesse odious in things temporail then their latine Mumsimus had made them appeare in what related to the worship of God Edward the sixt's reigne being too short to give them a satiety or make all the inconveniences appeare likely to follow so totall a defection from a Church reverenced by all Christian Princes besides It might be no weak motive to the new Queene so fairely to demeane her selfe at first that though she entertained the Protestants in hope no perswasions could tempt her to cast the Papists into dispaire till the Pope better seen in the Dignity belonging to his greatnesse then the Arts his Predecessors had used in their conduct to it did by denying her Embassadors a favorable Reception reduce her to a present necessity of renouncing the Roman Miter or her pretence to that Crowne she had without any considerable opposition so happily possest There being no way so probable to continue her in power after the Popes so publike manifestation of a blemish in her Birth as by adhering to a Party which during the Reigne of her Sister did justify in the flames of a hot persecution That the Authority of his Holinesse was spurious it selfe and the owners of it no better then Anti-Christs which attempt of hers might possibly have worse succeeded but for the protection Philip the second afforded during the infancy of her power flattered to it in hope of Marriage no lesse then compelled out of a feare to see England possessed by the Scots a people ever in conjunction with France and therefore likely to prove malignant to his affaires And as these considerations had made him solicitous of her safety during his Match with her Sister they continued still so prevalent as he did not only forbeare him selfe but restrayned others from making use of that advantage so totall a defection could not but afford Nor was the aspect of a Councill then sitting in Trent to which she omitted not to send her Ministers of small consequence to her designe Because not only this nation but all Europe were in the strongest of their labour to produce a Reformation Though farre short of the pretences of Luther to whose memory the Queene had an unappeasable feud ever since he upbrayded her Father with the Repudiation of Charles the fifts Sister whose birth by this became so unhappy as to be not only disapproved by the Catholickes but the Founder of that profession she meant to establish Nor were the Religious bouses and lands possessed promiscuously by those of both tenents a weak shelter to this new Princesse looked upon by all as the likeliest and most obliged person to keepe them from reverting to their antient use And therefore in hope to be vigorously asserted by the Protestants and at worst but weakly opposed by such as had not yet quite relinquished the Roman yoake 2. And that the penners of this Story may be as free from the imputation of malice as Ignorance though they acknowledge her rather thrown then of her selfe fallen from the obedience of Rome is deducible from the Ceremonies used at her Inauguration all purely Catholike and the retention of the Ring Crosse and Surplice contrary to the grayne of her strongest assertors From whence her ayme may be ghest as not poynting at a greater dissent from the doctrine of Rome then her Fathers proceedings had chalked her out Commanding the Common prayer book which containes most of the Masse in english to be publikely read And its opposers the Brownists Anabaptists Family of Love with a number of other crawling errors the unnaturall heate of Luthers difputes had produced like Insects over all Germany to be restrained under no slighter penalty then Death or Imprisonment Nor was she tempted to this out of a vainer hope then to draw her neighbour Princes to the same resolut on already in dispaire of procuring good from any milder indevours then those of power The Roman Courtiers participating so much of the nature of the Mules they ride on as they will rather indure through a sullen obstinacy the last extremity then remoove never so little out of their track of honour and profit no lesse manifest through all Ages then in their carriage towards this Princesse and their later proceedings with the Republique of Venice From whence more connivance then love fell to the share of the Puritans that abhor'd the lenity of the Queene in not countenancing such as bent their force against the Church of Rome betwixt which and the Court there may be a wider difference then our grosser disputes will suffer us to discerne from whose practice though some desired a Reformation a farre greater part thought it damnable to reject it quite few yet acknowledging any Descent or Ordination but what was derived from the Catholike Church a terme of too great a Latitude to be concealed for a day much lesse for whole ages as many indeavour to prove But leaving these disputes to Dr Iuell and the rest of her Divines at that time better able to play the Scholars prize then any amongst the Fryers were found in their Answers Her Iuncto in which she had a choyce number consisting of both Factions did think it prudence not to stray farther then the inexorable necessity of the time compeld from that union of Doctrine which had a Councill to vouch That no faith was to be held with any but themselves which must have rendered all her Leagues voyd or uselesse to the very Oaths she took of her Subjects yet notwithstanding these Shackles she spunne out a long and as happy a Raigne as ever this Nation did injoy 3 The precedent Reasons joyning forces with the deplorable condition she lived in during the Government of her Sister and meeting with so Fortunate a Catastrophe caused a no lesse consternation in the hearts of the Papists already much broken and unsetled in their passage through so many suddaine and unexpected changes then it produced joy in those of the Reformation who apprehending her successe as issuing out of the immediate care God had of their affaires became so farre incouragad and sedulous that whilest the other party stood amazed in an expectation which way this new Princesse would incline the ensuing Parliament was wholy made up of such persons as had already voted in their words and actions every thing the Queene could desire to have confirmed in the House so as no side but were mistaken in their account the Protestants gaining more and the Catholicks lesse then could be expected to the taking the title of head of the Church and conferring it on her Majesty which was thought unsutable to her
that the smallest chip of that incomparable Instrument of honour Peace and Safety to this now unhappy Nation would have been then valued by the people of England above the loftiest branch in the Calydonian Grove Who as she was the choycest Artist in King-craft that ever handled the Scepter in this Northern Climate So she went beyond all her Ancestors in adapting to her Service the most proper tooles in whose fittest applications she was seldome mistaken The only cause can be given why she so rarely changed her Secret Counsell Especially those she made privy to any of her last results which did not weakly contribute to her safety Such resembling Keyes that once lost or misplaced no future security remaines but in changing the lock And though this hath already fallen under my consideration yet I am forced to resume it againe in the vindication of the choyce of some Officers about the middle of her Raigne accused since for Weaknesse which if not a Mistake made by envy or for want of an exact understanding of the parties use some being placed after the Counsell grew numerous only to tell tales and ballance votes she disliked in publique without the least understanding of what was thought necessary to succeed in private a multitude of hands adding dignity to inland affaires it being ordinary with the generality to esteeme wisdome according to measure rather then weight And amongst these few can be found out of her Kindred or such Friends as her Fathers Honour or her owne C. atitude for kindnesse shewed during the life of her Sister kept her from excluding them the lists though the stronger heads of others were wholy imployd when her occasions called her to grapple with any difficulties Nor was there more then the honour and profit of Lord high Admirall intrusted with the Earle of Notingham but executed by a Commission selected out of the ablest seamen that age did afford he being imployd for his fidelity knowne to be impregnable in relation to Corruption Neither was there a goodlier man for person in Europe as my eyes did witnesse though they met not with him before he was turned towards the point of 80 no youth being more celebrated for gallantry and good fortune then his I confesse that in his age he married a young Lady allied to King Iames which set his wisdome many degrees back in the repute of the world But to discharge this cavill from any farther dispute No Prince then extant took an exacter estimate of her Subjects Abilities to serve her or made a deeper inspection into their Aptitude Nature and Humours to which with a rare dexterity she fitted her favours and their Imployments as may be instanced in Francis Vere a man nobly descended Walter Rawly exactly qualified with many others set a part in her Iudgment for military services whose Titles she never raised above Knighthood Saying when importuned to make Generall Vere a Baron that in his proper Sphere and in her estimation he was above it already Therefore all could be expected from such an addition would be the intombing of the spirit of a brave Souldier in the corps of a lesse sightly Courtier And by tempting him from his charge hazard that repute upon a Carpet his valour had dearly purchased him in the Field Nor could she indure to see her Subjects weare the titles of a forraigne Prince the cause she committed S r Matthew Arrondell of Warder in the West for accepting from the German Caesar the Dignity of a Count And denied S r Philhip Sidny the Crowne of Poland 18. The example of made sty her Souldiers exprest in the Nether-lands rarely found amongst Auxiliaries with her refusall to own or impose the name of her Vassals upon the Dutch gained her a huge confidence amongst her Neighbours that her complexion was pure from the contagion of any more destructive Ambition than the preservation of her honour and those Nations her birth no lesse than desert had presented her with which made them unapter to offend her none but Catholicks and they for the most part Priests wishing her remoove as not knowing where to finde a Prince lesse offensive and more debonaire the cause many Treasons concluded in the losse of their heads that projected them or sought to put them in execution Yet in this her temperament of desire in relation to augmentation of Empire her prudence so minded her of the nations future safety as That friends under persecution doe not seldome face about upon the approach of Security and power wherefore she made sure of Flushing and Brill which in regard of situation were so full a Content of their whole strength As the application of it could not upon their miscarriage in relation to the Catholicke King or their own future Ingratitude obliterate the advantage England might make of that revolt Though the mony lent cover'd it in Reason and Iustice from much of the envy it might have contracted had she imployed force or fraud in their purchase Nor did the receiving from the hands of the French Hugonots Haver de Grace upon a like exigency signify more Ambition than the reduction of Calis which might have undoubtedly succeeded had she not according to her usuall custom starved the designe for want of mony and men a fault the more excusable because it relates to the tender care and respect had of her Subjects Lives and Estates And here by the way it is worth noting That the Holanders could not so easily have attayned Freedom but through the help of the Ministers of Spaine who by eradicating the antient Nobility and Gentry reduced them into a Parity and so by consequence made them capable of unity the nource of all Combinations 19. Amongst all her Minions none according to report bad fairer for the Queens Brid-bed than Lecester who finding by the continuall high beating of her heart that she would never allow of so great an abatement of Soveraignty as a Match with a forraine Prince could not but in honour have the sayles of his expectation somewhat sweld therewith He would in her gayeties which ' till the death of Essex were very frequent aske her If she did not think she had some Subjects of her own able though it must be confessed none worthy to make an Heire for the Kingdom of England Since her Father was known to doe it yet a Man so uncapable of any eclipse of honour by the highest Princesse Neither did his often repeated condescentions in making Subjects his after-wives breed him that danger that he sustained by the first glorious Match according to expectation that he made with the Sister of Charles the Emperor which all the Prudence he owned could not unravel without strayning the cordes of Government if not Conscience by that desperate leape he made out of the Church of Rome and separating himselfe from the union of other Princes Nor did Philip the second prove more happy to your Sister for the present nor to the future