of the young French King and the recovering of Calice they granted the Clergy one Subsidy and the Laity another with two Fifteens and Tenths During these Occurrences at home the Prince of Conde was intercepted and taken Prisoner in that memorable Battel of Dreux as was likewise Sir Nicholas Throgmorton who shortly after paying his Ransome was set at Liberty But the Admiral Chastillon Commanding both the English and French Forces had beetter Success by taking in of Caen and other considerable Places which so startled those of the Guisian Faction that they agreed unto an Edict of Pacification by which the French Princes were restored to their Kings favour Conde lured with hopes of the Lieutenancy General of France and a Marriage with the Queen of Scots the Hugonots allowed the free exercise of their Religion and all things setled for the present to their full satisfaction And having thus agreed among themselves and treacherously abandoned the English they join their Forces and contrive how to drive them out of New-haven in case they would not evacuate it upon demand Now sometime before this agreement the Hostages for Calice endeavoured to make their escape with Ribald a Famous Pilot who had been sent secretly into England for that purpose but were discovered and seized just as they were ready to take shipping The Queen having secret notice of the French designs upon New-haven offered to exchange it for Calice Which being refused War was Proclaimed on both sides And such an extraordinary great Fleet of the English scoured the Seas as not only shut up the French in their Havens but the Spaniards likewise and their Pyracies upon them being very great the Queen caused her Ambassadour to make Excuses at the Court of Spain and restrained them by Proclamation In the mean time New-haven being close Besieged and hard pressed by the French and the Pestilence raging horribly in the Town the English were forced to capitulate and render up that Place hoping that by leaving it they should escape the Plague but instead thereof they brought it with them into England where it sorely afflicted the whole Kingdom and especially the City of London where there dyed of it Twenty one Thousand one Hundred and thirty Persons The Fathers at Trent were very much displeased with Queen Elizabeth both for assisting the French Hugonots against their King and passing the Statute for Punishing all those who countenanced and maintained the Popes Authority within her Dominions which so incensed the Pope that he sent a Commission to those Fathers to proceed to an Excommunication of the Queen of England But the Emperour being by his Ministers sed with hopes of a Marriage betwixt the Queen and his Son the Arch-Duke Charles he by Letters to the Pope and his Legates disswaded them from proceeding to such Extremities and caused the Pope to revoke the Commission he had sent to his Legates in Trent Shortly after which that Council broke up but were so far from having re-united the Church that on the contrary the Breach was become greater and the Discords inreconcilable In the mean time the Cardinal of Lorrain fearing without any Reason a Match between Queen Elizabeth and Charles of Austria to divert it proposeth the said Charles for a Husband to his Neece the Queen of Scots who imparting this Business to Queen Elizabeth she advised her to marry but not the Arch-Duke and recommended to her for a Husband Robert Dudley and promised her That if she would marry him She should by Authority of Parliament be declared her Sister or Daughter and Heir of England in case she should dyeâ— without Issue But assoon as the Queen Mother and her Uncles in France had notice hereof they disswaded her from it promising if she would reject it and persist in the French Amity they would pay her her Dowry Money and lured the Scots with hopes of confirming their ancient Liberties and granting them new ones And though the Queen of Scots took all imaginable Care to gain the Love of her Subjects and keep them at Peace yet they insulted her frequently nor was she able to suppress the Commotions The Spaniard now grew daily more enraged against the English for that his Ambassador here had been confined to his House and subjected to Examinations and publick Reprehensions for that the English Privateers had invested the French upon the Coast of Spain and intended to set forth a Voyage to the West Indies And the King of Spain manifested his Displeasure by causing Proclamation to be made in Antwerp and other places though under Pretext of the Pestilence being in England that no English Ship with Cloaths should come into any part of the Low Countries causing the Goods of English men to be confiscated upon very light Causes and by new Edicts certain Merchandise were forbidden to be transported the Passage through the Low Country Provinces with Horses Salt Peter and Gunpowder out of Germany and Italy was forbidden Whereupon and at the earnest Suit of the Merchant-Adventurers the Queen prohibited the Transporting of Wool unwrought and the Mart or Staple of Cloaths or English Merchandizes was removed to Emden upon the River Ems in Friezland The Apprehension that these and other Circumstances gave the Queen of the Councils of Spain made her the more willingly hearken to a Peace with France which was concluded upon these Terms which were as advantageous as the Juncture would afford That neither Party should invade the other The one shall not aid any that invade the other Private Mens Facts shall bind themselves only Commerce shall be free Traytors and Rebels shall not be received Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted Injuries shall be buried in Oblivion Reservation of Rights and Titles also Actions Demands and Claims which they have or pretend to have one against the other respectively shall remain to them safe and whole and in like manner Defences and Exceptions shall be reserved A certain Sum of Money shall be repayed to Queen Elizabeth at times prefixed Upon the Payment of six hundred and twenty thousand Crowns the Hostages shall be delivered out of England and Throckmorton shall return free into his Country after Confirmation of the League Which Treaty being ratifyed on both sides the French King was invested with the Order of the Garter Being now at Peace with France and in fair-seeming Terms with the King of Stain she resolved to take the Diversion of a Progress in the Course of which she made a visit to Cambridge where she was received with all the Respect Ceremony and Acclamation imaginable and to her own as well as their extraordinary satisfaction and the like Honour she did to Oxford being attended with the same Circumstances Don Alvarze a Quadra Bishop of Aquila and Spanish Ambassadour here a Man zealously addicted to Popery had fed the Papists here with hopes of having the Romish Superstitions again restored in England and had been a Grand Promoter of the Distrusts and Dissatisfactions that were
have procured he was to have marryed her and thereupon have demanded as well England as Scotland in Right of his Wife But this Plot and all the Contrivances to bring it about being discovered by the Prince of Orange to Queen Elizabeth she thereupon entred into a Defensive League with the States of the Low Countries After which some Forces were sent over thither with whom flocked several Volunteers of Quality Casimir the Elector Palatine's Son came likewise thither with an Army of German Horse and Foot at the Queen's Charges These Forces were unexpectedly attacqued by Don John at the Head of a great and experienc'd Army assisted by the Prince of Parma and other the best Commanders of the Spanish Monarchy and though they had expected a certain Victory yet after an obstinate Fight they were compelled to retreat but rallying again they thought to have surprized the English and Scottish Volunteers but were again repulsed by them and the English and Scots were so fiery in this Engagement that casting away their Garments by reason of the hot Weather they fought in their Shirts which they made fast about them Before this Action Don John had sent to Queen Elizabeth to complain of disobedience in the States The Spaniard himself having done the same and likewise the French-man of his Hugonot Subjects Thus sate this Queen as an Heroical Princess and Umpire between the Spaniards the French and the States insomuch that it was true what one hath Written that France and Spain were the Scales in the ballance of Europe and England the Beam to turn them either way For whom she assisted did ever play the Master Now though Embassadours come from the Queen of England the Emperour and the French King into the Low Countries with Proposals of Peace yet their Negotiation proved to no purpose for that Don John refused to admit the Protestant Religion and the Prince of Orange refused to return into Holland But shortly after Don John Dyed in the flower of his Age some say of the Pestilence others of grief both for his being out of favour with the Spanish King and for that his Ambition had been disappointed first of the Kingdom of Tunis and afterwards of that of England In Scotland began again new Commotions for the People having conceived a great Aversion against the Lord Morton the Regent the Nobility unanimously resolved to transfer the Administration of the Government upon the King though then but Twelve years old appointing him a Council of twelve of the Principal Lords three of whom were to attend him a Month by course Hereupon the King sent an Ambassador to Queen Elisabeth who was dismissed with satisfaction in most of the Points he came about but the Lord Morton not being able to brook the Disgrace of being put from the Regency taketh the Administration of all Affairs to himself which so provoked the Nobility of that Kingdom that they raised a great Army and were ready to fight him and his Forces when through the Intercession of Sir Robert Bowes the English Ambassador things were accommodated for the present And now the King of Spain and the Pope conspire the utter Ruine as they imagined of Queen Elizabeth having taken all the necessary Measures for an Invasion of England and Ireland But Don Sebastian King of Portugal being to Head this Enterprize was killed in the memorable Battel wherein three Kings were slain in Africa whereupon the King of Spain's Thoughts and Forces were wholly taken up how to secure the Kingdom of Portugal to himself In the mean time the Duke of Alanzon renews his Suit to the Queen sending over several French Lords to sollicit in his behalf and amongst the rest one Simier who had the Reputation of a great Courtier and one who understood the Art of Love better than any one Person of his time and indeed he seemed to have made such Advances in his Negotiation as made several of the other Pretenders jealous and caused the Earl of Leicester to report that this French-man crept into the Queens Affections by Love Potions and unlawful Arts for which and other Speeches and his being married to the Earl of Essex his Widow he was confined to the Castle of Greenwich and had it not been for the Earl of Sussex though his greatest Adversary he had been committed to the Tower But this course so provoked the Earl of Leicester and there were such suspicions of a Design of murdering Simier that the Queen put out a Proclamation commanding that no Person should offer Injury to the Ambassador or any of his Servants Yet it happening at that time that the Queen going in her Barge with Simier and some English Noblemen to Greenwich a young Fellow shooting off a Musket shot one of the Rowers in the Barge through the Arm with a Bullet for which he was immediately carried to the Gallows yet upon Solemn Protestation that he did it unwillingly and with no ill intent he was let go and pardoned And notwithstanding all that was suggested to the Queen yet she was so far from suspecting her Subjects that she frequently said She would not believe any thing against them which a Mother would not believe against her Children Within a few days after which Accident the Duke of Alanzon himself came incognito into England and unexpected by the Queen with whom having had some private Conferences he returned back to France and within a Month or two after his Departure the Queen appointed Commissioners to treat with Simier concerning the Articles of the Marriage The King of Spain having constituted the Prince of Parma Governour of the Low Countries Qu. Elizabeth supplyeth the States with a great Sum of Money for which William Davison brought into England the ancient pretious Habiliments of the Family of Burgundy and their costly Vessels laid to Pawn by Matthew of Austria and the States And about this time Sir William Drury succeeded in the Deputiship of Ireland to Sir Henry Sidney who had been eleven years Deputy of Ireland at several times And Casimir Son to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine came into England and after he had been magnificentlâ— entertained he was made Knight of the Garter and dismissed with a yearly Pension And the Queen having procured of the Grand Seignieur a full Liberty for her Subjects to-trade in all the Territories of Turkey a Company of Turkey Merchants was first set up about that time who carried on a great and most advantagious Trade in the several Parts of his vast Dominions Hereupon followed the Death of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in whose place succeeded Sir Thomas Bromley with the Title of Lord Chancellor of England And now broke out new Rebellions in Ireland the Natives thereof being thereunto stirred up by the Pope and his Adherents During which Sir William Drury dying Arthur Lord Gray was made Deputy in his stead And now the Pope having bestowed the Kingdom of Ireland upon the King of Spain for
all the French Forces should immediately depart out of Scotland except sixty men only to bâ— left in Dunbar and as many in the Fo 〈…〉 of Nachkeeth that they should be transported for their greater Security in English Bottoms that all matters of Religio 〈…〉 should be referred to the following Parliament that an Act of Oblivion should be passed for the Indemnity of all who ha 〈…〉 borne Arms on either side that a general Bond of Love and Amitâ— should bâ— made betwixt the Lords and their 〈…〉 râ—nts of both Religions And 〈…〉 amongst many other Particulars That n 〈…〉 ther the Queen of Scots nor the French King should from thence forward 〈…〉 the Titles and Arms of England 〈…〉 Articles being signed for both Kin 〈…〉 the French 〈…〉 Scotland 〈…〉 English Army being returned home was thereupon disbanded Shortly after which the Earls of Morton and Glencarn were sent by the Congregation to pay their most 〈…〉 mble Thanks and Acknowledgments to â—er Majesty for her ready and successful Assistance and to implore the Continuation of her Favour and Protection in case they should be invaded by the French or any other Enemies Whereof having received gracious Assurances and being 〈…〉 obly entertained and bountifully rewarded with Gifts and Presents they returned with such Joy and Satisfaction to â—he Congregation that for these Reasons and for the further engaging her Protection they obliged themselves by their Subscription to embrace the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which for a time remained the only Form of Worship retained in the Kirke of Scotland After which they caused a Parliament to be called in Pursuance of the Articles of the Pacification from which no Person w 〈…〉 ed who had any Right of Suff 〈…〉 ose Authority three Acts pa 〈…〉 g wholly to the promoting and establishing of the Reformation The first was for the abolishing the Pope's Jurisdiction and Authority within that Realm the second For the annulling all Statutes made in former Times for maintenance of Idolatry and Superstition and the third for the Punishments of the Sayers and Hearers of Mass. And now let us return to England where the Earl of Arrain being recommended by the Protestants of Scotland for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth by that means to have united the two Crowns this Match was handsomly rejected by her and with great Commendation of the Person The like Address was made by the King of Denmark in Favour of Adolph Duke of Holstein a Prince who had gained great Honours by the Wars and who came himself over for that purpose but was dismissed by the Queen with the Honour of the Garter and a yearly Pension whereby she bound him for ever to her Interests At home Sir William Pickering the Earl of Arundel and Robert Dudley the Duke of Northumberland's younger S 〈…〉 statter'd themselves with the hopes 〈…〉 taining unto the Honour of being her Husband In the mean time the Lord Vicount Montacute the Queens Ambassador in Spain represents to that King the Necessity of the Scotish War endeavours to free the Scots from all Aspersions of Rebellion proving though a zealous Catholick that the Religion that was now introduced into England was wholly consonant to the Sacred Scriptures and the four first General Councils and demanded that the League of Burgundy might be renewed Whereto that King replyed That the confirming of the League was in no wise necessary bemoaneth the Change of Religion in England is troubled at the Expedition into Scotland sendeth back the Order of the Garter and taketh unkindly some Repulses in things of small Moment and though he gave some necessary Cautions as to Clauses to be inserted in the Treaty of Edenborough and for a while opposed the French Practiâ—â— at Rome who endeavoured to proâ—â—â—rt Queen Elizabeth to be excommunicated yet his Ministers incensing him 〈…〉 more and more against the Engl 〈…〉 Affronts were offered to the Queens Ambassador at his Court and he is likewise said to have then endeavoured to perswade the new elected Pope to thunder out his Bulls of Excommunication against her Majesty But the Court of Rome being sensible how little she valued those empty Crackers instead of complying with the Spaniard sent to her the Abbot Vincentio Papalia with secret Instructions and fawning Letters whereof you have here an Abstract To our most dear Daughter Elizabeth Queen of England OUR most dear Daughter in Christ greeting and Apostolical Benediction How greatly We do desire according as our Pastoral Office requireth to take care of your Salvation and to provide as well for your Honour as the Establishment of your Kingdom both God the Searcher of our Hearts knoweth and you your self may understand by the Instructions which we have given to this Our beloved Son Vincentio Papalia Abbot of St. Saviour a man known unto you and of Us well approved to be by him imparted unto You. We do therefore most Dear Daughter exhort and admonish your Highness again That rejecting bad Councellors â—â—â— love not you but themselves and serve their own Deâ—â—â—s You would take the Fear of God to counsel and acknowledging the time of your Visitation oâ—ey Our Fatherly Admonitions and wholsome Advices and promise to your self all things concerning Us which you shall desire of Us not onely for the Salvation of your Soul but also for the establishing and confirming of your Royal Dignity according to the Authority Place and Function committed to Us by God who if you return into the Bosoâ— of the Church as We wish and hope you will are ready to receive you with the same Love Honour and Rejoycing wherewith that Father in the Gospel received his Son who returned unto him although our Joy shall be so much the greater than his in that he rejoyced for the Salvation of one onely Son but You drawing with you all the people of England shall not only by your own Salvation but also by the Salvation of the whole Nation replenish Us and all our Brethren in General whom God willing you should hear shortly to be congregated in an Oecumenical and General Council for abolishing of Heresies and the whole Church with joy and gladness Yea you shall also glad Heaven it self and purchase â—y somemorable a Fact admirable Glory to your Name and much more renowned than that Crown you wear But of this matter the same Vincentio shall treat with you more at large and shall declare unto you our Fatherly affection whom we pray your Highness that you will graciously receive diligently hear and give the same Credit to his Speech which you would do to Our Self Given at Rome at Saint Peters c. The 1.5 day of May 1560. In our first year Notwithstanding all this Cajoslery Queen Elizabeth kept firm to her Motto viz. Always the same insomuch that the Pope was deceived in his hopes The proposals that the Pope is said to have designed to have made by this Abbot were That he would
who was again committed to the same Place it having been discovered by a Pacquet of Letters that he still continued in his Affections Design to marry and free out of Prison the Queen of Scots having for that end kept correspondence with the Pope and the other Enemies of the Crown and traiterously consulted to take away the Queens Life and to bring in Foreign Forces to invade the Kingdom for which being brought to his Tryal he was found guilty by his Peers and accordingly beheaded The Parliament being assembled upon this occasion it was Enacted amongst other Laws that if any man should go about to free any Person imprisoned by the Queens Commandment for Treason or Suspicion of Treason and not yet arraigned he shall lose all his Goods for his life time and be Imprisoned during the Queens Pleasure if the said Person having been Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his Life if Condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion Presently after the Dissolution of the Parliament a Consultation was had whether John Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke of Alva's Searcher who some time before having been engaged to go on Board a Ship to search for Goods was by that piece of cunning brought into England being an English Man born and having in Brabant consulted with a Foreign Prince were to be held guilty of High Treason which being given in the affirmative by the Learned in the Law he was thereupon brought to his Tryal and Accused of having consulted with one Preshal a Conjurer to make away the Queen that he had Cursed her daily when he said Grace at Table that he shewed a way to the Duke of Alva how to Invade England of which being found guilty he accordingly suffered Death as a Traytor About this time Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox Regent of Scotland and the King's Grandfather was surprized unawares by the Nobility of the adverse Faction and having yielded himself to David Spence of Wormstone who thereupon lost his Life in his Defence and they were both slain together by Bell and Chaulder after he had with great Pains and care governed the Kingdom for his Grandchild above fourteen Months and in his room was unanimously elected by the Kings Faction the Earl of Marr for Regent of Scotland but the place being two full of troubles for a Man of his quiet Disposition he departed this Life after he had Governed thirteen Months Some few days after the Execution of the Duke of Norfolk one Barnes and Mather were put to Death for Conspireing with one Herle to take away the Life of certain Counsellours and freeing the Duke and at the same time suffered one Rolph for Counterfeiting the Queens hand Shortly afterwhich the Queen conferred new Honours upon several of the Nobility concluded a League with the French King and sent several Persons to expostulate with the Queen of Scots for that she had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the Agreement of the Treaty of Edenborough that she had endeavoured the Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk without acquainting the Queen and had used all forcible means to free him out of Prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had releived the Rebells both in Scotland and in the Low Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spain and others had conspired with certain of the English to free her out of Prison and declare her Queen of England and finally that she had procured the Pope's Bull against the Queen and suffered her self to be publickly named the Queen of England in Foreign Countries all which Points she either denyed or endeavoured to extenuate And though as she said she was a free Queen and not subject to any Creature yet she was willing and desired that she might make her personal Answer at the next Parliament In the mean time Scotland was full of Civil Distractions and Dissentions the English countenancing the King's Party and the French the other And the King of Spain having made Complaints to the Queen by his Ambassador that the Low Country Rebells were entertained and harboured in England the Queen caused a severe Proclamation to be put forth That all the Dutch who could in any wise be suspected of Rebellion should immediately depart the Kingdom which proved rather disadvantageous than beneficial to the King of Spain For Count Vander Marea and other of the Netherlanders being hereupon compelled out of England first seised upon the Brid and then upon Flushing the Surprize of which Places being attended by the Revolt of other Towns the Spaniards were in a short time in some kind excluded from the Sea and were never after able to recover themselves in those Countries During these Transactions the French Ambassador here made Intercession in the behalf of the Queen of Scots and likewise endeavoured to promote the Match between the Queen and the Duke of Anjou but perceiving that all his Offices were to no purpose he returned into France where he found that Court very much taken up with making Preparations for the Marriage of the King of Navarr with the Lady Margaret the French King's Sister To this Solemnity were allured by an inviting prospect of perpetual Peace and Amity not only the Queen of Navarr and the Chief of all the Protestants in that Kingdom but likewise the Earl of Leicester and the Lord Burleigh the Elector Palatine's Sons with several of the Principal of the Reformed Party of other Nations were desired to be at the Celebration of that Marriage designing at one Blow to have cut down the Protestant Religion And though those Blood-thirsty Papists could not catch all they aimed at yet as soon as the Marriage was Solemnized there followed that Cruel Massacre of Paris and that terrible Butchering of the Hugonots throughout all the Cities of France but for the extenuating and vindicating of this horrible Fact Proclamations and Edicts were immediately put forth whereby the Protestants were accused of a Conspiracy against the King and the whole Royal Family But the French King notwithstanding his mask of Piety did not escape Divine Vengeance for before a year was expired he fell sick of a Bloody Flux which brought him to his end after long and tedious Torments And now came the Head of the Earl of Northumberland to the Block who Rebelling and then flying into Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered for a Sum of Money to the Lord Hunsdon Governor of Berwick and was shortly after Executed at York About this time was Sir William Cecyl Lord Burleigh promoted to be Lord High Treasurer of England upon the Decease of the Marquess of Winchester who a little before ended his days after he had lived Ninety seven years and had seen the Issue of his Body to the number of One hundred and three Persons Not long before which was a motion made to the Queen in favour of a Match between her Majesty and the Duke of
to the Invasion of England and the Queens Destruction by the confession of her Secretaries and the rest of the Traytors and which were confirmed by Letters of her own hand writing And having little to say in her own Defence the Commissioners pronounced Sentence against her in the Star Chamber And in a few days after the Parliament being convened at Westminster the Lords petitioned the Queen that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots might be published But the Queen made Answer That she could wish that that Sentence might deterr the Queen of Scots from such like Contrivances for the future and that some Expedient might be found out for the saving her Life and yet secure England and it's Queen from further Attempts and Dangers of that kind But both Houses replyed That neither her Majesty nor themselves were safe as long as the Queen of Scots was living and pressed her so hard that the Sentence might be put in Execution that Commissioners were appointed to admonish her to prepare for Death which News she received without any change of Countenance or shew of Passion And having that Night made her Will she with great Courage and Devotion prepared her self to dye the next day and was then accordingly beheaded in the six and fortieth of her Age and seventeenth year of her Imprisonment in England But what most perswaded Queen Elizabeth to suffer the Sentence to be put in Execution was the French and Scottish Ambassadors finding their Sollicitations in the behalf of the Queen of Scots to be to no purpose the French Ambassador had hired and excited some persons to kill Queen Elizabeth but being discovered both by the Confession of the Parties and the French Ambassadour himself and several Rumours spread abroad that the Spanish Fleet was already arrived at Milford Haven that the Scots were broken into England that the Duke of Guise was landed in Sussex with a strong Army that the Queen of Scots was escaped out of Prison and levyed an armed Power that the Northern men had raised a Rebellion that there was a new Conspiracy to kill the Queen and set the City of London on Fire nay and that the Queen was dead Insomuch that some Change being apprehended the Queen was after much Importunity prevailed with to sign the Sentence of Death And the Scots report that one of the principal Perswaders was Patrick Grey who was sent from the King of Scots to perswade the Queen from putting his Mother to Death Queen Elizabeth was so grieved when she received the News of her Death that she commanded her Counsellors from her Presence caused Davison to be cited in the Star-Chamber and fined ten thousand pounds She likewise sent one to pacifie the King of Scots assuring that it was done against her Meaning and Privity giving him reasons why he should not break out into the revenge he threatned and signed an instrument attested with the Great Seal and with the hands of all the Judges of England that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots could in no wise prejudice his Right to the Succession In the mean time the Queen had supplyed the King of Navarr and the Protestants of France with a great sum of Money And for a Diversion to the Spaniard she sent Sir Francis Drake to the Court of Spain with four Men of War where he chased six Galleys in the Port of Cales took sunk and burnt above a hundred ships set upon their Forts and compelled them to yield took a vast rich Carrack called the St. Philip. Thomas Cavendish with three ships ravaged the West Indies at the same time took and pillaged nineteen great ships burnt and plundred a great number of the Spanish Towns and then returned home after having been the third after Magellan that had sayled round the World During these successes of the English the Officers of the Earl of Leicester had employed having proved Treacherous in several instances the States accused the Earl to the Queen who thereupon called him home and he resigned the Government to the States Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange succeeding in his room at the Age of Twenty Years and the Lord Willoughby was made General of the English Forces in the Low Countries with orders from the Queen to reduce the English Factions into obedience of the States which he accordingly performed with the help of Prince Maurice and was in the Year 1588 which by the German Chronologers was presaged to be the Climacterical Year of the World and indeed the Rumours of War and the extraordinary preparations that the Spaniards were making for an Invasion of England by their Invincible Armado seemed to justify their Predictions At this time there was a Treaty of Peace held near Ostend between the English and Spanish Commissioners but designed by the Spaniards only to lull the English asleep till their Navy was arrived upon the Coast of England This Invincible Armado consisted of one hundred and thirty ships whereof Galleasses and Galleons seventy two in which were nineteen Thousand two hundred and ninety Souldiers eight Thousand and fifty Mariners two Thousand and eighty Gally Slaves and two Thousand six hundred and thirty Pieces of great Canon Twelve of their main ships being christned with the Names of the Twelve Apostles Alphorozo Perâ—z de Gusman being made principal Commander thereof Besides extraordinary Preparations were making in Flanders and the Prince of Parma had orders to joyn them with fifty Thousand Men. In the mean time Queen Elizabeth was preparing with all diligence as good a Fleet as she could making the Lord Howard of Effingham Admiral thereof and Sir Francis Drake Vice Admiral The Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset was appointed to lie upon the Coasts of the Low Countries with forty English and Dutch ships for the hind'ring the Prince of Parma's coming forth with his Forces At home along the Coasts were disposed twenty Tousand Men and besides two Armies of the choicest and expertest Men were raised the one under the Command of the Earl of Leicester consisting of a Thousand Horse and two and twenty Thousand Foot which encamped at Tilbury the Enemy being resolved to make their first Attack upon London the other under the Conduct of the Lord Hunsdon consisting of thirty four Thousand Foot and two Thousand Horse for the Guard of the Queens Person A Council of War was likewise established of prudent and experienced Officers All Sea Ports were likewise fortified and provided with all things necessary trusty and prudent Persons put into all Offices of Trust the most suspected Papists committed to custody the King of Scots perswaded to declare in favour of the Queen which he accordingly did with great Alacrity And now at length after several false Rumours and Alarums the two Fleets meet and engage and after several days Fight the Spaniards were utterly defeated Insomuch that of one hundred thirty four ships that set Sayl out of Lisbon only fifty three
Conference was appointed to be held at Westminster between the Papists and Protestants 1. Concerning Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments in the Vulgar Tongue 2. Concerning the Authority of the Church in constituting and abrogating Ceremonies to edification and 3. Concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass and Persons were chosen on both sides for to dispute upon these Points yet all fell to nothing not being able to agree upon the Method they were to hold in their Disputations the Papists not daring to dispute upon Points that had never been controverted in their Church without having first consulted the Pope but pretended and complained of the hard usage they had met with from the Lord Keeper Bacon in not giving them time sufficient to consider upon the Points in Question they looking upon him as their bitter Enemy And some of the Popish Bishops were so fiery and so extravagant in their Expressions as to declare that the Queen and all others that had occasioned the overthrow of the Superstitions of the Church of Roâ—â—e ought to suffer Excommunication and for this their impertinent Zeal were clapâ— into Prison But the more Prudent thought it more fit that this Censure should be left to the Pope lest as they were Subjects such Declarations in them might prove to be Rebellion In the mean time the Pope being made perfectly well acquainted with all these passages and being netled to the quick by so great a loss as he suffered by this change he ordered Sir Edward Carne who had been Ambassadour at the Court of Rome for King Henry the Eighth for Queen Mary and now for Queen Elizabeth not to act any longer as such And to use his own words By Vigour of a Commandment given by word of Mouth by the Oracle of the most Holy Lord the Pope in vertue of his most Holy Obedience and under pain of his greater Excommunication and loss of all his Goods and Lands not to depart the City but should take upon him the Government of the English Hospital Which was likewise done lest Sr. Edward should acquaint the Queen with the secret Practises of the French against her and was willingly submitted to by him out of h 〈…〉 fervent Zeal to Popery for either by thâ— Pope's Instigation or the Sollicitation 〈…〉 the French King or the Dauphin's Ambition who had married the Queen 〈…〉 Scots that Queen took upon her the stil 〈…〉 and Title of Queen of England quartering the Arms thereof in her Plate anâ— in all other things as she had Occasionâ— which she did as Cousin and next He 〈…〉 to the late Queen by which means shâ— imputed Bastardy to the Queen then l 〈…〉 ving which Extravagance was afterwards the loss of that unfortunate Lady 〈…〉 Head As Queen Elizabeth was somethinâ— startled at these Proceedings so it moveâ— her to pursue the Reformation she haâ— begun with the more Eagerness Tâ— which end she set out by Advice of h 〈…〉 Council a Body of Injunctions bein 〈…〉 much the same with those that haâ— been published in the beginning of t 〈…〉 Reign of King Edward but better fut 〈…〉 to the Temper of that Juncture 〈…〉 containing the severe Course taken 〈…〉 bout Ministers Marriages the Posture 〈…〉 the Communion Table the form 〈…〉 Prayers in the Congregation and the use of singing and of Reverences in Divine Worship to be kept in Churches By the Injunctions she made way to her Visitation which was performed by Commissioners in their several Circuits and regulated by a Book of Articles printed and published for that purpose By Vertue of which Articles the Commissioners removed all carved Images out of the Church which had been formerly abused to Superstition defacing likewise all such Pictures Paintings and other Monuments as were made for the Representation of feigned Miracles and this they did with so much Order Moderation and Decency that the Papists themselves could not find Fault with and without commiting the least Sacriledge by appropriating to their own use any of the Plate or other Utensils that had been restored and bestowed upon the Church in the late Queens Time Inquiry was in like manner made into the Life and Doctrine of Ministers their Diligence in their respective Cures the Decency of their Apparel the Respect that was borne them by their Parishoners the Reverent Behaviour of all manner of Persons during Divine Service Inquiry was also made into all sorts of Crimes as frequenting of Taverns and other publick Houses by the Clergy Adultery Fornication Drunkenness amongst the Laity with several other things that have since been practised in the Visitations of particular Bishops an Oath of Supremacy was likewise offered to most of the Popish Bishops and others of the Clergy which they had most of them sworn to in the time of Henry the Eighth and such as refused it were displaced and others substituted in their places And this was the Course and Method that was taken for the abolishing the Superstitions of Rome and the introducing and setling the true Reformed Religion in this Kingdom which was done with that ease and with so little Commotion and Disturbance as put all Christendom into Admiration to see that Gradually Maturely and yet in a short time this change had been brought to pass For after Popery had continued a full Month after Queen Maries Decease in the same estate as formerly on the Twenty seventh of December the Epistles Gospels the Lords Prayer Ten Commandments the Creed and the Litany were allowed to be used in English On the Twenty second of March the Parliament being then Assembled a Law of Edward the Sixth's was renewed whereby both kinds were permitted to be administred in the Lords Supper On the Twenty fourth of June by Authority of an Act the Sacrifice of the Mass was abolished and the Liturgy in the English Tongue Established in July the Oath of Supremacy was ministred to the Bishops and others And in August Images were removed out of the Churches broken or burnt Thus was our Church purified from the Filth and Idolatries of Popery and the Crown of England rendred more Independent than any other of Christendom who had rendred and continued themselves Slaves by submitting themselves to the Yoke of Rome and infinite Sums of Money were continued at home that used to be Exhausted hence by the See of Rome by Popish Artifice and Trifles for first Fruits Pardons Dispensations and other such like trash of Popery During these religious Transactions and while that Ecclesiastical Affairs were thus setling the Ministers of England and Spain at the Treaty of Peace at Cambray did contend hard for the Restitution of Calice all which was however to no purpose though they offered in Lieu thereof to remit three Millions of Crowns that were due from the French The Spaniard at that time holding firm to the English both for that the English had lost it in his Quarrels and that he was sensible according to all Appearances that it would be more
the Subsidy saying that Money in her Subjects Coffers was as well as in her own Nevertheless she favoured very much the Queen of Scots Title and punished those who called it in question Shortly after these Occurrences the Queen of Scotland falling into a languishing Condition she recommended the Prince her Son to the Protection of Queen Elizabeth but before that happened her Affection for the King her Husband being much cooled and abated and this Unkindness in her being much fomented by one David Rizie an Italian first a Musician and afterwards French Secretary to the Queen The King her Husband through the instigations of several Lords resolved to dispatch a man who had taken upon him more than became him which having accordingly performed it was not long before the King himself was assassinated by Murray's Contrivances though some Historians have laid that Regicide to the Queen his Wife's Charge After this detestable Action they perswaded the Queen to accept of the Earl of Bothwel one of the Conspirators for a Husband being a Person renowned for his Courage and therefore the better able to assist her against so many Enemies as she was represented to have but being accused of that horrid Parricide he was brought to the Bar and acquitted by Law Whereupon having new Honours conferred upon him the Queen accepted him for a Husband which bred a Suspition in several People That the Queen was privy to the Murder Which Umbrage being promoted by the Male-contents they took Arms caused Bothwell to fly though as some say privy to their Designs and having seized on the Queen they put her into Prison which Queen Elizabeth having notice of and detesting the Insolency of those People she sent Sir Nicholas Throckmorton into Scotland to expostulate the matter with the Confederates and procure her Restauration to her former Freedom and Authority Yet though this Ambassadour used all imaginable Arguments in Vindication of that Queen yet he found that People so strangely exasperated against her that instead of complying with his Demands they put the Queen under a stricter Confinement insomuch that at last to make her freely resign the Government of the Kingdom they menaced to call her in question for Tyranny the King's Murder and incontinent Living insomuch that at length they compelled her to set her hand to three Instruments In the first whereof she resigned her Kingdom to her young Son at that time scarce thirteen Months old In the second she constituted Murray Vice-Roy during the Minority of her Son and in the third she named in case that Murray should refuse that Office several of the principal Noble-men of the Kingdom Within a few days after this Resignation James the Sixth her Son was crowned King the famous John Knox preaching the Coronation Sermon Now Murray being declared Regent he advised the Queen not to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom by endeavouring her Liberty by Instigating the Queen of England or the French King to a War with Scotland or by thinking any more of Bothwell's Love or meditating Revenge upon his Adversaries As soon as Murray was confirmed in the Regency he put to death some of Bothwell's Servants who protested at their Execution that Murray and Morton were the Contrivers of the Kings Death But while that the Queen of England and the French King were in vain solliciting the Liberty of the Queen of Scots eight years being now expired since the Treaty of Cambray Ministers were sent into France to demand the re-delivery of Calice with the Appurtenances but this Business being delayed and prorogued by the French from time to time at length the thoughts of it were wholly laid aside through the Civil War that then broke out in France In the mean time the Earl of Sussex being sent Ambassador to the Emperour to treat of the Marriage that had been proposed by his Imperial Majesty in favour of the Arch Duke his Brother which Commission he the more willingly accepted of in that it might be a means for the destroying the Earl of Leicester's Pretensions But he met with several Difficulties in this Negotiation both as to Religion the Arch Duke's Maintenance the Title of King and the Succession As for the Title the Arch Duke Charles should enjoy the Name and Title of King of England Concerning the Succession He could not by the Laws of England succeed for that would have been prejudicial to their Children of whom it was agreed however that he should have the Guardianship and all other things as fully granted as they had been to Philip of Spain when he married to Queen Mary As touching his Maintenance he would at his own charge maintain the Train he should bring and keep about him the Queen would bountifully supply the rest according to his Royal Dignity nay and that other also if he would require it But the main obstacle was concerning Religion the Emperour and Arch Duke requiring a publick Church for the celebrating Divine Service after the Romish manner which not being granted nor the Expedient allowed of that was devised by the Emperour that he might have some private place in the Court granted him for Divine Service upon condition that no English man should be admitted thereunto That he himself should forbear in case of any Disorders in point of Religion That neither he nor any of his should speak against the Religion of the Church of England and moreover That he himself should be present with the Queen at Divine Service to be celebrated after the manner of the Church of England Yet notwithstanding these plausible Offers the Queen after mature Deliberation made Answer That should she consent hereunto she should offend her Conscience and openly break the publick Laws of the Realm which could not be done without endangering both her Dignity and Safety but however invited the Arch Duke Charles to come into England promising That he should not repent of his Journey Whereupon the Emperour dismissed Sussex with great Honour and thus those Proposals fell to nothing by degrees though all mutual good Offices continued to pass between the Queen and the Emperour who persevered in thwarting all the Designs of the Pope against her Majesty and not long after the Arch Duke Charles took to Wife a Daughter of the Duke of Bavaria Much about the same time came Ambassadours to the Queen from the Emperour of Russia and Muscovia bringing very rich Presents to her Majesty that Emperour having granted very great Priviledges to the English who had not long before discovered a Passage by Sea into his Countrey and of whom a Company was formed for Commerce into those parts With those Ambassadors returned into England Anthony Jenkinson being the first of all the English who sailed upon the Caspian Sea By him the Czar made Proposals of an Offensive and Defensive League with the Queen which her Majesty made slight of not being willing to enter into farther League with a Prince who had created an Aversion to him in his
Authority of Parliament To which Propositions the Queen of Scots replyed with a Proviso referring the fuller Answer to the Bishop of Ross her Ambassadour in England and to some other Delegates who afterwards granting some of the Propositions and rejecting others the Treaty came to nothing and things remained in the same state as they were in before Onely Queen Elizabeth as Head of all Britain by her Authority prorogued the Parliament of Scotland Whilst things were in this posture the Pope supplied the English Rebells and Fugitives with Monies and Philip of Spain contracted a Marriage with Anne of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian his own Neece by his Sister and she being to go by Sea from Zealand into Spain Queen Elizabeth to shew the Love and Respect she had for the House of Austria sent Sir Charles Howard with the Navy Royal to Convoy her through the British Sea And now Queen Elizabeth having compleated the Twelfth year of her Reign which some Wizzards had flattered the Papists that it would be her last the People out of their great Affection and Loyalty to her Majesty celebrated the 17th of November with all the Pomp Joy and Thanksgiving imaginable which was not only continued upon that day during her Life but even to this very day In Ireland a new Rebellion was contrived by the Earl of Thoumond and his Adherents which was disappointed when it was just ready to break out merely by the Earl's Suspicions of his being discovered whereupon he fled into France and confessing his Crimes and showing himself very penitent to the Queen's Ambassador there this Minister procured him his pardon and the Restitution of his Estate Soon after which Queen Elizabeth made a very magnificent Entry into the City of London for to go see the new Burse which Sir Thomas Gresham had newly built and in a solemn manner nam'd it the Royal Exchange with Sound of Trumpets and by the Voice of an Herald Shortly after which she created Sir William Cecyl Baron of Burghley There was at this time in England Delegates from the King of Scots of whom Queen Elizabeth having demanded that they should explain the Reasons they had for deposing their Queen whereupon they exhibited so insolent a Writing that the Queen could not read it without Indignation and told them That she did not see that they had any just Cause to treat their Queen after that manner and therefore desired they would immediately think of some means to allay the Dissentions of that Kingdom Hereupon several Propositions were again made them for the setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty which being rejected by the Scottish Delegates and Norfolk beginning a new his Practices in favour of that Queen and she her self corresponding and caballing with the Enemies of the Crown of England whereto they were both excited by Ridolpho the Pope's Agent that Queen had many of her Servants taken from her and she her self put under a stricter Confinement and a watching Eye was kept over the Duke to whom the Pope had promised great Assistance both of Money and Men in case he would raise a Rebellion assuring him That the King of Spain would aid him with four thousand Horse and six thousand Foot and that he had already deposited a hundred thousand Crowns and that he would be at all the Charge of the War But whilst these things were acting in England the Queen of Scots Party was very much oppressed in Scotland several of her principal Adherents being put to Death and their strongest Holds taken in In France was the Marriage now solemnized between Charles the Ninth the French King and Elizabeth of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian to Congratulate which the Lord Buckhurst was sent into France by Queen Elizabeth and was there received with all the Honours and Pomp imaginable and possibly the more in respect of a Motion that the French Court designed to make in favour of a Match between the Duke of Anjou and the Queen of England After the Lord Buckhurst had performed his Commission he returned home with great Presents and with one Cavalcantio a Florentine who had attended him in his Embassy This Cavalcantio being a prudent Person was entrusted by the Queen Mother of France to make a motion of this Match to Queen Elizabeth Which he accordingly performed and the Queen seemed to listen favourably to the Proposal for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdom of England the Dukedoms of Anjou Bourbon Avern and possibly the Kingdom of France it self Whereupon a Treaty was held in which the French proposed three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the joint Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a toleration of his Religion whereto it was replyed that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but hardly the third for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdom yet between a Wife and her Husband it seemed very incongruous and inconvenient however the matter was brought at length to this Conclusion that if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Roman not being expressly against the Word of God But they could not accommodate these Niceties insomuch that the Treaty was quite broak off after it had continued almost a Year But during these Occurrences it happened at Kinnaston in Herefordshire the ground was seen to open and certain Rocks with a piece of Ground removed and went forwards four days together carrying along great Trees and Sheep-Coats some with sixty Sheep in them and overthrew Rimnalstone Chappel the Depth of the whole where it first broke out is thirty Foot and the bredth of the Breach sixteen Yards also High-ways were removed near an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedg-rows and the like And now the Papists were plotting and contriving new Attempts against the Queen but they were all frustrated by the goodness of God and the Prudence of the Queen and the Loyalty and Zeal of her Ministers and Protestant Subjects Amongst others of those Devillish Instruments of Popery was the Bishop of Ross the Queen of Scots Ambassador who made it his whole Business to excite and stir up People to Rebellion He had laid several Plots for seizing Queen Elizabeth and freeing the Queen of Scots but they all failed him in the Execution But notwithstanding that Bishop had received so many checks for these Practices of his yet he continuing them to that degree as not only to pervert the Subjects from their Loyalty but even to Designs against the Queen's Life the Privy Council after mature Deliberation in the Business notwithstanding his Character thought fit he should be sent and kept close Prisoner in the Tower which was accordingly done as likewise with the Duke of Norfolk
Ships in one Road and in them great store of Silks and a Chest full of Money ready Coyned but not so much as a Boy aboard so secure they think themselves on that Coast And then making all the Sail he could he followed the rich Ship called the Cacofogo and by the way met with a small Ship without Canon or other Arms out of which he took fourscore pound weight of Gold a Golden Crucifix and some Emeraulds of a fingers length On the first of March he overtook the Cacofogo and having shot down the Foremast with the shot of a great Piece of Ordnance he set upon her and soon took her and in her besides Jewels fourscore pound weight of Gold thirteen Chests of Silver ready Coyned and as much Silver as would ballance a Ship And now thinking himself sufficiently rich he resolved to make Sail for England and soon the third of November 1580 he arrived at Plymouth having sayled round about the World in the space of three Years to his Eternal Renown and the great admiration of all Men. He was graciously received by the Queen who yet sequestred his Goods that they might be forth coming if the King of Spain demanded them And her Majesty having given order for his Ship to be drawn on shoar near Deptford whereto and where it does remain for a Monument and in it being consecrated for a Memorial with great solemnity and having been there treated with great Magnificence her Majesty conferred the Honour of Knighthood upon Captain Drake But the Spanish Embassadour in England began to bluster and re-demanded the Goods that had been taken by Drake and made Complaints of the English sayling in the American Seas To whom the Queen replied That she had caused the Goods to be sequestred and that they were forth-coming for the King of Spain's satisfaction notwithstanding that the Queen had been at greater Expences in suppressing the Rebellions that had been raised by the Spaniard's Instigations in England and Ireland than all the Money that Drake had brought with him And as for sayling on the American Sea that it was as lawful for her Majesties and and other Princes Subjects as the King of Spain's and that she could not acknowledge any Right in the Pope to appropriate those or any other Countreys to any Person However the King of Spain's Agent in this Business had a great Sum of Money repayed him which instead of being restored to the Owners was employed against the Queen and the Protestants in the Low Countries where the English did extraordinary Exploits in behalf of the confederated States General Norris raising the Siege of Fenwick that was besieged by the Forces of the King of Spain and shortly after fought another Spanish Army but being over-powered with Numbers made a gallant Retreat In the mean time new Troubles were raised in Scotland some envying the Duke of Lenox his great Favour with the King accused him of endeavouring to pervert the King to Popery and allure him into France which suspicions he endeavoured to dissipate and thinking those Rumours were promoted by Morton and that he was not secure as long as Morton lived he caused him to be beheaded as accessory to the Death of the King's Father During these Transactions the Match with the Duke of Alanzon was prosecuted afresh several of the Principal Lords of France coming over for that end and shortly after that Duke himself came over hither In the mean time the Articles of Marriage were agreed upon by the Commissioners on both sides but with some Reservations that were disclaimed by the French King who refused to enter into an Offensive and Defensive League until such time as the Marriage was consummated Yet the French Duke's Presence here seemed to have so promoted his Business that the Queen having one day given him publickly a Ring this was looked upon as a Contract by all the standers by and thereupon publick Rejoycing was made in several Places abroad as for a thing concluded but not so at home when the innate Aversion the English have for the French broke out into publick Murmurs and Libells against this Match which occasioned the Queen to put forth Proclamations to stifle them and the Authors and Dispersers of those Seditious Pamphlets to be punished according to Law About the same time a Jesuit and several Popish Priests were convicted of having plotted the Ruine of the Queen and Kingdom of adhering to the Pope the Queens Enemy and of coming into England to raise Forces against the State for which they were condemned and accordingly executed Shortly after whom several Papists suffered Death likewise for the same Crimes In the mean time the Duke of Alanzon suspecting that he had onely been lured with empty hopes of a Crown here in England having the Government of the Low Countries conferred upon him by the States he prepared for his Journey thither and was accompanied by the Queen as far as Canterbury where they parting her Majesty ordered some of the Principal Courtiers to attend him to Antwerp where finding his Commission so limited that he had only the Name of Authority he made a rash Attempt upon Antwerp for which he was forced to leave the Low Countreys with the Aversion and Scorn of those People But during these Occurences the King of Spain subdued all Portugal in Seventy dayes time which being a great Addition to the vast Dominions he before had put all Europe in mind of uniting for their common Security In the mean time the English continued their Bravery in the Low Countries and with great Success and Advantage to the States And the Queen to procure the Amity of the King of Denmark and an Abatement of the Customes in the Sound sent him the Order of the Carter which he accordingly received with all acknowledgment And now broke out again new Commotions in Scotland the King being surprized and detained by the Earls of Goury Lindsey Marr and others who caused Arran to be imprisoned Lenox to be banished out of Scotland and the Earl of Arguse to be called home from Exile But shortly after the King being then about eighteen years old made his Escape out of their Hands whereupon Sir Francis Walsingham was sent to him by Queen Elizabeth for the giving him good Counsel and the endeavouring to compose the Distractions of that Kingdom During which the famous Irish Rebell Gyrald Fitz Gyrald the eleventh Earl of Desmond of this Family having a long time kept himself outof the hands of the English by lurking in private places was about this time found out and slain by a Common Souldier in a poor Cottage This great Lord was descended from Maurice the Son of Gyrald of Windsor an English man famous among those who first invaded Ireland in the Year 1170. He possessed whole Counties together with the County Palatine of Kerry and had of his own Name and Race at least five hundred Gentlemen at his Command all whom and his own Life also
he lost within the space of three years very few of his Family being left alive This Misfortune was brought upon him by his Disloyalty to his Prince through the Instigation of Popish Priests But Ireland and Scotland where lately the Earl of Gowry was beheaded as convicted of several Treasons were not the only Scenes of Plots and Conspiracies but England it self was again filled with Popish Practices against the Queen's Life and in favour of the Queen of Scots But being discovered some of the Nobility and Ring-leaders of the Faction were taken into Custody others confined to their Houses and others made their Escape into France In the mean time some Disputes happening between the Czar of Muscovy and the King of Sweden this King not finding himself able to oppose that Emperour sendeth a Royal Ambassy to request the Queen's Intercession in his Behalf which accordingly her Majesty immediately performed and by her Ambassador accommodated matters between those two Princes upon very reasonable Terms At the same time the Queens Ambassador obtained of the Czar the Confirmation of the Priviledges of the English Merchants in Russia maugre she had denyed him Satisfaction in several points and one of her Subjects to be his Wife and Empress which he had extreamly sollicited Mendora the Spanish Ambassador at this time in England was put out of the Kingdom for joyning with the English Rebells and stirring up the People to Rebellion and an Ambassador sent into Spain to justifie this Conduct who not being admitted to Audiency of the King but referred to the Counsellors he disdained to open himself to them and returned home without declaring the Cause of his Embassy The Papists printed and dispersed Books to exhort the Queens Women to commit the like against the Queen as Judith had done with Commendations against Holofernes The Book-seller for whom these seditious Libels were printed was executed but the Author could not be found out And now farther Discoveries were made of the Practices of the Papists against the Queen and State of a Design of invading England by the Catholick Princes and of the measures that had been taken by the Papists for that purpose which Discoveries being confirmed by the Confessions of some of the Papists themselves all possible Precautions were taken for the preventing the Execution of any such pernicous Designs and amongst other Expedients for the better providing for the Safety of the Queen's Person a number of her Subjects headed by the Earl of Leicester men of all Ranks and Conditions bound themselves mutually to each other by their Oaths and Subscriptions to persecute all those to Death that should attempt any thing against the Queen which League of theirs was called the Association The several Treaties that had been held with the Queen of Scots having proved abortive she fearing that this Association was designed for her Destruction made this Proposition by Nave her Secretary to the Queen and Council That if she might be set at Liberty and be assured of the Queen's Affection she would enter into a strict League and Amity with her and passing by all matters of Offence most officiously love and observe her above all other Princes of Christendom and enter also into the Association aforesaid for the Queens Security and into a League Defensive saving that Ancient League between France and Scotland This seemed to give great Delight and Satisfaction to Queen Elizabeth and she was thought at that time to be really inclined to grant her her Liberty But her Majesty being continually allarm'd with apprehensions from the adverse Party both of Scots and English who exclamed that the Queens Life was in no wise secure while the Queen of Scots was living oâ— at least at liberty insomuch that this Treaty was likewise broken off and upon the Queen of Scots Adversaries suggestions she was taken from the Earl of Shrewsbury and committed to the Custody of Sir Amias Paulet and Sir Drue Drury which rendred her so desperate that she grew the more importunate with the Pope and the King of Spain to put their Designs in execution And now there ran a Report that the Catholicks had entred into a Combination for the depriving Queen Elizabeth of her Crown for the disinheriting the King of Scots of the Kingdom of England as being both of them detected of Heresie the Queen of Scots to be married to some Catholick English Noble-man that this Noble-man should be elected King of England by the English Catholicks the Election confirmed by the Bishop of Rome that his Children by the Queen of Scots should be proclaimed Lawful Successors to the Crown and all this was affirmed by one Hart a Priest About this time dyed in France the Duke of Alanzon for grief and in Holland the Prince of Orange was treacherously shot with three Bullets by one Bethazar Gerard a Burgundian And now the French King being elected by Queen Elizabeth into the Order of the Garter Her Majesty sent the Earl of Derby to invest him therewith with all the usual Solemnity There being a Parliament assembled at Westminster one Parry a Member of the Lower House was first imprisoned for opposing and exclaming against a Bill that was preferred against the Jesuits but being set at Liberty upon his Submission he was immediately after accused by one Edward Nevil of the Earl of Westmerland's Family of having held secret Consultations about taking away the Queens Life which upon his Examination being confessed by him with all the Particulars thereof and being brought to his Tryal and still confessing the same he was accordingly condemned and executed Whereupon the Parliament then sitting made several seasonable Laws for the Security of the Queens Person Thereupon the Earl of Arundel was committed to the Tower In the same Place and at the same time the Earl of Northumberland a man of a lofty Spirit and Courage who had been committed thither upon Suspition of a secret Consultation with Throckmorton the Lord Paget and the Guises for invading of England and setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty was found dead in his Bed being shot with three Bullets under his left Pap his Chamber-door being barred on the inside The Coroners Inquest having examined the matter and all other lawful Scrutinies being made it was found and declared how that for Fear of the Law he had laid violent hands upon himself The Practices of the Papists against the Queen and the reformed Religion being thus dayly more and more discovered the Queen resolved to endeavour the contracting an Offensive and Defensive League with the King of Denmark the Protestant Princes and States of Germany and the Low Countries and with the King of Scotland to which purpose she sent Ministers to their respective Courts but it was delayed in Scotland by some new Commotions which occasioned a change of Ministers and Officers of that Crown till at length all being quieted and accommodated it was unanimously voted by all that a Treaty of a League with the Queen of