Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
england_n ambassador_n king_n pope_n 4,544 5 7.1893 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A67470 The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert written by Izaak Walton ; to which are added some letters written by Mr. George Herbert, at his being in Cambridge : with others to his mother, the Lady Magdalen Herbert ; written by John Donne, afterwards dean of St. Pauls. Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683. 1670 (1670) Wing W671; ESTC R15317 178,870 410

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

Italy is observed to breed the most vertuous and most vicious men of any Nation these two having been long complained of at Rome in the name of the State of Venice and no satisfaction being given to the Venetians they seised their persons and committed them to prison The justice or injustice of such power then used by the Venetians had formerly had some calm debates betwixt the present Pope Clement the Eighth and that Republick for he did not excommunicate them considering as I conceive that in the late Council of Trent it was at last after many Politique disturbances and delayes and indeavours to preserve the Popes present power declar'd in order to a general reformation of those many Errours which were in time crept into the Church that though Discipline and especial Excommunication be one of the chief sinews of Church government and intended to keep men in obedience to it for which end it was declar'd to be very profitable yet it was also declar'd and advised to be used with great sobriety and care because experience had informed them that when it was pronounced unadvisedly or rashly it became more contemn'd then fear'd And though this was the advice of that Council at the Conclusion of it which was not many years before this quarrel with the Venetians yet this prudent patient Pope Clement dying Pope Paul the fi●t who succeeded him being a man of a much hotter temper brought this difference with the Venetians to a much higher Contention objecting those late acts of that State to be a diminution of his just power and limited a time for their revocation threatning if he were not obeyed to proceed to excommunication of the Republick who still offered to shew both reason and ancient custom to warrant their Actions But this Pope contrary to his Predecessors moderation required absolute obedience without disputes Thus it continued for about a year the Pope still threatning Excommunication and the Venetians still answering him with fair speeches and no performance till at last the Popes zeal to the Apostolick Sea did make him to excommunicate the Duke the whole Senate and all their Dominions and then shut up all their Churches charging the whole Clergy to forbear all sacred Offices to the Venetians till their Obedience should render them capable of Absolution But this act of the Popes did the more confirm the Venetians in their resolution not to obey him And to that end upon the hearing of his Interdict they presently published by sound of Trumpet a Proclamation to this effect That whosoever hath received from Rome any Copy of a Papal interdict publish'd there well against the Law of God as against the Honour of this Nation shall presently render it to the Councel of Ten upon pain of death Then was the Inquisition presently suspended by Order of the State and the Flood-gates being thus set open any pleasant or scoffing wit might safely vent it self against the Pope either by free speaking or in Print Matters thus heightned the State advised with Father Paul a holy and Learned Fryer the Authour of the History of the Council of Trent whose advice was Neither to Provoke the Pope nor lose their own Right he declaring publickly in Print in the name of the State That the Pope was trusted to keep two Keyes one of Prudence and the other of Power And that if they were not both used together Power alone is not effectual in an Excommunication And thus it continued till a report was blown abroad that the Venetians were all turned Protestants which was believed by many for that it was observ'd the English Ambassadour was so often in conference with the Senate aud his Chaplain Mr. Bedel more often with Father Paul And also for that the Republick of Venice was known to give Commis●●on to Gregory Justiniano then their Ambassadour in England to make all these proceedings known to the King and to crave a Promise of his assistance if need should require and in the mean time the King's advice and judgment which was the same that he gave to Pope Clement at his first coming to the Crown of England that Pope then moving him to an Union with the Roman Church namely To endeavour the calling of a free Council for the settlement of peace in Christendom And that he doubed not but that the French King and divers other Princes would joyn to assist in so good a work and in the mean time the sin of this Breach both with his and the Venetians Dominions must of necessity lie at the Pope's door In this contention which lasted several years the Pope grew still higher and the Venetians more resolv'd and careless still acquainting King James with their proceedings which was done by the help of Sir Henry Wotton Mr. Bedel and Padre Paulo whom the Venetians did then call to be one of their Consultors of State and with his Pen to defend their Cause which was by him so performed that the Pope saw plainly he had weakned his Power by exceeding it and offered the Venetians Absolution upon very easie terms which the Venetians still slighting did at last obtain by that which was scarce so much as a shew of acknowledging it For they made an order that in that day in which they were absolv'd there should be no publick rejoycing nor any Bonefires that night lest the Common people might judg they were absolved for committing a fault These Contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo his knowledge and interest with King James for whose sake principally Padre Paul compiled that eminent History of the remarkable Council of Trent which History was as fast as it was written sent in several sheets in Letters by Sir Henry VVotton Mr Bedel and Mr. Bedel and others unto King James and the then Bishop of Canterbury in England and there first made publick both in English and in the universal Language For eight years after Sir Henry Wottons going into Italy he stood fair and highly valued in the Kings opinion but at last became much clouded by an accident which I shall proceed to relate At his first going Embassadour into Italy as he passed through Germany he stayed some dayes at Augusta where having been in his former Travels well known by many of the best note for Learning and Ingeniousness those that are esteemed the Virtuosi of that Nation with whom he passing an evening in merriments was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some Sentence in his Albo a Book of white paper which for that purpose many of the German Gentry usually carry about then and Sir Henry Wotton consenting to the motion took an occasion from some accidental discourse of the present Company to write a pleasant definition of an Embassadour in these very words Legatus est vir bonus peregre mismissus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have been thus Englished An Ambassadour is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good
Privy-Councel and by him advanced to be Lord Wotton Baron of Merley in Kent and made Lord Lieutenant of that County Sir James the second son may be numbred among the Martial men of his age who was in the 38 of Queen Elizabeths Reign with Robert Earl of Sussex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro son of Antonio King of Portugal and divers other Gentlemen of Nobleness and Valour Knighted in the Field near Cadiz in Spain after they had gotten great Honour and Riches besides a notable retaliation of Injuries by taking that Town Sir John being a Gentleman excellently accomplished both by Learning and Travel was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and by her look'd upon with more then ordinary favour and intentions of preferment but Death in his younger years put a period to his growing hopes Of Sir Henry my following discourse shall give an account The descent of these fore-named Wottons were all in a direct Line and most of them and their actions in the memory of those with whom we have conversed But if I had look'd so far back as to Sir Nicolas Wotton who lived in the Reign of King Richard the second or before him upon divers others of great note in their several Ages I might by some be thought tedious and yet others may more justly think me negligent if I omit to mention Nicholas Wotton the fourth Son of Sir Robert whom I first named This Nicholas Wotton was Doctor of Law and sometime Dean of Canterbury a man whom God did not onely bless with a long life but with great abilities of mind and an inclination to imploy them in the service of his Country as is testified by his several Imployments having been sent nine times Ambassadour unto forraign Princes and being a Privy Councellor to King Henry the eighth to Edward the sixth to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth who also after he had during the Wars between England Scotland and France been three several times and not unsuccessfully imployed in Committies for setling of peace betwixt this and those Kingdomes dyed saith learned Cambden full of Commendations for Wisdom and Piety He was also by the Will of King Henry the eighth made one of his Executors and chief Secretary of State to his Son that pious Prince Edward the sixth Concerning which Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more That he refused being offered it by Queen Elizabeth to be Arch-bishop of Canterbury and that he dyed not rich though he lived in that time of the dissolution of Abbeys More might be added but by this it may appear that Sir Henry Wotton was a Branch of such a kindred as left a Stock of Reputation to their Posterity such Reputation as might kindle a generous emulation in strangers and preserve a noble ambition in those of his name and Family to perform Actions worthy of their Ancestors And that Sir Henry Wotton did so might appear more perfectly then my Pen can express it if of his many surviving friends some one of higher parts and imployment had been pleased to have commended his to Posterity But since some years are now past and they have all I know not why forborn to do it my gratitude to the memory of my dead friend and the renewed request of some that still live solicitous to see this duty performed these have had a power to perswade me to undertake it which truly I have not done but with some distrust of mine own Abilities and yet so far from despair that I am modestly confident my humble language shall be accepted because I present all Readers with a Commixture of truth and Sir Henry Wotton's merits This being premised I proceed to tell the Reader that the father of Sir Henry Wotton was twice married first to Elizabeth the Daughter of Sir John Rudstone Knight after whose death though his inclination was averse to all Contentions yet necessitated he was to several Suits in Law in the prosecution whereof which took up much of his time and were the occasion of many Discontents he was by divers of his friends earnestly perswaded to a re-marriage to whom he as often answered That if ever he did put on a resolution to marry he was seriously resolved to avoid three sorts of persons namely those that had Children that had Law-suits that were of his Kindred And yet following his own Law-suits he met in Westminster-Hall with one Mistress Morton Widow to Morton of Kent Esquire who was also engaged in several suits in Law and he observing her Comportment at the time of hearing one of her Causes before the Judges could not but at the same time both compassionate her Condition and yet so affect her Person that although there were in her a concurrence of all those accidents against which he had so seriously resolved yet his affection to her grew then so strong that he resolved to solicite her for a Wife and did and obtained her By her who was the Daughter of Sir William Finch of Eastwell in Kent he had Henry his youngest son His Mother undertook to be Tutoress unto him during much of his Childhood for whose care and pains he paid her each day with such visible signes of future perfection in Learning as turned her imployment into a pleasing-trouble which she was content to continue till his Father took him into his own particular care and disposed of him to a Tutor in his own House at Bocton And when time and diligent instruction had made him fit for a removal to an higher Form which was very early he was sent to Winchester-School a place of strict Discipline and Order that so he might in his youth be moulded into a Method of living by Rule which his wise Father knew to be the most necessary way to make the future part of his life both happy to himself and useful for the discharge of all business whether publick or private And that he might be confirmed in this regularity he was at a fit age removed from that School to New-Colledge in Oxford both being founded by William Wickham Bishop of VVinchester There he continued till about the eighteenth year of his Age and was then transplanted into Queens-Colledge where within that year he was by the chief of that Colledge perswasively injoyned to write a play for their private use it was the Tragedy of Tancredo which was so interwoven with Sentences and for the Method and exact personating those humours passions and dispositions which he proposed to represent so performed that the gravest of that society declared he had in a sleight imployment given an early and a solid testimony of his future abilities And though there may be some sower dispositions which may think this not worth a memorial yet that wise Knight Baptista Guarini whom learned Italy accounts one of her ornaments thought it neither an uncomely nor an unprofitable imployment for his Age. But I pass to what will be thought more serious About the nineteenth
many of high parts and piety have undertaken to clear the Controversie yet for the most part they have rather satisfied themselves than convinced the dissenting party And doubtless many middle-witted men which yet may mean well many Scholars that are not in the highest Form for Learning which yet may preach well men that shall never know till they come to Heaven where the questions stick betwixt Arminius and the Church of England will yet in this world be tampering with and thereby perplexing the Controversie and do therefore justly fall under the reproof of St. Jude for being Busie-bodies and for medling with things they understand not And here it offers it self I think not unfitly to tell the Reader that a friend of Sir Henry Woltons being designed for the imployment of an Ambassador came to Eaton and requested from him some experimental Rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his Negotiations to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible Aphorism That to be in safety himself and serviceable to his Countrey he should alwayes and upon all occasions speak the truth it seems a State-Paradox for sayes Sir Henry Wotton you shall never be believed and by this means your truth will secure your self if you shall ever be called to any account and 't will also put your Adversaries who will still hunt counter to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings Many more of this nature might be observed but they must be laid aside for I shall here make a little stop and invite the Reader to look back with me whil'st according to my promise I shall say a little of Sir Albertus Morton and Mr. William Bedel whom I formerly mentioned I have told you that are the Readers that at Sir Henry Wottons first going Ambassador into Italy his Cosin Sir Albert Morton went his Secretary and am next to tell you that Sir Albertus dyed Secretary of State to our late King but cannot am not able to express the sorrow that possest Sir Henry Wotton at his first hearing the news that Sir Albertus was by death lost to him and this world and yet the Reader may partly guess by these following expressions The first in a Letter to his Nicholas Pey of which this that followeth is a part And My dear Nick When I had been here almost a fortnight in the midst of my great contentment I received notice of Sir Albertus Morton his departure out of this World who was dearer to me than mine own being in it what a wound it is to my heart you that knew him and knew me will easily believe but our Creators Will must be done and unrepiningly received by his own Creatures who is the Lord of all Nature and of all Fortune when he taketh to himself now one and then another till that expected day wherein it shall please him to dissolve the whole and wrap up even the Heaven it self as a Scrole of parchment This is the last Philosophy that we must study upon Earth let us therefore that yet remain here as our dayes and friends waste reinforce our love to each other which of all vertues both spiritual and moral hath the highest priviledge because death it self cannot end it And my good Nick c. This is a part of his sorrow thus exprest to his Nick Pey the other part is in this following Elogy of which the Reader may safely conclude 't was too hearty to be dissembled Tears wept at the Grave of Sir Albertus Morton by Henry Wotton SIlence in truth would speak my sorrow best For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell Yet let me borrow from mine own unrest A time to bid him whom I lov'd farewell Oh my unhappy Lines you that before Have serv'd my youth to vent some wanton cryes And now congeal'd with grief can scarce implore Strength to accent Here my Albertus lies This is that Sable stone this is the Cave And womb of earth that doth his Corps embrace While others sing his praise let me ingrave These bleeding numbers to adorn the place Here will I paint the Characters of woe Here will I pay my tribute to the dead And here my faithful tears in showres shall flow To humanize the flints on which I tread Where though I mourn my matchless loss alone And none between my weakness judge and me Yet even these pensive walls allow my moan Whose doleful Echoes to my plaints agree But is he gone and live I riming here As if some Muse would listen to my lay When all dis-tun'd sit waiting for their dear And bathe the Banks where he was wont to play Dwell then in endless bliss with happy souls Discharg'd from natures and from fortunes trust Whil'st on this fluid Globe my Hour-glass rowls And runs the rest of my remaining dust H. Wotton This concerning his Sir Albertus Morton And for what I shall say concerning Mr. William Bedel I must prepare the Reader by telling him That when King James sent Sir Henry Wotton Ambassador to the State of Venice he sent also an Ambassador to the King of France and another to the King of Spain with the Ambassador of France went Joseph Hall late Bishop of Norwich whose many and useful works speak his great merit with the Ambassador of Spain went Ja. Wadsworth and with Sir Henry Wotton went William Bedel These three Chaplains to these three Ambassadors were all bred in one University all of one Colledge all Benefic'd in one Diocess and all most dear and int●●e Friends But in Spain Mr. Wadsworth met with temptations or reasons such as were so powerful as to perswade him who of the three was formerly observ'd to be the most averse to that Religion that calls itself Catholick to disclaim himself a Member of the Church of England and declare himself for the Church of Rome discharging himself of his attendance on the Ambassador and betaking himself to a Monasterial life in which he lived very regularly and so dyed When Dr. Hall the late Bishop of Norwich came into England he wrote to Mr. Wadsworth 't is the first Epistle in his printed Decads to perswade his return or the reason of his Apostasie the Letter seemed to have in it many sweet expressions of love and yet there was something in it that was so unpleasant to Mr. Wadsworth that he chose rather to acquaint his old friend Mr. Bedel with his motives by which means there past betwixt Mr. Bedel and Mr. Wadsworth very many Letters which be extant in Print and did well deserve it for in them there seems to be a controversie not of Religion on only but who should answer each other with most love and meekness which I mention the rather because it seldom falls out so in a Book-War There is yet a little more to be said of Mr. Bedel for the greatest part of which the Reader is referred to this following Letter of Sir Henry Wottons writ to our late King Charles May it please Your