sollicitations he had from Henry Earl of Richmond and the Lords of his faction who to draw them off from Richards side that morning in which Bosworth Field was fought was found a world of papers strowed before Norfolks door Yet notwithstanding all this he regarding more his oath his honour and promise made to King Richard like a faithful Subject absented not himself from his Master but as he faithfully lived under him so he manfully died with him But to return to his Son the Earl of Surrey in this Battle he had the leading of the Archers which King Richard had placed in the fore-front as a Bulwark to defend the rest the undaunted courage of this Earl and his resolute brave carriage being taken prisoner are delineated to the life by the renowned Sir John Beaumont in his ever-living Poem of Bosworth Field which if to some it may seem a long Quotation the goodness of the lines will recompense the tediousness of reading them Courageous Talbot had with Surrey met And after many blows begins to fret That one so young in Arms should thus unmov'd Resist his strength so oft in war approv'd And now the Earl beholds his Fathers fall VVhose death like horrid darkness frighted all Some give themselves as Captives others fly But this young Lion casts his generous eye On Mowbray's Lion painted in his shield And with that King of Beasts repines to yield The Field saith he in which the Lion stands Is blood and blood I offer to the hands Of daring foes but never shall my flight Die black my Lion which as yet is white His Enemies like cunning Huntsmen strive In binding snares to take their prey alive While he desires t' expose his naked breast And thinks the sword that deepest strikes is best Young Howard single with an Army fights When mov'd with pitty two renowned Knights Strong Clarindon and valiant Coniers try To rescue him in which attempt they die Now Surrey fainting scarce his Sword can hold Which made a common Souldier grow so bold To lay rude hands upon that noble Flower Which he disdaining anger gives him power Erects his weapon with a nimble round And sends the Peasants Arm to kiss the ground This done to Talbot he presents his Blade And saith It is not hope of life hath made This my submission but my strength is spent And some perhaps of villain blood will vent My weary soul this favour I demand That I may die by your victorious hand Nay God forbid that any of my name Quoth Talbot should put out so bright a flame As burns in thee brave Youth where thou hast err'd It was thy Fathers fault since he prefer'd A Tyrants Crown before the juster side The Earl still mindeful of his birth reply'd I wonder Talbot that thy noble heart Insults on ruines of the vanquisht part We had the right if now to you it flow The fortune of your Swords hath made it so I never will my luckless choice repent Nor can it stain mine honour or descent Set Englands Royal Wreath upon a stake There will I fight and not the place forsake And if the will of God hath so dispos'd That Richmonds Brow be with the Crown inclos'd I shall to him or his give doubtless signs That duty in my thoughts not faction shines Which he proved to be most true in the whole course of his life for having continued prisoner in the Tower three years and a half the Earl of Lincoln confederating with one Lambert Simnel raised an Army against the King the Lieutenant of the Tower favouring their enterprise freely offered the Earl licence to depart out at his pleasure which he refused saying That he that commanded him thither should command him out again The King understanding of his fidelity not onely released him of his imprisonment but took him into a more specal regard and soon had he an occasion to make tryall of him a great insurrection happening in the North wherein the Rebells were grown so potent that they slew the Earl of Northumberland in the field and took the City of York by assault against these King Henry assembles a great power making the Earl of Surrey Chief Captain of his Voward who so behaved himself that the Rebells forces were dissipated their chief Leaders taken and soon after executed The King noting his great prudence and magnanimity made him Lieutenant Generall from Trent Northward had Warden of the East and middle Marches and Justice of the Forrests from Trent Northwards in which offices he continued the space of ten years during which time the Scots having committed some outrages upon the Borders he made a road into Tivydale where he burnt and destroyed all before him returning with great spoils and honour Not long after he made another road into Scotland returning with like success James the fifth then King of Scotland raised a great power to withstand him and sent to the Earl a challenge to fight with him hand to hand which he accepted but the King into his demands would have the Countrey or Lands then in Controversie to be made Brabium Victoris which was without the Earls power to engage being the inheritance of the King his Master but he proffers better Lands of his own upon the Combat which was not accepted and so nothing was concluded A peace being concluded with the Scots he was called home and made Lord Treasurer of England of the Privy Council living in great Honor and reputation all the dayes of King Henry who dying his Son Henry that succeded him added to his other dignities the high Marshallship of England and going in person with an Army into France left him Lieutenant Generall from Trent Northward to defend the Realm against the Scots for James the Fifth King of Scotland notwithstanding he were King Henries Brother-in-law yet did so firmly adhere to the French that to divert King Henries proceedings in his own person with a mighty Army he invades England The Earl of Surrey to oppose him raises what Forces he could and at a place called Flodden it came to a pitcht field which was fought with great courage and valour but God who owned the just cause of the English crowned them with success and set the Palm of Victory on the Earl of Surrey's head The Scottish King being slain and with him two Bishops eleven Earls seventeen Barrons four hundred Knights besides other Gentlemen and seventeen thousand common Souldiers The Earl for these services was by the King at his return home highly rewarded and restored to the Dukedom of Norfolk his Fathers Dignity Soon after was he sent chief Commissioner with the Lady Mary the Kings sister to be married unto Lewis the French King and after his return home the King and Queen going to Guines to visit the French King he was made Protectour of the Realm in his absence Old age seizing on him he obtained leave of the King to spend the remainder of his dayes at Framlingham
ENGLANDS WORTHIES The Liues of the Most Eminent Persons from CONSTANTINE the Great to OLIUER CROMWELL Late Protector Printed for N Brooke at the Angel in Cornhill 1660. 1 C 2 K A 3 St D 4 K I 5 E d C 6 W th C 7 T B 8 R t 1 9 E t 3 10 B P 11 Sir J H 12 I C 13 H t 5 14 D B 15 E d W 16 R 3d 17 E d S 18 T W 19 T M 20 T C 21 Sr P S 22 E d L 23 W B 24 Sr F D 25 F W 26 N B 27 R E d E 28 R C 29 Sr T O 30 Sr W R 31 W C 32 T S 33 Sir F B 34 B p A 35 I D 36 D B 37 Sr H W 38 E o S 39 B p L 40 E d E 41 Sir C L 42 K C 43 L d C 44 ma M 45 B p V 46 47 O C England's WORTHIES Select LIVES of the most Eminent Persons from Constantine the Great to the death of Oliver Cromwel late Protector Polib Historici est ne quid falsi audeat dicere ne quid veri non audeat By WILLIAM WINSTANLEY Gent. N B London Printed for Nath. Brooke at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill 1660. To the Right Honourable Somerset Lord Herbert of Ragland Son and Heir of Edward Marquess of Worcester Earl of Glamorgan c. To the Right Honourable William Seimor Lord Beuchampe Grand-childe and Heir to the Right Honourable the Marquess of Hertford To the Right Honourable Charles Dormer Lord Dormer of Wing Son and Heir to the Right Honourable the Earl of Canarvan My Lords I Have chosen to present you with this Volume not onely as it is worthy of the Ages past but also of your Lordships present view the Affinity of your Blood and Greatness challenging from me no less then these prostrate respects as I could desire no firmer nor safer an Anchorage then in so proper a Dedication no despairing that my Pen hath produc'd something worthy of your entertainments as I have set before your eyes forty seven Select Lives of our English Heroes the greatest Princes the most Reverend Cleargy-men eminent States-men and valiant Souldiers all deceast As to History it self a Modern Writer expresses 't is the study of the Holy Scripture that becomes a Gentleman of the Ecclesiastical History a Christian and of the Brittish History an English man all which Qualifications in some measure meeting in your Honours as well as in this Work it self gives me some assurance that these my weak endeavours would not be unwelcome to you My Lords he that hath the Spirit and Blood of his Ancestours in his veins cannot be so much turned into a Statue as to stand still and admire the different Fortunes this mans greatness and of that mans lowness so as not onely to reflect on the tributary brooks of the former Matches of the Nobility but also to look back to matter of fact what our Predecessours have been as well as what we our selves at the present are least falling short of the imitation of their immortal actions we so strangely degenerate as not to understand what we our selves ought to be The clear Fountain flowing from the true Nobility of late being so disturbed it is the office of an honest and true Historian if not his duty to have so much of the Herald as to Register the Descents Issues worthy Acts Atchievements Mannagements of our of late so little imitated Ancestors of these several alterations in Nobility one observes there are three principle Actors on the Theater of great Families the Beginner Advancer and Ruiner in all these our uncivil troublesome times we have heard more of the latter then of the other two one experiencst though unfortunate good amongst the many mischiefs which a Civil War occasions is that in the ransacking of Studies accidentally though determined otherwise the Togati and the Armati meet several Manuscripts which otherwise would have remained useful only to private persons have been by Divine Providence miraculously preserved contrary to the intentions of the Agents whose Barbarismes had snuft out the candle to the present Age and deprived posterity of those Illustrations from which they might know that truth which otherwise they should never have been acquainted with as they endeavoured that the most remarkable Affairs of these times should have otherwise been hid under a bushel To your Honor my Lord Herbert I make this particular Address though this Dedication is joynt as in respect of your happy Assinities as you are Father-in-law to one of these youthful Branches of Honour in respect of your advantages of some years so your grandeur and experience renders you a History of your self and in respect of their tender ages another to them My Lord I know to your Honour it is no less then a Prodigy that our English Gentlemen should be more exact and refin'd in knowing the Religion Laws Governments Strengths Scites Customs and Fashions of Forreign Countreys then of their own wherein themselves are Natives which caused a deserving Historian as it were to sigh out this expression What pitty is it for a proper Gentleman to have such a crick in his neck that he cannot look so much as over his shoulder to know his own History much less so far behinde him as to reflect on actions long since performed I have presumed to intimate thus much to your Honor as you are another Burleigh or Raleigh to give better advice to your youthful Kinsmen My Lords I have chosen you as out of the Caesars to affix your names to this Epitome of Lives that as Julius was his own History and Commentary so your Honours though yet but in the abstract of time might pass it to posterity to which purpose I have chosen your united protections Since I have been writing this History there hath been no less then three alterations Regal Protectorship and now a Commonwealth I first undertook this enterprize in the time of Monarchy continued it in the short space of Protectorship and finished it in the immediate initiation of the Commonwealth in all which progressions if the Liberty of the Subjects modest prospects are shut up or not allow'd if in these days that Lots little one of truth by these present times posterity must be deprived of wise and honest men will be seriously sensible of such obstructions the maliciousness of such Machiavillians puts me in mind of what elegant Mr. Fuller cites what Naturalists observe of the Toad who before she can be surprized by death sucks up the supposed precious stone in her head which till then was but a jelly thus some men are so cowardly that they had rather have History buried with them then that the least part of civil truth should be writ whilest they live as if they deserved no Chronicle or were only to be suffered in Libellous Pamphlets which wise men scorn to cast their eyes on I confess we live in times of Jealousies nevertheless
there is no danger in a Dedication that drives on a harmless design which for the Innocency of it craves protection from such tender years My Lords I wish that your Families may ever flourish whose Charities like the expected showres have refresht our parched English Earth being nevertheless so undescernable as the winde the left hand not knowing what the right hand did the so eminent Noblesses of your Generous Blood hath obliged our English world and amongst the rest of my Countrey-men commanded me to present these humble respects to your Lordships In the tender of these Lives My Lords I have turned the Mirror of them to you expecting that by your future Atchievements you will get up hill to these Worthies not questioning but some other Pen when I am in my silent grave will raise Pyramids to your Names and affix you to this Volume If your Lordships in your inspect at my turning of this Mirror to you still perceive somewhat remaining of a sad representation a once sable mourning cloud 't is now so serene so dispersed with the Beams and Splendors of Honour that you may safely be so loyal to Heaven as with a correlative gratitude to acknowledge the remarks of that Heroe My Lords as I designed you the Persons of my Dedication so you bear the Title of my Book in your promising Years and Blood there being none in England in whom there is a Nobler confluence of so many Loyal Purple Rivelets of Honour that a mean Herald by the guidance thereof upwards may be lead to the Fountain and Head-Spring of the English Nobility Be pleased to accept of these tenders of Service as also of my best wishes that as you have met in your Affinities so joynt Vertues may be united in your Natures which shall be his request to Heaven who is the meanest and unworthiest of Your Lordships Servants William Winstanley To the Worthy Patron of Ingenuous Endeavors the truly generous and nobly minded Thomas Salisbury Esq SIR IT may make you the more to admire at my boldness that in a midnight as not known to you I shall nevertheless present these more then ordinary respects I acknowledge till the Magi of those that rightly knew you had crown'd my tenders with the Laurels of your deserts I had not laid down this Dedication otherwise then at the feet of your Eminent Qualifications as of a proximity to what still remains of the surviving Nobility Sir I have plac'd you in the Front of my Heroe's not disputing after so confirm'd a survey of you by your Friends that I could not chuse a more fortunate Star to direct these my services then to your self as I am informed with your own Pen you have begun with the life of Adam the creation of History give me leave after your Italian Victory to entertain you with these Brittish Triumphs which take their rise from the Christian Cross of Constantine the Great and sit down within the Herodian short-liv'd Protectorships Sir as to the undertakings of History you are not unacquainted that Judgement and a signaliz'd Impartiality eternizes an Historian That oyl is adjudged the best that hath no taste that Authour should be the most preferr'd that hath the least tongue of interested affections a candour of course being due to him that waves the chiding of the present times in hopes that after Ages may excuse him Seamen observe that the waters are the more troubled the nearer they come to the Land because broken by repercussion from the shore I am sensible though that I cannot imagine wherefore of the same danger the nearer I approach to the times and the end of this History the more subject some will be to censure what they have so little wit as to interpret to themselves One writes if he did not invent the words himself that Machiavel used to say that he that undertakes to write a History should have no Religion if so sayes he glossing on his own wit Machiavel himself was the best qualified in his age to be an Historian the Gentleman is much mistaken alas he was but a simple fellow to the Religious Jesuites of our times as he wanted the Holy Vestments the Vizards of Scripture to gild over his designs Some entertain this position that the History of these present times must not be written by any one alive which in my opinion is disgraceful to an Historian and very prejudicial to posterity as if they were to write at a distance that obscurity might protect their mistakes from discovery others also say the Truth is not ripe enough to be writ in the Age we live in which proves too rotten for the next generation faithfully to report these men are extreamly mistaken for when Impresses of memorable matters are almost worn out the History having more of the Authors hand then footsteps of truth therein must needs suffer sure I am that the most informative Histories to posterity and such as are highly priz'd by the Judicious have been written by eye-witnesses such Historians as live in the Times not by the Times thus Thucidides reports impartially of the Pelopenesian War Indeed St. Peter followed Christ afar off so Politicians would not have the Historian to tread on the heels of the times lest the times tread on his heels the truth is we live in such a warlike tragical Age best to write of but not to write in Sir if Wit be such a Plant that it scarce receives heat enough to keep it alive in the Summer of our cold Climate how can it chuse but wither in the so long and sharp a Winter of our Civil Uncivil Discontents If my endeavors meet with any acceptation in this our English world it must be from such understanding Persons as your self as it will remain a perpetual memorial to your name as first brought forth under the Sphere of your tuition and Goodness Worthy Sir together with the respects I tender to your honoured self I have entertained it as a Case of Conscience to transmit to the next Age some short Intimations of these times as any wise Historian may justly fear that Records are not so carefully kept in these so many changes as they have been in former Ages as to the breviary of these Lives I can only apologize that no wise man can expect to cut and pollish Diamonds with so little pains as we do Marbles the chiefest matters contained in Gyant-like Volumes is to be found in this like a little Watch showing the time of the day as well as a great Clock Sir lest having written a Preface in respect of these tedious Lines you should mistake them for another I shall end with this short ejaculation that as Fortune whom the Poets have so long feign'd blinde hath opened her eyes to look upon you as to your desires and deserts so I wish you may enjoy her favours as many more happy Years as there are Lives in this Book Thus Sir at the high Altar of my Respects I
England where being instructed in the Christian Religion and baptized in the Church of St. Paul by the Bishop of London with great Solemnity in the presence of six Prelates she was married to the aforesaid Gilbert of whom he had Issue this Thomas whose Life we now relate who as his Legend recites was first brought up in a Religious House of Merton afterwards was instructed in the Liberal Sciences and then sent to study in the University of Paris from whence returning home he was by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury made his Archdeacon a place in those dayes of high degree in the English Cleargy next unto Lord Abbots and Bishops Much about that time Henry Duke of Aquitain and Normandy succeeded King Stephen in the Crown of England who in the very first year of his Reign advanced Becket to be Lord Chancellour of England in which high honour he carried himself like another King His retinue was great his Followers men of good account his House keeping such as might compare with if not surpass the greatest Earls of the Kingdom his Clothes very costly full of bravery his Furniture mighty rich his very Bridles of beaten silver Yea Fortune did seem to have made him her Darling and all things so flowed according to his desire that one would have judged him to have laid clean aside the very thought of a Clergy-man King Henry having Wars in France he served him with a Band of 700. Souldiers of his own Family besides many others with which and some additional Forces after the Kings departure he obtained a great victory At another time he himself in person unhorssed a Frenchman called Enguerranus de Creya a most hardy Souldier renowned for deeds of Arms and Chevalry for these valiant acts in reward and in further hope of his faithful service upon the death of Theobald the King made him Archbishop of Canterbury though the Monks objected against him that neither a Courtier nor a Soundier as he was both were fit to succeed in so high and sacred a Function But Thomas having obtained this dignity forgot the King who had raised him to the same For as the Poet hath it A swelling spirit hates him by whom he climes As Ivy kills the tree whereon it twines So rising men when they are mounted high Spurn at the means that first they mounted by For not long after began that great controversie between Regnum Sacerdotium the Crown and the Mytre the occasion whereof was the King being credibly informed that some Clergy-men had committed above an hundred murthers under his Reign would have them tried and adjudged in his Temporal Courts as Lay-men were but this as being contrary to the priviledges of the Church the Archbishop withstood This affront of a subject the King could not endure finding himself hereby to be but a demy-King Wherefore having drawn to his side most of the Bishops in an Assembly at VVestminster he propoundeth these Articles peremptorily urging Becket to assent to them 1. That none should appeal to the See of Rome for any cause whatsoever without the Kings licence 2. That it should not be lawful for any Archbishop or Bishop to depart the Realm and repair to the Pope upon his summons without licence from the King 3. That it should not be lawfull for any Bishop to excommunite any person that holdeth in Capite of the King without licence of the King nor grant any interdict against his Lands nor the Lands of any his officers 4. That it should not be lawfull for any Bishop to punish perjured nor false witnesses 5. That Clarks crimonous should be tried before secular Judges 6. That the King and his secular Justices should be Judges in matters of Tythes and other like causes Ecclesiastical There points so nearly touched the Papal Sovereignty that Becket resolutely denied to signe them but by the importunity of many Lords and Prelates at last he yields subscribes the Ordinance and sets his hand unto it The King hereupon supposing all contradiction ended and that Thomas would not waver in his faith called an assembly of the States at Clarendon in VViltshire to collect and enact these Laws where John of Oxenford sitting President Becket relapsed saying He had grievously sinned in that he had done and that he would not sin therein any more The King herewith vehemently incensed threatens banishment and destruction to him and his whereupon Becket once again perswaded swears in verbo Sacerdotali in the word of a Priest sincerely that he would observe the Laws which the King entituled Avitae and all the Bishops Abbots Priors and whole Clergy with all the Earls Barons and Nobility did promise and swear the same faithfully and truly to observe and performe to the King and to his Heirs for ever But the King desiring him to affix his seal to an Instrument wherein those Laws being sixteen were contained he refused saying He did promise it onely to do the King some honour verbo tenus in word onely Nor could the example of his fellow Bishops nor the perswasions of Rotrod the Popes messenger move him at all to compose these differences It may be thought a fable yet is related by divers superstitious Authors that one time during this contention certain fellows cut off the Archbishops horses tail after which fact all their children were born with Tails like Horses and that this continued long in their Posterity For may own part though I confess God is able to do this and much more yet I reckon this amongst other ridiculous miracles mentioned of him by those writers as that of Ailwardus who for stealing a great whetstone which the Author that writes it best deserved being deprived of his eyes and virilities by sentence of Law upon prayer to Saint Thomas he had all restored again Yea even a Bird having been taught to speak flying out of her cage and ready to be seized on by a Sparrow Hawk said onely St. Thomas help me and her enemy fell presently dead and she escaped But slighting these follies to return to our History the King summoning a Parliament at Northhampton Becket was cited to appear before his Majesty which he refusing upon his contempt the Peers and Prelates judged his goods confiscated to the Kings mercy He making his appearance the Parliament demanded of him an account of 30000 pounds which he received when he was Lord Chancellour to which he answered that when he was chosen to be Archbishop he was by the Kings authority freed and acquitted of all Debts and Obligations of Court and Exchequer and so delivered over to the Church of England and that therefore at that time he would not answer as a Lay-man having before had a sufficient discharge This answer of the Archbishop was like Oyl cast on fire which instead of quenching increast the Kings anger and the Prelates perceiving the Kings displeasure to tend yet to some further severity premonished him to submit himself for that otherwise the Kings Court
gave himself over to all licentiousness whilst Warwick had made his faction not onely mighty but monstrous being compacted of several natures for into conspiracy of this great enterprize he had drawn off the Cleargy and the Laity and most of them of affections most opposite The Archbishop of York was the principal mover because he mov'd upon the soul and made treason an act of Religion the easie multitude who build their faith upon the man not the Doctrine thinking it meritorious to rebell in regard his function seem'd to give authority to the action With him a greed the Marquess Mountague and many eminent persons of King Edwards Court whom either desire of War having never lived but in the troubled Sea of discord or want of expected recompence rendered discontented All the partakers in the calamity of the house of Lancaster most passionately at first overture embraced this motion amongst whom was Henry Holland Duke of Exeter who after his ruine with the fall of Henry the Sixth was reduced to such extremity that ragged and bare-footed he begg'd for his meat in the Low-Countries But the wonder of the world then was at the powerful sorcery of those perswasions which bewitcht the Duke of Clarence the Kings Brother to this conspiracy to whom the Earl of Warwick to tye him the faster to his side gave him in marriage the Lady Isabel his daughter and coheire to the rich Earldom of Warwick for consummation whereof they sailed over to Calice of which Town the Earl of Warwick was Captain and in which the young Lady then remained with her Mother Soon was the Ceremony past and soon did the Earl invite his Son-in-law from the softness of the Nuptial Dalliance as who had contrived this marriage for business not for pleasure and design'd the first issue of their embraces to be a monster and the most unnatural one War between Brothers Warwick having thus politickly order'd things that he left little or nothing to fortune with his Son-in-law returns to England where against his return the Archbishop of York with some other of his friends had raised a potent Army to oppose whom on Edwards side assembles a mighty power under the conduct of the Earls of Pembroke and Devonshire but they falling out at Banbury upon a trivial occasion made way for the enemy to conquer them both This overthrow was seconded with a great loss at Grafton in Northamptonshire wherein the Earl Rivers and the Lord Widdevil Father and Brother to the Queen were taken and barbarously beheaded Edward nettled with these losses raises what power he could and marches against Warwick whose pretence being that of all Rebells The good of the Kingdom yet to avoid effusion of blood seemingly is very desirous of peace but when with several overtures he had lulled the King in security in the dead of the night he sets upon his Army kills the watch and surpriseth his person buried in a careless sleep Warwick having thus gotten the prey into his hand he so long desired sends him prisoner to Middleham Castle in Yorkshire there to be kept by his Brother the Archbishop of that Sea but King Edward being of another temper then his predecessour Henry not enduring Captivity soon found a way for his own liberty for having gotten licence to hunt in the adjoyning Park he so contrived with Sir William Stanley and Sir Thomas Burgh that with a selected number they came to his rescue and took him away from his weak guard the Lord Hastings joyning to them with some forces he had raised about Lancaster they march directly to London where they were entertained with great expressions of joy The Earl of Warwick who upon the taking of the King had disbanded his Army hearing of his escape was almost distracted with a thousand several imaginations but soon by letters to the Lords of his faction he reassembles his forces and marches against the King but thorow the solicitation of some persons inclinable to peace an enterveiw was agreed on in Westminster Hall and oaths for safety being past on both sides accordingly they met but such intemperance of Language past at their meeting as rather aggravated then allayed their anger so that now they resolved the Sword alone should decide the controversie The Earl of Warwick leaving his Army under the command of Sir Robert Wells whilst he himself went to raise more men King Edward neglecting not the opportunity whilest they were thus disjoyned gives them battel and overthrows them with the loss of ten thousand of their men Sir Robert Wells was taken prisoner and soon after beheaded This overthrow struck Warwick to the heart so that having not sufficient force to withstand the King he with the Duke of Clarence sail over into France with which King as also with Queen Margret who then remained in the French Court they entred into a combination for the deposing of King Edward and setting up again King Henry And that there might not be left any tract of former discontent or path to future jealousie a marriage was concluded and celebrated between Prince Edward the Queens Son and the Lady Anne younger daughter to the Earl and for want of issue of these two the Crown to come to Clarence and his posterity Matters thus concluded and the French King supplying them with money they return into England to whom flocked almost all the Lords the Commonalty also desirous of innovation adhered unto them so that King Edward seeing himself in a manner wholly abandoned was forced to quit the Land and sail into Holland And now notwithstanding his former hostility with him Warwick restores King Henry to all his former dignity and honour a Parliament is called wherein nothing is denyed which the prevailing party thought fit to be authorized King Edward condemned for a Tyranous Usurper and all his adherents attainted of high treason the Crown is entailed upon King Henry and his Heires Males for default of which to George Duke of Clarence and his Heires for ever The Earls of Oxford and Pembroke and many others restored to their estates and titles the Duke of Clarence put in possession of the Dutchy of York and lastly the Government of the King and Kingdom committed to the Duke of Clarence and Earl of Warwick so that King Henry possest no more then the name of King and seem'd not to be set at liberty but to have changed his keeper King Edward in the mean time having hired four great Holland Ships and fourteen Easterling men of War transports his Army over into England which consisted of two thousand Dutch men and such English as accompanied him in his flight or had escaped over after him at Ravenspur in Yorkshire he landed from thence he marched to York but finding in every place where he came the people generally devoted to the House of Lancaster he fashioned his behaviour to a new art and solemnly took his oath that his intentions was not for the recovering of the Crown but
old Doctors and at his next coming to the Court discoursing to his Majesty his opinion of the foresaid matter he said To be plain with your Grace neither my Lord of Durham nor my Lord of Bathe though I know them both to be wise vertuous learned and honourable Prelates nor my self with the rest of your Councel being all of us your Majesties own Servants so much bound unto your Highness for your great favours daily bestowed upon us be in my judgement meet Counsellours for your Grace herein but if your Highness please to understand the very truth you may have such Counsellours elected as neither for respect of their own worldly profit nor for fear of your Princely displeasure will be inclined to partiality He then quoted Saint Hierome Saint Austine and divers other Fathers and Holy Doctours both Greek and Latine shewing what authority he had gathered out of them for what he said which although it was against the grain not so pleasant to the King as not agreeing to his desires yet Sir Thomas Moor had in all his communication with the King in this business so discreetly demeaned himself that at that present the King did not distaste what he said and often afterwards had conference with him about the same case of Conscience For the further tryal and examination of this Matrimony scruple a Commission was sent from Rome in which Cardinal Campeius and Cardinall Wolsey were joyned Commissioners who for the determination thereof sate at Black Fryers in London the King and Queen being cited to appear before them In the prosecution of which busisiness the King took such distaste at Wolsey that he displaced him of his office of Lord Chancellour and bestowed the same on Sir Thomas Moor the better to draw him to his side but he valuing more the quiet of his Conscience then any Princes honour in the world fell down on his knees desiring his Majesties favour to employ him in any Affair in which with integrity of his Conscience he might truly serve God and him to which the King curteously answered that if he could not therein with his Conscients serve he was content to accept of his service otherwise and take the advice of other his learned Council whose consciences would well enough dispense with it yet that he would nevertheless continue his wonted favour towards him and no more molest or trouble his minde with that business Upon Sir Thomas Moors entrance into this last honourable preferment every one might perceive a very strange alteration for whereas the precedent Chancellour Wolsey would scarce look or speak to any into whose onely presence none could be admitted unless his fingers were tipp'd with Gold on the contrary this Chancellour the poorer and meaner the Suppliant was the more affable he was to him and the more attentively he would hearken to his cause and with speedy tryal dispatch him for which purpose he used commonly every afternoon to fit in his Hall that if any person whatsoever had any suit unto him they might the more boldly come to his presence and open their complaints before him and find sudden redress It is reported of him that whereas our pick pocket Lawyers with long-winded Chancery Demurrs to the undoing of thousands keep off business his practice was if it were to be done with conveniency to dispatch a Cause at the first hearing for which reason a Writer wittily calls him Sir Thomas Plus because before he rose off from the Bench he alwayes used to ask if there were any more Causes Thus the greatness of honour the change of his place altered him not Sir Themas remained still the same good man that he was his humility was the same It being observed of him that every day as he passed through the Hall to his place in the Chancery by the Court of the Kings Bench where his Father was one of the Judges that he would go into the Court and there reverently kneeling down in the fight of them all duly ask his Father Blessing I shall onely add one story more concerning his humility in the height of his honour the Duke of Norfolk coming on a time to Chelsey to dine with him happened to find him in the Church singing in the Quire with a surplice on his back to whom after Service as they went homeward hand in hand together the Duke said Gods Body my Lord Chancellor what a Parish Clerk a Parish Clerk you dishonour the King and his Office nay said Sir Thomas smiling upon the Duke Your Grace may not think your master and mine will be offended with me for serving of God his Master of thereby count his office dishonoured To proceed King Henry determining to marry the Lady Anne Cleve for his better proceeding in this affair called a Parliament where he with the Bishops and Nobles of the upper House were commanded by the King to go down to the Commons to shew unto them both what the Universities as well of other parts beyond the Seas as at Oxford and Cambridge had done therein their Seals also testifying the same all which at the Kings request not shewing of what judgement himself was therein he declared unto the lower House yet doubting least further attempts should after follow which contrary to his Conscience by reason of his office he was likely to be put unto he made suit unto the Duke of Norfolk his singular dear friend to be a means to the King that he might with his Majesties favour be discharged of that chargeable office of Chancellourship wherein for certain infirmities of his body he pretended himself unable any longer to serve To which purpose the Duke solliciting the King obtained of him a clear discharge from the same with thanks and praise for his worthy service herein And not underservedly his integrity nobleness and charity being so great that notwithstanding he had gone thorow so many offices for almost twenty years he was not able to purchase more then one hundred pounds a year Touching his troubles they began first by occasion of a certain Nun dwelling in Canterbury who affirmed that she had revelations from God to give the King warning of his wicked life and of the abuse of the Sword and Authority committed to him This Nun conferring with Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor about the same they advised her to go to the King her self and to let him understand the whole circumstance thereof whereupon at the Parliament following there was a Bill put into the lower House to attache the Nun with divers other Religious persons of High Treason and the Bishop of Rochester Sir Thowas Moor and some others of misprision of Treason Divers other accusations came thick and threefold upon him and doubtless had he not been one of a singular integrity and free from all corruption of wrong doing or bribes taking these accusations had overwhelmed him but they all falling short of the mischievous design that was on foot against him a trick was found
proquaestor primum post Cancellarius Lancastriae tandem Angliae miro principis favore factus est Sed interim in publico regni senatulectus est orator populi praeterea legatus regis nonnunquam fuit alias alibi postremo vero Cameraci Comes collega junctus Principi Legationis Cuthberto Tonstallo tum Londinensi mox Dunelmensi Episcopo quo viro vix habet orbis hodie quicquam eruditius prudentius melius Ibiinter summos Christiani orbis Monarchas rursus refecta faedera redditamque mundo diu desideratam pacem laetisimus videt Legatus interfuit Quam superi pacem firment faxintque perennem In hoc officiorum vel honorum cursu quum ita versaretur ut neque Princeps optimus operam ejus improbaret neque nobilibus esset invisus neque injucundus populo furibus autem homicidis haereticisque molestus Pater ejus tandem Joannes Morus Eques in eum Judicum ordinem à Principe cooptatus qui regius consessus vocatur homo civilis innocens mitis misericors equus integer annis quidem gravis sed corpore plus quam pro aetate vivido postquam eo productam sibi vidit vitam ut filium videret Angliae Cancellarium satis in terra jam se moratum ratus lubens migravit in coelum At filius defancto patre cui quamdiu supererat comparatus juvenis vocari consueverat ipse quoque sibi videbatur amissum jam patrem requirens editos ex se libros IV. at Nepotes XI respiciens caepit apud animum persenescere Auxit hunc affectum animi subsequuta statim velut ad petentis senii signum pectoris valetudo deterior Itaque mortalium harum rerum satur quam rem à puero semper optaverat ut ultimos aliquot vitae suae annos obtineret liberos quibus hujus vitae negotiis paulatim se subducens futuram posset immortalitatem meditari eam rem tandem si coeptis annuat Deus indulgentissimi principis incomparà bili beneficio resignatis honoribus impetravit atque hoc sepulchrum sibi quod mortis eum nunquam cessantis adrepere quotidiè commonefaceret translatis huc prioris uxoris ossibus extruendum curavit Quod ne superstes frustra sibi fecerit neve ingruentem trepidus horreat sed desiderio Christi lubens oppetat mortemque ut sibi non omnino mortem sed januam vitae felicioris inveniat precibus eum Lector optimè spirantem precor defunctumque prosequere Pro Vxoribus suis Chara Thomae jacet c. Sub quo haec quoque subjuncta Carmina occurrunt Chara Thomae jacet hic JoannaVxorcula mori Qui tumulum Aliciae hunc destino quique mihi Vna mihi dedit hoc conjuncta virentibus annis Me vocet ut puer trina puella patrem Altera privignis quae gloria rara novercae est Tam pia quam gnatis vix fuit ulla suis Altera si mecum vixit sic altera vivit Charior incertum est haec sit an haec fuerit O simul ô juncti poteramus vivere nos tres Quam bene si factum religioque sinant Et societ tumulus societ nos obsecro Coelum Sic mors non potuit quod dare vita dabit The Life of THOMAS CROMWELL Earl of Essex Fortunae speculum Cromwellus scandit ad alta Vt casu graviore ruat Regisque favore Tollitur hincque cadit livore oppressus inique THomas Cromwell from so low a beginning as from the Forge attained to so high a pitch of honour as to be raised to a Pillar of State His Father as our Chronicles report was a Blacksmith to whom may be applied what Juvenal said of Demosthenes Whom his poor Father blear-eye'd with the soot Of sparks which from the burning Iron did shoot From Coals Tongs Anvil and such Black-smiths tools And dirty Forge sent to the Rhetrick Schools He was born at Putney in Surrey four miles from London being endued with a singular excellency of Wit His first advancement was under Cardinal Wolsey who made him his Solliciter employing him for the suppression of forty Monasteries to the erection of his Colledges at Oxford and Ipswich At the fall of the Cardinal he got him to Court where he was by King Henry first advanced to be Master of his Jewel-house then Barron of Oakham in Rutlandshire then Knight of the Garter ere long he was created Earl of Essex then made Lord great Chamberlain and lastly ordained the Kings Vicar General over the Spirituality by vertue of which Office he sat in the Convocation-house as Head over the Bishops an Honour so great that never any subject enjoyed the like in England Drayton thus epitomizes his Honours First by my Knighthood rising by degree The Office of a Jewel-house my lot After the Robes he frankly gave to me From whence to Privy Councellour I got Then of the Garter and then Earl to be Of Essex yet sufficient these were not But to the great Vicegerency I drew Being a Title as supream as new And now finding by Wolsey's predicting fall that the foundations of Monasteries were not unmoveable he puts it into the King head to have them all suppressed who being not long before declared supream Head of the Church thought his state in danger so long as the Pope had such Pillars to uphold his Power Another main thing was their excessive Riches which was valued at the yearly sum of 1865 12. pounds 8. shillings 1. d. o. q. besides the two Universities and divers Monasteries which were unvalued And no wonder that Bell sounded so sweetly in the Kings ear when so much profit pull'd the rope what ever was the true cause the pretended cause was the gain that was got by ignorant devotion and gadding on Pilgrimage as likewise that they were the receptacles of all traiterous attempts against the peace of the Land and Supremacy of the Crown Besides the Whoredoms Adulteries Incests and filthy Sodomies of the Monks Friers and Priests which put together weighed so heavy that by Act of Parliament they were granted all to the Kings use and Injunctions sent forth for the Bible in English to be read in all Churches and Register-books of Weddings Christenings and Burials in every of them to be kept These Actions of the King exasperated many especially the Pope who feared his Dagon would down if the King should be acknowledged supream Head of the Church whereupon he pronounceth him an Heretick and seduceth amongst others James the Fifth King of Scotland against him Cromwel that his Master might be able to bandy with the Pope counselleth him to allie himself with some Protestant Princess the King then a widdower entertained the motion and a marriage is concluded betwixt him and the Lady Anne Sister to William Duke of Cleve whose other Sister Fredrick Duke of Saxony had espoused a great favourer of the Gospel and maintainer of Martin Luther the promulgator and professour thereof But the Lady
and attended his coming at Noon-tide walking in his Court-yard No sooner was the Lord Thomas Cromwell entred the same attended by several persons of Quality and Officers of the Crown but speedily alighting from his Horse he embraced his Friend Frescobald in the same manner he had done in the morning and perceiving that the Lords which accompanied him were amazed at such a disproportioned familiarity he told them that he was more obliged to Frescobald then to all the men in the world owing unto him the making of his Fortune and so proceeded to relate unto them the whole story which had befallen him at Florence So great a delight do generous mindes take to recount their foregoing Misfortunes when their Grandor hath elevated them to such a pitch as that they triumph over shame and are incapable of Ingratitude Frescobald was treated at Dinner with all the tenderness he could expect from so great a Personage and so great a Friend after which being carried up by the Lord Thomas Cromwell into his Closet he was there presented with four Bags of Gold each containing four hundred Duccats in return of his former Civilities which Frescobald being of a gallant spirit at first refused but after severall contestations was constrained to accept as an acknowledgement from the Lord Cromwell who moreover enquiring of him concerning his coming over and Affairs in England and understanding his Losses and that there were Moneys due to him caused him to write down his Debters names and by his Secretary summoned the severall Merchants which were indebted to Frescobald upon pain of his displeasure to clear their Accounts with him and to pay him within the space of fifteen dayes which was accordingly performed onely Frescobald freely forgave them the use Over and above all which the Lord Thomas Cromwell endeavoured to perswade his Friend Frescobald to have remained in England the rest of his dayes proferring to lend him a Stock of 60000. Duccats to trade withall But Frescobald being over-charged with all those grand Obligations which the Lord Cromwell had conferred on him having by his Lordships Generosity acquired enough to keep him from being necessitated all his life time and deeming that the trading in good Works was incomparably more sure and gainful then in the richest Wares and Merchandizes being resolved to quit Trading and to end the rest of his dayes peaceably and quietly he obtained leave of the Lord Thomas Cromwell to depart to his own Countrey freighted with so great obligations as caused in him a generous shame He afterwards arrived safe in his own Country where with great reputation he dyed in a good old age Having done him this honour to eternize the noble deportments of his life I shall now end with a short account of what he said at his death When he came upon the Scaffold on Tower-Hill he delivered his minde to the people I am come hither to die and not to purge my self as some perhaps may expect that I should and will for if I should so do I were a very wretch I am by the Law condemned to die and I thank my Lord God that hath appointed me this death for mine offence for I have alwayes lived a sinner and offended my Lord God for which I ask him hearty forgiveness It s not unknown to many of you that I was a great Traveller and being but of mean Parentage was called to high honours and now I have offended my Prince for which I heartily ask him forgiveness beseeching you to pray with me to almighty God that he will forgive me c. Then kneeling down on his knees he made a long and pithy prayer which being ended after a godly exhortation to those on the Scaffold he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Maker his head being dissevered from his body July 28 1540. The King not long after his death clapping his hands on his breast repented this haste wishing that he had his Cromwell alive again With him was beheaded the Lord Hungerford of Heitesbury who suffered death a just death for buggery Without question Cromwell was a person of singular qualifications unfortunate in nothing more then that he lived in the dayes of Henry the Eighth of whom if it could be possible one writes that for the time he Reigned he was guilty of more Tyranny then any of the Roman Emperours This great Statesman was condemned to death and yet never came to his answer by an act as it is said which he himself caused to be made of which Mr. Michael Drayton thus writes Those Laws I made alone my self to please To give me power more freely to my will Even to my equals hurtfull severall wayes Forced to things that most do essay were ill Vpon me now as violently seize By which I lastly perisht by my skill On mine own neck returning as my due That heavy yoke wherein by me they drew Thus whilest we strive too suddenly to rise By flattering Princes with a servile Tongue And being soothers to their tyrannies Work our much woes by what doth many wrong And unto others tending injuries Vnto our selves producing our own wrong In our own snares unluckily thus caught Whilst our attempts fall instantly to naught Questionless he was a man of an active and forward ripeness of nature ready and pregnant of wit discreet and well advised in judgement eloquent of tongue faithfull and diligent in service of an incomparable memory of a reaching pollitick head and of a most undaunted spirit The Life of the great King Henry the Eighth with the other Reigns of his Posterity I have omitted because they are so excellently penned by several Historians and so Vulgarly known to the people The Life of Sir PHILIP SIDNEY Carmen Apollo dedit belli Mars contulit artes Sed Juveni vitam Mors rapit ante diem AMongst the rest of our Worthies there is none of more precious memory then that famous and Heroick Knight Sir Philip Sidney in whom the Graces and Muses had their domesticall habitations whose Life as it was admirable so his Lines have not been excelled though the French of late in imitation have endeavoured to address them He was born of honourable parentage his Father Sir Henry Sidney was thrice Lord Deputy of Ireland a place of great honour and trust having power of themselves to call Parliaments and enact Laws nor cometh there any Vice-gerent in Europe more near the Majesty and prerogative of a King His Mother was Daughter to Sir John Dudley Duke of Northumberland and Sister to the Earls of Warwick and Leicester so that his descent was apparently noble of both sides Verstigan sayes the Sidney's are of a French extraction that they came over into England in Henry the Thirds dayes In his very childe-hood there appeared in him such excellent parts and endowments of nature as shewed him born for high enterprises having been educated in the principles of learning at home he was sent to the University of Oxford Cambridge
shun the danger paid him eleven hundred and seventy pounds at the very instant yet did he deliver her the counterfeit coppy onely meaning to make use of the true one to get another some of the Earls adversaries This imposter being found out he was censured to perpetual imprisonment condemned in three thousand pounds two of which were to go to the Countess and his ears nailed to the pillory with this writing over his head A notorious Cheater I shall conclude all with some few observations on this unfortunate Earl as to his first rise my Lord of Leicester introduced him who had married his mother a tye of affinity Sure it is that he no sooner appeared in the Court but he took with the Queen and Courtiers and I believe they all could not choose through the sacrifice of the Father but look on the living Son whose image by the remembrance of former passages was afresh like the bleeding of men murthered represented to the Court The Cicero of our modern times parallels him and Buckingham where the difference was is too transparent certain it is to use Sir Robert Nauntons own words that there was in this young Lord together with a most goodly person a kinde of urbanity or innate courtesie which both won the Queen and took too much on the people which amongst other disparities Buckingham never did attain to the latter What hath been imputed to his fall is that he drew too fast from the Queens indulgence like a childe sucking of an over uberous Nurse which caused him to express himself in such peremptory language when he heard that my Lord Mountjoy received a favour from the Queen for his running so well a tilt when as though he would have limited her respects he said Now I believe every fool must have a favour which made the Queen swear by Gods death it was fit that one or other should take him down and teach him better maners All Authours agree that he was a man of a rash spirit thirsty after the uncertain fame of popularity which helpt him on to his Catastrophe One writeth this Latine Epitaph on him Epitaphium de eodem Comite Ecce sub hoc tumulo situs est celeberrimus Heros Qui cecidit patrii spesque decusque soli Fama ingens annis juvenis fortissimus armis Nobilitate potens religione pius Terra Britannia parens testis Hibernia lethi Tristia fata gemunt fortia facta canunt Facta togae bellive magis praestantia mirer Optima pace domi Maxima marte foris Mors fera corpus habet Coelo Comes inclyte vivis Vita dicata Deo mors nonna vita data est The Life of Sir ROBERT CECILL Tu pater patriae Princeps Prudentia cujus Extulit immensum roges populosque Britannos THis Earwig of the Court Sir Robert Cecil afterwards Earl of Salisbury was the Son of the Lord Burleigh and the Inheritour of his Wisdom and by degrees Successour of his places and favours though not of his Lands for he had Sir Thomas Cecil his elder Brother afterwards created Earl of Exeter He was first Secretary of State then Master of the Wards and in the last of Queen Elizabeths Reign came to be Lord Treasurer all which were the steps of his Fathers greatnesse and of the Honour he left to his House For his Person he was not much beholding to Nature though somewhat for his Face which was the best part of his outside but for his inside it may be said and without Solecisme that he was his Fathers own Son and a pregnant Proficent in all Discipline of State He was a Courtier from his Cradle which might have made him betimes yet at the age of twenty and upwards he was much short of his after-proof but exposed and by change of climate he soon made shew what he was and would be He lived in those times wherein the Queen had most need and use of men of weight and among able ones this was a chief as having his sufficiency from his instructions that begat him the Tutourship of the times and Court which were then the Accademies of Art and Cunning. This great Master of State and the staff of the Queens declining age who though his little crooked person could not promise any great supportation yet it carried thereon a head and a head-piece of a vaste content and therein it seems Nature was so diligent to compleat one and the best part about him as that to the perfection of his memory and intellectuals she took care also of his senses and to put him in Linceos oculos or to pleasure him the more borrowed of Argus so to give unto him a prospective sight and for the rest of his sensitive Vertues his predecessour Walsingham had left him a receipt to smell out what was done in the Conclave and his good old father was so well seen in the Mathematicks as that he could tell you thorow all Spain every part every ship with the burthens whither bound with preparation what impediments for diversion of enterprizes counsels and resolutions And that we may see as in a little Map how docible this little man was I will present a taste of his abilities The Earl of Devonshire upon the certainty the Spaniard would invade Ireland with a strong Army had written very earnestly to the Queen and the Councel for such supplies to be sent over that might enable him to march up to the Spaniard if he did land and follow on his prosecution against the Rebels Sir Robert Cecill besides the general dispatch of the Councell as he often did wrote this in private for these two began then to love dearly My Lord Out of the abundance of my affection and the care I have of your well doing I must in private put you out of doubt for of fear I know you cannot be otherwise sensible then in the way of honour that the Spaniard will not come unto you this year for I have it from my own what preparations are in all his Parts and what he can do For be confident he beareth up a reputation by seeming to embrace more then he can gripe But the next year be assured he will cast over unto you some Forelorn-hopes which how they may be reinforced beyond his present ability and his first intention I cannot as yet make any certain judgement but I believe out of my intelligence that you may expect there landing in Munster and the more to distract you in several places as at Kinsale Bur-haven Baltimore where you may be sure coming from Sea they will first fortifie and learn the strength of the Rebells before they dare take the field howsoever as I know you will not lesson not your care neither your defences and whatsoever lies within my power to do you and the publick service rest thereof assured And to this I would adde much more but it may as it is suffice to present much as to his abilities in the pen
is man to expostulate the Intents Of his high Will or judge of strange Events The rising Sun to mortal sight reveals This earthly Globe but yet the stars conceals So may the sense discover Natural things Divine above the reach of humane wings Then not the Fate but Fates bad instrument Do I accuse in each sad accident Good men must fall rapes incests murthers come But woe and curses follow them by whom God Authors all mens actions not their sin For that proceeds from dev'lish lust within Thou then that suffer'dst by those forms so vile From whom those wicked Instruments did file Thy drossy part to make thy fame shine clear And shrine thy soul in Heavens all glorious Sphere Who being good nought less to thee befell Though it appear'd disguis'd i' th shape of Hell Vanish thy bloud and nerves true life alone In Vertue lives and true Religion In both which thou art deadless O behold If thou canst look so low as earths base mold How dreadful Justice late with lingring foot Now comes like whirlewind how it shakes the root Of lofty Cedars make the stately Brow Bend to the foot how all men see that now The breath of Infamy doth move their sails Whiles thy dear name by loves more hearty gales Shall still keep wing until thy Fames extent Fill ev'ry part of this vast Continent Then you the Syre of their murther'd Son Repine not at his fate since he hath won More honour in his sufferance and his death Succeeded by his vertues endless breath For him and to his Life and deaths example Love might erect a Statue Zeal a Temple On his true worth the Muses might be slain To die his honours web in purest Grain Though for his worth the Muses were all slain His honour'd Works would raise them up again An Elegy upon the untimely Death of Sir Thomas Overbury poisoned in the Tower 'T Would ease our sorrow 't would release our tears Could we but hear those high Celestial Spheres Once tune their motions to a doleful strain In sympathy of what we Mortalls plain Or see their fair Intelligences change Or face or habit when black deeds so strange As might force pitty from the heart of Hell Are hatcht by Monsters which among us dwell The Stars methinks like men inclin'd to sleep Should through their Chrystal Casements scarcely peep Or at least view us but with half an eye For fear their chaster Influence might descry Some murthering hand embrew'd in guiltless blood Blending vile juices to destroy the good The Sun should wed his beams to endless Night And in dull darkness canopy his Light When from the rank stews of adultrous Breasts Where every base unhallowed project rests Is belcht as in defiance of his shine A stream might make even Death it self to pine But those things happen still but ne're more clear Nor with more lustre did these Lamps appear Mercury capers with a winged heel As if he did no touch of sorrow feel And yet he sees a true Mercurian kill'd Whose birth his Mansion with much honour fill'd But let me not mistake those pow'rs above Nor tax injuriously those Courts of Jove Surely they joy to see these Acts reveal'd Which in blinde silence have been long conceal'd And Vertue now triumphant whilest we mourn To think that e're she was foul Vices scorn Or that poor Overburies blood was made A Sacrifice to malice and dark shade Weston thy hand that Couvre-feu Bell did sway Which did his life to endless sleep convay But rest thou where thou art I le seek no glory By the relation of so sad a story If any more were privy to the deed And for the crime should be adjudg'd to bleed To Heaven I pray with rear'd up hands and eyes That as their bodies fall their souls may rise And as those equally turn to one dust So these alike may shine among the just And there make up one glorious constellation Who suffered here in such a differing fashion The Life of Sir VVALTER RALEIGH SIR Walter Rawleigh the Learned Apollo and Oracle of our Nation was one that it seems Fortune had pickt out of purpose to make an example of her mutability or tennis-ball thereby to shew what she could do for she tost him up of nothing and too and fro to greatness and from thence down to little more then to that wherein she found him a mean Gentleman not that he was less for he was well descended and of good Alliance but poor in his beginnings And for my Lord of Oxfords Jeast of him the Jack and an upstart we all know it savours more of emulation and his humour then of truth and it is a certain note of the times that Queen Elizabeth in her choice never took into her favour a meer new man or a Mechanick as Comines observes of Lewis the Eleventh of France who did serve himself with persons of unknown parents such as was Oliver the Barber whom he created Earl of Dunoyes and made him ex secretis consiliis and alone in his favour and familiarity His approaches to the University and Inns of Court were the grounds of his improvement but they were rather excursions then sieges or settings down for he stayed not long in a place and being the youngest brother and the house diminished in patrimony he foresaw his own destiny that he was first to rowl thorow want and disability to subsist other wayes before he could come to a repose and as the stone doth by long lying gather moss he first exposed himself to the Land Service in Ireland a Militia which then did not yield him food and rayment for it was ever very poor nor had he patience to stay there though shortly after he came thither again under the command of the Lord Grey but with his own colours flying in the field having in the interim cast a new chance both in the Low Countries and in a voyage to Sea And if ever man drew vertue out of necessity it was he therewith was he the great example of industery and though he might then have taken that of the merchant to himself per mare per terras currit mercator ad Indos he might also have said and truly with the Philosopher Omnia mea mecum porto for it was a long time before he could brag of more then he carried at his back and when he got on the winning side it was his commedations that he took the pains for it and underwent many various adventures for his after perfection And before he came into the publique note of the world and that it may appear how he came up per ardua per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum not pulled up by chance or by any gentle admittance of Fortune I will briefly describe his native parts and those of his own acquiring which was the hopes of his rising He had in the outward man a good presence in a handsome and well compacted person a strong
freer access unto the Princes Court then to any others of the same profession and so by consequence to the presence of the Queen her self who did not think much to enter into discourse with him apart and with much familiarity as often as there was offered any opportunity not onely in reference to his Profession and about matters of Law but also about the weighty affairs of State and the concernments of the kingdom and at all times he gave her such judicious answers that she received great satisfaction by them But though she abundantly cherisht him with the favour of her countenance yet never with the favour of a bountiful hand as never having advanc't him to any publick office either of honor or profit excepting onely one dry reversion of a Registers Office in the Star-Chamber computed at the yearly value of 1600. pound into the possession of which he came not till about twenty years after or thereabout of which office his Lordship said pleasantly in Queen Elizabeths time That it was like another mans Farm bordering upon his own house and so might help his prospect but not fill his Barn But in King James his Reign he at length enjoy'd that office and manag'd it by a deputy Now that he was not sooner preferr'd cannot be any way attributed to the least aversion or displeasure that the Queen had in her minde against him but to the fraud and envy of some one of the Noble men at that time powerful with the Queen who sought by all means possible to depress and hinder him lest if he should be advanced to any heighth of honour his own glory should be eclipsed by him However though in the time of his Mistris Queen Elizabeth his merited promotion was still forestalled or kept back yet after the change of Government and the coming in of his new master King James he with a quickned pace soon made a large progress being by this King eminently enobled with places of trust honour anst great revenues I have seen some letters written with his own hand to King James in which he acknowledgeth him to have been so good a master to him as to have nine times conferred upon him his iterated favours thrice titles of great honour six times offices of profit the Offices he means I suppose were these he being Councel extraordinary to his Majesty in which place he had formerly served the Queen the Kings Sollitour General the Kings Atturney General or principal Procurator made one of the Kings Privy Council while yet he held the place of Atturney General Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England lastly Lord Chancellour of England Which two last Offices although they are the same in Authority and Power yet in their Patent degree of honour and favour of the Prince they differ and since the time of his holding that Magistracy none of his successours hath been honoured with that title unto this day His honours were first his being Knighted by the King then he was created Baron Verulam lastly Viscount of St. Albons besides other rich gifts and extentions of a bountiful hand which his Majesty was pleased to bestow upon him as well out of the profits of the great Seal as out of the Office of Alienation When he had arrived to that part of his age in which fortune smiled upon him he began to think of marrying and at length took to Wife Alice the Daughter and one of the Heirs of Bennet Bernham Esquire and Alderman of London with whom he received a very considerable Dowry as well in Land as in ready money children he had none by her but for as much as children conduce very much to the perpetuating our names after death he was not altogether destitute of that advantage since it was his hap to be blest with an other kinde of Off-spring for the perpetuation of his memory to after times namely the Off spring of his brain in which he was alwayes wonderfully happy like Jove himself when he was delivered of Pallace Nor did this want of children in the least measure abate his affection to his Wife toward whom he behav'd himself as an indulgent Husband and shewed her all manner of conjugal love and respect bestowing upon her rich Furniture precious Jewels and likewise settled upon her a fair Joynture nor is it to be omitted in honourable remembrance of him that she wore a rich Wedding Gown which he had bestowed upon her about twenty years after his death for so long she surviv'd her most honoured Husband The last five years of his life retiring himself from Court-Affairs and all kinde of busie employments he bent himself wholly to study and contemplation which kinde of life seem'd indeed to be most pleasing to him as if he would have chosen by his good will to dwell rather in the shade then in the sun-shine Of which also we may find some not obscure intimations in the reading of his Works in which space of time he wrote the greatest part of his Books as well those that were written in English as in Latin which according to the order of time that they were written in I who was present all the while and observ'd shall endeavour to reckon up and they were these following The History of the Reign of Henry the Seventh King of England written in English The Abecedary of Nature a Metaphysical tractate which I know not by what evil fate perisht The History of the Windes The History of Life and Death The History of Dense and Rare never till now in Print The History of Heavy and Light which also is lost These Books were composed in the Latin tongue Next were certain English Fragments as namely these A Discourse concerning the carrying on of a War with Spain A Diologue concerning the Holy War The-Fable of new Atlantis A Preface to be plac't before the body of the Laws of England The beginning of the History of Henry the Eighth King of England Between some of these came that learned work of his call'd The Advancement of Learning in the Translating of which a thing undertaken of his own accord out of his native Tongue into the Latine our most honour'd Author took very great pains and from time to time inricht it with many and various additions After these came his Councels Civil and Moral formerly call'd Essays augmented both as to their number and weight in the English tongue Some of Davids Psalms Composed into English Verse Moreover divers of his Works already mention'd he converted out of English into Latin which were these The History of the Reign of Henry the Seventh King of England His Counsels Civil and Moral call'd Faithful sayings or the Inward sense of things The Diologue of the Holy War and the Fable of New Atlantis these he translated in favour of Forreigners by whom he heard they were desired Other Books that he writ originally in Latin were his book of the Wisdom of the Ancients review'd by himself The last
by him for a constant Memorial The Life of GEORGE VILLERS Duke of Buckingham TAll Cedars are shaken with the wind when the humble shrub rests secure Envy strikes not at the lowly person her aim is evermore at the tallest How vain then is that man who enjoying the quiet of a retired life ambitiously hunts after honour How few Favorites go to the grave in peace Histories make mention and this Age can testify this truth will be too sadly instanced in the late Lord Duke of Buckingham who from the mean estate of a private Gentleman being raised to the highest pitch of honour a subject could be capable of came at last to an untimely end His first rise began at the Earl of Somersets fall one upon whom King James had heaped many great favours for from the degree of a Knight he was first made Viscount Rochester next sworn a Privy Councellour then created Earl of Somerset and last of all made Lord Chamberlane But this serene Sky of favour was soon over-shadowed with Clouds by the Earls undeserving for having married the Lady Frances Howard Daughter to Thomas Earl of Suffolk and not long before divorced from the Earl of Essex the unfortunate Knight Sir Thomas Overbury for speaking against the match was by their procurement committed to the Tower and not long after poysoned as I have more at large treated of in his Life for which fact both the Lady and Earl were arraigned and condemned yet through the Kings great clemency had their lives spared but were for ever banisht his presence This great Favorite being thus disgusted King James who would not long be without an alter idem or Bosom-friend took into special regard as I have intimated Master George Villers a Gentleman of a good extraction but a younger Brother and finding him susceptible and of good form moulded him Platonically to his own Idea And that he might be a fit companion for a King raised him in honour next to himself yet not all at once but by degrees making him first a Knight and Gentleman of his Bed-chamber soon after a Viscount and Master of the Horse a while after erected Earl of Buckingham then Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral King James having thus hardened and pollished him about ten years in the School of observance for so a Court is and in the furnace of tryal about himself for he was a King that could peruse men as well as books he made him the Associate of his Heir Apparent together with the Lord Cottington an adjunct of singular experience and trust in forreign travel and in a business of love and of no equal hazard enough to kindle affection even between the distantest conditions so as by various and inward conversation abroad besides that before and after at home with the most constant and best natured Prince bana si sua nocint that ever any Nation enjoyed this Duke which last title was conferred on him in Spain now becomes seized of reiterated favour as it were by descent though the condition of that state commonly be no more then a tenancy at will or at most for the life of the first Lord and rarely transmitted it being a kinde of wonder to see favour hereditary yet in him it proved far otherwise as one writes The King loves you you him both love the same You love the King he you both Buck-in-game Of sport the King loves game of game the Buck Of all men you why you why see your luck And although it be ever the perpetual lot of those who are of choicest admission into Princes favours to feel as strong stroaks of envy and ill will from beneath as they do beams of grace and favour from above the Princes love procuring the peoples hate this Duke contrarily found their affection so great towards him that in open Parliament the generality honoured him with no lesser acclamation then the preserver of his Countrey But what odde turns are in the passions of men and how little time continue their affections may appear in this those very men in a Parliament holden the first year of King Charles accusing him as the onely cause of all bad events which happened in the Common-Wealth drew up a charge of thirteen Articles against him the Prologue whereof expressing the prodigious greatness of this Duke the influence of whose power this ensuing Letter of Sir Henry Wottons doth sufficiently express My most noble Lord When like that impotent man in the Gospel I had lain long by the Pools side while many were healed and none would throw me in it pleased your Lordship first of all to pitty my infirmities and to put me into some hope of subsisting hereafter therefore I most justly and humbly acknowledge all my ability and reputation from your favour you have given me incouragement you have valued my poor indeavours with the King you have redeemed me from ridiculousness who have served so long without any mark of favour by which arguments being already and ever bound to be yours till either life or honesty shall leave me I am the bolder to beseech your Lordship to perfect your own work and to draw his Majesty to the settling of some things that depend betwixt Sir Julius Caesar and me in that reasonable form which I humbly present to your Lordship by my Nephew likewise your obliged servant being my self by a late indisposition confined to my Chamber but in all estates such as I am Your Lordships Henry Wootton But to return where I left to the preface of his Titles as I finde them copied in the Parliaments Declaration against him For the speedy redress of the great evils and mischiefs and of the chief causes of those great evils and mischiefs which this Kingdom of England now grievously suffereth and of late years hath suffered and to the honour and fafety of our Sovereign Lord the King and of his Crown and Dignities and to the good and welfare of his People the Commons in this present Parliament by the authority of our said Sovereign Lord the King assembled do by this their Bill shew and declare against George Duke Marquess and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villers Barron of Whaddon Great Admiral of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and of the Principality of Wales and of the Dominions and Islands of the same of the Town of Calais and of the Marches of the same and of Normandy Gascoigne and Guyen General Governour of the Seas and ships of the said Kingdoms Lieutenant General Admiral Captain General and Governour of his Majesties Royal Fleet and Army lately set forth Master of the Horses of our Sovereign Lord the King Lord Warden Chancellour and Admiral of the Cinque-Ports and of the members thereof Constable of Dover Castle Justice in Eyre of all Forrests and Chases on this side Trent Constable of the Castle of Windsor Lieutenant of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire Steward and Bayliff of Westminster Gentleman of his Majesties
of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Common-wealth or more especially as to my continued services to my Creatour Truly if my general known course of life were but enquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great judgement is fallen upon me but know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this breast am able to give a better accompt of my Judgement and Execution then my Judgers themselves or you are able to give It is Gods wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of many judgements withstood and mercies slighted therefore God hath whipped me by his severe Rod of Correction that he might not lose me I pray joyn with me in prayer that it may not be a fruicless Rod that when by this Rod I have laid down my life by his staff I may be comforted and received into Glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exceptions made against proceedings against me then I ever made My Triers had a Law and the value of that Law is indisputable and for me to make a question of it I should shame my self and my discretion In the strictness of that Law something is done by me that is applicable to some clause therein by which I stand condemnable The means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was not in my self intended malitiously there being testimony given by persons whom I pitty so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to Legal Justice though Equity lieth in the higher breasts As for my Accusers or rather Betrayers I pitty and am sorry for them they have committed Judas crime but I wish and pray for them with Peters tears that by Peters repentance they may escape Judas his punishment and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more then upon my own sin and seeing God sees it fit having not glorified him in my life I might do it in my death which I am contented to do I profess in the fear of God particular malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily injury I had none For the cause in which I had long waded I must needs say my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience it was on Principles of Law the knowledge whereof I profess and on principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those wayes which I bless God I finde no blackness upon my conscience nor have I put it into the Bead-roll of my sins I will not presume to decide controversies I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty beyond all you possess here In my Conversation in the world I do not know where I have an enemy with cause or that there is such a person whom I have to regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of Christian men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them by name I freely forgive them being in free peace with all the world as I desire God for Christs sake to be at peace with me For the business of death it is a sad sentence in it self if men consult with flesh and blood But truly without boosting I say it or if I do boast I boast in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with the flesh about the blow of the Axe or one thought of the Axe more then as my passport to Glory I take it for an honour and I owe thankfulness to those under whose power I am that they sent me hither to a place however of punishment yet of some honor to dye a death somewhat worthy of my blood answerable to my birth and qualification and this courtesie of theirs hath much helped towards the pacification of my minde I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that sad Bead-roll to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that really there that is nominal in the Act an High Court of Justice a Court of High Justice high in its Righteousness though not in its severity Father forgive them and forgive me as I forgive them I desire you now that you would pray for me and not give over praying till the hour of my death not till the moment of my death for the hour is come already the instant of time approaches that as I have a great load of sins so I may have the wings of your prayers to help those Angels that are to convey my soul to Heaven and I doubt not but I shall see my Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master whom I much honoured my Lord Capel hoping this day to see my Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self there to rejoyce with all other Saints and Angels for evermore After the uttering of these and many the like words declaring his faith and confidence in God with as much undaunted yet Christian courage as possibly could be in man he exposed his neck to the fatal Axe commending his soul into the hands of a faithful and merciful Creatour through the meritorious Passion of a gracious Redeemer and having said Lord Jesus receive me the Executioner with one blow severed his head from his body For such a collateral design not long after one Master Benson was executed at Tyburne one that had some relations to Sir John Gell who was tried for the same Conspiracy with his man Sir Johns former services to the Parliament being his best and most assured intercessours for his life and at that time were more then ordinary advantages to him And now being entered into this Tragical Scene of blood I shall in the next place give you an account of the beheading of Sir Henry Hide He was by the Scots King commissionated as Ambassadour to the Grand Signior at Constantinople and stood in competition with Sir Thomas Bendish then Ambassadour for the English for his place whereupon they had a hearing before the Vizier Bassa the result whereof was that Sir Thomas Bendish should dispose of the said Sir Henry Hide as he thought good who was to the same purpose sent to Smyrna thence into England and there condemned and executed before the Royal Exchange in London March 4. 1650. I have inserted his Speech which reflects on his Transactions this unfortunate Gentlemans end
his first principles of self-denying he having before waved many advantages of the times to make certain his Protectorship which was to grasp all at once The Articles of the Government to which he signed are as followeth 1. That his Excellency be chief Protector of the three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland 2. That he will call to his assistance Councellours not under the number of thirteen nor above twenty one 3. That he shall not act without the advice of his Councel 4. That there shall be every three years a Parliament called freely chosen to begin in September next viz. four hundred and the number for every County proportionable 5. That no Parliament shall adjourn till they have sat above five moneths 6. When ever any Bill is passed in Parliament the Lord Protector shall have twenty dayes to advise with his Councel if he sign it not in twenty dayes it shall pass without unless contrary to these Articles 7. That no Parliament be dissolved by the Protector but end every three years and the Protector to issue out Warrants 8. All the Crown Revenues left to go to the maintenance of the Lord Protector 9. To make Peace or War as he pleaseth with the advice of his Councel in the intervall of Parliaments but not to raise money without the Parliament unless in extraordinary causes 10. Whatsoever goes out in the name of the Keepers of the Liberties of England to go out in the name of the Lord Protector 11. That it is treason to speak against the present Government 12. That all forfeited and confiscated Estates go to the maintenance of the Lord Protector 13. That all Acts of Parliament made and Estates sold stand good and be enjoyed 14. That the Lord Protector have power to confer titles of Honour and to dispose of the great places of trust 15. That in the intervall of Parliaments the Lord protector with his Councel do order the Affairs of the Nation 16. That all Articles of War be kept 17. That the known Laws of the Common-wealth be continued 18. That a standing Army be maintained of ten thousand Horse and twenty thousand Foot 19. That Christian Religion be maintained such as is contained in the Word of God 20. That all persons shall have Liberty of Conscience provided that they disturb not the Civil Government except the Popish and Prelatical party 21. That no Papist or Delinquent in Arms since the year 1649. elect or be elected a Parliament Man under penalty of forfeiture of one years revenue and the Moiety of his personal Estate 22. That the Lord Protector have power to pardon all offenders except Murther 23. That Writs be issued out in July next for summoning the Parliament either by the Protector or in course 24. That when the Protector dyes the Council then sitting shall summon all the members of the Council the Major part to elect one to be Protector before they stir out of the Council Chamber and the person so chosen not to be under the age of twenty one years nor of the family of the Stuarts These Articles sworn to he was proclaimed Lord Protector in the Palace-yard at Westminster and by the Lord Major and Aldermen in their Scarlet Gowns at the Royal Exchange who to ingratiate themselves with their new Governour bestowed on him a costly feast at Grocers Hall it is an usual observation that persons that make their wayes with their Swords that their shows to take the people generally are more stately then those of successive Princes what he admitted of as with his own permission was nothing to those dutiful solemnities that pursued his memory without dispute he had studied the art and ordinance of self-denying insomuch that the Parliament perceiving that he did but complement his Generalship which he might with fafety and most right have accepted they pressed him the less as he seemed to push away that with his little finger that they were certain he was ready to grasp with both his hands this was not so miraculous in him according to that of Ovid. Os homini sublime dedit caelumque videre Jussit erectos ad sydera tollere vultus The greatest admiration that hath surprised me hath bin what in the compass of a year I have observed the tides and streams of petitions out of most Counties that at the first rise or promise of greatness have pursued every alteration as party-coloured as Josephs Coat and as variable as the Rainbow it is not to be depictured how Janus-faced they have been on all occasions with how many religious expressions and wishes they have made their addresses and masqued their self-interests if it were possible in so short an interim of time at once adoring so many rising Suns I shall reflect no otherwise on such confused transactions then in the citation of a Verse which the Reader may understand as he pleases Pope Innocent the chief of all the rout Answer'd his name but how if In were out Since I have so strangely digressed it will not be amiss to take notice of a book lately come forth intituled History and Policy reviewed concerning the political transactions of the Protector publisht in a strange name written in the stile of the holy Court in which the Author undertakes a prodigious enterprise to compare Cromwel to Moses his pen is too palpably fraught with flattery yet not without unparalleld subtilty he having like the little Indian Gentleman in the short jacket pickt the verminout of Nic. Machiavels head for his use throwing of one side principals honester then this own Machiavel never so disguising himself with the vizard of Religion that he appears to be an arranter devil then the Florentine certain I am that I never read a book that more pleased or dispeased me But to proceed at his first instalment Heavens bless us immediately follows a plot miraculously discovered eleven of the grand conspirators being apprehended were committed to the Tower where having remained a while they were again set at liberty This web was not well spun his spies and informers which he entertained at a vast expence put on their spectacles that they might see better against the next occasion In the interim the Scots under the Earls of Glencarne and Kenmore raised another Army of 4000. Horse and Foot but were soon dissipated by the vigilancy of Collonel Morgan who after a short but smart fight killed one hundred and fifty of them and defeated all the rest Suspicions are necessary allarms as they at least suffer persons not to be overtaken with too much security of their affairs Another great plot was now again discovered the chief conspirators were said to be Mr. Thomas and John Gerrard Brothers John Jones an Apothecary and Thomas Tender Somerset Fox and Master Peter Vowel who were all condemned but two onely suffered viz. Mr. Vowel who was hanged Also about the same time the Portugal Ambassadors Brother was brought to his tryal for the pistolling of one Mr. Greenwood
name of God Almighty promise and swear that to the uttermost of my power I will uphold and maintain the true Reformed Protestant Christian Religion in the purity thereof as it is contained in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to the uttermost of my power and understanding and encourage the Profession and Professours of the same and that to the utmost of my power I will endeavour as Chief Magistrate of these three Nations the maintenance and preservation of the Peace and Safety and just Rights and Priviledges of the People thereof and shall in all things according to our best knowledge and power govern the people of these three Nations according to Law These Ceremonies being performed a Herald of Arms by sound of Trumpet proclaimed him Lord Protectour of England Scotland Ireland and the Dominions thereto belonging hereupon the Trumpets sounded again and the people after the usual manner gave several acclamations with loud shouts crying God save the Lord Protectour His Higness had scarce accepted of these Honours but as if the ill affected would not let him breath yet another Plot is discovered Collonel Edward Sexby is said to have conspired against the Lord Protector for which he was committed to the Tower where having continued about half a year he died But to reflect a little back Mazarine that great Minister of State on which hinge all the grand Affairs of France turn perfects a Peace with England the Protector having no regard to those advantages that Spain might render him as to Commerce the places of Hostage which she proffered to put into his hands as Gravelin Dunkirk and others he was swayed with other Interest which he best understood himself to prefer an Alliance and League with France before all those advantages except his civillity induce't him which seldom had such power over him to look more lovingly upon France as the weakest at that time being abandoned by some of her Allies as quite disordered by an Intestine War in her own Bowels her Navigation totally ruined as the Pirates of Dunkirk had blockt up all her Sea Ports whereas the English scowred those Seas chast away the Pyrates and reduced the Mounsieur and Diego by their successes to their so likely advantageous peace Indeed as one writes it was a high generosity since the English caused the French to lose Graveling and Dunkirk to help France again to take those places In the mean space was not here rare bandying of Interests France having thus perfected a Peace with England they joyntly resolve to unite against the Spaniard hereupon Sir John Reynolds with six thousand Foot was sent into Picardy to joyn with the French Cavalry which compleated as gallant an Army as had been seen in France for many years together These joyntly besiege and take Mardike a strong Fort of the Spaniards in Flanders whereof Major General Morgan took possession for the English as the earnest of further Conquests which the Spaniards attempting for to regain were twice repulsed with very great loss But the joy of these Successes was mitigated by the death of Admiral Blake who as he got his Honour by the Sea died on it and that within sight of Plimouth He was a man who had deserved of his Countrey and might justly be stiled the Neptune thereof His Body was brought with a Naval pomp by water from Greenwich to Westminster being a suitable Ceremony to his employment and was there buried in Henry the Sevenths Chappel Upon whom an Ingenuous person bestowed this Epitaph Here lies a man made Spain and Holland shake Made France to tremble and the Turks to quake Thus he tame'd men but if a Lady stood In 's sight it rais'd a Palsie in his bloud Cupids Antagonist who in his life Had Fortune as familiar as a VVife A stiff hard Iron Souldier for he It seems had more of Mars then Mercury At Sea he thundered calm'd each raging wave And now he 's dead sent thundring to his Grave Soon after was St. Venant taken by the English the Lord Henry Cromwel made Deputy of Ireland Sir John Reynolds Collonel VVhite and some other Officers drowned upon Goodwin Sands as they were coming out of Flanders into England One writes that the subtilty of discovering of Plots though but in the Embrio or before they are hatcht in the time of peace is the most succinct way of letting of blood March 24. the last day of the year accounted for 1657. a great Conspiracy was again discovered in London several Regiments ' as was said being enrolled who on the first day of May in the night time should have set fire on several parts of the City and whilest the confusion and horrour thereof had seized all men they should have made a general masacre of all who opposed them Hereupon several persons were apprehended as Doctor Hewet Sir Henry Slingsby Collonel Asbton c. and a High Court of Justice erected for the tryal of them and first they began with Sir Henry Slingsby the Articles charged against them will in part discover themselves in their several speeches made just before their deaths In short they were both condemned Dr. Hewet professing himself to be ignorant of such Law though amongst the most learned Divines few of them were more knowing in the Gospel being taken in three defaults upon formalities of the Court was proceeded against as mute June 8. 1658. was the day appointed for their beheading Sir Henry Slingsby first mounting the stage spake in effect as followeth That he stood condemned by the Court of Justice as contriving and endeavouring to withdraw divers Officers of the Garrison of Kingston upon Hull from their duty and perswading them to a surrendring and yielding up of that Garrison and one that held correspondence with some beyond sea to that end That it was true he had conference upon that account with the Officers of that Garrison and that he gave Major Waterhouse a Commission signed Charles R. But that it was but an old one that had lain by him though he thought fit to make use of it to the Major Many passages he said there were which he would not insist on that some friends of his had made application to his Highness for the saving his of life but it seems it was thought fit not to be granted and therefore he submitted and was ready to dye c. Having uttered these and the like words he took off a Ring from his Bandstrings wherein instead of a Seal engraven was the Picture of the late King exactly done and giving it to a Gentleman that stood by him he said Pray give this to Harry Then he addrest himself to prayer wherein he continued some time taking leave of his friends he submitted his neck to the Block and had his head severed from his body at one blow by the Executioner This at one blow by the Executioner the Reader may observe hath been very often repeated in this Volume His Tragick Scene being
Gold and upon the Cushion which lay thereon was placed an Imperial Crown set with precious stones The Body of the Effigies lay upon a Bed of State covered with a large Pall of black Velvet under which there was spread a fine Holland Sheet upon six stools of tissued Cloth of Gold on the sides of the Bed of State was placed a rich suit of Compleat Armour and at the feet thereof stood his Crest The Bed of State whereupon the Effigies did thus lye was ascended unto by two steps covered with the aforesaid Pall of Velvet at each corner whereof there was placed an upright Pillar covered with Velvet upon the tops whereof were the four Supporters of the Imperial Arms bearing Banners or Streamers crowned The Pillars were adorned with Trophies of Military Honour carved and gilt the Pedestels of the Pillars had Shields and Crowns gilt which compleated the whole work Within the Rails and Ballasters which compassed the whole work and were covered with Velvet stood eight great silver Candlesticks or Standerts almost five foot high with Virgin-wax Tapers of a yard long next unto the Candlesticks there were set upright in Sockets the four great Standards of his Arms the Guydons great Banners and Banrolls of War being all of Taffety very richly gilt and painted The Cloth of State which covered the Bed and the Effigies had a Majestick Scutcheon and the whole Room adorned with Taffety Scutcheons several of his servants attending bare-headed to set out the Ceremony with the greater lustre After this to shew there is no intermission of this vanity his Effigies was several dayes shown in another Room standing upon an ascent under a rich Cloath of State vested in Royal Robes having a Scepter in one hand and a Globe in the other a Crown on his head his Armour lying by him at a distance and the Banners Banrolls and Standards being placed round about him together with the other Ensigns of Honour the whole Room being adorned in a Majesticall manner and his servants standing by bare-headed as before November the 23. was the day appointed for the Solemnization of the Funerals multitudes were the Spectators which from all places came to behold it so much are we taken with Novelty that we think no cost too much for the beholding a two or three hours vanity The Effigies being a while placed in the middle of a Room was carried on the Hearse by ten Gentlemen into the Court-yard where a very rich Canopy of State was borne over it by six other Gentlemen till it was brought and placed in a Chariot at each end whereof was a seat wherein sat two of his late Highness Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber the Pall which was made of Velvet and the White Linnen was very large extending on each side of the Carriage and was borne up by several persons of honour The Charriot wherein the Effigies was conveyed was covered with black Velvet adorned with Plumes and Scutcheons and was drawn by six Horses covered with black Velvet and each of them adorned with Plumes of black Feathers From Somerset-House to Westminster the streets were railed in and strewed with sand the Souldiers being placed on each side of the streets without the Rails and their Ensigns wrapped up in a Cypress mourning Veil The manner of the proceeding to the interrment was briefly thus First a Knight Martial advanced on Horseback with his black Truncheon tipt at both ends with Gold attended by his Deputy and thirteen men on Horseback to clear the way After him followed the poor men of Westminster in mourning Gowns and Hoods marching two and two Next unto them followed the servants of the several persons of all qualities which attended the Funeral These were followed by all his own servants as well inferiour as superiour both within and without the Houshold as alfo all his Bargemen at Watermen Next unto these followed the Servants and Officers belonging to the Lord Major and Sheriffs of the City of London Then came several Gentlemen and Attendants on the respective Ambassadours and the other publick Ministers After these came the poor Knights of Windsor in Gowns and Hoods Then followed the Clerks Secretaries and other Officers belonging to the Army the Admiralty the Treasury the Navy and Exchequer After these came the Officers in Command in the Fleet as also the Officers of the Army Next followed the Comissioners for Excise those of the Army and the Committee of the Navy Then follwed the Commissioners for the approbation of Preachers Then came the Officers Messengers and Clerks belonging to the Privy Councel and the Clerks of both Houses of Parliament Next followed his late Highness Physicians The Head Officers of the Army The chief Officers and Aldermen of the City of London The Masters of the Chancery with his Highness learned Councel at Law The Judges of the Admiralty the Masters of Request with the Judges in Wales The Barrons of the Exchequer the Judges of both Benches and the Lord Major of London Next to these the persons allied in Bloud to the late Protector and the Members of the Lords House After them the publick Ministers of Forreign States and Princes Then the Holland Ambassadour alone whose Train was born up by four Gentlemen Next to him the Portugal Ambassadour alone whose Train was held up by four Knights of the Order of Christ And thirdly the French Ambassadour whose Train was also held up by four persons of quality Then followed the Lords Commissioners of the great Seal The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury The Lords of the late Protectors Privy Councel After whom followed the Chief Mourner and those persons of quality which were his Assistants and bare up his Train All the Nobles were in close mourning the rest were but in ordinary being disposed in their passage into several divisions being distinguished by Drums and Trumpets and by a Standard or Banner born by a person of Honour and his Assistant and a Horse of State covered with black Velvet and led by a person of Honour followed by two Grooms Of which Horses there were eleven in all four covered with black Cloth and seven with Velvet These being all passed in order at length the Chariot followed with the Effigies on each side of which were born six Banner Rolls twelve in all by as many persons of honor The several pieces of his Armour were born by eight Officers of the Army attended by a Herald and a Gentleman on each side Next followed Gartar principal King of Arms attended with a Gentleman on each side bare-headed Then came the chief Mourner together with those Lords and other Personages that were Supporters and Assistants to the chief Mourner Then followed the Horse of Honour in very rich Trappings embroidered upon Crimson Velvet and adorned with white red and yellow Plumes and was led by the Master of the Horse Finally in the close of all followed those of his late Guard and the Warders of the Tower At the West Gate of
in this Method finde perfect wayes for the operation of such Medicines so Astrologically and Physically prescribed as that they may themselves be competent Judges of the Cures of their Patients by N. C. 26. Blagrave's admirable Ephemerides for the Year 1659. 27. The Joyes of Heaven promised to the Saints on Earth Christs sermons on the Beatiudes preacht on the Mount An Exposition on the fifth Chapter of St. Matthew delivered in several sermons by Master Jeremiah Burroughs being the last sermons he preacht a little before his death at St. Giles Cripple-gate London printed with the approbation of those godly and learned Divines who were intrusted for the publishing of his Works 28. Dr. Martin Luthers Treatise of the Liberty of a Christian an useful Treatise for the stateing of the Controversies so much disputed in these times about this great point 29. The Key of Knowledge a little Book by way of Question and Answer intended for the use of all degrees of Christians especially for the Saints of Religious Families by John Jackson 30. The true Evangelical temper a Treatise modestly and soberly fitted to the present grand concernments of the State and Church by John Jackson 31. The Book of Conscience opened and read by John Jackson 32. Williams Clowes his Chyrurgical Observations for those that are burned with flames of Gun-powder as also for the curing of wounds and of the Lues venerea c. 33. The Moderate Baptist in two parts shewing the Scripture way for the administring of the Sacrament of Baptisme discovering that old error of orignal sin in Babes by William Baitten 34. History and Policy Reviewed in the Heroick Transactions on Oliver late Lord Protectour declaring his steps to princely perfection drawn in lively Parallels to the Ascents of the great patriarch Moses to the height of thirty degrees of Honour by H. D. Esquire 35. J. Cleaveland Revived Poems Orations Epistles and other of his Genuine Incomparable Pieces a second Impression with many Additions 36. The Exquisite Letters of Master Robert Loveday the late admired Translatour of the Volumes of the famed Romance Cleopatra for the perpetuating his memory published by his dear Brother Mr. A. L. 37. England's Worthies Select Lives of the most Eminent Persons from Constantine the Great to the death of Oliver Cromwel late Protector by W. Winstanley Gent. 38. The Accomplisht Cook the Mystery of the whose Art of Cookery revealed in a more easie and perfect Method then hath been publisht in any Language expert and ready wayes for the dressing of Flesh Fowl and Fish the resing of Pastes the best directions for all manner of Kickshaws and the most poinant Sauces with the terms of carving and sewing the Bills of Fare an exact account of all dishes for the season with other Ala mode Curiosities together with the lively Illustrations of such necessary figures as are referred to practice approved by the many years experience and careful industry of Robert May in the time of his attendance on several Persons of Honour 39. A Character of France to which is added Gallus Castratus or an Answer to a late slanderous Pamphlet called the Character of England as also a fresh Whip for the Mounsieur in Answer to his Letter in vindication to his Madam the second Edition 40. The History of the Life and Death of Oliver late Lord Protectour wherein from his Cradle to his Tomb are impartially transmitted to posterity the most weighty Transactions Forreign and Domestick that have happened in his time either in Matters of Law Proceedings in Parliament or others Affairs in Church or State by S. Carrington 41. The Scales of Commerce and Trade the Mystery revealed as to traffick with a Debitor or Creditor for Merchants Accounts after the Italian way and easiest Method as also a Treatise of Architecture and a computation as to all the charges of Building by T. Wilsford Gent. FINIS These are to give notice that the true and right Lozenges and Pectorals so generally known and approved of for the cure of Consumptions Coughs Astama's Colds in general and all other Diseases incident to the Head are rightly made onely by John Piercy Gent. the first Inventor of them and whosoever maketh them besides do but counterfeit them they are to be sold by Nathaniel Brook at the Angel in Cornhill