Henry Wotton whose Life I novv intend to vvrite vvas born in the Year of our Redemption 1568. in Bocton-hall commonly called Bocton or Bougton place or Palace in the Parish of Bocton Malherb in the fruitful Country of Kent Bocton-hall being an ancient and goodly Structure beautifying and being beautified by the Parish Church of Bocton Malherb adjoyning unto it and both seated vvithin a fair Park of the Wottons on the Brovv of such a Hill as gives the advantage of a large Prospect and of equal pleasure to all Beholders But this House and Church are not remarkable for any thing so much as for that the memorable Family of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one and novv lie buried in the other as appears by their many Monuments in that Church the Wottons being a Family that hath brought forth divers Persons eminent for Wisdom and Valour vvhose Heroick Acts and Noble Employments both in England and in Foreign parts have adorned themselves and this Nation which they have served abroad faithfully in the discharge of their great trust and prudently in their Negotiations with several Princes and also served at home with much Honour and Justice in their wise managing a great part of the Publick Affairs thereof in the various times both of War and Peace But lest I should be thought by any that may incline either to deny or doubt this Truth not to have observed moderation in the commendation of this Family and also for that I believe the merits and memory of such Persons ought to be thankfully recorded I shall offer to the consideration of every Reader out of the testimony of their Pedegree and our Chronicles a part and but a part of that just Commendation which might be from thence enlarged and shall then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether my error be an excess or defect of Commendations Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight vvas born about the Year of Christ 1460 he living in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth vvas by him trusted to be Lieutenant of Guisnes to be Knight Porter and Comptroller of Callais where he died and lies honourably buried Sir Edward Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight Son and Heir of the said Sir Robert was born in the Year of Christ 1489 in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh he was made Treasurer of Callais and of the Privy Councel to King Henry the Eight who offered him to be Lord Chancellor of England but saith Hollinshed out of a virtuous modesty he refused it Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherb Esquire Son and Heir of the said Sir Edward and the Father of our Sir Henry that occasions this Relation was born in the Year of Christ 1521 he was a Gentleman excellently educated and studious in all the Liberal Arts in the knowledge whereof he attained unto a great perfection who though he had besides those abilities a very Noble and plentiful Estate and the ancient Interest of his Predecessors many invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his Country Recreations and Retirement for a Courtoffering him a Knight-hood she vvas then vvith him at his Boctonhall and that to be but as an earnest of some more honourable and more profitable employment under Her yet he humbly refused both being a man of great modesty of a most plain and single heart of an ancient freedom and integrity of mind A commendation which Sir Henry Wotton took occasion often to remember with great gladness and thankfully to boast himself the Son of such a Father From whom indeed he derived that noble ingenuity that was always practised by himself and which he ever both commended and cherished in others This Thomas was also remarkable for Hospitality a great Lover and much beloved of his Country to which may justly be added that he was a Cherisher of Learning as appears by that excellent Antiquary Mr. William Lambert in his Perambulation of Kent This Thomas had four Sons Sir Edward Sir James Sir John and Sir Henry Sir Edward was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and made Comptroller of Her Majesties Houshold He was saith Cambden a man remarkable for many and great Employments in the State during Her Reign and sent several times Ambassador into Foreign Nations After Her death he was by King James made Comptroller of his Houshold and called to be of His Privy Councel and by him advanced to be Lord Wotton Baron of Merley in Kent and made Lord Lieutenant of that County Sir James the second Son may be numbred among the Martial Men of his Age who was in the 38 of Queen Elizabeths Reign with Robert Earl of Sussex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro Son of Antonio King of Portugal and divers other Gentlemen of Nobleness and Valour Knighted in the Field near Cadiz in Spain after they had gotten great Honour and Riches besides a notable retaliation of Injuries by taking that Town Sir John being a Gentleman excellently accomplished both by Learning and Travel was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and by Her look'd upon with more then ordinary favour and with intentions of preferment but Death in his younger years put a period to his growing hopes Of Sir Henry my following discourse shall give an account The descent of these fore-named Wottons were all in a direct Line and most of them and their actions in the memory of those with whom we have conversed But if I had looked so far back as to Sir Nicholas Wotton who lived in the Reign of King Richard the Second or before him upon divers others of great note in their several Ages I might by some be thought tedious and yet others may more justly think me negligent if I omit to mention Nicholas Wotton the fourth Son of Sir Robert whom I first named This Nicholas Wotton was Doctor of Law and sometime Dean both of York and Canterbury a man vvhom God did not only bless vvith a long life but vvith great abilities of mind and an inclination to imploy them in the service of his Countrey as is testified by his severall Imployments having been sent nine times Ambassador unto forraign Princes and by his being a Privy Councellor to King Henry the eighth to Edward the sixth to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth vvho also after he had been during the Wars between England Scotland and France three several times and not unsuccessfully imployed in Committies for setling of peace betwixt this and those Kingdomes died saith learned Cambden full of Commendations for Wisdome and Piety He vvas also by the Will of King Henry the eighth made one of his Executors and chief Secretary of State to his Son that plous Prince Edward the sixth Concerning which Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more That he refused being offered it by Queen Elizabeth to be Arch bishop of Canterbury and that he died not rich though he lived in that time of the dissolution of Abbeys More might be added but by this it may appear
CVLCOR ET CLAVDI W·Dolle·F Reliquiae Wottonianae OR A COLLECTION Of LIVES LETTERS POEMS WITH CHARACTERS OF Sundry PERSONAGES And other Incomparable PIECES of LANGUAGE and ART Also Additional Letters to several Persons not before Printed BY THE Curious Pencil of the Ever Memorable Sir HENRY WOTTON K t. Late Provost of Eaton Colledge The Third Edition with large Additions LONDON Printed by T. Roycroft for R. Marriott F. Tyton T. Collins and I. Ford 1672. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PHILIP EARL of Chesterfield Lord Stanhop of Shelford My Lord I HAVE conceived many Reasons why I ought in Iustice to Dedicate these Reliques of Your Great Uncle Sir Henry Wotton to Your Lordship some of which are that both Your Grand-mother and Mother had a double Right to them by a Dedication when first made Publick as also for their assisting me then and since with many Material Informations for the Writing his Life and for giving me many of the Letters that have fallen from his curious Pen so that they being now dead these Reliques descend to Youâ—… as Heir to â—…hem and the Inheritor of the mâ—…orable Bocton Palace the Place of his Birth where so many of the Ancient and Prudent and Valiant Family of the Wottons lie now-Barâ—…ed whose remarkable Monuments You have lately Beautified and to them added so many of so great Worth as hath made it appear that at the Erecting and Adâ—…ging them You were above the thought of Charge that they might if possible for 't was no casie undertaking boldsome proporâ—…â—…mith the Merits of Your Ancestors My Lord These are a part of many more Pensoâ—… that have inclin'd me to this Dedication and these with the Example of a Liberty that is not given but now too usually taken by many Scriblers to make trifling Dedications might have begot a boldness in some Men of as mean as my mean Abilities to have undertaken this But indeed my Lord though I was ambitious enough of undertaking it yet as Sir Henry Wotton hath said in a Piece of his own Character That he was condemn'd by Nature to a bashfulness in making Requests so I find my self pardon the Parallel so like him in this that if I had not had more Reasons then I have yet exprest these alone had not been powerful enough to have created a Confidence in me to have attempted it Two of my unexprest Reasons are give me leave to tell them to Your Lordship and the World that Sir Henry Wotton whose many Merits made him an Ornament even to Your Family was yet so humble as to acknowledge me to be his Friend and died in a belief that I was so since which time I have made him the best return of my Gratitude for his Condescention that I have been able to express or he capable of receiving and am pleased with my self for so doing My other Reason of this boldness is an incouragement very like a command from Your worthy Cousin and my Friend Mr. Charles Cotton who hath assared me that You are such a Lover of the Memory of Your Generous Unkle Sir Henry Wotton that if there were no other Reason then my endeavors to preserve it yet that that alone would secure this Dedication from being unacceptable I wish that nor he nor I be mistaken and that I were able to make You a more Worthy Present My Lord I am and will be Your Humble and most Affectionate Servant Iziak Walton Feb. 27. 1672. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER YOu may be pleas'd to take notice that in this last Relation of Sir Henry Wotton's Life 't is both inlarg'd and some small errors rectified so that I may now be confident there is no material mistakes in it There is in this Impression an Addition of many Letters in which the spirit with which they were writ will assure them to be Sir Henry Wotton's For his Merits they are above my expressions and for that reason the Reader is requested to take to what I have said of him in his Life these following Testimonies I. That his Work of Architecture is Translated into Latin Printed with the Great Vitruvius and this Elogy prefixed HENRICUS WOTTONIUS Anglo Cantianus Thomae Optimi Viri Filius natu minimus à Serenissimo Jacobo Io MAGNAE BRITTANIAE c. Rege in Equestreâ—… Titulum ascitus ejusdémque ter ad Remp. VENETAM Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confoederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi negotio bis ad Carolum Emmanuelem Sabaudiae Ducem semel ad unitos Superioris Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunnensi postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wirtenbergensem civitates Imperiales Argentinam Ulmámque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum II. Legatus extraordinarius Tandem hoc didicit ANIMAS SAPIENTIORES FIERI QUIESCENDO II. The second testimony is that of the great Secretary of Nature the Lord Chancellor Bacon who thought it not beneath Him to collect some of the Apothegms and sayings of this Author III. Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle of England sets to his Seal also in a passage thus speaking of men of Note in King Iames his time Sir Henry Wotton was sent Ambassador into Italy and indeed the Kingdome yielded not a fitter man to match the Capriciousness of the Italian wits A man of so able dexterity with his Pen that he hath done himself much wrong and the Kingdom a great deal more in leaving no more of his Writings behind him AN ACCOUNT Of the WORK NOw of the Work it self Thou shalt find in it many curious things about Architecture Fountains Picture Groves Sculpture Aviaries Landskip Conservatories of rare beasts Magnetical experiments  Gardens Fish-ponds And also many Observations of the Mysteries and Labyrinths in Courts and States delivered in Lives Letters to and Characters of sundry Personages As Observations and Characters which He took in his Imployments abroad of these Dukes of Venice Giovanni Bembo Nani Priuli Donato Giustiniano Ferdin Gr. Duke of Tuscany An Account of Foscarini Of the Arch-Duke Leopold Of Count Tampire Artists and Famous men mentioned Tyco-brahe Count Bevilacqua Kepler Leon Alberti Aldrovandus Philip D'Orme Albert Durer Anto. Labaca censured Palladio Michael Angelo B.  Sir Henry Fanshaw Observations at home of the Courts of Queen Elizabeth King Iames and King Charls with Lives and Characters of Earl of Essex Duke of Buckingham  Of K. Charles I. Characters and Observations of Queen Elizabeth Q. of Bohemia E. of Essex Father Duke of Buckingham E. of Leicester Spanish Journey E. of Essex Imployments L. Bacon Arch. B. Whitgift L. Treasurer Weston M. Anthony Bacon L. Treasurer Iuxton Sir Robert Cecil Bp. Bedel The Cecillians Isle of Rheez Walter Devereux Of the Dukes Ominous presages Sir Philip Sidney  Sir Walter Raleigh Countess of Denbigh Secretary Cuff. Arch. Bishop Of K. Iames. B. of Ely K. Charles Part of the Authors own Character Q Mary  Censures of Felton Stamford D. Egglesham Scioppius THE LIFE OF Sir HENRY WOTTON SIR
Rome where in the English Colledge he had very many Friends their humanity made them really so though they knew him to be a dissenter from many of their Principles of Religion and having enjoyed their company and satisfied himself concerning some Curiosities that did partly occasion his Journey thither he returned back to Florence where a most notable accident befel him an accident that did not only find new employment for his choice Abilities but introduce him a knowledg and an interest with our King Iames then King of Scotland which I shall proceed to relate But first I am to tell the Reader That though Queen Elizabeth or she and her Council were never willing to declare her Successor yet Iames then King of the Scots was confidently believed by most to be the man upon whom the sweet trouble of Kingly Government would be imposed and the Queen declining very fast both by age and visible infirmities those that were of the Romish perswasion in point of Religion even Rome it self and those of this Nation knowing that the death of the Queen and the establishing of her Successor were taken to be critical days for destroying or establishing the Protestant Religion in this Nation did therefore improve all opportunities for preveting a Protestant Prince to succeed Her And as the Pope's Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth had both by the judgement and practice of the Jesuited Papist exposed her to be warrantably destroyed so if we may believe an angry Adversary a secular Priest against a Iesuit you may believe that about that time there were many indeavours first to excommunicate and then to shorten the life of King Iames. Immediately after Sir Henry Wotton's return from Rome to Florence which was about a year before the death of Queen Elizabeth Ferdinand the Great Duke of Florence had intercepted certain Letters that discovered a design to take away the life of Iames the then King of Scots The Duke abhorring the Fact and resolving to indeavor a prevention of it advised with his Secretary Vietta by what means a caution might be best given to that King and after consideration it was resolved to be done by Sir Henry Wotton whom Vietta first commended to the Duke and the Duke had noted and approved of above all the English that frequented his Court. Sir Henry was gladly called by his Friend Vietta to the Duke who after much profession of trust and friendship acquainted him with the secret and being well instructed dispatched him into Scotland with Letters to the King and with those Letters such Italian Antidotes against poyson as the Scots till then had been strangers to Having parted from the Duke he took up the Name and Language of an Italian and thinking it best to avoid the line of English intelligence and danger he posted into Norway and through that Country towards Scotland where he found the King at Sterling being there he used means by Beâ—…ard Lindsey one of the Kings Bed Chamber to procure him a speedy and private conference with his Majesty assuring him That the business which he was to negotiate was of such consequence as had caused the Great Duke of Tuscany to enjoyn him suddenly to leave his Native Country of Italy to impart it to his King This being by Bernard Lindsey made known to the King the King after a little wonder mixt with jealousie to hear of an Italian Ambassador or Messenger required his Name which was said to be Octavio Baldi and appointed him to be heard privately at a fixed hour that Evening When Octavio Baldi came to the Presence-Chamber-door he was requested to lay aside his long Rapier which Italian-like he then wore and being entred the Chamber he found there with the King three or four Scotch Lords standing distant in several corners of the Chamber at the sight of whom he made a stand which the King observing bade him be bold and deliver his Message for he would undertake for the secresie of all that were present Then did Octavio Baldi deliver his Letters and his Message to the King in Italian which when the King had graciously received after a little pause Octavio Baldi steps to the Table and whispers to the King in his own Language that he was an English man beseeching Hini for a more private conference with His Majesty and that he might be concealed during his stay in that Nation which was promised and really performed by the King during all his abode there which was about three Months all which time was spent with much pleasantness to the King and with as much to Octavio Baldi himself as that Countrey could afford from which he departed as true an Italian as he came thither To the Duke at Florence he return'd vvith a fair and gratefull account of his imployment and vvithin some few Moneths after his return there came certain News to Florence that Queen Elizabeth vvas dead and Iames King of the Scots proclaimed King of England The Duke knowing travel and business to be the best Schools of vvisdom and that Sir Henry Wotton had been tutor'd in both advis'd him to return presently to England and there joy the King vvith his new and better Title and vvait there upon Fortune for a better imployment When King Iames came into England he found amongst other of the late Queens Officers Sir Edward vvho vvas after Lord Wotton Comptroller of the House of vvhom he demanded If he knew one Henry Wotton that had spent much time in forreign Travel The Lord replied he knew him vvell and that he vvas his Brother then the King asking vvhere he then vvas vvas answered at Venice or Florence but by late Letters from thence he understood he vvould suddenly be at Paris Send for him said the King and when he shall come into England bid him repair privately to me The Lord Wotton after a little vvonder asked the King If he knew him to vvhich the King answered You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the Gentleman to me Not many Moneths after this Discourse the Lord Wotton brought his Brother to attend the King vvho took him in His Arms and bade him welcome by the Name of Octavio Baldi saying he was the most honest and therefore the best Dissembler that ever he met with And said Seeing I know you neither want Learning Travel nor Experience and that I have had so real a Testimony of your faithfulness and abilities to manage an Ambassage I have sent for you to declare my purpose which is to make use of you in that kind hereafter And indeed the King did so most of those two and twenty years of his Raign but before he dismist Octavio Baldi from his present attendance upon him he restored him to his old Name of Henry Wotton by vvhich he then Knighted him Not long after this the King having resolved according to his Motto Beati pacifici to have a friendship vvith his Neighbour-Kingdoms of France and Spain and also
procurations of Priviledges and Courtesies with the German Princes and the Republick of Venice for the English Merchants and vvhat he did by direction of King James vvith the Venetian State concerning the Bishop of Spalato's return to the Church of Rome But for the particulars of these and many more that I meant to make known I vvant a vievv of some Papers that might inform me his late Majesties Letter Office having now suffered a strange alienation and indeed I want time too for the Printers Press stays for what is written so that I must haste to bring Sir Henry Wotton in an instant from Venice to London leaving the Reader to make up what is defective in this place by the small supplement of the Inscription under his Arms which he left at all those Houses where he rested or lodged when he return'd from his last Embassy into England Henricus Wottonius Anglo-Cantianus Thomae optimi viri 〈◊〉 minimus à serenissimo Jacobo Iâ—… Mag. Britâ—… Râ—…ge in equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemqâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius â—…mel ad confoeder at 〈◊〉 Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi â—…tio Bis ad Carolum Emanuel Sabâ—…diae Dâ—… semel ad unitos superioris Germaniae Principes in Coâ—…ventu Heilbrunensi postremo ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates imperialâ—…s Argentinam Ulmamqueâ—… ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo To London he came the year before King James died who having for the reward of his forreign service promised him the reversion of an Office which was fit to be turned into present money which he wanted for a supply of his present necessities and also granted him the reversion of the Master of the Rolls place if he out-lived charitable Sir Julius Caesar who then possessed it and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive beyond Natures Course by the prayers of those many poor which he daily relieved But these were but in hope and his condition required a present support For in the beginning of these imployments he sold to his elder Brother the Lord Wotton the Rent-charge left by his good Father and which is worse was now at his return indebted to several persons whom he was not able to satisfie but by the Kings payment of his Arrears due for his forreign Imployments He had brought into England many servants of which some were German and Italian Artists this was part of his condition who had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occasions of the day For it may by no means be said of his providence as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit That it was the very measure of congruity He being alwayes so careless of money as though our Saviours words Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood But it pleased the God of providence that in this jucture of time the Provosthip of His Mayesties Colledge of Eaton became void by the death of Mr. Thomas Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerfull Suiters to the King And Sir Henry who had for many years like Siciphas rolled the restless stone of a State-imployment knowing experimentally that the great blessing of sweet content was not to be found in multitudes of men or business and that a Colledge was the fittest place to nourish holy thoughts and to afford rest both to his body and mind which his age being now almost threescore years seemed to require did therefore use his own and the interest of all his friends to procure that place By which means and quitting the King of his promised reversionary Offices and a piece of honest policy which I have not time to relate he got a Grant of it from His Majesty And this was a fair satisfaction to his mind but money was wanting to furnish him with those necessaries which attend removes and a settlement in such a place and to procure that he wrote to his old friend Mr. Nicholas Pey for his assistance of which Nicholas Pey I shall here say a little for the clearing of some passages that I shall mention hereafter He was in his youth a Clerk or in some such way a Servant to the Lord Wotton Sir Henry's Brother and by him when he was Comptroller of the Kings Houshold was made a great Officer in His Majesties House This and other favours being conferred upon Mr. Pey in whom there was a radieal honesty were alwayes thankfully acknowledged by him and his gratitude exprest by a willing and unwearied serviceableness to that Family even till his death To him Sir Henry Wottâ—… wrote to use all his interest at Court to procure Five hundred pounds of his Arrears for leâ—… would not settle him in the Colledge and the want of such a summe wrinckled his face with care 't was his own expression and that money being procured he should the next day after find him in his Colledge and Invidiae remedium writ over his Study door This money being part of his Arrears was by his own and the help of honest Nicholas Pey's interest in Court quickly procured him and he 〈◊〉 quickly in the Colledge the place where indeed his happiness then seemed to have its beginning the Colledge being to his mind as a quiet Harbor to a Sea-faring man after a tempestuous voyage where by the bounty of the pious Founder his very Food and Rayment were plentifully provided for him in kind and more money then enough where he was freed from all corroding cares and seated on such a Rock as the waves of want could not probably shake where he might sit in a Caelm and looking down behold the busie multitude turmoyl'd and tossed in a tempestuous Sea of trouble and dangers And as Sir William Davenant has happily exprest the like of another person Laugh at the graver business of the State Which speaks wen rather wise then fortunate Being thus setled according to the desires of his heart his first study was the Statutes of the Colledge by which he conceiv'd himself bound to enter into Holy Orders which he did being made Deacon with all convenient speed shortly after which time as he came in his Surplice from the Church service an old Friend a person of Quality met him so attired and joyed him of his new habit to whom Sir Henry Wotton replied I thank God and the King by whose goodness I now am in this condition a condition which that Emperor Charles the Fifth seem'd to approve who after so many remarkable Victories when his glory was great in the eyes of all men freely gave up his Crown and the many cares that attended it to Philip his Son making a holy retreat to a Cloysteral life where he might by devout meditations consult with God which the rich or busie men seldome do and have leisure both to examine the errors of his life past and
Malherb in the County of Kent then I wish to be laid in that Parish Church as near as may be to the Sepulchre of my good Father expecting a joyful Resurrection with him in the day of Christ. After this account of his Faith and this Surrender of his Soul to that God that inspir'd it and this direction for the disposal of his body he proceeded to appoint that his Executors should lay over his grave a Marble stone plain and not costlyâ—… And considering that time moulders even 〈◊〉 to dust for Monuments themselves must die Therefore did he waving the common way think fit rather to preserve his name to which the Son of 〈◊〉 adviseth all men by an useful Apothegm then by a large enumeration of his descent or merits of boath which he might justly have boasted but he was content to forget them and did chuse only this prudent pious Sentence to discover his Disposition and preserve his Memory 'T was directed by him to be thus inscribed Hic jacet hujus Sententia primus Author DISPUTANDI PRURITUS ECCLESIARUM SCABIES Nomen alià s quaere Which may be Englished thus Here lies the first Author of this Sentence THE ITCH OF DISPUTATION WILL PROVE THE SCAB OF THE CHURCH Inquire his name elsewhere And if any shall object as I think some have That Sir Henry Wotton was not the first Author of this Sentence but that this or a Sentence like it was long before his time To him I answer that Solomon sayes Nothing can be spoken that hath not been spoken for there is no new thing under the Sun But grant that in his various reading he had met with this or a like Sentence yet reason mixt with Charity should perswade all Readers to believe That Sir Henry Wotton's mind was then so fix'd on that part of the Communion of Saints which is above that an holy Lethorgy did surprize his Memory For doubtless if he had not believed himself to be the first Author of what he said he was too prudent first to own and then expose it to the publick view and censure of every Critick And questionless 't will be charity in all Readers to think his mind was then so fix'd on Heaven that a holy zeal did transport him and that in this Sacred Extasie his thoughts were then only of the Church Triumphant into which he daily expected his admission And that Almighty God was then pleased to make him a Prophet to tell the Church Militant and particularly that part of it in this Nation where the weeds of controversie grow to be daily both more numerous and more destructive to humble Piety and where men have Consciences that boggle at Ceremonies and yet scruple not to speak and act such sins as the ancient humble Christians believed to be a sin to think and whereas our Reverend Hooker sayes former Simplicity and softness of Spirit is not now to be found because Zeal haâ—… drowned Charity and Skill Meekness It will be good to think that these sad changes have proved this Epitaph to be a useful Caution unto us of thiâ—… Nation and the sad effects thereof in Germaâ—… have prov'd it to be a mournful Truth This by way of Observation concerning hâ—… Epitaph The rest of his Will followes in his owâ—… words Further I the said Henry Wotton do constitutâ—… and ordain to be joynt Executors of this my last Will 〈◊〉 Testament my two Grand-Nephews Albert Morton second son to Sir Robert Morton Knight late deceased and Thomas Bargrave eldest son to Dr. Bargrave Dean of Canterbury Husband to my Rigâ—… Vertuous and only Neece And I do pray the foresaid Dr. Bargrave and Mr. Nicholas Pey my most faithâ—… and chosen friends together with Mr. John Harrisoâ—… one of the Fellows of Eaton Colledge best acquaintâ—… with my Books and Pictures and other Utenfils to 〈◊〉 Supervisors of this my last Will and Testament Aâ—… I do pray the foresaid Dr. Bargrave and Mr. Nicholâ—… Pey to be Solicitors for such Arrearages as shall appâ—… due unto me from his Majesties Exchequer at the tiâ—… of mydeath and to assist my fore-named Executors 〈◊〉 some reasonable and conscientious satisfaction of my Crâ—… ditors and discharge of my Legacies now specified 〈◊〉 that shall be hereafter added unto this my Testament 〈◊〉 any Codicil or Schedule or left in the hands or in 〈◊〉 Memorial with the aforesaid Mr. John Harrison Aâ—… first To my most dear Soveraign and Master of incoâ—… parable Goodness in whose gracious opinion I hâ—… ever had some portion as far as the interest of a pâ—… honest man I leave four Pictures at large of those Dukes of Venice in whose time I was there imployed with their Names written on the back-side which hang in my great ordinary Dining-room done after the Life by Edoardo Fialetto Likewise a Table of the Venetian Colledge where Ambassadors had their Audience hanging over the Mantle of the Chimney in the said Room done by the same hand which containeth a draught in litâ—…le well resembling the famous D. Leonardo Donato in a time which needed a wise and constant man It ' The Picture of a Duke of Venice hanging over against the door done either by Titiano or some other principal hand long before my time Most humbly beseeching his Majesty that the said Pieces may remain in some corner of any of his Houses for a poor Memorial of his most humble vassal It ' I leave his said Majesty all the Papers and Negotiations of Sir Nich. Throgmorton Knight during his famous imployment under Queen Elizabeth in Scotland and in France which contain divers secrets of State that perchance his Majesty will think fit to be preâ—…rved in his Paper-Office after they have been perused â—…d sorted by Mr. Secretary Windebanck with whom I â—…ive heretofore as I remember conferred about them They were committed to my disposal by Sir Arthur â—…hrogmorton his Son to whose worthy memory I canâ—…t better discharge my faith then by assigning them to â—…e highest place of trust It ' I leave to our most Gracious 〈◊〉 Vertuous Queen Mary Dioscorides with the â—…nts naturally coloured and the Text translated by â—…tthiolo in the best Language of Tuscany whence 〈◊〉 said Majesty is lineally desconded for a poor token of 〈◊〉 thankefull devotion for the honour she was once pleasâ—… do my private study with her presence I leave to the â—…t hopefull Prince the Picture of the elected and crowned Queen of Bohemia his Aunt of clear and resplen dent vertues through the clouds of her Fortune To 〈◊〉 Lords Grace of Canterbury now being I leave my Picture of Divine Love rarely copied from one in the Kingâ—… Galleries of my presentation to his Majesty beseechiâ—… him to receive it as a pledge of my humble reverence to 〈◊〉 great Wisdome And to the most worthy Lord Bishop of London Lord High Treasurer of England 〈◊〉 true admiration of his Christian simplicity and conteâ—… of earthly pomp I leave a Picture of
part of another mans Story All which notwithstanding for I omit things intervenient there is conveyed to Mr. Villiers an intimation of the Kings pleasure to wait and to be sworn his servant And shortly after his Cup-bearer at large And the Summer following he was admitted in Ordinary After which time Favours came thick upon him liker main Showers then sprinkling Drops or Dews for the next St. Georges-day he was Knighted and made Gentleman of the Kings Bed Chamber and the very same day had an annual Pension given him for his better support of one thousand pounds out of the Court of Wards At New-years-tide following the King chose him Master of the Horse After this he was installed of the most Noble Order And in the next August he created him Baron of Whaddon and Viscount Villiers In January of the same year he was advanced Earl of Buckingham and sworn here of his Majesties Privy-Counsel as if a Favourite vvere not so before The March ensuing he attended the King into Scotland and vvas likewise sworn a Counsellor in that Kingdome vvhere as I have been instructed by unpassionate men he did carry himself vvith singular sweetness and temper vvhich I held very credible for it behoved him being new in favour and succeeding one of their own to study a moderate style among those generous Spirits About New-years-tide after his return from thence for those beginnings of years vvere very propitious unto him as if Kings did chuse remarkable dayes to inaugurate their Favours that they may appear acts as vvell of the Times as of the Will he vvas Created Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral of England Chief Justice in Eyre of all the Parks and Forrests on the South-side of Trent Master of the Kings-Bench Office none of the unprofitable pieces Head-Steward of Westminster and Constable of Windsor-Castle Here I must breath a vvhile to satisfie some that perhaps might otherwise vvonder at such an Accumulation of Benefits like a kind of Embroidering or listing of one Favour upon another Certainly the hearts of great Princes if they be considered as it vvere in abstract vvithout the necessity of States and Circumstances of time being besides their natural extent moreover once opened and dilated vvith affection can take no full and proportionate pleasure in the exercise of any narrow Bounty And albeit at first they give only upon choice and love of the person yet vvithin a vvhile themselves likewise begin to love their givings and to foment their deeds no less then Parents do their Children But let us go on For these Offices and Dignities already rehearsed and these of the like nature vvhich I shall after set down in their place vvere as I am ready to say but the facings or fringes of his Greatness in comparison of that trust vvhich his most Gracious Master did cast upon him in the one and twentieth year of his Reign vvhen he made him the chief Concomitant of his Heir apparent and only Son our dear Soveraign now being in a journey of much Adventure and vvhich to shew the strength of his privacy had been before not communicated vvith any other of his Majesties most reserved Counsellors at home being carried vvith great closeness liker a business of Love then State as it vvas in the first intendment Now because the vvhole Kingdome stood in a zealous trepidation of the absence of such a Prince I have been the more desirous to research vvith some diligence the several passages of the said Journey and the particular Accidents of any moment in their vvay They began their motion in the year 1623 on Tuesday the 18th of February from the Marquess his house of late purchase at Newhall in Essex setting out vvith disguised Beards and vvith borrowed Names of Thomas and Iohn Smith And then attended vvith none but Sir Richard Greham Master of the Horse to the Marquess and of inward trust about him When they passed the River against Gravesend for lack of silver they vvere fain to give the Ferry-man a piece of two and twenty shillings vvhich struck the poor fellow into such a melting tenderness that so good Gentlemen should be going for so he suspected about some quarrel beyond Sea as he could not forbear to acquaint the Officers of the Town vvith vvhat had befallen him vvho sent presently Post for their stay at Rochester through vvhich they vvere passed before any intelligence could arrive On the brow of the Hill beyond that City they vvere somewhat perplexed by espying the French Embassador vvith the Kings Coach and other attending him vvhich made them baulk the beaten Road and teach Posthackneys to leap Hedges At Canterbury vvhither some voice as it should seem vvas run on before the Mayor of the Town came himself to seize on them as they vvere taking fresh Horses in a blunt manner alledging first a Warrant to stop them from the Councel next from Sir Lewis Lewkver Master of the Ceremonies and lastly from Sir Henry Manwaring then Lieutenant of Dover-Castle At all vvhich confused fiction the Marquess had no leasure to laugh but thought best to dismask his Beard and so told him that he vvas going covertly vvith such slight company to take a secret view being Admiral of the forwardness of his Majesties Fleet vvhich vvas then in preparation on the Narrow Seas This vvith much ado did somewhat handsomely heal the disguisement On the vvay afterwards the Baggage Post-Boy vvho had been at Court got I know not how a glimmering vvho they vvere but his mouth vvas easily shut To Dover through bad Horses and those pretty impediments they came not before six at night vvhere they found Sir Francis Cottington then Secretary to the Prince now Baron of Hanworth and Mr. Endymion Porter vvho had been sent before to provide a Vessel for their Transportation The foresaid Knight vvas conjoyn'd for the nearness of his place on the Princes affairs and for his long Residence in the Court of Spain vvhere he had gotten singular credit even vvith that cautious Nation by the temper of his Carriage Mr. Porter vvas taken in not only as a Bed-chamber servant of Confidence to his Highness but likewise as a necessary and useful Instrument for his natural skil in the Spanish Tongue And these five vvere at the first the vvhole Parada of this Journey The next morning for the night vvas tempestuous on the 19th of the foresaid Moneth taking ship at Dover about six of the Clock they landed the same day at Bullâ—…yn in France near two hours after Noon reaching Monstruell that night like men of dispatch and Paris the second day after being Friday the one and twentieth But some three Posts before they had met vvith two German Gentlemen that came newly from England vvhere they had seen at New-market the Prince and the Marquess taking Coach together vvith the King and retaining such a strong impression of them both that they now bewrayed some knowledge of their persons but vvere out-faced by
predatory I have forgotten for memoria primò senescit whether I told you in my last a pretty late experiment in Arthritical pains it is cheap enough Take a rosted Turnip for if you boyl it it will open the pores and draw too much apply that in a Poultice to the part affected with change once in an hour or two as you find it dried by the heat of the flesh and it will in little time allay the pain Thus much in our private way wherein I dare swear if our Medicines were as strong as our wishes they would work extreamly Now for the Publick where peradventure now and then there are distempers as well as in natural bodies The Earl of Holland vvas on Saturday last the day after your Posts departure very solemnly restored at Council Table the King present from a kind of Eclipse wherein he had stood since the Thursday fortnight before All considered the obscuration vvas long and bred both various and doubtfull discourse but it ended vvell All the cause yet known vvas a verbal challenge sent from him by Mr. Henry Germain in this form to the now Lord Weston newly returned from his forraign imployments That since he had already given the King an account of his Embassage he did now expect from him an account of a Letter of his vvhich he had opened in Paris and he did expect it at such a time even in the Spring garden close under his Fathers Window vvith his Sword by his side It is said I go no farther in such tender points that my Lord Weston sent him by Mr. Henry Percy between vvhom and the said Lord Weston had in the late journey as it seems been contracted such friendship as overcame the memory that he vvas Cousin-German to my Lord of Holland a very fair and discreet answer That if he could challenge him for any injury done him before or after his Embassage he vvould meet him as a Gentleman vvith his Sword by his side vvhere he should appoint But for any thing that had been done in the time of his Embassage he had already given the King an account thereof and thought himself not accountable to any other This published on Thursday vvas fortnight the Earl of Holland vvas confined to his Chamber in Court and the next day morning to his House at Kensington vvhere he remained vvithout any further circumstance of restraint or displeasure Saturday and Sunday on vvhich dayes being much visited it vvas thought fit on Munday to appoint Mr. Dickenson one of the Clerks of the Council to be his Guardian thus far that none vvithout his presence should accost him This made the vulgar judgements run high or rather indeed run low That he vvas a lost and discarded man judging as of Patients in Feavers by the exasperation of the fits But the Queen vvho vvas a little obliquely interested in this business for in my Lord of Holland's Letter vvhich vvas opened she had one that vvas not opened nor so much as they say as superscribed and both the Queen's and my Lord of Holland's vvere inclosed in one from Mr. Walter Mountague vvhereof I shall tell you more hereafter The Queen I say stood nobly by him and as it seems pressed her own affront It is too intricately involved for me so much as to guess at any particulars I hear generally discoursed that the opened dispatch vvas only in favour if it might be obtained of Monsieur de Chateau Neuf and the Chevalier de Jarr vvho had both been here but vvritten vvith caution and surely not vvithout the Kings knowledge to be delivered if there vvere hope of any good effect and perchance not vvithout Order from His Majesty to my Lord Weston afterwards to stop the said Letters upon advertisement that both Chateau Neuf and de Jarr vvere already in the Bastille But this I leave at large as not knowing the depth of the business Upon Munday vvas seven-night fell out another quarrel nobly carried branching from the former between my Lord Fielding and Mr. Goring Son and Heir to the Lord of that Name They had been the night before at Supper I know not vvhere together vvhere Mr. Goring spake something in diminution of my Lord Weston vvhich my Lord Fielding told him it could not become him to suffer lying by the side of his Sister Thereupon these hot hearts appoint a meeting next day morning themselves alone each upon his Horse They pass by Hide-Park as a place vvhere they might be parted too soon and turn into a Lane by Knights-bridge vvhere having tyed up their Horses at a Hedge or Gate they got over into a Close there stripped into their Shirts vvith single Rapiers they fell to an eager Duel till they vvere severed by the Host and his servants of the Inne of the Prince of Orange vvho by meer chance had taken some notice of them In this noble encounter vvhere in blood vvas spent though by Gods providence not much on either side there passed between them a very memorable interchange of a piece of courtesie if that vvord may have room in this place Sayes my Lord Fielding Mr. Goring If you leave me here let me advise you not to go back by Piccadillia-hall lest if mischance befall me and be suddenly noised as it falleth out in these occasions now between us you might receive some harm by some of my friends that lodge thereabouts My Lord replyes Goring I have no vvay but one to answer this courtesie I have here by chance in my Pocket a Warrant to pass the Ports out of England vvithout a Name gotten I suppose upon some other occasion before If you leave me here take it for your use and put in your own Name This is a passage much commended between them as proceeding both from sweetness and stoutness of spirit vvhich are very compatible On the solemn day of Saturday last both this difference and the Original between the Earl of Holland and the Lord Weston vvere fairly reconciled and forgiven by the King vvith shaking of hands and such Symbols of agreement And likewise Sir Maurice Dromand vvho had before upon an uncivil ture on his part between him and my Lord of Carlile been committed to the Tower was then delivered at the same time and so it all ended as a merry Fellow said in a Maurice But whether these be perfect cures or but skinnings over and Palliations of Court will appear hereafter Nay some say very quickly for my Lord Westons Lady being since brought to bed of a Daughter men stand in a kind of suspence whether the Queen will be the Godmother after so crude a reconcilement which by the Kings inestimable goodness I think may pass in this forgiving week For foreign matter there is so little and so doubtfull as it were a misery to trouble you with it The States confuted Treaty is put to the stock and the Prince of Orenge by account gone to the Field two days since having broken the business