Artifice to be satisfied therein she caused one to come as in great hast and to tell Praxiteles That his Shop was on Fire he being startled at the News cryed out Is the picture of Cupid and the Satyr safe By this Subtilty she found out wherein the Artist himself believed he had expressed most skill and thereupon she chose the Cupid Zuinglius's Theatre vol. 3. lib. 3. LXXXVI Dr. Fuller relates this passage in his Holy State That a poor Beggar in Paris being very hungry staid so long in a Cooks Shop who was dishing up his Meat till his Stomach was satisfied only with the smell thereof The Cholerick Cook demanded of him to pay for his Breakfast the poor man denied it and the Controversie was referred to the deciding of the next man who should pass by which chanced to be the most notorious Idiot and Changeling in the whole City He on the Relation of the matter determined That the poor mans Money should be put between two empty dishes and the Cook should be recompenced with the gingling of the poor mans Money as he was satisfied with the smell only of the Cooks meat and this is affirmed by credible Writers as no Fable but an undoubted Truth Fullers Holy State lib. 3. LXXXVII Antiochus the Son of Seleucus daily languished and wasted away under a disease whereof the cause was uncertain to the great Trouble and Affliction of his Father who therefore sent for Erasistratus a famous Physitian to attend the cure of his beloved Son who addressing himself with his utmost dexterity to find out the root of his Infirmity he perceived it was rather from the trouble of his Mind than any effect of his Constitution But when the Prince could not be prevail'd with to make any such acknowledgment by frequent feeling of his pulse he observed it to beat with more Vigor and strength at the naming or presence of Stratonica who was the beloved Concubine of his Father Having made this discovery and knowing the Prince would rather dye than confess so dangerous a Love he took this Course He told Seleucus that his Son was a dead man For saith he he languishes for the love of my Wife And what said Seleucus have I merited so little at thy hands that thou wilt have no respect to the Love of the young man would you said Erasistratus be content to serve the love of another in that manner I would heaven said Seleucus would turn his love toward my dearest Stratonica Well said Erasistratus you are his Father and may be his Physitian he loves none but Stratonica Seleucus immediately gave Stratonica to Antiochus and Threescore Thousand Crowns as a reward to the prudent Physitian Camerarij Horae Sub. ch 1. LXXXVIII Camerarius tells out of Cedrenus how the Queen of Sheba when she saw that Solomon had expounded all her hardest Riddles caused one day certain young Boys and Girls apparelled all alike to be set before the King none being able by their Faces and looks to discern the one Sex from the other to the end that therein she might have further Trial of King Solomons Wisdom He knowing the Queens intent presently made some water to be brought in a great Basin bidding them all to wash their Faces by this device he easily discerned the Males from the Females for the Boyes rubbed their Faces hard and lustily but the Girls being shamefac't did hardly touch theirs with their Fingers ends Camerarii Horae subces Cent 1. Thus we find Quickness of Apprehension and Maturity of Judgement are instead of the Cord and Pulley whereby some men have prevailed to bring Truth to Light when she hath lain reserved and concealed LXXXIX Various have been the means whereby some Persons have arrived to preferment for I find saith Muretus it is related in the Commentaries of the Greeks That Semiramis was the Concubine of one of the King of Assyria's Slaves As soon as Ninus that Great Monarch had taken notice of her he was so surprized with her Beauty and Wit that he siezed her for himself and by degrees she gained such an Empire over him that he could deny her nothing nor was there any thing but she durst ask And when once she had let fall in discourse There was one thing she did earnestly desire and he had bid her freely and openly speak it whatever it was I have desired said she to sit one day in your Throne and to do Justice and that for that whole day all should obey me as they do you The King smiling granted her Request and forthwith sent out his Edict That on such a day all men whatsoever should obey the Commands of Semiramis for such was the Kings pleasure When the day came the Lady ascends the Throne in her Royal Apparel a mighty Concourse there was she at first to try their obedience commands something to be done of no great moment when she perceived she was exactly obeyed in all her Precepts she commands the Guards of the Kings Body that they sieze the King himself It is done the King is brought She orders him to be bound it is performed she commands that they strike off his head she is presently obeyed and though hereby we may observe the great Folly of this Prince and the base Ingratitude of such kind of Cattle she being advanced by him Yet by this means she prolonged the date of her Empire many years which she ruled with great wisdom success and glory Aelian Vari Hist Lib. 7. Ch. 1. XC In the time of William Rufus King of England there was one Roger a poor Priest serving a cure in a Village near Caen in Normandy It chanced that Henry the Kings youngest brother passing that way made some stay in the Village and being desirous to hear Mass this Roger then Curate was the man to say it which he dispatched with such speed and celerity that the Souldiers who commonly love not long prayers commended him for it telling their Lord That there could not be found a fitter Priest for men of War than he Whereupon Henry appointed him to follow him and when he came to be King preferred him to many great places and at last to be Chancellor of England and Bishop of Salisbury When King Stephen came to the Crown he held this man in as great account as his Predecessor King Henry had done and perhaps in greater He arrived to such wealth that he built the Castles of Salisbury the Vies Sherburn Malmsbury and Newark to which there were no structures comparable in the Kingdom He had also Forty Thousand Marks in Money which together with his Castles the King siezed into his own hands upon Displeasure Baker's Chronicle Page 71. XCI There was in the City of Capua saith Sir Walter Rawleigh an ambitious Noble man called Pacuvius Calavius his credit grew and was upheld by furthering all popular desires there was at this time a Plebeian faction in the Town and that so prevalent that all was governed by
Possession of the New World for the Kings of Spain Octob. 11. 1492. Afterwards he discovered and took Possession of Hispaniola and with much Treasure and Content returned to Spain and was preferred by the King for this good Service first to be Admiral of the Indies and in conclusion to the Title of the Duke De la Vega in the Island of Jamaica The next year he was furnished with 18 Ships for further Discovery in this second Voyage he discovered the Islands of Cuba and Jamaica and built the Town of Isabella after called Domingo in Hispaniola from whence for some severities used against the mutinous Spaniards he was sent Prisoner to Castile but very honourably entertained and cleared from all Crimes imputed to him In 1497. he began his Third Voyage in which he discovered the Countries of Paria and Cumana on the firm Land with the Islands of Cubagna and Margarita and many other Islands Capes and Provinces In 1500 he began his fourth and last Voyage in the course whereof coming to Hispaniola he was unworthily denied entrance into the City of Domingo after which scowring the Sea-Coasts he returned back to Cuba and Jamaica and from thence to Spain where six years after he died and was buried Honourably at Sevil where to this day an Epitaph remaineth on his Tomb far short of his merit which is to this purpose Christophorus genuit quem Genoa clara Columbus c. I Christopher Columbus whom the Land Of Genoa first brought forth first took in hand I know not by what Deity incited To scour the western Seas and was delighted To seek for Countreys never known before Crown'd with success I first descry'd the shore Of the New World then destin'd to sustain The future yoak of Philip Lord of Spain And yet I greater matters left behind For men of more means and a braver mind Columbus dying left two Sons behind him of which the youngest called Ferdinand died unmarried the the eldest named Diego succeeded his Father in the Admiralty of the Indies and the Dukedom of Vega and married the Duke of Alva's Daughter but having no issue by her he spent the greatest part of his Estate in Founding a famous Library in Sevil which he furnished with Twelve thousand Volumes and endowed with a liberal Revenue to maintain the same But though his Family be extinct yet his Fame shall live renowned to all Posterities as the first Discoverer of this New World and consequently the greatest and most Fortunate Advancer of the Spanish Monarchy though in his life-time so envied and maligned by most of the Spaniards that Bobadilla being sent into those parts for redress of Greivances loaded him with Irons and returned him Prisoner into Spain Nor did they only endeavour to deprive him of the honour of this Discovery after his Death by pretending that he had seen the Charts and Descriptions of some unknown Spaniard but in his Life-time they would often say That it was a matter of no such difficulty to have found these Countreys and that if he had not done it then some body else would have done it for him But he confuted their peevishness by this modest Artifice desiring some of them who had insolently enough contended with him about this Discovery to make an Egg stand firmly upon one of its ends which when after many Trials they could not do he gently bruising one end of it made it stand upright letting them see thereby without any further reprehension how easie it is to do that thing which we see another do before us Heylin's Cosmography Lib. 4. II. Columbus having thus led the way was seconded by Americus Vespusuis an adventurous Florentine employed therein by Emanuel King of Portugal in 1501 on a design to find out a nearer way to the Molucca's than by the Cape of Good Hope who though he passed no further than the Cape without having so much as a sight of the great River De la Plata which washeth the South parts of that Countrey yet from him to the Great Injury and neglect of the first Discoverer the Continent or Main Land of this Countrey hath the name of America by which it is still known and commonly called To him succeeded John Cabot a Venetian in the behalf of King Henry the seventh of England who discovered all the North-East Coasts thereof from the Cape of Florida in the South to New-foundland in the North causing the American Royale's or little Kings to turn Homagers to the King and Crown of England After whom there followed divers private Adventurers and Undertakers out of all parts of Europe bordering on the Ocean Ferdinando Magellanus was the first that compassed the whole World and found the South Passage called Fretum Magellanicum or the Magellan Streights to this day Heylin's Cosmog Lib. 4. III. But the most famous of all the Spaniards as I suppose saith P. Jovius for the Discovery of New Lands and People was Ferdinando Cortesius or Corter to whom the Spaniards stand indebted for the Kingdom of Mexico He was born in Medeline a Town of Estremadura in Spain 1485 and in the 19 year of his Age employed himself in the Trade and business of America for the improvement of his Fortune In 1511 he went as Clerk to the Treasurer for the Isle of Cuba where he so well husbanded his Affairs by carrying over Kine Sheep and Mares and bringing Gold for them in Exchange that in short time he very much improved his stock and now resolving to venture all his Credit both in Friends and Money he furnished himself with eleven Ships and with 550 Men set sail from Spain and arrived at the Island of Santa Cruce and sailing up the River Tabasco sacked the Town of Pontoncon the Inhabitants refusing to sell him Victuals After this by the help of his Horse and Ordinance he discomfited forty Thousand of the naked Indians who were gathered together to revenge themselves for the plundering their Town he then received the King thereof in Vassallage to the Crown of Spain Being told that Westward he should meet with some Mines of Gold he turned his Course for the Haven of St. John de Vlloa where landing he was entertained by the Governor of Montezuma King of Mexico who understanding of his coming and that he was a Servant of so Great an Emperor as Charles the fifth he sent him many rich Presents both of Gold and Silver Cortez inflamed at the sight thereof resolved to go unto the place where such Treasures were and took Possession of the Countrey in the Name of Charles the fifth King of Spain and Emperor of Germany and building there the Town De la Crux he left 150 of his men therein and attended with only 400 Foot 15 Horsemen and 6 pieces of Ordinance he pursued his Enterprize and having cunningly gained to his assistance those of Zempoallan Tlascala who were ill affected to Montezuma he marched on toward Mexico plundring in his way the Town of Chololla
Lyon Key taking with her only two Women and her Child she was no sooner out of doors but the Herald followed whereupon she stepped into the Charterhouse Gate so that he could not see her the Herald finding some things she had lost fell to ransacking them and in the mean time she hasted away knowing the place only by name where she should take boat Her Servants also divided themselves and only one of them knew the way thither Thus she attired in a mean habit and they that were with her took their way into Finsbury Fields where by the special Providence of Heaven near Moregate she and all her Company met and went together to Lyon-Key a Barge was there ready for her but the morning was so extream misty that the Steersman would not venture out without great intreaty Soon after the Council were informed of her departure whereupon some came presently to her house to inquire out the manner of her escape and to take an Inventory of her Goods and Orders were issued to apprehend her so that the noise of her Flight was at Leigh in Essex before her Arrival When she came thither the old Gentleman her Servant carried her privately to a Merchants house near Leigh naming her Mistriss White where she stayed till she had made some new Provision for her Child in the room of that left behind her at Barbican When the time came she was to take Shipping she hardly escaped Discovery and being ' twice carried into the Seas almost within sight of Zealand by contrary Winds was driven back to the place whence she came And at her last return the searchers suspecting she might be in that Ship examined her Servant that came to buy Victuals who told them such an innocent Story of a Merchants Wife which was on Shipboard that they searcht no further and so at last the safely arrived in Brabant where she met with her Husband who apparelling her and her Women like Dutch Froes they travelled to Santon and had leave from the Magistrates to live privately there but it being reported they were greater Personages than they pretended the Bishop and Magistrates resolved to seize and examine them both of their Condition and Religion but Mr. Berty having secret notice thereof took his Dutchess his Child and the two Women and about three Afternoon in February walked out as if to take the Air intending that Night to get to Wesel and the better to conceal his design they went on Foot and left the rest of their Family at Santon They had not gone above an English Mile but there fell a mighty Rain which dissolved the Frost and Ice and so made the wayes deep and slippery which proved extream tedious to these new Lacquies and no Waggon to be gotten so that Mr. Berty was forced to carry the Child and the Dutchess his Cloak and Rapier the Women being sent before At last near seven a Clock in the dark Evening they came to Wesel seeking after such a tedious Journey to repose and refresh their wearied Limbs in an Inn but they all refused to entertain them though they offered a considerable sum for the same judging them to be ill People In the mean time the poor Babe cried bitterly the Dutchess wept as fast the Weather was extream Cold and the Heavens rained as fast as the Clouds could pour Mr. Berty destitute of all Worldly Succour and relief for him and his in this deplorable Condition resolved to carry the Dutchess with her Infant into the Porch of the great Church and so to buy some Coals Food and Straw for their Repose that night or at least till he could procure some better Lodging Mr. Berty could speak little Dutch and could meet with none who understood either English French Italian or Latin till going toward the Church he heard two Boys speaking in Latin who stepping to them promised them two Stivers if they would bring him to a Walloons house and so it pleased God he happened into a house where Mounsieur Rivers a Minister was at Supper he had formerly been in England and received some Courtesies from this good Dutchess Mounsieur Rivers going to the door and seeing Mr. Berty his Dutchess and Infant in that lamentable Case with Rain Mire and Dirt and in Apparel so unlike what he had seen them in England was so overwhelmed with sorrow and tears that for some time he could neither speak to them nor they to him At last they saluted each other and he brought them to his house into which God knows they entred joyfully Mr. Berty changing his Clothes with the good Man of the House the Dutchess with his Wife and their Infant with the Child of the House Here they continued some time and then hired a House where they discovered themselves freely and lived in good fashion but whilst they past the time here with some content in hope of resting after their Tedious Travels Sir John Mason Queen Mary's Ambassador in the Netherlands gave them private notice of a design for seizing and carrying them back to England managed by the L. Paget For the D. of Brunswick being to pass by that City with ten Companies of Souldiers to assist the Emperour against the French it was contrived that he should suddenly apprehend them and carry them away from Wesel Upon this Information Mr. Berty with his Dutchess Child presently fly into the Palatinate and found Protection in Wincheim but the money which they brought out of England being almost spent they began to faint under their heavy burden being almost out of heart and hope in this their distressed condition at which time it pleased God to provide wonderfully for them by the following means One John a Lasco being driven out of England at Queen Maries coming to the Crown after many troubles and adventures returned into Poland his Native Countrey where he found great favour with that King and understanding the Condition of Mr. Berty and his Dutchess whom he had known in England he gave an account thereof to the King of Poland and the Palatine of Vilna who presently wrote to them to come thither with great offers of kindness They returned Letters full of Thanks to the King and Palatine and sent with them all the remainder of the Jewels which they had brought from England and having received Letters of Conduct for their Security in April 1557 the Dutchess with her Husband and Family began their Journey toward Poland By the way they met with many dangers One was occasioned by a Captain of the Lantgraves who quarrelled with Mr. Berty about a Spaniel of his and with his Horsemen set upon them by the way thrusting their Boar-spears through the sides of the Waggon where the Children and Women were yet it pleased God none of them were hurt Mr. Berty had only four Horsemen with him and in the quarrel the Captains Horse was slain under him upon which a Rumor was presently spread about the Countrey that
Neck who did thy Head unthrall Faithful thou art yet hast no Faith at all I did not have my Fishing as some say But still imploy'd my Nets to catch and lay The Gabels on the ground The Royal Throne I brought into the Market every Stone Can witness it The Nobles I did quell Thou still shalt live but I must fry in Hell While my dragg'd body bleeds so basely slain Thou Triumph'st in the Freedom I did gain Learn hence ye Mortals all Be not too rash and bold To fight for other Men Least you be bought and sold Clarks Mirrour part 1. p. 518. LXXIII And as Inferiour Persons so likewise small and Contemptible things as Beasts Birds Insects and the like have been Scourges and wonderful Afflictions to several People and Nations For we read That Sapores King of Persia besieged the Christian City of Nisibis but St. James the Holy Bishop thereof by his Prayers to Heaven obtained that such an infinite number of Gnats came into his Army as put it into the greatest disorder these small Creatures flew upon the Eyes of their Horses and Tormented them in such a manner that growing furious they threw off their Riders and the whole Army was thereby so scattered and brought into confusion that they were inforced to break up their siege and depart Luther Colloquia p. 245. LXXIV Marcus Varro writeth That there was a Town in Spain undermined with Rabbits Another likewise in Thessaly by Moles or Molewarps In Africa the people were compelled by Locusts to leave their Habitations and out of Gyaros an Island one of the Cyclades the Islanders were forced by Rats and Mice to fly away Moreover in Italy the City Amyclae was destroyed by Serpents In Ethiopia there is a great Countrey lies wast and Desart by reason it was formerly dis-peopled by Scorpions and a sort of Pismires And if it be True that Theophrastâ—s reporteth the Treriens were chased away by certain worms called Scolopendres Annius writes that an Antient City scituate neer the Volscian Lake and called Contenebra was in times past overthrown by Pismires and that the place is thereupon vulgarly called to this day The Camp of Ants In Media saith Diodorus Siculus There was such an infinite number of Sparrows that eat up and devoured the seed which was cast into the ground that men were constrained to depart their old Habitations and remove to other places LXXV About the year of our Lord 872 came into France such an innumerable Company of Locusts that the vast multitude of them darkned the very Light of the Sun they were likewise of a very extraordinary Bigness and had a six-fold Order of Wings six feet and two Teeth the hardness whereof surpassed that of a Stone These eat up every green thing in all the Fields of France At last by the force of the Winds they were carried into the Sea and there drowned After which by the Agitation of the Waves the dead Bodies of them were cast upon the Shores and from the Stench of them together with the Famine they had made with their former devouring there arose so great a Plague that it was verily thought every third person in France died thereof In one of the Cities of France the Inhabitants were driven out and forced to leave it by reason of the multitude of Frogs Gualterus Chron. p. 599. LXXVI The Island of Anaphe heretofore had not a Partridge in it till such time as an Astypalaean brought thither a pair that were Male and Female which couple in a short time did increase in such wonderful manner that oppressed with the number of them the Inhabitants upon the point were inforced to depart from the Island Astypalaea of old had no Hares in it but when one of the Isle of Anaphe had put a brace into it they in a short time so increased that they almost destroyed whatever the Inhabitants had sowed whereupon they sent saith the Historian to consult the Oracle concerning this their Calamity which advised them to store themselves with Grey-hounds by the help of which they killed six Thousand Hares in the space of a year and many more afterwards whereby they were delivered from their Greivance The Inhabitants of the Gymnesian Islands are reported to have sent their Embassadors to Rome to request some other place to be assigned them for their Habitation because they were oppressed by the incredible number of Conies among them And the Baleares through an extraordinary increase of the same Creatures among them did Petition the Emperor Augustus that he would send them some Souldiers against these Enemies of theirs which had already occasioned a Famine amongst them Plin. Nat. Hist lib. 8. LXXVII Myas saith Dr. Heylin was a principal City in Ionia upon an Arm of the Sea but in after-times the water drawing further off the Land brought forth such an innumerable multitude of Fleas that the Inhabitants were fain to forsake the City and went with their Bag and Baggage to retire to Miletus nothing hereof being left but the Name and Memory in the time of Pausanias And Herodotus writes That the Neuri a People bordering upon the Scythians were forced out of their Habitation and Countrey by reason of Serpents For whereas a multitude of Serpents are bred in the Soil it self at that time there came upon them such an abundance of them and so infested them that they were constrained to quit the place and to dwell among the Budini Cassander in his return from Apollonia met with the People called Abderitae who by reason of the multitude of Frogs and Mice were constrained to depart from their Native Soil and to seek out Habitations for themselves elsewhere The Countrey of Troas is exceedingly given to breed great store of Mice so that already they have enforced the Inhabitants to quit the place and depart Justin Hist Lib. 15. LXXVIII In the 17th year of the Reign of Alexander the third King of the Scots such an incredible swarm of Palmer Wormes spread themselves over both Scotland and England that they consumed the Fruits and Leaves of all Trees and Herbs and eat up the Worts and other Plants to the very Stalks and Stumps of them As also the same year by an unusual increase and swelling of the Sea the Rivers overflowed their Banks and there was such an Inundation especially of the Tweed and Forth that divers Villages were overturned thereby and a great number both of men and all sorts of Cattle perished in the Waters Zuinglius Theat Vol. 3. Lib. 2. LXXIX About the year 1610 the City of Constantinople and the Countreys thereabouts were so plagued with Clouds of Grashoppers that they darkned the beams of the Sun they left not a green herb or leaf in all the Countrey yea they entred into their very Bed-chambers to the great Annoyance of the Inhabitants being almost as big as Dormice with red Wings Knowls's Hist of the Turks p. 1308. Thus we see there is nothing so small and inconsiderable
Service In 1596. The Queen rigs out a brave Fleet consisting of 150 Ships Mann'd with 6360 Souldiers 1000 Volunteer Gentlemen 6772 Seamen with which she is resolved to fall upon the Spaniard at home The Earl of Essex and the Lord Howard were Commanders of equal Authority having been both at excessive charge in carrying on the War To these were joyned a Council of War consisting of several eminent Seamen and Souldiers among whom was Sir Walter Rawleigh The Fleet was divided into four Squadrons the first commanded by the Lord Admiral Howard the second by the Earl of Essex the Third by Sir Tho. Howard and the fourth by Sir Walter Rawleigh In the beginning of June they set sail for Cales and soon got to Gades their Design being perfectly unknown as well to their Enemies as their own men The Ebbing waters would not permit the Great Ships to engage the shelves being of greater hazard than the Enemy Therefore Rawleigh is pitcht upon as the most proper Person in the midst of the Channel to provoke them who accordingly in a little Ship called the Warspight directed his Prowe against the Spanish Men of War who thereupon presently fell back Upon this the rest of the Fleet came in and burnt and took several of their Ships After this Victory at Sea the Men were very importunate to go on shore whom Essex landed at Puntal a League from the City At first the Spaniards received them with a great deal of Courage but the English charged them so warmly that they thought it the best way to retire with more speed than they came out The English pursued so close that they had almost recovered the City Gates as soon as they The Earl got upon a Bulwark neer the Gate and from thence he espied an entrance into the Town but very hazardous it being a precipice but this did not affright several of our English who leaped from thence into the Town and engaged the Enemy in the Streets In the mean time Sir W. Rawleigh and others having forced the Gates entred the Town and the Castle was surrendred upon merciful Conditions but Sir Walter was not Idle or eager after the enjoyment of the Conquest For whilst others were reaping the plentiful Harvest of War he with some small Ships who could pass up the Channel fired their Merchant Men who were withdrawn to Port Real altho' they offered two Milions of Ducats for their Redemption Great were the Losses of the Spaniards by this War and if we may beleive our Histories amounted to no less than Twenty Millions of Ducats upon Consultation it was resolved to quit the Town though contrary to the Opinion of Essex who was for keeping it as a future annoyance to the Spaniards At their return the Queen welcomed and incouraged her Souldiers with new Honours Rawleigh continued in her Favour to the last but when King James came to take possession of the Kingdom Sir John Fortescue the Lord Cobham Sir Walter Rawleigh and others would have obliged the King by Articles before his coming to the Crown that his Countreymens numbers should be limited but this was stopt by the Treasurer and the Earl of Northumberland Sir Walter feared that the Scots like Locusts would quickly devour this Kingdom It being probable that like the Goths and Vandals they would settle in any Countrey rather than their own and would make it their business to render our Nation as poor as their own for this he with the rest of them were afterwards frowned on by the King and lost his Command of the Guards However Sir Walter still pursued the good and Glory of his Countrey and as formerly in active times gave his Advice against the Peace with Spain who might now with no great difficulty be brought on his knees At the entrance of the King he presented him with a Manuscript of his own Writing with no weak Arguments against Peace But Sir Walter was mistaken for his Counsel was ill timed and a new Part was now to be acted the Scene being changed Peace was the Kings aim whether out of Fear or Religious Principles is not determined But with Spain a Peace is concluded though an Enemy already humbled who had now time to recover their Losses and were as it were cherished to assault us with the greater Vigor and the success thereof every one knows and as if the King would go quite contrary to Queen Elizabeths Politiques the Hollanders are despised flighted and deserted under pretence that it was of ill Example for a Monarch to protect them And now though somewhat contrary to my method it may not be unuseful to give a breif Account of the fall of this once Great Favorite King James is hardly warm in his Throne but there is a great noise of a Plot generally called Sir Walter Rawleigh's Treason but upon what grounds is uncertain since at his Trial it appeared he had the least hand in it A Plot that is still a Mystery and hath a Vail spread over it A Plot composed of such a hodg-podg of Religion and Interests that the World stands amazed Sir Walter Rawleigh should be drawn into it A Plot so unlikely to hurt others or benefit themselves that as Osborn says If ever Folly was capable of the Title or Pity due to Innocence theirs might claim so large a share as not possibly to be too severely condemned or slightly enough punished Envy and Disdain as Sir Walter has told us in his Remains seek Innovation by Faction Discontent is the great Seducer which at first put him to search into a Plot he afterward was betrayed into The cheif Ingredients of this Medley were two Popish Priests Watson and Clark and Count Aremberg Ambassador Extraordinary from the Arch-duke of Austria who brought in the Lord Cobham and he his brother George Brook both seeming Protestants Brook drew in Sir Edward Parham and others and they the Lord Grey of Wilton a zealous Puritan then came in Sir Walter Rawleigh the wisest of them all says Mr. Sanderson who dallilied says he like a fly in the Flame till it consumed him Willing he was to know the Design and thought by his Wit to over-reach the Confederates whom he knew well enough though he dealt with none but Cobham One Mr. Laurency an Antwerp Merchant was made use of by Count Aremberg and was an intimate of the Lord Cobham's these says Sanderson carried on the contrivance a great while which at last was betrayed by Laurency and the Vigilancy of the Lord Cecil And indeed it was morally impossible that so many disagreeing weak Souls should carry on a Project without taking Air the least glimpse being enough to give Light to the Statesmen of those times The Design they were charged with was 1. To set the Crown on the head of the Lady Arabella Stewart or to seize the King and make him grant their desires or a Pardon and that Lord Cobham should say to Brook It will never be well in England till
saved and had not been discharged which his Master brought to him to teach him the use of it which for fear of his Masters displeasure and their inhumanity he endeavoured to do but they still professing their Ignorance he was forced to shoot it off But the Negroes who expected some delightful thing being frustrated and at the sudden noise and flash of fire which they very much dread fled from him greatly affrighted yet soon after hearing no more of that noise they came up to him again commanding him to do the like He told them he had not Powder which was the cause of the noise but this would not satisfie these Barbarians and therefore thinking it wilfulness they would have murthered him had not his Master rescued him After this in discourse with his Master he told him That naturally the people were civil and simply honest but if provoked full of revenge and that this their barbarous dealing was occasioned by some unhandsome action of carrying a Native away from thence without their leave about a year before they resolving if any came on shore they should never go off alive About 7 weeks after Wats had been in the Country his Master presented him to his King named Efnme King of the Buckamores who immediately gave him to his Daughter called Onijah when the King went abroad he attended him as his Page throughout the whole Circuit of his Dominions which was not above 12 Miles yet he boasted extreamly of his Power and Strength glorying exceedingly that he had a White Man to attend him whom he imployed to carry his Bow and Arrows In several places far from the Seaside the people would run away from him for fear others would fall down and seem to worship him using those Actions as they do to their Gods Their progress was never so long but they could return home at night but never without a handsome load of a cup of the Creature for he seldom or never went abroad and came home sober Their drink is of the best Palm Wine and another sort of strong Liquor called Penrore Wats knew quickly how to humour this profound Prince and if any of the Natives abused him upon his complaint he had Redress as once by striving with a Negro his Arm was broke which by Providence more than skill was set again After some Months the King of Calamanch whose name was Esn mancha hearing of this beautiful White Courted his Neighbour Prince to sell him to him at length they struck a bargain and Wats was sold for a Cow and a Goat This King was a very sober and moderate person free from the treacheries and mischiefs that the other was subject to He would often discourse Wats and ask him of his King and Country whether his Kingdoms and Dominions were as big as his which were not above 25 Miles in length and 15 in breadth Wats told him as much as his understanding and years made him capable of keeping still within the bounds of modesty and yet relating as much as possible to the Honour and Dignity of his Soveraign First informing him of the greatness of one of his Kingdomes the several Shires and Counties it contained with the number of its Cities Towns and Castles the strength of each the infinite Inhabitants and valour of his Subjects One of these Kingdoms was enough sufficiently to amaze this Petty Governour that he had no need to mention any more of His Majesties Glory and Dignity It put him into such a profound Consternation that he resolved to find out some way to shew his respects to this Mighty Prince and told John Wats that if he could find but a Passage he would let him go to England to tell his Maiesty of the great favour and respect he had for him Which did not a little rejoyce our Englishman withal the King told him He would send him a present which should be two Cabareets or Goats which they value very highly the King himself having not above 16 or 18 of them Wats tells the King that the King of England had many Thousands of his Subjects who were under the degree of Gentlemen that had a Thousand Sheep apeice the Flesh whereof they valued at a very much higher rate than Goats Though our Englishman lived very handsomely with this King yet his desires and hopes were for his Native Countrey and at length he obtained a Promise from his King That the first English Ship which came into the Road should have liberty to release or purchase him This very much rejoyced his heart and now he thought every day a year till he could hear of or see some English Ship arrive and oft did he walk to the Sea side to receive some comfort which at length was observed by Jaga a Wizard and the chiefest in 3 or 4 Kingdoms thereabout They are persons that the Natives give very much credit to and on any difficult occasion run to them for satisfaction And though they have vast numbers of them in every place yet this Jaga was the most renowned amongst them One day he comes to Wats and asked him very civilly why he so often frequented that place who told him It was to see if he could discover any English Ship to come in there But Wats being unacquainted with his great fame asked him when he did believe there would one come in Not that he was willing to give credit to any of their Divinations but supposing hereby to please him and answer his expectation Jaga immediately told him That 15 days after an English Ship should come into that Road He then askt him whether that Ship should carry him away To which he answered very doubtfully but told him He should be offered to the Master of the Ship and if they did not agree so that he were brought to shore again he should not be sold but would dye for grief These 15 days seemed very tedious to Wats who cast many a look on the Sea with an aking heart The 14th day he went to the highest Hill thereabout but could discover no Ship the next morning he went again 2 or 3 times but saw none About 2 or 3 hours after some Moors came running and told the King there was a Canoe coming for so they called our Ships At which our Englishman rejoyced heartily in hope of release yet durst not shew it for fear of Punishment or Death for though he lived better now than with his first Master yet his service was far worse than the slaves in Turkey and their Diet worse than Dogs meat he had therefore cause enough of inward joy The Ship came immediately in and Wats goes presently to Jaga to know if it were an English Ship who assured him it was It happened to be the St. Malo's Merchant Captain Royden Commander who hastned to dispatch his business took in his Negroes and was ready to sail and our Englishman heard not a word what should become of him the King never offering
there infallibly die are in hopes to enjoy the Prey the dead bodies being exposed to that purpose we were used as civilly a Shipboard as we could expect from Turks feeding with them on Garlick Rusk poor John Rice and the like I observed them very inquisitive to examine us apart about our Qualities and Friends which we were forewarned of and therefore I perswaded all our Company to represent me as a poor Fellow only intrusted by my Master which satisfied them till by discourse with some English Renegadoes one of them suspected me after which they set a higher value on me as expecting a greater ransom we sailed into the Streights and the next day Anchored in the Bay of Argiers some Officers thereof coming to take notice of our number and the Price One of them was a Cornish man who by his Apostacy had got great wealth being a Trader in slaves well knowing how to make advantage by his own Nation He inquired in what part of England we were born but I desired him as a Countryman to shew us some favour and buy us for himself which he promised to do if we did give him hopes of returning our Money to prevent as he said our falling into severer hands to the endangering of our lives since if we came on shore we should be led to the Market and sold like Horses and might be bought by those that would use us inhumanely and exact from us the remainder of our Estates but he being our Countryman would be our Friend and take no more for us than it cost him if we would freely discover our selves to him we with our Eyes on each other discovered how inclinable we were to comply with him though we were somthing Jealous of this Turks Faith judging that he who was not True to his God would scarce be so to us which we afterward found too true for those that were poor and had few friends were left to their ill Fortune and the others the Owners set a high value on so that we repeated our Credulity in this Wretch but not agreeing on the Price we were set on shore Great Companies came flocking to see us upon report of our Courage some whose Relations had been slain gave us such welcome as became the Cruelty and Impertinency of Heathens loading us with Curses and Imprecations and insulting strangely over us so that had we not been guarded we had been torn in pieces a Spanish Renegado was so transported with rage for the loss of his Comrade of the same Nation that he drew his Cymeter and begged Liberty to sacrifice one of us promising to pay his Ransom which being denied he then desired only cut off one of our ears it chanced he came near one of us and with a blow struck off a part of the Cheek of a German which he greedily swallowed down affirming that he never tasted so sweet a Morsel in his days so strangely had Vengeance possest him that he desired to feed upon us But our keepers safely conveyed us into the City where we found our Chains ready made waiting for us Every one of us had a strong Chain about 20 pound weight linked to our Legs and tied to our Girdles that if we did meditate an escape it should not be without difficulty In this strange Equipage we were conducted with our gingling Chains to the Kings Palace much wondring what they intended to do with us in a place of so much honour We past the first Guard and came into a spacious Court paved with White Marble whereof there is great quantity near old Carthage or Tunis in this Countrey it was inclosed with a high brick Wall wherein was a large Gate chequered with divers Colours which led us into a Great Hall where we stayed till the King of Argiers came to visit us an honour we did not expect but it seems 't is the Custom for him to view all the Slaves when they first land out of whom he chuses for himself the Tenth Person and likewise one more whom he pleases we were placed round about the Hall ready for his coming in which was not speedily for being about Noon he had been Bathing himself and then taking another Recreation which is usual at that time of day in these hot Climates About two a Clock in comes a lusty Officer clothed in Scarlet with a Rod in his hand and a great Turbant about his head who was the Kings Gentleman-Usher followed by six Persons of good Meen and Appearance armed with Scymiters Next came a Grave Fellow with a Turbant almost as big as our English half Bushel at one side he had a set of Diamonds which did sparkle like his Eyes his Garment was green his Legs were bare and on his feet he wore Sandals we had time to observe him as he entred the door for his pace was slow and Grave I could have numbred 20 between every step He marched in that manner to the upper end where there was a Canopy of State over his Head and two Turkey Carpets with a large Damask Pillow under him upon which he sate then the Owners of the Ships presented themselves before him kissing the Hem of his Garment they discoursed among themselves about an hour and then presented the King who only sate all the rest standing about him with a Considerable Present in Cloth and other rich Commodities The King then veiwed every one of us with a Stern Countenance and took notice of our Features and Stature for the Turks are excellent in Physiognomy and know a mans Temper and Inclinations at first view as well as an expert Farrier does the good and ill Qualities of a Horse which indeed concerns those who Trade in Slaves He cast a Jest upon every one which gave the Company a great deal of Mirth but encreased our Sadness He chose out of the Company my self the Skipper and a pretty ruddy German Boy which I wondred at since he could expect no ransom for him but I after understood the good old man was a great Lover of his pleasures and therefore pitched on him to give him some in his old Age a strange fancy possessing the Minds of all the Southern People so that they burn with the Fire which consumed Sodom and Gomorrah I was glad to be in possession of the King hoping to get my Freedom who inquiring of my Quality I told him I was a Cook which he was glad of as wanting one but I proved a mad Cook putting in sometimes Oyl instead of Vinegar and Salt instead of Pepper yet I handled my meat so nimbly that they all believed I had been used to Cookery But I lost my Place on this occasion at a Feast my Master made I had several sorts of Fishes that I never saw before the Liver of one hath a most lothsome Taste I thought it good in the Sauce and therefore I sent it up stewed under the Fish in a Dish garnished with Flowers The Guests seeing such a
the King and his Cubs be taken away 2. To have a Toleration of Religion 3. To procure Aid and Assistance from Forreign Princes 4. To turn out of the Court such as they disliked and place themselves in Offices Watson to be Lord Chancellor George Brook Lord Treasurer Sir Griffin Markham Secretary of State Lord Grey to be Master of the Horse and Earl Marshal of England But it seems they made no Provision for Rawleigh which is no inconsiderable Argument of his Innocency who could have deserved and might have expected as great a reward as any of them had he been engaged in the Plot To oblige to Secrecy Watson draws up an Oath But all is betrayed they are Seized Examined and Tryed at Winchester Nov. 17. 1603. and the Lord Cobham George Brook his Brother Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton Sir Walter Rawleigh Sir Griffith Markham and Sir Edward Parham Knights Bartholomew Brooksby and Anthony Copley Gentlemen W. Watson W. Clark Priests were all found guilty of Treason except Sir Edward Parham who was acquitted and Watson and Clark were executed Nov. 29. George Brook was beheaded Decemb. 5. but here the hand of Justice staid the Lord Cobham Lord Grey and Sir Griffith Markham were pardoned at the place of Execution Sir Walter Rawleigh was left to the Kings Mercy who thought him too great a Male-content to have his Freedom and probably too innocent to lose his Life Therefore he is confined to the Tower where he writ that excellent History of the World wherein the only fault or defect rather is that it wanteth one half thereof which was occasioned as it is commonly related thus Some few days before he suffered he sent for Mr. Walter Burr who formerly printed his first Volume of the History of the World and asking him how it sold Mr. Burr answered It sold so slowly that it had undone him At which words Sir Walter stepping to his Desk reaches his other unprinted part of his History which he had brought down to the times he lived in and clapping his hand upon his breast said with a sigh Ah my friend hath the first part undone thee the second Part shall undo no more this ungrateful World is unworthy of it and immediately going to the Fire-side threw it in and set his Foot upon it till it was consumed As great a loss to Learning as Christendom could have sustained and the greater because it could be repaired by no hand but his While Sir Walter was thus confined Death took away his Mortal Enemy Sir Robert Cecil after Earl of Salisbury who had purchased the Monopoly of Favour and being jealous of Sir Walters Abilities had some fear he might supplant him which was the cause says Osborn that he was brought to the aforementioned Trial However Sir Walter outlived his Designs and Hatred and for all kindnesses bestowed on him the following Epitaph which is certainly affirmed to be his King James was so taken with the smartness of them that he hoped the Author would dye before him The Verses are these Here lies Hobnial our Pastor while er'e That once in a Quarter our Fleeces did share To please us his Cur he kept under Clog And was ever after both Shepherd and Dog For Oblation to Pan his Custom was thus He first gave a Trifle then offered up us And through his false worship such power he did gain As kept him o' th' Mountain and us on the Plain Where many an Hornpipe he tun'd to his Phillis And sweetly sung Walsingham to 's Amaryllis Till Atropos clapt him a P on the Drab For spight of his Tar-box he di'd of the Scab If the Reader desires a key to these Verses he may have it in Osborn's Memoirs Fourteen years Sir Walter had spent in the Tower of whom Prince Henry would say That no King but his Father would keep such a Bird in a Cage and being weary of Confinement his Destiny brought him to his end by Liberty which it could not do by Imprisonment For out of a longing for Liberty he propounded a Project to the King upon which being a well spoken man and of great Capacity he set such colours of Probability especially guilding it over with the Gold he would fetch from a Mine Guiana in the West-Indies without any wrong at all to the King of Spain that the King granted him a limited Commission to undertake it and thereupon with divers Ships accompanied with many Knights and Gentlemen of Quality he set forward on the Voyage but when after long search no such Place nor Treasure could be found he fell upon St. Thome a Town belonging to the King of Spain Sacked Pillaged and Burnt it And here was the first part of his Tragical Voyage Acted in the death of his Eldest Son the last part was acted in his own death at his return For Gundamore the Spanish Embassador did so aggravate this Fact to the King against him that it seemed nothing would give satisfaction but Rawleigh's head without which he seemed to threaten a breach between the two Nations Rawleigh excused his Actions and sent this Defence thereof in a Letter to King James May it please your most Excellent Majesty If in my Journey outward bound I had my men murdered at the Island of St. Thomas and yet spared to take revenge If I did discharge some Spanish Barques taken without Spoil If I did forbear all Parts of the Spanish Indies wherein I might have taken twenty of their Towns on the Sea-coasts and did only Follow the Enterprise I undertook for Guiana where without any directions from me a Spanish Village was burnt which was new set up within three miles of the Mine by your Majesties favour I find no reason why the Spanish Embassador should complain of me If it were lawful for the Spaniards to murder twenty six English-men binding them back to back and then cutting their Throats when they had Traded with them a whole Month and came to them on the Land without so much as one Sword and that it may not be lawful for your Majesties subjects being charged first by them to repel Force by Force we may justly say Oh miserable English If Parker and Metham took Campeach and other Places in the Honduras seated in the Heart of the Spanish Indies burnt Towns killed the Spaniards and had nothing said to them at their return and my self forbore to look into the Indies because I would not offend I may justly say O miserable Sir Walter Rawleigh If I spent my poor Estate lost my Son suffered by sickness and otherwise a World of Miseries If I have resisted with the manifest hazard of my life the Robberies and Spoils which my Company would have made If when I was poor I have made my self Rich If when I had gotten my Liberty which all men and Nature it self do so much prize I voluntarily lost it If when I was sure of my life I rendred it again If I might elsewhere have sold my Ship