introducing a Slavery among that free People and very apprehensive he was of the growing Power of that Nation that so threatned their Neighbours France as well as England Especially seeing withal how tender both Realms were to send Succors to those Parts to enable them to Vindicate their own Liberty and Safety from those inhumane and insufferable Practices there prevailing In the mean time the French accused the Sluggishness of the English and the English did the like of the French The Queen had sent some Forces to Flushing But there was a Report that she upon Duke D'Alva's Motion did revoke them But that was not so but he was gently answered with a dilatory and doubtful Answer But indeed more that would have gone from England thither were stayed The English on the other hand had knowledge that the French did Tergiversari hang off and wrought but timorously and under hand with open and outward Edicts and made Excuses at Rome and Venice by the Ambassadors importing their not meddling in Flanders or excusing themselves if they had done any thing there On which Occasion Smith in a Letter to the Ambassador in France gave both Princes a Lash reflecting upon the pretended Activity and warlike Qualities of the French King yet that he should thus waver and be afraid to engage and upon the Slowness and Security of the Queen of England You have saith he a King void of Leisure and that loves Fatigue whose warlike House hath been used to the shedding as well of their own as of foreign Blood What shall we a slothful Nation and accustomed to Peace do Whose supream Governor is a Queen and she a great Lover of Peace and Quietness But to see a little more of his Service and Counsel in the Quality and Place he served under the Queen When in this Year 1572. the Earl of Desmond was in England a Prisoner but reconciled unto the Queen and had promised to do her good Service in Ireland and soon to drive out the Rebels out of the Country the Queen and Court thought he would prove an honest and faithful Subject and so resolved to dismiss him into his Country And she told Sir Thomas that she would give him at his Departure the more to oblige him a piece of Silk for his Apparel and a reward in Money Upon which Sir Thomas's Judgment was That seeing the Queen would tye the Earl to her Service with a Benefit it would be done Amplè liberaliter ac prolixè non malignè parcè i. e. Nobly liberally and largely not grudgingly and meanly Which as he added did so disgrace the Benefit that for Love many times it left a Grudge behind in the Heart of him that received it that marred the whole Benefit A Quarrel happened this Year between the Earl of Clanrichard and Sir Edward Fitton Governor of Connaught who was somewhat rigorous in his Office which had caused the Rebellion of the Earl's Son The Case came before the Deputy and Council in Ireland and at last to the Queen and her Council in England Our Secretary drew up the Loâ—ds of the Councils Order about it to be sent to the Lord Deputy and the Council there to hear and decide it between them and withal was sent the Earl's Book and Sir Edward Fitton 's Answers given into the Council in England The Earl seemed desirous to have Matters sifted to the full Trial. And then each Party might say and prove the most and worst they could But Sir Thomas thought it the best way for the Deputy to perswade them both to wrap up as he exprest it all things by-past and to be Friends as they had promised it seems to be at a Reconciliation formerly made before the Lord Deputy and to joyn faithfully for the Furtherance of the Queen's Majesty's Service and the Quietness and good Order of the Country hereafter And it was in his Judgment as he added The best way to tread all under foot that had gone heretofore with a perpetual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to begin a new Line without grating upon old Sores Very wise and deliberate Council to avoid all ripping up former Grievances which is not the way to heal so much as to widen the old Differences There was this Year both Massing and Conjuring in great measure in the North especially and all to create Friends to the Scotch Queen and Enemies to Queen Elizabeth The one to keep the People in the Blindness of Popery and the other to hood-wink them to believe as it were by Prophesy the speedy approaching Death of the Queen The Earl of Shrewsbury was now Lord President of the Council in the North. He employed two sharp Persons to discover these Persons and their Doings Which they did so effectually that in the Month of February many of these Conjurers and Massmongers were seized and by the said Lord Presidents Order were brought up by them that seized them to Secretary Smith good store of their Books which Sir Thomas seeing called Pretty Books and Pamphlets of Conjuring They brought also to him an Account in Writing of their Travail and pains in this behalf There was apprehended danger in these Practices For the Papists earnestly longing for the Queen's Death had cast Figures and consulted with unlawful Arts which they mixt with their Masses to learn when she should die and who should succeed and probably to cause her Death if they could This piece of Service therefore the Queen and Counsel took very thankfully at the Earl of Shrewsbury's Hands Which together with the Course that was intended to be taken with these Criminals the Secretary signified to him in a Letter to this Tenor My very good Lord the Pain that the two to whom you gave Commission viz. Pain and Peg have taken to seek out the Conjurers and Mass-mongers is very well accepted of by my Lords of the Council and they willed me to give your Lordship therefore their most hearty thanks The Queen also not without great Contentation of her Highness hath heard of your careful ordering of those matters The matters be referred touching the Massing and such Disorders to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the great Commission Ecclesiastical That which shall appear by Examination to touch the State and the Prince to be referred again to my Lords of the Council c. This was dated from Greenwich Feb. 17. 1572. But it was thought highly needful that this dangerous Nest in the North should be searched more narrowly for and the Birds taken that they might no more Exercise these evil Practices or worse hereafter The care of which was therefore committed by the Council to the Justices of those parts out of some secret Favour as it seems in some of the Privy Counsellors to Papists For those Justices were known well enough to be generally Popishly affected Therefore it was the Judgment of the Secretary that these Justices would rather Cloak than Open
Roman Coins The Physicians tamper with him They leave him to Kitchin Physick Goes into the Country Dies Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady dies His Person described CHAP. XVI His last Will. Makes his Will For the finishing his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good Housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queen's College or Peter-House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith His Learning A Platonick A Physician His Recipe for the Plague His Chymical Water sent to the Countess of Oxford His Matthiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmetician An Astronomer His Iudgment of the Star in Cassiopaeia A Politician A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library Books by him written A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning His Places His houses in Chanon-Row In London At Ankerwick Mounthaut His heir Sir William Smith CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith 's Vertuous Accomplishments His Religion His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit His Apparel Not oppressive Of an universal Charity His Apophthegms Leland's Copy of Verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaph on him THE LIFE Of the Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. CHAP. I. Sir THOMAS SMITH's Birth Parentage and Education THE Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH sometimes Secretary of State to K. Edward VI. and afterward to Q. Elizabeth was born at Walden in the County of Essex distinguish'd by the Name of SAFFRON Walden the Lands of that Parish and the Parts adjacent being famous for the Growth of the useful Medicinal Plant whether first brought thither by this Knight's Industry being a great Planter I know not for it was first brought into England as we are told in the Reign of K. Edward III. According to Cambden who writes that Sir Thomas Smith died Anno 1577. in his Climacteric he must have been born in the Year 1514. According to Fox who in his Relation of an Evidence given by the said Knight in February Anno 1551 against Bishop Gardiner assigned his Age then to be Three and Thirty he must have been born in the Year 1518. But himself putteth his Age out of doubt in his Book of the English Commonwealth where he saith that March the 28th 1565 he was in the One and Fiftieth Year of his Age. By which Computation he must have come into the World in the Year 1512. a Year famous to England for building of a Ship the biggest that ever the Sea bore And by the Inscription on his Monument it appears he departed this Life in the 65th Year of his Age. So that Cambden made him Two Years younger than he was and Fox Five unless we should say the Figure 33 is mis-printed for 39 a Fault too common in his Books Our Knight's Father was Iohn Smith of Walden Gentleman a Person of good Rank Quality and Wealth Of which we may take some Measure from two Purchases he made of K. Edward in one Year viz. the Third of his Reign that is to say a Chauntry in the Church of Long Ashton in Somersetshire with other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Somerset and Glocester which cost him 293 l. 16. s. 8 d. His other Purchase was all the Guild or Fraternity in Great Walden lately dissolved with divers other Lands and Tenements in Essex and London For which he with another Joint-Purchaser paid 531 l. 14 s. 11 d. Of which Fraternity of Walden this by the way must be remembered for the Honour of it that in a Grant made to it by K. Henry VIII as he willed there That he might evermore be remembred in their perpetual Prayers so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a Brother thereof and his dear Wife Q. Katherine to be a Sister And divers others are expressed there to be desirous to be admitted to the same as the Right Worshipful Dr. Wolsey Almoner to the King Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich Henry Earl of Essex and his Lady Lord Brook Chief Justice of England Sir Iohn Cutts Sir Tho. Semer and divers other Gentlemen and Ladies This Iohn Smith if we look further back was in the 30th of King Henry VIII High Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hertford For in those Times one Sheriff served both Counties In the year 1545. and the 35th of K. Henry aforesaid his Coat of Arms was granted him by the principal King of Arms or rather confirmed For the said King's Parent specifies That he was descended of honest Lineage and his Ancestors had long continued in Nobility and bearing of Arms and that it was Mr. Smith's Desire that the King of Arms would ratifie unto him his former Coat and Register it in the Records of his Office The Coat therefore granted annexed and attributed unto him was Sables a Fesse Dauncy between three Lionceux regardant Argent Languid Gules pawing with their Left Paws upon as many Altars flaming and burning thereon for that these were Anvils as some have thought alluding to the Name of Smith is a Fancy Upon the Fesse Nine Billets of his Field The Crest an Eagle rising Sable holding in his Right Claw a Pen Argent Flames of Fire issuing thereout This Crest Sir Thomas changed upon a notable Reason as we shall relate in due place Of this Coat of Arms I have laid a Copy of the Original Patent in the Appendix which is in Parchment very well adorned round about with Pictures of Rosâ—â— and Flowers de Lys and the Lively Efsigies of Garter arrayed in his rich Coat standing with a white Wand in his Hand and a Crown on his Head and the Coat of Smith blazonâ—d on the right side of him and pointâ—d to by the said white Wand I have but one thing more to say of this Gentleman and that is That he was an old Favourer of the Religion Reformed in which he brought up his Son Thomas from his Youth He lies buried in the Church of Walden where his Monument is yet remaining that is so much of it as contains his Coat of Arms but the Brass that bore the inscription torn off This for Sir Thomas's Father His Parentagâ— on his Mother's side was also Genule being derived from the ancient Name of the Châ—â—â—ecks of Lancashire his Mother Agnes being a Daughter and Co-heir of that Family By this Gentlewoman Iohn Smith had Issue divers Children of both Sexes viz. Four Daughters Agnes and Margery Alice and Iane which two last were married and three Sons Thomas Iohn and George The Posterity of which last flourish to this Day in Wealth and Honour and possess the Seat and Inheritance of Thomas the Subject of our ensuing History with great Improvements of the Estate Tho' no more Sons are express'd in the Roll
these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time
a Dukedom adjoyning and the bigger Kingdom the less And if they fall both into the Lap of a Mighty great Monarch as the Emperor of Rome of the Turks or of the Persians security they may have but their Honour and Liberty is clean lost whether Conquest giveth it them or Marriage Howbeit of these the Empire of the Romans doth least oppress and leaveth most Liberty Which is not for fault of Will but of Strength What intended Charles the last Emperor to do to the Almains What attempted his Predecessors against the â—wissers What hath he brought to pass at Naples and Milan And what did King Francis to Piedmont These may be Mirors and Examples to us to consider and see what Advancement it would be to us to fall into the Hands and Power of a Prince that is a Stranger and Stronger than We be Now if you will say there may be Covenants made Bonds taken and for the more surely by the Parliaments of both Realms the Conditions of Matrimony may be enacted and such Assurances devised as there may be no doubt of any Inconveniences to follow Indeed this is a Device but I pray you let me tell you of a Question that not long ago a Baron of England moved in the Parliament to this Purpose And if you can assoil it you shall move me much If the Bands be broken between the Husband and the Wife either of them being Princes and Soveraigns in their own Country who shall sue the Bands Who shall take the Forfeit Who shall be their Judge And what shall be the Advantage If you will not Answer I will tell you Discord Dissension War Bloodshed and either extream Enmity or else the one Part must at length break and yield If you will say Tush He will not do against his Promise he will not break his Accord and Agreement he will so much consider his Honour and Love that what he hath once said he will always stand to Well granting that I pray you what needs any Bonds Whereupon cometh this Mistrusting but upon Fear So long as Love lasteth and he standeth in that Mind in which â—e was when he made the Bonds I my self do not doubt but he will keep them because he so mindeth And then the Bonds be superfluous But if his Mind fortune to alter or change and so he misliketh the Conditions whereto he hath agreed and will not keep the Covenants what shall these Bonds avail To which you have neither Place of Iudgment Persons of Plaintiff or Defendant and least of all a competent Judge to compel the wrong Doer to abide right And if it were done what pleasure shall the Compelled Party have of the Compeller Or what Trust can the Compeller have of the Compelled Nay Bonds Covenants Indentures and Conditions be far from the free Love Sincerity and hearty Doings of Love when the Hearts Minds and Bodies be united Can there be a surer Bond than that which maketh them all one And if they be not so then they be two and what two Marry Princes which know to Rule and not to be Ruled and who may not abide to be compelled or enforced Nor is it so meet that otherwise they should but only by Perswasion nor indeed cannot without Battle or Bloodshed I think an Article comprized in the Conditions by Act of Parliament with King Philip was that we should not for his Cause enter into War with France But yet I trow we did to our no small Loss And you heard rehearsed by Agamus how well Iaques de la Nardâ— kept his Bonds to Queen Iane of Naples But let us leave all this and have respect only to our Gain and that the Queens Majesty shall have her Honour and Power marvellously advanced and her Dominion enlarged into I cannot tell how many Miles This is the fair shew Look what followeth The greater Monarchy the larger Frontiers â—he more Garrisons the more intricate Titles the more ready occasions for War Which must needs be the Consuming of Money of disquieting her Subjects of emptying the Realm of able men We had two Emperors of Rome came out of the Isle when it was Britain Constant and Constantine This you will say was a great Honour to the Realm that a Nobleman of England should hold the Crown of the Empire Not now when it is in manner but little but then when to be Emperor of Rome was to rule all the World And so would I say too if I did not consider as well the sequel thereof as the first fair shew For in taking the Power from hence they took so many of the good Warriors expert Captains tall and likely men that they left the Britains so weak that the Scots and Princes over them overcame them in every Place They were sain to ask Aid of the Saxons And of them who came for their Aid they and their Posterity for ever were driven down out of the whole Country of England into the barren Mountains of Wâ—les King Edward III a Prince most valiant and Victorious with those Victories in France and continual carrying over of men to people such Towns Cities and Fortresses as he had won there did make the People here at home so thin and those that were left so desirous rather to spoil than to labour that from the Twentieth of his Reign to the 26 th or 27 th he and all the Council of the Realm were most troubled and occupied how to cause the Fields of England to be Tilled as may appear by the Acts of Parliament made in that space And if this Disadvantage be in Victory what shall be in the Loss If it be thus in Conquering what shall it be in being Overcome As for such Wars as we have for our own to do I have not seen it neither read but with our own Nation we have been able to man them well enough and have not used or have not much been helped with the Power of other Princes allied Which thing also Nicâ—lao Michiavelli hath Noted And read you the Histories and you shall see that when we had most help of them then lâ—ast was done And first of France at Agincourt at Cressy and at Poitiers wherein the greatest Battails were foughten and the most noble Victories obtained there was but our own Nation and the King of England's Subjects King Edward I in so often conquering all Scotland used but his own Subjects And hitherto sith the Time of William the Conqueror we have thanks be to God been able to defend our selves against the French and the Scots always allied together without the Help of Forâ—ign Aid So that we have at the end saved our Realm and rather gotten of them than lost And King Henry VIII Marrying at home did not only save but also got both in France and Scotland and kept also that which he had gotten Qâ—eâ—n Mary having by Marriage all these Helps which you so greatly praise so far she was from getting now that she lost
For that which I had before learned by Fame only and Hearsay of your Wisdom being then present I understood by Experience and that your Lordship was indued not only with very great Skill and Insight in the weighty Affairs of State but also in these light and literary Controversies with an incredible sharpness and an excellent Facility and Plenty joined with a wonderful Obligingness while you are disputing and arguing c. He concludes his Letter with a Protestation of intire Obedience to his Lordship's Order however he should determine for or against his Desire and that he would submit to his Authority being the Authority of a Reverend Prelate and a very Learned Chancellor From hence I date the Respect and Love Smith gained with this Bishop This must be Remembered to this Bishops Commendation among the many evil Things that asperse and blacken his Name to this Day Nor must the like favour or a greater be forgotten by him shewn to such another Learned and grave Protestant Friend and Contemporary with Smith I mean Roger Ascham which I must have leave to mention here Whom the Bishop of Winchester did not only spare but called to Court and preferred to be Secretary of the Latin Tongue to Queen Mary Whom for his Learning in the Languages and incomparable faculty of a clean Stile and beautififul Writing he greatly loved and obliged with many Benefits And when Sir Francis Englefield Master of the Wards and Liveries a fierce Papist had often cried out upon Ascham to the Bishop as an Heretick and sit to be rejected and punished as such he never would hearken to him either to punish him or remove him from his Place Thus Lived two excellent Protestants under the Wings as it were of the Sworn Enemy and Destroyer of Protestants Ascham and Smith to whom we now return again Nay and bloody Boner who had a personal Pique against him since the last Reign as was shewn before let him alone tho' he were in his Diocess admiring the Man and dissembling his Anger Nee Bonerus eum non admiratus amici Vultum hominis tantas inter simulaverat iras But tho' he thus escaped this Man yet another of his Name who was also a Retainer to him at Eaton when Provost there fell into his Hands whom he left not till he had reduced him into Ashes Namely Robert Smith who was burnt at Uxbridge in the Year 1555. This Robert belonged to the Church of Winsor and had a Clerkship there of 10 l. a Year Of Stature he was tall and slender active and very ingenious for many Things chiefly delighting in the Art of Painting which for his Minds-sake rather than for a Living or Gain he practised and exercised He was smart and quick in Conversation and fervent in Religion wherein he was confirmed by the Preachings and Readings of Mr. Turner Canon of Windsor and others In his Examinations before Bishop Boner he spake readily and to the purpose and with no less Boldness and gave that Prelate his own He was also a good Poet according to the Poetry of those Times Some Pieces whereof remain in Fox's Monuments And his Parts and Elegancy of Stile as well as his Piety Godward may be judged of by his Sententious Letter to his Wife from Prison a little before his Death Which may be seen in Fox beginning Seek first to Love God Dear Wife with your whole Heart and then shall it be easie to Love your Neighbour Be friendly to all Creatures and especially to your own Soul Be always an Enemy to the Devil and the World but especially to your own Flesh. In hearing of good Things join the Ears and Heart together Seek Unity and Quietness with all Men but especially with your Conscience For he will not easily be entreated Hate the Sins that are past but especially those to come Be as ready to further your Enemy as he is to hinder you c. It was remarkable at his Death that his Body well night half burnt and all in a lump like a black Cole he suddenly rose upright and lifted up the stumps of his Arms and clapped the same together and so sunk down again and Died. And this was the more to be remarked because he had at the Stake said to those that stood about him that they should not think amiss of him or his Cause tho' he came to that End and that they would not doubt but his Body tho' so to be consumed presently to Ashes yet Dying in that Quarrel should rise again to Life everlasting and added that he doubted not God would shew some Token thereof Smith in these Days of Queen Mary was removed off the Stage of Action being now but a silent Stander by And here he saw the pitiful Burning of poor Men and Women for Religion the Marriage with Spain the Loss of Calais and the Reduction of the Kingdom to the lowest Ebb both in Wealth and Reputation that it had been in for some hundreds of Years before Which Things went close to his Heart and out of the Love he had to his native Country filled him with Vexation nay and shame to behold Hear his own Words reflecting upon these Times in one of his private Discourses framed in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign We kept Calais 200 Years and odd in the French Ground in spight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissensions that ever were either in King Henry the Fourth the Sixth Richard the Third or Henry the Seventh their Times In King Henry the Eighth's Time we wan also to it Bouloign and Bouloignois I do assure you for my part if I may say what I think I question if I should have lived through Five hundred Years heretofore past I should have seen England at any time weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionates For all those wily Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both What decay came that Time to the substance of the Realm and Riches both publick and private it should be no less Pity than needless to tell I am sorry I can retrieve so little of this worthy Man during these five Years of Queen Mary which he spent in Leisure and Retirement However I have retrieved a Paper wrote by him in the Year 1557. that deserves here to be set down Intitled Advertisements and Counsels very necessary for all Noblemen and Counsellors gathered out of divers Authors both Italian and Spanish 1. TEll not all that you think nor shew all that you have nor take all that you desire nor say all that you know nor do all that you can For lightly shall
FrenchAmbassador Resident in England to whom he bore a great Malice And yet such was his Fineness and Dissimulation that at the latter end of that Year being at Liberty and here at home he grew very great with the same French Gentleman Cecil took notice of it and wrote to Smith that he thought it strange to see what great Amity now was between the French-Ambassador and Mr. Throgmorton considering the Hate he had before born him It was strange to Cecil a plain-dealing Man and of no Turnings and Windings tho' a great and wise Politician But Throgmorton could play the Courtier and pretend Friendship in colour for some private ends of his own when the same distempered Spirit lurked still within him that did before And happy was Smith in the Friendship of the foresaid Cecil who as he was a wise and good Man so most sincere and cordial in his Nature And yet once had our Ambassador taken something ill at his Hands according to an ill Office that some had done between them representing him as guilty of some Unkindness towards Sir Thomas Whereat he very plainly and freely in his next Letters dated in December told him of it This Freedom the Secretary took in good part and valued in Truth his Friendship the more for it telling him that He had much Cause to thank him for his Friendly Dealing with him and as much more cause to praise him for his open and plain Dealing Which I assure you on my Faith as he said I do allow more in you than any other part of your Friendship And hence he took occasion to give this good piece of Advice to him viz. wishing him to use all Integrity in his Transactions that he might have the Testimony of a good Conscience Notwithstanding which Counsel he reckoned that he needed not to give it him For added he piously and gravely when all the Glory and Wit when all the Wealth and Delight of this World is past we must come before the Judge that will exact this Rule of us to discern us from the Goats CHAP. X. Peace with France Smith continues Ambassador there His Book of the Common-wealth of England Returns A Review of his Embassy IN the Beginning of the Year 1564. by the Means and Labour of Sir Tho. Smith and Sir Nic. Throgmorton his Collegue Peace was concluded with France Which was to take place on the 23d of April It was proclaimed in London the 22d and on the 23d a notable good Sermon was made at St. Paul's with e Deum sung and all incident Solemnitiâ—s The same Day it was published at Windsor in the Queen's presence going to Church and having with her the French-Ambassador So as nothing wanted to shew Contentation The Queen also now sent over the Garter to be presented to that King by the Lord Hunsdon Sir Tho. Smith and Sir Gilb. Dethic King of Arms. After the Peace was concluded Sir Tho. Smith still resided in France And now one of his great Businesses was to get some good Answer for the Money due by the Prince of Conde to the Queen In September Sir Thomas desirous of returning solicited by the Secretary his sending for home But the Secretary could not attain of the Queen a Determination about it perceiving in her a Disposition rather to have him continue till that King should return back from those South Parts where he then was But this Care however she took for him that for avoiding of the Plague which then reigned in France she would have him forbear to follow the Court in dangerous Places Considering as she said the French Ambassador did forbear to follow her Court all her last Progress into the North taking his Ease at London altho' he was by some means moved to the contrary Wherewith her Majesty was somewhat offended Wherefore she admonished Smith in like manner according to his Convenience to forbear so diligent a â—aâ—lowing of that Court as hitherto he haâ— used In this Month of September the Rhinegrave being in France dealt with our Ambassador concerning a Match between the Archduke the Emperor's Son and Queen Elizabeth With which he acquainted the Secretary To which the Secretary replyed That it would be very seasonable if it were honourably propounded Sir Thomas afterwards wrote him that he should hear more of this another way In March the beginning of the Year 1565. did Sir Thomas finish his known Tract of the Common-wealth of England and the Manner of the Government thereof Consisting of three Books The first whereof was concerning the Diversities of Common-wealths or Governments And therein he treated of the Gentlemen of England Which he divided into the Great and Less Nobility and of the other Ranks of Men in this Country The Second Book was taken up in shewing particularly the Laws of the Realm The Third was concerning Appeals of the Courts of Star-Chamber Wards and Liveries c. This excellent Book he wrote at his leisure Hours while he was abroad in this his Embassy in France Occasioned as it seemeth by certain Discourses he had with some Learned Men there concerning the variety of Common-wealths Wherein some did endeavour to under-value the English Government in comparison with that in other Countries where the Civil Law took place His drift herein was as he tells us himself in the Conclusio◠〈◊〉 his Book to set before us the principal Points wherein the English Policy at that Time differed from that used in France Italy Spain Germany and all other Countries which followed the Civil Law of the Râ—mans compiled by Iustinian in his Pandects and Code And this Tract of his being as a Project or Table of a Common-wealth laid before the Reader he recommended to be compared with the Common-wealths which at that Day were in Eâ—â—e or with others which did remain described in true Histories Especially in such Points wherein the one differed from the other To see which had taken the more right truer and more commodious way to Govern the People as well in War as in Peace This he said would be no illiberal Occupation for him that was a Philosopher and had a delight in Disputing nor unprofitable for him that had to do with or had good will to serve the Prince and Common-wealth in giving Counsel for the better Administration thereof This was written in Latin as well as in English and many were the Copies taken of it till at last it was Printed tho' I think not before the Year 1621. when it came forth in English in the old Black Letter From the 5th of August to the 30th of October Smith's extraordinary Charges which he brought in to the Queen amounted to 103 l. 6 s. 8 d. And as a good part of which was for his Servants some sent into England and others to the French Court the King being then in his Progress and Smith not always following the Court so the greatest part was spent in gratifying Spies
that the Matter of Religion should be contained therein To which Smith replied That that could not be and that no general Words could contain it if the Party that was bound would say that it was against his Conscience or he meant it not To which the King said That he would write to the Queen his Sister with his own Hand what he meant as to that and that he would as well defend her even in that Cause as if it were exprest in Words and that which he said he would keep tho' he dyed for it But this King was a great Dissembler which our Ambassador probably knew well enough but gave him this discreet Answer That for him he thought no less and he was sure the Queen his Mistress took him to be a faithful Prince and constant to his Words as any was Living But when they spake of Treaties they were not made in Words nor in such Letters missive but after another Authentical sort Sworn and Sealed Without which he could not he said for his part take it substantially and orderly done And besides that the Treaty was not Personal but Perpetual for him and his Successors And when the Queen-Mother would have shuffled off this and some other Articles saying That when Mareshal Montmorancy should be sent over into England from the French King to the Queen and the Earl of Leicester should come to that Court from the said Queen to see the League sworn by each Prince then all things should be done as the Queen should desire Smith answered That he knew the Fashion of Leagues And that it must be agreed upon between the Commissioners that no Words be altered then Subscribed with the Hands of both the Parties the French Commissioners delivering the Part Signed with their Hands to those of England and the Commissioners of England next to them Then the Prince causeth it to be made under the Great Seal of the Realm and so to be delivered to each others Ambassador And that he that came to see it Sworn to might make a new League if the Princes would but to alter that that was made he could not For the Princes were bound to Ratify and Swear to that on which the Commissioners were agreed And that it were not Wisdom as he added to send such Personages as they spake of to an uncertain League And he might consider that Queen Elizabeth his Mistress would not do it This Conference happened March the 1st 1571. After much Pains this Article and another about the Scotch Queen was agreed and Queen Elizabeth was only to give her consent to finish this happy and advantageous League And to excite the Queen hereunto Sir Thomas with Halsingham did freely give her advice to this Tenor That it was for the Assurance of her Person and Crown as she was a Prince lawful and natural and had a Crown Imperial And that she did it so by her Laws as God's Laws and Hers willed it to be done That foreign Princes that were her Friends would and must take it well and that such as were not would rather laugh at her and be glad of it if she did it not and when they should see Time take occasion to endanger her Majesty thereby The Queen soon after signified her Consent And so in the Month of April ensuing at Blois the League was concluded and signed the 18th or 19th Day Which according as Smith and his Collegue did conceive should be with as great Assurance and Defence of the Queen as ever was or could be the two Realms being so near and ready to defend her if it were required And in case Spain should threaten or shew ill Offices as it had of late done against the Queen's Safety it would be afraid hereafter so to do seeing such a Wall adjoyned as Smith wrote Which he therefore hoped would be the best League that ever was made with France or any other Nation for her Majesty's Surety His good Conceit he had of this League did further appear by what he wrote in another Letter soon after to the Lord Burghley That now it could not be said That her Majesty was altogether alone having so good a Defence of so Noble Couragious and so faithful a Prince of his Word but herein our Ambassador was mistaken in his Man none being so false of his Word and treacherous as he all covered over with most artificial Dissimulation and so near a Neighbour provided for and bespoken beforehand against any need Partly that and partly the Trouble in Flanders which he trusted God had provided to deliver his poor Servants there from the Antichristian Tyranny should make her Highness enjoy more quietly both England and Ireland and a better Neighbour of Scotland When Monsieur De Foix came to him and his Collegue with the Draught of the whole League in French which before was in Latin and the Matters that past Pro and Con which he said was that the King might understand it and had made a new Preface Smith did not much stick at it And acquainting the Secretary Cecil now Lord Burghley with it he opened to him the Reason of it I am old said he I love not much Talk and would fain be dispatched honestly homeward So the Effect be there indeed and our Queen not deceived I care for no more that done Smith loved to do his Business well and soundly and yet to knit it up with Brevity and Expedition Thus again when the French Deputy urged much in this Treaty the Scotch Queen that she might be sent safe home to her Country a thing which the English Ambassadors had order not to deal in by no means he began to amplify upon that in a long Oration But at the Conclusion Smith told him in short For all your Reason you must pardon me I know you are a good Rhetorician and you have Rhetorical Ornaments at will to make and so have I on the contrary side if I would bestow my Time in that sort We are the Queen's Majesty's Servants and we have shewed our Reasons so good that no Man could deny that we should not agree unto it While Smith was in this Country he was forced to follow the Court from Place to Place but it being Winter pinched him sore At Tholouse it almost cost him his Life and had made an End of him had it not been for Strong Waters which he used for his Stomach Morning and Evening At Blois where he remained after Candlemas he endured the greatest Cold that ever he felt and most continual And notwithstanding the Cordial Waters he used he was scarce able to resist the extream Cold of the Weather there being for thirty Days together continual Frost and Snow Neither was there Wood plenty nor good Chimneys for Fire And in his Bed-chamber he could make no Fire at all In this Embassy the League being concluded the Queen-Mother one Day in March Anno exeunte in the King's Garden at Blois
have taken up their Seat in him And thus we see Smith re-enstated again in that Place which four and twenty Years ago he enjoyed under King Edward Smith now being Secretary and Walsingham Resident in the French Court and the matter of the Match for Duke D'Alenson and the Queen transacted earnestly this Year the main of this Matter went through Smith's Hands And thus it stood The French King and Queen-Mother and the Duke and that Court were extreamly eager for it and so was the English Nation too supposing it the best way for the Security of her Majesty and her Crown But the Queen her self was but cold in the Matter And when an Interview was moved between her and the Duke she refused to yield to it upon some Scruples Whereat Secretary Smith to set it forward that it might not be suspended on such a Point devised that the Duke should come over hither without the Ceremony of an Invitation For as he wrote to Walsingham in August he was sorry so good a Matter should upon so nice a Point be deferred Adding That one might say that the Lover would do little if he would not take pains once to see his Love but she must first say Yea before he saw her or she him Twenty Ways said he might be devised why he might come over and be welcome and possibly do more in an Hour than he might in two Years otherwise Cupido ille qui vincit omnia in oculos insidet ex oculis ejaculatur in oculos utriusque videndo non solum ut ait Poeta Faemina virum sed Vir faeminam What Force I pray you can Hear-say and I think and I trust do in comparison of that cum Praesens praesentem tuctur alloquitur furore forsitan amoris ductus amplectitur And saith to himself and openly that she may hear Tenâ—ne te mea an etiamnum somno volunt Faeminae videri cogi ad id quod maximè cupiunt If we be cold it is our Part Besides the Person the Sex requires it Why are you cold Is it not a Young Man's part to be Bold Couragious and to adventure If he should have a Repulse he should have but Honorificam Repulsam The worst that can be said of him is but a Phaeton Quam si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit Ausis Adding that so far as he could perceive this was the only Anchor this the Dye to be cast for us Or else nothing was to be lookt for but still and continual Dalliance and Doubtfulness so far as he could see Thus in his Royal Mistresses and the Nations Behalf he could talk and direct like a Master of Love This Device and Counsel I suppose was hinted to the French Court And it was not long but Duke D'Alenson accordingly came over to make his Address to the Queen The Parisian Massacre happening in August so treacherous and so inhumane that all the World stood amazed at it Secretary Smith abhorred and wrote his Thoughts of it in this following Letter to Walsingham then Ambassador there Sir this Accident in France seemeth to us so strange and beyond all Expectation that we cannot tell what to say to it And the Excuse tam Exilis so slender or fraudulent namely That the Hugonots had intended to have made some dangerous Disturbances in the Kingdom and therefore the King was forced to do this for his own safety that we wot not what to think of it The Matter appears all manner of ways so lamentable the King so suddenly and in one Day to have dispoiled himself and his Realm of so many notable Captains so many brave Soldiers so wise and so valiant Men as if they were unguilty of that which is laid unto them it is most pitiful If they were guilty Cur Mandati Causa damnati sunt ac caesi In such sudden and extream Dealings Cito sed sera Poenitentia solet sequi If it were sudden and not of long Time premeditated before And if so the worse and more infamous Thus you see what privately any Man may think of this Fact I am glad yet that in these Tumults and bloody Proscriptions you did Escape and the young Gentlemen that be there with you and that the King had so great Care and Pity of our Nation so lately with strait Amity Confederate with him Yet we hear say that he that was sent by my Lord Chamberlain to be School-master to young Wharton bâ—ing come the Day before was then slain Alas he was acquainted with no body nor could be partaker of any evil Dâ—â—ling How fearful and careful the Mothers and Parents be here of such young Gentlemen as be there you may easily guess by my Lady Lane who prayeth very earnestly that her Son may be sâ—nt home with as much speed as may be And if my Lady your Wife with your Daughter and the rest with such as may be spared were sent away home until this Rage and Tempest were somewhat appeased you shall be the quieter and disburthened of much of your Care You would not think how much we are desirous to hear what End these Troubles will have whether it rangeth further into all France or die and will cease here at Paris Our Merchants be afraid now to go into France And who can blame them Who would where such Liberty is given to Soldiers and where Nec Pietas nec Iustitia doth refrain and keep back the unruly Malice and Sword of the raging Popular Monsieur La Mote is somewhat spoken to in this Matter And now the Vintage as you know is at hand but our Traffick into Roan and other Places in France is almost laid down with this new Fear It grieveth no Man in England so much as me And indeed I have in some respect the greatest Cause I suppose because he was the great maker of the League between that King and the Queen and did so assure the Qâ—een of the Ingrity Truth and Honour of the said King Fare you well From Woodstock the 12th of September 1572. Your always assured Tho. Smith POSTSCRIPT I Most heartily thank you for the Book of the past Troubles in France But alas who shall now write worthily of the Treasons and Cruelties more barbarous than over the Scythians used And in the same Month when upon some Treachery feared to be acted upon Walsingham he was sent for home for some Time and Tidings being brought of the Massacres upon the Protestants at Roan and other Places as well as at Paris thus did this good Man express his Detestation of these Practices The cruel Murthers of Roan are now long ago written unto us when we thought all had been done And by the same Letters was written unto us that Diep was kept close and the same Executions of the true Christians lookt for there but as then not executed Howbeit Sigoigne did warrant all our English Men to be out of danger and not to be afraid But what
Warrant can the French make now Seals and Words of Princes being Traps to catch Innocents and bring them to the Butchery If the Admiral and all those Martyred on that bloody Bartholomew Day were guilty why were they not apprehended imprisoned interrogated and judged but so much made of as might be within two Hours of the Assassination Is that the manner to handle Men either culpable or suspected So is the Journier slain by the Robber so is the Hen of the Fox so the Hind of the Lion so Abel of Cain so the Innocent of the Wicked so Abner of Ioab But grant they were guilty they dreamt Treason that night in their Sleep what did the Innocents Men Women and Children at Lions What did the Sucking Children and their Mothers at Roan deserve at Caen at Rochel What is done yet we have not heard but I think shortly we shall hear Will God think you still sleep Shall not their Blood ask Vengeance Shall not the Earth be accursed that hath sucked up the innocent Blood poured out like Water upon it I am most sorry for the King whom I love whom I esteem the most worthy the most faithful Prince of the World the most sincere Monarch now Living Ironically spoken no question by Smith because to him that King used to profess so much Integrity I am glad you shall come home and would wish you were at home out of that Country so contaminate with innocent Blood that the Sun cannot look upon it but to prognosticate the Wrath and Vengeance of God The Ruin and Desolation of Ierusalem could not come till all the Christians were either killed there or expelled from thence But whither do I run driven with just Passions and Heats And in another Letter All that be not Bloody and Antichistian must needs condole and lament the Misery and Inhumanity of this Time God make it short and send his Kingdom among us La Crocque was now in England Ambassador from France and notwithstanding this base bloody Action of France and the Jealousies that the Queen now justly conceived of that King yet she gave him a soft Answer to be returned to his Master being ready to go to his own Country Of which Ambassador's Negotiation and the Queen's Answer thus Secretary Smith spake His Negotiation was long in Words to make us believe better of that King than as yet we can and replied to on the English side liberally eenough Altho' to that Prince or Country who have so openly and injuriously done against Christ who is Truth Sincerity Faith Pity Mercy Love and Charity nothing can be too sharply and severely answered Yet Princes you know are acquainted with nothing but Doulceur so must be handled with Doulceur especially among and between Princes And therefore to temperate as you may perceive Not that they should think the Queen's Majesty and her Council such Fools as we know not what is to be done and yet that we should not appear so rude and barbarous as to provoke where no Profit is to any Man Upon the Preparations that were made in England against the feared Attempts of the French or other Roman Catholicks at this critical Time of the Murthers committed upon the Protestants in France the Secretary thus piously spake Truth it is that God disposeth all whatsoever a Man does purpose as Divines speak And it is his Gift if Wise Men do provide for Mischief to come And yet whatsoever they do devise the Event doth come of him only who is the God of Hope and Fear beyond Hope and Expectation This he spake in reference to the Scots who hearing of this Havock in France whereas the Lords there were in Civil Wars amongst themselves fomâ—nted by the French did now begin to come to Accord dreading these Doings and fearing some Danger near themselves For it was the Desire of the English to have Scotland in Peace and Union under the present Protestant King And now by a way not thought on they drew nearer and nearer to an Accord To which the Cruelty in France helped not a little and now continuing much more would Which he exprest in thâ—se Words The Scots our Neighbours he awakened by their Beacons in France And the Scots to shew their Resentment of these foul Doings there issued out a Proclamation to that purpose which the Secretary sent to Walsingham CHAP. XIV Secretary Smith at Windsor dispatching Business His Care of Flanders and Ireland Mass-mongers and Conjurers sent up to him out of the North. His Colony in Ireland IN the very beginning of November Secretary Smith was with the Queen at Windsor the Lord Treasurer Burghley and most of the Lords of the Council being gone to London to the Solemnization of some great Wedding at which the Secretary also should have been but he thought it not convenient to go to be present with the Queen whatsoever Chance might happen There were now in England Walwick an Agent from the Earls of East Freezeland who was very importune for an Answer to his Masters Requests and another Agent from the Town of Embden who came about Matters of Trade The Consideration of whose Business the Queen committed to Aldersay and some other Merchants of London who had objected against the Agents Proposals and were to give in their Reasons Smith who was ever for Dispatch of Business desired the Lord Burghley to call upon these Merchants to hasten and to forward the Dismission of both those Agents Irish Businesses also lying before the Queen at this Time were taken care of by him Signifying to the said Lord Treasurer how the Lord Deputy of Ireland wanted Comfort and Direction in Answer to his Letters And he desired the Treasurer to send him the Draught of the Answer from the Lords to the said Deputy which he would cause to be written fair and made ready to be Signed against his and the rest of the Lords Return to Windsor He further wrote to the Treasurer that he should have the Privy Seal sent him for 5200 l. for Corn and Money for the use of the Deputy He mentioned two Letters withal to be sent by the same Dispatch into Ireland for three Bishopricks void there to which the Lord Deputy had recommended certain Persons as able and fit Men for those Places And taking care of his Friend Walsingham Ambassador in France he obtained leave from the Queen for his Return home And when among several named to her Majesty to succeed him she had her thoughts upon Mr. Francis Carce as liking him most he enformed the Treasurer of it and prayed him to send for the said Carce and commune with him to put himself in a readiness Whereby as he said he should do Mr. Walsingham a great Pleasure These were some of the State Matters Smith's Hands were full of in the Month of November Sir Thomas Smith was nettled to see the proud Spaniard Domineering in Flanders and Holland and exercising their Cruelties there and
see him burie in his Astronomy Nay if we may believe his Poet and that he did not take too much Poetical Liberty Smith was arrived to the very Top of the Astronomical Skill and might be a companion for Ptolomy Alphonsus and Zacutus if they were alive Nec Polus aut Tillus mâ—gâ—â— ulli cognâ—ta cuiquam Quorsum â—go dâ—ssâ—mulâ—m Fuit unus unicus ille Fâ—lâ—us Uraniâ— Ptolomâ— major utroque Et centum Alphonsis plusquam mille Zacutis And perhaps the Love and Study of the Stars might be one Reason that he delighted so much in his high Seat at Mounthaut where he might have a more spacious Prospect of the Skies In State-Policy he was a great Master Which by long Experience in State matters at home in the Reigns of four Princes and Embassies abroad he had acquired Walsingham that most compleat and happy Secretary of State improved himself much by making his Observations of Smith how quick and sharp his Apprehension of things how grave and sound his Counsels and with what Dexterity and admirable Parts he managed publick Affairs and yet with clean and just hands So he sung that made his Funeral Verses Sâ—cius tâ—nâ—orum insignis Honorum Qui vigilanti oculo SMITHI observasset Acumen Sensissâ—tque acres sensus animumque virilem Consiliumque grave pectus moresque colendos Virtutes etiam raras Dotesque stupendas He was also an excellent Linguist and a Master in the knowledge of the Latin Greek French Italian and English Tongues A great Historian especially in the Roman History An Orator equal to the best and a perfect Ciceronian A Notable Specimen of whose Oratory and History as well as of his Polities appears in his Discursive Orations about Queen Elizabeth's Marriage He had also a very good Genius in Architecture which that Noble Pile of Building at Hilhal doth sufficiently demonstrate And in the Art of Gardening he was very curious and exact Employing his own Hands sometimes for his diversion in grafting and planting At which work I find him when he was making an Orchard for his new House about the latter end of 1572. having made an Escape from the Court tho' the Winds then were very unkind to him Of which complaining to the Lord Treasurer he said he should soon be weary of Mounthaut because he could not graft nor transplant any Trees the Winds that then brought over the Earl of Worcester from France who had been lately sent to Christen that Kings Child being as he said the worst Enemy to all Cutting Paring or breaking of Trees here in England that could be or for setting of Herbs And as he was an universal and thorow-paced Scholar so he had a most compleat Library and kept a Learned Correspondence and was of a very accurate Judgment in matters of Learning His Library consisted of a thousand Books of various Learning and Arts as we are told by the Learned man his Friend that made his Parentalia Which noble Treasure he bestowed upon his own College where at least the Remainders of them are to this day besides some Italian and French Books which he gave to the Queens Library Libros Monumentaque mille Graeca Latina omnis generis nova prisca profana Religiosa dedit Italicos praeter quosdam Francosque libellos Elizabeteae pius Heros Bibliothecae A Catalogue of the Books which he had at Hilhal in the Year 1566. may be seen in the Appendix And as he was Owner of many Books so he composed not a few himself Three whereof are Printed I. His Commonwealth of England both in Latin and English II. Of the right and correct Writing of the English Tongue This I suppose is the same Book with that which Fuller in his History of Cambridge mentions Of his more compendious way of Printing which would defalcate a fifth part of the Cost in Paper and Ink besides as much of the Pains in Composing and Printing only by discharging many superflous Letters and accommodating the Sounds of long and short Vowels with distinct Characters III. Of the right and correct Pronouncing of the Greek Language Both these last mentioned were published by himself in Latin when he was Ambassador in Paris There is a Fourth Book lately Printed viz. 1685. which some make him the Author of namely Of the Authority Form and Manner of holding Parliaments Other Tracts there be of his that have lain hitherto unpublished As his Orations about the Queens Marriage His discourse of Money and his Tables for the reducing the Roman Coins to the just English Standard I have also seen another large Writing which by the hand seems to be his shewing certain ways and means for the taking care of and for the maintaining the Poor of the Nation And many more whereof as yet neither the sight nor the particular Subjects have come unto me To which I add several excellent Letters of his when Ambassador in France to the Lord Burghley and being Secretary of State to Sr. Francis Walsingham Ambassador in the same Court which are Printed in the Compleat Ambassador And a Bundle of other Letters writ to the Court when he was Ambassador with the French King Ann. 1562. the Earl of Warwick going then in the famous Expedition to New-haven which are yet reserved in the Kings Paper House He was a great Judge of Learning and Applications were often made to him for his Judgment in Matters of that Nature So Dr. Haddon appealed once to him in a sharp Controversie between the French Ambassador and himself Whether Tully were a good Lawyer Which that Ambassador had denied And how learnedly this was decided by Sir Thomas Smith may be seen in this History And both Cecil and the said Haddon would not allow the Answer to Osorius to come abroad till it had past his accurate Perusal and Correction His Acquaintance was with the Learned men of his Age. As Ramus and other Professors in Paris while he was there and with Cheke Cecil Haddon Wilson Ascham men of the finest Wits and purest Learning Of this last in a Letter to Haddon from France he enquired diligently after and complained that for two years and Six Months he had heard nothing from him and then added merrily That his Cocks for he was a great Cock Master ita illum excantâ—sse i.e. had so enchanted him that he had quite forgotten his Friends And I find the Correspondence between him and Ascham continued after for in 1â—68 Ascham requested of Smith to borrow a Book of his own Writing To which Smith answered by a Letter that he had sent it to Walden to be Transcribed least the first Copy and the whole Invention should perish together And Haddon being lately dead Smith in the same Letter told Ascham that his Epistles were found but not all and that his own Epistles to Haddon were more uncertain For they reckoned it pity any thing of that most Humane and Learned
to bed not so nicely as the Ladies and Gentlewomen be here but either in a Tent or a wide Barn after the maner of her Country Ireland And I'tell you said she I felt in a maner no pain at al these Births Nor I se no Cause why I should make so nice of the Matter as you do here in England We do not so in our Country Whereat an old Lady was wonderfully offended and said they were Beasts and she was but a Beast to say so Then she as a witty Lady turned the Matter and said It was a Gift which St. Patrick begged for her Country-folk the Irish Women of our Lady But the Truth is al Women that stir about to travail and to labour as they do there and do not use themselves to Rest and Ease as they can better away with Travail because of use so they bear that Travail of Childbirth with much more Ease and in maner with no pain Which we do se also in these idle Runnagates Egyptians whose Women be always trudging from place to place as they be and be brought to bed in the Straw in some Barn or Out-house without any great Curiosity And within three or four days after yea sometimes the second day they ride away with the rest of that beggarly Train I remember I read when I was a Boy in Aristotle and I trow it be in his Politicks he would that those that should make Laws for a Common-wealth should have regard also to Women that were great with Child that they should not use themselves to over-fine ' Diet nor to over-much Rest. Which saith he may be don if they do appoint them certain Pilgrimages to be don to such Gods as have the Honor of such Matters Meaning such Gods as the Gentils did Sacrifice unto for such things as Gemini Lucina Parcae Iuno c. His purpose is that when the Time of Birth draweth nigh they should by gentle means be brought to a kind of Exercise and Travail either on Horseback or on Foot or both to the intent that they might the easilier bear the Travail of Childbirth And thought that they could by no means so wel be perswaded unto them which then he somewhat heavy because of their Burden as by Colour of Holiness and Religion So that our Pilgrimage also which we had of late years was not much out of the Way for such an Effect as may appear But I tary long about these Matters To bear Children is painful I do not deny It is the Threat of God to Eve and to al her Posterity as wel as to Adam and al Men to get his Living with the Sweat of his Brows And yet some Men sweat but easily And why should not I think also that her Highness should bring forth her Children more easily than a great sort of other Women I se nothing leadeth me to the contrary Many things do encourage me to think so Her Learning Discretion Judgment her store of Physicians and of al things necessary for them to use That where other by their Folly do make that Travail to them more painful and dangerous than naturally it should be her Highness by her Noble Vertues and Wisdom should make it more easie yea than of natural Course it should be For as there be ways to augment so there be ways to diminish Pain or Grief Wherein standeth the Difference of Wisdom or Folly But why do I stand upon this Would not her Majesty be glad think you to take some pain to make a Prince To make one who should be a part of her who should mâ—ke her alive after her Death Reign in her stead when by Course of Nature she can tarry no longer Who shall continue and transplant her Name and Posterity for many an hundred years here Kings in England and leave such a Row of that Race as is the Root of Iesse Was it nor you of whom I heard even now that all fair and laudable things be painful to come by Will you not grant unto me that this which I speak of now to have a Prince born of her own Body who should Reign after her Highness here in England in whom she might se her own Image not painted in a Table but lively expressed every Joint yea both Body and Soul who should cal her Highness Queen Mother and whom al England should cal King and Father Whom it you do not think more to be esteemed than al the Treasure that the wise and rich Prince her Grandfather K. Henry the VII left at his Death or that the Noble and Magnificent Prince her Father K. Henry VIII spent in his Life ye are in a contrary Opinion to all English men Whom when she shall behold kiss and embrace she shall take more Comfort and more Pleasure in than of all the Riches and Jewels which her Highness had or ever was Lady of Do you not think I say such a Jewel worthy to have the pains taken for the getting of it and bringing it to life Are you he that was even now so stout that if the Thing were good laudable and necessary to be had the harder it were to obtain the more you thought it were to be laboured for And so you Counsilled and proved by many Reasons and Authorities Are you I say now again so weak and so womanly hearted that for a little pains in the Birth peradventure of one Hour or two or at the most of one Day for the Extremity of the Pain cannot lightly be longer wil counsil us to cast down our Courage and run away like Cowards and leave al this so rich and so precious a Treasure ungotten and unlaboured for for the Travail of one hour I wis Foloign cost more the getting and Calais the loosing And yet this Treasure were more worth than both those Holds to her Majesty I dare say and unto the Realm of England if it should be esteemed by true value Mary yet ye go neerer me and bring in certain Queens who have dyed in Childbirth And herein you had good Advantage to have two Examples so neer and in so fresh Memory that they must needs make much indeed to the Terror of Mischance And yet this is but another Startbugg that you have gotten to make us afraid It is sineâ— the Conquest five hundred years little under or over In which time our Chronicles have indifferently wel been kept and many Kings and Queens have dyed and al not after one sort I pray you how many more have you read of that have dyed in Child-bed And yet one of those was not the Queen but Dowager as you know well enough And some men would say it was thought that that did distress her then and bring her to her End as much as Travail of the Birth But of that I will not Dispute But if in five hundred years in which space so many Queens have had so many Children and only one or two have dyed in Childbed would you make
they thought they might amend when they would by Adoption either of their own Bastards or other Folks lawful Children with the Consent of their Parents For al these Three this our Question doth not vary For either the Stranger or the English-man seemeth indifferent therunto and I make no Difference in them Then there be other Causes which be incident and as I might cal them Accidental as Honor Power and Riches Having first God and those three Causes which I called Essential of Matrimony principally in our Eyes these Things ought in this Consultation to have the highest Place And because I take al you here to be no Children and in this which I have said to be in the same Opinion that I am I wil make no further Proeme but go to and confer these together in the two Persons which you have brought in to be weighed here as in a Pair of Ballances that is the Stranger and the English-man And I say if the Queens Majesty have respect to Advancement and Honor can that be in Mariage of any within the Realm who being but her Subjects be they never so high shal be under her highnes a great Distance So for that purpose it shal not be Advancement but Disparagement Wherin I must commend the late Q. Mary who having more regard to her Honor than to her Age to th'advauncement therof than to any other Plesure which she could long have took to her Husband K. Philip Charles th' Emperours Son the greatest Prince of Birth and Possessions in al Christendom Wherby she gat the Sovereignty over so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionates Earldoms Baronies Countries and so forth that it would be more than an Hours Work to reherse them and to be the greatest Estate of a Woman in al Christendom And if it be honorable to a Prince to Conquer one Kingdom with Dint of the Sword with making of War with Spoiling Burning Wasting Death Destruction Fire and Sword Man slaughter and Effusion of Christian Blood how much more honorable ought it to be accounted to obtain and get not one but a great fort of Kingdoms and Dominions not with Violence and Oppression but with Amity and Love and that most godly sweet and pleasant Knot of Mariage So Mary the Daughter and Heir of Charles the hardy Duke of Burgundy by Marying her self to Maximilian Son to Fredericus of Austriche then Emperor hath made her Progeny the House of Burgundy to enjoy so many Realms and Seignories in Boheme in Hungary in Spain in Sicily in Naples and Italy in the High and Low Country of Germany and neer it went to have enjoyed also England and Ireland So Mary the Scottish Queen that liveth now if the Enterprize had had Success and she had had by her Husband any Son She should have left a double King I mean in France a King as wel as of Scotland and 〈◊〉 them both the greater King by her Purchase than else he should have been by his Mothers Inheritance So Claudia the Daughter of the Duke of Britain by Mariage with the French King hath made her Sons and Off-Spring not only Dukes of Britain but Kings and Possessors of al France when her Auncesters heretofore had much ado always to keep their own being but only Dukes of Britain much less could conquer or adjoyne to their Dutchy any thing of the rest of the Realm of France Now if Honor is to be desired and if it be a Glory to be made from a Baroness a Countess and from a Countess a Marchioness or Dutchess and from a Dutchess a Queen why is it not also as wel to be from a Queen an Empress or from a Queen of one Kingdom a Queen of two or three and so the more Honorable and the more to be sought and desired To the Encrease of which Honor if Men do apply and study themselves sometimes by Sword and sometimes by Mariage to attain why should not a Queen desire to do as wel as they especially by the better more sure and more amiable way Which thing ye see can be don either by no ways or by no ways better than by Mariage And this I have to say of Honor. Now I come to Power or Strength Which standeth in two Things Either for a Prince to keep his own Realm quiet from Rebellion or to make that the foreign Prince being Ambitious or desirous of War neither may dare invade him or els if the Prince be so minded to conquer and recover such Things which of old by Titles and just Reasons remain to be claimed The which the Prince heretofore either for lack of Power or Mony for shortnes of Time Civil Dissension their own Sloth or any Cause whatsoever it be hath omitted or foreslowed For these remain stil as Causes unto Princes when they be weary of Ease or desirous of Honor or when other just Occasion is offered to exercise themselves and their Subjects For any of those if her Majesty mary within the Realm what hath She gained All her own Subjects were her own before all their Powers are Hers already Not one Man hath She for the Mariage more than She had before Wheras if She mary a foreign Prince if he be an Emperor al the Empire is hers to aid her and her Husband at al Events If she mary a King likewise al his Kingdom if she marry a Duke Earl or Prince al his Vassals Kinsfolks Allies and Friends are united to her Realm and be taken al for Brethren to allow Strength and Aid both Offensive and Defensive as Occasion and Necessity shal serve For who can offend the Wife but he must offend the Husband also So that her Majesties Power must needs be encreased by so much as the Power of her Husband doth extend either by Authority Title Blood Alliance Friendship or Affinity Then if Princes be glad whensoever they invade or be invaded to ally themselves with the Princes their Neighbours manytimes by costly Leagues and much Suite and Entreaty of Ambassadors if that may be don by one final Act as chusing such a puissant Prince to her Husband as we would most desire to be our Friend or Aid in Necessity either of Defence or Invasion why should not I think that it were better for the Queens Majesty to take such an one wherby she may be backed and strengthened and her Power as it were double and treble than to take one by whom she shal have no more Power Help Aid nor Succour brought unto her than she had before And it is to be feared that she shal rather have less For when Envy naturally kindleth amongst Equals if the Queen take one of her higher and stronger Nobility all the rest it wil be doubted wil envy his Felicity and tho in Words they speak him fair yet in Heart hardly wil they love him For they shal be as Rivals and Candidati for one Office where commonly he that hath obtained if of the inferior sort al the rest shal
men wherein I must needs confess that there is a Disparagement for that these Men were not Noble by Birth and therefore not meet to Match with such Noble Women But for the Queens Majesty to Marry one of her Noblemen is no disparagement at all Neither is the Comparison like And in this case ye do make me to marvel at you and to doubt what you do think of the Nobility of this Realm of England as tho' they are not as Noble as the Nobility is of other Realms Is not a Duke of England an Earl a Baron and their Sons as much to be counted Noble as they be in other Realms That I think you cannot deny How then should the Queens Majesty be more disparaged Marrying here one of that Degree than there For mâ—thinks you do so speak that if her Highness Married a Duke or a Nobleman of another Realm then it were no Disparagement Which if you grant then either grant this also or shew the Diversity Ye will say because here they be all her Highness Subjects So surely they be But her Subjects be of divers Sorts and Dâ—grees Whereof the Nobility is as the Right Arm of the Prince the Glory and Beauty of the Realm the Root and Nursery of her Highness Stock and Family Off-springs of Kings and Queens of England and whom her Highness and all her Progenitors calleth always in her Letters and Writings and common Talk Cousins Which word Cousins betokeneth that in mingling of that Bloud there can be no disparagement And so much as you would seem in your Talk to embase that Order and Estate so much you must needs appear â—to abase and contemn the Queens Majesty's own Bloud to whom they be and always have been accounted Allied and as Cousins And is it a Disparagement for the Queen of England to Marry an Englâ—sh man Why more than to the King of England to Marry an English woman The Authority is all one And as well is the English woman a Subject to the Crown as the English man Do you think that King Henry VIII her Majesty's Father was disparaged when he Married her Highness Mother or Queen Iane or Queen Katharine Par And that he was always disparaged save once when he Married his Brothers Wife which was a Stranger And think you that all the rest of the Kings of England of whom a great number Married their own Subjects were Disparaged Methinks this is a strange and unnatural Opinion If it be an Honour to be a Kings Wife or a Queens Husband not only to the Person but also to the Region out of the which they come no Country may justlier crave that Honour nor to none the Prince doth more justly owe that Love than to her own Country where she was born and where she is Queen And if ye would be loth to suffer and would spâ—nd your Blood rather than this Realm should be Tributary or Subject to any other yea you would not gladly see that any foreign Prince should do so much here or be so much set by here and have so much Power as your Natural Prince and Queen And if you may justly call that a Dispâ—ragement when this Realm which is the Head of Nations round about is put under the Girdle of another Who maketh more Dispaâ—agement I pray you the foreign Prince to be the Queens Husband or the English Subject But you are of the Opinion as I perceive that Eraâ—mus speaketh of that thinketh it not comely for a Kings Daughter to be coupled but with a King or a Kings Son To whom he answereth as well as if he had studied this oâ—r Case This is private mens Affâ—ction saith he from which Princes ought to flee as fast as they may If the Marry saith he to one who is not of such Power as the or her Father what is that to the Purpose if that he be for the Realm more expâ—dient It is more â—onour to the Prince to neglect that foreign Dignity of the Marriage than to prefer her Womanly Affection to the Profit of the Realm So far is that great learned and wise man from your Opinion that he calleth the Marriage with Strangers Uneven Marriages and as a man would say Disparagements when he saith there lacketh both that Love and Dearness which the common Country Likeness of Body and Mind doth bring and that Natural and traâ— and uncounterfeit Affection which those Marriages have which are made between them that have all one Country He saith also as I have said before that hardly the Country acknowledge them that are born oâ— those uneven Marriages for their own or that those that are so born cannot with all their Hearts love their Country but as their Blouds be mingled out of divers Countries so their Love is but as it were half dealed and parted in twain And did noâ— this man think you as a Prophet declare that thing which we did see of late in Qâ—eâ—n Mary Did not her vehement Love towâ—rd Spain and Spaniards dâ—clare that she was bâ—â— half English as it were in Affection so thâ—â— mingled Bloud in her Nature could not â—idâ— it self And if the Case standeth so and 〈◊〉 be so much to be looâ—t unto as ye will have it better it were for her Highness and more honourable as it may appear evidâ—ntly to make one of her Noblemen by that means equal to a foreign Prince who shall alwayâ— be ready to obey and Honour her than to take a foreign Prince from abroad who shall look to command and be her Superior And because that Poetry is reckoned of a great learned man to be the eldest Philosoâ—â—y for long before the Philosophy of Thales and Socrates began most Ancient Writers called Poets by fained examples or else by Deeds done described like Fables did instruct men and cause the witty Reader in them to see the good success and happy Fortune of Well-doings and the evil Success and Inconveniences which follow of Evil-doings that so we might have as it were shewed before our Eyes what to follow and what to eschew â—â—t us weigh and consider what they write of this Matter and what Examples they make of those Heroical and Noble Women who forsaking their own Country men fell into the Love of Strangers How good how true how Loving I pray you were your Strangers to them Was not that lâ—sâ—y and valiant Warriour Iason soon gotten and most unkindly and uncourteously did forsake Mâ—dea of Colches who not onely saved his Life but for his Love lost her Country and to save her Lovers Life did abandon the Lives of her Father and Brother How long was Theseus of Athens kind to Arâ—adne King Mâ—nâ—s's Daughter who saved his Life else to have been destroyed in the Labyrinth How true was Dâ—mophon to Phillis of Thracia Hercules to Omphale of Lydia or Aâ—nâ—â—s to Dido of Carthâ—ge All these Queens or Queens Daughters who contemning the Noblemen of their own Country as unequal unto them chose
that which was gotten by her Ancestors and had been kept by the English so long But because we shall better and more near at hand see the Advantage of heaping Realms together King Edward III. and the Black Prince goâ— almost all France His next Successor therefore must needs have his Power marvellously encreased So may it appear For tho' he were confessâ—d the riâ—ht Heir yet a Nobleman of this Realm of England bereaved him of both France and England King Henry V. again drove the Dâ—uphin to a very streight Room in France Wherefore by your Reason his Power must be marvellously augmented which he did leave to his Son Did not a Duke of his Realm dispossess him of his Crown for all the help that Queen Margaret his Wife and Daughter to Reigner Duke of Anjou and King of Sicily Naples and of Ierusalem could bring from her Father and all those four Realms to the Aid of her Husband or the Prince her Son So that for that Matter the Italian Proverb seemeth true â—hi troppe abbraccia poco stringe He that embraceth too much holdeth fast but a little Now for Encrease of Riches let us go as near Many would judge that the getting and keeping of Bulloâ—gn and Bullâ—â—gnâ—is in France now in the Time of King Henry VIII and the obtaining and holding of â—addingtâ—n and the Pâ—ethes and a great Part of the Lowdian in Scotland should have brought in great Riches to this Realm It was that almost bâ—ggered England For thereby our fine Gold was conveyed away our good Silver appâ—arâ—d not our Mâ—ssy and old Plate was mâ—â—lâ—d And every man seeth that not only our good â—â—n was wonderfully consumed but that which was leâ—t pitiously altered and mâ—dâ— worse The Gold much debased and at the lâ—â—t for Sterling Silver we had two 〈◊〉 oâ— Copper and scarce the Third part 〈◊〉 metal remaining in the Coin Which now without any such Revenues either out oâ— France or Scotland thanks be to God and the Queens Highness beginneth well to amend again Whether think you King Henrâ— IV. which had but England left his Kingdom richer to his Son King Henry V. than he with all his Conquests to his Son King Henry VI. who hâ—d nothing in France but Câ—lais Did not King Henâ—y VII leave more Riches in his Coâ—â—râ— to King Henry VIII who Conquered both in France and Scotland than he lâ—ft to King Edward VI. And do yoâ— not perceive that Qâ—eâ—n Mary who wrote that she was Queen of so many Kingdoms Dutchess of so many Dukedoms Marchioness and Countess of so many Marchionâ—s and Earldoms c. did not â—ave lâ—ss â—ichâ—s in her Coâ—â—â—rs and â—â—alth in the â—â—alm at the Time of her Death than ever any of her Pâ—oâ—â—nitoâ—â— did My Mastâ—â—â— say wâ—at you will and call me as it plâ—ase you â—ithâ—r Enemy to Sâ—ranâ—â—râ— the Pattern or â—dâ—a of an old English mâ—n Fam. friend or what you â—iâ— I say and see that it is ENGLAND alone that shall make her Highness strong ENGLAND and no other her true Patrimony Riches Power and Strength whereto she must trust ENGLAND her Highness native Country alone being well tilled and Governed shall be better to her Majesty in the End than all those Empires Kingdoms Dukedoms and Marchionates and other Rabblements of gay Titles which are but Wind and Shadows and Makers of Cares and Costs Which are no Profit but rather Hindrance and Loss as at last will be proved and as you may perceive by these Discourses her Predecessors have proved Now Mr. Philoxenus or Lewelyn or Lovealien for I thank my Godfather neither you nor I can lack Names I have sufficiently as methinketh answered you to your Six Parts Causes or Occasions which you make of Marriage You see that for Succession that Prince shall be to the Realm most loving most tender and most natural which hath both his Parents mere English And such an one hath England most cause to Love who is mere Hâ—rs of whom no other Region may claim any part You see that for Plâ—asure Comfort and Ioy which in Matrimony the one should have of the other the English man for Likeness of Manners for naturalness of Education yea and because he is most tryed and best known is most likely to be more kind loving and natural than the Stranger who is both different in Tongue and Manners rather stumbled on by Fortune than chosen by certainty You see how it is to the Realm most Honourable and to her Grace most allowable not to despise and contemn or to reckon inferiour to any other Country men those which her own Region and Country bringeth up Ye see that Strength which Foreign Princes bring is rather a Weakning than a Strengthening rather to be suspected than trusted Ye see also that the Stranger ever is like to have and also more like to impoverish than to enrich the Realm And that the Realm it self by good Government both is able enough to enrich the Princes thereof and hath enriched them when they have been contented alone with it rather than when they have sought and gotten great Augmentations of other Countries Which things if you will weigh in a just Pair of Ballances without being affected so much as you are to Strangers I do not doubt but ye will condescend now at the last to my Opinion and Judgment and think as ever I have thought that for all Purposes it were better for the Queens Majesty if it could stand with her Pleasure to Marry an English man than any other Stranger whatsoever he be NAY said he whom they called Mr. Godfather stammering after his manner speak to me Man that am indifferent never speak to him For ye are not so far in with England and English men as he is with Strangers or to this our Host here Let him give judgment For he hath been attentive enough I am sure he hath born away all that hath been spoken Come on quoth he to me what â—say you to the Matter Mary quoth I it were a Presumption indeed to speak before my Prince without Commission I trust her Highness shortly will give sentence her self and not with Words but with Deeds shew who took the better Part to the great Contentation of us all But yonder hath one stood a good while to call us to Supper I have caused him to stay whilst all were ended Why is it Supper time so soon quoth one of them it may be so by the Day but methought the Time was very short So it appeared to me quoth I But Supper tarrieth for you Well we must obey our Host said they and so walked in fair and softly jesting one with another at their new Names NUM IV. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire Uncle and Heir of Edward Smith Esquire deâ—eased Son and Heir of Sir William Smith the Younger and Heir of Sir William Smith the Elder who was Nephew and Heir of Sir Thomas Smith Kt.
deceased Sheweth THAT the said Sir Thomas Smith the Petitioner's Ancestor had the Honour to serve as Secretary of State to your Majesty's most Noble Progenitor Queen Elizabeth of happy Memory and served her in that Employment faithfully many Years And in the Thirteenth year of her Reign the said late Queen did make a Grant by Letters Patents under the great Seal to the said Sir Thomas Smith and Thomas his then Son and Heir Apparent of divers Mannors Castles and Lands thereto belonging in the County of Downe in the Realm of Ireland Which were then possest by divers Persons who were in actual Rebellion against her Highness with Command that the said Sir Thomas Smith should enter upon the Parts infested by the said Rebels and by Force of Arms obtain the same from them And the said Sir Thomas Smith did at his great Charge raise an Army and entred those Parts and gained them unto their due Obedience In which said Service the said Thomas his Son was slain And then the said Sir Thomas Smith Assigned the said Sir William Smith his Nephew to take the Charge of Prosecution of that War and came over to England to attend the further Service of her Majesty and to Solicite her Majesty that the Lands might be Surveyed and the Rents ascertained and his Grant and Title perfected And her Majesty taking Notice of such the great Service of the said Sir Thomas Smith was pleased several Times graciously to declare that her Royal Intentions to the said Sir Thomas Smith should be made good But by reason of the many great Troubles falling out in her Time the same was not done during all the time of her Reign And afterwards the said Sir William Smith the Elder was commanded by the said Queen upon Service into Spain And upon his departure out of England he desired Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n Kt. to prosecute his said Grant on the said Sir William's behalf and procure the same for him And the said Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n in the Time of your Noble Grandfather King Iames upon some undue prâ—tences contrary to the Trust in him reposed by the said Sir William Smith obtained the said Lands to be granted to himself upon Pretence of a Valuable Consideration paid which in truth was never paid But in truth according to the Intention of the late Queen the said Lands are the Right of your Petitioner That Sir William Smith died about Fourty years since and Sir William his Son and Heir since dyed and left his Son and Heir an Infant of two years old And until he came at Age nothing could be done And the troublesome times happening since his Death the Petitioner and his Ancestors have sit down by the Loss Yet your Petitioner hopeth that that long Discontinuance shall not be a Bar to his just Right But humbly prayeth your Majesty to cause an Examination of the Premisses to be made and Certified to your Majesty and then the Petitioner hopes that when the Truth of the Fact shall appear your Majesty will be graciously pleased to do therein for the Petitioners Relief what shall be agreable to Justice And your Petitioner shall c. At the Court at Whitehal 14 Nov. 1660. Edw. Nicholas His Majesty is pleased to refer this Petition to the Right Honourable Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor of Ireland Who having examined and considered the Contents and Allegations of this Petition is to certifie his Majesty how he findeth the same and what his Lordship conceiveth to be just and fit for his Majesty to do therein and then his Majesty will declare his further Pleasure Sir Maurice Eustace his Certificate It may please your Excellent Majesty I have according to your Majesty's gracious Reference considered the Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire And considering that the Petitioner doth ground his Title upon a Patent made 13. Elâ—z unto his Ancestors and that the said Title hath been very much controverted and the Possession gone for a long Time against the Petitioner and some Descents last I humbly conceive that it is neither sit nor convenient for your Majesty to determine this Cause upon a Paper petition But your Majesty in regard your Courts of Justice in Ireland will be soon open may be pleased to leave all Parties pretending Interest to the said Lands to your Majesty's Courts of Justice in that your Kingdom to be procâ—â—ded in as they shall be advised by their Counsel And the rather for that the Earl of Clanbrazil who is interested in the said Lands by Descent from his Father is a Minor and under Years and cannot be concluded by any Order which can be made against him during his Monority All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty's Judgment Maurice Eustace Canc. NUM V. Sir Thomas Smith's Tables of Mony And for the reducing the Roman Monies to the English Standard TABLE I. In the Pound Weight of Silver there is of current Monies  Shil Groats Current Pence At 20 d. 20 60 240 At 2 sh. 24 72 284 At 2 sh. 8 d. 32 96 384 At 2 sh. 9 d. q. Ounce    At â…“ of a q. Ounce 33 4 d. 100 4.00 At 3 sh. 36 108 432 At 3 sh. 4 d. 40 120 480 At 3 sh. 8 d. 44 132 528 At 4 sh. 48 144. 576 At 5 sh. 60 180 720 TABLE VIII The Mark containeth The Ounce at 20 d. Shill Groats Pence 13 4 40 160 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 16 48 192 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 8 d. 21 4 64 256 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 24 72 288 The Mark containeth The Oounce at 3 sh. 4 d. 26 8 80 320 TABLE IX Twenty English Pence of the Standard make one Ounce Twelve Ounces make the English Pound Sterling at 11 Ounces Silver and one Ounce Allay The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 20. Shill Groats Pence 20 60 240 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 2 8 32 96 484 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 36 108 432 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 4 40 120 480 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 8 44 132 528 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 4 sh. 48 144 536 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 5 sh. 60 180 720 Then Follows a Discourse for demonstrating the Reduction of the Roman Coins to our Money TO Esteem these by the Coins of England which I have I have an old Edward Groat whether the Third or Fourth I know not This Groat weigheth 8 d. ob of the Standard which is Current 1561. Viz. at 5 â— the Ounce Whereby it appeareth that then the Monies went at 2 s. 4 d. q. the Ounce The Pound then contained Shill Groats Pence 21 3 84¾ 339 I have also two Roman Denarii the one intitled Lucius Valerius Flaccus the other Marcus Herennius On the one side Aeneas is pictured carying his Father on the other side Pietas with the Face of Herennius But each of them be too