Henry Wotton whose Life I novv intend to vvrite vvas born in the Year of our Redemption 1568. in Bocton-hall commonly called Bocton or Bougton place or Palace in the Parish of Bocton Malherb in the fruitful Country of Kent Bocton-hall being an ancient and goodly Structure beautifying and being beautified by the Parish Church of Bocton Malherb adjoyning unto it and both seated vvithin a fair Park of the Wottons on the Brovv of such a Hill as gives the advantage of a large Prospect and of equal pleasure to all Beholders But this House and Church are not remarkable for any thing so much as for that the memorable Family of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one and novv lie buried in the other as appears by their many Monuments in that Church the Wottons being a Family that hath brought forth divers Persons eminent for Wisdom and Valour vvhose Heroick Acts and Noble Employments both in England and in Foreign parts have adorned themselves and this Nation which they have served abroad faithfully in the discharge of their great trust and prudently in their Negotiations with several Princes and also served at home with much Honour and Justice in their wise managing a great part of the Publick Affairs thereof in the various times both of War and Peace But lest I should be thought by any that may incline either to deny or doubt this Truth not to have observed moderation in the commendation of this Family and also for that I believe the merits and memory of such Persons ought to be thankfully recorded I shall offer to the consideration of every Reader out of the testimony of their Pedegree and our Chronicles a part and but a part of that just Commendation which might be from thence enlarged and shall then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether my error be an excess or defect of Commendations Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight vvas born about the Year of Christ 1460 he living in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth vvas by him trusted to be Lieutenant of Guisnes to be Knight Porter and Comptroller of Callais where he died and lies honourably buried Sir Edward Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight Son and Heir of the said Sir Robert was born in the Year of Christ 1489 in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh he was made Treasurer of Callais and of the Privy Councel to King Henry the Eight who offered him to be Lord Chancellor of England but saith Hollinshed out of a virtuous modesty he refused it Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherb Esquire Son and Heir of the said Sir Edward and the Father of our Sir Henry that occasions this Relation was born in the Year of Christ 1521 he was a Gentleman excellently educated and studious in all the Liberal Arts in the knowledge whereof he attained unto a great perfection who though he had besides those abilities a very Noble and plentiful Estate and the ancient Interest of his Predecessors many invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his Country Recreations and Retirement for a Courtoffering him a Knight-hood she vvas then vvith him at his Boctonhall and that to be but as an earnest of some more honourable and more profitable employment under Her yet he humbly refused both being a man of great modesty of a most plain and single heart of an ancient freedom and integrity of mind A commendation which Sir Henry Wotton took occasion often to remember with great gladness and thankfully to boast himself the Son of such a Father From whom indeed he derived that noble ingenuity that was always practised by himself and which he ever both commended and cherished in others This Thomas was also remarkable for Hospitality a great Lover and much beloved of his Country to which may justly be added that he was a Cherisher of Learning as appears by that excellent Antiquary Mr. William Lambert in his Perambulation of Kent This Thomas had four Sons Sir Edward Sir James Sir John and Sir Henry Sir Edward was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and made Comptroller of Her Majesties Houshold He was saith Cambden a man remarkable for many and great Employments in the State during Her Reign and sent several times Ambassador into Foreign Nations After Her death he was by King James made Comptroller of his Houshold and called to be of His Privy Councel and by him advanced to be Lord Wotton Baron of Merley in Kent and made Lord Lieutenant of that County Sir James the second Son may be numbred among the Martial Men of his Age who was in the 38 of Queen Elizabeths Reign with Robert Earl of Sussex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro Son of Antonio King of Portugal and divers other Gentlemen of Nobleness and Valour Knighted in the Field near Cadiz in Spain after they had gotten great Honour and Riches besides a notable retaliation of Injuries by taking that Town Sir John being a Gentleman excellently accomplished both by Learning and Travel was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and by Her look'd upon with more then ordinary favour and with intentions of preferment but Death in his younger years put a period to his growing hopes Of Sir Henry my following discourse shall give an account The descent of these fore-named Wottons were all in a direct Line and most of them and their actions in the memory of those with whom we have conversed But if I had looked so far back as to Sir Nicholas Wotton who lived in the Reign of King Richard the Second or before him upon divers others of great note in their several Ages I might by some be thought tedious and yet others may more justly think me negligent if I omit to mention Nicholas Wotton the fourth Son of Sir Robert whom I first named This Nicholas Wotton was Doctor of Law and sometime Dean both of York and Canterbury a man vvhom God did not only bless vvith a long life but vvith great abilities of mind and an inclination to imploy them in the service of his Countrey as is testified by his severall Imployments having been sent nine times Ambassador unto forraign Princes and by his being a Privy Councellor to King Henry the eighth to Edward the sixth to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth vvho also after he had been during the Wars between England Scotland and France three several times and not unsuccessfully imployed in Committies for setling of peace betwixt this and those Kingdomes died saith learned Cambden full of Commendations for Wisdome and Piety He vvas also by the Will of King Henry the eighth made one of his Executors and chief Secretary of State to his Son that plous Prince Edward the sixth Concerning which Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more That he refused being offered it by Queen Elizabeth to be Arch bishop of Canterbury and that he died not rich though he lived in that time of the dissolution of Abbeys More might be added but by this it may appear
Rome where in the English Colledge he had very many Friends their humanity made them really so though they knew him to be a dissenter from many of their Principles of Religion and having enjoyed their company and satisfied himself concerning some Curiosities that did partly occasion his Journey thither he returned back to Florence where a most notable accident befel him an accident that did not only find new employment for his choice Abilities but introduce him a knowledg and an interest with our King Iames then King of Scotland which I shall proceed to relate But first I am to tell the Reader That though Queen Elizabeth or she and her Council were never willing to declare her Successor yet Iames then King of the Scots was confidently believed by most to be the man upon whom the sweet trouble of Kingly Government would be imposed and the Queen declining very fast both by age and visible infirmities those that were of the Romish perswasion in point of Religion even Rome it self and those of this Nation knowing that the death of the Queen and the establishing of her Successor were taken to be critical days for destroying or establishing the Protestant Religion in this Nation did therefore improve all opportunities for preveting a Protestant Prince to succeed Her And as the Pope's Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth had both by the judgement and practice of the Jesuited Papist exposed her to be warrantably destroyed so if we may believe an angry Adversary a secular Priest against a Iesuit you may believe that about that time there were many indeavours first to excommunicate and then to shorten the life of King Iames. Immediately after Sir Henry Wotton's return from Rome to Florence which was about a year before the death of Queen Elizabeth Ferdinand the Great Duke of Florence had intercepted certain Letters that discovered a design to take away the life of Iames the then King of Scots The Duke abhorring the Fact and resolving to indeavor a prevention of it advised with his Secretary Vietta by what means a caution might be best given to that King and after consideration it was resolved to be done by Sir Henry Wotton whom Vietta first commended to the Duke and the Duke had noted and approved of above all the English that frequented his Court. Sir Henry was gladly called by his Friend Vietta to the Duke who after much profession of trust and friendship acquainted him with the secret and being well instructed dispatched him into Scotland with Letters to the King and with those Letters such Italian Antidotes against poyson as the Scots till then had been strangers to Having parted from the Duke he took up the Name and Language of an Italian and thinking it best to avoid the line of English intelligence and danger he posted into Norway and through that Country towards Scotland where he found the King at Sterling being there he used means by Beâ—…ard Lindsey one of the Kings Bed Chamber to procure him a speedy and private conference with his Majesty assuring him That the business which he was to negotiate was of such consequence as had caused the Great Duke of Tuscany to enjoyn him suddenly to leave his Native Country of Italy to impart it to his King This being by Bernard Lindsey made known to the King the King after a little wonder mixt with jealousie to hear of an Italian Ambassador or Messenger required his Name which was said to be Octavio Baldi and appointed him to be heard privately at a fixed hour that Evening When Octavio Baldi came to the Presence-Chamber-door he was requested to lay aside his long Rapier which Italian-like he then wore and being entred the Chamber he found there with the King three or four Scotch Lords standing distant in several corners of the Chamber at the sight of whom he made a stand which the King observing bade him be bold and deliver his Message for he would undertake for the secresie of all that were present Then did Octavio Baldi deliver his Letters and his Message to the King in Italian which when the King had graciously received after a little pause Octavio Baldi steps to the Table and whispers to the King in his own Language that he was an English man beseeching Hini for a more private conference with His Majesty and that he might be concealed during his stay in that Nation which was promised and really performed by the King during all his abode there which was about three Months all which time was spent with much pleasantness to the King and with as much to Octavio Baldi himself as that Countrey could afford from which he departed as true an Italian as he came thither To the Duke at Florence he return'd vvith a fair and gratefull account of his imployment and vvithin some few Moneths after his return there came certain News to Florence that Queen Elizabeth vvas dead and Iames King of the Scots proclaimed King of England The Duke knowing travel and business to be the best Schools of vvisdom and that Sir Henry Wotton had been tutor'd in both advis'd him to return presently to England and there joy the King vvith his new and better Title and vvait there upon Fortune for a better imployment When King Iames came into England he found amongst other of the late Queens Officers Sir Edward vvho vvas after Lord Wotton Comptroller of the House of vvhom he demanded If he knew one Henry Wotton that had spent much time in forreign Travel The Lord replied he knew him vvell and that he vvas his Brother then the King asking vvhere he then vvas vvas answered at Venice or Florence but by late Letters from thence he understood he vvould suddenly be at Paris Send for him said the King and when he shall come into England bid him repair privately to me The Lord Wotton after a little vvonder asked the King If he knew him to vvhich the King answered You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the Gentleman to me Not many Moneths after this Discourse the Lord Wotton brought his Brother to attend the King vvho took him in His Arms and bade him welcome by the Name of Octavio Baldi saying he was the most honest and therefore the best Dissembler that ever he met with And said Seeing I know you neither want Learning Travel nor Experience and that I have had so real a Testimony of your faithfulness and abilities to manage an Ambassage I have sent for you to declare my purpose which is to make use of you in that kind hereafter And indeed the King did so most of those two and twenty years of his Raign but before he dismist Octavio Baldi from his present attendance upon him he restored him to his old Name of Henry Wotton by vvhich he then Knighted him Not long after this the King having resolved according to his Motto Beati pacifici to have a friendship vvith his Neighbour-Kingdoms of France and Spain and also
for divers vveighty reasons to enter into an Alliance vvith the State of Venice and to that end to send Ambassadors to those several places did propose the choice of these Imployments to Sir Henry Wotton vvho considering the smallness of his own Estate vvhich he never took care to augment and knowing the Courts of great Princes to be sumptuous and necessarily expensive inclined most to that of Venice as being a place of more retirement and best suiting vvith his Genius who did ever love to joyn with Business Study and a tryal of natural Experiments for both which fruitfull Italy that Darling of Nature and Cherisher of all Arts is so justly fam'd in all parts of the Christian World Sir Henry having after some short time and consideration resolved upon Venice and a large allowance being appointed by the King for his voyage thither and a setled maintenance during his stay there he left England nobly accompanied through France to Venice by Gentlemen of the best Families and breeding that this Nation afforded they were too many to name but these two for following reasons may not be omitted Sir Albertus Morton his Nephew who went his Secretary and William Bedel a man of choice Learning and sanctified Wisdom who went his Chaplain And though his dear friend Dr. Donne then a private Gentleman was not one of that number that did personally accompany him in this Voyage yet the reading of this following Letter sent by him to Sir Henry Wotton the morning before he left England may testifie he wanted not his friends best wishes to attend him SIR AFter those reverend Papers whose soul is name Our good and great Kings lov'd hand and fear'd By which to you he derives much of his And how he may makes you almost the same A Taper of his Torch a Copy writ From his Original and a fair Beam Of the same warm and dazling Sun though it Must in another Sphear his vertue stream After those Learned Papers which your hand Hath stor'd with notes of use and pleasure too From which rich treasury you may command Fit matter whether you will write or do After those loving Papers which Friends send With glad grief to your Sea-ward-steps faerewel And thicken on you now as prayers ascend To Heaven on troops at a good mans passing-Bell Admit this honest Paper and allow It such an audience as your self would ask What you would say at Venice this sayes now And has for nature what you have for task To swear much love nor to be chang'd before Honour alone will to your fortune fit Nor shall I then honour your fortune more Then I have done your honour-wanting-wit But 't is an easier load though both oppress To want then govern greatness for we are In that our own and only business In this we must for others vices care 'T is therefore well your spirits now are plac'd In their last furnace in activity ore-pâ—… Which fits them Schools and Courts and Wars To touch and taste in any best degree For me if there be such a thing as I Fortune if there be such a thing as she Finds that I bear so well her tyranny That she thinks nothing else so fit for me But though she part us to hear my oft prayers For your encrease God is as near me here And to send you what I shall beg his stairs In length and ease are alike every where J. Donne SIR Henry Wotton was received by the State oâ—… Venice with much honour and gladness botâ—… for that he delivered his Ambassage most elegantly in the Italian Language and came also in such a Juncture of time as his Masters friendship seem'd usefull for that Republick the time of his coming thither was about the year 1604. Leonardo Donato being then Duke a wise and resolv'd man and to all purposes such Sir Henry Wotton would often say it as the State of Venice could not then have wanted there having been formerly in the time of Pope Clement the eighth some contests about the priviledges of Church-men and the power of the Civil Magistrate of which for the information of common Readers I shall say a little because it may give light to some passages that follow About the year 1603. the Republick of Venice made several Injunctions against Lay-persons giving Lands or Goods to the Church without Licence from the Civil Magistrate and in that inhibition they exprest their reasons to be For that when any Goods or Land once came into the hands of the Ecclesiasticks it was not subject to alienation by reason whereof the Lay-people being at their death charitable even to excess the Clergy grew every day more numerous and pretended an exemption from all publick service and Taxes and from all secular Judgement so that the burden grew thereby too heavy to be born by the Laity Another occasion of difference was That about this time complaints were justly made by the Venetians against two Clergy-men the Abbot of Nervesa and a Canon of Vicenza for committing such sins as I think not fit to name nor are these mentioned with an intent to fix a Scandal upon any Calling for holiness is not tyed to Ecclesiastical Orders and Italy is observed to breed the most vertuous and most vicious men of any Nation these two having been long complained of at Rome in the Name of the State of Venice and no satisfaction being given to the Venetians they seized the persons of this Abbot and Canon and committed them to prison The justice or injustice of such or the like power then used by the Venetians had formerly had some calm debates betwixt the former Pope Clement the Eighth and that Republick I say calm for he did not excommunicate them considering as I conceive that in the late Council of Trent it was at last after many Politique disturbances and delayes and endeavours to preserve the Popes present power in order to a general reformation of those many Errors which were in time crept into the Church declar'd by that Counsel That though Discipline and especial Excommunication be one of the chief sinews of Church Government and intended to keep men in obedience to it for which end it was declar'd to be very profitable yet it was also declar'd and advised to be used with great sobriety and care because experience had informed them that when it was pronounced unadvisedly or rashly it became more contemn'd then fear'd And though this was the advice of that Council at the Conclusion of it which was not many years before this quarrel with the Venetians yet this prudent patient Pope Clement dying Pope Paul the fifth who succeeded him though not immediately yet in the same year being a man of a much hotter temper brought this difference with the Venetians to a much higher Contention objecting those late acts of that State to be a diminution of his just power and limited a time of twenty four dayes for their revocation threatning if he were not obeyed
to proceed to Excommunication of the Republick who still offered to shew both reason and ancient custom to warrant their Actions But this Pope contrary to his Predecessors moderation required absolute obedience without disputes Thus it continued for about a year the Pope still threatning Excommunication and the Venetians still answering him with fair speeches and no complyance till at last the Popes zeal to the Apostolick Sea did make him to excommunicate the Duke the whole Senate and all their Dominions and that done to shut up all their Churches charging the whole Clergy to forbear all sacred Offices to the Venetians till their Obedience should render them capable of Absolution But this act of the Popes did but the more confirm the Venetians in their resolution not to obey him And to that end upon the hearing of the Popes Interdict they presently published by sound of Trumpet a Proclamation to this effect That whosoever hath received from Rome any Copy of a Papal Interdict publish'd there as well against the Law of God as against the Honour of this Nation shall presently render it to the Councel of Ten upon pain of death Then was Duado their Ambassador call'd home from Rome and the Inquisition presently suspended by Order of the State and the Flood-gates being thus set open any man that had a pleasant or scoffing wit might safely vent it against the Pope either by free speaking or by Libels in Print and both became very pleasant to the people Matters thus heightned the State advised vvith Father Paul a Holy and Learned Frier the Author of the History of the Council of Trent vvhose advice vvas Neither to provoke the Pope nor lose their own Right he declaring publickly in Print in the name of the State That the Pope was trusted to keep two Keys one of Prudence and the other of Power And that if they were not both used together Power alone is not effectual in an Excommunication And thus these discontents and oppositions continued till a report was blown abroad that the Venetians were all turned Protestants which was believed by many for that it was observ'd the English Ambassadour was so often in conference with the Senate and his Chaplain Mr. Bedel more often with Father Paul whom the People did not take to be his Friend And also for that the Republick of Venice was known to give Commission to Gregory Justiniano then their Ambassadour in England to make all these Proceedings known to the King of England and to crave a Promise of his assistance if need should require and in the mean time they required the King's advice and judgement which was the same that he gave to Pope Clement at his first coming to the Crown of England that Pope then moving him to an Union with the Roman Church namely To endeavour the calling of a free Council for the settlement of Peace in Christendom and that he doubted not but that the French King and divers other Princes would joyn to assist in so good a work and in the mean time the sin of this Breach both with His and the Venetians Dominions must of necessity lie at the Pope ' s door In this contention vvhich lasted almost two years the Pope grew still higher and the Venetians more and more resolv'd and careless still acquainting King James with their proceedings which was done by the help of Sir Henry Wotton Mr. Bedel and Padre Paulo whom the Venetians did then call to be one of their Consulters of State and with his Pen to defend their just Cause which was by him so performed that the Pope saw plainly he had weakned his Power by exceeding it and offered the Venetians Absolution upon very easie terms which the Venetians still slighting did at last obtain by that which was scarce so much as a shew of acknowledging it For they made an order that in that day in which they were Absolv'd there should be no Publick Rejoycing nor any Bonfires that night lest the Common People might judge that they desired an Absolution or were Absolved for committing a Fault These Contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo's knowledge and interest with King James for whose sake principally Padre Paulo compiled that eminent History of the remarkable Council of Trent which History was as fast as it was written sent in several sheets in Letters by Sir Henry Wotton Mr. Bedel and others unto King James and the then Bishop of Canterbury into England and there first made publick both in English and in the universal Language For eight years after Sir Henry Wotton's going into Italy he stood fair and highly valued in the Kings opinion but at last became much clouded by an accident which I shall proceed to relate At his first going Ambassadour into Italy as he passed through Germany he stayed some days at Augusta where having been in his former Travels well known by many of the best note for Learning and Ingeniousness those that are esteemed the Virtuosi of that Nation with whom he passing an evening in merriments was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some Sentence in his Albo a Book of white Paper which for that purpose many of the German Gentry usually carry about them and Sir Henry Wotton consenting to the motion took an occasion from some accidental discourse of the present Company to write a pleasant definition of an Ambassadour in these very words Legatus est vir bonus peregrè missus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have been thus Englished An Embassadour is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his Country But the word for lye being the hinge upon which the Conceit was to turn was not so exprest in Latine as would admit in the hands of an Enemy especially so fair a construction as Sir Henry thought in English Yet as it was it slept quietly among other Sentences in this Albo almost eight years till by accident it fell into the hands of Iasper Scioppius a Romanist a man of a restless spirit and a malicious Pen who with Books against King Iames Prints this as a Principle of that Religion professed by the King and his Ambassadour Sir Henry Wotton then at Venice and in Venice it was presently after written in several Glass-windows and spitefully declared to be Sir Henry Wottons This coming to the knowledge of King Iames he apprehended it to be such an oversight such a vveakness or vvorse in Sir Henry Wotton as caused the King to express much vvrath against him and this caused Sir Henry Wotton to write two Apologies one to Velserus one of the Chiefs of Augusta in the universal Language vvhich he caused to be Printed and given and scattered in the most remarkable places both of Germany and Italy as an Antidote against the venomous Books of Scioppius and another Apology to King Iames vvhich vvere both so ingenious so clear and so choicely Eloquent that his Majesty vvho vvas
Zeal to advance the Cause of God wherein his Travels abroad were not obscure in the time of the Excommunication of the Venetians For it may please Your Majesty to know that this is the man whom Padre Paulo took I may say into his very soul with whom he did communicate the inwardest thoughts of his heart from whom he professed to have received more knowledge in all Divinity both Scholastical and Positive than from any that he had ever practised in his dayes of which all the passages were well known to the King Your Father of most blessed memory And so with Your Majesties good favour I will end this needless Office for the general Fame of his Learning his Life and Christian temper and those Religious Labours which himself hath dedicated to Your Majesty do better describe him then I am able Your MAJESTIES Most humble and faithful Servant H. WOTTON TO this Letter I shall add this That he was to the great joy of Sir Henry Wotton made Governor of the said Colledge and that after a fair discharge of his duty and trust there he was thence removed to be Bishop of Kilmore In both which places his life was so holy as seemed to equal the primitive Christians for as they so he kept all the Ember-weeks observed besides his private devotions the Canonical hours of Prayer very strictly and so he did all the Feasts and Fast dayes of his Mother the Church of England to which I may add that his Patience and Charity were both such as shewed his affections were set upon things that are above for indeed his whole life brought forth the fruits of the Spirit there being in him such a remarkable meekness that as St. Paul advised his Timothy in the Election of a Bishop That he have a good report of those that be without so had he for those that were without even those that in point of Religion whereof the Roman perswasion of which there were very many in his Diocess did yet such is the power of visible Piety ever look upon him with respect and reverence and testified it by a concealing and safe protecting him from death in the late horrid Rebellion in Ireland when the fury of the wild Irish knew no distinction of persons and yet there and then he was protected and cherished by those of a contrary perswasion and there and then he dyed not by violence or misusage but by grief in a quiet Prisonâ—… 1629. And with him was lost many of his learned Writings which were thought worthy of preservation and amongst the rest 〈◊〉 was lost the Bible which by many years labour and conference and study he had translated into the Irish Tongue with an intent to have printed it for publick use More might be said of Mr. Bedel who I told the Reader was Sir Henry Wottons first Chaplain and much of his second Chaplain Isaac Bargrave Doctor in Divinity and the late learned and hospitable Dean of Canterbury as also of the Meriâ—… of many others that had the happiness to attend Sir Henry in his forreign imployments But the Reader may think that in this digression I have already carried him too far from Eaton Colledge and therefore I shall lead him back as gently and as orderly as I may to that place for a further conference concerning Sir Henry Wotton Sir Henry Wotton had propos'd to himself before he entred into his Collegiate life to write the life of Martin Luther and in it the History of the Reformation as it was carried on in Germany For the doing of which he had many advantages by his several Embassies into those paâ—…ts and his interest in the several Princes of the Empire by whose means he had access to the Records of all the Haâ—… Toâ—…s and the knowledge of many secret passages that â—…ll not under common viewâ—… and in these he had made a happy progress as it well known to his worthy friend Dr. Dâ—…a the â—…te Reverend Bishop of Saliâ—…bury but in the midst of this design His late Majesty King Charles the first that knew the value of Sir Henry Wottons 〈◊〉 did by a perswasive loving violence to which may be added a promise of 500 l. a year force him to lay Luther aside and betake himself to write the History of England in which he proceeded to write some short Characters of a few Kings as a foundation upon which he meant to build but for the present meant to be more large in the story of Henry the sixth the Founder of that Colledge in which he then enjoy'd all the worldly happiness of his present being but Sir Henry dyed in the midst of this undertaking and the footsteps of his labours are not recoverable by a more than common diligence This is some account both of his inclination and the employment both of his time in the Colledge where he seemed to have his Youth renewed by a continual conversation with that Learned Society and a daily recourse of other Friend of choicest breeding and parts by which that great blessing of a chearfull heart vvas still maintained he being alwayes free even to the last of his day from that peevishness which usually attends Age. And yet his mirth was sometimes damp'd by the remembrance of divers old Debts pâ—…ly contracted in his forreign Imployments for which his juâ—… Arrears due from the King would have made satisfaction but being still delayed with Coâ—…t-promises and finding some decayes of health he did about two years before his death out of a Christian desire that none should be a lose by it make his last Will concerning which a doubt till remains whether it discovered more hâ—…y wit or conscionable policy But there is no doubt but that his chief design vvas a Christian endeavour that his Debts might be satisfied And that it may remain as such a Testimony and a Legacy to those that lov'd him I shall here impart it to the Reader as it vvas found vvrit vvith his own hand IN the name of God Almighty and All-meroifâ—…l I Henry Wotton Provost of his Majesties Colledge by Eaton being mindful of mine own mortality which the sin of our first Parents did bring upon all flesh Do by this last Will and Testament thus dispose of my self and the poor things I shall leave in this World My Soul I bequeath to the Immortal God my Maker Father of our Lord Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer and Mediator through his all-sole sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole World and efficient for his Elect in the number of whom I am one by his meer grace and thereof in oft unremoveably affâ—…d by his holy Spirit the true 〈◊〉 Comforter My body I bequeath to the Earth if I shall end my transitory dayes at or near Eaton to be â—…ed in the Chappel of the said Colledge as the Fellows shall dispose thereof with whom I have liv'd my God knows in all loving affection or If I shall dye near Bocton
privately and especially without any pomp at his Funeral This is some account of this Family which seemed to be beloved of God BUt it may now seem more then time that I return to Sir Henry Wotton at Oxford vvhere after his optick Lecture he vvas taken into such a bosome friendship vvith the Learned Albericus Gentilis vvhom I formerly named that if it had been possible Gentilis vvould have breathed all his excellent knowledge both of the Mathematicks and Law into the breast of his dear Harry for so Gentilis used to call him and though he vvas not able to do that yet there vvas in Sir Henry such a propensity and connaturalness to the Italian Language and those Studies vvhereof Gentilis vvas a great Master that this friendship between them did dayly increase and proved dayly advantagious to Sir Henry for the improvement of him in several Sciences during his stay in the University From vvhich place before I shall invite the Reader to follovv him into a foreign Nation though I must omit to mention divers Persons that vvere then in Oxford of memorable note for Learning and Friends to Sir Henry Wotton yet I must not omit the mention of a love that vvas there begun betwixt him and Dr. Donne sometimes Dean of St. Pauls a man of vvhose abilities I shall forbear to say any thing because he vvho is of this Nation and pretends to Learning or Ingenuity and is ignorant of Dr. Donne deserves not to knovv him The friendship of these two I must not omit to mention being such a friendship as vvas generously elemented And as it vvas begun in their Youth and in an University and there maintained by correspondent Inclinations and Studies so it lasted till Age and Death forced a Separation In Oxford he stayed till about two years after his Fathers death at vvhich time he vvas about the two and twentieth year of his Age and having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning and knowledge of the Arts he then laid aside his Books and betook himself to the useful Library of Travel and a more general Conversation vvith Mankind employing the remaining part of his Youth his industry and fortune to adorn his mind and to purchase the rich Treasure of Foreign knowledge of vvhich both for the secrets of Nature the dispositions of many Nations their several Laws and Languages he vvas the possessor in a very large measure as I shall faithfully make to appear before I take my Pen from the following Narration of his Life In his Travels vvhich vvas almost nine years before his return into England he stayed but one year in France and most of that in Geneva vvhere he became acquainted vvith Theodor Beza then very aged and vvith Isaac Causabon in vvhose house if I be rightly informed Sir Henry Wotton vvas lodged and there contracted a most worthy friendship vvith that man of rare Learning and Ingenuity Three of the remaining eight years vvere spent in Germany the other five in Italy the Stage on vvhich God appointed he should act a great part of his life where both in Rome Venice and Florence he became acquainted vvith the most eminent men for Learning and all manner of Arts as Picture Sculpture Chymistry Architecture and other manual Arts even Arts of inferiour nature of all which he was a most dear Lover and a most excellent Judge He returned out of Italy into England about the thirtieth year of his age being then noted by many both for his person and comportment for indeed he vvas of a choice shape tall of stature and of a most perswasive behaviour vvhich vvas so mixed vvith sweet Discourse and Civilities as gained him much love from all Persons vvith whom he entred into an acquaintance And vvhereas he vvas noted in his Youth to have a sharp Wit and apt to jest that by Time Travel and Conversation vvas so polish'd and made so useful that his company seemed to be one of the delights of mankind insomuch as Robert Earl of Essex then one of the Darlings of Fortune and in greatest favour vvith Queen Elizabeth invited him first into a friendship and after a knowledge of his great abilities to be one of his Secretaries the other being Mr. Henry Cuffe sometimes of Merton Colledge in Oxford and there also the Acquaintance of Sir Henry Wotton in his Youth Mr. Cuffe being then a man of no common note in the University for his Learning nor after his removal from that place for the great abilities of his mind nor indeed for the fatalness of his end Sir Henry Wotton being now taken into a serviceable friendship with the Earl of Essex did personally attend his Counsels and Employments in two Voyages at Sea against the Spaniard and also in that which was the Earls last into Ireland that Voyage wherein he then did so much provoke the Queen to anger and worse at his return into England upon whose immovable favour the Earl had built such sandy hopes as incouraged him to those undertakings which with the help of a contrary Faction suddenly caused his Commitment to the Tower Sir Henry Wotton observing this though he was not of that Faction for the Earls Followers were also divided into their several interests which incouraged the Earl to those undertakings vvhich proved so fatal to him and divers of his Confederation yet knowing Treason to be so comprehensive as to take in even Circumstances and out of them to make such positive Conclusions as subtle States-men shall project either for their revenge or safety considering this he thought prevention by absence out of England a better security then to stay in it and there plead his innocency in a Prison Therefore did he so soon as the Earl was apprehended very quickly and as privately glide through Kent to Dover without so much as looking toward his native and beloved Bocton and was by the help of favourable winds and liberal payment of the Mariners within sixteen hours after his departure from London set upon the French shore where he heard shortly after that the Earl was Arraign'd Condemned and Beheaded and that his Friend Mr. Cuffe was hang'd and divers other Persons of Eminent Quality executed The Times did not look so favourably upon Sir Henry Wotton as to invite his return into England having therefore procured of Sir Edward Wotton his elder Brother an assurance that his Annuity should be paid him in Italy thither he went happily renewing his intermitted friendship and interest and indeed his great content in a new conversation with his old Acquaintance in that Nation and more particularly in Florence which City is not more eminent for the Great Dukes Court then for the great recourse of men of choicest note for Learning and Arts in which number he there met with his old Friend Signior Vietta a Gentleman of Venice and then taken to be Secretary to the Great Duke of Tuscany After some stay in Florence he went the fourth time to visit
procurations of Priviledges and Courtesies with the German Princes and the Republick of Venice for the English Merchants and vvhat he did by direction of King James vvith the Venetian State concerning the Bishop of Spalato's return to the Church of Rome But for the particulars of these and many more that I meant to make known I vvant a vievv of some Papers that might inform me his late Majesties Letter Office having now suffered a strange alienation and indeed I want time too for the Printers Press stays for what is written so that I must haste to bring Sir Henry Wotton in an instant from Venice to London leaving the Reader to make up what is defective in this place by the small supplement of the Inscription under his Arms which he left at all those Houses where he rested or lodged when he return'd from his last Embassy into England Henricus Wottonius Anglo-Cantianus Thomae optimi viri 〈◊〉 minimus à serenissimo Jacobo Iâ—… Mag. Britâ—… Râ—…ge in equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemqâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius â—…mel ad confoeder at 〈◊〉 Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi â—…tio Bis ad Carolum Emanuel Sabâ—…diae Dâ—… semel ad unitos superioris Germaniae Principes in Coâ—…ventu Heilbrunensi postremo ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates imperialâ—…s Argentinam Ulmamqueâ—… ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo To London he came the year before King James died who having for the reward of his forreign service promised him the reversion of an Office which was fit to be turned into present money which he wanted for a supply of his present necessities and also granted him the reversion of the Master of the Rolls place if he out-lived charitable Sir Julius Caesar who then possessed it and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive beyond Natures Course by the prayers of those many poor which he daily relieved But these were but in hope and his condition required a present support For in the beginning of these imployments he sold to his elder Brother the Lord Wotton the Rent-charge left by his good Father and which is worse was now at his return indebted to several persons whom he was not able to satisfie but by the Kings payment of his Arrears due for his forreign Imployments He had brought into England many servants of which some were German and Italian Artists this was part of his condition who had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occasions of the day For it may by no means be said of his providence as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit That it was the very measure of congruity He being alwayes so careless of money as though our Saviours words Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood But it pleased the God of providence that in this jucture of time the Provosthip of His Mayesties Colledge of Eaton became void by the death of Mr. Thomas Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerfull Suiters to the King And Sir Henry who had for many years like Siciphas rolled the restless stone of a State-imployment knowing experimentally that the great blessing of sweet content was not to be found in multitudes of men or business and that a Colledge was the fittest place to nourish holy thoughts and to afford rest both to his body and mind which his age being now almost threescore years seemed to require did therefore use his own and the interest of all his friends to procure that place By which means and quitting the King of his promised reversionary Offices and a piece of honest policy which I have not time to relate he got a Grant of it from His Majesty And this was a fair satisfaction to his mind but money was wanting to furnish him with those necessaries which attend removes and a settlement in such a place and to procure that he wrote to his old friend Mr. Nicholas Pey for his assistance of which Nicholas Pey I shall here say a little for the clearing of some passages that I shall mention hereafter He was in his youth a Clerk or in some such way a Servant to the Lord Wotton Sir Henry's Brother and by him when he was Comptroller of the Kings Houshold was made a great Officer in His Majesties House This and other favours being conferred upon Mr. Pey in whom there was a radieal honesty were alwayes thankfully acknowledged by him and his gratitude exprest by a willing and unwearied serviceableness to that Family even till his death To him Sir Henry Wottâ—… wrote to use all his interest at Court to procure Five hundred pounds of his Arrears for leâ—… would not settle him in the Colledge and the want of such a summe wrinckled his face with care 't was his own expression and that money being procured he should the next day after find him in his Colledge and Invidiae remedium writ over his Study door This money being part of his Arrears was by his own and the help of honest Nicholas Pey's interest in Court quickly procured him and he 〈◊〉 quickly in the Colledge the place where indeed his happiness then seemed to have its beginning the Colledge being to his mind as a quiet Harbor to a Sea-faring man after a tempestuous voyage where by the bounty of the pious Founder his very Food and Rayment were plentifully provided for him in kind and more money then enough where he was freed from all corroding cares and seated on such a Rock as the waves of want could not probably shake where he might sit in a Caelm and looking down behold the busie multitude turmoyl'd and tossed in a tempestuous Sea of trouble and dangers And as Sir William Davenant has happily exprest the like of another person Laugh at the graver business of the State Which speaks wen rather wise then fortunate Being thus setled according to the desires of his heart his first study was the Statutes of the Colledge by which he conceiv'd himself bound to enter into Holy Orders which he did being made Deacon with all convenient speed shortly after which time as he came in his Surplice from the Church service an old Friend a person of Quality met him so attired and joyed him of his new habit to whom Sir Henry Wotton replied I thank God and the King by whose goodness I now am in this condition a condition which that Emperor Charles the Fifth seem'd to approve who after so many remarkable Victories when his glory was great in the eyes of all men freely gave up his Crown and the many cares that attended it to Philip his Son making a holy retreat to a Cloysteral life where he might by devout meditations consult with God which the rich or busie men seldome do and have leisure both to examine the errors of his life past and
Diet this Feaver abated yet so as to leave him much vveaker then it found him and his Asthma seem'd also to be overcome in a good degree by his forbearing Tobacco vvhich as many thoughtfull men do he also had taken somewhat immoderately This vvas his then present condition and thus he continued till about the end of October 1639. vvhich vvas about a moneth before his death at vvhich time he again fell into a Feaver vvhich though he seem'd to recover yet these still left him so vveak that they and those other common infirmities that accompany age and vvere vvont to visit him like civil friends and after some short time to leave him came now both oftner and vvith more violence and at last took up their constant habitation vvith him still vveakning his Body and abating his chearfulness of both vvhich he grew more sensible and did the oftner retire into his Study and there made many Papers that had pass'd his Pen both in the dayes of his youth and in the busie part of his life useless by a fire made there to that purpose These and several unusuall expressions to his Servants and Friends seem'd to foretell that the day of his death drew near for vvhich he seem'd to those many friends that observ'd him to be vvell prepar'd and to be both patient and free from all fear as several of his Letters vvrit on this his last sick bed may testifie and thus he continued till about the beginning of December following at vvhich time he vvas seiz'd more violently vvith a Quotidian Feaver in the tenth fit of vvhich Feaver his better part that part of Sir Henry Wotton vvhich could not die put off mortality vvith as much content and chearfulness as humane frailty is capable of being then in great tranquillity of mind and in perfect peace vvith God and man And thus the Circle of Sir Henry Wotton's Life that Circle vvhich began at Bocton and in the Circumference thereof did first touch at Winchester-School then at Oxford and after upon so many remarkable parts and passages in Christendom That Circle of his Life vvas by Death thus closed up and compleated in the seventy and second year of his Age at Eaton Colledge vvhere according to his Will he now lyes buried vvith his Motto on a plain Grave-stone over him dying vvorthy of his Name and Family vvorthy of the love and favour of so many Princes and Persons of eminent Wisdome and Learning vvorthy of the trust committed unto him for the Service of his Prince and Countrey And all Readers are requested to believe that he was worthy of a more worthy Pen to have preserved his Memory and commended his Merits to the imitation of Posterity Iz. VVa. AN ELEGIE ON Sir HENRY WOTTON WRIT By Mr. ABRAM COWLEY WHat shall we say since silent now is he Who when he spoke all things would silent be Who had so many Languages in store That only fame shall speak of him in more Whom England now no more return'd must see He 's gone to Heaven on his fourth Embassie On Earth he travel'd often not to say H 'ad been abroad to pass loose time away For in what ever Land he chanc'd to come He read the men and manners bringing home Their VVisdome Learning and their Piety As if he went to Conquer not to see So well he understood the most and best Of Tongues that Babel sent into the West Spoke them so truly that he had you 'd swear Not only liv'd but been born every where Justly each Nations speech to him was known Who for the VVorld was made not us alone Nor ought the Language of that man be less Who in his brest had all things to express We say that Learning 's endless and blame Fate For not allowing life a longer date He did the utmost bounds of Knowledge finde And found them not so large as was his minde But like the brave Pellean youth did mone Because that Art had no more VVorlds then one And when he saw that he through all had past He dy'd lest he should Idle grow at last A. Cowley MARCO VELSERO Duumviro Augustae Vindelicae HENRICUS WOTTONIUS S. O. PRivatim antehà c ad te aliquoties scripsi Nunc causae est ut publicè quoque id faciam Haec qualis sit quaeso audias Prostabat Francofurti superioribus Nundinis opus quoddam si molem spectes quod ferè fit non sanè de infimis cum hac inscriptione Gasparis Scioppii Ecclesiasticus authoritati Serenissimi Domini Jacobi Regis oppositus In quo cum argumento magnam partem novo tum exemplo nemini adhuc usitato caetera quae eandem modestiam sapiunt Hujus operis consutor cùm farraginem rerum undecunque emendicaret videtur nescio quo modo incidere in jocosam Legati definitionem quam jam ante octennium â—…stà c transiens apud amicum virum Christophorum Fleckamerum fortè posueram in Albo Amicorum more Teutonico his ipsis verbis Legatus est vir bonus peregrè missus ad mentiendum Reipublicae caussâ Definitio adeò fortasse catholica ut complecti possit etiam Legatos à latere Quid hîc obsecro facit Scioppius Reserat familiaritatis scrinia resuscitat post tot annos obsoletos sales jam ipsa vetustate ab inquietudine redemptos ornat me pro humanitate suâ clementissimâ interpretatione tanquam id non solùm seriò sed jactanter scripsissem Neque hoc contentus conatur quoque intemeratum Optimi Regis nomen per jocos meos in invidiam trahere quasi Domini praestare tenerentur etiam servorum lusus Postremò ad honestandam petulantiam suam locum unum atque alterum ex Esaia Solomone lepidè intermiscet ut nihil est tutum à profanis ingeniis Haec in me fateor cecidisse miro seculo Quis enim put ârat nasciturum hominem impatientem brevis joci super Legatorum licentiâ qui tantùm politica agitant ubi indies videmus ipsam Sacrosanctae Theologiae severitatem à quibusdam Aequivocationum mentalium reservationum piarum fraudum Magistris tam foedè constupratam neque hoc obiter aut jocosè aut in Albis Amicorum ubi vana veraque pari securitate tam scribi quà m depingi solent sed exprofesso de suggestu cum privilegio authoritate Superiorum Verum Scioppius est qui surrexit Et quid expectet me responsurum Sanè memini familiam meam cum Venetiis essem Anathemate percussam in Paraenesi Baronianâ Memini tum etiam à Gomitulo Jesuit â Perusino ab Antonio Possevino ejusdem farinae quaedam in me jacta Quae quanquam ab exulceratis animis effluerent utcunque tacitus ferebam Quippe hi erant viri non indignae existimationis saltem apud suos ipsorum authorum qualiscunque claritudo leniebat injuriam Sed cùm famelicus transfuga Romanae curiae lutulentus circulator scriptitat solùm ut prandere possit
part of another mans Story All which notwithstanding for I omit things intervenient there is conveyed to Mr. Villiers an intimation of the Kings pleasure to wait and to be sworn his servant And shortly after his Cup-bearer at large And the Summer following he was admitted in Ordinary After which time Favours came thick upon him liker main Showers then sprinkling Drops or Dews for the next St. Georges-day he was Knighted and made Gentleman of the Kings Bed Chamber and the very same day had an annual Pension given him for his better support of one thousand pounds out of the Court of Wards At New-years-tide following the King chose him Master of the Horse After this he was installed of the most Noble Order And in the next August he created him Baron of Whaddon and Viscount Villiers In January of the same year he was advanced Earl of Buckingham and sworn here of his Majesties Privy-Counsel as if a Favourite vvere not so before The March ensuing he attended the King into Scotland and vvas likewise sworn a Counsellor in that Kingdome vvhere as I have been instructed by unpassionate men he did carry himself vvith singular sweetness and temper vvhich I held very credible for it behoved him being new in favour and succeeding one of their own to study a moderate style among those generous Spirits About New-years-tide after his return from thence for those beginnings of years vvere very propitious unto him as if Kings did chuse remarkable dayes to inaugurate their Favours that they may appear acts as vvell of the Times as of the Will he vvas Created Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral of England Chief Justice in Eyre of all the Parks and Forrests on the South-side of Trent Master of the Kings-Bench Office none of the unprofitable pieces Head-Steward of Westminster and Constable of Windsor-Castle Here I must breath a vvhile to satisfie some that perhaps might otherwise vvonder at such an Accumulation of Benefits like a kind of Embroidering or listing of one Favour upon another Certainly the hearts of great Princes if they be considered as it vvere in abstract vvithout the necessity of States and Circumstances of time being besides their natural extent moreover once opened and dilated vvith affection can take no full and proportionate pleasure in the exercise of any narrow Bounty And albeit at first they give only upon choice and love of the person yet vvithin a vvhile themselves likewise begin to love their givings and to foment their deeds no less then Parents do their Children But let us go on For these Offices and Dignities already rehearsed and these of the like nature vvhich I shall after set down in their place vvere as I am ready to say but the facings or fringes of his Greatness in comparison of that trust vvhich his most Gracious Master did cast upon him in the one and twentieth year of his Reign vvhen he made him the chief Concomitant of his Heir apparent and only Son our dear Soveraign now being in a journey of much Adventure and vvhich to shew the strength of his privacy had been before not communicated vvith any other of his Majesties most reserved Counsellors at home being carried vvith great closeness liker a business of Love then State as it vvas in the first intendment Now because the vvhole Kingdome stood in a zealous trepidation of the absence of such a Prince I have been the more desirous to research vvith some diligence the several passages of the said Journey and the particular Accidents of any moment in their vvay They began their motion in the year 1623 on Tuesday the 18th of February from the Marquess his house of late purchase at Newhall in Essex setting out vvith disguised Beards and vvith borrowed Names of Thomas and Iohn Smith And then attended vvith none but Sir Richard Greham Master of the Horse to the Marquess and of inward trust about him When they passed the River against Gravesend for lack of silver they vvere fain to give the Ferry-man a piece of two and twenty shillings vvhich struck the poor fellow into such a melting tenderness that so good Gentlemen should be going for so he suspected about some quarrel beyond Sea as he could not forbear to acquaint the Officers of the Town vvith vvhat had befallen him vvho sent presently Post for their stay at Rochester through vvhich they vvere passed before any intelligence could arrive On the brow of the Hill beyond that City they vvere somewhat perplexed by espying the French Embassador vvith the Kings Coach and other attending him vvhich made them baulk the beaten Road and teach Posthackneys to leap Hedges At Canterbury vvhither some voice as it should seem vvas run on before the Mayor of the Town came himself to seize on them as they vvere taking fresh Horses in a blunt manner alledging first a Warrant to stop them from the Councel next from Sir Lewis Lewkver Master of the Ceremonies and lastly from Sir Henry Manwaring then Lieutenant of Dover-Castle At all vvhich confused fiction the Marquess had no leasure to laugh but thought best to dismask his Beard and so told him that he vvas going covertly vvith such slight company to take a secret view being Admiral of the forwardness of his Majesties Fleet vvhich vvas then in preparation on the Narrow Seas This vvith much ado did somewhat handsomely heal the disguisement On the vvay afterwards the Baggage Post-Boy vvho had been at Court got I know not how a glimmering vvho they vvere but his mouth vvas easily shut To Dover through bad Horses and those pretty impediments they came not before six at night vvhere they found Sir Francis Cottington then Secretary to the Prince now Baron of Hanworth and Mr. Endymion Porter vvho had been sent before to provide a Vessel for their Transportation The foresaid Knight vvas conjoyn'd for the nearness of his place on the Princes affairs and for his long Residence in the Court of Spain vvhere he had gotten singular credit even vvith that cautious Nation by the temper of his Carriage Mr. Porter vvas taken in not only as a Bed-chamber servant of Confidence to his Highness but likewise as a necessary and useful Instrument for his natural skil in the Spanish Tongue And these five vvere at the first the vvhole Parada of this Journey The next morning for the night vvas tempestuous on the 19th of the foresaid Moneth taking ship at Dover about six of the Clock they landed the same day at Bullâ—…yn in France near two hours after Noon reaching Monstruell that night like men of dispatch and Paris the second day after being Friday the one and twentieth But some three Posts before they had met vvith two German Gentlemen that came newly from England vvhere they had seen at New-market the Prince and the Marquess taking Coach together vvith the King and retaining such a strong impression of them both that they now bewrayed some knowledge of their persons but vvere out-faced by
Sir Richard Greham vvho vvould needs perswade them they vvere mistaken Which in truth is no very hard matter for the very strangeness of the thing it self and almost the impossibility to conceive so great a Prince and Favourite so suddenly Metamorphosed into Travellers vvith no greater train vvas enough to make any man living unbelieve his five senses And this I suppose next the assurance of their own vvell resolved Carriage against a new accident to have been their best Anchor in all such Incounters At Paris the Prince spent one vvhole day to give his mind some contentment in viewing of a famous City and Court vvhich vvas a Neighbour to his future Estates But for the better vailing of their Visages his Highness and the Marquess bought each of them a Perriwig somewhat to over-shadow their fore heads Of the King they got a sight after dinner in a Gallery vvhere he vvas solacing himself vvith familiar pleasures And of the Queen-Mother as she vvas at her own Table in neither place descryed no not by Monsieur Cadinet vvho saw them in both and had been lately Ambassadour in England Towards Evening by a meer chance in appearance though under-lined vvith a Providence they had a full sight of the Queen Infanta and of the Princess Henrietta Maria vvith other great Ladies at the practise of a Masquing Dance vvhich vvas then in preparation having over-heard two Gentlemen vvho vvere tending towards that sight after vvhom they pressed and vvere let in by the Duke De Mont Bason the Queens Lord Chamberlain out of humanity to strangers vvhen divers of the French vvent by Note here even vvith the point of a Diamond by vvhat oblique steps and inimaginable preparatives the high Disposer of Princes Affections doth sometimes contrive the secrets of his vvill For by this casual curiosity it fell out that vvhen afterwards the Marriage came in motion between our Soveraign Lord and the aforesaid most Amiable Princess it must needs be howsoever unknown no small spur to the Treaty that she hath not before been altogether a stranger to his Eye From the next day vvhen they departed at three of the Clock in the morning from Paris the 23. of February vvere spent six dayes to Bayon the last Town of France having before at Bourdeaux bought them five riding-Coats all of one colour and fashion in a kind of Noble simplicity Where Sir Francis Cottington was imployed in a fair manner to keep them from being entertained by the Duke De Espernon telling him they were Gentlemen of mean degree and formed yet to little Courtship who perchance might otherwise being himself no superficial man in the practices of the World have pierced somewhat deeper then their outside They were now entred into the deep time of Lent and could get no flesh in their Innes Whereupon fell out a pleasant passage if I may insert it by the way among more serious There was near Bayon an Herd of Goats with their young ones upon which sight the said Sir Richard Greham tells the Marquess he would snap one of the Kids and make some shift to carry him close to their lodging Which the Prince over-hearing Why Richard sayes he do you â—…nk you may practise here your old tricks again â—…on the borders Upon which words they â—…st gave the Goat Herd good contentment and then while the Marquess and his servant being both on foot were chasing the Kid about the stack the Prince from Horse back killed him in the Head with a Scottish Pistol Set this Fear for a Journal Parenthesis which yet may shew how his Highness even in such slight and sportful damage had a Noble sense of just dealing At Bayon the Count De Gramont Governour of that jealous Key took an exquisite notice of their persons and behaviour and opened himself to some of his train That he thought them to be Gentlemen of much more worth then their habits bewrayed yet he let them courteously pass And four dayes after they arrived at Madrid being Wednesday the fifth of March Thus have I briefly run over transcursions as if my Pen had been posting with them Which done I shall not need to relate the affluence of young Nobles and others from hence into Spain after the voice of our Prince his being there had been quickly noised and at length believed neither will I stay to consider the Arts of Rome where now all Engines were whetted though by the Divine blessing very vainly when they had gotten a Prince of Great Brittain upon Catholick ground as they use to call it This and the whole matter of Negotiation there the open entertainments the secret working the Apprehensions on both sides the appearance on neither And in summe all the circumstances and respect of Religion and State intermixed together in that commixture will better become a Royal History or a Councel-Table then a single Life Yet I cannot omit some things which intervened at the meeting of two Pleiades me thinks not unlike that which Astrologers call a Conjunction of Planets of no very benign Aspect the one to the other I mean the Marquess of Buckingham and the Conde d'Olivares They had some sharper and some milder differences which might easily happen in such an intervene of Grandees both vehement on the parts which they swayed But the most remarkable was upon a supposition of the Condes as fancies are cheap that the Marquess had intimated unto her some hopes of the Prince his Conversion which coming into debate the Marquess so roundly disavowed this guilded dream as Olivares alledged he had given him La-Mentida and thereupon forms a Complement to the Prince himself which Buckingham denying and yet Olivares persisting in the said Complement the Marquess though now in strange hands yet seeing both his Honour and the Truth at stake was not tender likewise to engage his life but replyed with some heat that the Condes asseveration would force him to do that which he had not done before for now he held himself tyed in terms of a Gentleman to maintain the contrary to his affirmative in any sort whatsoever This was the highest and the harshest point that occurred between them which that it went so far was not the Dukes fault nor his fault neither as it should seem that it went no further There was another memorable passage one day of gentler quality and yet eager enough The Conde d' Olivares tells the Marquess of a certain flying noise that the Prince did plot to be secretly gone To which the Marquess gave a well temper'd answer that though Love had made his Highness steal out of his own Countrey yet Fear would never make him run out of Spain in other manner then should become a Prince of his Royal and generous Vertues In Spain they stayed near eight entire moneths during all which times who but Buckingham lay at home under millions of maledictions Which yet at the Prince his safe arrival in the West did die and vanish here and there into