of England and Sir William Cecil Prime Secretary of State all of them men of great Prudence and Courage who had with much difficulty escaped the Marian Tempest These were the Chief Managers of her Secret Councels and acquainted with her most private Thoughts and Designs for the good and safety of her People and were all of them Protestants The Popish Nobility and great Men were either contented with a Vote in the Privy Council in which many of them still sat and others of them refusing however to be any otherwise concerned or foreseeing the Change that was intended had withdrawn themselves altogether and deserted their former Stations Of these she relied mostly on the Council of Cecil and Bacon who were closely united each to other and both equally in her Favour and were besides men of great Judgment They were also her Chief Ministers and most trusted by her for their Integrity and Industry Having throughly consider'd the state of the Nation she resolved at first to promote a Peace abroad and that she might gain her point in this with the greater case she used some Dissimulation Philip the II d King of Spain had lost the possession of England by the death of Queen Mary and to recover it had begun a Treaty of Marriage with Queen Elizabeth which she declined with much civility and modesty so that he still insisted upon it for some time and she was not willing wholly to undeceive him till she saw an end of the Treaty of Cambray Francis the Eldest Son of Henry the II d King of France having married Mary Steward Queen of the Scots and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England the French were forming a Design against her and made a kind of Claim of the Crown for the Dauphiness The Queen feared the King of Spain the moâ—…t of the two as being a Prince of deep Designs and formidable to all his Neighbours on the score of his vast Dominions and was resolved as time and opportunity should serve to abate his Power and cross his Designs She was as much offended with the King of France for the ravishing Calais from us and for assuming the Arms of England to hers and the Nation 's Dishonour yet she resolved to make a Peace with him as soon as she could Thus this Heroick Lady which had tried both Adverse and Prosperous Fortune being by Nature endowed with a strange Sagacity and Prudence which is very rarely to be found in that Sex and which she had also much improved by the Afflictons she had suffered by her wise Counsels soon brought this almost Shipwrack'd Vessel to a sase Port and governed it all her days with much ease and Peace by which she gave the World a noble Specimen of her Virtue Justice and Prudence She discovered all the Inclinations Forces Leagues and Counsels of her Neighbouring States She laid aside all her Feminine Indignation and would not suffer her most intimate Affections to have any place or consideration with her when she was to consult the Peace and secure the safety of her People Of which this may serve for a clear Proof From the beginning of her Reign she had established this as a Maxim That the King of Spain was the most formidable Enemy the English then had but then because that Nation was strong rich and powerful she seemingly paid for some time a great respect to the King of Spain that he and the French King might not join against her and she also sent an Ambassador to renew the Amity between her and the House of Austria Yet considering that it was necessary that she should in a short time have a War with Spain and that part of his Dominions lay near her and that others were more remote and very rich and fruitful so that they would well pay her Subjects for the pains and danger of attacking them She upon the whole concluded That it was her Interest to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the King of France and accordingly she kindly received his Ambassadors who were sent hither to renew the Peace She put out a Proclamation to forbid all her Subjects the offering any violence or wrong to the French that were then in England that she might prevent their enraging the Foreign Nations against her or her Subjects And in the Castle of Cambray she by her Ambassadors concluded a League with France upon Condition That the Town of Calais and all that belonged to it should after eight years be restored to the English and if the same was not done that the French King should pay to her at the exâ—…iration of the said Term 50000 Crowns and give Hostages of the Children of Noble Families for the persormance of the said Condition in the mean time and the assurance of an Oath that they would punctually and truly keep the said Agreement When this Peace came to be discovered by a Proclamation in London and all the Sea-port Towns almost all the good men of England were inwardly offended at it and they whispered their Discontents in all places Yet I cannot but think the Queen in this League how much soever it was spoken against did rather consult her own Honour and Reputation and the safety and welfare of her People than trust to the Faith of the King of Francâ—… as to the restitution of Calais The Hostages indeed fled away and the French broke their Faith as it was to be thought they would when they were to restore Calais but then the Advantages which England then gained by that seasonable Peace abundantly overbalanced the Damages sustained by the disappointment When the time was expired for the restitution of Caâ—…ais the English Ambassadors in the Court of France endeavoured to make that Nation appear odious and detestable to all Mankind because they had fraudulently departed from the Terms of the League so solemnly made at Cambray and afterwards sworn to by that King But Monsieur de l'Hospital Sieur de Vitry Chancellor of France a Learned and a Cunning Lawyer replied That Calais was lost by a War and regained by another That the Promise of restoring it was a Necessity imposed upon the French by the Iniquity of the Times which had enforced tâ—…em to yield so far to the English for the safety of their State but that in truth the English had as much right to Paris as they had to Calais and might with as good justice demand the first as the last Yet after all this Wise man never endeavoured to clear his Nation from the Guilt and Infamy of Fraud and Perjury which was a Task above his strength In all Revolutions and Changes the Queen always in the first place took care to secure the True Worship of God and the safety of all her Subjects When therefore she had thus secured her Peace abroad or at least had gained a Cessation of War till she might take breath and recover her strength and was now
few days above a hundred Leagues to the South and here one of the Ships being separated returned back again through these Streights into England After this Drake took St. Jago in Chili and plundered it and here he got a Prize with 400 pound of pure Gold Arriving at Turapassa he found 13 Bars of Massy Silver of the value of CCCCM Ducats which was left on the ground by some Spaniards who were asleep by it he took the Silver and never waked the Keepers of it From thence he pass'd to the Port of Arica in which he found three Ships without one man in them but there was 57 Wedges of Silver each of 20 pound weight and some other Merchandize which he took Arriving at Lima he found twelve Ships but all the Mariners were on shore and yet in them he had a great quantity of Silk and a Chest of Minted Silver which shews how secure from Pyrates this Coast had to this time been Nor in truth till this time had any other than the Spaniards ever sailed upon this Sea except Oxenham In his journey to Panama he took a Barque without any resistance that afforded him 80 pound weight of Gold The first of March he took a Ship called the Cacofoga which had on board 80 pound weight of Gold and 13 Chests of Minted Money and as much Silver as balasted his own Ship the Master of this Ship told him That his Ship Drake's should henceforth be call'd the Cacofoga and the Spanish Ship the Cacoplata Being thus wonderfully enriched and as he thought sufficiently avenged on the Spaniards for the Loss he had sustained in his first Attempt upon Vera Crnz he began to consider of his return and not thinking the passage by the Streights of Magellan safe as in truth it was beset by the Orders of Francis Duke of Toledo then Viceroy of Peru he directed his Course Northward to the height of 42 Degrees of North Latitude to seek a paslage but finding nothing but snow and defolate shores he returned to 38 degrees and Wintered there calling the Countrey New Albion and here the naked people chofe him for their King and by their ignorance shewed him plainly the Spaniards had never been so far that way In the Month of November he set sail for the Molucca Islands the 9th of January his Ship stuck 27 hours upon a Rock but by the blessing of God came off it by a side-wind which seem'd to be sent of purpose to save this Hero From thence he passed to the Jsland of Java in the East Indies and so to the Cape of Good Hope which had never been seen before by any English-man and Watering at the Rio Grande in Africa he arrived in England the 3d. of November 1580. having in this time gone round the Globe of the Earth The People of England received him with great Triumph and a Publick Joy and the Queen as a Reward of the good Service he had done her against the Spaniards Knighted him and caused the Ship he had sailed in to be laid up at Deptford Mr. Gage our Countrey-man who lived some years in the Spanish Territories in America assures us his Memory is preserved there by the Spaniards who to this day saith he admire this Expedition and teach their Children to fear even his Name After this the Queen often made him one of her Admirals and he being grown exceeding rich took diligent care to put out a greater Fleet and openly assaulted the Island of St. Jago and took St. Domingo and Carthagena and some others in the West Indies being sent by the Queen with 21 Ships and 2300 men in the year 1585. The Towns they took in this Expedition were either so poor that there was nothing of Silver or Gold to be found in them or they had had such previous notice of the coming of the English that they had sent a way all that was valuable yet St. Domingo and Carthagena were forced to redeem themselves from Fire by Money the first gave Twenty five thousand Ducats and the latter One hundred and ten thousand which was presently divided amongst the Mariners and Seamen The Spaniards more regretted the loss of their ships great numbers being burnt and this hastned the Invasion designed upon England which was undertaken in the year 1588. which miscarrying the Spanish Greatness dwindled into nothing and after the Queen's Death they were glad to send to King James the First her Successor to beg a Peace in the first year of his Reign so the Honour of Reducing Spain was hers and that of setling Peace after a War that had lasted so long his The Riches and Fame Sir Francis Drake had acquired in these Maritime Expeditions encouraged Mr. Thomas Cavendish a Gentleman of Trimely in the County of Suffolk to pursue the same methods for the raising his Fortunes and with them the Reputation and Glory of the English Nation The 21st of July 1586. he set out from Plimouth with three ships the biggest of which was but 120 Tuns and 123 Seamen with Provisions for two years With this small Fleet he passed the Streights of Magellan and sailed up to the Coast of New Spain in the Mar del Zur and took 19 of the Spanish Merchant ships and burnt two or three of their Towns and then sailing to the Philippine Islands the Molucca's and the Cape of Good Hope he staid some time in St. Helens and the 9th of September 1588. he returned to Plymouth he having been the second man of this Nation that went round the Globe of the Earth with no less Honour tho he returned with less Spoils than the first Adventurer The Queen entertained him at Greenwich and bestowed upon him many Marks of her Favour and gave him some considerable Rewards Sir Martin Forbisher or Frobisher Sir John Hawkins Davis Jackman Jenkenson and Sir Walter Rawleigh and many others of the English employed their time in searching out the remotest parts of the world at the same time to very good effect there having been great Trades driven ever since by the Dutch and English by the means of their Discoveries Mr. Richard Hackluit who lived in these times took a particular care to collect and publish the Journals of all these Voyages by which he desâ—…rved very well of this Nation and it is a great pity that his Works are become so scarce and so little known and that no man has since pursued the same method these Discourses being of great use for all Mariners and serving very much for the enlarging and clearing the Geography of the World Philip King of Spain being highly incensed by the ruin of so many of his Towns and the losses he had sustained by Drake's Expeditions gave Order that all the English Sea-men that should after this be taken in America should be treated like Pyrates and the Enemies of mankind And all the Merchant Ships that fell into his hands were seized and the Merchants imprisoned tho there
the Queen was dead and that the Princess Elizabeth was the indisputed Heir to the Crown of whose Right and Title none could make any Question and therefore the Lords intended to Proclaim her Queen and desired their Concurrence which was joyfully entertained by them and they all cried God save Queen Elizabeth long and happily may she reign She being thus advanced to the Throne not only by her own undoubted Right and the Providence of God but by the Confent and with the Approbation of all the Three Estates then Assembled in Parliament which I think never before hapned to any of our Princes besides her she was received by the whole Nation with incredible Transports of Joy and Affection and the loudest Acclamations they could make men highly valuing the Innocence of her former Life and commiserating the hardships she had suffered in the former Reign to the hazard of her Life When God had thus brought this Queen to the Throne of her Ancestors of a sudden the course of things and the current of affairs took a new bias the heavy Tempests and Misfortunes that attended England weâ—e instantly blown over and a serene and prosperous course of things succeeded in their place Thus in a moment she was not only freed from the Miseries of an Imprisonment but adorned with the highest degree of Honour and Power and this Lady with a Masculine or rather Heroick Soul which was worthy to have governed the Empire of the World for almost Forty five years after managed the Royal Scepter of England and was the Arbitrator prescribing the Conditions of Peace and War to all the Princes of Christendom with a Greatness of Mind and a Wisdom that became so high a Station This Virtue which was almost Divine joined with so admirable a Prudence renders her worthy of the Applause and Honour of all mankind Thus one may see and admire the great force and power of Time and the wonderful Changes of Human Affairs and how useful it is to arrive at Prosperity by the Waves of Adversity Whilst she was in her private Station she was perpetually under the fear and danger of Death but by the Goodness of God she escaped all the Insults of Adverse Fortune her Innocence procured her Safety that made way for her Liberty so her Soveraignty was acknowledged and from her prudent Management of that Royal Station she gained an â—…ndless Glory and an Immortal Name Thus attaining the Possession of a Kingdom with Glory and the Publick Safety and the Good Will of her Subjects she on all occasions shewed the Greatness and Brightness of her Wit and Soul That she had well studied and digested the best Arts and had had an excellent Education and wise Instruction the good Effects of which were now made known by her wise promoting the Good and Safety of her People In the beginning of her Reign she found the Nation at home filled with Divisions and Heart-burnings by reason of the contrary methods used in the two preceding Reigns Abroad she had never an Ally she could trust to all was in War or an uncertain and unsteady Peace The Spanish Government was bâ—…come odious here and the English called their Assected Gravity Pride and Insolence The French had equally incensed us by the late Surprize of Calais The Tâ—…easury was at the lowest Ebb and our Bulwark which our ncestors had preserved Two hundred and ten years was taken from us in one weeks time in the beginning of January in this year The New Queen proposed to herself the common Safety and Welfare of her People and pursued it with the utmost Care and Asfection She was then Twenty five years of Age and something more when the Royal Diadem of England descended to her and she began the difficult work of raising the low and calamitous state of England and redressing those Grievances which the opposite Interests and Designs of the former times had brought upon this Nation She was not only ripe and sit for Government but she had by this time acquired a strange and unusual degree of Civil Prudence She knew the Publick or Royal Laws of England not only by reading them in Books but also by the great Reflection she had made on our History and on what had happened in her own times and by her Conversation with great men and the application she had ever made of her Mind to whatever was worth regarding The 14th of January after her Sister's Death 1558 9 she was Crowned with the Ancient and Usual Ceremonies when her People gave her fresh Instances of their Loyalty and Affection by crowding in unusual Numbers to see and partake in the Joy of this Solemnity And she having observed that her Sister by the sullenness of her Behaviour had much disobliged the People frequently looked on them with a chearful and pleasing Countenance and returned the Respects they paid her with great sweetness She took the Ancient and Usual Coronation-Oath That she would govern her Kingdom according to the Ancient and Laudable Laws and Customs of England which she observed more willingly than most of her Predecesfors had before her and this gained her both the Love and Reverence of her People At first she cherished in her Roman Catholick Subjects a belief she would Imbrace that Religion they prosessed She changed nothing in the Publick Service or the Administration of the Sacraments that she might not enrage her Papists and give them a pretence for Separation before she had well Established herself The Kingdom of England was then very unsetled and had received great Damages both at home and abroad the French had wrested from us the strong Town of Bologne in the Year 1546. before the death of Henry the VIII â—h and Calais in the beginning of this Year The Sea was full of Privateers and there was scarce any thing to be trusted to In this Disorder of Affairs she wisely thought That the only way to settle and preserve the Nation from Imminent Ruine was to chuse wise and upright Men to manage the Publick Affairs She declined the use of Rash and overbold Men who have commonly brought mischief on the States that have trusted to them Being weary of the Popish Ceremonies and their Conversation she retired for some time to one of her Country Houses as it were for Diversion and Pleasure but in truth that she might with the greater Leisure and Secrecy consider of the Methods she should take for the removing the Dangers which threatned her Kingdom for the Preservation of its Peace for the Abating the Power of the Popish Party and the setling that Religion here which she believed was most for the Glory of God as being most agreeable to the Sacred â—…criptures The Men that she most relied on in this great and difficult Work were William Lord Parre of Kendal Marquess of Northampton whom she had restored to his Honours Francis Russel Earl of Bedsord Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
March with the English Army for England where he was rewarded for this Service with the Government of Berwick which he did not long enjoy for he died the 14th of December 1562. This War saith Mr. Cambden preserved all Britain from Ruin restored the Scots to their Ancient Liberty and setled the Peace and enlarged the Reputation of the English Nation so that from thenceforward during all her happy Reign she had no reason to apprehend any danger from Scotland the Protestants of that Nation esteeming the Queen their Patroness and Deliverer and the English acknowledging she had laid a sure foundation for their future Security Thus she delivered Scotland from those Foreigners who designed by Violence and Force to suppress not only the Protestant Religion but their Civil Rights and Liberties also and to bring upon that Free Nation an intolerable French Slavery Of this the Scots were then so extremely sensible saith my Author who was of that Nation That they being delivered by her means from Foreign Servitnde they thereupon subscribed to a League to maintain the Protestant Religion and to use the English Worship and Rites After this a Civil War arose in France and the Queen sent Supplies under the Earl of Warwick in 1562. to the Prince of Conde the Count de Rohan and Coligny the Defenders of the Protestant Religion and of the Liberties of that Kingdom To these Forces when the Protestants themselves opposed thâ—…m she sent afterwards Additional Forces and great Sums of Money At this time the French Protestants put Havre de Grace into her hands as a Cautionary Town and it was Garison'd with English Soldiers but so soon as their Fear of the Popish Party was a little abated by a Peace granted to them which yet waâ—… of no duration they joined with their Popish Countreymen to drive out their Benefactors and with equal Violence endeavoured to reduce the Town under the Crown of France again The Earl of Warwick seeing his men consumed by a War without and a Plaâ—…ue within the Town and no Relief to be expected in due time he thereupon began a Treaty with the Enemy and the 28th of July 1563. the Articles of Surrender were signed the next day there came a Fleet of 60 Sail of English Ships into the Haven on which the Garison was Transported into England And the Protestants of France had the chief hand in the driving them out as all sides acknowledge The Death of Francis II. King of France the 5th of December 1560. when he had Reigned but Seventeen Months put an end to all the French Ambitious Designs of Conquering England and Reducing Scotland and to the Fears of both these Kingdoms on that score Mary Queen of Scotland being thus deprived of her Beloved Husband soon grew weary of that Kingdom and getting a small Number of Ships together for that purpose she went on board at Calais the 14th of August and she landed at Leith the 20th of the same month in the year 1561 being attended by many of the Nobility and some great Ladies of both the French and Scots Nation Not long after the Queen of England having opposed this Princess's designs of Marrying Charles Archduke of Austria and rather recommending to her choice the Lord James Darnley Eldest Son to the Earl of Lenox and the next Heir after her of the Crowns of England and Scotland so that this Match would undoubtedly secure her Title to England too after the Death of Queen Elizabeth whereupon she married him at Edinburgh in the year 1565 and the next year after James their only Son was born to the great Joy of both the Nations for he was then thought one of the Pillars of Christendom the Ornament of his Native Countrey and Family and all men presaged That he would one day become the King of Great Britain as it came afterwards to pass by the wonderful good Providence of God This Marriage was attended with a Catastrophe and Tragick Event which is grievous to the thoughts and scarce possible to be enough lamented Mary Stewart the Relict of Francis II. King of France and the Immediate Heiress and Lawful Queen of Scotland and the Presumptive Heir of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Mother of James VI. soon after became a Lamentable Example of the Unsteadiness of Human Affairs The Lord Darnley her Husband having out of Jealousie ordered the Murther of one David Rixio the Queen's Secretary was afterwards himself Poisoned first and then Murdered at Edinburgh in the year 1567 The effect of which was the Deposing the Queen her self who was suspected to have an hand in it and the Imprisoning her in a Castle in the Lake of Locklevin where she was forced to subscribe a Resignation of the Crown and Government of Scotland in the year 1568. The Queen by the Providence of God escaped afterwards out of this Restraint the 2d of May and raised some Forces to recover her Crown again which were intirely routed and dispersed by the Forces of the Regent of Scotland So that having nothing more to trust to in that Kingdom she took shipping with intention to pass into France but being by stress of Weather or the Treachery of those that carried her brought into England she was landed at Warkinton in Cumberland the 17th of the same Month and not long after committed Prisoner to the Castle of Carlisle so that being driven from her Native Countrey by her own Subjects she found an uneasie and cruel Restraint where she expected a Refuge and a Sanctuary The Laws of Hospitality and that Kindness which Nature teacheth all men to use towards those that are of the same Lineage and Blood not being able to protect her against the Jealousie of a Rival Queen When Mary Queen of the Scots saw her self reduced to this Calamitous Condition forsaken of all her Subjects and Servants and forced to flee in one day about Sixty Miles and then not thinking her self secure till passing to Sea she was thrown upon the English shore She wrote a Letter to the Queen of England before she left Scotland and sent it by one Beton and she gave him a Diamond which the Queen had sent her before this as a Pledge of her Friendship she also ordered him to tell the Queen That she intended to leave Scotland and to come into England and did most earnestly beseech her to send her such Help and Assistance as was necessary in case the Scots should persist in the same Methods of Oppression Queen Elizabeth assured this Gentleman That she would shew the Queen of Scots all that Affection that she could possibly expect from a Sister Before this Gentleman could get back again she left Scotland contrary to the Advice of all her Friends and came into England and as soon as she was on shore she sent the Queen a Second Letter in French in the Conclusion of which she tells the Queen of England That she was come into her
could get down and get into a Posture of Assisting them he saw all their Army dispersed and they forced to flee into Scotland whereupon he formed a Design to Murder the Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord scrope Warden of the West Marshes which when he saw he could not effect he recommended the Two Earls to the Scots and seized Greistoke and Caworth Castles as his own which belonged to the Family of the Dacres and he got together about 3000 Borderers with some others who were the Friends of that Ancient and Splendid Family The Lord Hunsdon hearing of this Insurrection drew out a part of the Garison of Berwick of which he was Governour and marched against this Incendiary who met Hunsdon and fought stoutly at the Head of his Party which was yet at last over-powered and broken the Lord Hunsdon having no great reason to be overjoyed at the Victory by reason of the Number of men he lost Dacres fled into Scotland and was with the two Earls Attainted in the next Parliament Both these Rebellions were caused by Pope Pius his Bull tho they broke out before the Bull was Published here in England which was one great reason that they spread no further The Delivery of the Queen of Scots who was then in the Custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury the Restoring the Popish Religion and the suppressing the Protestant was the last thing they aimed at and the King of Spain was the Fomenter of these Troubles and had sent them Assurances that he would send them Assistance from Flanders and had his Agent at Court to promote it But all these Projects being disappointed England soon returned to her former state of Peace and the rest of the Popish Party seeing their Weakness and the Severity of the Government against these Ring-leaders soon found how much it was their Interest to be quiet The secret Head of all these Motions was Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk who was the Richest most Noble and Wisest Peer then in England and of the greatest Authority with the Queen and no less beloved by the People This Great Man having appeared a little over-inclined to favour the Interest of the Captive Queen of the Scots in the XIth year of the Queen's Reign he drew upon himself both the Suspicion of the Queen and the Practices of his Enemies at Home and Abroad The Pope the King of Spain and many of the Nobility of England for different and very contrary ends promoting a Marriage between the Queen of Scots and this Duke which being by the means of these Rebellions discovered in part to the Council of England in the latter end of the year 1669 he was first Committed he left the Court in Discontent and resolved to Marry the Queen of Sâ—…ots without the Queen of England's Leave tho he had promised the Queen he would proceed no further in this business Whereupon he was committed Prisoner to the Tower in the year 1571 and the 16th of January 1572. he was found Guilty of High-Treason and Beheaded the 15th of June following The Greatness of his Fortunes and Soul and the wonderful Affection the People of England on all occasions shewed to this Noble Gentleman added to his Compassion for the Queen of Scots who was a Lady of great Wit and Beauty first stirred in him the thought of Marrying her upon her first coming into England which coming to the Queen's ears he was a little before the Rebellion of the North put under Confinement yet he found means to send Money to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland but so privately that after this he had his Liberty again By the procurement of one Robert Ridolf Agent for Pope Pius Quintus here in England under the pretence of Merchandize he was again drawn into a secret Practice for the Marrying that Captive Queen which being discovered to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh by the Duke's Secretary out of mere Treachery he was again Imprisoned Tried and Convicted by one whom he most trusted and leaft suspected of Designing against him Thus wonderfully did God appear for this Religious Queen turning all the Crafty Imaginations of her Enemies and all their intended Violences upon their own heads for the Preservation of this Church and Nation Saith Mr. Cambden The Love that the People of England bore to the Duke of Norfolk is incredible which he had acquired by a Courtesie and Goodness which was worthy of so great a Prince The Wiser part of the Nation were very differently affected towards him some being affrighted at the Danger which was threatned to the Nation from his Numerous Party whilst he lived to Head them And others very heartily commiserating this Noble Gentleman who was of an excellent Temper of great Beauty and of a Manly Aspect and would have been the Ornament and Securer of his Countrey if the fraudulent Arts of his Enemies had not turned him out of his former course and way of living by the deceivable hopes of greater things and the specious pretences and shews of promoting the Publick Welfare His End renewed the Memory of his Father's most unhappy Fate who Twenty Five Years before was Beheaded in the same place only because he wore the Scutcheon of Edward the Confessor in his Arms which were granted to the. Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolk from whom he was descended Lineally by King Richard the IId This Bull of Pope Pius V. and his Practises against England produced a shoal of Traytors to plague that Generation for they were ever after it restlefly plotting and conspiring against their Sovereign their Countrey and their Kindred with an invincible perfidy and obstinacy which the Executions of many could not extinguish But yet the Calamity did not end there for from the same Exuberant Fountain of Mischief issued those refractory and stabborn Recusants who separating from the Communion and Service of the Church of England which till then they had frequented without the least scruple or difference they set up Popish Conventicles and the Latin Mass and called over a swarm of Jesuits Priests and Monks to infest the Nation and incense those that entertained them against the Religion and Government that was established and so perpetuated our Quarrels and kept open the bloody wounds of this Kingdom This is the thing we have most reason to complain of because it has brought upon all the succeeding Times great miseries and distresses and the Wisdom of our Forefathers has not been able to cure this Disease The Queen seeing in the mean time the mischief this would bring upon her Kingdoms and being roused by the Rebellions in the North and the intimations she had that there were Designs on foot against her Person and Life took up a resolution to put a stop to it and to that end passed an Act in the next Parliament for the levying 20 l. the Month upon all that should refuse to go to Church and attend at the Service of God or to take the Oath
encreased if they were suppressed they turned the Envy of the Favour shewn to the Papists upon the Government and easily persuaded the People that Popery would be restored in England Whether she consulted of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 War she always set God befoâ—… 〈◊〉 and directed all things to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the promoting Charity and Piety she Religiously observed the stated and ap pointed Festivals of the Church when she was present at the appointed Prayers and the Sermons both which she heard with much Devotion and Attention but without the least mixture of Superstition She ever received the Eucharist with highest Expressions of Respect and used the Ceremonies of the Church When she went to hear the Week day or Lent-Sermons she was ever attended by many of her Nobility of both Sexes but without any extraordinary Splendor in her Dress or Retinue According to the nature and circumstance of the times she religiously and devoutly listned to the Sermons made before her and according to the Merits of the Preachers rarely failed to shew them her Favour and salute and thank them before they went away She very freely exposed her Life to the utmost hazards for the preserving the Dignity and Discipline of the Church to which end she caused her Laws against the Papists to be constantly and regularly executed and she shewed the same Severity against the Obstinacy of the Protestant Dissenters whom she kept all her times under strict and sharp Restraint I think it is not needful to shew here again to what great Perils she exposed her Life for the Preservation of the Reformed Religion She shewed her self ever easie and merciful to the People and condescended to humour them and promote their Welfare with the utmost Humanity By this her Clemency and Sweetness and the Equity of her Laws and the Proceedings on them her Courteous Behaviour and Obliging Speeches to them she so intirely won their Hearts and fixed their Affections that without any Command of hers of their own accord and by an universal Consent they every year celebrated her Coronation-Day with a Religious Joy They chearfully exposed their Lives to any Danger for her Safety and never refused to suffer or hazard any thing if they might but enjoy their beloved Queen Being thus secured of the Affection of her People she lived pleasantly and securely in Peace and Plenty and she could safely treat her Nobility as became a Prince when she was sure to be reverenced and obeyed her Authority being supported thus by the Love and good disposition of her Subjects towards her The People honoured some of her Ministers of State too and very much applauded them and upon every New-Year's Day freely made a present to them to testifie the grateful sense they had of the Benefits they had received by their Ministry The People of the meanest degree had ever an easie access to the Queen and could with the utmost freedom make their Complaints to her of any Injury they had suffered from the greatest of the Nobility so that it is very difficult to say whether her Subjects most feared her Authority or loved her Humanity and Courtesie All these many and great Virtues her Piety the Love of her Kingdom and the careful diligence she employed to win and keep the Affections of her Subjects sprang from one and the same Fountain her Prudence This taught her how much it contributed to the Safety and Security of her State to have her Privy Council consist of none but Wise and Faithful Men chosen freely and prudently by her self And by the Authority and with the Approbation of this Council she provided for the Government of her Border-Counties and Garisons approved men of good Understandings and well Educated who were to take care to secure her Kingdom from External Surprizes and Internal Broils they were directed by her to take care also of whatever tended to the Welfare of her People and to punish what was wicked and disquieting which they did not only by the execution of good Laws but also by the exemplary Lives they led The Parliaments in her time were frequent and well tempered the Lower House being generally chosen of Men of good Prudence and beloved by the people upon the opinion of their Integrity Fidelity and Piety By their Advice and Assistance the Royal Authority became more resplendant and whilst they did their Duties she as carefully observed their Privileges and regarded their Petitions and Advices but if at any time they hapned to transgress their bounds and intrench upon her Authority she would make them soon sensible that they were her Subjects as well in Parliament as out of Parliament And the truth is those Notions and Practices which afterwards imbroil d this Kingdom and injealoused some and ruined one of her Successors began to spring up in her time and were only suppressed by the prudence and steadiness of the Queen her wise Council good Government and the affection the People bore to her so that it was not possible for Factious and Ambitious Men in her times to raise those Fears or foment those Distrusts that became so fatal afterwards Though she was thus jealous of her own Regal and Sovereign Authority by which she had the right of conferring Titles of Honour administring Justice c. yet she did little of importance without the concurrence of the Three Estates And they never stubbornly and generally invaded the Royal Authority despised her Commands or resisted her Counsels and Admonitions Whilst she was setling the methods of her Government she laid down this as a certain Maxim which she had learned from the English History and her own Observation and Experience That the People of England were more governable in times of War than in times of Peace That the common People were hardened and made valiant by War but by too much Peace became sloathful and dissolute and at the same time Factious and unquiet That the Nobility if once manumised from the Labours and Perils of War would in Peace become expensive luxurious and effeminate Her greater care was to know throughly the state of her Kingdoms and those men that were intrusted by her to govern her People whose Words and Actions she carefully observed She carefully observed the Examples of her Royal Ancestors the Publick Laws and Institutions the Manners and Inclinations of the Common People the Names and Abilities of her Nobility their Publick Offices and Private Estates the number of her Soldiers and Garisons her Fleets and Forts and whatever else had been provided for the defence and safety of her Kingdoms her Customs Taxes Crown-Lands and Revenues and the Charges and Expence she was to make in all which she prudently and providently altered many things for the better She never put Arms into the hands of the meanest and poorest of the People that their wants might not prompt them to Sedition So that the Militia in her time was generally supplied by the Yeomanry and richer Tenants
Drunkenness Filthiness Immodesty and the very fame and saspicion of Wantonness Whoredoms Rapes Adulteries and Incests were Crimes she detested and if she found any of her Retinue how great soever they were guilty of them they must never more come before her She banished Burgess one of her Maids of Honour because she had entred into an Intriegue with the Earl of Essex who loved her very passionately because the Queen suspected she had had an hand in his Ruin And the Lady Fitton another of these Maids was sent away too for yielding to the Inticements of a young Gentleman of Noble Birth The Noblemen found no more favour than the Ladies if once they were found guilty in the same kind She sent the Earl of Oxford to the Tower for attempting to Ravish one of her Maids of Honour that was a Tall and Lovely Lady If she knew any of her Nobility given to frequent Houses of ill fame she treated them with as little Respect as she did meaner men To conclude she shewed her self the Irreconcilable Enemy of all that had been found guilty of any base or immodest and unchaste Action She would frequently admonish her Servants and Attendants That they should take heed not to do any thing that might be dishonourable to her destructive to themselves and of ill Example to the Publick That they should take care not to bring an Ill Report upon the Chaste a Blot upon the Upright or an Infamy and Dishonour upon the Good In the Furniture of her Royal Palaces she ever affected Magnificence and an extraordinary Splendor she adorned the Galeties with excellent Pictures done by the best Artists the Walls she covered with Rich Tapistries She was a true Lover of Jewels and Pearls all sorts of Precious Stones Plate plain Bossed of Gold and Silver and Gilt Rich Beds Fine Coaches and Chariots Persian and Indian Carpets Statues Medals c. which she would purchase at great Prices The Specimen of her Rich Furniture was to be seen a long time after her Death at Hampton Court which was Moveabled above any of the other Royal Houses in her Times and here she had caused her Naval Victories obtained against the Spaniards to be represented in excellent Tapistries and laid up amongst the Richest Pieces of her Wardrobe These things did not only please the eyes of the Spectators and renew the Memory of the great things atchieved in her Times but they helped to raise in the minds of her Subjects and of Strangers too a Venerable Idea of the Majesty Wisdom Riches and Power of this Heroick Lady In her Meat Drink and other Nourishments and Refreshments she was very Temperate in private especially She was not subject to the love of Sleep or any of the other Pleasures of Human Life She eat very little but then she chose what was pleasant and easie of digestion and in her declining Age she became more Temperate than before but then she eat whensoever she was hungry She seldom drank above Three times at a Meal and that was common Beer and she very rarely drank again till Supper She would seldom drink any Wine for fear it should cloud her Faculties She loved Alicant Wine above any other She always Religiously observed the Fasting-Days When she made any Publick Feast or Dinners for her Honour or her Pleasure she would then order her Table to be served with all the Magnificence that was possible and many Side-Tables to be adorned with all sorts of Plate She had many of the Nobility which waited upon her at the Table at those times and served her with great Care and Attention In these things she took the greatest Pride to shew her Royal Treasures and made her greatest Feasts when Foreign Ambassadors were present who were highly pleased with these Shews At these times she would also have all sorts of Musick Vocal and Instrumental and after Dinner Dancing and she took care thus to entertain the most Illustrious Persons of other Nations that came into England Nor was she less careful that her great Ministers of State should keep up the Tables she allowed them and she would order her Nobility to keep good Hospitable Houses according to their Qualities and Degrees All which tended more to her Honour and the Reputation of the Nation than the Courses were afterwards taken up with a greater Expence The Splendor and Magnificence of the Publick Feasts in her times and the Ceremonies that were used when the several Courses were serv'd up to the Table would be troublesome to relate and perhaps a little ridiculous now they are antiquated The Cup-bearer never presented the Cup to the Queen but with much ceremony and kneeled always when he gave or took it and during the whole Refreshment Musick and Songs were heard and the Queen her self would frequently dance to humour the younger Persons in her Court for all these Solemnities were in her Royal Palace and were designed to adorn and sweeten her Government The coming of the Duke of Alenzon into England opened a way to a more free way of living and relaxed very much the old severe form of Discipline The Queen danced often then and omitted no sort of Recreation pleasant Conversation or variety of Delights for his satisfaction At the same time the plenty of good Dishes pleasant Wines fragrant Ointments and Perfumes Dances Masques and variety of rich Attires were all taken up and used to shew him how much he was honoured There were then acted Comedies and Tragedies with much cost and splendor From whence proceeded in after-times an unrestrainable desire of frequenting these Divertisements so that there was afterwards a greater concourse at the Theatre than at the Sermon When these things had once been entertained the Courtiers were never more to be reclaimed from them and they could not be satiated or wearied with them But when Alenzon was once dismissed and gone the Queen her self left off these Divertisements and betook her self as before to the care of her Kingdom And by her own Example and severe Corrections she as heartily endeavoured to reduce her Nobility to their old severe way of living and the former provident way of cloathing In her private way of living she always preferr'd her necessary Affairs and the dispatch of what concerned the Government before and above any Pleasures Recreations and Conversation and serious things before what was pleasing In the morning she spent the first fruits of her time in her Closet at her Devotions and then she betook her self to the dispatch of her Civil Affairs and to the reading of Letters and the ordering what Answers should be returned then she considered what was fit to be brought before the Lords of the Council she ever kept a vigilant eye upon the Motions of Philip II. King of Spain who was all her days plotting and contriving the Conquest of Europe and the reducing all his Neighbours and the Free-States and Cities of it under his obedience
a Lesson or two plaid upon the Lute but she would be much offended if there was any rudeness to any Person any reproach or licentious Reflection used Tarleton who was then the best Comedian in England had made a pleasant Play and when it was acting before the Queen he pointed at Sir Walter Rawleigh and said See the Knave commands the Queen for which he was corrected by a Frown from the Queen yet he had the confidence to add that he was of too much and too intolerable a power and going on with the same liberty he reflected on the over-great Power and Riches of the Earl of Leicester which was so universally applauded by all that were present that she thought fit for the present to bear these Reflections with a seeming unconcernedness But yet she was so offended that she forbad Tarleton and all her Jesters from coming near her Table being inwardly displeased with this impudent and unreasonable Liberty She would talk with Learned Men that had travelled in the presence of many and ask them many Questions concerning the Government Customs and Discipline used abroad She loved a natural Jester that would tell a Story pleasantly and humour it with his Countenance and Gesture and Voice but she hated all those Praters that made bold with other mens Reputation or defamed them She detested as ominous and unfortunate all Dwarfs and Monstrous Births She loved Little Dogs Singing Birds Parrots and Apes And when she was in private she would recreate her self with various Discourses a game at Chess Dancing or Singing Then she would retire into her Bed-chamber where she was attended by married Ladies of the Nobility the Marchioness of Winchester then a Widow the Countess of Warwick and the Lord Scroop's Lady whose Husband was Governor of the West Marshes She would seldom suffer any to wait upon her there except Leicester Hatton Essex Nottingham and Sir Walter Rawleigh who were more intimately conversant with her than anyother of theCourtiers She frequently mixed serious things with her Jests and her Mirth and upon Festival Days and especially in Christmas-time she would play at Cards and Tables which was one of her usual Pastimes and if at any time she happened to win she would be sure to demand the Money When she found her self sleepy she would take her leave of them that were present with much kindness and gravity and so betake her to her rest some Lady of good quality and of her intimate acquaintance always lying in the same Chamber And besides her Guards that were always upon Duty there was a Gentleman of Good Quality and some others up in the next Chamber who were to wake her in case any thing extraordinary happened Though she was endowed with all the Goods of Nature and Fortune and adorned with all those things which are valuable and to be desired yet there were some things in her that were capable of amendment nor was there ever any Mortal whose Virtues were not eclipsed by the neigbourhood of some Vices or Imperfections She was subject to be vehemently transported with Anger and when she was so she would shew it by her Voice her Countenance and her Hand She would chide her familiar Servants so loud that they that stood afar off might sometimes hear her Voice And it was reported that for small Offences she would strike her Maids of Honour with her hand but then her Anger was short and very innocent and she learned from Zenophon's Book Of the Institution of Cyrus the method of curbing and correcting this unruly and uneasie Passion And when her Friends acknowledged their Offences and humbly begged her pardon she with an appeased mind easily forgave them many things She was also of an Opinion That Severity was safe and too much Clemency was destructive and therefore in her Punishments and Justice she was the more severe The worst thing that she did in all her Reign was her treatment of the Queen of Scots who being by her own Subjects driven into Exile and not only deprived of her Regal Authority but of her Liberty her Estate and her Treasures and coming poor and distressed into England upon the Queen's promise and faith given she at first kindly and hospitably received and entertained her but afterwards confined her and at last upon pretence that the Queen of the Scots was plotting against her put her upon her trial condemned and at last executed her making her a sad and unheard-of Example of her cruel and unjust Severity Thus she polluted her happy Reign with the Innocent Blood not of an Enemy but of a Guest The memory of old Disgusts and Injuries prevailing more upon the mind of Queen Elizabeth than the dignity of a Sovereign Queen the Intercession of the Neighbour Princes the Laws of Hospitality the Tears of a Captive and a Kinswoman so that no Intercession no Supplications could take any place in a mind inexorably bent upon Revenge They that would excuse this mournful Action pretend the Queen of Scots was only confined to prevent mischief but she entering into a Conspiracy against the Queen of England in her own Kingdom and her Designs against the Life and Throne of Queen Elizabeth being thus detected there was no other way left to preserve the Life and consult the safety of Queen Elizabeth but by the punishment of the Queen of Scots and others who had conspired to destroy her That all Precautions were in vain and therefore it was absolutely necessary to cut off this Guest though her Cousin and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England and one that by her deprivation of her Kingdom and her Imprisonment in England was deprived of all means to hurt her If she would have taken the right method to secure her self she should have released her Captive and have sent her away which would have cut off the Causes and the Pretences of these Conspiracies and have tended more to her honour and peace than the way she took This Execution of the Queen of the Scots raised in the minds of the Neighbour Princes an enraged Indignation And she her self when she knew the Fact was done and could not be recalled deplored the united and common Indignation of all the Foreign Princes with many tears and gave many signs of her inward grief laying the blame of this wicked action wholly upon the Actors and upon every mention of the death of the Queen of Scots she would to her dying day weep bitterly and lament her misfortune in it So great was the force of her Repentance tho it came too late and was altogether useless It was thought she brought Leicester and Hatton two of her greatest Favourites to their Graves by her hard usages and the many Indignities she put upon them Leicester had offended her by attempting to imbroil the Affairs of the United Provinces in the Netherlands to that end he had suffered his Soldiers to live very irregular and without almost any