with other symptomes gave the suspicion that he poysoned himself It will suffice us to observe If a Great man much beloved dyeth suddenly the report goes that others poysoned him If he be generally hated then that he poysoned himself Sure never did a Great man fall with lesse pity Some of his own servants with the feathers they got under him flew to other Masters Most of the Clergy more pitying his Profession then Person were glad that the felling of this oke would cause the growth of much underwood Let Geometricians measure the vastnesse of his mind by the footsteps of his Buildings Christ-Church White-Hall Hampton-Court And no wonder if some of these were not finished seeing his life was rather broken off then ended Sure King Henrie lived in two of his houses and lies now in the third I mean his Tombe at Windsor In a word in his prime he was the bias of the Christian world drawing the bowl thereof to what side he pleased CHAP. 4. The life of CHARLES BRANDON Duke of Suffolk CHarles Brandon was sonne to Sr. William Brandon Standerd-bearer to King Henry the seaventh in whose quarrell he was slain in Bosworth field wherefore the King counted himself bound in honour and conscience to favour young Charles whose father spent his last breath to blow him to the haven of victory and caused him to be brought up with Prince Henrie his second sonne The intimacy betwixt them took deep impression in their tender years which hardned with continuance of time proved indeleble It was advanced by the sympathy of their active spirits men of quick and large-striding minds loving to walk together not to say that the loosenesse of their youthfull lives made them the faster friends Henry when afterwards King heaped honours upon him created him Viscount Lisle and Duke of Suffolk Not long after some of the English Nobility got leave to go to the publick Tilting in Paris and there behav'd themselves right valiantly though the sullen French would scarce speak a word in their praise For they conceived it would be an eternall impoverishing of the credit of their Nation if the honour of the day should be exported by foreiners But Brandon bare away the credit from all fighting at Barriers with a giant Almain till he made an earth-quake in that mountain of flesh making him reel and stagger and many other courses at Tilt he performed to admiration Yea the Lords beheld him not with more envious then the Ladies with gracious eyes who darted more glaunces in love then the other ranne spears in anger against him especially Mary the French Queen and sister to King Henry the eighth who afterward proved his wife For after the death of Lewis the twelfth her husband King Henry her brother imployed Charles Brandon to bring her over into England who improved his service so well that he got her good will to marrie her Whether his affections were so ambitious to climbe up to her or hers so courteous as to descend to him who had been twice a widower before let youthfull pennes dispute it it sufficeth us both met together Then wrote he in humble manner to request King Henries leave to marrie his sister but knowing that matters of this nature are never sure till finisht and that leave is sooner got to do such attempts when done already and wisely considering with himself that there are but few dayes in the Almanack wherein such Marriages come in and subjects have opportunity to wed Queens he first married her privately in Paris King Henrie after the acting of some anger and shewing some state-discontent was quickly contented therewith yea the world conceiveth that he gave this woman to be married to this man in sending him on such an imployment At Calis they were afterward re-married or if you will their former private marriage publickly solemniz'd and coming into England liv'd many years in honour and esteem no lesse dear to his fellow-subjects then his Sovereigne He was often imployed Generall in Martiall affairs especially in the warres betwixt the English and French though the greatest performance on both sides was but mutuall indenting the Dominions each of other with inrodes When the divorce of King Henry from Queen Katharine was so long in agitation Brandon found not himself a little agrieved at the Kings expence of time and money for the Court of Rome in such matters wherein money is gotten by delayes will make no more speed then the beast in Brasil which the Spaniards call Pigritia which goes no farther in a fortnight then a man will cast a stone Yea Brandon well perceived that Cardinall Campeius and Wolsey in their Court at Bridewell wherein the divorce was judicially handled intended onely to produce a solemn Nothing their Court being but the clock set according to the diall at Rome and the instructions received thence Wherefore knocking on the table in the presence of the two Cardinalls he bound it with an oath That It was never well in England since Cardinalls had any thing to do therein And from that time forward as an active instrument he indeavoured the abolishing of the Popes power in England For he was not onely as the Papists complain of him a principall agent in that Parliament Anno. 1534. wherein the Popes supremacy was abrogated but also a main means of the overturning of Abbeys as conceiving that though the head was struck off yet as long as that neck and those shoulders remained there would be a continuall appetite of reuniting themselves Herein his thoughts were more pure from the mixture of covetousnesse then many other imployed in the same service For after that our eyes justly dazled at first with the brightnesse of Gods Justice on those vitious fraternities have somewhat recovered themselves they will serve us to see the greedy appetites of some instruments to feed on Church-morsels He lived and dyed in the full favour of his Prince though as Cardinall Pool observed they who were highest in this Kings favour their heads were nearest danger Indeed King Henrie was not very tender in cutting off that joynt and in his Reigne the ax was seldome wiped before wetted again with Noble bloud He dyed Anno 1544. much beloved and lamented of all for his bounty humility valour and all noble virtues since the heat of his youth was tamed in his reduced age and lies buried at Windsor CHAP. 5. The wise Statesman TO describe the Statesman at large is the subject rather of a Volume then a Chapter and is as farre beyond my power as wide of my profession We will not lanch into the deep but satisfie our selves to sail by the shore and briefly observe his carriage towards God his King himself home-persons and forein Princes He counts the fear of God the beginning of wisdome and therefore esteemeth no project profitable which is not lawfull nothing politick which crosseth piety Let not any plead for the contrary Hushai's dealing with Absalom which strongly
But he was forced to alter his resolution and assault it sooner for he heard his men muttering amongst themselves of the strength and greatnesse of the Town and when mens heads are once fly-blown with buzzes of suspicion the vermine multiply instantly and one jealousie begets another Wherefore he raised them from their nest before they had hatch'd their fears and to put away those conceits he perswaded them it was day-dawning when the Moon rose and instantly set on the Town and wonne it being unwalled In the Market-place the Spaniards saluted them with a volley of shot Drake returned their greeting with a flight of arrows the best and ancient English complement which drave their enemies away Here Drake received a dangerous wound though he valiantly conceal'd it a long time knowing if his heart stooped his mens would fall and loth to leave off the action wherein if so bright an opportunity once setteth it seldome riseth again But at length his men forced him to return to his ship that his wound might be dressed and this unhappy accident defeated the whole designe Thus victory sometimes slips thorow their fingers who have caught it in their hands But his valour would not let him give over the project as long as there was either life or warmth in it And therefore having received intelligence from the Negroes called Symerons of many mules-lading of gold and silver which was to be brought from Panama he leaving competent numbers to man his ships went on land with the rest and bestowed himself in the woods by the way as they were to passe and so intercepted and carried away an infinite masse of gold As for the silver which was not portable over the mountains they digged holes in the ground and hid it therein There want not those who love to beat down the price of every honourable action though they themselves never mean to be chapmen These cry up Drakes fortune herein to cry down his valour as if this his performance were nothing wherein a golden opportunity ran his head with his long forelock into Drakes hands beyond expectation But certainly his resolution and unconquerable patience deserved much praise to adventure on such a designe which had in it just no more probability then what was enough to keep it from being impossible yet I admire not so much at all the treasure he took as at the rich and deep mine of Gods providence Having now full fraughted himself with wealth and burnt at the House of Crosses above two hundred thousand pounds worth of Spanish Merchandise he returned with honour and safety into England and some years after undertook that his famous voyage about the world most accurately described by our English Authours and yet a word or two thereof will not be amisse Setting forward from Plimouth he bore up for Caboverd where near to the Iland of S. Jago he took prisoner Nuno-da-Silva an experienc'd Spanish pilot whose direction he used in the coasts of Brasil and Magellan straits and afterwards safely landed him at Guatulco in New Spain Hence they took their course to the iland of Brava and hereabouts they met with those tempestuous winds whose onely praise is that they continue not above an houre in which time they change all the points of the compasse Here they had great plenty of rain poured not as in other places as it were out of sives but as out of spouts so that a but of water falls down in a place which notwithstanding is but a courteous injury in that hot climate farre from land and where otherwise fresh water cannot be provided then cutting the Line they saw the face of that heaven which earth hideth from us but therein onely three starres of the first greatnesse the rest few and small compared to our Hemisphere as if God on purpose had set up the best and biggest candles in that room wherein his civilest guests are entertained Sayling the South of Brasile he afterwards passed the Magellan straits and then entred Mare pacificum came to the Southermost land at the height of 55 ½ latitude thence directing his course Northward he pillaged many Spanish Towns and took rich prizes of high value in the kingdomes of Chily Peru and New Spain Then bending Eastwards he coasted China and the Moluccoes where by the King of Terrenate a true Gentleman Pagan he was most honourably entertain'd The King told them They and he were all of one religion in this respect that they believed not in Gods made of stocks and stones as did the Portugalls He furnish'd them also with all necessaries that they wanted On the ninth of January following his ship having a large wind and a smooth sea ran a ground on a dangerous shole and strook twice on it knocking twice at the doore of death which no doubt had opened the third time Here they stuck from eight a clock at night till foure the next afternoon having ground too much and yet too little to land on and water too much and yet too little to sail in Had God who as the wiseman saith Prov. 30.4 holdeth the winds in his fist but opened his little finger and let out the smallest blast they had undoubtedly been cast away but there blew not any wind all the while Then they conceiving aright that the best way to lighten the ship was first to ease it of the burthen of their sinnes by true repentance humbled themselves by fasting under the hand of God Afterwards they received the Communion dining on Christ in the Sacrament expecting no other then to sup with him in heaven Then they cast out of their ship six great pieces of ordinance threw over-board as much wealth as would break the heart of a Miser to think on 't with much suger and packs of spices making a caudle of the sea round about Then they betook themselves to their prayers the best lever at such a dead lift indeed and it pleased God that the wind formerly their mortall enemy became their friend which changing from the Starboard to the Larboard of the ship and rising by degrees cleared them off to the sea again for which they returned unfeigned thanks to almighty God By the Cape of good hope and west of Africa he returned safe into England and landed at Plimouth being almost the first of those that made a thorow-light through the world having in his whole voyage though a curious searcher after the time lost one day through the variation of severall Climates He feasted the Queen in his ship at Dartford who Knighted him for his service yet it grieved him not a little that some prime Courtiers refused the gold he offer'd them as gotten by piracy Some of them would have been loth to have been told that they had Aurum Tholosanum in their own purses Some think that they did it to shew that their envious pride was above their covetousnesse who of set purpose did
Thomas Hospitall for the relief of the Poore I have done with the subject onely I desire rich men to awaken Hospitality which one saith since the yeare 1572 hath in a manner been laid asleep in the grave of Edward Earl of Darby CHAP. 2. Of Iesting HArmlesse mirth is the best cordiall against the consumption of the spirits wherefore Jesting is not unlawfull if it trespasseth not in Quantity Quality or Season It is good to make a Iest but not to make a trade of Iesting The Earl of Leicester knowing that Queen Elizabeth was much delighted to see a Gentleman dance well brought the Master of a dancing-school to dance before her Pish said the Queen it is his profession I will not see him She liked it not where it was a Master-quality but where it attended on other perfections The same may we say of Jesting Iest not with the two-edged sword of Gods Word Will nothing please thee to wash thy hands in but the Font or to drink healths in but the Church Chalice And know the whole art is learnt at the first admission and profane Jests will come without calling If in the troublesome dayes of King Edward the fourth a Citizen in Cheap-side was executed as a traitour for saying he would make his sonne heir to the Crown though he onely meant his own house having a Crown for the signe more dangerous it is to wit-wanton it with the Majestie of God Wherefore if without thine intention and against thy will by chancemedly thou hittest Scripture in ordinary discourse yet fly to the city of refuge and pray to God to forgive thee Wanton Iests make fools laugh and wise men frown Seeing we are civilized English men let us not be naked Salvages in our talk Such rotten speeches are worst in withered age when men runne after that sinne in their words which flieth from them in the deed Let not thy Iests like mummie be made of dead mens flesh Abuse not any that are departed for to wrong their memories is to robbe their ghosts of their winding-sheets Scoff not at the naturall defects of any which are not in their power to amend Oh 't is crueltie to beat a cripple with his own crutches Neither flout any for his profession if honest though poore and painfull Mock not a Cobler for his black thumbes He that relates another mans wicked Iest with delight adopts it to be his own Purge them therefore from their poyson If the prophanenesse may be sever'd from the wit it is like a Lamprey take out the string in the back it may make good meat But if the staple conceit consists in prophanenesse then it is a viper all poyson and meddle not with it He that will lose his friend for a Iest deserves to die a begger by the bargain Yet some think their conceits like mustard not good except they bite We reade that all those who were born in England the yeare after the beginning of the great mortality 1349. wanted their foure Cheek-teeth Such let thy Jests be that they may not grind the credit of thy friend and make not Jests so long till thou becomest one No time to break Iests when the heart-strings are about to be broken No more shewing of wit when the head is to be cut off Like that dying man who when the Priest coming to him to give him extreme unction asked of him where his feet were answered at the end of my legs But at such a time Jests are an unmannerly crepitus ingenii And let those take heed who end here with Democritus that they begin not with Heraclitus hereafter CHAP. 3. Of Self-praysing HE whose own worth doth speak need not speak his own worth Such boasting sounds proceed from emptinesse of desert whereas the Conquerours in the Olympian games did not put on the Laurells on their own heads but waited till some other did it Onely Anchorets that want company may crown themselves with their own commendations It sheweth more wit but no lesse vanity to commend ones self not in a strait line but by reflection Some sail to the port of their own praise by a side-wind as when they dispraise themselves stripping themselves naked of what is their due that the modesty of the beholders may cloth them with it again or when they flatter another to his face tossing the ball to him that he may throw it back again to them or when they commend that quality wherein themselves excell in another man though absent whom all know farre their inferiour in that faculty or lastly to omit other ambushes men set to surprise praise when they send the children of their own brain to be nursed by another man and commend their own works in a third person but if chalenged by the company that they were Authours of them themselves with their tongues they faintly deny it and with their faces strongly affirm it Self-praising comes most naturally from a man when it comes most violently from him in his own defence For though modesty binds a mans tongue to the peace in this point yet being assaulted in his credit he may stand upon his guard and then he doth not so much praise as purge himself One braved a Gentleman to his face that in skill and valour he came farre behind him 'T is true said the other for when I fought with you you ran away before me In such a case it was well return'd and without any just aspersion of pride He that falls into sin is a man that grieves at it is a saint that boasteth of it is a devil Yet some glory in their shame counting the stains of sin the best complexion for their souls These men make me believe it may be true what Mandevil writes of the Isle of Somabarre in the East Indies that all the Nobility thereof brand their faces with a hot iron in token of honour He that boasts of sinnes never committed is a double devil Many brag how many gardens of virginity they have defloured who never came near the walls thereof lying on those with whom they did never lie and with slanderous tongues committing rapes on chaste womens reputations Others who would sooner creep into a scabbard then draw a sword boast of their robberies to usurp the esteem of valour Whereas first let them be well whipt for their lying and as they like that let them come afterward and entitle themselves to the gallows CHAP. 4. Of Travelling IT is a good accomplishment to a man if first the stock be well grown whereon Travell is graffed and these rules observed Before In and After his going abroad Travell not too early before thy judgement be risen lest thou observest rather shews then substance marking alone Pageants Pictures beautifull Buildings c. Get the Language in part without which key thou shalt unlock little of moment It is a great advantage to be ones own
veins in mens hearts to the eye of the beholder yea the sweat of anger washeth off their paint and makes them appear in their true colours 3 When accidentally they bolt out speeches unawares to themselves More hold is then to be taken of a few words casually uttered then of set solemn speeches which rather shew mens arts then their natures as endited rather from their brains then hearts The drop of one word may shew more then the stream of an whole oration and our Statesman by examining such fugitive passages which have stollen on a sudden out of the parties mouth arrives at his best intelligence In Court-factions he keeps himself in a free neutrality Otherwise to engage himself needlessely were both folly and danger When Francis the first King of France was consulting with his Captains how to lead his army over the Alpes into Italy whether this way or that way Amarill his fool sprung out of a corner where he sate unseen and bade them rather take care which way they should bring their army out of Italy back again Thus is it easie for one to interest and embarque himself in others quarrells but much difficulty it is to be disengaged from them afterwards Nor will our Statesman entitle himself a party in any feminine discords knowing that womens jarres breed mens warres Yet he counts neutrality profanenesse in such matters wherein God his Prince the Church or State are concern'd Indeed He that meddleth with strife not belonging unto him is like one that taketh a dog by the eares Yet if the dog worrieth a sheep we may yea ought to rescue it from his teeth and must be champions for innocence when it is overborn with might He that will stand neuter in such matters of moment wherein his calling commands him to be a party with Servilius in Rome will please neither side Of whom the Historian sayes P. Servilius medium se gerendo nec plebis vitavit odium nec apud Patres gratiam inivit And just it is with God that they should be strained in the twist who stride so wide as to set their legs in two opposite sides Indeed an upright shoe may fit both feet but never saw I glove that would serve both hands Neutrality in matters of an indifferent nature may fit well but never suit well in important matters of farre different conditions He is the centre wherein lines of intelligence meet from all forein countreys He is carefull that his outlandish instructions be full true and speedy not with the sluggard telling for news at noone that the sunne is risen But more largely hereof in the Embassadour hereafter He refuseth all underhand pensions from forein Princes Indeed honourary rewards received with the approbation of his Sovereigne may be lawfull and lesse dangerous For although even such gifts tacitly oblige him by way of gratitude to do all good offices to that forein Prince whose Pensioner he is yet his counsells passe not but with an open abatement in regard of his known engagements and so the State is armed against the advice of such who are well known to lean to one side But secret pensions which flow from forein Princes like the river Anas in Spain under ground not known or discerned are most mischievous The receivers of such will play under-board at the Counsell-table and the eating and digesting of such outlandish food will by degrees fill their veins with outlandish bloud even in their very hearts His Master-piece is in negotiating for his own Master with forein Princes At Rhodes there was a contention betwixt Apelles and Protogenes corrivalls in the Mystery of Limming Apelles with his pencill drew a very slender even line Protogenes drew another more small and slender in the midst thereof with another colour Apelles again with a third line of a different colour drew thorow the midst of that Protogenes had made Nullum relinquens amplius subtilitati locum Thus our Statesman traverseth matters doubling and redoubling in his forein negotiations with the Politicians of other Princes winding and entrenching themselves mutually within the thoughts each of other till at last our Statesman leaves no degree of subtlety to go beyond him To conclude Some plead that dissembling is Lawfull in the State-craft upon the presupposition that men must meet with others which dissemble Yea they hold that thus to counterfeit se defendendo against a crafty corrivall is no sinne but a just punishment on our adversary who first began it And therefore Statesmen sometimes must use crooked shoes to fit hurl'd feet Besides the honest Politician would quickly be begger'd if receiving black money from cheatours he payes them in good silver and not in their own coin back again For my part I confesse that herein I rather see what then whither to flie neither able to answer their arguments nor willing to allow their practice But what shall I say They need to have steddy heads who can dive into these gulfs of policy and come out with a safe conscience I 'le look no longer on these whirl-pools of State lest my pen turn giddy WILLIAM CECIL Baron of Burgleigh Lord Treasurer of England He dyed Anno 1598. Aged 77 yeares W. Marshall sculp CHAP. 6. The life of William Cecil Lord Burleigh WIlliam Cecil born at Bourn in Lincolnshire descended from the ancient and worshipfull Family of the Sitsilts or Cecils of Alterynnis in Herefordshire on the confines of Wales a name which a great Antiquary thinks probably derived from the Romane Cecilii No credit is to be given to their pens who tax him with meannesse of birth and whose malice is so generall against all goodnesse that it had been a slander if this worthy man had not been slandred by them The servant is not above his master and we know what aspersions their malice sought to cast on the Queen her self He being first bred in S. Johns Colledge in Cambridge went thence to Grayes Inne and used it as an Inne indeed studying there in his Passage to the Court where he attained good learning in the Laws yet his skill in fencing made him not daring to quarrell who in all his life-time neither sued any nor was sued himself He was after Master of the Requests the first that ever bare that office unto the Duke of Sommerset Lord Protectour and was knighted by King Edward the sixth One challengeth him to have been a main contriver of that act and unnaturall will of King Edward the sixth wherein the King passing by his sisters Marie and Elizabeth entailed the Crown on Queen Jane and that he furnished that act with reasons of State as Judge Montague filled it with arguments of Law Indeed his hand wrote it as Secretary of State but his heart consented not thereto yea he openly opposed it though at last yielding to the greatnesse of Northumberland in an age wherein it was present drowning not to swim along with
warres in the two voyages of King Lewis to Palestine and thereupon ever since by custome and priviledge the Gentlewomen of Champaigne and Brye ennoble their husbands and give them honour in marrying them how mean soever before Though pleasantly affected she is not transported with Court-delights as in their statelie Masques and Pageants Seeing Princes cares are deeper then the cares of private men it is fit their recreations also should be greater that so their mirth may reach the bottome of their sadnesse yea God allows to Princes a greater latitude of pleasure He is no friend to the tree that strips it of the bark neither do they mean well to Majesty which would deprive it of outward shews and State-solemnities which the servants of Princes may in loyalty and respect present to their Sovereigne however our Lady by degrees is brought from delighting in such Masques onely to be contented to see them and at last perchance could desire to be excused from that also Yet in her reduced thoughts she makes all the sport she hath seen earnest to her self It must be a dry flower indeed out of which this bee sucks no honey they are the best Origens who do allegorise all earthly vanities into heavenly truths When she remembreth how suddenly the Scene in the Masque was altered almost before moment it self could take notice of it she considereth how quickly mutable all things are in this world God ringing the changes on all accidents and making them tunable to his glorie The lively representing of things so curiously that Nature her self might grow jealous of Art in outdoing her minds our Lady to make sure work with her own soul seeing hypocrisie may be so like to sincerity But O what a wealthy exchequer of beauties did she there behold severall faces most different most excellent so great is the variety even in bests what a rich mine of jewells above ground all so brave so costly To give Court-masques their due of all the bubbles in this world they have the greatest variety of fine colours But all is quickly ended this is the spight of the world if ever she affordeth fine ware she alwayes pincheth it in the measure and it lasts not long But oh thinks our Lady how glorious a place is Heaven where there are joyes for evermore If an herd of kine should meet together to phancy and define happinesse they would place it to consist in fine pastures sweet grasse clear water shadowie groves constant summer but if any winter then warm shelter and dainty hay with company after their kind counting these low things the highest happinesse because their conceit can reach no higher Little better do the Heathen Poets describe Heaven paving it with pearl and roofing it with starres filling it with Gods and Goddesses and allowing them to drink as if without it no Poets Paradise Nectar and Ambrosia Heaven indeed being Poetarum dedecus the shame of Poets and the disgrace of all their Hyperboles falling as farre short of truth herein as they go beyond it in other Fables However the sight of such glorious earthly spectacles advantageth our Ladyes conceit by infinite multiplication thereof to consider of Heaven She reades constant lectures to her self of her own mortality To smell to a turf of fresh earth is wholsome for the body no lesse are thoughts of mortality cordiall to the soul. Earth thou art to earth thou shalt return The sight of death when it cometh will neither be so terrible to her nor so strange who hath formerly often beheld it in her serious meditations With Job she saith to the worm Thou art my sister If fair Ladyes scorn to own the worms their kinred in this life their kinred will be bold to challenge them when dead in their graves for when the soul the best perfume of the body is departed from it it becomes so noysome a carcasse that should I make a description of the lothsomnesse thereof some dainty dames would hold their noses in reading it To conclude We reade how Henry a Germain Prince was admonished by revelation to search for a writing in an old wall which should nearly concern him wherein he found onely these two words written POST SEX AFTER SIX Whereupon Henry conceived that his death was foretold which after six dayes should ensue which made him passe those dayes in constant preparation for the same But finding the six dayes past without the effect he expected he successively persevered in his godly resolutions six weeks six moneths six years and on the first day of the seventh yeare the Prophecie was fulfill'd though otherwise then he interpreted it for thereupon he was chosen Emperour of Germany having before gotten such an habit of piety that he persisted in his religious course for ever after Thus our Lady hath so inur'd her self all the dayes of her appointed time to wait till her change cometh that expecting it every houre she is alwayes provided for that then which nothing is more certain or uncertain JANE GRAY proclaimed Queen of England wife to the Lord GILFORD DUDLEY She was beheaded on Tower-hill in London Februarie y e 12. 1553. at 18 yeares of Age. W.M. sculp CHAP. 14. The life of Ladie Jane GREY JAne Grey eldest daughter of Henry Grey Marquesse of Dorset and Duke of Suffolk by Francis Brandon eldest daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Mary his wife youngest daughter to King Henry the seventh was by her parents bred according to her high birth in Religion and Learning They were no whit indulgent to her in her childhood but extremely severe more then needed to so sweet a temper for what need iron instruments to bow wax But as the sharpest winters correcting the ranknesse of the earth cause the more healthfull and fruitfull summers so the harshnesse of her breeding compacted her soul to the greater patience and pietie so that afterwards she proved the miroir of her age and attained to be an excellent Scholar through the teaching of M r Elmer her Master Once M r Roger Ascham coming to wait on her at Broad-gates in Leicestershire found her in her chamber reading Phoedon-Platonis in Greek with as much delight as some Gentleman would have read a merry tale in Bocchace Whilest the Duke her father with the Dutchesse and all their houshold were hunting in the Park He askt of her how she could lose such pastime who smiling answered I wisse all the sport in the Park is but the shadow of what pleasure I find in this book adding moreover that one of the greatest blessings God ever gave her was in sending her sharp parents and a gentle Schoolmaster which made her take delight in nothing so much as in her studies About this time John Dudley Duke of Northumberland projected for the English Crown But being too low to reach it in his own person having no advantage of royall birth a match was made betwixt Guilford his fourth sonne and this
Lady Jane the Duke hoping so to reigne in his daughter-in-law on whom King Edward the sixth by will passing by his own sisters had entayled the Crown And not long after that godly King who had some defects but few faults and those rather in his age then person came to his grave it being uncertain whether he went or was sent thither If the latter be true the crying of this Saint under the Altar beneath which he was buried in King Henries Chappell without any other monument then that of his own virtues hath been heard long since for avenging his bloud Presently after Lady Jane was proclaimed Queen of England She lifted not up her least finger to put the Diadem on her self but was onely contented to sit still whilest others endeavoured to Crown her or rather was so farre from biting at the bait of Sovereignty that unwillingly she opened her mouth to receive it Then was the Duke of Northumberland made Generall of an Army and sent into Suffolk to suppresse the Lady Marie who there gathered men to claim the Crown This Duke was appointed out of the policie of his friend-seeming enemies for that employment For those who before could not endure the scorching heat of his displeasure at the Counsell-table durst afterwards oppose him having gotten the skreen of London-walls betwixt him and them They also stinted his journeys every day thereby appointing the steps by which he was to go down to his own grave that he should march on very slowly which caused his confusion For lingring doth tire out treacherous designes which are to be done all on a sudden and gives breath to loyalty to recover it self His army like a sheep left part of his fleece on every bush it came by at every stage and corner some conveying themselves from him till his Souldiers were wash'd away before any storm of warre fell upon them Onely some few who were chain'd to the Duke by their particular engagements and some great Persons hopelesse to conceal themselves as being too bigge for a cover stuck fast unto him Thus those enterprises need a strong hand which are thrown against the bias of peoples hearts and consciences And not long after the Norfolk and Suffolk Protestant Gentry Loyalty alwayes lodgeth in the same breast with true Religion proclaimed and set up Queen Marie who got the Crown by Our Father and held it by Pater noster Then was the late Queen now Lady Jane Grey brought from a Queen to a prisoner and committed to the Tower She made misery it self amiable by her pious and patient behaviour Adversity her night-clothes becoming her as well as her day-dressing by reason of her pious deportment During her imprisonment many moved her to alter her religion and especially M r Fecnam sent unto her by Queen Mary but how wisely and religiously she answer'd him I referre the Reader to M r Fox where it is largely recorded And because I have mentioned that Book wherein this Ladyes virtues are so highly commended I am not ignorant that of late great disgrace hath been thrown on that Authour and his worthy Work as being guilty of much falsehood chiefly because sometimes he makes Popish Doctours well known to be rich in learning to reason very poorely and the best Fencers of their Schools worsted and put out of their play by some countrey poore Protestants But let the cavillers hereat know that it is a great matter to have the oddes of the weapon Gods word on their side not to say any thing of supernaturall assistance given them Sure for the main his Book is a worthy work wherein the Reader may rather leave then lack and seems to me like Aetna alwayes burning whilest the smoke hath almost put out the eyes of the adverse party and these Foxes firebrands have brought much annoyance to the Romish Philistines But it were a miracle if in so voluminous a work there were nothing to be justly reproved so great a Pomgranate not having any rotten kernell must onely grow in paradise And though perchance he held the beam at the best advantage for the Protestant party to weigh down yet generally he is a true Writer and never wilfully deceiveth though he may sometimes be unwillingly deceived To return to the Lady Jane Though Quâ—en Marie of her own disposition was inclined finally to pardon her yet necessity of State was such as she must be put to death Some report her to have been with child when she was beheaded cruelty to cut down the tree with blossomes on it and that that which hath saved the life of many women hastned her death but God onely knows the truth hereof On Tower-hill she most patiently Christianly and constantly yielded to God her soul which by a bad way went to the best end On whom the foresaid Authour whence the rest of her life may be supplied bestows these verses Nescio tu quibus es Lector lecturus ocellis Hoc scio quod siccis scribere non potui What eyes thou readst with Reader know I not Mine were not dry when I this story wrote She had the innocency of childhood the beauty of youth the solidity of middle the gravity of old age and all at eighteen the birth of a Princesse the learning of a Clerk the life of a Saint yet the death of a Malefactour for her parents offenses I confesse I never read of any canonized Saint of her name a thing whereof some Papists are so scrupulous that they count it an unclean and unhallowed thing to be of a name whereof never any Saint was which made that great Jesuit Arthur Faunt as his kinsman tell 's us change his Christian name to Laurence But let this worthy Lady passe for a Saint and let all great Ladyes which bear her name imitate her virtues to whom I wish her inward holinesse but farre more outward happinesse Yet lest Goodnesse should be discouraged by this Ladyes infelicity we will produce another example which shall be of a fortunate virtue ELIZABETH Queen of England She dyed at Richmond the 24 th of March 1602. in the 44 th yeare of Her Raign and 70 th of Her Life W Marshall Sculp CHAP. 15. The life of Queen ELISABETH WE intermeddle not with her description as she was a Sovereigne Prince too high for our pen and performed by others already though not by any done so fully but that still room is left for the endeavours of Posterity to adde thereunto We consider her onely as she was a worthy Lady her private virtues rendring her to the imitation and her publick to the admiration of all Her royall birth by her Fathers side doth comparatively make her Mother-descent seem low which otherwise considered in it self was very noble and honourable As for the bundle of scandalous aspersions by some cast on her birth they are best to be buried without once opening of them For as the basest rascall will presume to miscall the best
drive more from him then Nassaw's courtesie invited to him His popular nature was of such receipt that he had room to lodge all comers In peoples eyes his light shined bright yet dazled none all having free accesse unto him every one was as well pleased as if he had been Prince himself because he might be so familiar with the Prince He was wont to content those who reproved his too much humanity with this saying That man is cheap bought who costs but a salutation I report the Reader to the Belgian Histories where he may see the changes of warre betwixt these two sides We will onely observe that Duke D'Alva's covetousnesse was above his policy in fencing the rich inland and neglecting the barren maritime places He onely look'd on the broad gates of the countrey whereby it openeth to the continent of Germany and France whilest in the mean time almost half the Netherlands ran out at the postern doore towards the sea Nassaw's side then wounded Achilles in the heel indeed and touch'd the Spaniard to the quick when on Palm-sunday as if the day promised victory at Brill they took the first livery and seasin of the land and got soon after most cities towards the sea Had Alva herein prevented him probably he had made those Provinces as low in subjection as situation Now at last he began to be sensible of his errour and grew weary of his command desiring to hold that staff no longer which he perceived he had taken by the wrong end He saw that going about to bridle the Netherlanders with building of castles in many places they had gotten the bit into their own teeth He saw that warre was not quickly to be hunted out of that countrey where it had taken covert in a wood of cities He saw the cost of some one cities siege would pave the streets thereof with silver each city â—ort and sconce being a Gordian knot which would make Alexanders sword turn edge before he could cut thorow it so that this warre and the world were likely to end together these Netherlands being like the head-block in the chimney where the fire of warre is alwayes kept in though out every where else never quite quench'd though rak'd up sometimes in the ashes of a truce Besides he saw that the subdued part of the Netherlands obeyed more for fear then love and their loyalty did rather lie in the Spanish Garisons then their own hearts and that in their sighes they breathed many a prosperous gale to Nassaw's party Lastly he saw that forrein Princes having the Spaniards greatnesse in suspicion desired he might long be digesting this break-fast lest he should make his dinner on them both France and England counting the Low-countreys their outworks to defend their walls wherefore he petitioned the King of Spain his Master to call him home from this unprofitable service Then was he called home and lived some years after in Spain being well respected of the King and employed by him in conquering Portugall contrary to the expectation of most who look'd that the Kings displeasure would fall heavy on him for causing by his cruelty the defection of so many countreys yet the King favourably reflected on him perchance to frustrate on purpose the hopes of many and to shew that Kings affections will not tread in the beaten path of vulgar expectation or seeing that the Dukes life and state could amount to poore satisfaction for his own losses he thought it more Princely to remit the whole then to be revenged but in part or lastly because he would not measure his servants loyalty by the successe and lay the unexpected rubs in the allie to the bowlers fault who took good aim though missing the mark This led many to believe that Alva onely acted the Kings will and not willed his acts following the instructions he received and rather going beyond then against his Commission However most barbarous was his cruelty He bragg'd as he sate at dinner and was it not a good grace after meat that he had caused eighteen thousand to be executed by the ordinary minister of justice within the space of six years besides an infinite more murthered by other tyrannous means Yea some men he killed many times giving order to the executioners to pronounce each syllable of torment long upon them that the thred of their life might not be cut off but unravell'd as counting it no pain for men to die except they dyed with pain witnesse Anthony Utenhow whom he caused to be tied to a stake with a chain in Brussells compassing him about with a great fire but not touching him turning him round about like a poore beast who was forced to live in that great torment and extremity roasting before the fire so long untill the Halberdiers themselves having compassion on him thrust him through contrary to the will both of the Duke and the Spanish Priests When the city of Harlem surrendred themselves unto him on condition to have their lives he suffered some of the Souldiers and Burgers thereof to be starved to death saying that though he promised to give them their lives he did not promise to find them meat The Netherlanders used to fright their children with telling them Duke D'Alva was coming and no wonder if children were scared with him of whom their fathers were afraid He was one of a lean body and visage as if his eager soul biting for anger at the clog of his body desired to fret a passage through it He had this humour that he neglected the good counsel of others especially if given him before he ask'd it and had rather stumble then beware of a block of another mans telling But as his life was a miroir of cruelty so was his death of Gods patience It was admirable that his tragicall acts should have a comicall end that he that sent so many to the grave should go to his own die in peace But Gods justice on offenders goes not alwayes in the same path nor the same pace And he is not pardoned for the fault who is for a while reprived from the punishment yea sometimes the guest in the inne goes quietly to bed before the reckoning for his supper is brought to him to discharge FINIS Maxime 1 * Comineus lib. 4. cap. 8 Rodinus De Repub. lib. 5. p. 782. 2 * Erasmus Dial. in nausragio 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. * August confess lib. 9. c. 8. * August confess lib. 9. c. 9. * August confess lib. 6. c. 2. * August lib. 1. De ordine c. 8. * August confess lib. 9. c. 10. Maxime 1 * Plin. Nat. hist. lib. 10. cap. 62. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 * 1. Sam. 1.11 Maxime 1 * Eccles 12.11 2 3 * Giveâ— each child a part Versteg Oâ— decayed intell cap 3. 4 * Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 8. c. 18. 5 6 * Exod. 2.4 7 8 9 Maxime 1 * Stapleton in vita Tho. Mori cap. 1. 2 *