thirtieth part of the Livings that were liable to the Benevolence and the twentieth part of those that were not By which means that Work was so hastned and furthered that in a short time it was compleated and finished In the mean time great Preparations were making for the opening and holding of the Council of Trent to which the Pope endeavoured to procure that Divines might be sent from England To which end he dispatched to the Queen a Nuncio who being come into the Low Countries stayed there in hopes of procuring leave to be admitted into England for that it was provided by an ancient Statute that the Pope's Nuncio should not come into this Realm without Leave first obtained But the Queen having absolutely refused to admit the Nuncio most of the Princes of Christendom endeavoured to perswade her by then Letters to refer her self in matters of Religion to the Occumenical Council of Trent Whereto she made Answer That she was very desirous of an Occumenical Council but she would not send Deputies to a Popish Council that she had nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome whose Authority was expelled England by Act of Parliament and that it did not belong to the Pope but to the Emperour to call Councils nor could nor would she acknowledge any greater Authority in him than in any other Bishop Much about this time the Queen of Scots being sollicited by the Popish Party to return into that Kingdom and being grown weary of France since the Death of the late King her Husband she caused Queen Elizabeth to be desired to grant her free passage thither pretending that she could not ratifie the Treaty of Edinborough without the Advice of the Nobility of Scotland But Queen Elizabeth suspecting that some dangerous Practises were contriving against England for the preventing them not only thought fit to deny her her Request but to send Sir Thomas Randolph into Scotland to exhort the Nobility to mutual Amity and to keep firm to the Promises he had made her and he found them and the Congregation so well resolved to adhere to her that she was under no Apprehensions from the Scottish Queen or her Party However it was judged safe to intercept her if possible in her passage thither To which end a Squadron of Men of War was fitted out though under other Pretexts yet the Queen of Scots her self by the favour of a great Fog escaped unperceived by the English and landed safe in Scotland though some of the Ships that attended her in that Voyage were taken and brought into England That Queen being now in Scotland sends an Envoy with Letters to Queen Elizabeth wherein she expressed a great deal of Love and Kindness to her as her dearest Friend and Sister and desired that all true and sincere Friendship and Correspondence might be maintained between them Queen Elizabeth receiving Letters at the same time to the same effect from most of the Nobility of that Kingdom But this was not the whole Errand of this Envoy for the Queen of Scots did likewise by him demand to be declared Heir Apparent to this Kingdom as being she said the surest way to continue Amity and Friendship between the two Crowns Whereto the Queen could not be prevailed with to make any other Answer than that she would do nothing to the Prejudice of her Cousin of Scotland's Title leaving the rest to be considered of at a Personal Conference that was to be held at York shortly after which Interview was however broken off by Popish Contrivances lest it might be a means towards the creating in the Queen of Scots an inclination to the Reformed Religion And now finding that tho' she had made all the fair offers imaginable to the Spaniard and treated the Guises with all possible Kindness and Honour yet her Ministers at the Courts of Spain and France instead of meeting with fair Returns and Civilities received affronts upon all Occasions wherefore though she had found her Treasure all exhausted yet she began to make all imaginable Warlike preparations for the security of her self and Subjects And amongst other her Provisions for that purpose having caused a many Pieces of great Ordnance of Iron and Brass to be cast God favouring all she undertook caused a most rich Vein of rich and Native Brass to be discovered at the same time as was likewise the Stone called Lapis Calaminaris first found out in England being very necessary for Brass Works Her Majesty caused likewise Gun-powder to be made here at home being the first that had been made in England the English before having been obliged to beg hard and pay dear for it to Foreigners She also caused the several Garisons belonging to the Kingdom to be better strengthened with new Works Men and Fortifications She likewise increased the Pay of the Souldiers and took Care to provide for those that had been maimed in the Service of the Land She added to and provided her Fleet with all manner of Necessaries making it the best Navy that ever belonged to Brittain insomuch that all Foreigners did truly term her The Restorer of the Glory of Shipping and the Queen of the North Sea She caused all manner of People to furnish themselves with Arms and to use Martial Discipline and Exercise She gave all manner of Encouragement to Husbandry and Tillage by permitting the Transportation of Grain And by a Proclamation she prohibited the Merchants from supplying the Emperour of Russia with Ammunition against the Polanderâ— and caused the Officers of her Exchequer to pay duely the Pensions to such Religious Men as had been cast out of Abbeys She revoked the Commissions of the Purveyors both for the Garrisons and Fleet and designed to have done the same with those of her Household She augmented the Stipends of the Judges And though she was extreamly liberal and bountiful to desert yet she took Care not to alienate the Domain In the mean time the Civil War broke forth in France the Faction and Family of the Guises aiming at that Crown they were sensible that they should never compass their Designs as long as the Hugonots were in Being wherefore they used all manner of means to extirpate those Protestants insomuch that they were forced to take Arms both in Defence of their Sovereign and themselves Now Queen Elizabeth well knowing the Practises of the House of Guise to advance the Interests and Pretensions of the Queen of Scots she supplyed the Protestants of that Kingdom with Money Corn and Ammunition for the Service of the French King and for the defending the Protestant Religion and hindring the Dukedom of Normandy from being possessed by the Guises who might from thence with more Ease have executed their Designs upon England She obliged her self to aid the Prince of Conde and his Associates who headed the Protestants with her Forces both by Land and Sea for the taking in of such Castles Towns and Ports as were possessed by the Faction of the House of Guise
THE HISTORY OF THE GLORIOUS Life Reign and Death Of the ILLUSTRIOUS Queen ELIZABETH CONTAINING An Account by what means the Reformation was promoted and established and what Obstructions it met with the Assistance she gave to all Protestants abroad the several Attempts of the Papists upon her Life the Excommunications of Rome Bishop Jewel's Challenge to the Papists the several Victories she gained and more particularly that in 1588 with all the other Remarkable Occurrences of that time By S. CLARK Illustrated with Pictures of some considerable matters curiously ingraven in Copper Plates London Printed for Henry Rodes next door to the Bear Tavern near Bride Lane in Fleet-street 1682. TO THE READER Reader I Here present thee with the Glorious Life and Reign of the ever Renowned Queen Elizabeth a Piece as full of various Occurrences and Transactions as can well be comprehended in so small a Volume Thou hast here an Account of the many Persecutions she suffered both under the Reign of her Father and that of her Sister from her Mortal Enemies the Blood-thirsty Papists and how after that it had pleased God to shield her from all their Execrable Designs and Attempts Being placed upon the Throne of her Ancestors she introduced the Reformed Religion regulating it according to the Word of God the General Consent of the Fathers the Practice of the Primitive Times and the Example of such Churches as were freest from Superstition and Idolatry Here is likewise a Relation of the several Commotions in England Scotland and Ireland and by what means raised and suppressed Thou art here also entertained with a Faithful Narrative of the Supplies she gave to those of the Reformed Religion abroad and the Courses she took to defend and promote Protestantism in the Dominions of her Neighbours The whole Affair of the Queen of Scots is herein couched the several Conspiracies of the Papists against her Life during her Reign inserted and the utter Defeat of the so called Invincible Armado in Eighty Eight represented with all her other Victories both over the French and Spaniard and an Account of the Veneration and Respect that the Great Turk himself and the most barbarous Princes of that time had for this Illustrious Queen with all the other material Circumstances of her Victorious Life and Reign wherein if thou meetest with that Satisfaction I desire thee I shall think my Endeavours well bestowed S. CLARK THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Glorious Reign OF Queen ELIZABETH ELizabeth the youngest Daughter of King Henry the Eighth was born at Greenwich on the 7th day of September 1533. Her Mother being Queen Anne Bollen the Eldest Daughter of Thomas Bollen Earl of Wiltshire and of Elizabeth his Wife one of the Daughters of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England Now Anne Bollen in her tender years attending on Mary the French Queen to the Court of France was after that Queens return placed in the Retinue of the Dutchess of Alanzon where she got in perfection both the French Language and Air. She so abounded in all the Gifts of Nature that she became the most celebrated Beauty of that Court and returned to her own Countrey with all those Advantages that the French Breeding can add to an English Beauty Whereupon being admitted amongst the Queen's Maids of Honour at the Age of two and twenty years King Henry being thirty eight years old and overcome with the Excellency of her Charms and the gracefulness of her Behaviour endeavoured to make her his Wife in hopes of Issue Male. Now some time before this Ladie 's return from France King Henry being after seventeen years Marriage something disgusted with the Bigottry Reservedness and Spanish Gravity of Queen Katharine he became very susceptible of the Doubts and Scruples that were insinuated by the Ministers of the French King concerning the lawfulness of his Marriage with Queen Katharine his Brother Arthur's Wife The like being started by those of the Emperour concerning the Legitimation of the Lady Mary and all these fomented by Cardinal Wolsey who being disappointed of the Popedom and the Archbishoprick of Toledo both which the Emperour had flattered his hopes with He resolved to promote a Divorce for the better effecting his Revenge on the Emperour and the Measures he had taken with France by proposing a Match between Henry and that King's Sister and concluding a League with the French when they were at the lowest Ebb of Fortune In consideration of which the English remitted unto them a Debt of 500000 Crowns partly accruing by some former Contracts and partly for the payment of the Forfeiture incurred by Charles the Emperour with which the French King had charged himself by the Capitulations Hereupon the King maketh it his Request to the Pope that he would send Delegates into England to hear and examine this Business To which end the Pope appointed the Cardinals Campeius and Wolsey But the Pope did privily deliver a Bull to Campeius wherein seeming to be favourable to the King's Request he granted all things in case it should happen that the Marriage contracted with Queen Katharine were declared Null and no Marriage But this Bull was either to be concealed or published according to the Success of the Emperour's Affairs in Italy Now were Questions every where started and handled Whether it were allowed of by God's Law for the Brother to take to Wife the Brother's Widow and if this were forbidden by the Law of God whether it might not be made Lawful by the Pope's Dispensation But when several of the Universities of Christendom as likewise many of the Learned men of that Age had asserted such a Marriage to be repugnant to the Sacred Laws of both Testaments notwithstanding the Pope's Dispensation the King became daily more charmed with Anne Bollen which being discovered by Wolsey it not only cooled his Zeal in promoting the Divorce but made him endeavour and procure of the Bishop of Rome not to confirm the Judgments of the Universities by reason that Anne Bollen being extremely addicted to the Doctrine of the Protestants had conceived a great Aversion against him for his Pride and Ambition Whereupon the Pope notwithstanding the Supplications of the Prelates Nobility and Clergy of England for the confirming by his Apostolical Authority what the two Universities of this Land that of Paris and several others as well as divers Just and Learned men had affirmed to be true and were ready to maintain and defend as well by Word as Writing I say notwithstanding such manifold Assertions the Cause being prolonged and delayed both at Rome and in England without Consideration had to the King 's having defended the Apostolick See by his Sword Pen Word and Authority the King grows exasperated at the Court of Rome and resolves to make way through all Obstacles which might stand betwixt Him and the accomplishment of his Desires wherefore he first sends back Campeius an Alien born then caused Wolsey to be Indicted and
Conference was appointed to be held at Westminster between the Papists and Protestants 1. Concerning Common Prayer and administration of the Sacraments in the Vulgar Tongue 2. Concerning the Authority of the Church in constituting and abrogating Ceremonies to edification and 3. Concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass and Persons were chosen on both sides for to dispute upon these Points yet all fell to nothing not being able to agree upon the Method they were to hold in their Disputations the Papists not daring to dispute upon Points that had never been controverted in their Church without having first consulted the Pope but pretended and complained of the hard usage they had met with from the Lord Keeper Bacon in not giving them time sufficient to consider upon the Points in Question they looking upon him as their bitter Enemy And some of the Popish Bishops were so fiery and so extravagant in their Expressions as to declare that the Queen and all others that had occasioned the overthrow of the Superstitions of the Church of Roâ—â—e ought to suffer Excommunication and for this their impertinent Zeal were clapâ— into Prison But the more Prudent thought it more fit that this Censure should be left to the Pope lest as they were Subjects such Declarations in them might prove to be Rebellion In the mean time the Pope being made perfectly well acquainted with all these passages and being netled to the quick by so great a loss as he suffered by this change he ordered Sir Edward Carne who had been Ambassadour at the Court of Rome for King Henry the Eighth for Queen Mary and now for Queen Elizabeth not to act any longer as such And to use his own words By Vigour of a Commandment given by word of Mouth by the Oracle of the most Holy Lord the Pope in vertue of his most Holy Obedience and under pain of his greater Excommunication and loss of all his Goods and Lands not to depart the City but should take upon him the Government of the English Hospital Which was likewise done lest Sr. Edward should acquaint the Queen with the secret Practises of the French against her and was willingly submitted to by him out of h 〈…〉 fervent Zeal to Popery for either by thâ— Pope's Instigation or the Sollicitation 〈…〉 the French King or the Dauphin's Ambition who had married the Queen 〈…〉 Scots that Queen took upon her the stil 〈…〉 and Title of Queen of England quartering the Arms thereof in her Plate anâ— in all other things as she had Occasionâ— which she did as Cousin and next He 〈…〉 to the late Queen by which means shâ— imputed Bastardy to the Queen then l 〈…〉 ving which Extravagance was afterwards the loss of that unfortunate Lady 〈…〉 Head As Queen Elizabeth was somethinâ— startled at these Proceedings so it moveâ— her to pursue the Reformation she haâ— begun with the more Eagerness Tâ— which end she set out by Advice of h 〈…〉 Council a Body of Injunctions bein 〈…〉 much the same with those that haâ— been published in the beginning of t 〈…〉 Reign of King Edward but better fut 〈…〉 to the Temper of that Juncture 〈…〉 containing the severe Course taken 〈…〉 bout Ministers Marriages the Posture 〈…〉 the Communion Table the form 〈…〉 Prayers in the Congregation and the use of singing and of Reverences in Divine Worship to be kept in Churches By the Injunctions she made way to her Visitation which was performed by Commissioners in their several Circuits and regulated by a Book of Articles printed and published for that purpose By Vertue of which Articles the Commissioners removed all carved Images out of the Church which had been formerly abused to Superstition defacing likewise all such Pictures Paintings and other Monuments as were made for the Representation of feigned Miracles and this they did with so much Order Moderation and Decency that the Papists themselves could not find Fault with and without commiting the least Sacriledge by appropriating to their own use any of the Plate or other Utensils that had been restored and bestowed upon the Church in the late Queens Time Inquiry was in like manner made into the Life and Doctrine of Ministers their Diligence in their respective Cures the Decency of their Apparel the Respect that was borne them by their Parishoners the Reverent Behaviour of all manner of Persons during Divine Service Inquiry was also made into all sorts of Crimes as frequenting of Taverns and other publick Houses by the Clergy Adultery Fornication Drunkenness amongst the Laity with several other things that have since been practised in the Visitations of particular Bishops an Oath of Supremacy was likewise offered to most of the Popish Bishops and others of the Clergy which they had most of them sworn to in the time of Henry the Eighth and such as refused it were displaced and others substituted in their places And this was the Course and Method that was taken for the abolishing the Superstitions of Rome and the introducing and setling the true Reformed Religion in this Kingdom which was done with that ease and with so little Commotion and Disturbance as put all Christendom into Admiration to see that Gradually Maturely and yet in a short time this change had been brought to pass For after Popery had continued a full Month after Queen Maries Decease in the same estate as formerly on the Twenty seventh of December the Epistles Gospels the Lords Prayer Ten Commandments the Creed and the Litany were allowed to be used in English On the Twenty second of March the Parliament being then Assembled a Law of Edward the Sixth's was renewed whereby both kinds were permitted to be administred in the Lords Supper On the Twenty fourth of June by Authority of an Act the Sacrifice of the Mass was abolished and the Liturgy in the English Tongue Established in July the Oath of Supremacy was ministred to the Bishops and others And in August Images were removed out of the Churches broken or burnt Thus was our Church purified from the Filth and Idolatries of Popery and the Crown of England rendred more Independent than any other of Christendom who had rendred and continued themselves Slaves by submitting themselves to the Yoke of Rome and infinite Sums of Money were continued at home that used to be Exhausted hence by the See of Rome by Popish Artifice and Trifles for first Fruits Pardons Dispensations and other such like trash of Popery During these religious Transactions and while that Ecclesiastical Affairs were thus setling the Ministers of England and Spain at the Treaty of Peace at Cambray did contend hard for the Restitution of Calice all which was however to no purpose though they offered in Lieu thereof to remit three Millions of Crowns that were due from the French The Spaniard at that time holding firm to the English both for that the English had lost it in his Quarrels and that he was sensible according to all Appearances that it would be more
for his Interest in the Netherlands that it should be in the Hands of the English than possessed by the French On the contrary the French maintained that Calice alone was not sufficient to satisfie the Damages the English had done them in helping the Spaniards to take their Towns many places in Brittany having been burn'd by the English Fleet their Ships taken their Trade interrupted and vast Sums of Money spent in hindring an Invasion of the English But the Spaniard in the mean while having discovered Queen Elizabeth's Aversion to a Match with him the Paces she had made towards the introducing the Reformed Religion and her Resolution to treat with the French without Communication first had with him he grew faint and fell off from promoting the English Pretensions which being perceived by Queen Elizabeth and fearing that she should be abandoned if she continued any longer in her demands upon that Point or else preferring Publick Good before Private Interest she came at length to this Agreement That the French King should peaceably enjoy for the Term of eight years the Town of Calice with the Appurtenances and sixteen great Pieces of Ordnance and that when that term was expired he should restore the same with the Town to Queen Elizabeth or otherwise should pay unto the Queen the Sum of five hundred thousand Crowns In Consequence of which Accommodation Peace was proclaimed on the 17th of April between the Queens Majesty on the one part and the Most Christian King on the other as likewise between her and the King Dauphin with his Wife the Queen of Scots and all the Subjects and Dominions of the said four Princes The People were however dissatisfied with this Peace in regard that Calice was not restored and laid the blame thereof upon the Bishops and other Papists But the French King lived not long to enjoy the Benefit thereof he being killed at a Turnament in Paris by the Count de Montgomery and though his eldest Son and Successor Francis caused the Queen of Scots his Wife to assume the Title and Arms of England yet she resolved to bestow a Royal Obsequy on the King deceased which was accordingly performed in St. Paul's Church in a most Solemn manner The Parliament being now to be dissolved the House of Commons made an humble Address unto her in which they most earnestly besought her that for securing the Peace of the Kingdom and the Satisfaction of all her good and loving Subjects she would think of marrying without particularizing to her any one man but leaving to her the Choice of the Person Whereto she made Answer That she was obliged to them for their good Affections and took their Application to her to be well intended and the rather because it contained no Limitation of Time or Person which had it done she should have disliked it very much and have looked upon it as a very great Presumption That she had long since made choice of the State of Life wherein she then lived and hoped that God would give her Strength and Constancy to go thorough with it that if she had been inclined to have changed that Course she neither wanted many Invitations to it in the Reign of her Brother nor many strong Impulsions in the time of her Sister Moreover says she to satisfie you I have already joyned my self in Marriage to a Husband namely the Kingdom of England and behold continued she which I marvel you have forgotten the Pledge of this my Marriage and my Wedlock with my Kingdom and thereupon took the Ring off her Finger wherewith at her Coronation she had in a set Form of Words given her self in Marriage to her Kingdom And then making a Pause And do not said she upbraid me with miserable lack of Children for every one of you and as many as are Englishmen are Children and Kinsmen to me of whom if God deprive me not which God forbid I cannot without injury be accounted Barren And then having promised she would take a Husband in case the good of the State should so require she licensed them to depart to their several Businesses The Queen Coming through the City in Triumpâ— The Return of the Gospell The Poolling down burning of Popish Images Shortly after which came the Duke of Finland as Ambassador from the King of Sweden to propose a Marriage between Her Majesty and Prince Ericus that King 's Eldest Son and this Ambassadour having been magnificently treated by the Queen was at length dismissed with the same Success as all the rest who before and after came upon that Errand And now the Emperour and the Catholick Princes interceeded with the Queen by several Letters that such Bishops as were displaced might meet with a kind Usage and that the Papists might be allowed Churches by themselves in Cities Whereto she made Answer Although those Popish Bishops have insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and do now obstinately reject that Doctrine which most part of themselves under Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth had of their own Accord with Heart and Hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes Sakes deal favourably with them though not without Offence to her own Subjects But grant them Churches to celebrate their Divine Offices in apart by themselves she cannot with the Safety of the Common-wealth and without wrong to her own Honour and Conscience Neither is there any Cause why she should grant them seeing England embraceth no new and strange Doctrine but the same which Christ hath commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church hath received and the Ancient Fathers have with one Voice and Mind approved And to allow Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies besides that it openly repugneth against the Laws established by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Men's Minds to cherish factious Men's Humours disturb Religion and Common-wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things Which were a thing indeed evil in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and to themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly Commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her Natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heal the private Insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by Indulgence The Spaniard having lost all hopes of a Match between Queen Elizabeth and himself and fearing lest the Crown of England might happen to be joyned to the Scepter of France he perswaded the Emperour Ferdinand to propose one of his Sons for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth which accordingly he did by an Ambassadour whom he sent to that purpose but all to the same effect as the rest that had been before him In the mean time those of the Reformed
Religion in Scotland being weary of the French insolency and oppression and no longer able to endure the Idolatries and Impositions of the Church of Rome proceeded of their own Authority to a change in Religion and being influenced by the greatest Men in the Kingdom and stirr'd up by Knox in his Sermons they fell upon destroying all Altars and Images in several Places demolishing of some Religious Houses and burning of others And being countenanced and seconded by the Nobility they seize upon Perth and other places and assuming to themselves the Name of the Congregation they managed their own Affairs apart from the rest of the Kingdom and began to stand upon such high Terms as to pass an Act for the depriving the Queen Regent of all Place and Power in the publick Government Whereupon the Queen Regent to provide for her own security having already received some Forces out of France though not sufficient she desires and is assisted with farther Supplies Hereupon the Heads of the Congregation dispatch Melvin and Maitland Lord Secretary to the Queen of England making Complaints that since the Queen of Scots had been married to the Dauphin the Government of the Kingdom was changed all Places laid waste by Foreign Souldiers the highest Offices of the Kingdom were bestowed upon French-men the Castles and all other fortified Places put into their hands and the purer Money of the Realm was embased for their gain and that by these and such other like Contrivances the French made way for their seizing on the Crown of Scotland in case it happened otherwise than well with their Queen and therefore they implore her Succours and Assistance for the expulsion of that People who might otherwise be destructive and of ill Consequence to both Realms Whereupon this Affair being taken into consideration some were of Opinion that it was not safe for the Queen to condescend and comply with their desires but others were for the Queens granting them Succours considering that the French were making such extraordinary Preparations both in France and Germany of Men and Ammunition for to be transported into Scotland as were not only sufficient to subdue that Kingdom to their Wills but seemed to threaten an Invasion of England through that Door by their Contracting Alliances with other States and the French King's taking upon him the Title of England and therefore that the Queen was obliged both out of Piety and Prudence to give such assistance to the Scots as might hinder the French from taking possession of that Kingdom Hereupon great Preparations were made for this Expedition the Duke of Norfolk was appointed Lieutenant General in the Northern parts towards Scotland the Earl of Sussex who had been Deputy of Ireland in the late Queens time was sent back thither with Instructions for the preventing any Change in that Kingdom and the Queens Commissioners being met with those of the Scots at Berwick it was concluded and a League made to this Effect That whereas the French go against all right and reason to subdue Scotland and unite it to the Scepter of France the Queen of England shall take the Duke of Chastel-heraut Heir apparent to the Crown of Scotland and the Scotish Nobility and People unto her Protection as long as the French King hath Mary Queen of Scots in marriage and a year after She shall send an Army by Sea and Land with all Warlike provision to expel and exclude the French out of Scotland She shall not enter into Peace with the French but with condition that Scotland may enjoy her Ancient Liberty The Forts and Strong Holds recovered by the Aid of the English from the French shall forthwith be razed or else delivered into the hands of the Duke of Norfolk at his choice The English shall fortifie no Places in Scotland but by the Consent of the Duke of Chastel-heralt and the Nobility of Scotland The Confederates shall aid the English all they can they shall hold for Enemies all whosoever shall be Enemies to the English They shall not suffer the Kingdom of Scotland to be united to France by any other means than as they are now conjoyned by Marriage If England be invaded by the French on this side the Rivor Tine the Scots shall send two thousand Horse and a thousand Foot under the Queen of England's Pay But if it be invaded beyond the Tine they shall joyn with the English to assist them with all the Power they can make and that at their own Charges the space of thirty dayes as they use to do for the Defence of Scotland The Earl of Argyle Justicer General of Scotland shall do his best that the North part of Ireland be reduced into order upon certain Conditions on which the Lieutenant of Ireland and he shall agree Finally it is prescribed what both of them shall perform in case Mac Conel or other Hebridians shall attempt any thing in Scotland or Ireland For Confirmation of these Articles before such time as the English Army enter into Scotland Hostages shall be sent into England to be changed every Sixth or Fourth Month at the Choice of the Scots during the Marriage betwixt the French King and the Queen of Scots and a year after the Duke of Chastel-herault and the Confederate Earls and Parliamentary Barons shall ratifie these Articles by their hands and Seals within twenty days And withal for as much as the Queen of England undertaketh these things in no other respect than in regard of Amity and Neighbourhood to defend the Scots from the Yoke of servitude they shall make Declaration that they will yield Obedience to the Queen of Scots and the King her Husband in all things which shall not make for the taking away of their ancient Liberty In Consequence of this Agreement and of the publick Declarations of the French of their design to invade England an Army of six thousand Foot and three thousand Horse were sent into Scotland under the Command of the Lord Gray an expert Captain and some ships being sent to block up the Frieth of Edenborough they dispersed and put to flight some French Men of War that hovered upon that Coast. About the time that the English Army entred Scotland the French made Proposals and Promises of restoring Calice in case the Queen would recall her Forces Which she absolutely refused saying That she looked upon Calice as a poor Fisher Town in comparison of the safety and security of all Brittain Now the French seeing that the English had blocked up the Town of Leith by Sea and Land iâ— such â—â—â—â— as that there was no possibility of relieving it and finding themselves 〈◊〉 able to maintain their projects against 〈…〉 English Courages and Power the Fr 〈…〉 King proposeth a Peace and to that 〈…〉 sendeth Embassadours to Edenborough 〈…〉 confer and treat with Câ—cyl and Nicho 〈…〉 Wâ—tton Deaâ— of Canterbury and York 〈…〉 were sent thither as Commissioners 〈…〉 Queen Elizabeth who came at length to this Conclusion That
all the French Forces should immediately depart out of Scotland except sixty men only to bâ— left in Dunbar and as many in the Fo 〈…〉 of Nachkeeth that they should be transported for their greater Security in English Bottoms that all matters of Religio 〈…〉 should be referred to the following Parliament that an Act of Oblivion should be passed for the Indemnity of all who ha 〈…〉 borne Arms on either side that a general Bond of Love and Amitâ— should bâ— made betwixt the Lords and their 〈…〉 râ—nts of both Religions And 〈…〉 amongst many other Particulars That n 〈…〉 ther the Queen of Scots nor the French King should from thence forward 〈…〉 the Titles and Arms of England 〈…〉 Articles being signed for both Kin 〈…〉 the French 〈…〉 Scotland 〈…〉 English Army being returned home was thereupon disbanded Shortly after which the Earls of Morton and Glencarn were sent by the Congregation to pay their most 〈…〉 mble Thanks and Acknowledgments to â—er Majesty for her ready and successful Assistance and to implore the Continuation of her Favour and Protection in case they should be invaded by the French or any other Enemies Whereof having received gracious Assurances and being 〈…〉 obly entertained and bountifully rewarded with Gifts and Presents they returned with such Joy and Satisfaction to â—he Congregation that for these Reasons and for the further engaging her Protection they obliged themselves by their Subscription to embrace the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which for a time remained the only Form of Worship retained in the Kirke of Scotland After which they caused a Parliament to be called in Pursuance of the Articles of the Pacification from which no Person w 〈…〉 ed who had any Right of Suff 〈…〉 ose Authority three Acts pa 〈…〉 g wholly to the promoting and establishing of the Reformation The first was for the abolishing the Pope's Jurisdiction and Authority within that Realm the second For the annulling all Statutes made in former Times for maintenance of Idolatry and Superstition and the third for the Punishments of the Sayers and Hearers of Mass. And now let us return to England where the Earl of Arrain being recommended by the Protestants of Scotland for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth by that means to have united the two Crowns this Match was handsomly rejected by her and with great Commendation of the Person The like Address was made by the King of Denmark in Favour of Adolph Duke of Holstein a Prince who had gained great Honours by the Wars and who came himself over for that purpose but was dismissed by the Queen with the Honour of the Garter and a yearly Pension whereby she bound him for ever to her Interests At home Sir William Pickering the Earl of Arundel and Robert Dudley the Duke of Northumberland's younger S 〈…〉 statter'd themselves with the hopes 〈…〉 taining unto the Honour of being her Husband In the mean time the Lord Vicount Montacute the Queens Ambassador in Spain represents to that King the Necessity of the Scotish War endeavours to free the Scots from all Aspersions of Rebellion proving though a zealous Catholick that the Religion that was now introduced into England was wholly consonant to the Sacred Scriptures and the four first General Councils and demanded that the League of Burgundy might be renewed Whereto that King replyed That the confirming of the League was in no wise necessary bemoaneth the Change of Religion in England is troubled at the Expedition into Scotland sendeth back the Order of the Garter and taketh unkindly some Repulses in things of small Moment and though he gave some necessary Cautions as to Clauses to be inserted in the Treaty of Edenborough and for a while opposed the French Practiâ—â— at Rome who endeavoured to proâ—â—â—rt Queen Elizabeth to be excommunicated yet his Ministers incensing him 〈…〉 more and more against the Engl 〈…〉 Affronts were offered to the Queens Ambassador at his Court and he is likewise said to have then endeavoured to perswade the new elected Pope to thunder out his Bulls of Excommunication against her Majesty But the Court of Rome being sensible how little she valued those empty Crackers instead of complying with the Spaniard sent to her the Abbot Vincentio Papalia with secret Instructions and fawning Letters whereof you have here an Abstract To our most dear Daughter Elizabeth Queen of England OUR most dear Daughter in Christ greeting and Apostolical Benediction How greatly We do desire according as our Pastoral Office requireth to take care of your Salvation and to provide as well for your Honour as the Establishment of your Kingdom both God the Searcher of our Hearts knoweth and you your self may understand by the Instructions which we have given to this Our beloved Son Vincentio Papalia Abbot of St. Saviour a man known unto you and of Us well approved to be by him imparted unto You. We do therefore most Dear Daughter exhort and admonish your Highness again That rejecting bad Councellors â—â—â— love not you but themselves and serve their own Deâ—â—â—s You would take the Fear of God to counsel and acknowledging the time of your Visitation oâ—ey Our Fatherly Admonitions and wholsome Advices and promise to your self all things concerning Us which you shall desire of Us not onely for the Salvation of your Soul but also for the establishing and confirming of your Royal Dignity according to the Authority Place and Function committed to Us by God who if you return into the Bosoâ— of the Church as We wish and hope you will are ready to receive you with the same Love Honour and Rejoycing wherewith that Father in the Gospel received his Son who returned unto him although our Joy shall be so much the greater than his in that he rejoyced for the Salvation of one onely Son but You drawing with you all the people of England shall not only by your own Salvation but also by the Salvation of the whole Nation replenish Us and all our Brethren in General whom God willing you should hear shortly to be congregated in an Oecumenical and General Council for abolishing of Heresies and the whole Church with joy and gladness Yea you shall also glad Heaven it self and purchase â—y somemorable a Fact admirable Glory to your Name and much more renowned than that Crown you wear But of this matter the same Vincentio shall treat with you more at large and shall declare unto you our Fatherly affection whom we pray your Highness that you will graciously receive diligently hear and give the same Credit to his Speech which you would do to Our Self Given at Rome at Saint Peters c. The 1.5 day of May 1560. In our first year Notwithstanding all this Cajoslery Queen Elizabeth kept firm to her Motto viz. Always the same insomuch that the Pope was deceived in his hopes The proposals that the Pope is said to have designed to have made by this Abbot were That he would
of the young French King and the recovering of Calice they granted the Clergy one Subsidy and the Laity another with two Fifteens and Tenths During these Occurrences at home the Prince of Conde was intercepted and taken Prisoner in that memorable Battel of Dreux as was likewise Sir Nicholas Throgmorton who shortly after paying his Ransome was set at Liberty But the Admiral Chastillon Commanding both the English and French Forces had beetter Success by taking in of Caen and other considerable Places which so startled those of the Guisian Faction that they agreed unto an Edict of Pacification by which the French Princes were restored to their Kings favour Conde lured with hopes of the Lieutenancy General of France and a Marriage with the Queen of Scots the Hugonots allowed the free exercise of their Religion and all things setled for the present to their full satisfaction And having thus agreed among themselves and treacherously abandoned the English they join their Forces and contrive how to drive them out of New-haven in case they would not evacuate it upon demand Now sometime before this agreement the Hostages for Calice endeavoured to make their escape with Ribald a Famous Pilot who had been sent secretly into England for that purpose but were discovered and seized just as they were ready to take shipping The Queen having secret notice of the French designs upon New-haven offered to exchange it for Calice Which being refused War was Proclaimed on both sides And such an extraordinary great Fleet of the English scoured the Seas as not only shut up the French in their Havens but the Spaniards likewise and their Pyracies upon them being very great the Queen caused her Ambassadour to make Excuses at the Court of Spain and restrained them by Proclamation In the mean time New-haven being close Besieged and hard pressed by the French and the Pestilence raging horribly in the Town the English were forced to capitulate and render up that Place hoping that by leaving it they should escape the Plague but instead thereof they brought it with them into England where it sorely afflicted the whole Kingdom and especially the City of London where there dyed of it Twenty one Thousand one Hundred and thirty Persons The Fathers at Trent were very much displeased with Queen Elizabeth both for assisting the French Hugonots against their King and passing the Statute for Punishing all those who countenanced and maintained the Popes Authority within her Dominions which so incensed the Pope that he sent a Commission to those Fathers to proceed to an Excommunication of the Queen of England But the Emperour being by his Ministers sed with hopes of a Marriage betwixt the Queen and his Son the Arch-Duke Charles he by Letters to the Pope and his Legates disswaded them from proceeding to such Extremities and caused the Pope to revoke the Commission he had sent to his Legates in Trent Shortly after which that Council broke up but were so far from having re-united the Church that on the contrary the Breach was become greater and the Discords inreconcilable In the mean time the Cardinal of Lorrain fearing without any Reason a Match between Queen Elizabeth and Charles of Austria to divert it proposeth the said Charles for a Husband to his Neece the Queen of Scots who imparting this Business to Queen Elizabeth she advised her to marry but not the Arch-Duke and recommended to her for a Husband Robert Dudley and promised her That if she would marry him She should by Authority of Parliament be declared her Sister or Daughter and Heir of England in case she should dyeâ— without Issue But assoon as the Queen Mother and her Uncles in France had notice hereof they disswaded her from it promising if she would reject it and persist in the French Amity they would pay her her Dowry Money and lured the Scots with hopes of confirming their ancient Liberties and granting them new ones And though the Queen of Scots took all imaginable Care to gain the Love of her Subjects and keep them at Peace yet they insulted her frequently nor was she able to suppress the Commotions The Spaniard now grew daily more enraged against the English for that his Ambassador here had been confined to his House and subjected to Examinations and publick Reprehensions for that the English Privateers had invested the French upon the Coast of Spain and intended to set forth a Voyage to the West Indies And the King of Spain manifested his Displeasure by causing Proclamation to be made in Antwerp and other places though under Pretext of the Pestilence being in England that no English Ship with Cloaths should come into any part of the Low Countries causing the Goods of English men to be confiscated upon very light Causes and by new Edicts certain Merchandise were forbidden to be transported the Passage through the Low Country Provinces with Horses Salt Peter and Gunpowder out of Germany and Italy was forbidden Whereupon and at the earnest Suit of the Merchant-Adventurers the Queen prohibited the Transporting of Wool unwrought and the Mart or Staple of Cloaths or English Merchandizes was removed to Emden upon the River Ems in Friezland The Apprehension that these and other Circumstances gave the Queen of the Councils of Spain made her the more willingly hearken to a Peace with France which was concluded upon these Terms which were as advantageous as the Juncture would afford That neither Party should invade the other The one shall not aid any that invade the other Private Mens Facts shall bind themselves only Commerce shall be free Traytors and Rebels shall not be received Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted Injuries shall be buried in Oblivion Reservation of Rights and Titles also Actions Demands and Claims which they have or pretend to have one against the other respectively shall remain to them safe and whole and in like manner Defences and Exceptions shall be reserved A certain Sum of Money shall be repayed to Queen Elizabeth at times prefixed Upon the Payment of six hundred and twenty thousand Crowns the Hostages shall be delivered out of England and Throckmorton shall return free into his Country after Confirmation of the League Which Treaty being ratifyed on both sides the French King was invested with the Order of the Garter Being now at Peace with France and in fair-seeming Terms with the King of Stain she resolved to take the Diversion of a Progress in the Course of which she made a visit to Cambridge where she was received with all the Respect Ceremony and Acclamation imaginable and to her own as well as their extraordinary satisfaction and the like Honour she did to Oxford being attended with the same Circumstances Don Alvarze a Quadra Bishop of Aquila and Spanish Ambassadour here a Man zealously addicted to Popery had fed the Papists here with hopes of having the Romish Superstitions again restored in England and had been a Grand Promoter of the Distrusts and Dissatisfactions that were
the Subsidy saying that Money in her Subjects Coffers was as well as in her own Nevertheless she favoured very much the Queen of Scots Title and punished those who called it in question Shortly after these Occurrences the Queen of Scotland falling into a languishing Condition she recommended the Prince her Son to the Protection of Queen Elizabeth but before that happened her Affection for the King her Husband being much cooled and abated and this Unkindness in her being much fomented by one David Rizie an Italian first a Musician and afterwards French Secretary to the Queen The King her Husband through the instigations of several Lords resolved to dispatch a man who had taken upon him more than became him which having accordingly performed it was not long before the King himself was assassinated by Murray's Contrivances though some Historians have laid that Regicide to the Queen his Wife's Charge After this detestable Action they perswaded the Queen to accept of the Earl of Bothwel one of the Conspirators for a Husband being a Person renowned for his Courage and therefore the better able to assist her against so many Enemies as she was represented to have but being accused of that horrid Parricide he was brought to the Bar and acquitted by Law Whereupon having new Honours conferred upon him the Queen accepted him for a Husband which bred a Suspition in several People That the Queen was privy to the Murder Which Umbrage being promoted by the Male-contents they took Arms caused Bothwell to fly though as some say privy to their Designs and having seized on the Queen they put her into Prison which Queen Elizabeth having notice of and detesting the Insolency of those People she sent Sir Nicholas Throckmorton into Scotland to expostulate the matter with the Confederates and procure her Restauration to her former Freedom and Authority Yet though this Ambassadour used all imaginable Arguments in Vindication of that Queen yet he found that People so strangely exasperated against her that instead of complying with his Demands they put the Queen under a stricter Confinement insomuch that at last to make her freely resign the Government of the Kingdom they menaced to call her in question for Tyranny the King's Murder and incontinent Living insomuch that at length they compelled her to set her hand to three Instruments In the first whereof she resigned her Kingdom to her young Son at that time scarce thirteen Months old In the second she constituted Murray Vice-Roy during the Minority of her Son and in the third she named in case that Murray should refuse that Office several of the principal Noble-men of the Kingdom Within a few days after this Resignation James the Sixth her Son was crowned King the famous John Knox preaching the Coronation Sermon Now Murray being declared Regent he advised the Queen not to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom by endeavouring her Liberty by Instigating the Queen of England or the French King to a War with Scotland or by thinking any more of Bothwell's Love or meditating Revenge upon his Adversaries As soon as Murray was confirmed in the Regency he put to death some of Bothwell's Servants who protested at their Execution that Murray and Morton were the Contrivers of the Kings Death But while that the Queen of England and the French King were in vain solliciting the Liberty of the Queen of Scots eight years being now expired since the Treaty of Cambray Ministers were sent into France to demand the re-delivery of Calice with the Appurtenances but this Business being delayed and prorogued by the French from time to time at length the thoughts of it were wholly laid aside through the Civil War that then broke out in France In the mean time the Earl of Sussex being sent Ambassador to the Emperour to treat of the Marriage that had been proposed by his Imperial Majesty in favour of the Arch Duke his Brother which Commission he the more willingly accepted of in that it might be a means for the destroying the Earl of Leicester's Pretensions But he met with several Difficulties in this Negotiation both as to Religion the Arch Duke's Maintenance the Title of King and the Succession As for the Title the Arch Duke Charles should enjoy the Name and Title of King of England Concerning the Succession He could not by the Laws of England succeed for that would have been prejudicial to their Children of whom it was agreed however that he should have the Guardianship and all other things as fully granted as they had been to Philip of Spain when he married to Queen Mary As touching his Maintenance he would at his own charge maintain the Train he should bring and keep about him the Queen would bountifully supply the rest according to his Royal Dignity nay and that other also if he would require it But the main obstacle was concerning Religion the Emperour and Arch Duke requiring a publick Church for the celebrating Divine Service after the Romish manner which not being granted nor the Expedient allowed of that was devised by the Emperour that he might have some private place in the Court granted him for Divine Service upon condition that no English man should be admitted thereunto That he himself should forbear in case of any Disorders in point of Religion That neither he nor any of his should speak against the Religion of the Church of England and moreover That he himself should be present with the Queen at Divine Service to be celebrated after the manner of the Church of England Yet notwithstanding these plausible Offers the Queen after mature Deliberation made Answer That should she consent hereunto she should offend her Conscience and openly break the publick Laws of the Realm which could not be done without endangering both her Dignity and Safety but however invited the Arch Duke Charles to come into England promising That he should not repent of his Journey Whereupon the Emperour dismissed Sussex with great Honour and thus those Proposals fell to nothing by degrees though all mutual good Offices continued to pass between the Queen and the Emperour who persevered in thwarting all the Designs of the Pope against her Majesty and not long after the Arch Duke Charles took to Wife a Daughter of the Duke of Bavaria Much about the same time came Ambassadours to the Queen from the Emperour of Russia and Muscovia bringing very rich Presents to her Majesty that Emperour having granted very great Priviledges to the English who had not long before discovered a Passage by Sea into his Countrey and of whom a Company was formed for Commerce into those parts With those Ambassadors returned into England Anthony Jenkinson being the first of all the English who sailed upon the Caspian Sea By him the Czar made Proposals of an Offensive and Defensive League with the Queen which her Majesty made slight of not being willing to enter into farther League with a Prince who had created an Aversion to him in his
who was again committed to the same Place it having been discovered by a Pacquet of Letters that he still continued in his Affections Design to marry and free out of Prison the Queen of Scots having for that end kept correspondence with the Pope and the other Enemies of the Crown and traiterously consulted to take away the Queens Life and to bring in Foreign Forces to invade the Kingdom for which being brought to his Tryal he was found guilty by his Peers and accordingly beheaded The Parliament being assembled upon this occasion it was Enacted amongst other Laws that if any man should go about to free any Person imprisoned by the Queens Commandment for Treason or Suspicion of Treason and not yet arraigned he shall lose all his Goods for his life time and be Imprisoned during the Queens Pleasure if the said Person having been Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his Life if Condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion Presently after the Dissolution of the Parliament a Consultation was had whether John Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke of Alva's Searcher who some time before having been engaged to go on Board a Ship to search for Goods was by that piece of cunning brought into England being an English Man born and having in Brabant consulted with a Foreign Prince were to be held guilty of High Treason which being given in the affirmative by the Learned in the Law he was thereupon brought to his Tryal and Accused of having consulted with one Preshal a Conjurer to make away the Queen that he had Cursed her daily when he said Grace at Table that he shewed a way to the Duke of Alva how to Invade England of which being found guilty he accordingly suffered Death as a Traytor About this time Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox Regent of Scotland and the King's Grandfather was surprized unawares by the Nobility of the adverse Faction and having yielded himself to David Spence of Wormstone who thereupon lost his Life in his Defence and they were both slain together by Bell and Chaulder after he had with great Pains and care governed the Kingdom for his Grandchild above fourteen Months and in his room was unanimously elected by the Kings Faction the Earl of Marr for Regent of Scotland but the place being two full of troubles for a Man of his quiet Disposition he departed this Life after he had Governed thirteen Months Some few days after the Execution of the Duke of Norfolk one Barnes and Mather were put to Death for Conspireing with one Herle to take away the Life of certain Counsellours and freeing the Duke and at the same time suffered one Rolph for Counterfeiting the Queens hand Shortly afterwhich the Queen conferred new Honours upon several of the Nobility concluded a League with the French King and sent several Persons to expostulate with the Queen of Scots for that she had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the Agreement of the Treaty of Edenborough that she had endeavoured the Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk without acquainting the Queen and had used all forcible means to free him out of Prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had releived the Rebells both in Scotland and in the Low Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spain and others had conspired with certain of the English to free her out of Prison and declare her Queen of England and finally that she had procured the Pope's Bull against the Queen and suffered her self to be publickly named the Queen of England in Foreign Countries all which Points she either denyed or endeavoured to extenuate And though as she said she was a free Queen and not subject to any Creature yet she was willing and desired that she might make her personal Answer at the next Parliament In the mean time Scotland was full of Civil Distractions and Dissentions the English countenancing the King's Party and the French the other And the King of Spain having made Complaints to the Queen by his Ambassador that the Low Country Rebells were entertained and harboured in England the Queen caused a severe Proclamation to be put forth That all the Dutch who could in any wise be suspected of Rebellion should immediately depart the Kingdom which proved rather disadvantageous than beneficial to the King of Spain For Count Vander Marea and other of the Netherlanders being hereupon compelled out of England first seised upon the Brid and then upon Flushing the Surprize of which Places being attended by the Revolt of other Towns the Spaniards were in a short time in some kind excluded from the Sea and were never after able to recover themselves in those Countries During these Transactions the French Ambassador here made Intercession in the behalf of the Queen of Scots and likewise endeavoured to promote the Match between the Queen and the Duke of Anjou but perceiving that all his Offices were to no purpose he returned into France where he found that Court very much taken up with making Preparations for the Marriage of the King of Navarr with the Lady Margaret the French King's Sister To this Solemnity were allured by an inviting prospect of perpetual Peace and Amity not only the Queen of Navarr and the Chief of all the Protestants in that Kingdom but likewise the Earl of Leicester and the Lord Burleigh the Elector Palatine's Sons with several of the Principal of the Reformed Party of other Nations were desired to be at the Celebration of that Marriage designing at one Blow to have cut down the Protestant Religion And though those Blood-thirsty Papists could not catch all they aimed at yet as soon as the Marriage was Solemnized there followed that Cruel Massacre of Paris and that terrible Butchering of the Hugonots throughout all the Cities of France but for the extenuating and vindicating of this horrible Fact Proclamations and Edicts were immediately put forth whereby the Protestants were accused of a Conspiracy against the King and the whole Royal Family But the French King notwithstanding his mask of Piety did not escape Divine Vengeance for before a year was expired he fell sick of a Bloody Flux which brought him to his end after long and tedious Torments And now came the Head of the Earl of Northumberland to the Block who Rebelling and then flying into Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered for a Sum of Money to the Lord Hunsdon Governor of Berwick and was shortly after Executed at York About this time was Sir William Cecyl Lord Burleigh promoted to be Lord High Treasurer of England upon the Decease of the Marquess of Winchester who a little before ended his days after he had lived Ninety seven years and had seen the Issue of his Body to the number of One hundred and three Persons Not long before which was a motion made to the Queen in favour of a Match between her Majesty and the Duke of
the Queen to Poyson her and had likewise engaged several Portugals in the same Design but this Plot of theirs being discovered by intercepted Letters and afterwards confirmed by their own Confessions they were accordingly executed as likewise one Patrick Cullen an Irish Man who had been sent by the English Fugitives to kill the Queen Amongst other Expeditions and Voyages of the English into America was that of James Lancaster who returned home about this time after having took nine and thirty Spanish ships and loaded fifteen more with the Wealth of an Indian Caraque About this time William Russel youngest Son of the Earl of Bedford was sent Deputy into Ireland in the room of Sir William Fitz Williams who was called home and this new Deputy quickly brought the Rebells there to submission There was likewise a new but false rumour spread abroad that the Spaniards were equipping a Fleet for the invading of England again At which time two Papists were executed for having designed the Death of the Queen The King of Scots was now making Levies all over Scotland for the joyning with Queen Elizabeth and resisting the Spaniard Sir Walter Rawleigh being now under some Disgrace at Court undertook a Voyage to Guyana and though he did considerable dammage to the Spaniard yet this Expedition was of little advantage to the English or himself Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins with several others went again into America but not meeting with the success they had promised themselves they dyed what of Grief what of sickness and the Fleet returned home without having done any great Exploits During these Expeditions abroad the Combustions in Ireland being grown to a considerable height and those Rebells having craved the assistance of the King of Spain Sir John Norris was sent over thither with new Forces to aid the Deputy The Arch Duke and Cardinal of Austria being now made Governour of the Spanish Netherlands he unexpectedly attacqued and took in Cales Whereupon the Queen sent supplies of Money to the French King and gave order for the immediate raising a choice Army whereof she made the Earl of Essex General and fitted out a Fleet under the Command of Charles Howard Lord High Admiral of England these Forces amongst whom were several Volunteers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry being put on Board the ships they set Sail under the Conduct of the foresaid Lords under Sir Walter Rawleigh Sir Francis Vere and other the Principal Commanders of the Realm and arrived before Cales and having before received intelligence that there lay at Anchor in that Haven several Galleys Men of War and a number of Merchants it was resolved in the Council of War that they should be attacked Whereupon the Earl of Essex flung up his Hat for joy The English thereupon first engaged the Spanish Ships and Gallions which they did with that Vehemence that some were burnt by them others by the Spaniards themselves but the Gallies made their escape by creeping along the shoar When the Sea engagement was at an end the Earl of Essex landed with eight hundred Souldiers at Puntal about a League from the Town of Cales and the Spanish Forces that were there abouts being drawn up between the Town and them with design to have intercepted them the English attacqued them with that fury that they put them to rout but upon consideration they thought fit to make a feigned Retreat that the Fugitives might rally and joyn the Troops of Cales which such a Stratagem was hoped might entice out of the Town Which succeeding accordingly they fell upon them again with that English Fury and Courage that great numbers of them were slain and the rest were forced to take refuge in the Town where the English quickly overtook them for the Gate being broke by Sir Francis Vere and other parts of the Town scaled by the English insomuch that that wealthy Town was taken by Assault and the Castle upon Condition that the Inhabitants might depart with Cloaths on their Back the rest left for Plunder the Castle being to be redeemed for five hundred and fourscore thousand Duckets forty of the Principal Cittizens being sent Hostages for the payment into England a vast quantity of Money and Ammunition being found in the Town The Spaniards likewise proffered Sir Walter Rawleigh two Millions of Duckets to exempt their ships from firing which he would not hearken to saying That he was sent to destroy ships not to dismiss them upon Composition And it was generally calculated and acknowledged by all People that the Spaniard was damnified by this Expedition twenty Millions of Duckets The Fleet being returned home after this Glorious Victory the Queen made Sir Francis Vere Governour of the Briel and rewarded all the rest according to their Deserts The Spaniard in the mean time to repair the Honour he had lost at Cales set forth a new great Fleet for the Invasion of England and Ireland but were most of them castaway by Storm before the News of their fitting out came into England In the mean while the Queen fortify'd her Ports and provided her self against any farther Attempts of that kind She likewise entred into a League Offensive and Defensive with the French King hearing that the Spaniards were preparing a new Navy against Ireland Whereupon the Queen caused a considerable Fleet under the Command of the Earl of Essex to put forth to the Coast of Spain After they had taken and plundered some Towns and likewise made a Prize of some of their India Ships they returned home but not with all the Success they had promised themselves at their setting out by reason of the contrary Winds and Tempests they had met with in their Voyage Essex at his coming to Court was something disgusted to find that some of his Competitors to the Queens Favours had been raised to new Honours Dignities and Places during his Absence but was something pacified by the Queens creating him Earl Marshal of England But during these Transactions the English did extraordinary Performances in France in behalf of that King which he acknowledged in his Letters to the Queen and craved farther Assistance from her Majesty upon the Spaniards having gained some Advantage over him which was accordingly granted But the French a while after upon the Instigation of the Pope concluded Peace with Spain notwithstanding the Instances that were made to him by the Queen and the States General to the contrary Hereupon followed a Consultation whether a Treaty of Peace was to be held with the Spaniard which being opposed by the Earl of Essex was laid aside for som time but then again revived through the Mediation of the French and the Commissioners met accordingly at Bulloign but upon Dispute of Precedency was broken off altogether In the mean time Tir-Oen breaking out into open Rebellion in Ireland and having gained a greater Victory of the English than the Irish had ever done before after some debate the Earl of Essex was sent
Subjects through his Tyranny and Arbitrary Practises Now Let us pass over into Ireland where we shall find Shan O Neal so puffed up with some Victories he had gained in the Queen's Service that he fell to committing such Extravagances that the English could not forbear checking him which his haughty Spirit not being able to brook he again breaks out into Rebellion but having received several Losses and being defeated by the English he designed to have craved Pardon and submitted himself to the Lord Deputy But being disswaded by some of his Crew from so doing he was advised to try the Amity of the Hebridians by whom he and his were slain after a seeming kind Reception After his Death some Commotions were raised in other parts of Ireland through the Dissentions of the Earls of Ormond and Desmond which were stilled by seizing on the latter and sending him into England Releiving the poore Protestants in France The Queen Courted by Severall Prinfess The Pope s Bull set on the Pallace gate he hang'dy t did it In the mean time the Duke of Anjou was recommended for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth by the Queen Mother of France And the English Ambassadour at the Court of Spain was uncivilly used for having spoken irreverently of the Pope and Sir John Hawkins being with some Ships in America for Commerce he was set upon by the Spaniards contrary to Capitulations and Treaties many of his Men being slain by them and his Goods pillaged which so exasperated the English here at home that they demanded a War against the Spaniard In the mean time the Protestants lying under heavy Persecutions in France Queen Elizabeth took them into her Protection supplyed them with Money and Ammunition and received with all manner of kindness those that fled hither notwithstanding they had basely abandoned her at New-haven And now the War began to flame forth in the Low Countries For the Duke of Alva a Man of the highest Arbitrary and Tyrannical Principles being sent Governour thither by the Court of Spain and being an Enemy of their Nations he trampled under Foot all their Privileges introduced the Inquisition and endeavoured by all manner of Cruelties to extirpate the Protestant Religion in all Places of his Government insomuch that the People being no longer able to support his Tyranny began to be Tumultuous which though quieted for a while burst out at length into a long and dangerous War At that time vast Sums of Money being sent in some Spanish Ships by Italian Merchants to be employed in Bank in the Low Countries for the ruine of the Protestants there and being forced by French Men of War to take refuge in England the Queen at first ordered that the Spaniards should be kindly used and be defended against the French and the Money being brought on Land for the better security and the Queen having notice to what ill Purposes it was designed and that it did not belong to the Spaniard himself she was advised by the Privy Council to borrow it of the Merchants some of the Owners themselves being affraid the Duke of Alva would seize upon it Yet she religiously promised to restore it if it was made out that it was the Spaniards own Money Whereupon the Impetuous Duke of Alva immediately caused all Goods to be seized that belonged to the English in the Low Countries and kept the Englishmen Prisoners And the Queen caused the same to be done with the Dutch Merchants here in England which being of far greater value than those of the English the Spaniard had reason to repent of these and other Courses that brought upon him an Unfortunate and Bloody War Upon the Detention of this Money several Peers of the Realm accused Sir William Cecil of sending Money into France but the Queen finding that all this proceeded from their envying his being so much in her favour she checked them and protected him In the mean time the Duke of Alva sent a Person to demand the Money but after some stay returned with a denial hereupon that Duke prohibited all Commerce with the English and appointed Searchers to hinder any thing from being imported or exported out of the Low Countries by them amongst whom was one Doctor Story an English Fugitive and a Person who had used several means against the Queens Life and suggested to the Spaniard an Invasion of England Hereupon the Duke of Alva gave order that none but Men of War should put to Sea out of the Low Countries and that they should seize on the English wheresoever they met with them And the Spaniard used several other Practices for the raising a Rebellion in Engiand and Ireland but all to no purpose The English hereupon remove their Staple to Hamburgh and so plyed the Spaniard with Privateers that the Queen thought fit to restrain them by Proclamation Now though such as envyed the Prosperity of England used all manner of Contrivances to disturb it and amongst others endeavoured to put a stop to that part of our Trade as then flourished in Russia by sowing Dissention between the English and the Russians and amongst the English themselves yet they were in that Favour with that Emperour out of the respect he bare to Queen Elizabeth that he granted them freedom from all Customes in his Countrey allowed them liberty to trade all over his Empire and through it to Astracan and so by the Caspian Sea into Persia. And though that Emperour was somewhat disgusted at some Refusals and Slights of the Queen yet he ever continued to use the English with all possible Humanity and Kindness In the mean time Murray having clap'd up in Prison the principal Favourers of the Queen of Scots Party it caused several Rumours to be spread abroad to his disadvantage which Queen Elizabeth having dispersed by a Publick Writing she taking Pity of the Queen of Scots condition sollicited her Restauration to her Crown and Dignity But while she was making these Paces in her favour she found that that Queen did underhand Cabal against her and was contracting a Marriage with the Duke of Norfolk without her Privity and Consent whereupon that Duke was committed to the Tower and the Bishop of Rosse and Ridolâ—h the Florentine to Sir Walsingham's Custody About which time the Earls of Northumberland Westmerland and others made an Insurrection in the North being instigated thereunto by one Morton a Popish Priest who was sent by the Pope to pronounce Queen Elizabeth an Heretick But after these Rebels had by their Declarations invited all the Catholicks to come in to their Assistance and committed several Extravagancies at Durham by tearing to pieces all the Bibles and Common-Prayer-Books in the English Tongue that they could find in the Churches there and after twelve dayes Rebellion finding their Army to be but six hundred Horse and four thousand Foot strong and hearing that the Queens Forces were marching against them in two Bodies the one of seven and the other of twelve
Authority of Parliament To which Propositions the Queen of Scots replyed with a Proviso referring the fuller Answer to the Bishop of Ross her Ambassadour in England and to some other Delegates who afterwards granting some of the Propositions and rejecting others the Treaty came to nothing and things remained in the same state as they were in before Onely Queen Elizabeth as Head of all Britain by her Authority prorogued the Parliament of Scotland Whilst things were in this posture the Pope supplied the English Rebells and Fugitives with Monies and Philip of Spain contracted a Marriage with Anne of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian his own Neece by his Sister and she being to go by Sea from Zealand into Spain Queen Elizabeth to shew the Love and Respect she had for the House of Austria sent Sir Charles Howard with the Navy Royal to Convoy her through the British Sea And now Queen Elizabeth having compleated the Twelfth year of her Reign which some Wizzards had flattered the Papists that it would be her last the People out of their great Affection and Loyalty to her Majesty celebrated the 17th of November with all the Pomp Joy and Thanksgiving imaginable which was not only continued upon that day during her Life but even to this very day In Ireland a new Rebellion was contrived by the Earl of Thoumond and his Adherents which was disappointed when it was just ready to break out merely by the Earl's Suspicions of his being discovered whereupon he fled into France and confessing his Crimes and showing himself very penitent to the Queen's Ambassador there this Minister procured him his pardon and the Restitution of his Estate Soon after which Queen Elizabeth made a very magnificent Entry into the City of London for to go see the new Burse which Sir Thomas Gresham had newly built and in a solemn manner nam'd it the Royal Exchange with Sound of Trumpets and by the Voice of an Herald Shortly after which she created Sir William Cecyl Baron of Burghley There was at this time in England Delegates from the King of Scots of whom Queen Elizabeth having demanded that they should explain the Reasons they had for deposing their Queen whereupon they exhibited so insolent a Writing that the Queen could not read it without Indignation and told them That she did not see that they had any just Cause to treat their Queen after that manner and therefore desired they would immediately think of some means to allay the Dissentions of that Kingdom Hereupon several Propositions were again made them for the setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty which being rejected by the Scottish Delegates and Norfolk beginning a new his Practices in favour of that Queen and she her self corresponding and caballing with the Enemies of the Crown of England whereto they were both excited by Ridolpho the Pope's Agent that Queen had many of her Servants taken from her and she her self put under a stricter Confinement and a watching Eye was kept over the Duke to whom the Pope had promised great Assistance both of Money and Men in case he would raise a Rebellion assuring him That the King of Spain would aid him with four thousand Horse and six thousand Foot and that he had already deposited a hundred thousand Crowns and that he would be at all the Charge of the War But whilst these things were acting in England the Queen of Scots Party was very much oppressed in Scotland several of her principal Adherents being put to Death and their strongest Holds taken in In France was the Marriage now solemnized between Charles the Ninth the French King and Elizabeth of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian to Congratulate which the Lord Buckhurst was sent into France by Queen Elizabeth and was there received with all the Honours and Pomp imaginable and possibly the more in respect of a Motion that the French Court designed to make in favour of a Match between the Duke of Anjou and the Queen of England After the Lord Buckhurst had performed his Commission he returned home with great Presents and with one Cavalcantio a Florentine who had attended him in his Embassy This Cavalcantio being a prudent Person was entrusted by the Queen Mother of France to make a motion of this Match to Queen Elizabeth Which he accordingly performed and the Queen seemed to listen favourably to the Proposal for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdom of England the Dukedoms of Anjou Bourbon Avern and possibly the Kingdom of France it self Whereupon a Treaty was held in which the French proposed three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the joint Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a toleration of his Religion whereto it was replyed that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but hardly the third for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdom yet between a Wife and her Husband it seemed very incongruous and inconvenient however the matter was brought at length to this Conclusion that if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Roman not being expressly against the Word of God But they could not accommodate these Niceties insomuch that the Treaty was quite broak off after it had continued almost a Year But during these Occurrences it happened at Kinnaston in Herefordshire the ground was seen to open and certain Rocks with a piece of Ground removed and went forwards four days together carrying along great Trees and Sheep-Coats some with sixty Sheep in them and overthrew Rimnalstone Chappel the Depth of the whole where it first broke out is thirty Foot and the bredth of the Breach sixteen Yards also High-ways were removed near an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedg-rows and the like And now the Papists were plotting and contriving new Attempts against the Queen but they were all frustrated by the goodness of God and the Prudence of the Queen and the Loyalty and Zeal of her Ministers and Protestant Subjects Amongst others of those Devillish Instruments of Popery was the Bishop of Ross the Queen of Scots Ambassador who made it his whole Business to excite and stir up People to Rebellion He had laid several Plots for seizing Queen Elizabeth and freeing the Queen of Scots but they all failed him in the Execution But notwithstanding that Bishop had received so many checks for these Practices of his yet he continuing them to that degree as not only to pervert the Subjects from their Loyalty but even to Designs against the Queen's Life the Privy Council after mature Deliberation in the Business notwithstanding his Character thought fit he should be sent and kept close Prisoner in the Tower which was accordingly done as likewise with the Duke of Norfolk
Alanzon the French King's youngest Brother which though rejected by her by reason he was scarce seventeen years old and the Queen now past eight and thirty yet Alanzon did not cease prosecuting the Suit In the mean time the Queen fell sick of the Small Pox but recovered again before that it was known abroad that she was so attending the Affairs of Government taking Care to suppress several fresh Rebellions in Ireland and sending a new Colony thither She also repaid with Thanks the Money she had borrowed of her Subjects and put forth two Proclamations by one of which she commanded the Noble-men to observe the Law in keeping Retainers by the other she restrained Informers who under the pretence of discovering Crown-Lands concealed by private Persons sacrilegiously seized upon the Lands of Parish Churches and Alms-Houses piously endowed by the Queens Ancestors And she likewise gained a great deal of Love and Honor by two Acts of Justice the one That she satisfyed the English Merchants out of the Goods that were detained belonging to the Dutch and restored the rest to the Duke of Alva and made a full Transaction with the Merchants of Genoua for the Money intercepted the other That she free'd England at this time of the Debts which her Father and her Brother had contracted in Foreign parts and were encreased by yearly Interest and caused the Obligations of the City of London which had been so often renewed to be given in to the great Satisfaction of the Citizens The Spanish Conduct in the Low Countries having not met with that Success that was expected on the contrary several of their Towns being lost all the Provinces ready for a Revolt and the Fleet they had sent to the Relief of the English Catholicks vanquished by the Zelanders and the Duke of Alva finding how disadvantageous the cutting off Commerce with the English had been to his Masters Subjects he began to treat the English with more Kindness and thereupon the Commerce was again laid open which had been for some Years prohibited between the English and Dutch for two years which term being expired the English removed their Trade to the Confederated States In the mean time comes over a French Ambassadour to complain of the assistance that the Queen gave to the Hugonots of that Kingdom to Request her Majesty to be Godmother to the French King's Daughter and to use all manner of Offices toward the promoting a Match between the Queen and Duke of Alanzon Whereupon her Majesty sent the Earl of Worcester into France with a Present of a Font of Massy Gold and to stand as her Deputy at the Solemnity of the Christening And now the French use all their efforts for the advancing of this Match desiring that the Duke of Alanzon might have leave to come over which after much importunity she consented to upon condition that he should not take it for any Disgrace should he return without obtaining his Suit And that he should first procure a Peace in France and do something in favour of the Protestants of that Kingdom Whereupon a Peace was concluded and the Hugonots allowed the Exercise of their Religion in certain Places And the Duke of Anjou being elected King of Poland and resolving to go by Sea thither the French desired that he might have free Passage through the British Ocean which the Queen not only willingly granted but made Offer of a Fleet for the convoying him thither There having been no Regent in Scotland ever since the Earl of Marre's Death James Douglas Earl of Morton was now made Regent by the Procurement of Queen Elizabeth and was continued and maintained by the Authority and Power of Queen Elizabeth maugre all the Practices of the Papists and the French against him This Regent enacted many profitable Laws for the Defence of Religion against Papists and Hereticks in the King's Name But the Protection and keeping of the King's Person he confirmed to Alexander Ereskin Earl of Marre to whom the Custody of the Kings in their tender years belongeth by a particular Priviledge though he were in his Minority And now the Regent meeting with some Opposition through the Practices of the French he implored Aid of Queen Elizabeth which she granting him he therewith overcame his and the Kingdom 's Enemies and brought that Realm into a very setled and quiet Posture About this time the Bishop of Rosse was let out of Prison but expelled England and being abroad he continued his Sollicitations to the Pope and all Catholick Princes in favour of the Queen of Scots his Mistress from all whom he received fair Promises but no Performances And indeed he had lost the main support of his Hopes in the Duke of Alva who about that time was recall'd from his Government of the Low Countreys both for that he was grown too Great and that the People there had a Mortal Aversion for his Person by reason of his Cruelty He was succeeded by Requesens a man of a milder Spirit minding his own not concerning himself with either English or Scottish Affairs but endeavoured to oblige Queen Elizabeth by all manner of good Offices Now again broke out several new Rebellions in Ireland but were suppressed by the care and Industry of the Queen's Ministers and Officers there But they had raised a desire in Walter Devereux Earl of Essex to go against them which being opposed by Sir William Fitz-Williams Deputy of Ireland an Expedient was found out by the Queen by appointing Essex to take a Patent of the Deputy which having accordingly done he went into Ireland with some Forces but not meeting with the Success he had promised himself he long sollicited and at length obtained leave to return home In the mean time the King of Navarre and the Duke of Alanzon a Pretender to the Queen being suspected by the Queen Mother of France of some Designs against her Authority were put under Confinement whereupon Queen Elizabeth sent an Envoy to sollicit their Reconciliation and Liberty But now Charles the French King dying he was succeeded by his Brother Henry the Third who having left the Throne of Poland and being returned into his own Countrey my Lord North was sent Ambassador to congratulate his Arrival and Inauguration into his Kingdom who in return sent a Person with the same Character hither but whose chief Errand was to make strong Intercessions in the King 's and Queen Mothers name in Favour of the Match between her Majesty and the Duke of Alanzon But notwithstanding all the Kindness that passed between these two Courts and that the League of Blois was now again confirmed and ratifyed by both Crowns yet the French continued their Practices in Scotland in favour of the Queen of Scots endeavoured to have got that King over into France contrived how to deprive Morton the Regent of his Authority and the French King having demanded by Letters whether the mutual Defence mentioned in the League was intended to comprehend the Case of
Religion also Which the Queen answering in the Affirmative he immediately began to prepare for War against the Protestants and Alanzon being engaged in the adverse Party there was no Talk of a Match for a long time During these Occurrences Requesens the Spanish Governour of the Low Countries finding how much his Predecessors neglect of Marine Affairs was prejudicial to his Master's Interests he made his Request to Queen Elizabeth that he might take up Ships and Marriners for his Majesties Service That the English Fugitives in the Low Countries might serve the King of Spain against the Hollanders and have free Access to the Ports of England and that the Dutch who were Rebells against the King of Spain might be banished England But for several Reasons she thought not fit to grant any of these Particulars yet to preserve inviolate the old Burgundian League she put out a Proclamation wherein she commanded that the Ships of the Dutch that were made ready should not go forth of the Haven nor yet the Dutch who had taken up Arms against the King of Spain enter into the Ports of England and by Name the Prince of Orange and fifty other of the principal of that Faction In Return of which Favour the English Seminary at Doway was dissolved and the Earl of Westmerland and other English Fugitives were Banished the Dominions of the King of Spain In the mean time the Prince of Orange and the Confederated States finding their Forces too small to oppose the King of Spain they consulted to whose Protection they might most securely betake themselves The French they saw then engaged in a Civil War the Princes of Germany were loath to part with their Money could seldom agree amongst themselves and were not altogether of a mind with them in Religion whereupon knowing none more powerful nor capable of protecting them than England they sent an Honorable Embassy of several Persons to the Queen offering her the Soveraignty of Holland and Zealand forasmuch as she was descended from the Earls of Holland by Philippa Wife of Edward the Third Daughter of William of Bavaria Count of Hannonia and Holland by whose other Sister the Hereditary Right of those Provinces came to the King of Spain Of this Offer the Queen took time to consider and after mature deliberation she made answer after that she had thanked them for their good Intentions towards her that she held nothing more glorious than Justice that as she could not with the safety of her Honour and Conscience receive those Provinces into her Protection much less assume them into her Possession yet she would use her endeavours with the King of Spain that a good Peace might be concluded Shortly after Requesens dying the States of the several Provinces took upon them the ancient Administration of the Government which the King of Spain was fain to Confirm unto them till such time as John of Austria was arrived whom he designed for a Successor to Requesens In the mean time the Queen by her Ministers endeavoured to compose Matters in those Countries but the minds of the Factions were so exasperated against one another that all her efforts in that kind proved Abortive Yet he continued to intercede with the King of Spain in their behalf and the Ambassador she sent for this purpose to that Court finding that that King's Ministers would not admit in the Queens Title the Attribute of Defender of the Faith he demanded it with that Courage and Prudence that he thereby gained the favour of the King of Spain himself who desired him that the Queen might know nothing of this Dispute and gave severe Command that the Title should be admitted About this time there happened some disorders upon the Borders of Scotland which having been favoured by the Ministers of the Regent Queen Elizabeth would in no wise be satisfied until the Regent himself came into England to make his Submissions to the Earl of Huntingdon the English Commissioner Much about the same time the Earl of Essex received a great affront for amidst his great Exploits and Victory in Ireland through the Practises of his Enemies at Court He was of a sudden recalled home and ordered to resign his Authority in Ulster But Leicester being jealous of his Presence at Court caused him to be sent back thither with the empty Title of Earl Marshal of Ireland for grief whereof he fell into a Bloody Flux and ended his days in grievous Torments but not without suspicion of Poyson by the Earl of Leicester's means for that he had marryed his Widdow immediately after his Death In the mean time the Confusions increased in the Low Countries which the Queen endeavoured very much to remedy and though the States had offered themselves to the French yet she sent them twenty Thousand Pounds Sterling upon Condition they should neither call in the French into the Low Countries nor change their Prince nor their Religion nor refuse a Peace in case it were offered by Don John of Austria upon reasonable Conditions And that Governour being now arrived Queen Elizabeth sent a Person of Quality to congratulate his coming thither and to offer him her assistance if the States called in the French into the Low-Countries The Seas being now extreamly infested with Pyrates the Queen caused several Men of War to put forth to scoure them which they did to that purpose as to take Two Hundred of them and to put them in Prisons all along the Coast. She likewise caused the Zelanders to make Restitution and Satisfaction of the English Goods they had taken and confiscated And now all the World courting the Prosperity of England and the prudent Conduct of it's Queen the Portugals requested that the Commerce might be restored that had been now for some time prohibited between the two Nations and the Conditions which they offered and were accepted were as much or more to the English as their Advantage About the same time Martin Forbisher undertook a Voyage for the discovery of the Northern passage to Cathaia but his and that which was undertaken two years after for the same purpose proved in vain And now a great Friend and Ally of Queen Elizabeth's the Emperour Maximilian being dead she sent Sir Philip Sidney to his Son Rodolphus to condole his Fathers Death and congratulate his Succession causing the same Offices to be done with the surviving Son of the then newly deceased Electoâ— Palatine In Ireland fresh Rebellions breaking out about this time the prudent Conduct of the Queen and her Ministers was such that all those Commotions were suddenly suppressed and that Nation brought to a greater Subjection than it had ever been before but her Ministers proceeding to lay new Taxes she gave Order for the moderating them â—aying that she would have her Subjects shorne not devoured But the Papists still continuing their Practices against her Majesty had perswaded Don John of Austria to endeavour the Escape of the Queen of Scots which when he should
have procured he was to have marryed her and thereupon have demanded as well England as Scotland in Right of his Wife But this Plot and all the Contrivances to bring it about being discovered by the Prince of Orange to Queen Elizabeth she thereupon entred into a Defensive League with the States of the Low Countries After which some Forces were sent over thither with whom flocked several Volunteers of Quality Casimir the Elector Palatine's Son came likewise thither with an Army of German Horse and Foot at the Queen's Charges These Forces were unexpectedly attacqued by Don John at the Head of a great and experienc'd Army assisted by the Prince of Parma and other the best Commanders of the Spanish Monarchy and though they had expected a certain Victory yet after an obstinate Fight they were compelled to retreat but rallying again they thought to have surprized the English and Scottish Volunteers but were again repulsed by them and the English and Scots were so fiery in this Engagement that casting away their Garments by reason of the hot Weather they fought in their Shirts which they made fast about them Before this Action Don John had sent to Queen Elizabeth to complain of disobedience in the States The Spaniard himself having done the same and likewise the French-man of his Hugonot Subjects Thus sate this Queen as an Heroical Princess and Umpire between the Spaniards the French and the States insomuch that it was true what one hath Written that France and Spain were the Scales in the ballance of Europe and England the Beam to turn them either way For whom she assisted did ever play the Master Now though Embassadours come from the Queen of England the Emperour and the French King into the Low Countries with Proposals of Peace yet their Negotiation proved to no purpose for that Don John refused to admit the Protestant Religion and the Prince of Orange refused to return into Holland But shortly after Don John Dyed in the flower of his Age some say of the Pestilence others of grief both for his being out of favour with the Spanish King and for that his Ambition had been disappointed first of the Kingdom of Tunis and afterwards of that of England In Scotland began again new Commotions for the People having conceived a great Aversion against the Lord Morton the Regent the Nobility unanimously resolved to transfer the Administration of the Government upon the King though then but Twelve years old appointing him a Council of twelve of the Principal Lords three of whom were to attend him a Month by course Hereupon the King sent an Ambassador to Queen Elisabeth who was dismissed with satisfaction in most of the Points he came about but the Lord Morton not being able to brook the Disgrace of being put from the Regency taketh the Administration of all Affairs to himself which so provoked the Nobility of that Kingdom that they raised a great Army and were ready to fight him and his Forces when through the Intercession of Sir Robert Bowes the English Ambassador things were accommodated for the present And now the King of Spain and the Pope conspire the utter Ruine as they imagined of Queen Elizabeth having taken all the necessary Measures for an Invasion of England and Ireland But Don Sebastian King of Portugal being to Head this Enterprize was killed in the memorable Battel wherein three Kings were slain in Africa whereupon the King of Spain's Thoughts and Forces were wholly taken up how to secure the Kingdom of Portugal to himself In the mean time the Duke of Alanzon renews his Suit to the Queen sending over several French Lords to sollicit in his behalf and amongst the rest one Simier who had the Reputation of a great Courtier and one who understood the Art of Love better than any one Person of his time and indeed he seemed to have made such Advances in his Negotiation as made several of the other Pretenders jealous and caused the Earl of Leicester to report that this French-man crept into the Queens Affections by Love Potions and unlawful Arts for which and other Speeches and his being married to the Earl of Essex his Widow he was confined to the Castle of Greenwich and had it not been for the Earl of Sussex though his greatest Adversary he had been committed to the Tower But this course so provoked the Earl of Leicester and there were such suspicions of a Design of murdering Simier that the Queen put out a Proclamation commanding that no Person should offer Injury to the Ambassador or any of his Servants Yet it happening at that time that the Queen going in her Barge with Simier and some English Noblemen to Greenwich a young Fellow shooting off a Musket shot one of the Rowers in the Barge through the Arm with a Bullet for which he was immediately carried to the Gallows yet upon Solemn Protestation that he did it unwillingly and with no ill intent he was let go and pardoned And notwithstanding all that was suggested to the Queen yet she was so far from suspecting her Subjects that she frequently said She would not believe any thing against them which a Mother would not believe against her Children Within a few days after which Accident the Duke of Alanzon himself came incognito into England and unexpected by the Queen with whom having had some private Conferences he returned back to France and within a Month or two after his Departure the Queen appointed Commissioners to treat with Simier concerning the Articles of the Marriage The King of Spain having constituted the Prince of Parma Governour of the Low Countries Qu. Elizabeth supplyeth the States with a great Sum of Money for which William Davison brought into England the ancient pretious Habiliments of the Family of Burgundy and their costly Vessels laid to Pawn by Matthew of Austria and the States And about this time Sir William Drury succeeded in the Deputiship of Ireland to Sir Henry Sidney who had been eleven years Deputy of Ireland at several times And Casimir Son to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine came into England and after he had been magnificentlâ— entertained he was made Knight of the Garter and dismissed with a yearly Pension And the Queen having procured of the Grand Seignieur a full Liberty for her Subjects to-trade in all the Territories of Turkey a Company of Turkey Merchants was first set up about that time who carried on a great and most advantagious Trade in the several Parts of his vast Dominions Hereupon followed the Death of Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in whose place succeeded Sir Thomas Bromley with the Title of Lord Chancellor of England And now broke out new Rebellions in Ireland the Natives thereof being thereunto stirred up by the Pope and his Adherents During which Sir William Drury dying Arthur Lord Gray was made Deputy in his stead And now the Pope having bestowed the Kingdom of Ireland upon the King of Spain for
to the Invasion of England and the Queens Destruction by the confession of her Secretaries and the rest of the Traytors and which were confirmed by Letters of her own hand writing And having little to say in her own Defence the Commissioners pronounced Sentence against her in the Star Chamber And in a few days after the Parliament being convened at Westminster the Lords petitioned the Queen that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots might be published But the Queen made Answer That she could wish that that Sentence might deterr the Queen of Scots from such like Contrivances for the future and that some Expedient might be found out for the saving her Life and yet secure England and it's Queen from further Attempts and Dangers of that kind But both Houses replyed That neither her Majesty nor themselves were safe as long as the Queen of Scots was living and pressed her so hard that the Sentence might be put in Execution that Commissioners were appointed to admonish her to prepare for Death which News she received without any change of Countenance or shew of Passion And having that Night made her Will she with great Courage and Devotion prepared her self to dye the next day and was then accordingly beheaded in the six and fortieth of her Age and seventeenth year of her Imprisonment in England But what most perswaded Queen Elizabeth to suffer the Sentence to be put in Execution was the French and Scottish Ambassadors finding their Sollicitations in the behalf of the Queen of Scots to be to no purpose the French Ambassador had hired and excited some persons to kill Queen Elizabeth but being discovered both by the Confession of the Parties and the French Ambassadour himself and several Rumours spread abroad that the Spanish Fleet was already arrived at Milford Haven that the Scots were broken into England that the Duke of Guise was landed in Sussex with a strong Army that the Queen of Scots was escaped out of Prison and levyed an armed Power that the Northern men had raised a Rebellion that there was a new Conspiracy to kill the Queen and set the City of London on Fire nay and that the Queen was dead Insomuch that some Change being apprehended the Queen was after much Importunity prevailed with to sign the Sentence of Death And the Scots report that one of the principal Perswaders was Patrick Grey who was sent from the King of Scots to perswade the Queen from putting his Mother to Death Queen Elizabeth was so grieved when she received the News of her Death that she commanded her Counsellors from her Presence caused Davison to be cited in the Star-Chamber and fined ten thousand pounds She likewise sent one to pacifie the King of Scots assuring that it was done against her Meaning and Privity giving him reasons why he should not break out into the revenge he threatned and signed an instrument attested with the Great Seal and with the hands of all the Judges of England that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots could in no wise prejudice his Right to the Succession In the mean time the Queen had supplyed the King of Navarr and the Protestants of France with a great sum of Money And for a Diversion to the Spaniard she sent Sir Francis Drake to the Court of Spain with four Men of War where he chased six Galleys in the Port of Cales took sunk and burnt above a hundred ships set upon their Forts and compelled them to yield took a vast rich Carrack called the St. Philip. Thomas Cavendish with three ships ravaged the West Indies at the same time took and pillaged nineteen great ships burnt and plundred a great number of the Spanish Towns and then returned home after having been the third after Magellan that had sayled round the World During these successes of the English the Officers of the Earl of Leicester had employed having proved Treacherous in several instances the States accused the Earl to the Queen who thereupon called him home and he resigned the Government to the States Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange succeeding in his room at the Age of Twenty Years and the Lord Willoughby was made General of the English Forces in the Low Countries with orders from the Queen to reduce the English Factions into obedience of the States which he accordingly performed with the help of Prince Maurice and was in the Year 1588 which by the German Chronologers was presaged to be the Climacterical Year of the World and indeed the Rumours of War and the extraordinary preparations that the Spaniards were making for an Invasion of England by their Invincible Armado seemed to justify their Predictions At this time there was a Treaty of Peace held near Ostend between the English and Spanish Commissioners but designed by the Spaniards only to lull the English asleep till their Navy was arrived upon the Coast of England This Invincible Armado consisted of one hundred and thirty ships whereof Galleasses and Galleons seventy two in which were nineteen Thousand two hundred and ninety Souldiers eight Thousand and fifty Mariners two Thousand and eighty Gally Slaves and two Thousand six hundred and thirty Pieces of great Canon Twelve of their main ships being christned with the Names of the Twelve Apostles Alphorozo Perâ—z de Gusman being made principal Commander thereof Besides extraordinary Preparations were making in Flanders and the Prince of Parma had orders to joyn them with fifty Thousand Men. In the mean time Queen Elizabeth was preparing with all diligence as good a Fleet as she could making the Lord Howard of Effingham Admiral thereof and Sir Francis Drake Vice Admiral The Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset was appointed to lie upon the Coasts of the Low Countries with forty English and Dutch ships for the hind'ring the Prince of Parma's coming forth with his Forces At home along the Coasts were disposed twenty Tousand Men and besides two Armies of the choicest and expertest Men were raised the one under the Command of the Earl of Leicester consisting of a Thousand Horse and two and twenty Thousand Foot which encamped at Tilbury the Enemy being resolved to make their first Attack upon London the other under the Conduct of the Lord Hunsdon consisting of thirty four Thousand Foot and two Thousand Horse for the Guard of the Queens Person A Council of War was likewise established of prudent and experienced Officers All Sea Ports were likewise fortified and provided with all things necessary trusty and prudent Persons put into all Offices of Trust the most suspected Papists committed to custody the King of Scots perswaded to declare in favour of the Queen which he accordingly did with great Alacrity And now at length after several false Rumours and Alarums the two Fleets meet and engage and after several days Fight the Spaniards were utterly defeated Insomuch that of one hundred thirty four ships that set Sayl out of Lisbon only fifty three