could get down and get into a Posture of Assisting them he saw all their Army dispersed and they forced to flee into Scotland whereupon he formed a Design to Murder the Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord scrope Warden of the West Marshes which when he saw he could not effect he recommended the Two Earls to the Scots and seized Greistoke and Caworth Castles as his own which belonged to the Family of the Dacres and he got together about 3000 Borderers with some others who were the Friends of that Ancient and Splendid Family The Lord Hunsdon hearing of this Insurrection drew out a part of the Garison of Berwick of which he was Governour and marched against this Incendiary who met Hunsdon and fought stoutly at the Head of his Party which was yet at last over-powered and broken the Lord Hunsdon having no great reason to be overjoyed at the Victory by reason of the Number of men he lost Dacres fled into Scotland and was with the two Earls Attainted in the next Parliament Both these Rebellions were caused by Pope Pius his Bull tho they broke out before the Bull was Published here in England which was one great reason that they spread no further The Delivery of the Queen of Scots who was then in the Custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury the Restoring the Popish Religion and the suppressing the Protestant was the last thing they aimed at and the King of Spain was the Fomenter of these Troubles and had sent them Assurances that he would send them Assistance from Flanders and had his Agent at Court to promote it But all these Projects being disappointed England soon returned to her former state of Peace and the rest of the Popish Party seeing their Weakness and the Severity of the Government against these Ring-leaders soon found how much it was their Interest to be quiet The secret Head of all these Motions was Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk who was the Richest most Noble and Wisest Peer then in England and of the greatest Authority with the Queen and no less beloved by the People This Great Man having appeared a little over-inclined to favour the Interest of the Captive Queen of the Scots in the XIth year of the Queen's Reign he drew upon himself both the Suspicion of the Queen and the Practices of his Enemies at Home and Abroad The Pope the King of Spain and many of the Nobility of England for different and very contrary ends promoting a Marriage between the Queen of Scots and this Duke which being by the means of these Rebellions discovered in part to the Council of England in the latter end of the year 1669 he was first Committed he left the Court in Discontent and resolved to Marry the Queen of Sâ—…ots without the Queen of England's Leave tho he had promised the Queen he would proceed no further in this business Whereupon he was committed Prisoner to the Tower in the year 1571 and the 16th of January 1572. he was found Guilty of High-Treason and Beheaded the 15th of June following The Greatness of his Fortunes and Soul and the wonderful Affection the People of England on all occasions shewed to this Noble Gentleman added to his Compassion for the Queen of Scots who was a Lady of great Wit and Beauty first stirred in him the thought of Marrying her upon her first coming into England which coming to the Queen's ears he was a little before the Rebellion of the North put under Confinement yet he found means to send Money to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland but so privately that after this he had his Liberty again By the procurement of one Robert Ridolf Agent for Pope Pius Quintus here in England under the pretence of Merchandize he was again drawn into a secret Practice for the Marrying that Captive Queen which being discovered to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh by the Duke's Secretary out of mere Treachery he was again Imprisoned Tried and Convicted by one whom he most trusted and leaft suspected of Designing against him Thus wonderfully did God appear for this Religious Queen turning all the Crafty Imaginations of her Enemies and all their intended Violences upon their own heads for the Preservation of this Church and Nation Saith Mr. Cambden The Love that the People of England bore to the Duke of Norfolk is incredible which he had acquired by a Courtesie and Goodness which was worthy of so great a Prince The Wiser part of the Nation were very differently affected towards him some being affrighted at the Danger which was threatned to the Nation from his Numerous Party whilst he lived to Head them And others very heartily commiserating this Noble Gentleman who was of an excellent Temper of great Beauty and of a Manly Aspect and would have been the Ornament and Securer of his Countrey if the fraudulent Arts of his Enemies had not turned him out of his former course and way of living by the deceivable hopes of greater things and the specious pretences and shews of promoting the Publick Welfare His End renewed the Memory of his Father's most unhappy Fate who Twenty Five Years before was Beheaded in the same place only because he wore the Scutcheon of Edward the Confessor in his Arms which were granted to the. Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolk from whom he was descended Lineally by King Richard the IId This Bull of Pope Pius V. and his Practises against England produced a shoal of Traytors to plague that Generation for they were ever after it restlefly plotting and conspiring against their Sovereign their Countrey and their Kindred with an invincible perfidy and obstinacy which the Executions of many could not extinguish But yet the Calamity did not end there for from the same Exuberant Fountain of Mischief issued those refractory and stabborn Recusants who separating from the Communion and Service of the Church of England which till then they had frequented without the least scruple or difference they set up Popish Conventicles and the Latin Mass and called over a swarm of Jesuits Priests and Monks to infest the Nation and incense those that entertained them against the Religion and Government that was established and so perpetuated our Quarrels and kept open the bloody wounds of this Kingdom This is the thing we have most reason to complain of because it has brought upon all the succeeding Times great miseries and distresses and the Wisdom of our Forefathers has not been able to cure this Disease The Queen seeing in the mean time the mischief this would bring upon her Kingdoms and being roused by the Rebellions in the North and the intimations she had that there were Designs on foot against her Person and Life took up a resolution to put a stop to it and to that end passed an Act in the next Parliament for the levying 20 l. the Month upon all that should refuse to go to Church and attend at the Service of God or to take the Oath
Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists A plentiful Supply given to the Queen She dischargeth a part of it 158 A Digression concerning Parry 160 The Queen's Severity towards the Conspirators 163 The second Civil War in France 165 The third in which the Queen sends great Supplies of Men and Money 167 A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience 169 The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without success The true Causes of these Civil Wars 170 The Queen preserved the Protestants of France 171 The beginning of the Countrey-Wars 172 Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and recalled 172 The King of Spain enraged at it 174 The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government there 176 Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison 177 The rest of the Cities petition for a General Assembly of the States 178 The Designs of Spain discovered to the rest of the Nobility 179 Which at first only terrified and divided them 181 A Bloody Persecution against the Protestants in the Netherlands 182 The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flanders The Council of Blood 185 Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized and after them vast Numbers of meaner people 187 The Protestants of France and the Queen of England alarmed at these Proceedings 188 The Subjects of the Low Countries fly into England 189 The Conduct of King Philip considered The Reasons why Queen Elizabeth opposed the Spaniards 191 The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of England 193 The King of Spain complains of the Queen for harbouring the Netherland Pyrates 194 They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand The Queen of England undertakes the Protection of this oppressed People 197 The French Affairs during her time 201 A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants 203 The Duke of Guise made Head of this League against his Sovereign 204 An Account of the House of Guise 205 The Reasons why Henry III. was to be deposed and Henry IV. excluded 207 The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money 209 Spain invaded by the English 211 The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex 212 The Affairs of Ireland during her Reign 216 Ulster the first Province that rebelled 218 A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond 219 The Pope and King of Spain Interested in the Wars of Ireland 221 The Difficulty of administring Justice and Mercy seasonably 224 Sr. Jo. Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English 226 And they of the Deputy 227 William's Character 228 The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet for some time Part of the Spanish Armado Shipwrackt on the Coast of Ireland 229 The Rise of Hugh Oneale Earl of Tyrone 232 He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned that Rebellion 233 Sir William Russell Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom it began 234 Sir John Norris sent into Ireland 235 The Irish made very Expert in the use of Arms. Tho. Lord Burroughs made Deputy The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an Universal Rebellion of the whole Nation 241 Tyrone beats the English 243 He treats with Spain and England at the same time 244 The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy 246 No Irish pardoned but what merited the favour by some Signal Service 247 The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's Flesh 248 Religion causlesly made the Pretence of this Irish War Liberty of Conscience considered 249 The great Reputation of England in Queen Elizabeth's time 250 Sir Drake's Original and Story 253 The Story of John Oxenham 256 Drake's two Voyages into America 258 The Story of Mr. Tho. Cavendish 263 Philip King of Spam highly inc◅nsed against the English 265 The Invincible Armado Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it 273 The King of Spain bears his Loss with much patience and prudence 275 The English and Hollanders glorify God for the Victory over the Spaniards at Sea 277 The Queen declares a War against Spain 278 The English Expeditions against that Kingdom A rare Example of Martial Valour Complaints made of the Depredations of the English at Sea 285 The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English 287 The Trade of England prohibited in Germany 288 The Queen seizes the Still-yard 289 Poland continues a Trade with England 291 The Queen ends a War between the Russ and Swedes ibid. Her Laws for the enriching her Subjects Her Severity to those she imployed when found faulty 292 The Liberty of the Theatre restrained 297 The Calamities that happened in her times 298 Her kindness to her good Magistrates 299 Her tender care of the Church 300 Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments 301 She was concerned in her old Age for the decay of her Beauty She loved Flattery because it raised a good opinion of her in her Subjects but Crafty men made ill uses of it 303 She loved good Preachers 307 She loved Religion but hated Faction 308 Her Devotion in publick She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church 309 She humoured and caressed the body of the People 310 Parliaments frequently held 312 Her Maxims concerning Peace and War 314 She would never arm the meanest of the People All honours carefully and sparingly bestowed in her time 315 Her Justice and Severity towards Offenders which made her beloved 317 Her Justice in other Instances 322 She was sparing in her Personal Expences but magnificent in her Publick 323 She was too sparing in her Rewards She shewed a great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service 327 The Praises of Henry VII who was her Example 329 Her Bounty to some Great Men 330 The manner of her bestowing Honours 333 The choice of her Servants Officers and Ministers 335 Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men 337 Her Principal Favourites and Statesmen 338 Her Habit 339 Her Furniture 341 Her Dyet in publick and private 342 The Splendor and Divertisements of her Court 344 Her private way of living 346 Her Summer Progresses and her Carriage towards the People 348 She spent the Winter in London 350 Her Diet in Summer and Winter 352 Her Diversions and Private Conversation 353 She was subject to violent Anger 's 355 Her Sevērity to the Queen of Scots To Leicester 358 To Hatton 360 The Provocations she met with many and great 361 The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her 363 Her last Sickness 367 he spent the last moments of her life in Devotion 371 Her last Words and Death 373 The Sorrow for her Death at Home and Abroad 374 LICENS'D November 10. 1692. THE CHARACTER OF Queen ELIZABETH ELIZABETH Queen of England was born
the Town on the first Assault by the Cowardise of the Spaniards which paid Five hundred and twenty thousand Ducats for its Ransom There was Two Millions more offered for the Redemption of the Ships in Port Real but it was refused by the Admiral he saying He was sent to Burn and not to Ransom the Spanish Navies The Spaniards confess they lost in the Sack of this Town in Ships Taken and Burnt in Canon Taken and Sunk and in Stores and Ammunition and Victuals above Twenty Millions of Ducats The Magnanimous Earl of Essex was for keeping the Town and Island and he offered to do it with Three hundred men and Three Months Provision for them but the rest of the Commanders who had enriched themselves were for returning and so he was forced to return much against his will the 5th of July when he had got little but a Noble Library which he chose out of that Rich Spoil The Spaniards observed The English in this Sack shewed themselves to be Hereticks by their Contempt of their Religious Houses and Places but in all other things they behaved themselves with great Valour Prudence and Generosity The Noble Earl would fain in his return have attempted the Groyne St. Andreo and St. Sebastian but the rest of the Commanders were against making any other Trial of their Fortune believing they had done enough for the Glory and Safety of their Countrey This Expedition secured England for the Remainder of her Reign against all the Attempts and Fears of Spain In the year 1599. this Earl was made Deputy of Ireland which proved his Ruin Sir Robert Cecil in his Absence being made Master of the Wards tho the Queen had promised him that Office and he depended upon it as that which was to repair his Estate shattered in her Service whereupon he came back without her Leave and the next year after was beheaded for Attempting to Raise an Insurrection in London against the Court. To pass from these Foreign Affairs to others that were of nearer concern to England there was in all her days a Destructive and most Chargeable War continued against her in Ireland The Irish Nation have ever since it was subdued by the English born an implacable hatred to the Conquerors which neither Marriages nor Benefits nor Losses nor Time it self has been able to extinguish But when in her time the Religion of England was changed and the general Body of the Irish and a great part of the old English Families persisted in the Popish Religion there was by that means a new Ferment added to their restless and unquiet spirits so that there was nothing to be heard of from thence but frequent and perfidious Rebellions which were the more dangerous and lasting because they were excited by the Pope's Bulls whom the Irish reverence above all other Nations and supported and carried on by Spanish Counsels Money and Forces Yet however the Queen did never think it her Interest to make a sharp and a concluding War upon them because this was not possible to be done without being grievous to her People of England whilst she was forced to spend such prodigious Sums of Money in the Netherlands and France as would have made an effectual War in Ireland insupportable She took care in the mean time to send over thither the Best and Wisest of her States men and Sword-men as her Deputy-Lieutenants and she sent them such Supplies of Men and Moneys as enabled them from time to time to keep the English Pale in good order and to hinder the Spanish Party from growing more Potent in the North than was convenient to consume his Forces and divert him from nearer and more dangerous Attempts and by her Generals and the Forces she sent over she wasted and consumed the Forces of the CLANS and great Irish Lords and by degrees brought the Wild and Barbarous Irish from the former way of living more like Beasts than Men in Woods and Mountains to the living in Populous and well-govern'd Towns and Villages She taught them to leave off their barbarous cruel Customs and to live soberly and according to Law to forsake their wild ways of Diet and Cloathing and live more Civilly and like the English The Northern Province of Ulster was the first that Rebelled the Scots and the Islanders in great Numbers pouring into that Province whereupon Shan O Neale in the year 1563. took up Arms against his Sovereign instead of sending to her for Assistance to drive out these Foreign Enemies He was first Reduced by the Earl of Sussex and forced to come into England to beg Pardon of the Queen The next year he broke out again and was reduced by Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy and in 1565. he perished in a drunken Fray by the Macdonnels to whom he fled for Succour and Refuge This Shan O Neale was so wicked and debauched a Villain in all his Actions that all men approved of the Revenge Macdonnel took of so false and perfidious a man that had done many Wrongs to them and their Families as well as to the English The Macdonnels were Scots and of the number of the Islanders that had setled in this Province of Ulster This Execution hapned the 2d of June 1567. Mr. Cox writes their Names MACCONEL In the year 1564. there hapned a Quarrel between the Earls of Ormond and Desmond which came to a Battel between them at Affane in the County of Waterford The next year they went over into England together to implead each other before the Queen who of the two was most inclined to favour Desmond In 1566. they returned and Desmond took the Field with Two thousand men to join Shan O Neale as was pretended but in truth to Revenge his Quarrels on the Earl of Ormond who defeated him and all his Forces near Drumelin and in the close of that year the Lord Deputy Sidney took Desmond Prisoner and at Limerick tried him for High-Treason and he was found Guilty and committed to Prison and his Brother John was Knighted and made Earl of Desmond This Quarrel was at first a personal private Feud between these Two Potent Families but in the year 1568. some Laws having passed in a Parliament which displeased the Great Men they took up the pretence of Religion to draw in the People and the Pope entred into it and the King of Spain was solicited to send Forces by the Earl of Desmond's younger Brother Titular Bishop of Cashil Thereupon the Lord Deputy began the War this very year and defeated Two thousand of their men near Kilkenny with the loss of one single man The Earl of Ormond was then in England and went into Ireland to reclaim his own Brothers who joined with Desmond in this Revolt which was designed to subvert the Government and clear the Countrey of all English Men and English Laws In the year 1569. Pope Pius Quintus Excommunicated the Queen and deprived her of all her Dominions and
They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand Which was the beginning of the United Provinces ☞ Q. Elizabeth undertakes the Protection of her oppressedNeighbours French Affairs A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants Henry III. succeeds in France The D. of Guise designs against that Prince An Account of the House of Guise The Reasons why Hen. III. was to be Deposed and Henry IV. Excluded Henry III. slain The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money The Spaniards invade Britagne a Province of France Q. Elizabeth assists the French against these Spaniards Spain invaded by the English They take the Groyne Robert Earl of Essex stole away from the Court and served as a Volunteer in this Expedition The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex The second Expedition into Spain Cadiz taken by the English The loss the Spaniard sustained The Affairs of Ireland in her time Ulster the first Provencethat Rebelled against her A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond The Pope and King of Spain interested in the Irish War Fitz-Morris and Sanders invade Ireland with Spaniards The Deputy for his good Service slandered in England The difficulty of Administring Justice and Mercy seasonably Sir John Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies of English sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English The English complain of the Lord Deputy Fitz-Williams Character The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet a while Part of the Spanish Armada shipwracked on the Coast of Ireland Hugh Roe wrongfully murthered by the Deputy The Rise of Hugh O Neale Earl of Tyrone He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned Neal's Rebellion Sir William Russel made Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom O Neal broke into a Rebellion Sir John Norris sent into Ireland with 3000 men The Character of this Great Man The Irish become very expert in the use of Arms. Tyrone's Pretences to the Deputy The Deputy offended with Tyrone The Lord Burroughs made Deputy of Ireland The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an universal Rebellion of that whole Nation Tyrone beat the English And at the same time treats with England and Spain The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Army under Essex 20000 men The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy The Methods by which he ruined the Irish and ended the War No Irish pardoned but what merited the Mercy by some signal Service The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's flesh Tyrone submits Religion causlesly made the pretence of the Irish Rebellion Liberty of Conscience considered The Greatness of the Reputation of the English Nation in Q. Elizabeth's time Her Carriage towards her Allies abroad Sir Drake's Original and Story The Story of John Oxenham Drake's second Voyage to America He takes St. Jago He sails for the Nolucca Islands The Story of Mr. Thomas Cavendish Hackluit records and publishes all the English Expeditions in these and former times Philip King of Spain highly incensed against the English Nation The Invincible Armado in 1588. prepared and sent to invade Enggland Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it The King of Spain bears his Loss with much Patience and Prudence The English and Hollanders glorifie God for the Victory The Queen declares a War against the King of Spain The English Expeditions against that Kingdom The Earl of Cumberland put out a Fleet against Spain at his own Cost A rare Example of Martial Valour and Courage Complaints made to her of the Depredations of the English at Sea A Reflection concerning Proclamations The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English The Trade of the English prohibited in Germany She takes away the Stillyard from the Easter lings or Germans Poland continues the Trade with the English The Embassy into Muscovy p. 213 She ends a War between the Russians and Swedes Her Laws for the Enriching of her Subjects at home The Purveyers reformed As also the Concealers Her Severity to her Judges and Governors Usury mitigated The Customs carefully looked after Monopoly suppress'd Informers and Promoters carefully inquired into She detested multitude of Suits Her Admonition to the Judges The licentious liberty of the Theatre restrained The Calamities and Misfortunes that hapned in her Times Her Care of and Kindness to her good Magistrates Her Care of the Poor Her affectionate and tender Care of the Church Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments In her Old Age she was offended at the Decay of her Beauty Adulation sometimes used to her The Flatteries of learned men noted She endeavoured at first to raise a good opinion of her self in her Subjects Which by degrees brought her to love Flattery Crafty men wrought upon this her Infirmity She understood Preacliing very well and loved Severe and Grave men But curbed the Fiery Turbulent Preachers She loved Religion but hated Factions Her Devotion in the Publick Service of God She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church She humoured and caressed the Body of the People Parliaments frequently held and for the most part well tempered Her Maxim concerning War and Peace She would never arm the meanest of the People The Honours belonging to the Peerage carefully given Her care in chusing good Councellors Bishops Judges and Ministers Her Justice and Veracity and Severity to Offenders Sir John Perrot an Instance of her Severity Her very Severity to Offenders made her the more beloved by the People Her Justice She was sparing in her personal Expences but magnificant in her publick Actions She was too sparing in her Rewards especially to the Sword-men Sir Philip Sidney much lamented She shewed great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service But was not liberal to the Great men which had an ill effect The Praises of Henry VII Her Bounty to the Earl of Oxford and some few others of the Nobility And her Severity towards Luxurious Spend-thrifts Her Favours to Anthony King of Portugal †This Anthony is by all confessed to have been a Bastard of the former King's Ursino Duke of Bracciano She never Knighted any but men of Virtue and good Estate The Peerage well and sparingly given The Noble Order of the Garter prudently given The Choice of her Servants Officers and Min isters Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men She loved Sir F. Walsingham herSecretary Sir Nicholas Bacon Egerton Popham but above all the Lord Burleigh and Howard Her Habit in Publick and in Private Her Furniture Her Diet in Publick and in Private Aligophore The Splendor and Divertisements of the Court. Her private way ofliving Her Studies Her Summer Progress and catriage towards her People in it The Winter she spent in London Her Diet in Summer and Winter Her Diversions and private Conversation She was subject to be violently angry Her Severity and especially to the Queen of Scots Her Severity to Leicester and Hatton Hatton's Death The Provocations she met with were many and great The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her Dydimus Veridicus Florimond Remond a French Writer George Conc a Scot. Her last Sickness Her last Words to her Council She nominated her Successor She spent the last Moments of her Life wholly in Devotion Her last Words to the Archbishop And her Death The Sorrow for her Death
at Greenwich the 7th of September 1533. Her Father was Henry the VIIIth Her Mother was the Lady Anna Boleyn the Daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn a Knight of great Estate and Esteem After She came to wear the Royal Crown of England She had a particular Affection for Greenwich that Pleasant Seat upon the Thames as for the place of Her Nativity and upon that account amongst many others She preferr'd Her Palace there before all Her other Country Seats near London as in truth it enjoys one of the Noblest Prospects in the World and an healthful and a pleasing Air. From Her very Cradle She was exposed to the Hazards and Hardships of an unkind Fortune Anna Boleyn Her Mother upon the Death of Queen Catherine in the Year 1535. the 8th of January was Arraigned for Treason and in 1536. being Sentenced was freed by Death from a bloody Marriage the 19th of May. The Inveterate Malice of the Popish Clergy having ever since pursued this Match with their Reproaches as unlawful and void because Queen Catherine his first Wife was then still living and very much inraged at it tho' to no purpose Hereupon soon after a Parliament was summoned which began the 8th of June In which the Issue of both the King 's former Marriages was declared Illegitimate and for ever excluded from claiming the Inheritance of the Crown as the King 's Lawful Heirs by Lineal Descent and the Attainder of Queen Ann and her Complices was Confirmed So that by Authority of Parliament She stood wholly incapacitated as to the wearing the Crown of England Her only Support in the mean time under all these Injuries and Afflictions was the Goodness of God The King Her Father observing in Her a Noble Presence of Mind a good Memory great Apprehension an Excellent Nature and good Dispositions towards Piety and Vertue caused Her to be diligently educated and brought up in Learning and taught whatever was suitable to Her Birth and Age. Her Tutoress was the Lady Champernon a Person of great Worth who formed this great Wit from Her Infancy and improved Her Native Modesty with wise Counsels and a Liberal and Sage Advice Thus Her Natural Parts were in progress of time polished and improved by the knowledge of many of the best and most useful Arts That when She came to Reign which was even then supposed She might manage Her Affairs with a steady hand happily and regularly Administer Justice and shew Mercy cure Her Anger and govern prudently all Her other Passions and Affections The King Her Father the day after Her Mother was beheaded married the Lady Jane Seymour and this New Queen what from the sweetness of Her Disposition and out of compliance with the King who loved Her very much was as kind to Her as if She had been Her Mother There is still extant two Letters written by this Young Princess to Her the one in Italian and the other in English in a fair Hand the same She wrote all the rest of Her Life when She was not full Four years of Age. The English Letter is Page 209 printed in the First Part of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation and bears date in July 1537. This Ripe and Flourishing Infancy was a good Omen that the next Stage of Her Life would be most Excellent and accordingly before She was 17 years of Age She had made a very great progress in all the Liberal Sciences so easily did She apprehend and firmly retain whatever She was taught The Learned Mr. Roger Ashcam a man born and bred for that Age which was to refine the Greek and Latin to a Politeness and raise them to an Eloquence was Her Tutor for the Latin Tongue and by his Industry and Diligence he directed Her so well that from Cicero Pliny and Livy She became the Mistress of an Even Beautiful pure unmixed and truly Princely Stile which She could speak with Elegance and Facility As She became thus Eloquent and was well furnished with Knowledge by the means of this Tongue so upon all Occasions She was ready afterwards to express Her Love and Esteem for the Latin Tongue She became so perfect in it that she spoke it with all the Advantages of Eloquence so that some of Her Extemporary Orations were deservedly approved by both the Universities and they too are consigned to Eternity and left a lasting Impression on the minds of them that heard them though few of them are now extant but however there is one preserved and published by Mr. Fuller in his History of Cambridge Page 138. In this Tongue She did not make it Her business whilst She was reading the best Latin Authors to furnish Her Memory with Grammatical Observations or a plenty of high sounding Words or Elegant Phrases which might help to exalt her Reputation for Learning or adorn Her Stile But She treasured up those Precepts very carefully which were useful for the government of Her Life or for the managing Her Private Affairs or those of the State well and wisely To this end She read Livy's History Tacitus his Annals the Acts of Tiberius the Emperor and all Seneca's Works By all which She at last furnished Her Judgment with the best Remedies against all the Attacks of Fortune With an equal Industry She read over all the best of the Greek Orators and Historians with the Assistance of Mr. Ashcam She read Isocrates Aeschinis and Demosthenes She was curious not only to understand the Propriety of the Greek Idiom and the Sense of the Author but pried into the Antiquities that occurr'd the Causes they managed the Decrees of the People the Customs of the Grâ—…cians and the Manners of that Famous City of Athens till She throughly understood them She caused Sir John Fortescue a great Master in the Greek and Latin Tongue to read to Her Thucidides Xenophon and Polybins and after them Euripides Aeschines and Sophocles And to reward him for this Service She afterwards made him Master of her Wardrove and Chancellor and Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer And She would afterwards say that Fortescue for Integrity and Walsingham for Subtilty out-did Her Expectation no wonder then that he was ever of Her Privy Council She had afterwards a great Love for Sir Henry Savil a Gentleman of various and great Learning who afterwards composed many noble Volumes and arose to Honout purely by his Learnning In Her reading She did not only aim to understand Her Author and observe the softness of the Attick and the sweetness of the Greek Tongue which may serve for Ostentation But She mado many Observations for the Tempering of Manners The Sanctity of Justice and the allaying Humane Passions that nothing might be done by Her Angrily Proudly Injuriously and beyond the Rules of Civility There was not one remarkable Story or Expression in all the Works of Thucidides and Xenophon pertaining to the Governmene of Life or Manners or to the ordering Publick Affairs but She had it by heart She
England and there was no place free from their Religious Butchery The Princess ELIZABETH in these doleful times seeing her self deprived of the Protection of a Kind Brother deserted by Her Friends and betrayed by Her Enemies had not the least hope of enjoying the Free Exercise of the True Religion Nor was this Calamity thought enough but Her Popish â—…nemies persecuted Her under the pretence She had Conspired with Sir â—…homas Wiat to Destroy Her Sister tho at his death he declared to all the world She had no hand in his Insurrection but however Her Sister was glad of this pretence to use Her ill and being spurr'd on by Her Popish Bishops who were highly cnraged against Her as the Head of the Reformed Religion She was sent close Prisoner to the Castle of WOODSTOCK in the year 1554. Thus She saw Her self deprived at once of all her Friends and Her Liberty too Her Servants and Friends abroad were many of them Attainted and others forced to seek their Safety in Foreign Countries And the Protestants in great Numbers became a Sacrifice to the Rage of the Popish Bishops So that no Orator is able truly and effectually to represent in words the Desolations and Calamities of those times Many however of the most Learned of the English Nation during this storm betook themselves to Germany as to their safest Harbour The rest who could not make a timely Escape were committed to Prisons tormented with various Arts of Cruelty and at last burnt alive The Publick places of our Cities were bathed with the Blood of Innocent and Holy men and our streets were filled with the dreadful shrieks and groans of the miserable men from their souls detesting the Cruelty of the Popish Clergy and the infamous Inhumanity of these Marian Times The Princess Elizabeth was a sorrowful Spectator of this Tragedy but for all the fear she lived in and the repeated Threats of Her Sister She stood her ground and would not be withdrawn from the Religion She had embraced and in Her Conscience approved but bore all with an undaunted and Heroick Courage The Chearfulness of Her Temper soon overcame the Greatness of the Calamity the Melancholy of a Prison and the Fear of Her Sister The Bitterness of Her Misfortunes was much allayed also by discovering to Her how tenderly the People loved her so that the Joy of this over balanced the Calamities of the Times and the Frowns of Fortune In the midst of such over-whelming Sorrows Suspicions and the Fears of an Ignominious Death no mortal ever saw her dejected or dispirited When the fears of Her Treacherous and Perfidious Enemies and that of Violence encompassed Her Good Reason encouraged Her a Sound Mind and a Quiet Conscience supported Her under Her Misfortunes and Her Hope and Trust in the Goodness and Mercy of God overcame all assaults of Despair It is not my Purpose to make the Reigns of Henry the VIII and Qeeen Mary odious and therefore I will not spend my time in representing the Cruelties that were then put in Practice the manifold Murthers extending to all Sexes and Ages or the Miseries that followed those that fled hence into Foraign Countries For tho the mischievous Example of the Popish Clergy who by their Authority Counsel and the specious pretences of Retrieving and Preserving the Ancient Piety and Worship raised and augmented these Persecutions and is for ever to be detested yet the Faults of Princes like those of our Parents are to be concealed as much as is possible and the Injuries they do us are patiently and silently to be suffered The Popish Clergy and especially some of the Bishops foreseeing what hazard their Religion was exposed to as long as the Princess Elizabeth lived and was the next Heir to the Crown of England because she had from her Infancy been bred up in the Protestant Religion made it their Great Design to hasten her Death with an implacable Malice that so they might at one blow cut off the Head of that Party which was here formed against their Church She in the mean while during all this calamitous time saw herself under Custody her faithful Servants in Prison and she had perpetually before her eyes the Images of a violent Death The People of England saw her Danger but could not so prudently conceal their Fears but upon all occasions openly and with great Anxiety said This Royal Off-spring was designed for Slaughter Truth and Innoccnce were not secure and the Ruin and Undoing of the Nation would be the effects of her Death Queen Mary in the mean time was distracted between the Shame of offending the whole Nation which generally believed the Princess Elizabeth to be innocent and the Fear of exposing her Religion which she loved above all things to the Hazard of another Protestant Reign She saw herself in danger of Conspiracies if her Sister lived and that on the other hand she could not take away her Life without being guilty of a great Wickedness Philip the II. a King of Spain the Husband of Queen Mary upon wise Reasons of State delivered the poor distressed and helpless Princess out of this horrid Danger out of pure Aversion to the Kingdom of France his most dreadful Rival For he wisely considered That Mary Qâ—…een of Scotland and Grandchild to Henry VII was married to Francis the Eldest Son of Henry II. King of France and that if the Princess Elizabeth were cut off she would be the undoubted Heiress of England Scotland and Ireland and would transfer and unite these Three Northern Crowns to that of France and make the House of â—…aloise dreadful to that of Austria This Thought put a stop to their Cruelty God by it procuring her Safety and with her preserving the English Nation to the universal joy of all who wished well to her or their Countrey Queen Mary her Sister died the 17th of November 1558 when she had Reigned Five Years Four Months and Eleven days being then in the XLIII Year of her Age concluding an unhappy Reign and an unfortunate Life She at her Death by her last Will left the afflicted and disconsolate Lady the Princess Elizabeth the Heir of the Crown of England rather out of an unavoidable Necessity than any thing of Choice There was then a Parliament sitting which began the 5th of that month in which she died and as the Government was then wholly in the hands of the Roman-Catholicks none of the other Party daring to appear or if they did not daring to own their Opinions the Death of Queen Mary was concealed for some hours for what purpose is not known but about Nine of the Clock the Lord Chancellor went to the House of Lords and first acquainted them with it This gave a great terror to the Bishops and those Counsellors who hadbeen severe against the Princess Elizabeth yet they all agreed to Proclaim her Queen so they sent for the House of Commons and the Chancellor told them also
of England and Sir William Cecil Prime Secretary of State all of them men of great Prudence and Courage who had with much difficulty escaped the Marian Tempest These were the Chief Managers of her Secret Councels and acquainted with her most private Thoughts and Designs for the good and safety of her People and were all of them Protestants The Popish Nobility and great Men were either contented with a Vote in the Privy Council in which many of them still sat and others of them refusing however to be any otherwise concerned or foreseeing the Change that was intended had withdrawn themselves altogether and deserted their former Stations Of these she relied mostly on the Council of Cecil and Bacon who were closely united each to other and both equally in her Favour and were besides men of great Judgment They were also her Chief Ministers and most trusted by her for their Integrity and Industry Having throughly consider'd the state of the Nation she resolved at first to promote a Peace abroad and that she might gain her point in this with the greater case she used some Dissimulation Philip the II d King of Spain had lost the possession of England by the death of Queen Mary and to recover it had begun a Treaty of Marriage with Queen Elizabeth which she declined with much civility and modesty so that he still insisted upon it for some time and she was not willing wholly to undeceive him till she saw an end of the Treaty of Cambray Francis the Eldest Son of Henry the II d King of France having married Mary Steward Queen of the Scots and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England the French were forming a Design against her and made a kind of Claim of the Crown for the Dauphiness The Queen feared the King of Spain the moâ—…t of the two as being a Prince of deep Designs and formidable to all his Neighbours on the score of his vast Dominions and was resolved as time and opportunity should serve to abate his Power and cross his Designs She was as much offended with the King of France for the ravishing Calais from us and for assuming the Arms of England to hers and the Nation 's Dishonour yet she resolved to make a Peace with him as soon as she could Thus this Heroick Lady which had tried both Adverse and Prosperous Fortune being by Nature endowed with a strange Sagacity and Prudence which is very rarely to be found in that Sex and which she had also much improved by the Afflictons she had suffered by her wise Counsels soon brought this almost Shipwrack'd Vessel to a sase Port and governed it all her days with much ease and Peace by which she gave the World a noble Specimen of her Virtue Justice and Prudence She discovered all the Inclinations Forces Leagues and Counsels of her Neighbouring States She laid aside all her Feminine Indignation and would not suffer her most intimate Affections to have any place or consideration with her when she was to consult the Peace and secure the safety of her People Of which this may serve for a clear Proof From the beginning of her Reign she had established this as a Maxim That the King of Spain was the most formidable Enemy the English then had but then because that Nation was strong rich and powerful she seemingly paid for some time a great respect to the King of Spain that he and the French King might not join against her and she also sent an Ambassador to renew the Amity between her and the House of Austria Yet considering that it was necessary that she should in a short time have a War with Spain and that part of his Dominions lay near her and that others were more remote and very rich and fruitful so that they would well pay her Subjects for the pains and danger of attacking them She upon the whole concluded That it was her Interest to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the King of France and accordingly she kindly received his Ambassadors who were sent hither to renew the Peace She put out a Proclamation to forbid all her Subjects the offering any violence or wrong to the French that were then in England that she might prevent their enraging the Foreign Nations against her or her Subjects And in the Castle of Cambray she by her Ambassadors concluded a League with France upon Condition That the Town of Calais and all that belonged to it should after eight years be restored to the English and if the same was not done that the French King should pay to her at the exâ—…iration of the said Term 50000 Crowns and give Hostages of the Children of Noble Families for the persormance of the said Condition in the mean time and the assurance of an Oath that they would punctually and truly keep the said Agreement When this Peace came to be discovered by a Proclamation in London and all the Sea-port Towns almost all the good men of England were inwardly offended at it and they whispered their Discontents in all places Yet I cannot but think the Queen in this League how much soever it was spoken against did rather consult her own Honour and Reputation and the safety and welfare of her People than trust to the Faith of the King of Francâ—… as to the restitution of Calais The Hostages indeed fled away and the French broke their Faith as it was to be thought they would when they were to restore Calais but then the Advantages which England then gained by that seasonable Peace abundantly overbalanced the Damages sustained by the disappointment When the time was expired for the restitution of Caâ—…ais the English Ambassadors in the Court of France endeavoured to make that Nation appear odious and detestable to all Mankind because they had fraudulently departed from the Terms of the League so solemnly made at Cambray and afterwards sworn to by that King But Monsieur de l'Hospital Sieur de Vitry Chancellor of France a Learned and a Cunning Lawyer replied That Calais was lost by a War and regained by another That the Promise of restoring it was a Necessity imposed upon the French by the Iniquity of the Times which had enforced tâ—…em to yield so far to the English for the safety of their State but that in truth the English had as much right to Paris as they had to Calais and might with as good justice demand the first as the last Yet after all this Wise man never endeavoured to clear his Nation from the Guilt and Infamy of Fraud and Perjury which was a Task above his strength In all Revolutions and Changes the Queen always in the first place took care to secure the True Worship of God and the safety of all her Subjects When therefore she had thus secured her Peace abroad or at least had gained a Cessation of War till she might take breath and recover her strength and was now
but to confirm the Inventions of men or rather of Satan not for the reforming the Lives and Manners of men but to defend the Pretended Dignity of the See of Rome and the vast and boundless Authority of the Pope That it was not intendâ—…d for the Purging the Christian Flock but for the Establishing and Confirming their inveterate Errors Tho the Pope had had these sharp Replies from the German Protestant Princes and the Guise's and Spanish Faction had represented to him That it would be an undervaluing of his Power and Person to send a Nuncio to England where he would certainly be rejected yet Pius IV. would not be discouraged but said He would humble himself even to Heresie it self in regard that whatsoever was done to gain Souls to Christ did beseem that See And accordingly he sent Abbot Martiningo to the Queen who came as far as Flanders and there he met with her Commands not to cross the Seas but at his Peril and altho the King of Spain and the Emperor of Germany did earnestly intreat he might be heard yet the Queen stood her ground and replied That she could not treat with the Bishop of Rome whose Authority was for ever excluded out of England by Act of Parliament Nay she would give the Pope's Nuncio no other Answer but a flat Denial tho she gave this reason to the French and Spaniards to give them some satisfaction For she well perceived this Remedy did not tend to the healing the Wounds of the Church but to the making them incurable and the Event justified her Conduct In the mean time the Queen clearly foresaw that the Restoring the Protestants to their Native Countrey and their former Stations would disoblige all the Popish Nobility of England who tho for the present they suppressed their Resentment yet when occasion was offered they would not fail to do her the utmost Mischief that was in their Power The only noise of the coming of a Nuncio from the Pope encouraged many to break the Laws made against the Pope and his Authority with great boldness and they spread false Reports abroad That the Queen was going to change her Religion and alter the Government of the Realm to dispose the Protestants to join with the Papists in a Rebellion to her Ruin She saw also that at length she should be involved in a Foreign War and that the Pope would fulminate against her all which Dangers the Greatness of her Soul despised She also changed her Privy-Council into which she chose Protestants of famed Prudence and Moderation and she openly and avowedly broke the Power and lessened the Authority of her Popish Nobility and Gentry The Pope having at this time sent a Legate into Ireland who had joined himself to some desperate Traytors then in Rebellion against her and endeavouring to deprive her of all Right and Title to that Kingdom Some others of that Persuasion were found also to have practised with the Devil by Conjurations Charms and casting Figures to be informed of the Length and Continuance of her 〈◊〉 but Heaven would not and Hell could not help them The Affairs of the Church being thus setled she applied her mind to restore the Civil State of England to its Ancient Strength and Happiness it having been strangely shaken by the Factions and Divisions in the Three Reigns that preceded hers To this purpose she passed many Acts of Parliament and other State-Orders for her own Security and the Welfare of her Subjects She made some new Additions to the old Laws for the better Administration of her Civil Government for the Promoting the common Interest of her Subjects or for the Regu lating her Parliaments She enriched her Kingdom also and whereas she found a great part of the current Money of England adulterared and mixed with Brass she reduced it all to the old Standard and made it good STERLING She furnished all her Havens Sea-Ports Cities and Frontier places with Garisons Forts Castles Cannon Ball Gun powder and Provisions She took care to have her own Gunpowder made in England which before had been fetch'd in from abroad She cast great quantities of Brass and Iron Ordnance after she had discovered a plentiful Mine of Brass at KESWICK in Cumberland She fortified BERWICK anew and caused all the Frontier places towards Scotland to be repaired and placed Garisons of good Soldiers in them Tho she was upon better terms with the Scots than any of her Ancestors for many Ages had been especially after they embraced the Reformed Religion yet she would not so wholly rely on their good affections as to neglect a timely provision for her own Security And when all these great Designs had brought a Debt upon the Crown she chose rather to sell a part of her Crown-Lands to pay it than be over-burthensome to her People She ordered also the Debts contracted by her Father and Brother but neglected by her Sister to be paid She provided a great Magazine and furnished her Kingdom with plentiful Stores of Arms and Ammunition and all sorts of Warlike Provisions that she might always have at hand whatever was needful to secure her against the sudden Insults of her Foreign Enemies or any Insurrections which might be raised at home She caused her Forces to be often drawn out viewed and mustered and with Honours and other Rewards she recompenced those that in this kind had deserved well of her by which she much encouraged her Soldiers and Sea-men She encreased her Fleet and built many large Men of War and furnished her Naval Stores with whatever was needful and she encreased the Wages of her Mariners and Seamen and appointed a Guard of Ships to ride always in the Downs for the Security of the British Seas and carefully scoured the Seas by her Men of War and purged them from Pyrates and Sea-Robbers so that in all her time the Seas were secure safe and open Dr. Heylin in his History of the Reformation acquaints us that she began these Preparations in the year 1560. Ahd that holding it a safer Maxim in the Schools of Policy not to Admit than to endeavour by strong hand to Expel an Enemy she entertained the fortunate thoughts of Walling her Kingdom round about with a puissant Navy for ouâ—… Merchants had already encreased their Shipping by managing some part of that Wealthy Trade which formerly had been Monopolized by the Hanse-Towns or Easterlings And thereupon she resolved not to be wanting to her self in Building Ships of such Burthen and so fit for Service as might enable her in a short time not only to Protect her Merchants but to Command the Ocean Of which the Spaniard found good proof to his great Loss and almost to his total Ruin in the last Twenty years of her Glorious Government At the same time by her Proclamation dated November 15. 1560. she commanded all the Easterling Flemish and Spanish Moneys to be brought into the Mint
ways or in satisfying the Avarice and Knavery of her Ministers but for the Benefit and Welfare of the State and that the best thing which could possibly be done by any person was to do that which tended to the good of his Countrey Mary the Daughter of James V. King of Scotland was a young Lady of great Beauty and by the Arts of her Mother who was a French Lady and descended of the House of Lorain she was perswaded to marry Francis the Eldest Son of Henry II. then King of France by which he obtained the Title of King of Scotland in her Right After Mary Queen of England was dead the House of Guise in France perswaded this Prince and his Lady to assume and use the Royal Arms of England because she was of the Royal Family and accordingly it was Engraven on all their Plate and put upon all their other Furniture and they used it in their Seals to the great Injury and Exasperation of Queen Elizabeth She suffered also her self to be stiled Queen of England which highly incensed the English Nation against her and the French Court it being thought the greatest Contempt that could possibly be offered to us to assume that Title at a time when France was engaged in a War with Spain But however the Civil War which soon after broke out in France and lasted many years the defeating their Designs in Scotland the Deaths of Henry II. and Francis II. and all other the Calamities that followed this foolish Attempt sufficiently revenged the Injury offered to the Queen and the English Nation Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was an Industrious Wise and an Active Statesman but apt to be heat and of a fiery Temper He was at that time the English Leiger Ambassador in the Court of France and was highly exasperated to see this Affront put upon his Mistress and he made sharp and loud Complaints of it to the Council of France After a tedious Debate and many Hearings he at last by the means of Montmorancy Constable of France obtained an Order or Promise That the Queen of the Scots should no more use the Royal Arms of England nor the Title of Queen of England or Ireland during the Life of Queen Elizabeth or of any Children born of her The Envy and Hatred which was occasioned by this imprudent Contest between these two great Ladies who were equal in Authority and Beauty had an ill effect upon them in all the after-parts of their Lives and at last ended in the violent Death of Mary Queen of the Scots The French seemed then to desire nothing more than a pretence for a War with England Throgmorton the Ambassador was made the subject of their Court-Jesters and Comedians Raillery one of his Servants was contrary to the Laws of Nations taken violently and unjustly from him and sent to the Gallies by the Brother of the Duke of Guise the English which Traded in France were without any provocation or complaint made of them to their own Queen most unjustly Imprison'd and otherwise exposed to Contempt and Blows The Ambassador bore all things with an invincible Resolution and resolved whatever he suffered not to be frighted from his Post but to watch the first opportunity to revenge the Contempt was offered to his Character and their violations of the Laws of Nations He complained openly and freely to the Council of France of the Affronts offered to his Mistress of their Violence Injuries and Rapins committed upon her Subjects And as for the Duke of Guise he considered him only as a Subject of France and said many things of him with the utmost Freedom and Sharpness and the Duke of Guise answered him with some vehemence The Council on the other hand laid all the blame on the common people of France and offered a specious but unâ—…rue Excuse for what had been done The Ambassador thereupon calling God and man to bear witness how much they had violated the Law of Nations and the Liberty of an Ambassador which was Sacred by the Laws of God and man returned to his House and from thenceforward made it his business to imbroil France he exasperated by his Arts Anthony King of Navarre the Prince of Conde his Brother Montmorancy and the rest of the Peers of that Kingdom till he made all France the Scene of a Civil War and filled it with inexpressible Calamities which ended in the utter Ruin of the exorbitant Power and Greatness of the House of Guise Tho this Great man did all this yet upon his return into England he did not meet with a Recompence proportionable to his Integrity Courage and Industry because the Lord Burleigh was his Enemy and sought by all means to curb and conquer this lively free and haughty Spirit which too often appeared against him The French having obtained a Matrimonial Right to the Crown of Scotland thought it afforded them a fair pretence and an happy introduction into the Island and designed to employ these Advantages for the Conquest of England also They thereupon taking hold of the Disorders their own Cruelty and Perfidy had caused in Scotland raised a Potent Army under the Command of the Count de Martigues and Monsieur La Brosse two Expert Commanders and sent them into Scotland These French Gentlemen did all that was possible to Establish the Faction that favoured France in Scotland they wasted and destroyed all that durst oppose them and threatned the intire Destruction of all that any way opposed their designs Their Violence and Cruelty in the mean time highly exasperated the common people of that Kingdom and they began to whisper That the Destruction of all the Scotch Nobility and the Extirpation of their Government was intended Thereupon the Scots began in good earnest to think how they might preserve themselves and defend their Lands and Territories from the Incursions and Depredations of the French The French on the other side meeting with Repulses and seeing the whole Nation arm against them when they expected the most profound Submission retired to Leith which they had then Fortified for their security whither the Scotch Nobility sollowed them and there were frequent but small Skirmishes between them and the French But however still the storm fell heaviest on that part of the Scots which had embraced the Reformation for that was made the pretence for sending over these French Forces and they on the contrary saw that during the Marriage of their Queen with Francis II. King of France there was no hopes of Security against the Pride and Cruelty of their new Masters and that they were not able to defend themselves without Assistance from abroad Whereupon they sent their Agents with Letters to Queen Elizabeth laying before her Majesty the miserable Estate they were reduced to and imploring her Protection and Assistance for the prevention of their Ruin The Queen being before exasperated by the ill usages she had received from the Guifes and
March with the English Army for England where he was rewarded for this Service with the Government of Berwick which he did not long enjoy for he died the 14th of December 1562. This War saith Mr. Cambden preserved all Britain from Ruin restored the Scots to their Ancient Liberty and setled the Peace and enlarged the Reputation of the English Nation so that from thenceforward during all her happy Reign she had no reason to apprehend any danger from Scotland the Protestants of that Nation esteeming the Queen their Patroness and Deliverer and the English acknowledging she had laid a sure foundation for their future Security Thus she delivered Scotland from those Foreigners who designed by Violence and Force to suppress not only the Protestant Religion but their Civil Rights and Liberties also and to bring upon that Free Nation an intolerable French Slavery Of this the Scots were then so extremely sensible saith my Author who was of that Nation That they being delivered by her means from Foreign Servitnde they thereupon subscribed to a League to maintain the Protestant Religion and to use the English Worship and Rites After this a Civil War arose in France and the Queen sent Supplies under the Earl of Warwick in 1562. to the Prince of Conde the Count de Rohan and Coligny the Defenders of the Protestant Religion and of the Liberties of that Kingdom To these Forces when the Protestants themselves opposed thâ—…m she sent afterwards Additional Forces and great Sums of Money At this time the French Protestants put Havre de Grace into her hands as a Cautionary Town and it was Garison'd with English Soldiers but so soon as their Fear of the Popish Party was a little abated by a Peace granted to them which yet waâ—… of no duration they joined with their Popish Countreymen to drive out their Benefactors and with equal Violence endeavoured to reduce the Town under the Crown of France again The Earl of Warwick seeing his men consumed by a War without and a Plaâ—…ue within the Town and no Relief to be expected in due time he thereupon began a Treaty with the Enemy and the 28th of July 1563. the Articles of Surrender were signed the next day there came a Fleet of 60 Sail of English Ships into the Haven on which the Garison was Transported into England And the Protestants of France had the chief hand in the driving them out as all sides acknowledge The Death of Francis II. King of France the 5th of December 1560. when he had Reigned but Seventeen Months put an end to all the French Ambitious Designs of Conquering England and Reducing Scotland and to the Fears of both these Kingdoms on that score Mary Queen of Scotland being thus deprived of her Beloved Husband soon grew weary of that Kingdom and getting a small Number of Ships together for that purpose she went on board at Calais the 14th of August and she landed at Leith the 20th of the same month in the year 1561 being attended by many of the Nobility and some great Ladies of both the French and Scots Nation Not long after the Queen of England having opposed this Princess's designs of Marrying Charles Archduke of Austria and rather recommending to her choice the Lord James Darnley Eldest Son to the Earl of Lenox and the next Heir after her of the Crowns of England and Scotland so that this Match would undoubtedly secure her Title to England too after the Death of Queen Elizabeth whereupon she married him at Edinburgh in the year 1565 and the next year after James their only Son was born to the great Joy of both the Nations for he was then thought one of the Pillars of Christendom the Ornament of his Native Countrey and Family and all men presaged That he would one day become the King of Great Britain as it came afterwards to pass by the wonderful good Providence of God This Marriage was attended with a Catastrophe and Tragick Event which is grievous to the thoughts and scarce possible to be enough lamented Mary Stewart the Relict of Francis II. King of France and the Immediate Heiress and Lawful Queen of Scotland and the Presumptive Heir of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland the Mother of James VI. soon after became a Lamentable Example of the Unsteadiness of Human Affairs The Lord Darnley her Husband having out of Jealousie ordered the Murther of one David Rixio the Queen's Secretary was afterwards himself Poisoned first and then Murdered at Edinburgh in the year 1567 The effect of which was the Deposing the Queen her self who was suspected to have an hand in it and the Imprisoning her in a Castle in the Lake of Locklevin where she was forced to subscribe a Resignation of the Crown and Government of Scotland in the year 1568. The Queen by the Providence of God escaped afterwards out of this Restraint the 2d of May and raised some Forces to recover her Crown again which were intirely routed and dispersed by the Forces of the Regent of Scotland So that having nothing more to trust to in that Kingdom she took shipping with intention to pass into France but being by stress of Weather or the Treachery of those that carried her brought into England she was landed at Warkinton in Cumberland the 17th of the same Month and not long after committed Prisoner to the Castle of Carlisle so that being driven from her Native Countrey by her own Subjects she found an uneasie and cruel Restraint where she expected a Refuge and a Sanctuary The Laws of Hospitality and that Kindness which Nature teacheth all men to use towards those that are of the same Lineage and Blood not being able to protect her against the Jealousie of a Rival Queen When Mary Queen of the Scots saw her self reduced to this Calamitous Condition forsaken of all her Subjects and Servants and forced to flee in one day about Sixty Miles and then not thinking her self secure till passing to Sea she was thrown upon the English shore She wrote a Letter to the Queen of England before she left Scotland and sent it by one Beton and she gave him a Diamond which the Queen had sent her before this as a Pledge of her Friendship she also ordered him to tell the Queen That she intended to leave Scotland and to come into England and did most earnestly beseech her to send her such Help and Assistance as was necessary in case the Scots should persist in the same Methods of Oppression Queen Elizabeth assured this Gentleman That she would shew the Queen of Scots all that Affection that she could possibly expect from a Sister Before this Gentleman could get back again she left Scotland contrary to the Advice of all her Friends and came into England and as soon as she was on shore she sent the Queen a Second Letter in French in the Conclusion of which she tells the Queen of England That she was come into her
Kingdom with an intire Reliance upon her Majesties most unquestionable good affections towards her not doubting but her Majesty would assist her and that by her Example and Encouragement others would be won over to her I do most earnestly therefore said she beseech you That I may presently be admitted to come to you because I am now in great Distress as I will more at large inform you when you shall please so far to have Compassion on me God grant your Majesty a long and an happy Life and me that Patience and Consolation which I â—…ope to obtain from him by your seasonable Assistance Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Knolles and some others to the Queen of the Scots to comfort her and promised her all that Protection and Assistance which the Equity of her Cause would allow but she would not suffer her to come to her And she ordered her to be removed to Carlisle which was a place of greatâ—…r Safety to her than that she was at present in where the Scots might perhaps surprize her Upon this the Queen of the Scots wrote a Third Letter to the Queen and sent it by the Lord Herris desiring that she might be suffered to come before her Majesty to propose the Injuries which had been done to her by her Subjects and to answer the accusations they did pretend to bring against her That it was most equitable and just that Queen Elizabeth should admit her who was her Nearest Kinswoman and was now an Exile into her presence and hear what she had to say for her self and restore her to her Kingdom which she had most unjustly been deprived of by those who had been most justly banished for their Treasons against her and wâ—…re Pardoned and Restored upon your Majesty's Intercession with me to my own Râ—… as now it plainly appeareth said she if your Majesty d th not prevent it Wherefore I once more Conjure your Majesty either to Admit me into your Presence and to Assist me or otherwise to suffer me forthwith to go out of England to seek help elsewhere and that you would not detain me as a Captive and a Prisoner any longer in the Castle of Carlisle because I came freely into England trusting in your many kind Letters Messages and the Pledges of an Honourable Reception This Letter wrought very much upon the heart of the Queen and she could not but pity the desolate and deplorable Estate of so near a Relation who being by Force of Arms taken by her own Subjects had been thrust from a Throne into a Prison brought into the utmost danger of her Life Condemned without being heard and was deprived of a Kingdom and had now fled to her out of a Confidence of her Assistance and was now at last willing and desirous that the Queen of England should be her Judge and when she had heard both her and her Subjects pronounce what Sentence she thought fit and just Princes are certainly the most unhappy part of Mankind because they are frequently reduced to those straits that they can scarce tell which way to turn them Sin or Misery Ruin or Dishonour surround and encompass them so that there is no possibility of avoiding both at once Had Queen Elizabeth dismissed the Queen of Scots she would without doubt have found enough who would have entertained her as an Instrument and Pretence to ruin both England and Scotland too If she detained her in England it was feared that her Wheedling Humour Youth and Beauty and her stout Attachment to the Popish Religion would draw in many of the English to take her part as long as she was considered as the nexâ—… Heir of the Crown after the Queen then Reigning and this would very much endanger the Peace of England Foreign Ambassadors would have Orders from their Masters when her Case was once known to espouse her Interest and promote her Affairs and a part of the Scots would certainly endeavour to restore her and suppress the Opposite Party when they had so fair a Prospect of making their own Fortunes into the bargain The Faith of those that were trusted with the keeping this Precious Depositum was not to be relied on and if-she should happen to dye by a Natural Death the Queen must expect to be defamed and slandered as the Murtherer of her So that the Queen saw that every day new and unforeseen Difficulties grew upon her If she were suffered to go into France it was feared the House of Guise which was related to her by her Mother might renew their old Pretences in her Right to England and again set on foot her former Claim of this Throne and might win many over to assist her either on the score of her Religion or the Probability of her Right or lastly merely out of a mad desire of changing the present Government which is never so easie or sweet as to please all That the parting with her would put an end to the League and Friendship between England and Scotland which was then considered as a thing of the greatest use that could possibly be conceived to England and it was to be feared if by her means the Popish part of Scotland prevailed against the Protestant the League with France would be renewed and this would be so much the more mischievous to England now because heretofore we had the Friendship of the House of Burgundy to balance that of Scotland but the Estates of that Family being all at this time united in the Person of Philip II. King of Spain England had not one Ally near it which could be relied on but the Scots If she were resetled in Scotland it was to be feared that those of the English Faction would be ruined and those of the French would be alone intrusted with all the Power The young Prince would be exposed to Dangers the Religion which was now well Established there would be changed the French and other Foreigners would be invited thither and entertained and Ireland would be more infested by the Highland-Scots than heretofore and Queen Mary her self would be in danger of losing her Life amongst her own Subjects Hereupon the far greatest part of the Council of England were of an Opinion That she ought to be detained here as a Prisoner of War till she had given sufficient satisfaction for her assuming the Title of the Crown of England and answered for the Death of the Lord Darnly who was a Subject of England For this the Countess of Lenox had furnished them with a Pretence by her coming to the Queen and with Tears in her eyes demanding Justice in her own and her Husbands name and had also besought the Queen That Mary Queen of the Scots might be Arraigned for the Death of her Son To whom the Queen had calmly and wisely answered That the Countess ought not to bring so grievous an Accusation or charge so black a Crime as this was upon a Princess so nearly related to
Reformation began which is now One hundred seventy five years though they have been engaged in endless Plots against the Protestant Princes yet they have been so far disappointed by the special Providence of God that I do not know of any Prince they have been able to Assassinate but Willian the First Prince of Orange and him they attempted twice before it succeeded In the year 1567. there broke out a second Civil War in France on the score of Religion which filled that once most flourishing Kingdom with Factions and Seditions and strangely exagitated the Towns and great Cities of that Kingdom so that the people of France ran upon each other as if they had been divided and set on by a Divine Judgment Catherine de Medicis the Queen Dowager of France had then assumed the Supreme Government as Guardian to CharlesIX herSon who was then a Minor She and her Council were contriving by all the ways that were possible to suppress the Protestants of France which grew numerous during the Minority of the King and under the Favour and Protection of the last Treaty to this end they had ordered some men to be Levied in Champagne and had sent for Six thousand Swiss The Prince of Conde and Coligny observing these Preparations concluded they were made against them and resolved to begin first and they formed a Design to surprize the King and the Queen-Mother at Meaux but she being informed of it withdrew in the night time towards Paris the Prince of Conde being thus disappointed followed them to Paris and Besieged that City which being reduced to some streights there followed a Fight at St. Dennis in which Montmorancy was slain but the Protestants were driven out of the Field and they fell next upon Chartres which they besieged Queen Elizabeth thereupon ordered her Ambassador Norris to interpose between the Parties and bring them to a Peace as he did but it was short and full of Insincerity and Treachery The Queen-Mother of France was now so afraid of Queen Elizabeth that to prevent her sending Succours to the Protestants she caused a Marriage to be proposed between her and the Duke of Anjou her Second Son who was afterwards King of France by the name of Henry III. and was now about Seventeen years of Age but this Treaty ended with the Peace for the procuring of which it was began In the year 1568. the War broke out again by the Perfidy of the Popish Party who had now joined with the Spaniards by a Treaty made in a clandestine manner at Baionne in the year 1565. for the Extirpating the Protestant Religion in France and Flanders and the mutual assisting each other to that purpose And the Duke de Alva the Spanish Governor of the Low-Countries had Orders to join with the Guises in this Religious work and tho the King of France had in the beginning of this year promised them of that Persuasion Liberty of Conscience yet he soon after put out an Edict to forbid all publick Exercise of any other Religion in France but the Roman-Catholick and commanding all the Protestant Ministers to depart out of France within a certain time This was followed by a severe Prosecution and in many places they were Assassinated or Robbed and all France was thereupon in Arms Queen Elizabeth ordered her Ambassador to use all his Endeavours to procure a solid and a sincere Peace shewing the King the Methods propâ—…sed would only serve to exasperate the minds of his People and deprive him of the Service of his most faithful Subjects so that the Forces of France being diminished with his People his Kingdom would be exposed to the Violence of its Enemies A Consideration which Lewis the XIVth may have reason one day to think more seriously of But now it was rejected and the young King of France sent into Spain to borrow Money and into Germany and Italy to raise Auxiliary Forces to carry on the War Whereupon the Queen resolved not to be wanting to the common Protestant Interest which was now plainly struck at and upon the French Protestants assuring her That they had not taken up Arms against the King's Authority but for their own sale Defence she sent them One hundred thousand Crowns in Money and great Stores of Ammunition and entertained all the French that fled into England with great Humanity It is worth the observing here the Wild Notions of Passive Obedience which have been since set on foot were not in being in these times the Queen desiring no other Security or Justification than this Protestation which being joined with her own knowledg of the Designs of the Guises was then thought sufficient to warrant a Defensive War when nothing less than the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion was intended She did not think these Subjects of France were obliged to submit to an Extirpation because it was the Will of their Monarch to have it so nor that she Assisted Rebels and Traytors against their Lawful Prince when she undertook the Defence of those of her own Religion against a Tyrant who contrary to all Faith and Humanity had designed the Destruction of those he was bound and had promised to protect The King of France seeing by this time a destructive War would follow to distract the â—…inds and divide the Forces of the Protestants promised that all those that continued quiet at home should be tolerated but this Facility as a Jesuit calls it when it was a mere Treachery had no effect the Perfidy of it was palpable If he was in good earnest why had he Revoked the former Edict and began the War Who could reconcile these two contrary Edicts That they should and should not be tolerated at one and the same time The Pope to promote this War gave the King leave to sell Church-Lands to the Value of 50000 Crowns by the year and saith the same Jesuit Never were Church Revenues better employed or granted away upon a better reason The destruction of Hereticks with Fire and Sword contrary to the Publick Faith is certainly a most Holy Work and an Excellent Subject to spend the Revenues of the Church on The next year the Armies drew into the Field and in March there followed a Fight at Jarnac in which the Prince of Condé was slain and Coligni became General of the Protestants and after this another at Moncontour in which the Protestants lost 20000 men They renewed their Forces however with that Alacrity that in the year 1570 they forced the King after a vast Expence of Blood and Treasure when he saw he could not any longer continue the War without apparent Ruin to make a Peace on the same terms with the former The Queen-Mother was the Firebrand of France and by her Dissimulation and Hypocrisy raised all these Combustions there She was jealous of the Princes of the Blood of the House of Bourbon who were become the Heads of the Protestants in that Kingdom and she
minds of his Subjects to enslave the Innocent and the Guilty And altho he made Religion his Pretence yet Ambition and Worldly Greatness and the subduing his own People and all his Neighbours was the Real Motive at the bottom I conclude therefore That he was a Tyrant and a Perfidious Man and his Subjects that revolted from him upon such horrid Provocations and after they had done all that was possible to bring him to better courses were no Rebels I cannot here but observe how frequently and passionately of late the Hollanders were called Rebels and Traytors here by a sort of men who were going to act upon us all the ill things the Spaniards did there but wanting Numbers they were forced to go slowly on and had great thoughts of heart that our Doctrine of Non-Resistance might fail them when they stood most in need of it to bind up our hands till they should cut our Throats and therefore they declaimed furiously against these Hollanders to fright us into the snare But certainly the man must be very silly that would at all regard the being called a Rebel by the Roman-Catholicks or part with all that is valuable to avoid that Reproach from such men of all others But to return from this Digression concerning the Cause of this War The Queen seeing her Neighbours in the Netherlands thus oppressed by the Savage Tyranny of the Duke De Alva and so injuriously exhausted by his Arbitrary and Illegal Exactions Prosecutions and Murthers and all the other Calamities of an unjust War and the distressed Inhabitants of these Provinces flocking in great numbers into her Kingdom to shelter themselves from the Affronts Assassinations Pride and Cruelty of this Enemy and Executioner with all they could bring away with them she opened her Ports to receive them and with great compassion heard their bitter Complaints whilst they deplored the Miseries of their Country and begged her Protection pursuant to the Treaties and Leagues between England and the House of Burgundy She always expressed a great regard for those Nations and Countries that lay near hers and were by Leagues united to her and she was the more afflicted for this People because fhe saw the extirpating the Protestant Religion was made the Pretence of one of the most flagrant Injuries that was ever offered to a Free People And therefore she was the more easily induced to deliver these her nearest Allies out of the Jaws of this Pyratc and Enemy of Mankind and to curb the Insolence of these Spanish Forccs that from all quarters were poured in upon these miserable Countries to enslave and destroy them She thought there was nothing in this world which so well became the Majesty of a Prince and tended more to her Reputation and Glory than the taking Arms against such men as these and in the Defence of such Supplicants to deliver them at once from the most intolerable Dangers and from Slavery It is very probable she would for a longer time have dissembled the Injuries the King of Spain had done to her and her Subjects if he would have mitigated his Rigors in the Low Countries but seeing that was not to be hoped for she resolved to put a stop to his Rage by Force and for the Glory of God and the common Safety of the Protestant Interest to assist the Netherlanders with Men Money Arms Ammunition and whatever else was necessary to keep them out of the hands of their Oppressors She neither feared the Greatness of Philip the IId nor the Threats of France nor the Secret and Treacherous Machinations and Plots of her own Popish Subjects at home nor the Hazards Expences or Calamities of a very dangerous and lasting War abroad with the Richest and most Potent Princes in her Times but putting her sole Trust and Confidence in the Providence and Protection of God she chearfully and undauntedly entred the Lists with these men that her Neighbours and Friends Confederates and Allies might enjoy their Ancient Liberties and Privileges their beloved Countrey their Estates and Fortunes and the Liberty of their Consciences and live happily She thought no Labour no Danger no Expence too great to be hazarded to obtain so great a Blessing for them but went through all that stood in her way with Courage Equinimity Fidelity and Constancy By which she acquired an Immortal Glory and is still esteemed the Deliverer and Preserver of this People and in truth of the whole Protestant Interest in Christendom The Kings of France and Spain in the mean time threatned to expel her out of her Kingdoms and promoted Rebellions in England and Ireland to that end against her but there happened such dreadful Civil Wars in both their Kingdoms that they were very much disabled from prosecuting these Designs to the degree they intended And she for her part was not wanting but sent her Forces both into France and Flanders to find these two Monarchs work at home and by kindling Fires in their Kingdoms prevented their laying her own in Ashes Thus at the same time she delivered Britain from the fear of a War with France and Flanders and whilst she protected her Oppressed Neighbours she preserved her own Subjects from an intolerable Foreign Servitude Thus she preserved England for ever from the Danger of a Spanish Invasion and Conquest upon which they were then bent and slew vast numbers of their best Commanders and Forces both by Sea and Land France for the first Thirty Years of her Reign was perpetually involved either in an actual Civil War within its own bowels or enjoyed an uneasie and a suspected Peace so that this Kingdom was never so quiet as to be able to look abroad and give any disturbance to its Neighbours The Protestant Party was strong and numerous and every day grew greater and was headed by the Princes of the Royal Family of the House of Bourbon And the Popish Party on the other side was the far greater Party and was headed by the Royal Family that was in Possession of the Crown of France So that Henry II. and Francis II. Charles IX and Henry III. his Sons who were all successively Kings of France one after the other did all that was possible by Wit and Policy Force Perfidy Wars Massacres Breach of Faith and Surprizes to extirpate this Party and when all was done the End of Seven Civil Wars one after another was a Toloration and the End of every Toleration but the last was a Civil War began by the Popish Party upon the Principle That no Faith was to be kept with Hereticks which Maxim was so often alledged either by way of Excuse or by way of Incitement or Justification that nothing but the Weakness of the Protestant Party could possibly have induced them to accept a Security which had been so often forfeited and which they were certain would last no longer than till the Popish Party were in a condition to break it And yet the keeping of the Seventh that
sixty Years the Right of it fell to Henry King of Navarre of the House of Bourbon but he was suspected by all his Popish Subjects stoutly resisted by all that were in the League against his Predecessor and Excommunicated by the Pope and sorely laid at by the King of Spain who dreaded nothing so much as the seeing France in the hand of a Valiant Wise Protestant Prince now his Invincible Armado was returned back srom England with Shame Ignominy and Contempt and such a Loss as Spain was never able since to recover The Queen-Mother of France who had been the principal Incendiary when she saw the Duke of Guise fall in the Assembly of Bloise and her only Son in the utmost danger of being Murdered or Deposed she died with the mere apprehension of the Calamities she had brought upon her own head and Family before her Son was slain And as for Henry the IVth the new King of France he saw things in that Disorder and Confusion that he was forced to raise his Camp and retreat from Paris into Normandy from whence he sent to Queen Elizabeth for Succors of Men Money and Ammunition The Queen presently sent Peregrine Lord Willoughby who had signalized his Valour in the Netherlands with Four thousand Men and Two and twenty thousand Pounds of English Money in Gold which was a Sum which Henry the IVth owned he had never before seen together in Gold at once Henry had beat the Leaguers before these men arrived contrary to the expectation of all the World and being thus reinforced from England he pursued his Victory to the Gates of Paris and was in a fair way to have taken the City but that he did not think it possible and he was besides unwilling to run the hazard of seeing the Capital City of France plundered by his own Army This tenderness of his at length brought him under the necessity of changing his Religion to gain the Crown of France In the year 1590. the King of Spain sent Forces to take possession of Bretagne a Province of France pretending a Title to it for himself and some of the English Courtiers advised Queen Elizabeth not to concern her self any farther in the Affairs of that Kingdom to her great impoverishing and no advantage telling her Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy used to say It would be better for all the Neighbour Nations to have France under Twenty Kings than One To which she as stoutly replied The Evening of the last Day the Crown of France should see would be fatal to England And the next year she sent a Fleet and Three thousand Land-men to secure that Province out of the hands of the Spaniards This small Number of men being commanded by Sir John Norris a person of great Experience and Conduct preserved that Province not only from the Dominion but in a good degree also from the Rapines and Cruelties of the Spaniards She spent in Three years in these French Affairs besides the Gold she sent to Henry the IVth into Normandy 226058 Crowns of French Money yet she did not burthen her Subjects to pay it but got it together by her Thrifty Management This Queen was wholly intent upon the humbling the Pride of Spain and at the same time she opposed his Greatness and curb'd his Ambitious Designs in France and the Netherlands she sent a potent Fleet and an Army into Spain in the year 1589 to revenge the Invasion of the preceeding year and to settle Anthony a Bastard in the Kingdom of Portugal which was then in the Possession of Philip the IId King of Spain The Army consisted of Eleven thousand Men and there went in the Fleet Fifteen hundred Sea-men The Army was commanded by Sir John Norris and the Fleet by Sir Francis Drake They first landed at the Groyne in Galicia without any Opposition and the next day they took the Lower-Town by Scalado but not without the loss of a great many men And here they found a vast Magazine of Gunpowder and Maritime Stores which was brought hither for another Expedition against England In this Expedition Robert Earl of Essex gave proofs of his Martial Inclinations for he stole away from Court without the Queen's Leave she being unwilling to venture any of her principal Nobility in so dangerous an Undertaking as this seemed then to be but this brisk young Gentleman on the contrary despising the soft Pleasures of a Court greedily embraced this opportunity of Revenging the Wrongs of his Countrey and set Sail after the Fleet in a single Ship and he had the good fortune to fall into the English Fleet after they had left the Groyne and were going to attack Lisbon wherein they had not the same success by reason their Forces were too small and the Fleet was kept at too great a distance to relieve the Army which was forced to march about Sixty Miles by Land but however they took the Towns of Paniche and Chascais and brought out of Spain One hundred Great Guns and about Sixty Ships sent by the Hanse Towns in Germany loaded with Corn which went round about Scotland and Ireland by the Vergivian Ocean to avoid being intercepted by the English the Queen having before warned those Cities That if they sent any Provisions or Ammunition into Spain she would treat them as Enemies Besides all these they brought back with them a very rich Prey in Housholdstuff Money and Plate which they gathered in that Kingdom but the most considerable advantage was the intercepting all the Stores which had been gathered for a second Expedition against England the Design of which was after this laid aside and the discovering the Weakness of the Spaniards when they were set upon at their own doors so that after this time the English despised this before so formidable Enemy they having with so small an Army marched so many Miles and taken so many places in two of the best peopled Provinces of that Kingdom In the year 1591. Robert Earl of Essex was sent into Normandy with Four thousand English to Assist Henry the IVth in the Reduction of Roan where before that City he lost his Brother Walter who was â—…ain by a Musquet This was so far from terrifying this Noble Earl that it was with wonder observed by the French that he exposed his own person the more freely that he might take all opportunities to revenge his Death After this in the year 1596. the Queen sent him her General again into Spain the Fleet which consisted of One hundred and fifty Ships being partly English and partly Dutch was commanded by Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England and the Land-Forces which were about Seven thousand and three hundred men were to be commanded by Essex and Howard as Joynt-Generals Essex having the Precedence on Shore and Howard at Sea They came before Cadiz the 20th of June but did not attempt to Land while the 22d and then they took
this Great Man who was of a Regal Spirit and is supposed to have been a Bastard Son of Henry the VIIIth despised too much the Complaints of his Countrey-men and forced the greatest of the English to fly before his Authority and as for the Irish he made them better than they would otherwise have been both by his Threats and Severity and by his good Advices and by the strength of his Reason he made them understand how much it was for their good to continue firm in their Allegiance to the Queen This was an hard Task considering the Capacity and Temper both of the People he was to deal with and of the Times in which he governed Ireland In the year 1588. Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Lord Deputy of Ireland and continued till the 11th of August 1594. He was a Covetous Unjust man and laid the Foundations of a great many Troubles to the English in after times but in all his Ireland was tolerably quiet till towards the latter end of his Government only the Irish took up an Aversion for the English Government and Sheriffs by his means and Tyrone having Six Companies allowed him under the Queen's Pay he changed his men so often that the whole Countrey became Disciplined men and he got great quantities of Lead into his Possession under pretence of building a fine House In the year 1593 the College of Dublin was finished at the Queen's Charges and Burleigh was the first Chancellor and Usher the first Scholar in it That which made Ireland so quiet under Fitz-Williams was the Justice Prudence and Valour of his Predecessor Sir John Perrot which had broken the Power of the Heads of the Irish Clans and so well Civilized and Planted that Kingdom with English Colonies and Garisons that during these Six years there was but Eight hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse maintained to keep the Natives in quiet The Irish were also so well setled in their Lands Estates and Cattel that it was no mans Interest to make any Disturbance And there was no Foreign Prince that could be brought to join with them or lend them any Assistance The Spanish Armada in the latter end of the year 1588. lost Seventeen of its Ships upon the Northern and Western Shores of this Kingdom and 5394 of the men in it perished and tho some of the Popish Natives sheltered some of them yet they all robbed them of their Freasures and got what they had for it And King James of Scotland looked upon himself as the Presumptive Heir of this Kingdom after the Queen and kept a fair Correspondence with the English and restrained the Scots and Islanders from joining with the Irish. There was a Rumor in England That there was a vast Treasure found in the Spanish Ships which perished in Connaught and Ulster And Fitz-Williams the Lord Deputy made a severe search after it commanding by a Proclamation all the Spanish Treasures to be brought into the Exchequer for the Queen's use and he imprisoned Sir Owen O Toole and Sir John O Dogherty two of the greatest men in the North in the Castle of Dublin on this pretence tho they were the best affected to the English of any of the Inhabitants but he could discover nothing tho he kept the first Two years in Restraint and the latter all his time who was discharged by his Successor and died soon after being much decayed by the Hardships of a long Imprisonment and Old Age. But all these ill things done under Fitz Williams made work for them that followed him Upon the Death of Mac Mahon who was one of the Heads of an Irish Clan and had not long before taken a Patent from the Queen for the County of Monaghan to him and his Heirs Male for ever Hugh Roe his Brother and Heir Petitioned the Deputy to be setled in his Inheritance according to the Queen's Patent and the Laws of the Kingdom and the Irish say it coft him Six hundred Cows to have a Promise of it And then the Deputy only said he would go in person to do it But as soon as he came to Monaghan he Imprisoned Tried and Condemned Hugh Roe by Military Law and without any Legal Trial pretending he had Levied Forces two years before to distrain for Rent he pretended was due to him in the Ferny Hereupon he was hanged and the County was divided between Sir Henry Bagnal Marshal Captain Henslow and four of the Mac Mahons under a Yearly Rent each of these giving the Deputy considerable Bribes as they said in their Complaint to the Council of England The Deputy denied all this but it was observed That from thenceforward the Irish loathed Sheriffs and the Neighbourhood of the English fearing the same fate might at one time or other attend them that had befallen Hugh Roe The Report of this Villany Spread it self all over Ulster and the Heads of the Clans were greatly terrified and incensed at it and had close Cabals wherein they severely taxed the ill Management Covetousness and Cruelty of the Deputy There was then in Ulster a Great Man called Hugh O Neal the Son of one Mathew a Smith a Cunning and a Crafty man who from his youth had served the Queen in the Wars In Desmond's Rebellion he had done the Queen good Service and got much Reputation both for his Courage and Industry The Queen on the other side protected this poor obscure Gentleman against the Malice of the O Neals who hated him as the Enemy to their Nation and she advanced him from an abject and mean Condition to great Honour and made him Earl of Tyrone for his Merits and Deserts He became intoxicated with his too good fortune and ungratefully and madly design'd to ruin her that had made him what he was and now nothing would serve him but he would needs be King of Ulster and to that end he assumed the Title of O Neale and cast off all Respect and Allegiance for the Queen He disciplined the rude and ignorant Kerns after the English manner under the pretence I have before recited and in the mean time under hand instilled into them an invincible hatred of the English Religion and Government calling the first Heresy and the latter a shameful Slavery and Servitude by which he disposed them so well to a Rebellion that almost the whole Nation revolted at once from the Queen In July 1591. Tyrone was made a County and divided into Eight Baronies Dungannon being appointed for the Shire-Town which with the Authority of Marshal Bagnal so fretted Tyrone that it 's believed it occasioned his Confederating this Summer underhand with the rest of the Irish to defend their pretended Rights and not to admit Sheriffs into their Counties The effects of this first appeared in the year 1593. when O Connor became troublesome in Connaught and O Donnel and Mac Guire chief of Fermanagh rose in Ulster against the Sheriffs and would have
was then no open Wars proclaimed and he laid cunning Designs to ruin the English Nation which the necessity of his other affairs put off from time to time so that there were Threats of a War and great Preparations made for it rather than a War But when he saw Threats and Anger would not terrifie the English he turned his secret Anger into open War and entred into a Contention which in the end proved fatal to himself and his Nation He prepared to that end a vast Fleet of 134 Sail of Ships so great so arm'd and so mann'd that perhaps the Ocean never bore such another on its proud Billows there was on board it 20000 Land-men and 8300 Seamen and the Command of it was committed to the Duke of Medina Cali a Person of an exalted Worth and Reputation One Martin Reâ—…alda was under him the great Director of the Fleet being a Pilot of great Experience This Fleet which had raised so great an Expectation in the Neighbour-Countries that it was not doubted but it would not only subdue but overwhelm the little Island of Great Britain sailed from the Groyne the 12th of July 1588. and came within sight of Cornwal the 19th of the same Month whereupon the Beacons were fired and one Fleming came in with a Scout-Ship and assured the English Admiral the Spanish Fleet had been seen by him near the Lizzard The English Fleet was then in the Port of Plimouth under the Command of Charles Lord Howard then Admiral of England And as it was believed the Spanish Fleet would not have come that year so there was not on board it that number of men that was necessary to man it and which on the sudden was hardly possible to be got together but however the Admiral went first to Sea and gave the Signal for the rest to follow and he ranged them in their Order as they were able to get out The Spanish Ships were very much higher and stronger than the English and had greater and more Cannon but there was four CARACKS of an excessive Greatness and which seemed scarce fit for motion which served instead of Castles to defend the smaller Ships The English Fleet on the contrary was nimble and very well provided for Fight or Flight and managed by men that understood the Sea-Affairs wonderfully well so that they assaulted the Spanish Armado the 21st of July with Dexterity and Courage The Fight lasted three days without any intermission and then was intermitted for want of Gunpowder After this they followed the Spanish Fleet which kept its course for Flanders notwithstanding this continual Fight and when any Ship happened to be separated from the main body they would be sure to be upon it and for the most part they took it The English were at first but 40 Sail the rest not being able to get out of the Port. The St. Catherina a great Spanish Galiass the first day was so torn by the English Shot that they were forced to take it into the Body of the Fleet to repair the Mischief it had received The principal Galeon of Sevil wherein many of the Spanish Nobility sailed falling foul upon another Ship in this disorder had her Fore-mast broken and so could not sail with the rest but was left to the Mercy of the Seas and of the English The 22d of July Sir Francis Drake found this great Galeon which was disabled and summon'd it to yield which was done when they heard Drake was the man they had to do with The Commander of this ship was Valdez who was one of the principal persons in the Navy and he had with him 450 persons The same day the Admiral of the Squadron of Guipuscoa commanded by Michael de Oquendo Vice-Admiral of the whole Fleet was set on fire by a disobliged Hollander the upper part of it and most of the men perished but the Gunpowder never fired This night the Admiral of England followed the Spanish Lanthorn and was next morning in the midst of their Fleet. The 23d of July the Spanish Fleet was over-against Portland and the Wind was against the English but they being nimbler soon recovered that advantage again over the unwieldy Spaniards this day the English played with more fury on the Spaniards than the two former but they would not be provoked to stop till they came to Calis that being the Orders given them in Spain by this time the English Fleet was become a hundred strong of one sort or other and many Voluntier Ships made out by men of all degrees were come into it and by that time they came to Dover there was 130. of which yet there was not above 22. or 23. of the Queen's biggest ships that were able to grapple with the Spanish ships The 24th of July the Sea was calm and four great Galeasses which had Oars fought the English Fleet with great advantage by night the English wanted Gunpowder which they sent for that night The 25th the Spaniards being at the height of the Isle of Wight the Admiral of England with five of the biggest ships attacked the Admiral of Spain in the midst of his Fleet and then there followed a terrible fight which was managed on both sides with the utmost Bravery but the Spaniards grew weary of it and cast themselves again into the form of a Ring The 26th the Admiral Knighted Sir Martin Forbisher and Sir John Hawkins The 27th by Sun-set the Spanish Fleet arrived over-against Dover their Fleet cast Anchor this night in the Channel within sight both of Dover and Calis and the English Fleet were within Cannon-shot of it and now 130 strong from hence the Duke of Medina sent to the Duke of Parma who was then at Dunkirk and had Orders to join this Fleet to hasten out the Land Army which in 40 Fly-boats was to have joined him that being covered by this huge Fleet and with the Forces sent from Spain now aboard it a Descent might be made in England but the Hollanders having notice of his Intentions had sent a Fleet of 35. Men of War under the Command of Justin of Nassau their Admiral on board the which was 1200 Musketeers and he hadOrders not to suffer any ship to come out of the Ports of Flanders nor any Zabraes Pataches or other small Vessels of the Spanish Fleet to enter thereinto and this Dutch Fleet so awed the Duke of Parma and his Land-Army that they durst not stir nor indeed was his Army then come to the Sea or ready to be embark'd if he could have gone out and besides he wanted all manner of Necessaries for such an Expedition and all the Flandrians had no great inclinations to make the King of Spain Master of England to the Ruin of their own Civil Privileges The Mariners also that were to have served the Duke of Parma being terrified by the Hollanders withdrew from the danger and stole away for fear they should have been forced by the Duke to
Dyet of that Kingdom That the Hanse Towns of Germany might still have enjoyed their Ancient Privileges in England if they would have been contented to use them as Favours granted by our Princes and not have pretended they were their Right That as there was reason for the granting them when they were given so there was all the reason in the world they should be suspended restrained or quite taken away when the Reason ceased upon which they were granted that this had been done in Denmark Sweden and England in the Reigns of Edward the VIth and Queen Mary That the Hanse Towns had been made so rich by the Favour of Princes that they had been heretofore terrible even to their Benefactors that it became the King of Poland rather to favour her who was a Prince than to patronize the insatiable Avarice of the Merchants who when they were become very rich were too apt insolently to lift up themselves against Princes That the Queen was contented they should carry Corn and all other Merchandize to Spain except Ammunition and Warlike Stores for Sea or Land though it was lawful and the Practice of all Nations to intercept all those Provsions that were sent to an Enemy She had better success here than in Germany and setled her Subjects Trade in the Baltick so effectually that the Hanse Towns were never after in a condition to dispute the Trade of the English Thus the Queen by her Authority and Prudence mastered the Obstinacy of the Hanse Towns and forced them to sue for their Goods in her Court of Admiralty and to trade with her Subjects upon equal terms in all places and she so divided and broke their Power that they were never since able to contest with any Prince much less with her or her Successors Notwithstanding which the Kings of England have always religiously continued the same Privileges to the Hanse Towns though the tide of the Trade be long since wholly turn'd the English now carrying all that Trade to their own doors and much more than ever they received from them And I my self saith the late Earl of Carlisle was present in Council when Charles the IId after his Happy Restauration ratified the said Privileges She also by her Authority in the Year 1595. composed a War which had depended many years between the King of Sweden and the Emperor of Russia who had a greater respect for her than for any other Prince in Christendom her Subjects having opened a way by the White Sea and the Bay of Arch-angel to trade by Sea with him in the Year 1554. which was then and has ever since been of vast advantage to that remote barbarous and poor Kingdom The Subjects of which have not only been enriched but civilized and learned many mechanick Arts which they did not unsterstand before of us and those people we and the Hollanders have sent thither Her whole care was not imployed in defending her People from the violence of her foreign Enemies and the Frauds and Arts of the Neighbour Traders by Sea but she took effectual care at the same time in her Parliaments to promote excellent and useful Laws for the Restraint of excessive Dvmestick Expences and the regulating the Lives of her Subjects as will appear by the Printed Statutes of her time To this end she necessitated the meaner of her Subjects by sharp Laws as sharply executed to a modest and frugal way of living both as to their Diet and Habits She curbed and discountenanced the Luxury and expensive folly of the English Youth and Nobility both by her private Advices and her publick Laws and she prescribed them Rules for their Furniture Families and Retinues She had observed the Purveyers for her Court were a rapacious sort of men and under the colour and pretence of Law made great depredations on the Husbandmen and the Farmers in her Kingdom and therefore she kept a strict hand upon them and by her Severity when ever any Complaint was brought against them she kept them in awe There was another Generation of men called commonly the CONCEALERS of mean Extraction and worse Disposition who had obtained Commissions to enquire into the Frauds and Concealments of those that had got any Lands belonging to the Royal Demeans or Crown of England and they had under that pretence wrested from many of her Subjects their Inheritances and Estates but when she understood their Crimes she not only punished them for their Wrongs but revoked their Commissions which she had formerly granted out And by a Proclamation she forbad any further inquiry should be made into the Titles of her Subjects as to those Lands they possessed on the behalf of the Crown by which she put a stop to that sort os Miscreants and secured the Estates of her People from further wrong Whencver she found that her People had been afflicted or ruined in their Fortunes by the Judges and Governors she had set over them in any part of her Dominions she consolated them upon the first opportunity Before her time the Usurers of England had taken what they could get from all for usury and she to prevent the Frauds and rapacious Encroachments of these men first passed a Law that they should not take above ten in the hundred for one years interest which by the plenty of Money sunk after to Six and of late without any Act to five in the Hundred To prevent enhansement of the Market she made a severe Law against Forestallers Ingrossers and Regattors repelling their insatiable Avarice by imprisoning whipping and Pillory She called her Customs the Nerves of the Nation as they were the best branch of her Revenues and she made it her business to study them and well understand the value of them and the ways of raising them When her Exchequer was at the lowest ebb she detested all Monopolies and bitter Exactions upon her People which she thought to be utterly unlawful and tending more to the loading her with the hatred of her Subjects than the enriching of her Coffers She was very severe against all Informers or Promoters who having been for many Ages encouraged by her Predecessors as the Enrichers and Improvers of the Royal Revenues had contracted a vast envy from the whole Nation but she was the first Prince that would suffer their Crimes to be inquired into and finding they had been guilty of many ill Actions she put a stop to them and punished them for what they had done that they might no longer impoverish the better and richer part of her Subjects Thus she delivered her People from the grievous Oppressions of Usurers Ingrossers and Promoters She was no less careful to protect them against the Avarice of her Judges and Presidents and when any of them came to wait on her she would upon occasion speak very severely against their aspiring to those places the multitude of Suits and the over great variety of Causes
not remember that I have read elsewhere this Order for burning the Popish Books The Complaints of the Popish Bishops The Reformation estabâ—ished The Miseries of Scotland in the Reformâ—…tion The Happinesâ—… of England Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergymen And to curb the immoderate liberty of the Protestant Dissenters Anabaptists discovered Two of which were burnt The 〈◊〉 Conventicles suppressed The Behaviour of Pope Pius IV. The Council of Trent recalled The Plea of the Protestant Princes against it Martiningo sent Nuncio into England And rejected by theQueen The Popish Party well disposed to rebel The Settlement of the Civil State taken into consideration The Money reduced to the old Standard The Security of the Nation providently taken care for Magaâ—…ines and Naval Stores provided LargeShips of War built The means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom Laws and Orders made for the publick good of her people The Bishops and Commons favoured as a Balance to the Nobility She fâ—…oured her Kindred and advanced them Her advice to the Nobility Her care to change or abolish evil Customs and Laws of former times 1559. The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry Which she refused and in a set Speech told them she resolved to live in Celebacy Her wonderful Temperance and Chastity The Princes and Great men that Couâ—…ted her * In 1560. * In 1560. †In 1568. ⸫ In 1574. By degrees she became more averse to Marriage than the seemed at first to be The character of the the Earl of Leicester She Prefer'd him in Title and estate and advanced his Brother The ill effects of Luxury His designs in debauching the Nobility Anno 1583. Leicester recommends Robert Earl of Essex to the Queen The Actions of that Earl in Holland His Character The Queen very much oppressed by the Infâ—…my and Villanies of Leicester The Character of Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex The Character of Sir William Cecil afterward Lord Burleigh The Earl of Sussex sent Ambassador to the Emperor The Ruin of Leicester HisDeath and Dishonour The Character of the Lord Willoughby The Character of Sir Francis Walsingham Burleigh made Lord Treasurer for his Virtue The Character and Story of Mary Queen of Scotland The Character of Sir N. Throgmorton The French desirous of a War with England Tâ—…rogmorton kindles the Civil Wars in France The French design to improve their Interest in Scotland to the Ruin of England The Scotch complain and arm against them The French retire to Leith The Scots send into England for assistance A Fleet sent into Scotland And an Army which besieged Leith Leith dismantled The first Civil War in France The Death of Francis II King of France Mary Queen of the Scoâ—…s Marrieth James 1. borr The beginniâ—…g of the Miâ—…ortunes of Mary Qu. of Scotland Her Impriâ—…onment at Carlâ—… The Queen of Scots Letter to Q. Elizabeth upon her first Landing in England The Thiâ—…d Letter The deploâ—…ble state of the Princes of the earth The Difficulties attending the keeping or dismissing the Queen os the Scots A Resolution taken to detain her as a Prisoner of War The Queen of England not acted by a spirit of Jealousie and Revenge Mildmay sent into Scotland to threaten the Regent Murray upon Q. Elizabeth's threats comes into England Q Elizabeth durst not restore the Qu. of the Scots to her Throne The Queen prevailed upon to put the Queen of Scots upon her Trial. The Trial of the Q. of the Scots Hatton's wheedling Speech The Speech censured Foreign Princes and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Q. of the Scots Pins V Excommunicates the Qu and absolves all her Subjects Thereupon followed Rebellions and Insurrections in England The E. of Northumberland leads the way And is followed by the E. of Westmorland Northumberland taken in Scotland Westmorland fled into Flanders The Causes of the Miscarriage of this Insurrection The Calamities of the Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Sussex prosecutes the Rebels with great Severity Another Rebellion springeth out of this The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of these Rebellions The Character of the D. of Norfâ—… After these Rebellions followed a shoal of Treasons and Conspiracies Which occasioned the Acts of P. against the Recusants The Colleges of the Jesuits opene lin Eanders c. And called Seminaries Parson and Campian the two first Seminary Priests sent into England Parry's Conspiracy against the Queen Babington's Conspiracy His Character Savage sent to assassinate the Qâ—…en The Persons in Babington's Conspiracy Babington the great Actor in it This Conspiracy proved fatal to the Queen of the Scots A Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists The Queen has a plentiful Supply given her in Parliament She dischargeth a Part of what was granted by her Proclamation The Spaniards send Lopez and two others to murther the Queen Cullin York and Williams sent from Flanders on the same Errand And executed in 1595. She spared none of those who fell into her hands A Digression concerning William Parry Parry's Confession His Design discovered by one Nevil The Queen's Severity to these Conspirators made her terrible to the English Papists But it was God that preserved her There has been but one Protestant Prince Murthered since the Reformation by them The second Civil War in France The third Civil War of France She sends 100000 Crowns and great Stores of Arms and Ammunition into 〈◊〉 to the Protestants A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without Success The true Causes of this and the other Civil Wars of France The Queen of England preserv'd the Protestants of France The beginning of the Low-Countrey War Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and re-called The King of Spaâ—…n enraged at the Edict for Liberty of Conscience The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government in the Nâ—…therlands The Regent grows severe against the Protestants on various pretences Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison The rest of the 〈◊〉 petition for a General Assembly of the States The Designâ—… of Spain discovered to the Nobility of the Netherlands The Discovery at the first only terrified and divided them Valenciens besieged A bloody Persecution against the Pâ—…otestants of the Netherlands The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The use Spain designed to make of this Disorder The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flandâ—…rs The Council of Blood setled Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized And after them vast numbtrs of the meaner Inhabitants These Proceedings alarm all the Protestants in France and Queen Elizabeth They fly into England and set up many Manufactures The Conduct of this Prince considered The reasons which mov'd the Queen of England to oppose the Spaniards The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of Q. Elizabeth He com-plains to Q. Elizabeth of her Harbouring the Netherland Pyrates