Highness to be his Gracious Sovereign Lord. Yea answered the Secretary you say well my Lord but I pray you what else have all these Rebels in Norfolk Devon and Cornwal done Have they not said thus We be the King 's true Subjects We acknowledge him for our King and we will obey his Laws and the like And yet when either Commandment Letter or Pardon was brought to them from his Majesty they believed it not but said it was forged under an Hedge and was Gentlemens Doings I perceive your meaning said the Bishop again as who should say the Bishop of London is a Rebel like them Yea by my Troth said the secretary Whereat the Standers by fell into a Laughter How this Bishop was afterwards deprived and committed and how he Protested and Appealed may be seen in other Historians In October the Duke of Somerset the Protector received a terrible Shock almost all the Privy Counsellors making a Defection from the Court and meeting in London combined together against him So that he at last was Imprisoned and lost all his Places Honours and Lands There were only Three then stuck to him in this Time of Adversing viz. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Sir William Paget and our Sir Thomas Smith Between whom and the Lords at London Letters past upon this affair carried by Sir Philip Hoby The Peril they ran was not a little For the Lords wrote to them that it seemed strange to them that they should either assist or suffer his Majesty's Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke of Somerset's Men and that Strangers should be armed with the King 's own Armour and be nearest about his Person and those to whom the ordinary Charge was committed to be sequestred away And the Lords sent them word moreover that if any Evil came thereof they must expect it must be imputed to them And whereas the Archbishop Paget and Smith in their Letter to the Lords told them They knew more than they the Lords knew at those Words thay took this advantage as they returned them Answer That if the Matters that came to their knowledge and were hidden from them the Lords were of such weight as they pretended or if they touched or might touch his Majesty or his State they the Lords thought that they did not as they ought to do in not disclosing the same to them the whole Council In fine being over-powered Smith together with the Archbishop and the Comptroller Paget sent another Letter from Windsor where the King and they were that they would not fail to endeavour themselves according to the Contents of the Lord's Letters and that they would convene together when and where the Lords pleased this was a notable instance of Smith's Fidelity to the Duke his old Master who stuck to him as long as he durst and was then glad to comply as fairly as he could And if I mistake not now did some storm fall upon Sir Thomas And I believe he was deprived of his Place of secretary For at this Time it appears by the King's Journal that Dr. Wotton was made Secretary Tho' he seemed soon to be restored again In the Year 1550. Sir Thomas was summoned a Witness together with a great many other Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Court in the great Trial of Gardiner Bishop of Winton He was sworn against him in the Month of February being then 33 Years of Age as it is set down in his Deposition by an Error of the Printer for 39. By which it appeareth that in the Year before viz. 1549. Smith then Secretary was divers times sent by the Lord Protector to the said Bishop to travail with him to agree to the King's Proceedings and that he would promise to set them forth in a Sermon or otherwise And that he often did in the Company of Mr. Cecil repair to him for that purpose That Smith and the said Cecil by Command of the said Council drew up certain Articles to which the Bishop should shew his Consent and to Preach and set forth the same And that after several Attendances upon the Bishop to bring him to this and upon some hope of Conformity thereto the Lords of the Council sent for him to the Palace at Westminster After that was the Lord Wiltshire sent to him to whom he shewed some Conformity herein Soon after that Lord went again accompanied with Smith to know his final Resolution To whom he shewed great readiness to set forth the Articles aforesaid in his Sermon yet prayed not to be tied to the same Words In which the Council at length yielded to him And thus was Secretary Smith employed in that Affair In which he carried himself it seems with so much Discretion and Moderation towards that haughty Bishop that afterwards in his Prosperity under Queen Mary he was a Friend to him when he was such a bloody Enemy to all Protestants besides In this same Year 1550. He made a Purchase of the King of the whole Mannor of Overston alias Overston in the County of Northampton parcel of the Possessions called Richmond Lands and divers other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Bucks Surry and Hertford For which he gave 414 l. 10. s. 4 d. and other Lands in Derby and Middlesex The Yearly value of this Purchase was 87 l. 17 s. 9 d. In the Year 1551. the 30th of April Sir Thomas Smith still under the Name of Secretary was appointed one of those that were to go in that great and splendid Embassy to France with a Commission of Treaty concerning a Match for the King with that King 's Eldest Daughter at the same time the Marquess of Northampton went the Order of the Garter to the said King With whom was joyned in Commission the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hoby Sir William Pickering and Sir Iohn Mason These two Leiger Embassadors there and two Lawyers whereof Smith was one CHAP. VI. The Condition of Sir Thomas Smith under Queen Mary His wife Advertisements SIR Thomas past the Reign of King Edward in great Reputation and Prosperity But upon the Access of Queen Mary to the Crown as many of the deceased King's Ministers of State especially such as favoured Religion were cast off so were the two Secretaries Sir William Cecil and Sir Thomas Smith And besides the loss of that honourable Station he was deprived also of what he held in the Church For he was a Spiritual Person also and so was invested by the late King with the Provostship of Eton and the Deanry of Carlisle And to spoil him of these and other places with the more Formality he was summoned to appear before certain Persons whom the Queen had Commissionated for these purposes together with Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. May Dean of St. Paul's He fell easy for his Life was saved tho' he were a Protestant and had an 100 l. per Ann. allowe him for his
Friend of theirs should be lost And so there was a purpose to collect together his Epistles and to publish them And so they were afterwards by Hatcher of Cambridge This Ascham about the Year 1568. sent an Astronomical Figure to Smith drawn by some ingenious Astronomer of the said Ascham's Acquaintance Upon which he sent a Latin Letter from Mounthaut thanking Ascham for it and declaring how much he was pleased with it and that he would willingly be acquainted with the Person that described it He acknowledged he professed himself this Study And this Person seemed to him to write Ingeniously and Learnedly and not according to the vulgar manner of unlearned men who abused themselves and the opinion of their Learning for Gain Whose Friendship he declared he desired not and whose Familiarity he was averse to And the Diagram and Figure that Ascham sent he dispatched back to him with his own Judgment of the same as it was put or placed Sir Thomas Erected a Figure concerning the same Hour and Day according to the Ephemeris of Ioh. Stadius Of which he said the Diagram seemed a little a differ but the Judgment not so much Thus we see his Correspondence and withal his Disposition to that kind of Study of Judicial Astrology And in fine of the great Opinion that went of Sir Thomas Smith's Learning I shall mention this Passage When Dr. Wilson one of his Learned Friends Master of S. Katharine's and afterwards Secretary of State had for News wrote to Haddon then Ambassador at Bruges of the Queens going to Visit the University of Oxford Anno 1565. and of the Report of the great Learning in that Place and what learned Exercises were then expected to be performed there before her Majesty Haddon answered not to disparage that Noble University or the complete Scholars that were there but to take the Opportunity of commending one or two other Egregious men viz. That however magnificently it was talked of the learned men there Nec Smith ibi simile quicquam aut Checi occurret i.e. there would be nothing like to Smith or Cheke And as he was Learned himself so he was Beneficial to Learning which appeared in that most useful Act of Parliament which he procured for the Colleges of Students Which was that a third Part of the Rent upon Leases made by Colleges should be reserved in Corn the Tenant to pay it either in Kind or Money after the rate of the best Prizes in Oxford or Cambridge Markets the next Market days before Michaelmas or our Lady day The great Benefit whereof Scholars do find to this day and will so long as the Universities lâ—st To his own College of Queens he gave for ever 12 7 4. Being a Rent Charge out of the Manor of Overston in Northamptonshire Which he appointed to be thus disposed of according as the Reverend Doctor Iames the present worthy Master of the same College was pleased to impart to me that is to say Four pounds for a Lecture in Arithmetick Three pounds for a Lecture in Geometry Four pounds seven shillings and four pence for two Scholarships appointing his own Relations or the Scholars from Walden School â—â—teris parâ—bus to be made his Scholars before any others And the Twenty shillings remaining for a Yearly Commemoration And of Eâ—ton College where he was once Provost Cambdâ—n tells us he merited well but in what particular respects I cannot tell except in making his College Lâ—ases always with a Reserve of Rent-Corn divers Years before it became an Act for the Benefit of other Colleges And I find the Provost and College of S. Mary of Eaton purchased of King Edward VI. in the first of his Reign for the summ of 25 â— 3. and in performance of King Henry's last Will and in consideration of the Exchange of the Manor of Melbourn Beck Lutton and Ponyngton in the County of Dorsâ—t and diver other Lands and Tenements the Rectory of Great Compton in Warwickshire lately parcel of the Possession of Thâ— Cromwel Knight Earl of Essex Attainted of High Treason the Rectory of Bloxham in the County of Oxon lately parcel of the late Monastery of Godstow in the said County and divers other Lands and Tenements in the Counties of Oxford Bedford Lincoln Warwick to the value of 82 11 0. The Patent bare date the 30. Aug. 1547. In which whether Sir Tho. Smith was any ways serviceable to the College I know not but suppose he might be And this Learning of his raised him to Honour and Wealth Under King Edward VI. he was made Provost of Eaton where whether he were present or absent there was always a good House kept Dean of Carlile and Master of Requests in the Duke of Somerset's Family after Cicil had left that Place wherein he was most unjustly scandaliz'd by his enemies to have been a Bribe-taker For which he was fain to vindicate himself He became also Steward of the Stannaries Soon after his Abilities were so well known that he was advanced to be one of the Principal Secretaries of State and employed in great Commissions and matters of Trust. Under Queen Elizabeth he was divers times Ambassador in France and at last a Privy Councillor Chancellor of the Garter and Secretary of State His Wealth consisted in his Land and Houses He had the Manor of Yarlington in Somersetshire worth 30 l. per annum that he bought with the Money he had gotten at Cambridge before he came into the Lord Protectors Service And he purchased it at 300 l. or thereabouts of the Marquess of Northampton to whom it was given at the Coronation of Queen Katharine his Sister He purchased also the College of Dâ—rby whether a Religioâ—s House or a Fraternity I do not well know I find he had also these Houses to some of which were annexed Manors and large Demeans One was in Chanon Row in Westmâ—nster which he once let out to the Comptroller of King Edward's Household for 30 s. per annum but afterwards Lived in it himself when Secretary being a very fair House and there the Divines in the beginning of Q Elizabeth's Reign together with himself conferred about reforming of Religion He had another House in Philpot-lane in London which 〈◊〉 a large and fair Dwelling The Title whereof being dubious he had like to have lost his Money and Purchase too But he procured his Master and Friend the Duke of â—â—mâ—rset to obtain from the King the Confirmation of his Title The free dwelling in this House he gave to his younger Brother George a Merchant to whom he was very kind lending him also 300 l. for the carrying on of his Trade without Interest or Consideration Sir Thomas had another House in â—leet-Lane with several other Tenements which he held of the Clothworkers Company of London And here he would sometimes be as a Recesse from Court. In the Country he had Ankerwick his Country Retirement in King Edward's Reign
Roman Coins The Physicians tamper with him They leave him to Kitchin Physick Goes into the Country Dies Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady dies His Person described CHAP. XVI His last Will. Makes his Will For the finishing his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good Housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queen's College or Peter-House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith His Learning A Platonick A Physician His Recipe for the Plague His Chymical Water sent to the Countess of Oxford His Matthiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmetician An Astronomer His Iudgment of the Star in Cassiopaeia A Politician A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library Books by him written A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning His Places His houses in Chanon-Row In London At Ankerwick Mounthaut His heir Sir William Smith CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith 's Vertuous Accomplishments His Religion His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit His Apparel Not oppressive Of an universal Charity His Apophthegms Leland's Copy of Verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaph on him THE LIFE Of the Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. CHAP. I. Sir THOMAS SMITH's Birth Parentage and Education THE Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH sometimes Secretary of State to K. Edward VI. and afterward to Q. Elizabeth was born at Walden in the County of Essex distinguish'd by the Name of SAFFRON Walden the Lands of that Parish and the Parts adjacent being famous for the Growth of the useful Medicinal Plant whether first brought thither by this Knight's Industry being a great Planter I know not for it was first brought into England as we are told in the Reign of K. Edward III. According to Cambden who writes that Sir Thomas Smith died Anno 1577. in his Climacteric he must have been born in the Year 1514. According to Fox who in his Relation of an Evidence given by the said Knight in February Anno 1551 against Bishop Gardiner assigned his Age then to be Three and Thirty he must have been born in the Year 1518. But himself putteth his Age out of doubt in his Book of the English Commonwealth where he saith that March the 28th 1565 he was in the One and Fiftieth Year of his Age. By which Computation he must have come into the World in the Year 1512. a Year famous to England for building of a Ship the biggest that ever the Sea bore And by the Inscription on his Monument it appears he departed this Life in the 65th Year of his Age. So that Cambden made him Two Years younger than he was and Fox Five unless we should say the Figure 33 is mis-printed for 39 a Fault too common in his Books Our Knight's Father was Iohn Smith of Walden Gentleman a Person of good Rank Quality and Wealth Of which we may take some Measure from two Purchases he made of K. Edward in one Year viz. the Third of his Reign that is to say a Chauntry in the Church of Long Ashton in Somersetshire with other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Somerset and Glocester which cost him 293 l. 16. s. 8 d. His other Purchase was all the Guild or Fraternity in Great Walden lately dissolved with divers other Lands and Tenements in Essex and London For which he with another Joint-Purchaser paid 531 l. 14 s. 11 d. Of which Fraternity of Walden this by the way must be remembered for the Honour of it that in a Grant made to it by K. Henry VIII as he willed there That he might evermore be remembred in their perpetual Prayers so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a Brother thereof and his dear Wife Q. Katherine to be a Sister And divers others are expressed there to be desirous to be admitted to the same as the Right Worshipful Dr. Wolsey Almoner to the King Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich Henry Earl of Essex and his Lady Lord Brook Chief Justice of England Sir Iohn Cutts Sir Tho. Semer and divers other Gentlemen and Ladies This Iohn Smith if we look further back was in the 30th of King Henry VIII High Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hertford For in those Times one Sheriff served both Counties In the year 1545. and the 35th of K. Henry aforesaid his Coat of Arms was granted him by the principal King of Arms or rather confirmed For the said King's Parent specifies That he was descended of honest Lineage and his Ancestors had long continued in Nobility and bearing of Arms and that it was Mr. Smith's Desire that the King of Arms would ratifie unto him his former Coat and Register it in the Records of his Office The Coat therefore granted annexed and attributed unto him was Sables a Fesse Dauncy between three Lionceux regardant Argent Languid Gules pawing with their Left Paws upon as many Altars flaming and burning thereon for that these were Anvils as some have thought alluding to the Name of Smith is a Fancy Upon the Fesse Nine Billets of his Field The Crest an Eagle rising Sable holding in his Right Claw a Pen Argent Flames of Fire issuing thereout This Crest Sir Thomas changed upon a notable Reason as we shall relate in due place Of this Coat of Arms I have laid a Copy of the Original Patent in the Appendix which is in Parchment very well adorned round about with Pictures of Rosâ—â— and Flowers de Lys and the Lively Efsigies of Garter arrayed in his rich Coat standing with a white Wand in his Hand and a Crown on his Head and the Coat of Smith blazonâ—d on the right side of him and pointâ—d to by the said white Wand I have but one thing more to say of this Gentleman and that is That he was an old Favourer of the Religion Reformed in which he brought up his Son Thomas from his Youth He lies buried in the Church of Walden where his Monument is yet remaining that is so much of it as contains his Coat of Arms but the Brass that bore the inscription torn off This for Sir Thomas's Father His Parentagâ— on his Mother's side was also Genule being derived from the ancient Name of the Châ—â—â—ecks of Lancashire his Mother Agnes being a Daughter and Co-heir of that Family By this Gentlewoman Iohn Smith had Issue divers Children of both Sexes viz. Four Daughters Agnes and Margery Alice and Iane which two last were married and three Sons Thomas Iohn and George The Posterity of which last flourish to this Day in Wealth and Honour and possess the Seat and Inheritance of Thomas the Subject of our ensuing History with great Improvements of the Estate Tho' no more Sons are express'd in the Roll
Secondly Concerning Laws for the Politick Government of the Country to be possest for the Preservation of it Thirdly In what Orders to proceed in this Journey from the beginning to the End which Sir Thomas called A Noble Enterprise and A Godly Voyage His Son being now with his Colony upon the Place proceeded commendably in order to the Reduction of it He was in a good forwardness of reducing Sarleboy to Obedience For they had much Converse together and came at length to Articles of Agreement The main of which was that he should be made a Denizon of England by the Queen and hold his Land of her and him and the same Privilege should the rest of his Scots enjoy Paying to the Queen a yearly Rent in acknowledgement and he to become Homager to Her by Oath and so to be a faithful Subject or else lose his Right Mr. Smith also began a new Fort in this Country He laboured also to unite the English and Scots that were there who did not it seems very well agree That their strength being united they might be the more able to withstand the Wild Irish. And this the Scots were for promoting as considering that if the English and they should strive together when the one had weakened the other the Wild Irish like the Puthawk it was Sir Thomas's own similitude might drive them out or carry away both Besides the Pains Sir Thomas had already taken for the settlement of the Ardes he drew up this year Instructions to be sent from the Queen to his Son Containing directions upon what terms Sarleboy and his fellows should hold their Lands of her Majesty and him Likewise he drew up a draught for explaining certain Words doubtful in the Indentures between the Queen and him and his Son As about his Sons soldiers if they should Marry in that Country as it was likely they would The Secretary entreated the Lord Treasurer to steal a little leisure to look these Writings over and correct them so that he might make them ready for the Queens signing And this he hoped when once dispatched might be as good to his Son as Five Hundred Irish soldiers At Mr. Smith's first coming hither he found some few that claimed themselves descended of English blood namely the Family of the Smiths and the Savages and two Surnames more And these presently joyned with the English and combined with them against the Wild Irish. But all the rest were mere Irish or Irish Scots and natural Haters of the English The Queen had a Force of men in those Parts for necessary Defence and for the keeping of Knockfergus a very important Place for curbing the Irish. But to retrench her Charge in Ireland she was minded now to discharge them as she had done some already expecting that Smith should secure those Quarters nor would she grant any Foot or Horse to him Sir Thomas therefore in February interceded with her by the means of the Lord Treasurer that at least for that year she would suffer those Bands to be there to Countenance and support the New begun Aid and Fort and not to leave it so naked as it had been it seems all that Winter by Cassing those Bands that were heretofore the Defence of Knockfergus and the Bar of the North. And he told the Lord Treasurer upon this Occasion that it was certain if his Son had not retrieved a Band of the Lord of Harvey's at his own Charge Knockfergus had been in great danger or else clean lost But while these matters thus fairly and hopefully went on Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a wild Irish man Yet Sir Thomas did not wholly desist but carried on the Colony and procured more Force to pass over there For in March Anno exeunte his Son being but newly if yet dead there were Harrington Clark and some others Adventurers on this Design that gave certain Summs of Money for Lands there to be assured to them In the beginning of March 1572 the Ships Captains and Soldiers were ready to be wasted over When unhappily some Persons concerned had started some new Matter in regard of the Bargain Which put a stop to their Departure And one Edward Higgins the Chief of the Gentlemen and Captains that were going over and forward in this generous Expedition was hindred for want of the money agreed upon Hence it came to pass that the Captains lay at great Charges when their Ships Mariners and Soldiers were ready and they did nothing but dispend their Money This troubled Sir Thomas not a little as appears by a Letter he wrote to one Mrs. Penne a Gentlewoman that had an Influence upon some of these Persons that made the stop To whom therefore Sir Thomas applied himself praying her to call upon them to consider at what Charge the Captains did lie and to do what she could in any wise to help them away Whereby she should do the Queens Majesty good service and him and them great Pleasure It being a matter said he which indeed for the goodness of it I take much to heart This was writ from Greenwich the 6th of March This Care the Secretary continued For a year or two after I find him drawing out other Passports and Licences for transportation of Victuals for certain that went to the Ardes and expressing himself then to a Friend that it stood him upon both in Profit and Honesty not to let the present Month pass which was May An. 1574. And so during his Life Sir Tho. laboured in the Civilizing and Settlement of this his Colony But upon his Death it seems to have lain neglected for some Time And tho' the Family and Heirs of Sir Thomas who are extant to this day have often claimed their Interest in this Land which their Ancestor did so dearly purchase and well deserve yet they enjoy not a foot of it at this present For as I have been informed by some of that Worshipful Family Sir William Smith Nephew and Heir to our Sir Thomas Smith was meerly tricked out of it by the Knavery of a Scot one Hamilton who was once a Schoolmaster tho' afterwards made a Person of Honour with whom the said Sir William was acquainted Upon the first coming in of King Iames I. He minded to get these Lands confirmed to him by that King which had cost Sir Thomas besides the death of his only Son 10000 l. being to go into Spain with the English Ambassador left this Hamilton to solicite this his Cause at Court and get it dispatch'd But Sir William being gone Hamilton discovered the Matter to some other of the Scotch Nobility And he and some of them begged it of the King for themselves pretending to his Majesty that it was too much for any one Subject to enjoy And this Hamilton did craftily thinking that if he should have begged it all for himself he might perhaps have failed of success being so great a Thing but that
College Hall or House of Learning after the End of that Sessions of Parliament should make any Lease for Life or Years of any of their Lands Tenements or other Hereditaments to which any Tithe Arable Lands Medow or Pasture did appertain Except that one Third Part at the least of the old Rent were reserved and paid in Corn that is to say in good Wheat after Six Shillings and Eight Pence the Quarter or under and good Malt after Five Shillings the Quarter or under To be delivered Yearly upon Days perfixed at the said Colleges c And for default thereof to pay the said Colleges in ready Mony at the Election of the said Leasees after the Rate as the best Wheat and Malt in the Market of Cambridge and in the Market of Oxford and of Winchester and Windsor for the Rents that were to be paid to the use of the Houses there were or should be sold the next Market day before the said Rent should be due without Fraud or Deceit And that all Leases otherwise hereafter to be made and all Collateral Bonds and Assurances to the Contrary by any of the said Corporations should be void in Law to all intents and purposes And the same Wheat Malt or Money coming of the same to be expended to the Use of the Relief of the Commons and Diet of the said Colleges And by no Fraud or Colour 〈◊〉 or fold away from the Profit of the said Colleges and the Fellows and Scholars of the same and the Use aforesaid upon pain of Deprivation to the Governors or chief Rulers of the said Colleges and all others thereto consenting And this was no more than Sir Thomas himself had practised long before when he was Provost of Eaton whensoever he made or renewed the Leases of that College The Benefit of which he had well experienced by the rising of the Prizes of Corn even in his Remembrance For this Eternal Benefit to the Houses of Learning he deserved an eternal Monument and so a member of one of them in a Poetical Flight wrote O! Statua dignum Inventum Phrygiaque Columna About the year 1576. Sir Thomas Smith began to be afflicted with that Sickness and the publick Cares of the Queen and State As it is a Thing that is wont to create a true Friendship I mean the Proportion and Likeness of Tempers so it is not without Remark that Sir Thomas and the Lord Treasurer Burghley their Distempers were the same And which was more remakable still they used to seize upon these two Persons at the same Time Their Distemper was a Rheum The Rheum as he wrote to the same Lord which is my natural Enemy is commonly wont to assault me most when your Lordship is also grievously troubled with yours For April 22d 1576. at which time the Lord Burghley was very ill of his Distemper Sir Thomas wrote him a Letter that he was then seized with his And which was an ill Sign whereas before it used to take him either in his Jaw or Teeth or in the Lower Body with Loosness and all over with Sweat now it fastned it self in his Throat and Tongue and would not by any Art be removed So that he was almost out of Hope of any Amendment but clearly without Hope of any speedy Help tho' he never took so much Advice as he wrote nor used so many Physicians nor observed so much their Rules which he styled their Preciseness But when all is done added he piously that man may or ought to do the Sequel and Event of Health and the End of Life is in Gods Will and Pleasure That which he shall appoint is best to me Surely all is one being as willing now to Die as to Live and I trust with Gods Mercy and Hope therein as ready For it grieveth me to Live unserviceable to my Prince and unprofitable to my Country Heavy and unpleasant to my self For what Pleasure can a man have of my years when he cannot speak as he would For his chief Grief was in Eating and Drinking and Speaking and in the last especially While his Legs he said his Hands his Memory and his Wit served as much as need be desired It was indeed a great Grief to him that it so affected his Tongue And he avowed That if it were at his own Choice he had rather his Disease had taken hold of any other Part of his Body So that that Piece only as he called it which is contained in an handful space were at quiet Which yet was without pain or grief but when he Eat or Drank or Spake The continual Defluxion and falling down of tough Flegm still vexing it and interrupting the most necessary uses of the Throat This envious Disease stopt that Eloquent Tongue of his And that Sweet and streaming Rhetoric which was wont to flow to the Delight and Admiration of all received now a Fatal Check and Sir Thomas must play the Orator no more no nor scarce utter a single Word For to that Extremity he was brought at last Which the Poet that wrote the Muses Tears for him thus expresses Nescio quis subito Morbus sic occupat artus 〈◊〉 quâ—â—lim mellita din jam verba solebat Fundâ—re vix aliquam possit transmittere vocem Gutturis ast imis latitans radicibus intus Haereret nullumque Sonum Lingua ederet illo Qâ—o solita esl Splendore decus laudemque merente He foresaw that he was like to continue a long while in this Condition And be so disablied from his common Function and to attend the Queen's Business But he could not be idle which he said was contrary to his Nature He was therefore minded to follow his Study and take a Review of what he had formerly done and in this â—eathful Leisure as he called it among other Occupations and Pastimes he would remember the Days of his Youth and look back again to his Doings then and now being Old Quasi repueraseâ—re i. e. hereby as it were to grow a Child again When he was Secretary in King Edwards Days he wrote a Book of the Value of the Roman Coins to our English Standard upon a Question Cecil his fellow Secretary had moved to him viz. What was the Ordinary Wages of a Soldier at Rome This Book as many others which he wrote in his Youth he had now lost Two of these he had sent he remembred one to Sir Robert Dudley now Earl of Leicester and the other to Sir Will. Cecil now Lord Treasurer Now he had lately desired Mr. Wolley to search in the said Earl's Study for it but it could not be found He desired therefore the Lord Treasurer to see for it who he thought had not laid it up so negligently And especially he desired the Tables which were exactly and plainly set forth For searching among his old Papers he could find the first Draught of the said Book and the Adversaria Whereby he was able to fill up all
those that should succeed him of a long time were like to take to Learning he gave all his Latin and Greek Books to Queens College in Cambridge where he had been brought up and his great Globe of his own making but so that the Master and Fellows having Warning so soon as he was dead or at the least so soon as he was Buried or before the which he willed they should have with a true Inventory carried to them of his said Books sent Carts to fetch them away within Tenor Twelve Days And these he gave also upon Condition that they chained them up in their Library or did distribute them among the Fellows such as would best Occupy them But so that they did it by Indenture and Condition that when they departed from the College they restored them to the College again But in case the Master and Fellows of the said College would not fetch them away sending some careful Man to see them well trussed and packed then he gave them to Peter House upon like Condition If neither of them would do it then he Willed his Executors to Sell or use them at their Discretion But yet of many of his Books he made gifts to his Learned Friends or Scholars at the University As to Mr. Shaw Parson of the Parish wherein he lived Chrysostoms Works in five Volumes Origen in two Volumes Luthers Works Bucer Galatinus Felvus super Psaltcrium Pet. Martyr in lib. Iudicum And as he gave these Divinity Books to a Divine so to one Tho. Crow a Physician whom he called his Servant he gave these Books of Galen de Compositione Medicamentâ—rum de Alimentorum Facultatibus Methodus Melendi Petrus Pena de Herbis Antidotarium speciale Turners Herbal Fallopii Opera Rendelâ—tius And besides these he gave him the Monument of Martyrs in two Volumnes and a Latin Bible in Quarto Gilded Also to Sir Clement Smith so called I suppose because he was in Priests Orders then a Resident of Queens College and the same I conjecture with him that was after Doctor of Divinity a Younger Son of his Brother George he gave or rather lent itus Livius Aristotle in Greek and Plato in Greek and Latin Tullies Works and Ten more of his Books which the said Clement would chuse on Condition that when he went away from the College he should restore them to the College again He gave a standing Massy Cup which had the Seven Planets in the Cover to the Queen as most worthy having all the good Gifts endued by God which he ascribed to the Seven Planets they be the Words of the Will Praying her Majesty to take that simple gift in good worth as coming from her Faithful and Loving Subject And in case of any Ambiguity or Doubt arising in any part of his Will he gave Authority to his Executors to add to it to make it more plain with good Advice so that they kept the true meaning and sense And then himself gave a general Explanation of one chief Part of his Will namely That he would have him that should enjoy the House and Mannor of Theydon at Mount to be able to keep House there to the Relief of the Poor and to set Neighbours at Work But if the Executors could not reconcile some Ambiguity that might happen in his Will that then they should stand to the Decision and Judgment of his Cosen Nicols a Lawyer Mr. Henry Archer a worthy Gentleman of the Parish of Theydon Garnons afterwards Living and Dying at Low Leyton and Parson Shaw aforementioned whom he made Supervisors of his Will Which he did in a great point of Wisdom to avoid Controversies of Law Which oftentimes break Friendship and swallow up an Estate so contended for He made his Youngest Brother George Smith who had several Children and his Nephew by his Sister Iohn Wood his Executors This Will is said to be reviewed and corrected by him after the Death of his Nephew William Smith of Walden the Son as it seems of his second Brother Iohn Smith Febr. 18. 1576. when he Signed with his Hand every Page All his Manors Lands and Tenements he had already given by Indenture made between him on the one part and Francis Walsingham Secretary to the Queen Iames Altham Henry Archer Esquires Humphrey Mitchel and his Nephew Iohn Wood on the other Part bearing date Febr. 4th in the 19th year of the Queen This Will was proved 15. Aug. 1577. before Tho Yale by Iohn Wood that is three days after Sir Thomas's Death And by George Smith not before May 14. 1578. I do not meet with many Bequests of Charity in this Will because those Acts he seemed to have done as the wisest and surest Course in his Life time when himself might see them truly and justly performed CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith NOW to make a few Observations upon this Wise and Learned Gentleman And first Of his Learning For he was one of the greatest Scholars of his Age and one of those many brave Shoots that the University of Cambridge then produced As Denny Châ—ke Haddon Ascham Ponet Cecil and some others that for their Merits and Parts were transplanted to the Court His Profession was the Civil Law and he was the first Regius Professor of it in the University placed therein by the Royal Founder King Henry VIII whose Scholar he was But tho' that were his Profession yet he was a Man of General Learning He was a great Platonist Which Noble and Useful Philosophy he and Cheke brought into Study in the University accustomed before to the crabbed barbarous useless Schoolmen Haddon speaking to him of Plato calleth him Plato tuus Your Plato who he told him called upon him to serve his Country and to be ready too to give it all that he had received from it He understood Physic well In his Oration for the Queens Marrying against him that had declaimed for her single Life and among other Reasons for it urged the Diseases and Infirmities that attended Child-bearing he asserted on the contrary how it preserved Women from Diseases and other Inconveniences and cleared their Bodies amended their Colour and prolonged their Health and undertook to bring the Authorities and Reasons of Physic for it And when in March 1574. the Lord Treasurer had a sit of an Ague Smith shewed his skill that Way by the Judgement that he made of it saying That he trusted it was but Diaria coming of a sudden Obstruction in the Pores of his Skin as he told him by Cold That which in a rare Body and tenderly kept must needs be till either by Evaporation or Sweat the same be opened again And so he hoped that now that Lord had but the weariness of that Accident and no formed Ague His Skill herein also appeared in his Discoursing so learnedly of his own Distemper as we heard before And here I will set down a Recipe I find in
This Seat now flourisheth in Plenty Reputation and Honour possessed by the Line of his Younger Brother Whereby Sir Thomas Smith's Name and Memory still Lives according to his Design and Intent in that Structure And tho' it wants nothing in the Inside as well as the Out to adorn and beautifie it yet the choicest Furniture is an excellent Original of the Builder hanging up in the Parlour with these two Verses written round the frame of the Picture Cernitur Essigies factis vera at Penicillus Corporis atque umbrae tâ—ntum simulacra râ—poâ— And underneath LOVE AND FEAR Aetat 〈◊〉 xxxiii Having no Child his Lady enjoyed this Manor of Mounthaut or Mounthal for her Life and then it descended to his Brothers Son Sir William Smith Son of George a brave Gentleman and Soldier in Ireland being a Colonel there Till having attained to Thirty Years of Age he returned into England and possest his Deceased Uncles Estate He married into the Family of Fleetwood of the Vache in Backs and had divers Issue And was of great Figure and Service in the County of Essex All which may be better known by the Inscription upon a Noble Monument for himself and his Lady set up on the Southside of the Chancel opposite to that of Sir Tho. Smith his Uncle Which was as follows To theâ—pious Memory of her Loved and Loving Husband Sir William Smith of Hilhal in the County of Essex Knight Who till he was Thirty Years old followed the Wars in Ireland with such Approbation that he was â—â—osen one of the Colonels of the Army But his Uncle Sir Thomas Chancellor of the Garter and Principal Secretary of State 〈◊〉 two Princes King Edward VI. and the late Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory dying he returned to a full and fair Inheritance And so bent himself to the Affairs of the Country that he grew alike famous in the Arts of Peace as War All Offices there sorted with a man of his Quality he right worshipfully performed and dyed one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the 〈◊〉 A Place of no small Trust and Credit Bridget his unfortunate Widow who during the time of Thirty Seven Years bare 〈◊〉 three Sons and four Daughters Daughter of Thomas Fleetwood of the Vache 〈◊〉 the County of Bucks Esquire and sometime time Master of the Mint to allay her Languer and Longing after so dear a Companion of her Life rather to express her Affection than his Office this Monument erected Destinating it to her self their Children and Posterity He lived Years Seventy Six Died the 12. of Decemb. 1626. CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith's Vertuous Accomplishments WE have seen Sir Thomas in his Secular Circumstances as his Learning Wealth and Honour made him lookt upon and admired in the Eye of the World But what doth all this Confer to the true Reputation of a man without inward vertuous Qualifications These were other and better things that added a Lustre and Glory to our Knight For his Learning was accompanied with Religion and his Honour became more illustrious by the excellent Accomplishments of his Mind He was brought up in the Profession of the Gospel from his tender years and ever after stuck to it and professed it and that openly and as he had Occasion delivered and rescued good men from the Persecutions and Dangers that Religion exposed them to tho' he thereby sometimes ran himself into no small hazzard He lost his Preferments upon the Change of Religion under Queen Mary when if he had been minded to have complyed he might have had what he pleased But he was of a stout and constant Mind When he was in Place and Office abroad or in the Court the Principles he governed himself by were Truth and Integrity an inviolable Love to Justice and righteous Dealing a most unchangeable Faithfulness and Zeal to the Concerns of his Queen and Country His Life and Manners were unreproveable of a grave and yet obliging Behaviour And sometimes he would take the Liberty to be ingeniously merry and cheerful among his Friends A perfect stranger he was to the Practices of some Courtiers namely to those of Fraud and Falsehood Flattery and Treachery Vice and Corrupt Manners Such a Description do the Muses in their ears give him Non Fraude Dâ—love Non ullo vicius Fuco Patriaeque suisque Regâ—nâ—quâ— suae fidus nâ—n perfidus ulli At fidus cunclis Cato viâ—â— mâ—ribus ore Sincerus sine Fraude bonus â—â—ne suspicione Neâ— lâ—vitate vacans sic gravitate severus Ut tamâ—n atque jocos admitteret atque lepores Innocuos nihilumque prius sibi duceret Aequo Atque Bono cui se suaque omnia vota sacravit And again the same Muses shewing the Reasons of his safety under the rigorous Times of Queen Mary notwithstanding he would not change nor dissemble his Faith nor comply with the Religion that was uppermost give us a Relation of his Vertues which shone so bright that with them he did as it were charm the Government to spare him Nec tamen interea parti assentarier ulli Nec simulare Fidem nec dissimulare solebat Mirifica Virtute omnes Gravitate colenda Moribus antiquis Charitum Aonidumque Favore Numine coelesti non Impietate nec Arte Illicita nec Perfidia neque Fraudibus ullis Vir bonus sapiens qualem vix repperit altrum Phaebus Apollo unquam sibi conciliabat amicos But as there is nothing so good but will find Accusers and Slanderers so it happened to him For his Excellences created him Envy and Enviers And some there were in King Edward's time that laid several gross Vices to his charge but most unjustly As tho' he were proud a Lover of Money and that for the sake of it he extorted and opprest that he was a Buyer and Seller of Spiritual Preferments and chopt and changed Lands Finally that in the Changes of Religion he was a Complier But these were all most false Calumniations but such as he was fain to write some Sheets of Paper to vindicate himself of whereby he was forced to set forth his own Vertues unwillingly His Spirit was brave and great being a Man of a resolute and Active Mind Faithful and Diligent when Ambassador and Secretary Somewhat hasty and impatient when public Matters went not as they ought being hindred by designing men for private Profit or secret Grudge And so I find him somewhere describing himself when Haughtiness was once laid to his Charge I cannot deny but I am of Nature hault of Courage and stomach to contemn all Perils and worldly things or Dangers to do my Master Service and likely more would be but that I am by such things he means Accusations and Slanders sometime plucked back and so again contented to rule my self being able I thank God to serve in the Body and Thilles as Carters call it as well as in the Room of a Forehorse His Apparel was usually good and like a Courtier For
deceased Sheweth THAT the said Sir Thomas Smith the Petitioner's Ancestor had the Honour to serve as Secretary of State to your Majesty's most Noble Progenitor Queen Elizabeth of happy Memory and served her in that Employment faithfully many Years And in the Thirteenth year of her Reign the said late Queen did make a Grant by Letters Patents under the great Seal to the said Sir Thomas Smith and Thomas his then Son and Heir Apparent of divers Mannors Castles and Lands thereto belonging in the County of Downe in the Realm of Ireland Which were then possest by divers Persons who were in actual Rebellion against her Highness with Command that the said Sir Thomas Smith should enter upon the Parts infested by the said Rebels and by Force of Arms obtain the same from them And the said Sir Thomas Smith did at his great Charge raise an Army and entred those Parts and gained them unto their due Obedience In which said Service the said Thomas his Son was slain And then the said Sir Thomas Smith Assigned the said Sir William Smith his Nephew to take the Charge of Prosecution of that War and came over to England to attend the further Service of her Majesty and to Solicite her Majesty that the Lands might be Surveyed and the Rents ascertained and his Grant and Title perfected And her Majesty taking Notice of such the great Service of the said Sir Thomas Smith was pleased several Times graciously to declare that her Royal Intentions to the said Sir Thomas Smith should be made good But by reason of the many great Troubles falling out in her Time the same was not done during all the time of her Reign And afterwards the said Sir William Smith the Elder was commanded by the said Queen upon Service into Spain And upon his departure out of England he desired Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n Kt. to prosecute his said Grant on the said Sir William's behalf and procure the same for him And the said Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n in the Time of your Noble Grandfather King Iames upon some undue prâ—tences contrary to the Trust in him reposed by the said Sir William Smith obtained the said Lands to be granted to himself upon Pretence of a Valuable Consideration paid which in truth was never paid But in truth according to the Intention of the late Queen the said Lands are the Right of your Petitioner That Sir William Smith died about Fourty years since and Sir William his Son and Heir since dyed and left his Son and Heir an Infant of two years old And until he came at Age nothing could be done And the troublesome times happening since his Death the Petitioner and his Ancestors have sit down by the Loss Yet your Petitioner hopeth that that long Discontinuance shall not be a Bar to his just Right But humbly prayeth your Majesty to cause an Examination of the Premisses to be made and Certified to your Majesty and then the Petitioner hopes that when the Truth of the Fact shall appear your Majesty will be graciously pleased to do therein for the Petitioners Relief what shall be agreable to Justice And your Petitioner shall c. At the Court at Whitehal 14 Nov. 1660. Edw. Nicholas His Majesty is pleased to refer this Petition to the Right Honourable Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor of Ireland Who having examined and considered the Contents and Allegations of this Petition is to certifie his Majesty how he findeth the same and what his Lordship conceiveth to be just and fit for his Majesty to do therein and then his Majesty will declare his further Pleasure Sir Maurice Eustace his Certificate It may please your Excellent Majesty I have according to your Majesty's gracious Reference considered the Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire And considering that the Petitioner doth ground his Title upon a Patent made 13. Elâ—z unto his Ancestors and that the said Title hath been very much controverted and the Possession gone for a long Time against the Petitioner and some Descents last I humbly conceive that it is neither sit nor convenient for your Majesty to determine this Cause upon a Paper petition But your Majesty in regard your Courts of Justice in Ireland will be soon open may be pleased to leave all Parties pretending Interest to the said Lands to your Majesty's Courts of Justice in that your Kingdom to be procâ—â—ded in as they shall be advised by their Counsel And the rather for that the Earl of Clanbrazil who is interested in the said Lands by Descent from his Father is a Minor and under Years and cannot be concluded by any Order which can be made against him during his Monority All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty's Judgment Maurice Eustace Canc. NUM V. Sir Thomas Smith's Tables of Mony And for the reducing the Roman Monies to the English Standard TABLE I. In the Pound Weight of Silver there is of current Monies  Shil Groats Current Pence At 20 d. 20 60 240 At 2 sh. 24 72 284 At 2 sh. 8 d. 32 96 384 At 2 sh. 9 d. q. Ounce    At â…“ of a q. Ounce 33 4 d. 100 4.00 At 3 sh. 36 108 432 At 3 sh. 4 d. 40 120 480 At 3 sh. 8 d. 44 132 528 At 4 sh. 48 144. 576 At 5 sh. 60 180 720 TABLE VIII The Mark containeth The Ounce at 20 d. Shill Groats Pence 13 4 40 160 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 16 48 192 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 8 d. 21 4 64 256 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 24 72 288 The Mark containeth The Oounce at 3 sh. 4 d. 26 8 80 320 TABLE IX Twenty English Pence of the Standard make one Ounce Twelve Ounces make the English Pound Sterling at 11 Ounces Silver and one Ounce Allay The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 20. Shill Groats Pence 20 60 240 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 2 8 32 96 484 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 36 108 432 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 4 40 120 480 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 8 44 132 528 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 4 sh. 48 144 536 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 5 sh. 60 180 720 Then Follows a Discourse for demonstrating the Reduction of the Roman Coins to our Money TO Esteem these by the Coins of England which I have I have an old Edward Groat whether the Third or Fourth I know not This Groat weigheth 8 d. ob of the Standard which is Current 1561. Viz. at 5 â— the Ounce Whereby it appeareth that then the Monies went at 2 s. 4 d. q. the Ounce The Pound then contained Shill Groats Pence 21 3 84¾ 339 I have also two Roman Denarii the one intitled Lucius Valerius Flaccus the other Marcus Herennius On the one side Aeneas is pictured carying his Father on the other side Pietas with the Face of Herennius But each of them be too