extoll Tyber beyond the Main both Towns behold R 〈…〉 men thou 'lt say Venice the Gods did mould Sanzâ—â—â—â—â—â— had given him by Saint Mark a hundred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evry one of these Verses which amounts to about 300 pounds It would be long before the 〈◊〉 of London would do the like Witneâ—… that â—…old reward or rather those cold drops of Wâ—… which were cast upon my Countreyman Sir Hugh Middletoâ—… for beinging Ware River through her Streets the most serviceable and 〈◊〉 sorâ—…est benefit that ever she received The parcell of Italian Books that you writ for you shall receive 〈◊〉 Master Leat if it please God to send the Ship to safe Port and I take it as a favour that you imploy me in any thing that mâ—…y â—…nduce to your contentment because I am your serious Servitor J. H. Ven 12. Aug. 1621. XXXVII To Cap. Thomas Porter from Venice My dear Captain AS I was going a Shipboard in Alicant a Letter of yours in Spanish came to hand I discovered two things in it first what a master you are of that Language then how mindfull you are of your frend for the first I dare not correspond with you yet for the second I shall never com short of you for I am as mindfull of you as possibly you can be of me and som hours my Puls doth not beat more often then my memory runs on you which is often enough in conscience for the Physitians hold that in evry well dispos'd body ther be above 4000 Pulsations evry hour and some Pulses have bin known to beat above 30000 times an hour in acute Feavours I understand you are bound with a gallant Fleet for the Mediterranean if you com to Alicant I pray commend me to Francisco Marco my Land-lord he is a merry drole and good company One night when I was ther he sent his Boy with a Borracho of Leather under his Cloak for Wine the Boy coming back about ten a clock and passing by the Guard one ask'd him whither he carried any Weapons about him for none must wear any Weapons there after ten at night No quoth the Boy being pleasant I have but a little Dagger the Watch came and search'd him and finding the Barracho full of good Wine drunk it all up saying Sirrah You know no man must carry any Weapons so late but because we know whose Servant you are ther 's the Scabbard of your Dagger again and so threw him the empty Borracho but another passage pleas'd me better of Don Beltran de Rosa who being to marry a rich Labradors a Yeomans daughter hard by which was much importun'd by her parents to the match because their Family should be thereby ennobled he being a Cavalier of Saint Iago the young Maid having understood that Don Beltran had bin in Naples and had that disease about him answered wittily En verdad pro adobar mi la sangre no quiero danar mi la carne Truely Sir To better my blood I will not hurt my flesh I doubt I shall not be in England before you set out to Sea if not I take my leave of you in this Paper and wish you a prosperous voyage and an honourable return It is the hearty Prayers of Ven 21. Aug. 1621. Your J. H. XXXVIII To Sir William Saint John Knight from Venice SIR HAving seen Antâ—…nors Tomb in Padoiia and the Amphitheater of Flaminius in Verona with other brave Towns in Lombardy I am now coâ—… to Rome and Rome they say is evry mans Countrey she is call'd Communis Patria for evry one that is within the compasse of the Latin Church finds himself here as it were at hom and in his Mothers house in regard of interest in Religion which is the cause that for one Native ther be five strangers that sojourn in this City and without any distinction or mark of strangenes they com to preferments and offices both in Church and State according to merrit which is more valued and sought after here then any where But whereas I expected to have found Rome elevated upon seven Hills I met her rather spreading upon a Flat having humbled her self since she was made a Christian and descended from those Hills to Campus Martius with Trasteren and the Suburbs of Saint Peter she hath yet in compasse about fourteen miles which is far short of that vast circuit she had in Claudius his time for Vopiscuâ—… writes she was then of fifty miles circumference and she had five hundred thousand free Citizens in a famous cense that was made which allowing but six to evry Family in Women Children and Servants came to three Millions of souls but she is now a Wildernes in comparison of that number The Pope is grown to be a great Temporall Prince of late yeers for the state of the Church extends above 300. miles in length and 200 miles in breadth it contains Ferrara Bologna Romagnia the Marquisat of Ancona umbria Sabina Perugia with a part of Toscany the Patrimony Rome her self and Latium In these ther are above fifty Bishopricks the Pope hath also the Dutchy of Spoleto and the exarchat of Ravenna he hath the Town of Beneventa in the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Venisse call'd Avignon in France he hath title also good enough to Naples it self but rather then offend his Champion the King of Spain he is contented with a white Mule and Purse of Pistols about the neck which he receives evry yeer for a heriot or homage or what you will call it he pretends also to be Lord Paramount of Sicily â—…rbin Parâ—…a and Masserâ—… of Norway Ireland and England since King Iohn did prostrat our Crown at Pandelfo his Legat's Feet The State of the Apostolie See here in Italy lieth twixt two Seas the Adriatiâ—… and the Tyrrhâ—… and it runs through the midst of Italy which makes the Pope powerfull to do good or harm and more capable then any other to be an Umpire or an Enemy His authority being mixt twixt Temporall and Spirituall disperseth it self into so many members that a young man may grow old here before he can well understand the form of Government The Consistory of Cardinals meet but once a week and once a week they solemnly wait all upon the Pope I am told ther are now in all Christendom but sixty eight Cardinals wherof ther are six Cardinall Bishops fifty one Cardinall Priests and eleven Cardinall Deacons The Cardinall Bishops attend and sit neer the Pope when he celebrats any Festivall The Cardinall Priests assist him at Masse and the Cardinall Deacons attire him A Cardinall is made by a short Breve or Writ from the Pope in these words Creamus te Socium Regibus superiorem ducibus fratrem â—…ostrum We creat thee a Companion to Kings Superior to Dukes and our Brother If a Cardinall Bishop should be questioned for any offence ther must be twenty four Witnesses produc'd against him The Bishop of Oâ—…ia hath most priviledg of any other
I part with this famous City of Lions I will relate unto you a wonderfull strange accident that happen'd here not many yeers ago Ther is an Officer call'd Le Chevalier du Guet which is a kind of Night-guard here as well as in Paris and his Lieutenant call'd Iaquette having supp'd one night in a rich Marchants house as he was passing the round afterwards he said I wonder what I have eaten and drunk at the Marchants house for I find my self so hot that if I met with the Divels Dam to night I should not forbear using of her hereupon a little after he overtook a young Gentlewoman mask'd whom he would needs usher to her lodging but discharg'd all his Watch except two she brought him to his thinking to a little low lodging hard by the City Wall wher ther were only two Rooms and after he had enjoyed her he desir'd that according to the custom of French Gentlemen his two Camerads might partake also of the same pleasure so she admitted them one after the other And when all this was don as they sat together she told them if they knew well who she was none of them would have ventur'd upon her thereupon she whissel'd three times and all vanish'd The next morning the two souldiers that had gon with Lieutenant Jaquette were found dead under the City Wall amongst the ordure and excrements and Iaquette himself a little way off half dead who was taken up and coming to himself confess'd all this but died presently after The next week I am to go down the Loire towards Paris and thence as soon as I can for England wher amongst the rest of my frends whom I so much long to see after this Trienniall separation you are like to be one of my first objects In the mean time I wish the same happinesse may attend you at home as I desire to attend me hom-ward for I am Truly yours I. H. Lions 5. Decemb. 1621. Familiar Letters SECTION II. I. To my Father SIR IT hath pleased God after almost three yearâ—… peregrination by Land and Sea to bring me back safely to London but although I am com safely I am com sickly for when I landed in Venice after so long a Sea-voyage from Spain I was afraid the same defluxion of salt rheum which fell from my Temples into my throat in Oxford and distilling upon the uvula impeached my utterance a little to this day had found the same chanâ—…ell again which caused me to have an Issue made in my left â—…rm for the diversion of the humour I was well ever after till I came to Rouen and there I fell sick of a pain in the head which with the Issue I have carried with me to England Doctor Harvy who is my Physitian tells mee that it may turn to a Consumption therfore he hath stopped the Issue telling me there is no danger at all in it in regard I have not worn it a full twelvemonth My Brother I thank him hath been very carefull of me in this my sicknes and hath come often to visit me I thank God I have pass'd â—…he brunt of it and am recovering and picking up my crums â—…pace Ther is a flaunting French Ambassador com over lately and I believe his errand is nought else but Complement for the King of France being lately at Calais and so in sight of England â—…e sent his Ambassador Monsieur Cadenet expresly to visit our King â—…e had audience two dayes since where he with his Train of ruffling long-haird Monsieurs carried himself in such a light garb that after the audience the King askd my Lord Keeper Bacon what he thought of the French Ambassador he answer'd that he was a tall proper man I his Majesty replied but what think you oâ—… his head-peece is he a proper man for the Office of an Ambassador Sir said Bacon Tall men are like high Houses of four or five Stories wherin commonly the uppermost room is worst furnished So desiring my brothers and sisters with the rest of my 〈◊〉 and friends in the Countrey may be acquainted with my safe return to England and that you would please to let me hear from you by the next conveniency I rest Lond. 2 Febr. 1621. Your dutifull Son J. H. II. To Rich. Altham Esqr. at Norberry SAlve pars animae dimidiata meâ—…ae Hail half my soul mâ—… dear Dick c. I was no sooner returned to the sweet bosom of England and had breath'd the smoak of this Town but my memory ran suddenly on you the Idea of you hath almost ever since so fill'd up and ingroft my imagination that I can think on nothing els the Iove of you swells both in my breast and brain with such a pregnancy that nothing can deliver me of this violent high passion but the sight of you Let me despair if I lye ther was never 〈◊〉 long'd more after any thing by reason of her growing 〈◊〉 than I do for your presence Therfore I pray you make 〈◊〉 to save my longing and Tantalize me no longer t is but three hours riding for the sight of you will be more precious to me than any one Object I have seen and I have seen many rare ones in all my three yearâ—… T â—…vell and if you take this for a Complemenâ—… because I am newly com from France you are much mistâ—…ken in London 1 〈◊〉 1621. Your J. H. III. To D. Caldwall Esqr. at Battersay MY dear Dan. I am com at last to London but not without som danger and through divers difficulties for I fell sick in France and came so over to Kent And my journey from the Sea side hither was more tedious to me than from Rome to Rouen where I grew first indisposed and in good faith I cannot remember any thing to this hour how I came from Gravesend hither I was so stupified and had lost the knowledg of all things But I am com to myself indifferently well since I thank God for it and you cannot imagin how much the sight of you much more your society would revive me your presence would be a Cordiall unto me more restorative than exalted Gold more precious than the powder of Pearl wheras your absence if it continue long will prove unto me like the dust of Diamonds which is incurable poyson I pray be not accessary to my death but hasten to comfort your so long weather beaten friend Lond. Febr. 1. 1621. J. H. IV. To Sir James Crofts at the L. Darcy's in St. Osith SIR I am got again safely this side of the Sea and though I was in a very sickly case when I first arriv'd yet thanks be to God I am upon point of perfect recovery wherunto the sucking in of English air and the sight of som friends conduc'd not a little Ther is fearfull news com from Germany you 〈◊〉 how the Bohemians shook off the Emperors yoak and how the great Counsell of Prague fell to such a hurly bâ—…rly that som
you lately did to a kinsman of mine Mr. Vaughan and for divers other which I defer till I return to that Court and that I hope will not be long Touching the procedure of matters here you shall understand that my Lord Aston had speciall audience lately of the King of Spain and afterwards presented a Memorial wherin ther was a high complaint against the miscarriage of the two Spanish Ambassadors now in England the Marquis of Inopifa and Don Carlos Coloma the substance of it was that the said Ambassadors in a privat audience his Majesty of great Britain had given them informd him of a pernicions plot against his Person and royall authority which was that at the beginning of your now Parliament the Duke of Buckingham with others his complices often met and consulted in a clandestin way how to break the treatie both of Match and Palatinat and in case his Majesty was unwilling therunto he should have a Countrey house or two to retire unto for his recreation and health in regard the Prince is now of years judgment fit to govern His Majesty so resented this that the next day he sent them many thanks for the care they had of him and desird them to perfect the work and now that they had detected the treason to discover also the traitors but they were shy in that point the King sent again desiring them to send him the names of the Conspirators in a paper seald up by one of their own confidents which he would receive with his own hands and no soul should see it els advising them withall that they should not prefer this discovery before their own honors to be accounted false Accusers they replied that they had don enough already by instancing in the Duke of Buckingham and it might easily be guest who were his Confidents and Creatures Hereupon his Majesty put those whom he had any grounds to suspect to their oaths And afterward sent my Lord Conway and Sir Francis Cotington to tell the Ambassadors that he had left no means unassaid to discover the Conspiration that he had sound upon oath such a clearness of ingenuity in the Duke of Buckingham thâ—… satisfied him of his innocency Therfore he had just cause to conceive that this information of theirs proceeded rather from malice and som politicall ends then from truth and in regard they would not produce the Authors of so dangerous a Treason they made themselves to be justly thought the Authors of it And therfore though he might by his own royall justice and the law of nations punish this excesse and insolence of theirs and high wrong they had done to his best servants yea to the Prince his Son for through the sides of the Duke they wounded him in regard it was impossible that such a design should be attempted without his privity yet he would not be his own Judge herein but would refer them to the King their Master whom he conceiv'd to be so just that hee doubted not but he would see him satisfied and therfore hee would send an express unto him hereabouts to demand Justice and reparation this busines is now in agitation but we know not what will become of it We are all here in a sad disconsolat condition and the Merchants shake their heads up and down out of an apprehension of som fearfull war to follow so I most affectionatly kiss your hands and rest Madrid Aug. 26 1623. Your very humble and ready Servitor J. H. XXIX To Sir Kenelme Digby Knight SIR YOu have had knowledge none better of the progression and growings of the Spanish match from time to time I must acquaint you now with the rupture and utter dissolution of it which was not long a doing for it was done in one audience that my Lord of Bristoll had lately at Court whence it may be inferr'd that 't is far more easie to pull down than reare up for that structure which was so many years a rearing was dasht as it were in a trice Dissolution goeth a faster pace than Composition And it may be said that the civill actions of men specially great affairs of Monarchs as this was have much Analogie in degrees of progression with the naturall production of man To make man there are many acts must procede first a meeting and copulation of the Sexes then Conception which requires a well-disposed womb to retain the prolificall seed by the constriction and occlusion of the orifice of the Matrix which seed being first bloud and afterwards cream is by a gentle ebullition coagulated and turnd to a crudded lump which the womb by vertue of its naturall heat prepares to be capable to receive form and to be organiz'd wherupon Nature falls a working to delineat all the members beginning with those that are most noble as the Heart the Brain the Liver wherof Galen would have the Liver which is the shop and source of the bloud and Aristotle the Heart to be the first fram'd in regard 't is primùm vivens ultimùm moriens Nature continues in this labor untill a perfect shape be introduc'd and this is call'd Formation which is the third act and is a production of an organicall body out of the spermatic substance caus'd by the plastic vertue of the vitall spirits and somtimes this act is finisht thirty days after the Conception somtimes fifty but most commonly in forty two or forty five and is sooner don in the male This being done the Embryon is animated with three souls the first with that of Plants call'd the vegetable soul then with a sensitive which all brute Animals have and lastly the Rationall soul is infus'd and these three in man are like Trigonus in Tetragono the two first are generated ex Traduce from the seed of the Parents but the last is by immediat infusion from God and 't is controverted 'twixt Philosophers and Divines when this infusion is made This is the fourth act that goeth to make man and is called Animation and as the Naturalists allow Animation double the time that Formation had from the Conception so they allow to the ripening of the Embryo in the womb and to the birth therof treble the time that Animation had which hapneth somtimes in nine somtimes in ten months This Grand busines of the Spanish match may be said to have had such degrees of progression first there was a meeting and coupling on both sides for a Iunta in in Spain and som select Counsellors of State were appointed in England After this Conjunction the busines was conceiv'd then it receiv'd form then life though the quickning was slow but having had nere upon ten years in lieu of ten months to be perfected it was infortunately strangled when it was ripe and ready for birth and I would they had never been born that did it for it is like to be out of my way 30 ol And as the Embryo in the womb is wrapt in three membranes or tunicles so this
they could have Gentlemen of good quality that would undertake it yet if I would take it upon me they would employ no other and assur'd me that the employment should tend both to my benefit and credit Now the business is this Ther was a great Turky ship call'd the Vineyard sailing through the Streights towards Constantinople but by distress of weather she was forc'd to put into a little Port call'd Milo in Sardinia The searchers came aboard of her and finding her richly laden for her cargazon of broad cloth was worth the first peny neer upon 30000 l. they cavell'd at some small proportion of lead and tin which they had only for the use of the ship which the Searchers alleged to be ropa de contrabando prohibited goods for by Article of Peace nothing is to be carried to Turky that may arm or vittle The Vice-Roy of Sardinia hereupon seizd upon the whole ship and all her goods landed the Master and men in Spain who coming to Sir Charls Corawalles then Ambassador at the Courâ—… Sir Charles could do them little good at present therfore they came to England and complaind to the King and Counsell his Majesty was so sensible hereof that he sent a particular Commission in his own royall Name to demand a restitution of the ship and goods and justice upon the Vice-Roy of Sardinia who had so apparently broke the Peace and wrongd his Subjects Sir Charles with Sir Paul Piâ—…dar a while labourd in the business and commenc'd a sute in Law but he was calld home before he could do any thing to purpose After him Sir Iohn Digby now Lord Digby went Ambassador to Spain and amongst other things he had that particular Commission from his Majesty invested in him to prosecut the sute in his own royall Name Therupon he sent a well qualified Gentleman Mr Walsingham Gâ—…sley to Sardinia who unfortunately meeting with som men of War in the passage was carried prisoner to Algier My Lord Digby being remanded home left the business in Mr Cotingtons hands then Agent but reassum'd it at his return yet it prov'd such a tedious intricate sute that he return'd again without finishing the work in regard of the remoteness of the Island of Sardinia whence the witnesses and other dispatches were to be fetchd The Lord Digby is going now Ambassador extraordinary to the Court of Spain upon the business of the match the restitution oâ—… the Palatinate and other high affairs of State therfore he is desirous to transmit the Kings Commission to ching this particular business to any gentleman that is capable to follow it and promiseth to assist him with the utmost of his power and he saith he hath good reason to do so in regard he hath now a good round share himself in it About this busines I am now preparing to go to Spain in company of the Ambassador and I shall kiss the Kings hands as his Agent touching this particular Commission I humbly intreat that your blessing and prayers may accompany me in this my new employment which I have undertaken upon very good terms touching expences reward So with my dear love to my brothers and sisters with other kindred and friends in the countrey I rest London 8 Sept. 1623. Your dutifull Son J. H. VII To Sir Tho Savage Knight and Baronet at his house in Long-Melford honble SIR I Receivd your commands in a Letter which you sent me by Sir Iohn North and I shall not fail to serve you in those particulars It hath pleased God to dispose of me once more for Spain upon a business which I hope will make me good returns ther have two Ambassadors and a royall Agent follow'd it hitherto and I am the fourth that is employed in it I defer to trouble you with the particulars of it in regard I hope to have the happiness to kiss your hand at Tower hill before my departure which will not be till my Lord Digby sets forward He goes in a gallant splendid Equipage and one of the Kings ships is to take him in at Plymouth and transport him to the Corunnia or Saint Andeâ—…as Since that sad disaster which befell Archbishop Abbot to kill the man by the glancing of an arrow as he was shooting at a Deer which kind of death befell one of our Kings once in new Forrest ther hath bin a Commission awarded to debate whether upon this fact wherby he hath shed human bloud he be not to be depriv'd of his Archbishoprick and pronounc'd irregular som were against him but Bishop Andrews and Sir Henry Martin stood stifly for him that in regard it was no spontaneous act but a meer contingencie and that ther is no degree of men but is subject to misfortunes and casualties they declar'd positively that he was not to fall from his dignity or function but should still remain a regular and in statu quo prius during this debate he petitioned the King that he might be permitted to retire to his Almes-house at Guilford where he was born to pass the remainder of his life but he is now come to be again rectus in curia absolutely quitted and restor'd to all things But for the wife of him which was killd it was no misfortune to her for he hath endowed herself and her children with such an Estate that they say her Husband could never have got So I humbly kisse your hands and rest London 9 Nov. 1622. Your most obliged Serviâ—… J. H. VIII To Captain Nich Leat from Madrid at his house in London SIR I Am safely com to the Court of Spain and although by reason of that misfortune which befell Mr Altham and me of wounding the Sergeants in Lombardstreet we staied three weeks behind my Lord Ambassador yet we came hither time enough to attend him to Court at his first audience The English Nation is better lookd on now in Spain than ordinary because of the hopes ther are of a match which the Merchant and comunalty much desire though the Nobility and Gentry be not so forward for it so that in this point the puls of Spâ—… beats quite contrary to that of England where the people are â—…vers to this match and the Nobility with most part of the Gentry inclinable I have perusd all the papers I could get into my hands touching the business of the ship Vineyard and I find that they are higher than I in bulk though closely prest together I have cast up what iâ—… awarded by all the sentences of view and review by the Counsell of State War and I find the whole sum as wel principall as interest upon interest all sorts of damages and processall charges com to above two hundred and fifty thousand Crowns The Conde del Real quondam Viceroy of Sardinia who is adjudged to pay most part of this money is here and he is Mayordomo Lord steward to the Infante Cardinall if he hath wherwith I donbt not but to recover the money for I hope
did rise betimes and went thither taking your brother with him they were let into the house and into the garden but the Infanta was in the orchard and there being a high partition wall between and the door doubly bolted the Prince got on the top of the wall and sprung down a great hight and so made towards her but she spying him first of all the rest gave a shâ—…eck and ran back the old Marquis that was then her gardien came towards the Prince and fell on his knees conjuring his Highnesse to retire in regard he hazarded his head if he admitted any to her company so the door was open'd and he came out under that wall over which he had got in I have seen him watch a long hour together in a close Coach in the open street to see her as she went abroad I cannot say that the Prince did ever talk with her privatly yet publickly often my Lord of Bristoll being Interpreter but the King always sat hard by to over-hear all Our cosen Archy hath more privilege than any for he often goes with his fools coat where the Infanta is with her Meninas and Ladies of honor and keeps a blowing and blustering amongst them and fluâ—…ts out what he list One day they were discoursing what a marvellous thing it was that the Duke of Bavaria with lesse then 15000 men after a long toylsom March should dare to encounter the Palsgraves army consisting of above 2500â—… and to give them an utter discomfiture and take Prague presently after Wherunto Archy answered that he would tell them a stranger thing than that was it not a strange thing quoth he that in the year 88 ther should com a Fleet of one hundred and forty sails from Spain to invade England and that ten of these could not go back to tell what became of the rest By the next opportunity I will send you the Cordovan pockets and gloves you writ for of Francisco Morenos persuming So may my dear Captain live long and love his Madrid Iuly 10. 1623. J. H. XIX To my Cosen Tho. Guin Esqr. at his house Trecastle Cosen I Received lately one of yours which I cannot compare more properly than to a posie of curious flowers ther was therin such variety of sweet strains and dainty expressions of love And though it bore an old date for it was forty days before it came to safe hand yet the flowers were still fresh and not a whit faded but did cast as strong and as fragrant a sent as when your hands bound them up first together only ther was one flower that did not savor so well which was the undeserved Character you please to give of my smal abilities which in regard you look upon me through the prospective of affection appear greater unto you than they are of themselvs yet as smal as they are I would be glad to employ them all to serve you upon any occasion Wheras you desire to know how matters pass here you shall understand that we are rather in assurance than hopes that the match will take effect when one dispatch more is brought from Rome which we greedily expect The Spaniards generally desire it they are much taken with our Prince with the bravery of his journey and his discreet comportment since and they confess ther was never Princess courted with more gallantry The wits of the Court here have made divers Encomiums of him of his affection to the L Infanta Amongst others I send you a Latin Poem of one Marnieriâ—…s a Valenciano to which I add this ensuing Hexastic which in regard of the difficulty of the Verse consisting of all Ternaries which is the hardest way of versifying and of the exactness of the translation I believe will give you content Fax grata est gratum est vulnus mihi grata catena est Me quibus astringit laedit urit Amor Sed flammam extingui sanari vulnera solvi Vincla etiam ut possem non ego posse velim Mirum equidem genus hoc morbi est incendia ictus Vinclaque vinctus adbuc laesus ustus amo Gratefull's to me the fire the wound the chain By which love burns love binds and giveth pain But for to quench this fire these bonds to loose These wounds to heal I would not could I choose Strange sickness where the wounds the bonds the fire That burns that bind that hurt I must desire In your next I pray send me your opinion of these verses for I know you are a Critic in Poetry Mr Vaugham of the Golden-grove and I were Camerades and bedfellows here many moneths together his father Sir Iohn Vaughan the Prince his Controuler is lately com to attend his Master My Lord of Carlile my Lord of Holland my Lord of Rochfort my Lord of Denbigh and divers others are here so that we have a very flourishing Court and I could wish you were here to make one of the number So my dear cosen I wish you all happiness and our noble Prince a safe and successfull return to England Madrid 13 Aug. 1623. Your most affectionate Cosen J. H. XX. To my noble friend Sir John North. SIR THe long look'd-for Dispensation is come from Rome but I hear it is clogg'd with new clauses and one is that the Pope who allegeth that the only aim of the Apostolicall See in granting this Dispensation was the advantage and case of the Catholics in the King of great Britaines Dominions therfore he desir'd a valuable caution for the performance of those Articles which were stipulated in their favor this hath much puzled the busines and Sir Francis Cotington comes now over about it Besides ther is som distast taken at the Duke of Buckingham here and I heard this King should say he will treat no more with him but with the Ambassadors who he saith have a more plenary Commission and understand the busines better As ther is som darknes hapned twixt the two Favorits so matters stand not â—…ight twixt he Duke and the Earl of Bristoll but God forbid that a busines of so high a consequence as this which is likely to tend so much to the universall good of Christendom to the restitution of the Palatinat and the composing those broils in Germany should be ranversd by differences twixt a few privat subjects though now public Ministers Mr Washington the Prince his Page is lately dead of a Calenture and I was at his buriall under a Figtree behind my Lord of Bristols house A little before his death one Ballard and English Priest went to tamper with him and Sir Edmund Varney meeting him coming down the stairs out of Washingtons chamber they fell from words to blows but they were parted The busines was like to gather very ill bloud and com to a great height had not Count Gondamar quasht it which I beleeve he could not have done unles the times had bin favorable for such is the reverence they bear to
knew as well as he how earnest the King their Master hath bin any time these ten years to have it don how ther could not be a better pawn for the surrendry of the Palatinat than the Infanta in the Prince his arms who would never rest till she did the work to merit love of our Nation He told him also how their owne particular fortunes depended upon 't besides if he should delay one moment to deliver the Proxy after the Ratification was com according to agreement the Infanta would hold her self so blemish'd in her honor that it might overthrow all things Lastly he told him that they incurr'd the hazard of their heads if they should suspend the executing his Majesties Commission upon any order but from that power which gave it who was the King himself hereupon both the Ambassadors proceeded still in preparing matters for the solemnizing of the mariage the Earl of Bristoll had caus'd above thirty rich Liveries to be made of watchet Velvet with silver lace up to the very capes of the Cloaks the best sorts wherof were valued at 80 l. a Livery My Lord Aston had also provided new Liveries and a fortnight after the said politic report was blown up the Ratification came indeed complete and full so the mariage day was appointed a Terrass cover'd all over with Tapestry was rais'd from the Kings Palace to the next Church which might be about the same extent as from White-Hall to Westminster Abbey and the King intended to make his sister a Wife and his daughter wherof the Queen was deliver'd a little before a Christian upon the same day the Grandes and great Ladies had been invited to the mariage and order was sent to all the Port Towns to discharge their great Ordnance and sundry other things were prepar'd to honor the solemnity but when wee were thus at the hight of our hopes a day or two before there came Mr. Killegree Gresley Wood and Davies one upon the neck of another with a new Commission to my Lord of Bristoll immediatly from his Majesty countermanding him to deliver the Proxy aforesaid untill a full and absolut satisfaction were had for the surrendry of the Palatinat under this Kings hand and Seal in regard he desir'd his Son should be married to Spain and his Son in law remarried to the Palatinat at one time hereupon all was dasht to peeces and that frame which was rearing so many years was ruin'd in a moment This news strook a damp in the hearts of all people here and they wisht that the Postillons that brought it had all broke their necks in the way My Lord of Bristoll hereupon went to Court to acquaint the King with his new Commission and so propos'd the restitution of the Palatinat the King answer'd 't was none of his to give 't is true he had a few Towns there but he held them as Commissioner only for the Emperor and he could not command an Emperor yet if his Majesty of great Britain would put a Treaty a foot hee would send his own Ambassadors to joyn In the interim the Earl was commanded not to deliver the foresaid Proxy of the Prince for the desposorios or espousall untill Christmas And herein it seems his Majesty with you was not well inform'd for those powers of Proxies expir'd before the King here said further that if his Uncle the Emperor or the Duke of Bavaria would not be conformable to reason he would raise as great an Army for the Prince Palsgrave as he did under Spinola when he first invaded the Palatinat and to secure this he would ingage his Contratation House of the West Indies with his Plate Fleet and give the most binding instrument that could be under his hand and Seal But this gave no satisfaction therfore my Lord of Bristoll I beleeve hath not long to stay here for he is commanded to deliver no more Letters to the Infanta nor demand any more audience and that she should be no more stiled Princess of England or Wales The foresaid Caution which this King offer'd to my Lord of Bristoll made me think of what I read of his Grandfather Philip the second who having been maried to our Queen Mary and it being thought she was with child of him and was accordingly prayed for at Pauls Cross though it proved afterward but a tympany King Philip prepos'd to our Parliament that they would pass an Act that he might be Regent during his or her minority that should be born and he would give good caution to surrender the Crown when he or she should com to age the motion was hotly canvas'd in the house of Peers and like to pass when the Lord Paget rose up and said I but who shall sue the Kings bond so the busines was dasht I have no more news to send you now and I am sory I have so much unless it were better for we that have busines to negotiat here are like to suffer much by this rupture welcom be the will of God to whose benediction I commend you and rest Madrid Aug. 25. 1623. Your most humble Servitor J. H. XXVII To the Right honble the Lord Clifford My good Lord THough this Court cannot afford now such comfortable news in relation to England as I could wish yet such as it is you shall receive My Lord of Bristoll is preparing for England I waited upon him lately when he went to take his leave at Court and the King washing his hands took a Ring from off his own finger and put it upon his which was the greatest honor that ever he did any Ambassador as they say here he gave him also a Cupbord of Plate â—…alued at 20000 Crowns There were also large and high promises made him that in case heâ—… feard to fall upon any rock in England by reason of the power of those who malignd him if hee would stay in any of his Dominions he would give him means and honor equall to the highest of his enemies The Earl did not only wave but disdaind these Propositions made unto him by Olivares and said he was so confident of the King his Masters justice and high judgment and of his own innocency that hee conceiv'd no power could be able to do him hurt Ther hath occurd nothing lately in this Court worth the advertisement They speak much of the strange carriage of that boisterous Bishop of Halverstad for so they term him here that having taken a place where there were two Monasteries of Nuns and Friers he caus'd divers feather-beds to be rip'd and all the feathers to be thrown in a great Hall whither the Nuns and Friers were thrust naked with their bodies â—…ld and pitchd and to tumble among these feathers which makes them here presage him an ill death So I most affectionately kiss your hands and rest Madrid Aug. 26. 1623. Your very humble Servitor J. H. XXVIII To Sir John North. SIR I Have many thanks to render you for the favor
unto your Ladyship and tell you that he was going to comfort your neece the Dutches as fast as he could and so I have sent the truth of this sad story to your Ladyship as fast as I could by this post because I cannot make that speed myself in regard of som busines I have to dispatch for my Lord in the way So I humbly take my leave and rest Stamford Aug. 5. 1628. Your Lapp s most dutifull Servant J. H. IX To the right Honble Sir Peter Wichts his Majesties Ambassador at Constantinople My Lord YOurs of the 2. of Iuly came to safe hand and I did all those particular recaudos you enjoyned me to do to som of your â—…ends here The Town of Rochell hath bin fatall and infortunat to England for this is the third time that we have attempted to releeve her but our fleets and forces returnd without doing any thing My Lord of Linsey went thither with the same Fleet the Duke intended to go on but he is returnd without doing any good he made som shots at the great Boom and other baricadoes at sea but at such a distance that they conld do no hurt Insomuch that the Town is now given for lost and to be passd cure and they cry out we have betrayd them At the return of this Fleet two of the Whelps were cast away and three ships more and som five ships who had som of those great stones that were brought to build Pauls for ballast and for other uses within them which could promise no good success for I never heard of any thing that prospered which being once designed for the honor of God was alienated from that use The Queen interposeth for the releasement of my Lord of Newport and others who are prisoners of War I hear that all the colours they took from us are hung up in the great Church Nostredame as tropkeys in Paris Since I began this letter ther is news brought that Rochell hath yeelded and that the King hath dismantled the Town and razd all the fortifications landward but leaves those standing which are toward the Sea It is a mighty exploit the French King hath don for Rochell was the cheifest propugnacle of the Protestants there and now questionles all the rest of their cautionary Towns which they kept for their own defence will yeeld so that they must depend hereafter upon the Kings meer mercy I hear of an overture of Peace twixt us and Spain and that my Lord Cottington is to go thither and Don Carlos Coloma to com to us God grant it for you know the saying in Spanish Nunca vi tan mala paz que no fuera mejor que la mejor guerra It was a bold thing in England to fall out with the two greatest Monarchs of Christendom and to have them both her enemies at one time aâ—…d as glorious a thing it was to bear up against them God turn all to the best and dispose of things to his glory So I rest London 1 Sept. 1628. Your Lordships ready Servitor J. H. X. To my Cosen Mr. Stgeon at Christ-Church College in Oxford COsen though you want no incitements to go on in that fair road of vertu wher you are now running your cours yet being lately in your noble Fathers company he did intimat unto me that any thing which cam from me would take with you very much I hear so well of your proceedings that I should rather commend than encourage you I know you wer remov'd to Oxford in full maturity you wer a good Orator a good Poet and a good Linguist for your time I would not have that fate light upon you which useth to befall som who from golden Students becom silver Bachelors and Leaden Masters I am far from entertaining any such thought of you that Logic with her quiddities and Quae la vel Hipps can any way unpolish your human studies As Logic is clubfisted and crabbed so she is terrible at first sight she is like a Gorgons head to a young student but after a twelve months constancy and patience this Gorgons head will prove a meer buggbear When you have devour'd the Organon you will find Philosophie far more delightfull and pleasing to your palat In feeding the soul with knowledge the understanding requireth the same consecutif acts which nature useth in nourishing the body To the nutrition of the body ther are two Essentiall conditions requir'd assumption and retention then ther follows two more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concoction and agglutination or adhaesion So in feeding your soule with Science you must first assume and sucâ—… in the matter into your apprehension then must the memory retain and keep it in afterwards by disputation discours and meditation it must be well concocted then must it be agglutinateâ—… and converted to nutriment All this may be reduc'd to these 〈◊〉 heads tencre fideliter uti faeliciter which are two of the happiest properties in a student ther is an other act requir'd to gooâ—… concoction call'd the act of Expulsion which puts off all that is unfound and noxious so in study ther must be an expulsive vertâ—… to shun all that is erroneous and ther is no science but is full 〈◊〉 such stuff which by direction of Tutor and choice of good Book must be excernd Do not confound your self with multiplicity of Authors two is enough upon any Science provided they be plenary and orthodox Philosphy should be your substantiall food Poetry your banqueting stuff Philosophy hath more of reality in it than any knowledge the Philosopher can fadom the deep measure Mountaines reach the Starrs with a staff and bless Heaven with a girdle But amongst these studies you must not forget the unicum necessarium on Sundaies and Holy-dayes let Divinity be the sole object of your speculation in comparison wherof all other knowledg is but cobweb learning prae qua quisquiliae coetera When you can make truce with study I should be glad you would employ som superfluous hour or other to write unto me for I much covet your good because I am London 25 Octob. 1627. Your affectionat Cosen J. H. XI To Sir Sackvill Trevor Knight Noble Onkle I Send you my humble thanks for the curious Sea-chest of glasses you pleas'd to bestow on me which I shal be very chary to keep as a Monument of your love I congratulat also the great honor you have got lately by taking away the Spirit of France I mean by taking the third great Vessell of her Sea-Trinity Her Holy Spirit which had bin built in the mouth of the Texell for the service of her King without complementing with you it was one of the best exploits that was perform'd since these warrs began and besides the renown you have purchas'd I hope your reward will be accordingly from his Majesty whom I remember you so happily preserv'd from drowning in all probability at St. Anderas road in Spain Though Princes
Verge Cullen is chief of the second Precinct Erurswic of the third and Danzic of the fourth The Kings of Peland and Sweden have sued to be their Protector but they refus'd them because they were not Princes of the Empire they put off also the King of Denmark with a Complement nor would they admit the King of Spain when he was most potent in the Netherlands though afterwards when 't was too late they desir'd the help of the Ragged Staff nor of the Duke of Anjou notwithstanding that the world thought he should have married our Queen who interceded for him and so 't was probable that therby they might recover their privileges in England so that I do not find they ever had any Protector but the great Master of Prussia and their want of a Protector did do them som prejudice in that famous difference they had with our Queen The old Hans had extraordinary immunities given them by our Henry the third because they assisted him in his wars with so many ships and as they pretend the King was not only to pay them for the service of the said Ships but for the Vessells themselves if they miscarried Now it happen'd that at their return to Germany from serving Henry the third ther was a great Fleet of them cast away for which according to Covenant they demanded reparation Our King in lieu of money amongst other Acts of Grace gave them a privilege to pay but one per cent which continued untill Queen Mories reign and she by advice of King Philip her husband as 't was conceiv'd enhanc'd the one to twenty per cent The Hans not onely complain'd but clamor'd loudly for breach of their ancient Privileges confirm'd unto them time out of mind by thirteen successive Kings of England which they pretended to have purchased with their money King Philip undertook to accommode the busines but Queen Mary dying a little after and he retiring ther could be nothing don Complaint being made to Queen Elizabeth she answerd That as shee would not innovat any thing so she would maintain them still in the same condition she found them hereupon their Navigation and Trafic ceas'd a while Wherfore the English tryed what they could do themselves and they thrive so well that they took the whole trade into their own hands and so divided themselves though they bee now but one to Staplers and Merchant Adventurers the one residing constant in one place wher they kept their Magazin of Wool the other stirring and adventuring to divers places abroad with Cloth and other Manufactures which made the Hans endevor to draw upon them all the malignancy they could from all Nations Moreover the Hans Towns being a body politic incorporated in the Empire complain'd hereof to the Emperor who sent over persons of great quality to mediat an accommodation but they could effect nothing Then the Queen caus'd a Proclamation to be punish'd that the Easterlings or Merchants of the Hans should be intreated and us'd as all other strangers were within her Dominions without any mark of difference in point of commerce This netled them more therupon they bent their Forces more eagerly and in a Diet at Ratisbon they procurd that the English Merchants who had associated themselves into Fraternities in Embdâ—…n and other places should bee declar'd Monopolists and so ther was a Comitiall Edict publishd against them that they should be exterminated and banisht out of all parts of the Empire and this was don by the activity of one Suderman a great Civilian Ther was there for the Queen Gilpin as nimble a man as Suderman and he had the Chancelor of Embden to second and countenance him but they could not stop the said Edict wherin the Society of English Merchants Adventurers was pronounc'd to bee a Monopoly yet Gilpin plaid his game so well that he wrought under hand that the said Imperiall Ban should not be publish'd till after the dissolution of the Diet and that in the interim the Emperor should send Ambassadors to England to advertise the Queen of such a Ban against her Merchants But this wrought so little impression upon the Queen that the said Ban grew rather ridiculous than formidable for the Town of Embden harbour'd our Merchants notwithstanding and afterwards Stode but they not being able to protect them so well from the Imperiall Ban they setled in this Town of Hamburgh After this the Queen commanded another Proclamation to be divulg'd that the Easterlings or Hansiatic Merchants should bee allowed to Trade in England upon the same conditions and payment of duties as her own Subjects provided Thaâ—… the English Merchants might have interchangeable privilege to reside and trade peaceably in Stode or Hamburgh or any wher els within the precincts of the Hans This incens'd them more therupon they resolv'd to cut off Stode and Hamburgh from being members of the Hans or of the Empire but they suspended this dessein till they saw what success the great Spanish Fleet should have which was then preparing in the yeer eighty eight for they had not long before had recours to the King of Spain and made him their own and he had don them som materiall good Offices wherfore to this day the Spanish Counsell is tax'd of improvidence and imprudence that ther was no use made of the Hans Towns in that expedition The Queen finding that they of the Hans would not be contented with that equality she had offer'd 'twixt them and her own Subjects put out a Proclamation that they should carry neither Corn Victualls Arms Timber Masts Cables Mineralls nor any other materialls or Men to Spain or Portugall And after the Queen growing more redoubtable and famous by the overthrow of the Fleet of Eighty eight the Osterlings fell to despair of doing any good Add hereunto another disaster that befell them the taking of sixty sailes of their Ships about the mouth of Tagus in Portugall by the Queens Ships that were laden with Ropas de contrabando viz. Goods prohibited by her former Proclamation into the dominions of Spain And as these Ships were upon point of being discharg'd she had intelligence of a great Assembly at Lubâ—…ck which had met of purpose to consule of means to be reveng'd of her therupon she staid and seiz'd upon the said sixty Ships only two were freed to bring news what became of the rest Hereupon the Pole sent an Ambassador to her who spake in a high tone but he was answer'd in a higher Ever since our Merchants have beaten a peacefull and free uninterrupted Trade into this Town and elswhere within and without the Sound with their Manufactures of Wool and found the way also to the White-Sea to Archangel and Mosco Insomuch that the premisses being well considered it was a happy thing for England that that clashing fell out 'twixt her and the Hans for it may be said to have been the chief ground of that Shipping and Merchandising which she is now com
thus engendring and in solutis principiis in their liquid formes and not consolidated into hard bodies for then they have not that vertue they impart heat to the neighbouring Waters So then it may be concluded that this soyl about the Bath is a minerall vein of earth and the fermenting gentle temper of generative heat that goes to the production of the said Mineralls do impart and actually communicat this balneal vertue and medicinall heat to these Waters This subject of Minerall Waters would afford an Ocean of matter wer one to compile a solid discours of it And I pray excuse me that I have presum'd in so narrow a compas as a Letter to comprehend so much which is nothing I think in comparison of what you know already of this matter So I take my leave and humbly kiss your hands being allwayes From the Bath â—…3 Iuly 1638. Your most faithfull and ready Servitor J. H. XXXVI From Dublin to Sir Ed Savage Knight at Tower-Hill SIR I Am com safely to Dublin over an angry boysterous Sea whether 't was my voyage on Salt-water or change of Ayr being now under another clime which was the cause of it I know not but I am suddenly freed of the pain in my Arm when neither Bath nor Plasters and other remedies could do me good I deliver'd your Letter to Mr. Iames Dillon but nothing can be don in that busines till your brother Pain coms to Town I meet heer with divers of my Northern frends whom I knew at York Heer is a most splendid Court kept at the Castle and except that of the Vice-roy of Naples I have not seen the like in Christendom and in one point of Grandeza the Lord Deputy heer goes beyond him sor he can confer honours and dub Knights which that Vice-roy cannot or any other I know of Trafic encreaseth heer wonderfully with all kind of bravery and buildings I made an humble motion to my Lord that in regard businesses of all sorts did multiply here daily and that ther was but one Clerk of the Counsell Sir Paul Davis who was able to dispatch busines Sir Will. Usher his Collegue being very aged and bed-rid his Lordship would please to think of me My Lord gave me an answer full of good respects to succeed Sir William after his death No more now but with my most affectionat respects unto you I rest Dublin 3 May 1639. Your faithfull Servitor J. H. XXXVII To Dr. Vsher Lo Primat of Ireland MAy it please your Grace to accept of my most humble Acknowledments for those Noble favours I receiv'd at Droghedah and that you pleas'd to communicat unto me those rare Manuscripts in so many Languages and divers choice Authors in your Library Your learned Work De primordiis Ecclesiarum Britannicarum which you pleas'd to send me I have sent to England and so it shall be conveyd to Iesus College in Oxford as a gift from your Grace I hear that Cardinal Barberino one of the Popes Nephews is setting forth the works of Fastidius a British Bishop call'd De vita Christiana It was written 300 yeers after our Saviour and Holstenius hath the care of the Impression I was lately looking for a word in Sâ—…idas and I lighted upon a strange passage in the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That in the Reign of Iustinian the Emperour one Theodosius a Jew a man of great Authority liv'd in Ierusalem with whom a rich Goldsmith who was a Christian was in much favour and very familiar The Goldsmith in privat discours told him one day that be wondred â—…e being a man of such a great understanding did not turn Christian considering how he found all the Prophecies of the Law so evidently accomplish'd in our Saviour and our Saviours Prophecies accomplish'd since Theodosius answered That it did not stand with his security and continuance in Authority to turn Christian but he had a long time a good opinion of that Religion and he would discover a secret unto him which was not yet com to the knowledg of any Christian It was That when the Temple was founded in Ierusalem ther wer 22 Priests according to the number of the Hebrew letters to officiat in the Temple and when any was chosen his name with his fathers and mothers wer us'd to be registred in a fair Book In the time of Christ a Priest died and he was chosen in his place but when his name was to be entred his father Ioseph being dead his mother was sent for who being ask'd who was his father she answered that she never knew man but that she conceiv'd by an Anâ—… So his name was registred in these words IESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD AND OF THE VIRGIN MARY This Record at the destruction of the Temple was preserved and is to be seen in Tyberias to this day I humbly desire your Graces opinion heerof in your next They write to me from England of rare news in France which is that the Queen is delivered of a Daulphin the wonderfull'st thing of this kind that any Story can parallel for this is the three and twentieth yeer since she was married and hath continued childles all this while so that now Monsieurs cake is dough and I beleeve he will be more quiet heerafter So I rest Dublin 1 March 1639. Your Graces most devoted Servitor J. H. XXXVIII To my Lord Clifford from Edenburgh My Lord I Have seen now all the King of Great Britain's Dominions he is a good Traveller that hath seen all his Dominions I was born in Wales I have bin in all the four corners of England I have traveâ—…sed the Diameter of France more than once and now I am com thorow Ireland into this Kingdom of Scotland This Town of Edinburgh is one of the fairest streets that ever I saw exepting that of Palermo in Sicily it is about a mile long coming sloping down from the Castle call'd of old the Castle of Virgins and by Pliny Castrum alatum to Holy-Rood-House now the Royall Palace and these two begin and terminat the town I am com hither in a very convenient time for heer 's a Nationall Assembly and a Parlement my Lord Traquair being His Majesties Commissioner The Bishops are all gon to wâ—…ack and they have had but a sorry Funerall the very name is grown so contemptible that a black Dog if he have any white marks about him is call'd Bishop Our Lord of Canterbury is grown heer so odious that they call him commonly in the Pulpit The Priest of Baal and the son of Belial I 'll tell your Lordship of a passage which happened lately in my lodging which is a Tavern I had sent for a Shoo-maker to make me a pair of Boots and my Landlord who is a peâ—…t smart man brought up a chopin of Whitewine and for this particular ther are betteâ—… French-wines heer than in England and cheaper for they are but at a Groat a quart and it is a crime of a high
1644. Yours to dispose of J. H. LIII To my honoured frend Mr. E. P. SIR THe times are so ticklish that I dare not adventure to send you any London intelligence she being now a Garrison Town and you know as well as I what danger I may incur but for forren indifferent news you shall understand that Pope Uâ—…ban the eighth is dead having sate in the chair above twenty 〈◊〉 a rare thing for it is observ'd that no Pope yet arriv'd to thâ—… yeers of St. Peter who they say was Bishop of Rome twenty anâ—… five Cardinall Pamfillo a Roman born a knowing man and â—… great Lawyer is created Pope by assumption of the name of Inâ—…cent the tenth Ther was tough canvasing for voices and a greaâ—… contrasto in the Conclave 'twixt the Spanish and French faction whâ—… with the Barberini stood for Sachetri but he was excluded as 〈◊〉 so another 〈◊〉 by these exclusions the Spanish party wheâ—… of the Cardinall of 〈◊〉 was chief brought about Barberioâ—… 〈◊〉 joyn with them for 〈◊〉 as being also a creature of the deceâ—…sed Pope He 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nuncio in Spain eight yeers so that it conceiv'd he is much devoted to that Crown as his Predecessâ—… was to the French who had bin Legat there neer upon twenty yeers and was Godfather to the last King which made him to be Fleurdelizé to be Flowerdeluc'd all over This new Pope hath already pass'd that number of yeers which the Prophet assignes to man for he goes upon seventy one and is of a strong promising constitution to live som yeers longer He hath but one Nephew who is but eighteen and so not capable of busines he hath therfore made choice of som Cardinalls more to be his Coadjutors Pancirellio is his prime confident and lodg'd in Saint Peters T is thought he will presently set all wheels a going to mediat an universall peace They write of one good augury amongst the rest that part of his Arms is a Dove which hath bin alwaies held for an emblem of peace but I beleeve it will prove one of the knottiest and difficult'st tasks that ever was attempted as the case stands 'twixt the House of Austria and France and the roughest and hardest knot I hold to be that of Portugall for it cannot yet enter into any mans imagination how that may be accommodated Though many Polliticians have beaten their brains about it God almighty grant that the appeasing of our civil wars prove not so intricat a work and that we may at last take warning by the devastations of other Countreys before our own be past cure The write from Paris that Sir Kenelm Digby is to be imployed to Rome from Her Majesty in quality of a high Messenger of Honour to congratulat the new Pope not of Ambassadour as the vulgar give out for none can give that character to any but a Soverain independent Prince and all the World knows that Her Majesty is under Couvert Baron notwithstanding that som cry her up for Queen Regent of England as her Sister is of France The Lord Aubeny hath an Abbacy of one thousand five hundred Pistols a yeer given him yeerly there and is fair for a Cardinalls Har. I continue still under this heavy pressure of close restraint nor do I see any hopes God help me of getting forth till the wind shift out of this unlucky hole Howsoever I am resolv'd that if Innocence cannot free my body yet Patience shall preserve my mind still in its freeborn thoughts Nor shall this storm slacken a whit that firm ligue of love wherin I am eternally tied unto you I will conclude with a Distic which I found amongst those excellent Peems of the late Pope Quem validè strinxit praestanti pollice virtus Nescius est solvi nodus Amicitiae Fleet 1 Iun. 1644. Your constant Servitor J. H. LIV. To the L. Bishop of London late Lord Tresurer of England My Lord YOu are one of the miracles of these times the greatest miror of moderation our age affords and as heertofore when you carried the white Staff with such clean incorrupted hands yet the Crosier was still your chief care nor was it perceiv'd that that high all-obliging office did alter you a jot or alienat you from your self but the same candor and countenance of mecknes appeard still in you as whosoever had occasion to make their address to your Gates went away contented whether they sped in their busines or not a gift your Predecessor was said to want So since the turbulency of these times the same moderation shines in you notwithstanding that the Miter is so trampled upon and that ther bee such violent factions a foot insomuch that you live not only secure from outrages but honor'd by all parties T is true one thing fell out to your advantage that you did not subscribe to that Petition which prov'd so fatall to Prelacy But the chief ground of the constant esteem the distracted world hath still of you is your wisdom and moderation pass'd and present This puts me in mind of one of your Predecessors in your late office Marquis Pawlet who it seems sail'd by the same Compass for ther being divers bandings and factions at Court in his time yet was he belov'd by all parties and being ask'd how he stood so right in the opinion of all he answerd By being a Willow and not an Oak I have many thanks to give your Lordship for the late visits I had and when this cloud is scatter'd that I may respite fâ—…ee ayr one of my first journeys shall be to kiss your Lordships hands In the interim I rest The Fleet 3 Sept. 1644. Your most devoted and ready Servitor J H. LV. To Sir E. S. Knight SIR THough I never had the least umbrage of your love or doubted of the reality therof yet since I tell into this plunge it hath been much confirm'd unto me It is a true observation that amongst other effects of affliction one is to try a frend for those proofs that are made in the fawnings and dazling Sun-shine of prosperity are not so clear as those which break out and transpeer through the dark clouds of adversity You know the difference the Philosophers make twixt the two extreme colors black and write that the one is congregativum the other disgregativum visus Black doth congregate unite and fortifie the sight the other doth disgregat scatter and enfeeble it when it fixeth upon any object So through the Sable clouds of advers fortune one may make a truer inspection into the brest of a frend Besides this affliction produceth another far more excellent effect it brings us to a better and a more clear knowledge of our Creator for as the rising and setting Sun appears bigger unto us than when he is in the Meridian though the distance be still the same the cause wherof is ascrib'd to the interposition of mists which lye twixt our eyes and him so through the thick fogs of
to pass all the degrees and effects of fire as distillation sublimation mortification calcination solution descension dealbation rubification and fixation for I have bin fastned to the walls of this prison any time these fifty five moneths I have bin heer long enough if I wer matter capable therof to be made the Philosophers stone to be converted from water to powder which is the whole Magistery I have been besides so long upon the anvill that me thinks I am grown malleable and hammer proof I am so habituated to hardship But indeed you that are made of a choicer mold are fitter to be turned into the Elixer than I who have so much dross and corruption in me that it will require more paines and much more expence to be purg'd and defecated God send us both patience to bear the brunt of this fiery tryall and grace to turn these decoctions into aquam vitae to make soveraign treacle of this viper The Trojan Prince was forced to pass over Phlegeton and pay Charon his freight before he could get into the Elyzian fields you know the morall that we must pass through hell to heaven and why not as well through a prison to Paradise such may the Towre prove to you and the Fleet to me who am From the prison of the Fleet 23 Feb. 1645. Your humble and hearty Servitor J. H. XLIV To the right honble the Lord R. My Lord SUre ther is som angry planet hath lowred long upon the Catholic King and though one of his titles to Pagan Princes be that he wears the sun for his helmet because it never sets upon all his dominions in regard som part of them he on the to'ther side of the Hemisphere among the Antipodes yet me thinks that neither that great star or any of the rest are now propitious unto him they cast it seems more benign influxes upon the flower de luâ—… which thrives wonderfully but how long these favourable aspects will last I will not presume to judge This among divers others of late hath bin a fatall yeer to the said King for Westward he hath lost Dunkirk Dunkirk which was the terror of this part of the world the scourge of the occidentall seas whose name was grown to be a bugbear for so many yeers hath now changed her master and thrown away the ragged staffe doubtles a great exploit it was to take this town But whether this be advantagious to Holland as I am sure it is not to England time will shew It is more than probable that it may make him careless at sea and in the building and arming of his ships having no enemy now near him besides I believe it cannot much benefit Hans to have the French 〈◊〉 contiguous to him the old saying was Ayezle Francois pour ton 〈◊〉 non pas pour ton Voison Have the Frenchman for thy frend not 〈◊〉 â—…hy neighbour Touching England I believe these distractions of ours have biâ—… one of the greatest advantages that could befall France and they happened in the most favourable conjuncture of time that mighâ—… be els I beleeve he would never have as much as attempted Dunkirk for England in true reason of State had reason to prevent nothing more in regard no one place could have added more to the navall power of France this will make his sâ—…iles swell bigger and I â—…car make him claim in time as much regality in these narrow seaâ—… as England her self In Italy the Spaniard hath also had ill successes at Piombino and Porto longone Besides they write that he hath lost I l prete il medico the Priest and the Physician to wit the Pope and the Duke of Florence the House of Medici who appear rather for the French than for him Ad to all these disasters that he hath lost within the revolution of the same yeer the Prince of Spain his unic Son in the very flower of his age being but seventeen yeers old These with the falling off of Catalonia and Portugall with the death of his Queen not above forty are heavy losses to the Catholick King and must needs much enfeeble the great bulk of his Monarchy falling out in so short a compas of time one upon the neck of another and we are not to enter into the secret Counsells of God Almighty for a reason I have read 't was the sensuality of the flesh that drave the Kings out of Rome the French out of Sicily and brought the Moores into Spain where they kept firm footing above seven hundred yeers I could tell you how not long before her death the late Queen of Spain took off one of her chapines and clowted Olivares about the noddle with it because he had accompanied the King to a Lady of pleasure telling him that he should know she was Sister to a King of France as well as wife to a King of Spain For my part France and Spain is all one to me in point of affection I am one of those indifferent men that would have the scales of power in Europe kept even I am also a Philerenus a lover of peace and I could wish the French were more inclinable to it now that the common enemy hath invaded the territories of Saint Marâ—… Nor can I but admire that at the same time the French should assaile Italy at one side when the Turke was doing it on the other But had that great navall power of Christians which wer this summer upon the coasts of Toscany gon against the Mahometan Fleet which was the same time setting upon Candie they might in all likelihood have achieved a glorious exploit and driven the Turke into the Hellespont Nor is poor Christendom torn thus in peeces by the German Spaniard French and Sweds but our three Kingdoms have also most pittifully scratch'd her face wasted her spirits and let out som of her illustrious bloud by our late horrid distractions Wherby it may be infer'd that the Musti and the Pope seem to thrive in their devotion one way a chief part of the prayers of the one being that discord should still continue 'twixt Christian Princes of the other that division should still increase between the Protestants This poor Island is a wofull example thâ—…of I hear the peace 'twixt Spain and Holland is absolutely concluded by the plenipotentiary Ministers at Munster who have beat their heads so many yeers about it but they write that the French and Swed do mainly endeavour and set all the wheels of policy a going to puzzle and prevent it If it take effect as I do not see how the Hollander in common honesty can evade it I hope it will conduce much to an universall peace which God grant for Waâ—… is a fire struck in the Devills tinder box No more now but that I am My Lord Your most humble Servitor J. H. Fleet 1 Decem. 1643. XLV To Mr. E. O. Counsellour at Grayes Inne SIR THe sad tidings of my dear frend Doctor Prichards death sunk
of the King of England with other Kings 102 A Letter of respects to a Lady 104 A caution not to neglect the Latine for any vulgar Language 105 Of Praises to God and how they are the best Oblations 106 A facetious Tale of Henry the Fourth of France 107 America only free from Mahometisme 18 The Alchoran brought in by the Alfange 19 Arabic the sole Language of the Alchoran 17 Of the black Bean in Mahomets heart 3 Of vanity of beauties 2 The Mendicant Friers make a kind of amends for the excesses of the Cardinalls and Bishops 6 Of borrowing and buying of Books 34 Canary the best of Wine 74 Christianity more subject to variety of opinions than any other Religion and the cause therof 12 Advice from attempting a busines 27 Reputation like a Venice glass 26 A Fable of Fire Water and Fame 26 Advice to a young Soldier 26 A facetious Tale of a Soldier 27 Two famous sayings of Secretary Walsingham and Cecill 29 Of delay in busines 29 Of dispatch 29 The Mulberry an Embleme of Wisdom 30 The famous saying of Charles the fift 30 Of matches 'twixt England and Spain 30 Of the falling off of Catalonia and Portugall from the King of Spain and a judgment upon it 31 The vertu of money 31 A famous saying of Cap. Talbot 31 Of a hard intricat busines 32 Of the vertu of Letters 33 A Letter of reprehension for careles writing 34 Som amorous Stanza's 35 A Letter of gratitude 36 An Apology for Women 37 Of good and bad Women 37 Of free courtesies 38 A courtesie may be marr'd in the Mode 38 An Apology for silence 39 A Tale of a Nâ—…apolitan Confessor 39 A new Island discover'd hard by the Terreras 39 Of the Hill Vesuvius 39 Som rarities of Venice 40 Of the Genoways 40 Of our Indian Mariners 40 Grunnius Sophista's last VVill. 42 The Authors last Testament 43 Of Melancholy 44 A facetious tale of a Porter 45 A modest reply of a Letter of praise 46 A Letter of Patience 47 Of Chymistry 47 Of the Diseases of the time 47 A Letter of Recommendation 48 Of superfluâ—…us Servants 48 An advice to Travell 49 Of reading of Books 40 Of partiality of News 50 The History of Conanus and the 11000 Virgins mistaken 51 Of Prisoners 52 The Authors Epitaph 52 Advice to a Cambridg Scholar 53 A Letter of comfort 54 The effects of imprisonment 55 Of Chymistry 55 Of Dunkirk 56 A Letter of State 56 A Tale of the late Queen of Spain 57 The Turks Prayer 58 Of Nature Fate and Time 58 A Consolatory Letter 58 A modest reply to a Letter Encomiastic 59 A Letter of reprehension for not writing 60 Of Q. Eliz. pro con 61 How the Spaniards charge her 61 Of futilous Writers 62 Of speeding Letters 63 A Letter of Meditation 64 The advantage of Marriage 66 A Letter of Complement to a Lady 66 A Hymn to the Blessed Trinity 67 St. Austins wish in a Hymn 69 Of fearing and loving of God 68 A large Discourse of all sorts of Beverages that are us'd on earth 70 Of all sorts of Wines 71 The Riddle of the Vineyard man 70 Of German and Greek Drinkers 70 Of Sir Walter Rawleigh 95 Of the pittifull condition of England 99 A congratulatory Letter from Travell 105 Of Prayer and Praise 106 Of the Excise 107 A Tale of Monsieur de la Chatre 107 The power of Letters 109 Som Spanish Epitaphs 110 Of French Lawyers 113 A Letter Congratulatory for mariage 110 A Lettee Consolatory to a sick body 113 Stanzas of Mortality 114 Of the Passion Week 115 A Caution for imparting secrets 117 A Letter of Intelligence 118 Of Autology 120 A Letter of Consolation 121 A large Poem 122 Self-travell one of the ways that lead us to Heaven 122 Ut clavis portam sic pandit Epistola pectus Clauditur Haec cerâ clauditur Illa serâ As Keys do open chests So Letters open brests AN Index to the last Parcell of EPISTLES OF the use of Passions 1 Passions like Muscovia VVives expect to bee check'd 1 The conquest of ones self the greatest point of valour 1 Of the wars of Venice 2 The fearfull commotions of Naples 2 The horrid commotions in Ethiopia 2 Strange Revolutions in China 2 The monstrous Insurrections in Moscovia 2 A Prophecie of Holland 3 A Letter of correspondence 3 Letters compared to Ecchoes 4 Of Heaven 4 Endearments of love 4 Of the Presbyter and his first rise 5 Of Calvin his prophane appplications 5 Of Geneva 5 King Iames calld Presbytery a Sect. 6 Redemption the blessing paramount 6 The Eucharist the prime act of devotion 6 A Hymn upon the Holy Sacrament 7 A Rapture 8 The happiest condition of life 9 Opinion the great Lady that rules the world 9 Conceit the chiefest thing that makes one happy 9 Of the strange monster in Scotland 9 The incertain state of a Merchant Adventurer 9 A Mariner scarce to be ranked among the living 9 A rich City like a fatt Cheese subject to Maggots 10 Congratulations to a marryed couple 10 Of Tobacco and the virtu of it 11 A strange cure wrought upon my Lord Scroop by a Pipe of Tobacco 11 The way to know how much smoak ther is in a pound of Tobacco 22 Of Doctor Thorius Paetologie 12 The differing Modes of taking Tobacco 12 A Distic of Tobacco 12 Of Learning in generall 13 Handi-crafts men may well be term'd learned men 13 A wholsom peece of policy of the Chineses 13 A Tale of Bishop Grosthead 14 A meer Scholar a useless thing 14 A facetious Tale of Thomas Aquinas and Bonadventure 14 A Speech of Alexander Hales 14 The generall itching after Book-learning hurtfull to England 15 Gunpowder and Printing about a time and both hurtfull 15 The true learned men 16 A jeer upon the common Lawyer 16 Of the Physician 16 Pope Adrian's speech 16 Of the lunary world 17 Antiquity cannot priviledg an error 17 Novelty cannot prejudice truth 17 Of the Antipodes 17 The method how God powres down his blessings 18 The following day wiser than the formost 18 The Cadet older than his elder brother 18 Of experience 18 The prime Philosophers held ther was a world in the Moon 19 A notable comparison 19 VVhat kind of creatures are thought to be in the body of the Sun 19 Of Galileo's glasse 20 The Turks opinion of the Sun 20 The earth the basest of creatures 21 Of Trismegistus 21 The prerogatives of man 21 A letter of complement to a Lady 22 Of frendship 22 Of Fortunes wheel 23 The power of God 23 What use France hath made of Scotland 24 An Italian saying appliable to England 24 The old plot of the Jesuit now don in England 24 A letter of congratulation from forren travell 25 What a traveller must carry home with him besides language 25 'T is probable the Spaniard will be to hard for the French 25 A Letter complaining of the hard condition of England