his love to Relations tender to Friends faithful to the hopeful liberal to men universal to his very Enemies civil He left the best pattern of Government in his actions under one King and the best principles of it in the Life of the other His Essays and History made him the admiration of polite Italy his Accomplishments the wonder of France Monsieur Fiat saying to him after an earnest desire to see him That he was an Angel to him of whom he had heard much but never saw him Solid and juycy Meat was his Diet and Rubarb his Physick four hours in the morning he made his own not by any means to be interrupted businesse was his fate retyrement his inclination Socrates brought Morality from Discourse to Practice and my Lord Bacon brought Philosophy from Speculation to Experience Aristotle he said taught many to dispute more to wrangle few to finde out Truth none to manage it according to his principles My Lord Bacon was a man singular in every faculty and eminent in all His Judgement was solid yet his memory was a wonder his Wit was quick yet his Reason staid his Invention was happy yet methodical and one fault he had that he was above the age he lived in above it in his bounties to such as brought him Presents so remembring that he had been Lord-Chancellour that he forgot he was but Lord Verulam Great his understanding and great his minde too above it in his kindnesse to servants to whom he had been a better Master if he had been a worse and more kinde if he had been lesse indulgent to them For the first of his Excesses King James jeered him in his progress to New-market saying when he heard he gave ten pounds to one that brought him some Fruit My Lord my Lord this is the way to Beggars-bush For the second he reflected upon himself when he said to his servants as they rose to him in his Hall Your rise hath been my fall Though indeed he rather trusted to their honesty than connived at their falshood for he did impartial Justice commonly to both parties when one servant was in fee with the Plaintiff and the other with the Defendant How well he understood his own time his Letters and complyances evidence than whom none higher in spirit yet none humbler in his Addresses The proudest man is most servile How little he valued wealth appeareth in that when his servants would take money from his Closet even while he was by he would laugh and say I poor men that is their portion How well he kenned the art of Converse his Essayes discover a piece as he observed himself that of all his Works was most current for that they come home to mens businesse and bosomes How far skilled in the Art of Government his H. 7. War with Spain Holy War Elements of the Law irrefragably demonstrate and how well seen in all Learning his Natural History and Advancement of Learning answerably argue In a word how sufficient he was may be conjectured from this instance that he had the contrivance of all King James his Designs untill the Match with Spain and that he gave those Directions to a great States-man which may be his Character and our conclusion Onely be it observed that though this peerlesse Lord is much admired by English-men yet is he more valued by Strangers distance as the Historian hath it diminishing his faults to Foreigners while we behold his perfections abated with his failings which set him as much below pity as his Place did once above it Sir Julius Caesar they say looking upon him as a burden in his Family and the Lord Brooke denying him a bottle of small beer Observations on the Life of the Lord John Digby JOhn Lord Digby of Sherborn and Earl of Bristol was a younger Son of an ancient Family long flourishing at â—â—leshull To passe by his younger years all children being alike in their Coats when he had onely an Annuity of fifty pounds per annum onely his youth gave pregnant hopes of that Eminency which his mature age did produce He did ken the Embassador's craft as well as any in his age employed by King James in several Services to Foreign Princes recited in his Patent as the main motives of the Honours conferred upon him But his managing the matchlesse Match with Spain was his Master-piece wherein a good I mean a great number of State-Traverses were used on both sides Where if he dealt in Generalities and did not presse Particulars we may ghesse the reason of it from that expression of his I will take care to have my Instructions perfect and will pursue them punctually If he held Affairs in suspence that it might not come to a War on our part it may be he did so with more regard to his Mr. King James his inclination than his own apprehension If he said That howsoever the businesse went he would make his fortune thereby it rather argued his weaknesse that he said so his sufficiency that he could do so than his unfaithfulnesse that he did so This is certain that he chose rather to come home and suffer the utmost displeasure of the King of England than stay in Spain and enjoy the highest favour of the King of Spain He did indeed intercede for some indulgeuce to the Papists but it was because otherwise he could do no good for the Protestants But whatever was at the bottom of his Actions there was resolution and noblenesse atop especially in these actions 1. Being carried from Village to Village after the King of Spain without that regard due to his person or place he expressed himself so generously that the Spanish Courtiers trembled and the King declared That be would not interrupt his Pleasures with businesse at Lerma for any Embassador in the world but the English nor for any English Embassador but Don Juan 2. When impure Scioppius upon his Libel against K. James and Sir Bennet's complaint to the Arch-Duke against him fled to Madrid my Lord observing that it was impossible to have Justice done against him from the Catholique King because of the Jesuites puts his Cousin George Digby upon cutting him which he did over his Nose and Mouth wherewith he offended so that he carried the mark of his Blasphemy to his Grave 3. When he was extraordinary Embassador in Germany upon his return by Heydelbergh observing that Count Mansfield's Army upon whom depended the fortune of the Palsgrave was like to disband for want of money he pawned all his Plate and Jewels to buoy up that sinking Cause for that time That his spirit was thus great abroad was his honour but that it was too great at home was his unhappiness for he engagaged in a fatal Contrast with the Duke of Buckingham that hazarded both their safeties had not this Lord feared the Duke's power as the Duke this Lord's policy and so at last it became a drawn Battle betwixt them yet so that this Earl
knowledge and experience of that stayedness and moderation of that sobriety and temperance of that observation and diligence as Bishops are presumed to be were in all Governments judged as fit to manage publique affairs as men of any other professions whatever without any prejudice to the Church which must be governed as well as taught and managed as well as a society dwelling in the world as under the notion of a peculiar people taken out of it His successful skill in dealing with the Papists under my Lord of Huntington President of the North and with the Puritans under Doctor Cosin an Ecclesiastical Officer in the South recommended him to Sir Walsingham's notice as a person too useful to be buried in a Country-Living who thereupon intended to set up his Learning in a Lecture at Cambridge to confute the Doctrine of Rome untill Queen Eliz. resolved to set up his prudence in other Employments at Court to countermine its policy where I know not whether the acuteness of his Sermons took most with the most Learned the devotion of them with the most pious or the prudence of them with the most Wise it hath been one thing always to Preach learnedly and another thing to preach wisely for to the Immensity of his Learning he added excellent Principles of politick prudence as a governour of the Church and a Councellor of State wherein he was conspicuous not for the crafty projects and practices of policy or for those sinister ways of Artifice and subtlety or the admired depths of Hypocrisie called reason of State nor the measures and rules of his Politicks and Prudentials were taken from the great experience he had gotten and many excellent observations he had made out of all Histories as well Humane as Divine though he always laid the greatest weight upon the grounds and instances of holyScripture which gives the truest judgement of wisdom or folly considering the mixture of State-affairs with those of the Church in Christian Common-wealths and the fitnesse of sober and discreet Clergy-men for those of the State in all It 's a wonder how Clergy-men come to be excluded publick Councils at any time but observing Bishop Andrews his insight into the Fundamental constitution of our State as appears from his Speech in the Countess of Shrewsbury's Case His distinct foresight of the consequences of Affairs evident in his speech against Thraske His circumspect care of the Publick visible in his Petition to King James then sick at New-Market that the Prince then under Scotch Tutors be educated by well-principled men the occasion that King James took to bring him up himself so exactly in the Doctrine and Discipline of our Church that it 's a question whether he was more by his Pen or Sword his Scepter or his Style The Defender of the Faith His wonderfull skill in the government of this Church discerned by the excellent King Charles in that he sent so many Bishops to consult with him 1625. what was to be done for the Church in that Parliament His caution and moderation in that he never unlesse upon great considerations innovated in his Church but left things in the same decency and order he found them knowing that all alterations have their dangers I am astonished to think that Bishops should be forbidden secular employment in our time Who hath more ampleness and compleatness saith Bishop Gauden for a good man a good Bishop a good Christan a good Scholar a good Preacher and a good Counsellor than Bishop Andrews a man of an astonishing excellency both at home and abroad Observations on the Life of Henry Earl of Manchester HEnry Earl of Manchester third son to Sir Edward Mountague Grand-childe to Sir Edward Mountague Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench in King Edward the sixth's time was born at Boughton in Northampton-shire One skilful in mysterious Arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his Family which came to passe accordingly He being bred first in Christs-Colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle-Temple where he attained to great Learning in the Laws passed through many preferments as they are reckoned up viz. 1. Sergeant at Law 2. Knighted by K. James July 22. 1603. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Novemb. 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decemb. 16. 1620. 6. Baron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Sept. 29. 1621. 9. Earl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as Counters in the hands of Princes raised and depressed in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum than to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finally advanced to an Office of great Honour When Lord Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Alms-Basket of the Chancery had in his time well-nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His Meditations of Life and Death called Manchester Al mondo written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164 ... The Office of Lord Treasurer was ever beheld as 〈◊〉 place of great charge and profit My Lord being demanded what it might be worth per ann made this answer That it might be some thousands of pounds to him who after death would go instantly to heaven twice as much to him who would go to Purgatory and a Nemo scit to him who would adventure to a worse place But indeed he that will be a bad husband for himself in so advantageous a place will never be a good one for his Soveraign Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Wotton and his Relations SIr Henry Wotton first having read of his Ancestor Sir Robert Wotton the noble Lieutenant of Guisnes and Comptroller of Callais in King Edward the fourth's days His Grand-father Sir Edward Wotton that refused to be Chancellour of England in King Henry the Eighth's time 2. Having known his Father Sir Thomas Wotton one of the most Ingenuous modesty the most Ancient freedome plainnesse single-heartednesse and integrity in Queen Elizabeths Reign His Brothers Sir Edward Wotton the famous Comptroller of Queen Eliz. and K. James his Court since Lord Wotton Baron Morley in Kent Sir James Wotton with R. Earl of Essex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro son of Antonio King of Portugal c. Knighted as an excellent Soldier at Cadiz Sir John Wotton the accomplished Traveller and Scholar for whom Queen Eliz. designed a special favour His Uncle Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury and Yorke nine times Embassador for the Crown
Sir Henry Lords Vise Falkland 708 Sir John Finch 742 G SIr Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset 116 Gardiner Bish of Winch. 268 John Grey of Pyrgo 379 L. Grey of Wilton 381 398 Sir Henry Gates 379 Sir Humphrey Gilbert 441 Sir Fulk Grevil L. Brook 503 Oliver Lord Grandison 542 H SIr Will Herbert 274 Sir Walter Haddon 442 Sir Th. Howard 96 Sir Ed Howard 105 Sir Th. Howard 107 of Surry Norfolk Wil Howard L. Effingh 218 Sir G. Hume E of Dunb 516 James Hay E of Carlisle 549 Henry Howard Earl of Northampton 555 Judge Hyde 701 Christopher Lord Hatton 333 419 The Lord Hunsdon 335 Sir Richard Hutton 739 Wil M Hertford 741 The Earl of Holland 759 The Marquess Hamilton 776 The Lord Hopton 780 The Lord Herbert 789 Arch-Bishop Heath 337 I SIr John Fitz-James 80 Sir John Jefferies 189 Arthur Ingram 572 Arch-Bishop Juxon 810 K SIr William Kingstone 279 Sir Henry Killegrew 395 〈…〉 Knowls 433 L SIr Anthony St. Lieger 56 The Earl of Liecester 330 〈…〉 Thomas Lake 552 562 〈…〉 Ja Ley E of Marlb 713 〈…〉 Earl of Lindsey 747 Arch-Bishop Laud 763 〈…〉 Lord-Keeper Littleton 775 M 〈…〉 Thomas Moor 21 Sir Rich Morison 68 〈…〉 Will Molineux 84 〈…〉 Henry Marney 111 〈…〉 John Mason 177 〈…〉 Edward Mountague 221 〈…〉 Thomas Mannors 275 〈…〉 Walter Mildmay 365 〈…〉 Roger Manwood 386 〈…〉 Lord Mountjoy 479 〈…〉 op Mountague 575 〈…〉 Henry Martin 695 〈…〉 Earl of Manchester 799 N 〈…〉 He Duke of Norfolk 351 The Lord North 374 〈…〉 rls Ea of Nottingh 511 〈…〉 Norrices 433 〈…〉 Rob Naunton 569 Sir Francis Nethersole 569 Sir William Noy 662 Judge Nichols 699 O SIr Thomas Overbury 544 P ED Plowden 383 Sir William Paget 65 Sir Ed Poynings 112 The Parrs 156 Sir Clement Paston 171 Sir John Portman 214 Sir Amias Pawlet 378 William Lord Pawlet 403 Sir William Pelham 408 Sir Barnab Fitz-Patrick 229 Sir William Peter 247 Cardinal Pool 252 Sir John Perrot 322 Sir William Pickering 339 G Earl of Pembrook 363 Sir John Puckering 422 The Lord Chief-Justice Popham 535 Will Earl of Pembrook 687 Sir Paul Pindar 735 R THe Lord Rich 1 E. W. 173 Sir Tho Randolph 347 Sir John Russel 1 E. B. 259 Sir William Russel 444 Sir Thomas Roper 445 Sir Walter Rawleigh 485 Sir John Ramsey E H 557 Doctor Ridley 693 Esme Duke of Richmond 728 Edw Earl of Rutland 482 Sir Thomas Roe 807 S SIr Ralph Sadler 61 Sir Ed Stanly 101 Sir Charles Somerset 1 E. W. 114 Sir Thomas Smith 370 R Earl of Somerset 518 Stafford Duke of Bucks 122 The Seymours 142 Sir Will Stamford 185 The Earl of Sussex 307-416 Sir Philip Sidney 313 Sir Henry Sidney 412 Sir Thomas Smith 483 The Earl of Suffolk 567 The Lord Spencer 610 Sir John Savil 665 The Lord Say 744 The Earl of Strafford 752 T BIshop Tonstal 340 Francis Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury 342 Sir Nicholas Throgmorton 354 V SIr H Umpton 447 H Vere Earl of Oxford 583-714 The Veres 5 〈…〉 Sir Henry Vane Senor 7 〈…〉 W CArdinal Wolsey 1 1 〈…〉 Sir Thomas Wyat 〈◊〉 Sir Tho Wriothsly 1 Ear 〈…〉 Southampton Sir Will Fitz-Williams 〈◊〉 Sir Robert Wingfield 1 〈…〉 Sir Thom Wentworth 1 〈…〉 Doctor Wilson 2 〈…〉 Lord Willoughby 311-3 〈…〉 Sir Francis Walsingham 3 〈…〉 Sir Edw Waterhouse 3 〈…〉 Sir Will Fitz-Williams 3 〈…〉 Sir Christopher Wray 3 〈…〉 The Earl of Worcester 3 〈…〉 Sir William Waad 4 〈…〉 Sir Ralph Winwood 5 〈…〉 Bishop Williams 6 〈…〉 Sir Isaac Wake 6 〈…〉 Sir R Sir J Weston E 〈…〉 of Portland 6 〈…〉 Sir Henry Wotton 8 〈…〉 The Lord Wilmot 8 〈…〉 Y SIr Henry Yelverton 5â—â— THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King Henry the VIII Observations on the Life of Cardinal WOLSEY CArdinal Wolsey was not so great in his Fortune as he was mean in his Original his honest and industrious Parents helped him to a good Constitution and a great Spirit two hopeful steps to Greatnesse and his Ambition gave the opportunity to encrease it he was as pregnant at Ipswich-School as he was promising in Canterbury-Colledge where his Industry parts advanced him to a command over Noble-men in the Earl of Dorset's Family as a School-master as his Policy had promoted him to an Imperiousnesse over Kings in the quality of States-man The first step to Greatnesse in a Scholar is Relation to a Nobleman The best Education for the Court is in the Palace Nature made him capable the School and University made him a Scholar but his Noble Employment made him a Man At Oxford he read Books at my Lord 's he read Men and observed Things His Patrons two Parsonages bestowed upon him was not so great a Favour as the excellent Principles instilled into him he being not more careful to instruct the young Men then their Father was to tutor him his Bounty makes him rich and his Recommendation potent His Interest went far his Money farther Bishop Fox was Secretary to K. Henry the seventh and he to Bishop Fox the One was not a greater Favourite of the King 's then the other was his as one that brought him a Head capacious of all Observations and a Spirit above all Difficulties Others managed the Affairs of England Wolsey understood its Interest His Correspondence was good abroad his Observations close deep and continued at home He improved what he knew and bought what he knew not He could make any thing he read or heard his own and could improve any thing that was his own to the uttermost No sooner was he in with the Bishop of Winchester but the Bishop was out with the Earl of Surrey to whom he must have stooped as he did unto Nature and Age had not he raised his Servant equal to himself in the Kings Favour and above Howard He was forbid by the Canon Heirs of his Body he was enjoyned by his Prudence to make an Heir of his Favour equally to support and comfort his old Age and maintain his Interest Children in point of Policy as in point of Nature are a Blessing and as Arrows in the hand of a mighty man and happy is that old Courtier that hath his Quiver full of them he shall not be ashamed when he speaks with his enemies in the gate The old man commends Wolsey to Henry the Seventh for one fit to serve a King and command Others Forreign Employment is the Statesmans first School to France therefore he is sent to poise his English Gravity with French Debonairness A well-poised Quickness is the excellent temper From Forreign Employment under an Old King he is called home to some Domestick Services under the Young One He as quickly found the length of His Foot as he fitted him with an easie Shoo the King followed his Pleasures and the Cardinal enjoyeth His Power The One pursued his Sports while Youth the other his Business while Time served him Give me to Day and take thou to
Morrow is both the Courtier and the Christian's Language The Favourite took in the Council-Table Debates and other State-affairs in the Mass and whole Bulk of them by Day and the King had the Quintessence of them extracted and the sum of them represented to him at Night All State-Business was disposed of by him and most Church-Preferments bestowed upon him the Bishopricks of Durham Winchester and York were in his possesson and all other Promotions in his Gift He was installed in the Kingdom during King Henry's youthfulness and had the Church in Commendam His great Services indeed could not be managed without a great Revenue nor his greater Power supported but by an able Purse which may buy off Expedients as readily as his Greatness may command them Two Corrivals he had Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk Brandon he despised as rather besides saith my Author then against him he being the Kings Companion in Pleasure and Wolsey his Counsellour in Policy the Duke great with young Henry the Bishop with the King Buckingham he feared as popular and undermined as proud that Tower must fall whose Foundation is hollow Buckingham was high in Birth Honour and Estate Wolsey higher in Prudence whose Malice did the brave Duke much mischief and his own Folly more Vain-glory writes my Friend ever lieth at an open guard and gives much advantage of play to her Enemies A deboyst King is jealous and a weak Nobleman ambitious In fine he is attainted of High Treason though rather Corrival to the King in his Cloaths then his Crown in his Vanities then his Authority but a cunning Upstart quickly blows off a young Noblemans Cap and Feather and his Head too when it stands in his way His power against Buckingham was his Shield against all others One Defence well managed one Adversary throughly suppressed is a Security at Court where two men seldom fall the same way Many envied the Archbishop the Cardinal the Legate de latere the Lord Chancellour but all feared the Favourite most were discontented but none durst shake their Heads lest they fell off with Buckingham's the Bishops displeasure was more fatal then the Kings whose wrath was violent but not lasting as the Others anger was of less fury but more malice his Power was great and his Justice equal for he was too proud to be bribed and too powerful to be over-born But England was too narrow a Theatre for this great Spirit and he aspires to Rome and having been these many years Pope of this other world would have been of that beyond the waters his leap was great from York to Rome and his rise as good Charles the Fifth was his Client and his Masters Servant the Cardinals were his Penfioners and when they failed as he is no Fox whose Den hath but one hole and he no Statesman who when one way is stopped cuts not out another he falls off from the German Emperour to the French King where if he could not carry his own Design he would hinder the Emperours and Revenge is an Advancement so great was he that his Friendship balanced Europe over-awed Emperours threatned Kings and was fatal to Queens if he cannot be Pope of Rome he will shew he is as good as King of England for finding that the King wanted a meet Yoak-Fellow for his Bed and a lawful Heir-Male to his Crown and observing Queen Katharines Age above her Husbands and her Gravity above her Age being more Pious then Pleasant a better Woman then Wife and a better Wife for any Prince then King Henry he promotes a Divorce upon some Scruples intimated by the Spaniard some years before in a Treaty about the Princesse Mary's Marriage which others had forgot but the Cardinal laid up between the King and Queen but that was not all but knowing that King Henry could not have a Wife to his minde until he had a Pope of his own chusing he would help him to a young Wife but he must raise him to a new power Wolsey must be Pope or King Henry could not be divorced and to make all sure he was no sooner to be parted from a Daughter of Spain then he was to be joyned to a Princess of France whose Nuptial Ring should wed King Henry to Her and King Francis to Himself Missing of Power he meditates Honour and instead of lavishing his infinite Treasure upon airy Expectations he bestoweth it on real Monuments which make his Memory as Renowned as his Life That Statesman lives to small purpose whose Actions are as short as his Life and his Exploits of no longer duration then his Age. At this time though King Henry bore the Sword yet Cardinal Wolsey as I am told bore the stroke all over the Land being Legate à latere by vertue whereof he visited all Churches and Religious Houses even the Friers Observants themselves notwithstanding their stoutnesse and stubbornness that first opposed him Papal and Royal Power met in him being the Chancellour of the Land and keeping so many Bishopricks in Commendam that his yearly Income is said to equal if not to exceed the Revenues of the Crown He gave the first blow to Religious Houses by making one great Colledge of forty small Monasteries to make way as some thought upon the Popes consent procured by him to the overthrow of all He called all Captains and Officers to an account who bought off their own small corruption with his great one and paid him the Penalties of their Cheats with the Gains of it the Richest of them escaping and the Poorest onely made exemplary Several Courts of pretended Equity he erected to redress the poor that was the Colour to inrich himself that was the Reality at whose constitution the Law-Courts were unfrequented so specious was their seeming Integrity at the last they are deserted so manifest were their real Grievances the people not flocking so fast after the Novelty as they ran away from the Cheat. What he did to reform the Courtiers as a Favourite he did to reform the Clergy as Legate erecting a Court Legantine not without danger of a Praemunire wherein all Clergy were visited the Rich in their Purses that excused them the Poor in their Reputation that compounded for them Neither did his profits arise from the Living onely but the Dead he engrossing the Probation of all Wills and Testaments within his own Court And not long after he hath a Patent under the Great Seal of England to do what he pleased in the French Court in order to the Kings Progresse thither as he hath likewise after with his Masters leave under the great seal of France After which honour he was with the Kings order by the English Subjects the Lord Mayor and Aldermen c. honoured at no lesse rate then that of a Prince and by the Clergy who kept close to the publick temper with Processions c. at the same rate with a Pope Great he was in England greater
Princes and with the l 〈…〉 Statesmen the one discovers others while the other conceals you 5. Resolution I made often said he as if I would fight when they knew my calling allowe me onely to speak 6. Civility That man said the Prince of Orange is a great bargain who is bought with a bare salutation Fourthly To Privy-Counsellours That excellent caution Always to speak last and be Masters 〈◊〉 others strength before they displayed their own This was that rare man that was made for all but siness so dexterous This was he that was made for all times so complying This was he who live Doctor of both Laws and died Doctor of both Gospels the Protestant which had the Statesmans parts of this man and the Popish who had the Christiat Noah had two faces because he was a son of the old world before the flood and a father of the ne 〈…〉 one after Wotton sure had four faiths who was Favourite in King Henry's days of the Counsel is King Edward's of the Juncto in Queen Mary's and the second Statesman in Queen Elizabeth's With these two things of this person I shall conclude 1. His refusal of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury which argued his extraordinary humility of wariness 2. His admission of Doctor Parker as Dean of Canterbury to that See which argueth the legality of his calling there being no circumstance with any likelihood omitted by so exquisite a Civilian as Doctor Wotton or forgotten by so great an Antiquary as Doctor Parker Observations on the Life of Thomas Wriothesly the first Earl of Southampton THomas Wriothesly Knight of the Garter was born in Barbican Son to William Wriothesly descended from an Heir general of the antient Family of the Dunsterviles King of Arms. He was bred in the University of Cambridge as it appears by Mr. Ascam's Letter unto him writing in the behalf of the University when he was Lord Chancellour Quamobrem Academia cum omni literarum ratione ad te unum conversa cui uni quam universis aliis â—se chariorem intelligit partim tibi ut alumno suo cum authoritate imperat partim ut patrono summo demisse bumiliter supplicat c. His University-Learning prepared him for the Law and his indefatigable study of the Law promoted him to the Court where for his Honour he was created Baron of Tichbourn Jan. 1. 1543. and for his Profit the next year May 3. Lord Chancellour a place he discharged with more Applause then any before him and with as much Integrity as any since him Force he said awed bâ— Justice governed the world It is given to that Family to be Generous are Resolute This incomparable Person was under cloud in King Edward's time for being a rigidly conscientious Papist and his great Granchild suffered in King Charles his time for being a sincere honest Protestant Yet so reverenced was the first of this Family by his Adversaries that he was made Earl of Southampton and so honoured was the other by his Enemies that they courted him to the party Integrity hath a Majesty in its full and Glory in its lowest Estate that is always feared though not always loved No Nobleman understood the Roman Religion better then the first Earl of Southampton and non the Protestant better then the last the Right Honourable and truly Excellent Thomas Earl of Southampton and Treasurer of England His Court he said gave Law to the Kingdom His constant and exact Rules to the Court and hâ— Conscience guided by the Law of the Kingdom 〈◊〉 his Rules Affable and acceptable he was as More quick and ready as Wolsey incorrupt as Egerton apprehensive and knowing as Bacon Twice were all Cases depending in Chancery dispatched in Sir Wriothesley's time 1538. and in Sir More 's 1532. Truly did he judge intra Cancellos deciding Cases with that Uprightness that he wished a Window to his Actions yea and his Heart too King Philip was not at leasure to hear a poor Womans Cause Then said she cease to be King My Lord over-hearing a servant putting off a Petitioner because his Master was not at leasure takes him up roundly and replies You had as good say I am not at leasure to be Lord Chancellour Two things he would not have his servants gain by his Livings and his Decrees The first he said were Gods the second the Kings whom every man he said sold that sold Justice To honest men your places said he are enough to Knaves too much Every Week he had a Schedule of his own Accounts and every Month of his Servants Cato's greatest Treasure was his Account-Book of Sicily and my Lord of Southampton's was his Table of the Chancellours place A great Estate was conferred upon him which he took not in his own name to avoid the odium of Sacriledge as great an Inheritance he bought but in others names to escape the malice of Envy He loved a Bishop he said to satisfie his conscience a Lawyer to guide his Judgement a good Family to keep up his Interest and an University to preserve his name Full of Years and Worth he died 1550. at Lincoln-place and was buried at St. Andrews Church in Holborn where his Posterity have a Diocess for their Parish and a Court for their Habitation Observations on the Life of Sir John Fitz-James JOhn Fitz-James Knight was born at Redlinch 〈◊〉 Somersetshire of Right Antient and Wort 〈…〉 Parentage bred in the study of our Municip 〈…〉 Laws wherein he proved so great a Proficie 〈…〉 that by King Henry the Eighth he was advanced 〈◊〉 be Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. There needs 〈◊〉 more to be said of his Merit save that King He 〈…〉 the Eighth preferred him who never used eith 〈…〉 Dunce or Drone in Church or State but Men 〈◊〉 Ability and Activity He sat thirteen years in 〈◊〉 place demeaning himself so that he lived and di 〈…〉 in the Kings Favour He sat one of the Assista 〈…〉 when Sir Thomas More was arraigned for refu 〈…〉 the Oath of Supremacy and was shrewdly put 〈◊〉 it to save his own Conscience and not incur 〈◊〉 Kings Displeasure For Chancellour Audley 〈◊〉 preme Judge in that place being loth that 〈◊〉 whole burthen of More 's condemnation sho 〈…〉 lie on his shoulders alone openly in the Court a 〈…〉 ed the Advice of the Lord Chief Justice Fi 〈…〉 James Whether the Indictment were sufficient 〈◊〉 no To whom our Judge warily returned 〈…〉 Lords all by St. Gillian which was ever his Oat 〈…〉 I must needs confess That if the Act of Parliam 〈…〉 be not unlawful then the Indictment is not in my co 〈…〉 science insufficient He died in the Thirtieth Year of King Henry the Eighth and although now there be none left 〈◊〉 Redlinch of his Name and Family they flourish still at Lewson in Dorsetshire descended from Allured Fitz-James brother to this Judge and to Richard Bishop of London The two main Principles that guide
France none so active in those between Us and Scotland With thirty six Ships he gave Law to the narrow Seas as Poynz with forty more did to the Main There was not a serviceable man belonging to him but he knew by name not a Week but he paid his Navy not a Prize but his Souldiers shareâ— in as well as himself It being his Rule That now fought well but those that did it for a fortune While he watched the Coast of France he discovered twelve French Ships in which the Archbishop of Glasco and divers others of Quality were who 〈…〉 the Duke of Albany had sent before him into Scotland these he chased to a shipwrack and leaving a Squadron to shut up the French Heavenâ— went along the French Coasts landing in diveâ— places wasting the Countrey till at last he came 〈◊〉 Treport a Town strongly situated and garisonâ— with three thousand men which yet he took anâ— finding it not his Interest to dwell there pillâ—ged and burned it going off with Success anâ— Glory Insomuch that King Henry joyned hiâ— with the Bishop of Bath in the Commission for thâ— Treaty at Paris where such Articles were agreeâ— on touching a Marriage with the Princess Mary anâ— the joynt Embassie to the Emperour as spake S 〈…〉 William as well seen in the state of Europe as any particular Person in the seven Kingdoms of it whereof one was That they should unite by all 〈◊〉 Ties of Alliance Friendship and Interest against the growing Power of Austria so far as that there should be no League Correspondence War or Peace wherein they both should not be concerned From his forreign Negotiations he returns to his home-Services and the next view we have of him â—s in the Parliament bringing up with Sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert a Bill against the Cardinal 1. For encroaching upon his Soveraigns power by his Legantine Authority 2. For treating between the Pope and the King of France without his Masters privity and consent as likewise between Himself and the Duke of Ferâ—ara 3. For joyning Himself with his Majesty saying The King and I. 4. For swearing his Houshold-servants onely to himself 5. For speaking with the King when infected with the pox pretending it was onely an Impostâ—ume 6. For giving by prevention divers Benefices away â—s Legate 7. For receiving Embassadors before they came to the King As also for opening all the Kings Letters and taking an account of all Espials concealing what he pleased 8. For carrying things with an high hand in the Privy Council 9. For transporting Grain and sending advertisements of the Kings Affairs abroad 10. For taxing or alienating Religious mens lands to the great decay of hospitality and charity 11. For controuling the Nobility and engrossing all Causes in his Jurisdiction 12. For taking all Ordinarie Jurisdiction from them by prevention and seizing their Estates as he did all other Ecclesiastical persons upon their death 13. For perswading the Pope by indirect practices to suppress Monasteries 14. For passing judgements without hearing and reversing such judgements as had duely passed 15. For suspending the Popes pardons until he was fee'd 16. For turning out his old Tenants 17. For his general encroachments upon the Rights of Religious Houses and the encroachments of Courts of Justice 18. For saying to the Pope in order to the obtaining of a Legantine power to the indelible shame of the Church of England That the Clergy of England were given in reprobum sensum 19. For embezling the Goods of the most wealthy Prelates that died in his time 20. For bringing off his servants from the Law against extortion at York 21. For dividing the Nobility 22. For keeping as great state at Court and exercising as great authority in the Country for purveyance c. as the King 23. For forbidding petitions and purveyances within his Jurisdictions 24. For engrossing all Copy-holds within his power to his Lemans Procurers c. 25. For altering the Market-prices set under His Majesties Hand and Seal 26. For impressing his Hat under the Kings Crown in the Coyn at York 27. For Hindering the due course intended by visiting the Vniversities to suppress heresies 28. For disposing of mens Estates and Proprieties at his pleasure This Bill was aggravated most effectually by three most pinching considerations Viz. That the Kings Honour was by him diminished That the state of the Realm was by him decayed and discontented That the course of Justice was by him obstructed A great Undertaking this To bring down this lofty Prelate whom his Master created the Kings Fellow and his own pride made his Superiour But as Wise as Great if we regard the five Politick circumstances 1. The Queen was engaged 2. The People were oppressed 3. The King was needy and covetous 4. The Nobility were kept under 5. The Clergy were harrassed And all by this proud man And at that juncture is he convened before the Parliament and charged home by this excellent Knight who never left him till he was humbled as Justice Fitz-Herbert did not his servants until they were reformed Neither did the Pope escape him abroad better then the Cardinal at home For his next action we finde is a Declaration drawn by him Jo. Fitz-Warren Tho. Audley and Others to Pope Clement the Seventh expostulating his Delays and conjuring his Dispatch in the Business of the Kings Marriage Very serviceable he was to his Master in time of Peace more in time of War and particularly at the Insurrection 1536. where he cut off the Rebels Passes distressed their Arms and when they refused 〈◊〉 Treaty but upon condition that Ashe their Leader was pledged advised an engagement with them out of hand saying No English man should be undervalued so far as to be an Hostage for a Villain and adding further so good was his Intelligence That if they were not defeated speedily the Scots and Germans would discover that they had but too much handâ— in this plot For which his services his Master raised him to the Admiralship of England and the Earldom of Southampton in which Quality he was one of the three Noblemen that managed the Business of Divorce between the King and Anne of Cleve with that applanse that made him Lord Privy-Seal Nov. 14. Anno 1541. and the grand Examinant of the particulars in the Lady Katharin Howard's Case matter of great trust and secrecy which he performed with a searching and deep Judgement beyond that Ladies fear and the Kings expectation as appears from the exact Account given under Sir Tho. Audley and his own hands touching that matter Having provided for the Kings Safety at Home he is One of Four that treat for his Interest Abroad I mean upon the Borders of Scotland where our excellent Persons dexterity was observed in gaining that time by various Proposals for Peace thaâ— served his Master to provide against the War in the beginning whereof the brave Lord died 〈◊〉 York so much esteemed that for the Honour of
his Memory his Standard was born in the Fore-ward all this Expedition A Person in whom Prudence was even with Activity Resolution with Prudence 〈◊〉 Success with Resolution Moderation with Success Honour and Favour with All. Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Darcy SIr Thomas Darcy was one of King Henry the Eighth's first Counsellours so advanced as most of his Fellows not for Affection but Interest owing his Promotion to his own sufficiency rather then his Masters favour His Counsel was weighty at Home his Assistance necessary Abroad where in behalf of Pope Julius the second and the Emperour he did more with 1500 Archers in a year for the ballancing of Europe then had been done before in an Age. No Employment so dangerous at that time as that of the Warden of the West Marches of Scotland none so able for that Employment as my Lord who was equally knowing and stout and at once most feared and most loved The Earl of Shrewsbury made some Inroads into Scotland the Lord Darcy seconds him But being surprized by the Duke of Albany's preparations he had as much Wit to make Peace as he had Resolution to carry on the War None knew better when to yeild none better when to conquer so great a command had he over himself so great over the Enemy that he brought them to request his Wish and offer what was his Interest With the Duke of Surrey's assistance by Land and Fitz-Williams his by Sea he reduced that Nation to a good Inteligence with Us that year and a Peace the next a Peace as he observed that would be no longer kept then we had a Sword in our Hands and an Army on their Borders For Conscience guided other parts of the World he said and Fear Scotland Whence he invaded them duely once a year Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Howard SIr Edward's Brother in Worth as well as Blood His Fathers Interest set him up and his own Industry kept him so All the Children were brought up for Sea-Services this Gentleman for Sea-Commands He immediately succeeds his younger Brother in the Admiralty and wisely considering the advantage of the French Gallies in a calm the number of their ships the danger of their windes for us if they blew Southwest desired of the King so many Souldiers a◠might man the ships and make good the landing wherewith he scoured the seas and secured the Kings passage with so much Honour that he was able to assist his Father at Court as much as Wel 〈…〉 did Fox his Gallantry being no less pleasing to his Master then the other young Favourites Compliance and both these young men had no less Art to govern this Prince then he had to govern his Kingdom These Arts which all other Favourites use being Hopes and Fears which as Doors and Passages to the heart are so guarded by their vigilancy that they can both let themselves in and keep all others out the two Ends upon which the Thread of Government depends His Father is made Duke of Norfolk and he Earl of Surrey both are an eye-sore to the Cardinal whose Fortune had no Superior in the Kings Favour whose Ambition would endure no Equal The Old Mans years and cares are fitted with a Retirement in the Country the Young Mans ambition and activity with a Government in Ireland which he reduced as speedily to obedience notwithstanding Desmond's Rebellion as he had to civility had it not been for Wolsey's Underminings who endured no publick service but what he did himself and would chuse rather that the Kingdom should perish by a Traytor then be saved by a Nobleman Beloved he was by that Countrey where he left a Peace and a Parliament Anno 1521. so that they were loth to part with him Wanted he was by the King to scour the narrow seas for the French War so that he must have him The King had made him formerly His Admiral the Emperour upon his return from England makes him his and with both their Commissions he lands in Normandy wastes the adjacent Countries sparing onely Religious Houses takes and sacks Morlais in Bretaign which he entered under the smoak burns their ships commands the sea and sets the Emperour safe in Spain advising his Majesty from thence to make a general Muster of his Subjects for his own satisfaction and others terrour March 27 1522. The troubles in Scotland required an able Head and a stout Heart two Endowments that no man was more Master of then the Earl of Surrey now Duke of Norfolk upon his beloved Fathers decease whose Prudence toyled the Scots to deliver up their King as his Prowess frighted them to yeild up themselves as they did in that most exquisite Treaty where the Earl of Worcester beat the Bush saith my noble Author and our Duke catched the Hare A while after he is Earl Marshal and Embassador to King Francis about those two grand points 1. That the French King should set up a Patriarch 2. That he should stop up all the payments made to Rome with fair promises of that supply of men and money he then most wanted When the Pope stuck to Queen Katharine three things he advised the King to 1. To teach the people that a general Council was above the Pope and proclaim that he did appeal to it 2. To fix upon every Church-Door the Dowagers Appeal to Rome and the late Statute against it 3. To consederate with the Kings of Hungary and Poland the Estates of the Empire and the Hanse Towns Three things that would settle his People at home and strengthen his Interest abroad To which he added the Statute of Succession the Oath of Supremacy sir Howard's Embassy to the Scotch King the suppression of Religious Houses the War in Ireland under sir William Sheffington and a thorow search into the bottom of the Rebellion in the North by a connivance and delay But all his services could not quit him from suspicion nor his popularity from envy The Lord Darcy accuseth him to excuse himself and Cromwel seconds him to secure himself and as unhappinesses follow one another in the same order as one wave floweth after another his Nieces miscarriages threatned his fall but that the honest man as appears from a Letter the whole Council sent to sir William Paget then resident in France was the first that declared against her and put the King upon the most safe and honourable ways of trying her which satisfied his Majesty so far that he employed him as chief in the Treaty upon the Borders and General in the War when that Treaty failed Sir Anthony Brown upon his Recommendation being added to the Commissioners in Scotland and to the Privy-Council in England as Master of the Kings Horse as Sir John Gages was Comptroller of his House Several Persons came to London for a Reward of their Scotch services this Duke gave the King a wary and grave counsel to bestow upon them as much Land as they could win in
to his honour for when the people talked oddly out of envy to his Daughter now visibly in favour and pity to Queen Katharine Sir Thomas adviseth his Majesty to forbid his Daughter the Court and declare that those proceedings were more to satisfie his Conscience and secure Succession then to gratifie any other more private respect so far to his Daughters discontent that she would not come near the King until her Father was commanded not without threats to bring her thither who by representing the common danger to them both obtained at length saith my Lord Herbert though not without much difficulty the consent of his unwilling Daughter to return where yet she kept that distance that the King might easily perceive how sensible she was of her late dismission Sir Thomas would have married her to the Lord Percy but the King and Cardinal forbad it deterring old Northumberland from it and he his son Many Love-Letters between King Henry and Anne Bolen are sent to Rome one Letter between the Cardinal and his Confederates is fetched thence by Sir Thomas his Dexterity who advised Sir Francis Bryan then Resident to get in with the Popes Closet-keepers Courtezan and shew her the Cardinals hand by which she might finde out and copy his Expresses as she did to his ruine and our Kings great satisfaction To which Letter is annexed a Declaration under his hand and the Lords Darcy Mountjoy Dorset and Norfolk of 44 Articles against the great Cardinal His hand being now in he must through He adviseth the King to consult the Universities of Christendome He goeth in person when made Earl of Wiltshire to the Pope and contrives that a Declaration of the whole Kingdome in Parliament should follow him which so amused his Holiness with our Earls stratagems that he was asleep as it were until the state of England was quite altered To this he addes the peace with France and the interview with King Francis where his Daughter is married privately and her Brother made Viscount Rochford Convening a Parliament to his mind at Black-fryers and advancing an Arch-bishop to his purpose in Canterbury he is secure of the Church and of the Kingdom whereof the first hallowed the action and the second confirmed it Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Howard HE set out with his Fathers Reputation and came home with his own Britain feels his Arm to this day and the French his success Desperate were his Undertakings yet happy rash his Engagements yet honourable it being his Maxime That never did Sea-man good that was not resolute to a degree of madness The French Fleet he pursueth to the Haven under their own Forts closely Sir Edward considering the order wherein the French lay thought fit to advertise his King and Master thereof advising him withal saith my Author to come in person and have the glory of this Action but the Kings Council taking this Message into consideration and conceiving that it was not altogether fear as was thought but stratagem and cunning that made the French thus attend their advantage thought the King was not invited so much to the honour as to the danger of this Action therefore they write sharply to him again commanding him to do his duty whereof that brave person was so sensible that he landed 1500 men in the sight of 10000 and wasted the Country until being too confident he fell a while after into his enemies hands the Lord Ferrers Sir Thomas Cheyney Sir Richard Cornwal and Sir John Wallop looking on but not able to relieve him Four Reasons he would usually give against a War with the Low-Countries 1. The decay of Trade 2. The diminution of Customes 3. The strengthening of France 4. The loss of their industry and inventions and so of the improvement of our Commodities and Manufactures In the youth of this State as of all others Arms did flourish 〈…〉 in the Middle-age of it Learning and in the Declining as Covetousness and Thrift attend Old Age Mechanick Arts and Merchandize and this Gentleman was made for each part being not so much a Souldier as a Scholar not so much a Scholar as a Merchant But a private spirit is most unfortunate and as my Oracle assures me whereof men of that temper all their time sacrifice to themselves they become in the end themselves sacrifices unfortune whose wings they thought by their wisdome to have pinioned Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey SIr Thomas Howard was this Kings prime Counsellour a brave and an understanding man who was obliged to be faithful to his Master because an Enemy to Winchester emulation among Favourites is the security of Princes Four motives he offered for a Marriage with the Princess Katharine 1. A League with Spain against the growing power of our dangerous Neighbour France 2. The saving of much time and expence in Marriage by her being here 3. The consideration of that vast sum of Money that must be exported if she goeth away And 4. The great Obligation laid on the Pope by that Dispensation which would secure to him the King and his Posterity not otherwise Legitimate but by his Authority His Estate was much wasted in the service of Henry the seventh and as much improved by the treasures of Henry the eighth which amounted in the beginning of his Reign to 11800000 l. i. e. at the rate of money now adays six millions and an half which he dispensed so thriftily that old Winchester could not trapan him and yet so nobly that young Henry was pleased with him Sir William Compton set up the Kings Rich Life-guards under Bourchier Earl of Essex as Captain and the valiant Sir Jo. Peachy who kept Calais in so good order with 300 men as Lieutenant but this wary Earl put them down again When News was brought that Empson and Dudley were slain it was this Earls opinion that his Majesty had done more like a good King then a good Master When the narrow Seas whereof the Kings of England have been very tender were infested this old Treasurer and Earl-Marshal cleared it by his two sons Edward and Thomas saying The King of England should not be imprisoned in his Kingdome while either he had an Estate to set up a Ship or a son to command it In three weeks did he settle the North against the Invasions of James the fourth now inclining to the French and in a fortnight did he raise 40000 l. to pay the Army now ready to mutiny insomuch that when King James denounced War against King Henry he said He had an Earl in the North that would secure his Kingdome as he did with much resolution prudence and success at Flodden-Field where he saw a King at his feet and a whole Kingdome at his mercy where he was forced to fight so barren the Country where yet he pitched upon the most advantagious place and time so great his Command of himself and so noble his Conduct He sends Rouge
its Men. He liv'd and di'd in Arms Bulioign saw him first a Souldier and Bulloign saw him last the best Camp-Master in all Christendom always observing three things 1. The Situation of his Camp to secure his Army 2. The Accommodation of it to supply it 3. His Retreat to draw off the Avenues to be guarded with Souldiers and strengthened with Redoubts which he made Triangular that more men might engage the Enemy at once during erection whereof the Army was pallisado'd in the Front with stakes headed with iron on both Ends five foot long and stuck slope-wise into the ground to keep off both Horse and Foot the Foot-Sentinels were without the Redoubts the Horse-Guards beyond them at distance enough to descry the Enemy and not too much to retire to their works A serious and plodding brow bespoke this Noble Knights deep Prudence and a smart look his resolved Valour Observations on the Life of Sir Charles Somerset SIr Charles Somerset afterward Lord Herbert of Gower c. endeared himself to King Henry as much for his Maxime That Reason of State was Reason of Law as for his Advice That the King should never stick at Law in case of Publique God and yet that all his Acts for publique Good should come as near as possible to the Law So Popular was this Gentleman that he received all the Petitions against Empson and Dudley yet so loyal that he advised his Master neither to spare those Leeches lest any should presume to alienat◠his Peoples affections from him by Extortions for the future nor yet too severely to punish them left any should be discouraged to serve the Crow◠for the present for indeed Empson and Dud 〈…〉 suffered for that which others were advanced for◠the Parliament punished them for putting their Laws in execution and the King deserted them for improving his Exchequer to a Treasury Two things this Lord advised his Master to before he put the Crown upon his head 1. To redress the Peoples Grievances under his Father 2. To marry not in France where he had a Title A Kingdom so near us that by reason of mutual jealousies we may have peace with it sometimes but Friendship never In the Houshold he was Lord Chamberlain so discreet his Carriage In the French Expedition Anno 1513. he was General so noble his Conduct His Assistants were the Earls of Northumberland Shrewsbury Kent and Wiltshire his Followers the Lord Audley De la Ware Carew and Curson c. Therouene he besiegeth in good Order and with Welsey's advice who had lived long in that Town understands all the Avenues of it and with Sir Oughtred Sir Henry Guilford Sir Edward Poynings Sir Charles Branden and Sir Baynam's assistance sprung several Mines repulsed the French Relief and the City-Assailants so that the Town was yeilded August 22. 1513. and upon Maximilian's Intreaty razed as he did Tournay September 22. Herbert was for razing this place as farther from us than Therouene but Wolsey for the Bishopricks sake is for the garisoning of it as a Trophy The King recollecting his former occasions Febr. 3. 1514. thought he could not do a more just or a more prudent Act then recompence his Noble Servants but the cheapest way I mean that of Honour as he did old Somerset with the Earldom of Worcester With this Honour at home is joyned another abroad viz. That of Embassie to Maximilian where he reached that Germans depths and clearly demonstrated that those fond and impossible Offers of the Empire were but Artifices rather then Kindnesses to drain the Kings Treasure rather than enlarge his Dominions Advising him to raise a Citadel at Tournay and an Army in Normandy He finished the Espousals between the Princess Mary and the Dolphin and delivered Tournay by the same token that he would not let the Mareschal de Chastilion to enter with Banner displayed but rolled up it being as he said who when Lord Herbert was at the taking of it voluntarily yeilded up and not gotten by Conquest and then bestowed himself with Sir Richard Wingfield for the great enterview between King Francis and King Henry an interview I know not whether more solemn or more dangerous Kings cannot meet without great state and they seldom part without much envy who never are further asunder then when they meet His most eminent Action here was the Device of that Motto Cui adhaereo praeest a Motto that speaks the Honour of England and the Interest of Europe Observations on the Life of Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorset THe Kings Wars called for Souldiers and his Peace for Statesmen and here is a Person ex utroque magnus When the whole design for the Invasion of France was ripened this Marquess is made General and attended by the Lord Thomas Howard the Lords Brook Willoughby and Ferrers with divers Knights Gentlemen and others to the number of ten thousand men armed not onely with Bows but Halberts He distresseth Navar to a submission to his Master forceth his way to Bayon and with Sir John Styles assistance kept up the English Honour above that of France and the Empire keeping close to his Commission and not stirring a foot without express Orders from Ireland although his presence countenanced some actions his hands could not perform Three things he was very careful of 1. Of Good pay lest his Souldiers mutined 2. Of Good Diet and Quarters lest they failed 3. Of Order Discipline and Temperance especially in strange Climates lest they should be distempered Two things he was unsuccessful for 1. The narrowness of his Commission 2. The reach of Ferdinand who designed the conquest of Navar rather than of France Yet what reputation he lost by Land Sir Edward Howard gained by Sea commanding the French ships to their Harbours over-running Britaign and with Sir Tho. Knevet the Master of the Horse Sir Jo. Carew and Sir Guilford's assistance gave Law in the Mediterranean until he awed the Neighbour-Princes to terms as honourable for his Master as dishonourable for themselves now we finde him valiant in earnest at Sea anon so in jest at Court at the solemn Justs proclaimed by Francis de Valois Duke of Angoulesm in France his Nature being not stinted but equally free to debonair and serious Enterprizes of Pleasure or of Honour where six Germans were at his mercy and four Frenchmen at his feet His spirit equalled those active times and his temper his spirit Three things set him up 1. His large expences for shew at Court 2. His strength and manhood at Justs 3. His skill and experience in the Field He was the best for embatteling an Army in those times observing 1. The number strength and experience of his Camp 2. The nature and extent of the place whether champaign or inclosed hilly or plain wooddy or moorish straight or large that he might accordingly dispose of distances and stands 3. Inclosures he aimed at for his Foot and Champaign for his Horse together with the advantages of
us to treat with the World about either discreetly to our happiness or weakly to our ruine It hath repented men that they have spoken at all times it repented none to have been silent in King Henry's when there was no security but to the Reserved and the Pliable Observations on the Life of Sir Anthony Brown HE was always one of the Council to King Henry at home and of his Commissioners abroad no Treaty passing without his presence no Negotiation without his advice the first carrying as much Majesty with it as the second did Authority the Court having bred the one to a noble Mein as Experience had done the other to an Oracle Experience I say whereby he saw more as Alexander boasted with his eye then others comprehended in their thoughts that being knowledge in him that was but conjecture in others He was the best Compound in the World a learned an honest and a travelled man a good Nature a large Soul and a settled Minde made up of Notes and Observations upon the most material points of State he could learn at Courts of Religion among the Clergy of Discipline among Souldiers of Trade among Merchants or of the situation interest avenues and strong holds by his own eyes It 's a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tost upon the sea it 's pleasure to stand in the window of a Castle and to see a Battel with the adventures thereof below but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the Vantground of Truth An Hi 〈…〉 saith my Noble Author not to be commanded and where the air is always clear and serene and to see the Errors and Wandrings the Mists and Tempests in the Vale below That content is better felt then expressed that this Noble Person took in his own clear thoughts when it was Mist all round about him and King Henry cried What say Cromwel and Brown Vespasian asked Apollonius What was Nero's overthrow and he answered him Nero could tune the Hâ—rp well but in Government sometimes he wound the pins too high and sometimes he let them down too low Sir Anthony told Henry the Eighth That his Government had been more easie if he had either set it not so loose at first or not so strict at last as there was indeed no King so various as his Master no State so changeable as his Government An even temper begets aw and reverence whilst the wide extreams create either on the one hand contempt and insolence or on the other discontent and murmuring Haughty and violent Courts never bless the Owners with a settled Peace This deep man was Leiger in Rome six years and Agent in France ten A Person of great dispatch because of an orderly method and procedure which he observed to a superstition saying Time and Method are my Masters There are saith my Oracle three parts of business Preparation Debate and Perfection The middle King Henry communicated to the whole Council the first and last to few viz. to my Lord Cromwel and Sir Anthony Brown The highest matters were his care as the Interview in France 1533. the most eminent Statesmen his fellows as the Duke of Norfolke the Lord Rochfort and the Lord Paulet those Noble Persons bearing the state and he managing the business of the Embassies The wise man of Florence took care that Ferdinando of Naples Medices of Florence Sforza of Millain should gain nothing of one another to the great security of Italy Sir Anthony watched our Neighbours Conquests Trade Approaches c. so closely that none of those Potentates Charles the Fifth or King Francis could win a spot of Ground but his Master would balance it and so secure Europe The Interviews between Princes he disallowed yet to satisfie his Master he provided for that in France so sumptuously as one that understood the formality of a Pageant was a real advantage to a Government whose Interest is as much to gain a reputation by pomp and shew as support a welfare by prudence and strength others apprehension of our greatness contributing as much to our welfare as our welfare it self Opinion governs the World Princes with their Majesty may be oft envied and hated without it they are always scorned and contemned Circumstances are often more then the main and shadows are not always shadows Outward Esteem to a great Person is as skin to Fruit which though a thin cover preserveth it King Henry's Person and State did England more Right in a Year then his Predecessors Arms in an Age while they onely impressed a resolution in the Neighbours he a reverence As Princes govern the People so Reason of State the Princes Spain at that time would command the Sea to keep us from the Indies and our Religion to keep us from a Settlement France suspected our Neighbourhood and engaged Scotland the Pope undermined our Designs and obliged the French Sir Anthony at Rome in respectful terms and under Protestation that his Majesty intended no contempt of the See Apostolick or Holy Church intimated his Masters Appeal to the next General Council lawfully assembled exhibiting also the Authentick Instruments of the same and the Archbishop of Canterbury's at the Consistory where though the Pope made forty French Cardinals yet our Agent and his money made twelve English and taught Francis to assume the power of disposing Monasteries and Benefices as King Henry had done advising him to inform his Subjects clearly of his proceedings and unite with the Princes of the Reformation taking his Parliament and People along with him and by their advice cutting off the Appeals to and Revenues of Rome by visitations c. with a Praemunire together with the Oath of Supremacy and the publication of the prohibited Degrees of Marriage He added in his Expresses That his Majesty should by disguised Envoys divide between the Princes and the Empire The next sight we have of him is in Scotland the French Kings passage to England as he calls it Where in joynt Commission with the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Durham he with his variety of Instructions gained time until the French King was embroyled at home the season of Action was over there and the Duke of Norfolk ready to force that with a War which could not be gained by Treaty Fortune is like the Market where many times if you can stay a little the Price will fall The ripeness and unripeness of the Occasion must be well weighed Watch the beginning of an Action and then speed Two things make a compleat Polititian Secresie in Counsel and Celerity in Execution But our Knights Prudence was not a heavy Wariness or a dull caution as appears by his preferment at Court where he is Master of the Horse and his service in the North where he and the Comptroller Sir Anthony Gage are in the head of 10000 men In both these places his excellence was more in chusing his Officers and Followers then in acting himself His servants were modest
and sober troubling him with nothing but his business and expecting no higher conditions then countenance protection and recommendation and his Retayners peaceable reserved close plain and hopeful the deserving Souldier and the promising were seen often at his gate not in throngs to avoid popularity equal was his favour that none might be insolent and none discontented yet so discreetly dispenced as made the Preferred faithful and the Expectants officious To be ruled by one is soft and obnoxious by many troublesome to be advised by few as he was is safe because as he said in some things out of his element the Vale best discovereth the Hill Although he understood not the main matter of War yet he knew many of its falls and incidents his prudence being as able to lay a stratagem as others experience was to embattail an Army Sir Thomas Wâ—arton Warden of the Marches he commands with 300 men behind an Ambush whither he draws the rash Scots and overthroweth them more with the surprize then his power taking the Lord Admiral Maxwel c. who was committed to his custody and putting that King to so deep a melancholy that he died upon it His death suggests new counsels and Sir Anthony watcheth in Scotland to gain his Daughter for our Prince or at least to prevent the French whom Sir William Paget watcheth there as Sir Ralph Sadler did in Rome and Sir John Wallop at Calais and when that Kings designe was discovered we finde our Knight with Charles Duke of Suffolk Lieutenant-General Henry Fitz-Alan Earl of Arundel Lord General Will. Pawlet Lord St. John Stephen Bishop of Winchester with a rich and strong Army expecting the King before Montrevil which they took with Boâ—logn and forcing the French to a Peace and Submission that secured England and setled Europe Three things facilitate all things 1. Knowledge 2. Temper 3. Time Knowledge our Knight had either of his own or others whom he commanded in what ever he went about laying the ground of matters always down in writing and debating them with his friends before he declared himself in Council A temperance he had that kept him out of the reach of others and brought others within his Time he took always driving never being driven by his business which is rather a huddle then a performance when in haste there was something that all admired and which was more something that all were pleased with in this mans actions The times were dark his carriage so too the Waves were boysterous but he the solid Rock or the well-guided Ship that could go with the Tide He mastered his own passion and others too and both by Time and Opportunity therefore he died with that peace the State wanted and with that universal repute the States-men of those troublesome times enjoyed not By King Henry's Will he got a Legacy of 300 l. for his former Service and the Honour to be of Prince EDWARD's special Council for the future By his Order he had as his share of Abbey-Lands Battle-Abbey in Sussex enjoyed by his Heirs Males in a direct Line to this day And by his Authority he had the Honourable Garter He was the first man that durst bring his Master the sad news That He must die And no wonder he durst it for the next news is That he is dead himself How darest thou to be so plain said Heliogabalus to the Courtier Because I dare die said he I can but die if I am Faithful and I must die though I Flatter The Lord Herbert's Character of Cardinal Wolsey in his Life of Henry the Eighth pag. 314. ANd thus concluded that great Cardinal A man in whom ability of parts and Industry were equally eminent though for being employed wholly in ambitious ways they became dangerous Instruments of power in active and mutable times By these arts yet he found means to govern not onely the chief affairs of this Kingdom but of Europe there being no Potentate which in his turn did not seek to him and as this procured him divers Pensions so when he acquainted the King therewith his manner was so cunningly to disoblige that Prince who did fee him last as he made way thereby oftentimes to receive as much on the other side But not of secular Princes alone but even of the Pope and Clergy of Rome he was no little courted of which therefore he made especial use while he drew them to second him on most occasions His birth being otherwise so obscure and mean as no man had ever stood so single for which reason also his chief indeavour was not to displease any great Person which yet could not secure him against the divers Pretenders of that time For as all things passed through his hands so they who failed in their suits generally hated him All which though it did but exasperate his ill nature yet this good resultance followed that it made him take the more care to be Just whereof also he obtained the reputation in his publick hearing of Causes For as he loved no body so his Reason carried him And thus he was an useful Minister of his King in all points where there was no question of deserving the Roman Church of which at what price soever I finde he was a zealous Servant as hoping thereby to aspire to the Papacy whereof as the factious times then were he seemed more capable then any had he not so immoderately affected it Whereby also it was not hard to judge of his Inclination that Prince who was ablest to help him to this Dignity being ever preferred by him which therefore was the ordinary Bait by which the Emperour and the French King one after the other did catch him And upon these terms he doubted not to convey vast treasures out of this Kingdom especially unto Rome where he had not a few Cardinals at his devotion by whose help though he could not attain that Supreme Dignity he so passionately desired yet he prevailed himself so much of their favour as he got a kinde of absolute power in Spiritual Matters at Home Wherewith again be so served the Kings turn as it made him think the less of using his own Authority One error seemed common to both which was That such a multiplicity of Offices and Places were invested in him For as it drew much envy upon the Cardinal in particular so it derogated no little from the Regal Authority while one man alone seemed to exhaust all Since it becometh Princes to do like good Husband-men when they sow their Grounds which is to scatter and not to throw all in one place He was no great Dissembler for so qualified a Person as ordering his businesses for the most part so cautiously as he got more by keeping his word then by breaking it As for his Learning which was far from exact it consisted chiefly in the subtilties of the Thomists wherewith the King and himself did more often weary then satisfie each other His stile in Missives was
rather copious then eloquent yet ever tending to the point Briefly if it be true as Polydore observes that no man ever did rise with fewer vertues it is true that few that ever fell from so high a place had lesser crimes objected against him Though yet Polydore for being at his first coming into England committed to Prison by him as we have said may be suspected as a partial Author So that in all probability he might have subsisted longer when either his pride and immense wealth had not made him obnoxious and suspected to the King or that other than Women had opposed him Who as they are vigilant and close Enemies so for the most part they carry their businesses in that manner as they leave fewer advantages against themselves then men do In conclusion As 〈…〉 cannot assent to those who thought him happy for enjoying the untimely compassion of the People 〈…〉 little before his end so I cannot but account it 〈…〉 principal Felicity that during his favour with the King all things succeeded better then afterwards though yet it may be doubted whether the Impressions he gave did not occasion dives Irregularities which were observed to follow The Lord Herbert's Character of Cromwel in his Life of Henry the Eighth pag. 462. AND to this end came Cromwel whâ— from being but a Blacksmiths Son found means to travel into forraign Countries to learn their Languages and to see the Wars being a Souldier of Bourbon at the sacking of Rome whence returning he was received into Cardinal Wolsey ' s service To whom he so approued himself by his fidelity and diligence that the King after his fall voluntarily took him for his servant in which place he became a special Instrument for dissolving the Abbeys and other Religious Houses and keeping down the Clergy whom in regard of their Oath to the Pope he usually termed the Kings half Subjects And for expelling the Monks he said it was no more then a restoring them to the first Institution of being lay and labouring persons Neither did 〈…〉 t move him that so much strictness and austerity of Life was enjoyned them in their several Orders since he said they might keep it in any condition But as these Reasons again were not admitted by divers learned and able Persons so he got him many Enemies who at last procured his fall but not before he had obtained successively the Dignities of Master of the Rolls Baron Lord Privy Seal Vicegerent to the King in Spiritualiâ—ies Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex Great Chamberlane of England c. He was much noted in the exercises of his Places of Judicature â—o have used much Moderation and in his greatest pomp to have taken notice and been thankful to mean persons of his old acquaintance and wherein had a Vertue which his Master the Cardinal wanted As for his other descriptions I leave them to be taken out of Cranmers Letter formerly mentioned with some deduction For it seems written to the King in more then Ordinary Favour of his entient Service Archbishop Cranmer's Character of Cromwel in a Letter to King Henry the Eighth WHo cannot be sorrowful and amazed that he should be a Traytor against your Majesty He that was so advanced by your Majesty He whose Surety was onely by your Majesty He who loved your Majest as I ever thought no less then God He who stadied always to set forwards whatsoever was you Majesties will and pleasure He that cared for 〈…〉 mans á spleasure to serve your Majesty He the was such a Servant in my judgement in wisdom diligence faithfulness experience as no Prine in this Realm ever had He that was so vigilant 〈◊〉 preserve your Majesty from all Treasons that f 〈…〉 could be so secretly conceived but he detected the same in the beginning If the Noble Princes of memory King John Henry II. and Richard Ilâ— had had such a Counsellour about them I supposed they should never have been so Traiterously abandoned and overthrown as those good Princes were After which he says again I loved him as my Friend for so I took him to be but I chiefly loved him for the love which I thought I saw him bear ever towards your Grace singularly above all other But now if he be a Traitor I am sorry that ever I loved him or trusted him and I am very glad that his Treason is discovered in time But yet egain I am very sorrowful for who shall your Grace trust hereafter if you might not trust him Alas I bewail and lament your Graces chance herein I wot not whom your Grace may trust But I pray God continually night and day to send such a Counsellour in his place whom your Grace may trust and who for all his Qualities can and will serve your Grace like to him and that will have so much sollicitude and care to preserve your Grace from all dangers as I ever thought he had The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King Edward the VI. Observations on the Lives of the Seymours EDward Seymour and Thomas Seymour both sons of Sir John Seymour of Wolful in Wiltshire I joyn them together because whilst they were united in affection they were invincible but when divided easily overthrown by their enemies EDward Duke of Somerset Lord Protector and Treasurer of England being the elder THomas Seymour the younger brother was made Baron of Sudley brother succeeded to a fair Paternal inheritance He was a valiant Souldier for Land-service fortunate and generally beloved by Martial men He was of an open nature free from jealousie and dissembling affable to all people He married Anne Daughter to Sir Edward Stanhop a Lady of a high minde and haughty undaunted spirit and by Offices and the favours of his Nephew King Edward the sixth obtained a great Estate He was well experienced in Sea-affairs and made Lord Admiral of England He lay at a close posture being of a reserved nature and more cunning in his carriage He married Queen Katherine Parr the Widow of King Henry 8. Very great the Animosities betwixt their Wives the Dutchess refusing to bear the Queens Train and in effect justled with her for precedence so that what betwixt the Train of the Queen and long Gown of the Dutchess they raised so much dust at the Court as at last put out the eyes of both their Husbands and occasioned their Executions Their Sisters Beauty commended them to the Kings favours but a frail support that which is as lasting onely as a Phancy and onely as certain as Passion therefore their Parts recommended them to his service Affection shall lead me to Court but I 'll take care that Interest keeps me there Sir Edward Seymours temper suited with the Kings Inclinations and his spirit with his times both high both stirring In the throng of Courtiers
there are but three steps to raise a man to observation 1. Some peculiar sufficiency 2. Some particular exploit and 3. An especial Friend This Noble Person shewed the first with advantage in that draught of Military Discipline presented to Henry the eighth wherein the embattling is most remarkable viz. Twenty two compleat Companies make up four Squadrons every Squadron of Pikes and Musquets being drawn up apart the Pikes and Colours on the left hand and the Musqueteers on the right These Squadrons make-up a Brigade to be drawn up as followeth viz. Ten Corporalships of Musqueteers being 34 Rots divided into five Plattons every Platton being nine or so in front led by a Major and even division by a sufficient Commander Next after these 36 Rats of Pikes are to follow being twelve Corporalships with their Colours following them till they are drawn up even in from with the 32 Rots of Musqueteers This make the Right Wing of the Brigade 2. The Batter of Pikes moveth forwards in division doing in a◠respects as the former till they range even in front with the Pikes of the Right Wing Then the other 32 Rots of Musqueteers belonging to the middle Squadron who are appointed to make the Battel of the Brigade are led up as the first Musqueteers in all points but at a reasonable distance behind the Pikes of their own Squadrons Then the last Squadron of Pikes marcheth up in all respects observing the same order until they have attained to range in front even with other Pikes This being done the Battel or middle Squadron of Pikes and Musquets advanceth in one body until it 's clear of the Wings Lastly the Surplus of the three Squadrons being 48 Rots of Musqueteers are drawn up behind the Brigade where they are to attend the Commands of their Officers to guard the Baggage or Cannon to be Convoys for Ammunition or Victuals to the rest or continue a reserve to wait upon all occasions 2. Eminent was his ability for this Draught more eminent for his performance agreeable to it in Bretaign where he sate before a Town six weeks to no purpose while it expected relief from Italy but at last he insinuates a jealousie between the Pope and the French King touching that City that obstructed all relief He with as much speed as policy sets upon the two main Sconces for defence of the Town and took them both battering the Town and Castle with that violence and noise that they say it was heard 100 miles off A Train of Powder is laid to blow them up when they should enter but this succeeded not for the French in passing the Ditch had so wet their cloaths that dropping upon the Train the Powder would not take fire and so all things conspiring to crown his Valour with success he takes the Castle first and then dividing the Town and weakning it by several assaults at once brought it to his own terms Here his Valour had been eminent but that his Conduct was more and his Conduct renowned but that his nobleness towards the Conquerour his civility and obligingness towards the Souldiery and his integrity towards all persons had out-done that There are but two things that a subject can honestly oblige his Prince in 1. Keeping his subjects in peace at home 2. Keeping his enemies under abroad 1. Those soft but prudent Acts of Peace 2. Those resolved but well-managed ways of War Sir Thomas wanted neither a resolution for the one nor a temper for the other But sufficiency and merits are neglected things when not befriended Princes are too reserved to be taken with the first appearances of worth unless recommended by tryed judgements it 's fit as well as common that they have their Counsellours for persons as well as things his Sister therefore was married on Whitsunday and he is on the Tuesday following created Viscount Beauchamp But ne 〈…〉 year his Nephew is born the hope and stay of his Majesty and his Realms and he is made Earl 〈◊〉 Hertford King Henry understanding that the Pope upon his own and Cardinal Pool's account stirred up all the Princes of Europe against him as a provident Prince rode himself to the Sea-coasts to see then fortified Admiral Fitz-Williams is old Sir Thomas Seymour assists him to rig the Navy to be in rediness in six days time Sir Edward is to muster the Land-forces and particularly the City of London where were 15000 Armed men ready May 8. in St. Jameses at which place the City seemed 〈◊〉 Camp and the Citizens men not of the Gown but of the Armour Great this Lords interest in and respect with the people as great his brothers with the Sea-men the Multitude would leave all for their good Lord of Hertford and the Sea-men would die with their noble Lord Seymour When the King of Scots had deluded King Henry in his correspondencies with France beyond all patience and had been forborn beyond all safety or prudence Sir Edward Seymour is first sent to treat and then to sight which he did with that success that 300 of his men and a stratagem to possess the Scots with an apprehension that the whole English Army was upon them took and killed 30000 Scots had more prisoners then they could keep more booty then they could dispose of and adding this to their Victory That they broke the Kings heart There was no end to be expected of a War with Seotland but by marrying that Kings Daughter to our Soveraigns Son This Match was my Lord Seymour's interest as well as the Kings his prudence and experience is therefore employed first to perswade it and when that would not do so great and so cross the Papal power there by Cardinal Betons means his Valour and Resolution is sent with 10000 to compel it in order whereunto May 4. landing at Granther Gray he marcheth in order towards Leith which after a defeat given the Cardinal the Earls of Arran Huntley c. by his Harquebusiers they entred and thence proceeded to Edinburgh my Lord Dudley leading the Front our Earl the Battle and the Earl of Shrewsbury the Rereward there the Keys are offered them upon conditions which they refusing and so making the Enemy desperate who resolveth rather to perish nobly then be undone by submission the Town holds out and they are able to do no more with some considerable loss then burn the suburbs waste the Country to an utter desolation for seven miles compass demolish Leith Dunbar c. take all their Ships and Ammunition returning to Berwick with the loss onely of 14 men Two things he was eminent for 1. His Advice that not the least Punctilio of the Law should be neglected whereupon the Earl of Surrey and other Nobility were imprisoned for eating Flesh in Lent A secret and unobserved contempt of the Law is a close undermining of Authority which must be either its self in indulging nothing or be nothing in allowing all Liberty knows no restraint no limit when winked at
upheld by it Clients are more a burden then a strength and when the chief Favourite dares not displease his Soveraign because he is so near him they dare because he is between them and Majesty His Followers were not gaudy to render him suspitious nor discontented to breed ill blood and a misunderstanding nor too open to discover him but deserving to honour him and hopeful to be advanced by him Active men were recommended by him to King Henry's busie Occasions and Vertuous to King Edward's pious Inclinations In his last years he found that there was little love in the World and least of all among Equals and that that which was is between Superiour and Inferiour whose fortune may comprehend the one the other To ease his minde therefore to satisfie his Judgement to observe his oversight he adopted Sir William Cholmley bringing him first to his House and then to his Heart to shew him that impartially which he could not discern in himself There is no such Flatterer as a mans self and there is no such Remedy against Flattery of a mans self as the liberty of a Friend Counsel is of two sorts to go on in my Authors words the one concerning manners the other concerning business for the first the best preservative to keep the minde in health is the faithful admonition of a Friend The calling of a mans self to a stri 〈…〉 account is a medicine sometime too piercing and corr 〈…〉 ding reading good Books of Morality is a little flat and dead observing our faults in others is sometimes improper for our case but the best receipt best I say 〈◊〉 work and best to take is the Admonition of a Friend So much solid Worth he had that he had no use of Ambition so much Modesty that he made little use of his Worth Mean thoughts he entertained of himself and as mean thoughts did he by his down-cast though grave look his sparing though pertinent discourse and his submissive though regardful carriage suggest of himself But 〈◊〉 well-manag'd boldness is the Vertue of Monarchick Courts and a discreet submission that of a Republican no advantagious admission into the one without the first nor safety in the other without the second Here if you are bold you must look for an Ostracism there if you are modest for Neglect Yet a sober and moderate man may be in fashion once in an Age. The Souldier and the Gentleman are the Warlike Princes Darlings Church-men the Religious Physicians the Sickly and Old Scholars the Learned Exchequerers the Poor Covetous or Prodigal Lawyers the Just and They of a Healing Soft and Pliable Temper King James his character and commendation of my Lord Bacon the Settling and the Peaceable such as Edward the VI in whose Reign he was advanced and Queen Elizabeth in whose Reign he was restored It was in pursuance of King Henry's Statute that he closed with King Edward's Will For this Clause he produced for himself Provided That if the Lady Mary do not keep nor perform such Conditions which shall be limited and appointed as aforesaid that then and from thenceforth for lack of Heirs of the Kings Body and the said Lord Prince lawfully begotten the said Imperial Crown and other the Premises shall be come and remain to such Person and Persons and of such Estate and Estates as the Kings Highness by his Letters Patents sealed under His Great Seal or by His last Will in Writing signed with His Hand shall limit and appoint Isocrates was a man of an excellent Wit but finding himself destitute of countenance gesture and confidence he never durst speak in publick contenting himself to teach even to his decrepit days and commonly saying He taught Rhetorique for a thousand Ryals but would give more then ten thousand to him that would teach him confidence This Marquess brought up many a Courtier yet had not the face to be One himself until Queen Elizabeth who balanced her Council in point of Religion in the beginning of her Reign as she did her Court in point of Interest throughout threatned him to the Council-Board first and then to her Cabinet where none more secret to keep counsel none more faithful to give it and more modest to submit A sincere plain direct man not craâ—ty nor involved Observations on the Life of Sir John Cheek SIr John Cheeke born over against the Market Cross in Cambridge became Tutor to King Edward the Sixth and Secretary of State Not so meanly descended as Sir John Heyward pretends who writes him The Son of his own Deserts being a Branch of the Cheeks of Moston in the I 〈…〉 of Wight where their Estate was three hundred pound a year three hundred years ago and no more within this thirty years happy in his Father Mr. Peter Cheeke whose first tuition seasoned him happier in his good Mother that grave Matron whose good counsel and Christian charge when he was going to Court settled him and happiest of all in the place of his birth where he fell from his Mothers Womb to the Muses Lap and learned as soon as he lived being a Scholar sooner then he was a man A German had the care of his younger studies and a Frenchman of his carriage his parts being too large to be confined to the narrowness of English Rules and too sprightly to attend the tediousness and creep by the compass of an English method The same day was he and Mr. Ascham admitted to St. Johns and the same week to Court the one to the Tâ—ition of Edward the Sixth the other of Queen Elizabeth there they Both happy in their Master Doctor Metcalf who though he could not as Theâ—istocles said fiddle yet he could make a little Colledge a great one and breed Scholars though he was none His advice deterred them from the rough Learning of the Modern Schoolmen and their own Genius led them to the more polite studies of the antient Orators and Historians wherein they profited so well that the one was the copious Orator the other the Greek Professor of that University A contest began now between the Introducers of the New and the Defenders of the Old Pronunciation of the Greek the former endeavoured to give each Letter Vowel and Dipâ—thong its full sound whilst Doctor Caius and others of the Old stamp cried out against this Project and the Promoters of it taxing It for novelty and Them for want of experience and affirming Greek it self to be barbarous so clownishly uttered and that neither France Germany nor Italy owned any such Pronunciation John Cheeke and Thomas Smith maintained that this was no Innovation but the antient utterance of Greek most clear and most full Chancellour Gardiner then interposed against the Pronunciation and the Authors of it But custom hath since prevailed for the use of the one and the due commendation of the other Sir Cheeke's Authors were Isocrates and Thucydides his Auditors the youngest that came thither for Language and
Integrity when he could not with a safe conscience keep it he with a contented minde parted with it being honoured with the Barony of Leez and enriched with the Western Abbies it being the Prudence of that time to interest the Nobility in the Papal Revenues that so they might be engaged against the Authority R. Rich Lord Chancellour saith my Author then living in Great St. Bartholomews though outwardly concurring with the rest began now secretly to favour the Duke of Somerset and sent him a Letter therein acquainting him with all passages at the Council-board subscribing the same either out of haste or familiarity with no other Direction save To the Duke enjoyning his servant a new Attendant as newly entred into his Family safely to deliver it The man made more haste then good speed and his Lord wondring at his quick return demanded of him where the Duke was when he delivered him the Letter In the Charter-house said the servant on the same token that he read it at the Window and smiled thereat But the Lord Rich smiled not at the Relation as sadly sensible of the mistake and delivery of the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk no great friend of his and an utter enemy to the Duke of Somerset Wonder not if this Lord rose early up the next morning who may be presumed not to have slept all night He hieth to the Court and having gotten admittance into the Bedchamber before the King was up fell down on his knees and desired that his Old Age might be eased of this burthen some Office pleading that there ought to be some preparatory intervals in States-men between their temporal business and their death in order to which he desired to retire to Essex there to attend his own Devotions Nor would he rise from the ground till the King had granted his Request And thus he saved himself from being stripped by others by first pulling off his own cloaths who otherwise had lost his Chancellours place for revealing the secrets of the Council-board There are few places so impregnable but Nature hath left in them some place or other by which they may be taken none being armed at all points so well but there is some way left whereby he may be surprized He is the strongest that hath fewest accesses He was a wise man that said Delay hath undone many for the other world Haste hath undone more for this Time well managed saves all in both But there is a Wheel in things which undoeth all those that have not a Wheel that answereth it in their Souls I mean a great capacity to comply and close with those grand Vicissitudes that with small and unobserved circumstances turn round the World which this great Man was Master of who had his eye upon the turns flexures and poynts of things and business and his state and interest ready to correspond He knew when to proceed when to make a stand and when to retire It 's said of Grandees That they are the first that finde their own Griefs and the last that finde their faults Our Lord was quick in both and hath taught us this That certainly men of great fortunes are strangers to themselves and while they are in the puzzle of business have no time to tend the welfare either of Body or Soul and that they must withdraw from this world before they retire into another For Illi mors gravis incubat qui notus nimis omnibus ignotus moritur sibi There are no more Remarques of this Noble Personage than that he was the Father of this Apophthegme Well done if warily and Great Grand-father to the present Earl of Warwick Observations on the Life of Sir John Mason HE had his Birth at Abingdon and his Education at Oxford His Birth commended him to All-Souls and his Breeding to the Court His Study was like his Inclination rather active then contemplative his present thoughts foreseeing and providing for his future Employments But Industry and Parts may prepare a man it is opportunity and occasion that must advance him and never had a man fairer opportunity never made a man better use of it None but Mr. Mason would the University pitch upon to complement Henry the Eighth none but Mr. Mason could please him although he was as great a Scholar as he was a King and as much an Humorist as both as he was inclined so he studied as he studied so he writ not with a Pedants impertinence but a Statesmans prudence so elegant was his Latine that a Critick would have advanced him Professor so various his Learning that Cranmer would have preferred him Prebend and yet so grave and wise the matter and composure of his speech that the King designed him a Statesman When King Henry the Eighth came to Oxford Sir John is deputed to congratulate his coming who considering that a man cannot every day speak to Kings contrived saith my Author the matter of his speech most manlike politick and pertinent the phrase of it polite and majestick so that what with his comely presence his becoming carriage his flowing expression his graceful elocution he gained that applause from the Court and University that the one was as eager to have him as the other was loth to part with him the University was proud of him but King Henry commanded him and disposeth of him in forreign parts to adde practi 〈…〉 experience to his speculative studies It was the excellent way of that time to pick out the choice youths of both Universities and maintain then some years abroad to make such Observations as might render them serviceable at home Dwelt with Books he had long enough now he must converse with men and open his recluse and retired soul to a practicable and social temper by debonairness and freedom too long mewed up with study and melancholy Think and speak he could very well already now he must learn to act and live Books furnished Travel must enlarge and settle his soul Four things made a Statesman in those dayes 1. The University and good Letters 2. The City and Converse 3. The Court and Freedom of spirit 4. Travel and Observation It was the politick Discipline of those days to select saith mine Author the pregnancies of either Vniversity and breed them in forreign parts for publick Employments Agreeable whereunto Mr. Mason is sent beyond sea with Instructions to guide him and a Pension to support him With Order 1. To keep exact correspondence with the Secretary at home 2. To entertain 1. the most eminent Scholar who might represent the Church 2. the ripest Undersecretary who might decipher to him the â—tate 3. the ablest Souldier and Seaman that might open to him the Interest of both Nations 3. To take an exact account of the Havens Forts Cities Avenues Passages Ways Treasure and Interest of the place he lives in 4. To follow the respective Embassadors Directions in every Court 5. To appear in each place upon any solemnity Civil
as too much power to be trusted for a mortal man within the known Limits of Law that so Subjects may be at a certainty how to square their Loyalty and Obedience He always upheld that Prerogative saying That the discretion of the Scepter as Guardian for the general good of the Commonwealth must be trusted against all Emergencies with the management of its own might concluding always thus Submission is our Duty and Confidence our Prudence Bishop Bancroft of Oxford said in King Charles the first his time Eâ—â—empore occubui quo mallem Episcopatus rationem coram Deo dare quam Episcopatum coram bominibus exercere Judge Stamford said in Q. Mary's time In quae reservamur tempora det Deus ut Magistratus rationem coram eo reddam potius quam Magistratum coram hominibus exerceam His Book containeth two parts One of The Pleas of the Crown the other of The Kings Prerogative In him saith Mr. Fulbeck there is force and weight and no common kinde of stile in matter very few have gone beyond him in method none have overtaken him in the order of his writing he is smooth yet sharp pleasant yet grave and surely his method may be a Law to the Writers that succeed him Observations on the Life of Sir John Jeffrey SIr Iohn Ieffrey was born in Sussex where he left behind him a fair Estate to his Daughter He so profited in the Study of our Municipal Law that he was preferred secondary Judge of the Common Pleas and thence advanced by Queen Elizabeth in Michaelmas-Term the nineteenth of her Reign to be Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer which place he discharged for the Term of two years to his great commendation He le 〈…〉 one Daughter and Heir married to Sir Edward Montague since Baron of Boughton by whom he had but one Daughter Elizabeth married to Robert Barty Earl of Lindsey Mother to the truly honourable Montague Earl of Lindsey and Lord great Chamberlain of England This worthy Judge died in the 21 of Queen Elizabeth This was he who was called the Plodding Student whose industry perfected Nature and was perfected by experience He read not to argue onely for that is vanity nor to believe and trust for that is easiness nor to discourse for that is idle but to weigh and consider for that is prudence He had his Studies for pleasure and privacy for ornament and converse and for judgement and business To spend too much time on his Book was sloth to talk by Book was affected and to act by it was humoursome and Scholar-like Four things he would say helped him 1. His Inclination It 's a great happiness to a man saith Aristotle when his Calling is one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those things that agree with his nature 2. Method 3. Religion with that just and composed mind that attends it 4. A great happiness in all the four faculties that make a Lawyer 1. A sharp invention and clear apprehension to search all the circumstances of a case propounded 2. Judgement to examine and weigh the particulars invented and apprehended for truth lieth in things as Gold in Mines 3. Memory to retain what is judged and examined 4. A prompt and ready delivery of what is conceived and retained set out with ingenuity and gravity Oratio praesta non audax What he said was close and pinching and not confident and earnest allowing passion not to disturb either the method or delivery of his discourse but to quicken it To speak well and much he said was not the work of one man yet if a Philosopher be eloquent said Cicero we must not despise him if he be not he must not affect it so that he can comprehend in words what he conceiveth and speak them plainly that he may be understood His Latine and French were Grammatical his Rhetorick Natural his Logick Reason The first opened the terms the second pressed the vigour the last collected and disposed of the Axiomes Grounds and Rules of the Law and all prepared him for that comprehensive Profession in the ashes whereof the sparks of all other Sciences were raked up His gesture and habit was grave but not affected speaking as much to the eye as his tongue did to the ear the gesture being a great discoverer of the constitution and a great direction to business what a man misseth in the speech he may sometimes find in the looks His temper was moderate and sober a Vertue and a seasoning of all others attended with the Lawyers gift and that is Patience Modest he was but not fondly bashful his prudence and not his softness His humility begat affableness his affableness society that conference conference parts and they acquaintance and that practice and practice experience experience renown and that preferment Sir John's inclination was studious his minde constant solid and setled and able to dive into the whirl-pools of that intricate and perplexed Faculty his thoughts being orderly and his conceptions methodical his search comprehensive avoiding Epitomes as the banes of Learning Nullus illi per otiam dies exit partem noctium studiis vindicat non vacat semno sed succumbit oculos vigilia fatigatos cadenteque in opere detinet Considerable were the Parts he had but more so the making up of those he had not his covering of his defects being of no less importance then the valuing of good Parts which he did three ways 1. By caution ingeniously and discreetly waving and putting off things improper 2. By colour making his Defects his Vertues and his Faults his Endowments And 3. By that freedom of Spirit that daunts the weakest and prevaileth with the wisest He proposed to himself five things to enquire into in order to that compleatness he arrived unto 1. The ancient Maximes and Principles or the more ancient Customs that make up the Common Law of England 2. The Acts and Constitutions that make up its Statute-Law 3. The particular Priviledges Liberties Immunities and Usages of Counties Burroughs Cities c. that doe swerve from this Law 4. The ancient Grounds and Reasons as far as History can direct of all these our Law being an exact Reason 5. The most satisfactory explanations of the Law 1. From Commentaries as Bractons 2. Abridgements as Stathams 3. History as the years and terms of the Common Law And 4. From more particular Tracts that handled their peculiar subjects as Fortescue Glanvil Britton Fleta Littleton which he thought not unprofitable to read though dangerous to rely upon with the Lord Cooke not liking those that stuff their mindes with wandering and masterless reports For as he said they shall find them too soon to lead them to error Beginning with the terms of Art and then to the matter perusing what is antiquated and observing what is suitable to the present constitution and complexion It 's my Lord Cook 's Rule That for the most part the latter Judgements and Resolutions are the surest and therefore
fittest to season a man withal in the beginning both for settling of his Judgement and retaining them in memory yet as he goeth on out of the old fieldâ— must spring and grow the new Corn. Our Lawyers course was slow and leisurely his reading digested and deliberate His considerations wary and distrust his way to knowledge He that begins with certainties ends in doubts and he that begins with doubts ends in certainties and looketh into the bottom of things Upon serious and solid Books he bestowed a double reading the one cursorily by way of preparation and the other exact by way of digestion Three things made him a Pleader 1. Reading 2. Observation 3. Exercise And indeed in ancient times the Sergeants and Apprentices of Law did draw their own pleadings which made them good Pleaders He observed the affections the intent the analogy the validity of the Law putting all his reading to writing having the places he was most to handle in all the variety that could be with his Rules and Maximes as far as reading hearing meditation conference and memory could help him Thus his first thoughts were upon his Profession until that advanced him to the highest Eminence and his last upon his Interest until that was improved to as much fortune as lieth in a well-laid Estate and Alliance The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of King Edward the Sixth THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of Queen MARY Observations on the Life of Sir William Cordel SIr William Cordel where-ever he was born had a fair Estate at Long-Melford in Suffolk and lieth buried in that fair Church under a decent Monument We will translate his Epitaph which will perfectly acquaint us with the great Offices he had and good Offices he did to Posterity Hic Gulielmus babet requiem Cordelliae avito Stemmate qui clarius clarior ingenio Hic Studiis primos consumpsit fortiter annos Mox causarum strenuus actor erat Tanta illi doctrina inerat facundia tanta Vt Parlamenta publica lingua foret Postea factus Eques Reginae arcana Mariae Consilia Fatriae grande subibat opus Factus est Custos Rotulorum urgente senecta In Christo moriens caepit ad astra viam Pauperibus largus victum vestemque ministrans In super Hospitii condidit ille domum He was made Master of the Rolls November the fifth in the fifth of Queen Mary continuing therein till the day of his death the 23 of Queen Elizabeth Eight weeks and upwards passed between the Proclaiming of Queen Mary and the first Parliament by her assembled during which time two Religions were together set on foot Protestantism and Popery the former hoping to be continued the latter labouring to be restored And as the Jews Children after the Captivity spake a middle Language betwixt Hebrew and Ashdod so during the foresaid Interim the Churches and Chappels in England had a mixt celebration of their Divine Service between Reformation and Superstition The same day there was a Mass sung for Edward the Sixth's soul in the Tower and the English Service for his Burial in Westminster No small justling was there between the zealous Promoters of these contrary Perswasions The Protestants had the Law on their side and the Papists the Prerogative These the Queens Opinion the other her Promise Besides seeing by the Fidelity of the Suffolk and Norfolk Protestant Gentry the Queen was much advantaged for the Recovery of her Right they conceived it but reason that as she by them regained the Crown so they under her should enjoy their Consciences Thus it is in the Evening Twilight wherein Light and Darkness at first may seem very equally matched but the later in a little time doth wholly prevail The Catholick canvass for the next Parliament upon the Queens credit and authority the Reformed upon the Nations Inclination The Body of the Kingdom meets and chuseth our Knight for Speaker whose temper was a Representative of the Parliament as that is of the Kingdom A temper made up of an equal mixture of Loyalty and Piety that could at once stand to their Religion and submit to their Soveraign Render to Caesar what was Caesars and to God what was Gods Long did he expect that the Queen would comply with the Parliament and as long did she stay for their compliance with her Unite they could not unanimously among themselves dissolved they are therefore peaceably by her But Cordel was too Popular to be neglected and too honest to be corrupted Useful Parts will finde Preferment even when the Dissenting Judgement findes not Favour The Speaker of the unhappily healing Parliament was made Master of the Rolls in Queen Maries days and of a more happily healing one was made so in Charles the Second's Reign The one was of that Primitive Faith that was before the Modern names of Papists and Protestants the other of a Moderation that was elder then the new Heatâ— of Disciplinarians and Anti-Disciplinarians The miscarriages of Authority are chiefly six 1. Delâ—y 2. Faction 3. Roughness 4. Corruption 5. Ambition And 6. Private Designs No delay hindered where set times of hearing were observed access was easie the order and method of business uninterrupted No corruption where there durst be no suspition of it insomuch as that it was as 〈…〉 einous to offer a Bribe to him as to 〈◊〉 it in another Here was severity that awed men to a discontent but no austerity that sowred them to discontent all was smooth and grave pleasing and becoming yet nothing easie or soft it being worse to yeild to importunities that are dayly then to be bought with money which comes but seldom Vertue in Ambition is violent but in Authority is here it was calm and settled He sided with no Faction in his rise but balanced himself by all He had no design when he lived but to be spent in the â—ublique Service and none when he died but to spend himself in publick charity a charity that is at once the continued blessing and grace of that worshipful Family Cato Major would say That wise men learn more of fâ—â—ls then fools do of wise men And King Charles the first would say That it was wisdome in fools to jest with wise men but madness for wise men to jest with fools â—nd Sir William Cordel bequeathed us this Observation There is no man that talks but I may gain by him and none that holds his tongue but I may loose by him Observations on the Life of Sir Anthony Cooke SIr Anthony Cooke great Grandchilde to Sir Thomas Cooke Lord Mayor of London was born at Giddy-Hall in Essex where he finished a fair House begun by his great Grandfather as appeareth by this Inscription on the Frontispice thereof Aedibus his frontem Proavus Thomas dedit olim Addidit Antoni caetera sera manus He was one of the Governours to King
The slie shifters that as that Chancellour observed pervert the plain and direst courses of Courts and bring Justice into oblique Lines and Labyrinths 3. Those that engaged Courts in quarrels of Jurisdiction 4. Those that made suits 5. Those that hunted men upon Poenal Statutes 6. Those that appeared in most Testimonies and Juries His Darling was The honest Clerk who was experienced in his place obliging in his carriage knowing in Presidents cautious in Proceedings and skilful in the affairs of the Court. Two things he promoted in King Henry's days 1. The Law against Gaming And 2. The Order against Stews And two in King Edward's 1. That Act against spreading of Prophecies 2. That Statute against embasing of Coyn. But King Edward's Testament and the Duke 〈◊〉 Northumberland's Will is to be made The piou 〈…〉 Intentions of that King wishing well to the Reformation the Religion of Queen Mary obnoxious to exception the ambition of Northumberland who would do what he lifted the weakness of Suffol 〈…〉 who would be done with as the other pleased the flattery of the Courtiers most willing to comply designed the Crown for the Lady Jane Grey Mr. Cecil is sent for to London to furnish that Will with Reason of State and Sir Edward to Sergeants In◠to make it up with Law He according to the Letter sent him went with Sir Jo. Baker Justice Bromley the Attorney and Solicitor-General to Greenwich where his Majesty before the Marquess of Northampton declaring himself for the settlement of Religion and against the succession of Queen Mary offered them a Bill of Articles to make a Book of which they notwithstanding the Kings Charge and the reiteration of it by Sir William Peter declared upon mature consideration they could not do without involving themselves and the Lords of the Council in High I reason because of the Statutes of Succession The Duke of Northumberland hearing of their Declaration by the Lord Admiral comes to the Council-Chamber all in a rage trembling for anger calling Sir Edward Traytor and saying He would fight in his shirt with any man in that Quarrel The old man is charged by the King upon his Allegiance and the Council upon his Life to make the Book which he did when they promised it should be ratified in Parliament Here was his obedience not his invention not to devise but draw things up according to the Articles tendred unto him Since shame is that which ambitious Nature abhorreth and danger is that which timorous Nature declineth the honest man must be resolute Sir Nathaniel Brent would say A Coward cannot be an honest man and it seems by this Action that modesty and fear are great temptations Give me those four great Vertues that make a man 1. A clear Innocence 2. A comprehensive Knowledge 3. A well-weighed experience And 4. The product of all these A steady Resolution What a Skein of Ruffled Silk saith the ingenious Resolver is the incomposed man Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Fines EDward Fines Lord Clinton Knight of the Garter was Lord Admiral of England for more then thirty years He was wise valiant and very fortunate as appears by his Master-piece in Museleborough-field in the reign of King Edward the sixth and the Battle against the Scots He was afterwards created Earl of Lincoln where he was born May 4. 1474. and where he had a proportionable Estate to support his Dignity which he much increased beside his Paternal Inheritance He died January 16. 1558. and lieth buried at Windsor in a private Chappel under a stately Monument which Elizabeth his third Wise Daughter to the Earl of Kildare erected in his remembrance His Fortune made him a younger Brother and his Industry an Heir coming to Court where they that have Estates spend them and they that have none gain them His recreation was at Court but his business in the Country where notwithstanding the Statute in Henry the sevenths time against Pasturage for Tillage he Grazed 11000 Acres of Ground then a noble and gaining Employment that advanced many a Family in one Generation and now a saving one that hath kept up as many ten The best tempered Swords will bend any way and the best metalled men will comply with any occasion At White-hall none more affable and courteous then our Lord at Sea none more skilful in the field none more resolute in the Country none more thristy and hospitable His Entertainments were orderly and suitable made up of solid particulars all growing upon his own Estate King Charles would say Every man hath his vanity and mine speaking of the Soveraign is Building Every man hath his humour and mine said he speaking of the Fens is Drayning Adding withal He that would be merry for a day let him be trimmed he that would be merry for a week let him marry he that would be merry for a year let him build he that would be merry for Ages let him improve Now you would have him among his Workmen and Stewards in Lincoln anon among the Commissioners either in France or Scotland by and by before Bulloign or Calice and a while after at Spieres or Muscleborough and on a suddain at a Mask in Court. Neither was his Soul less pliable to persons then things as boysterously active as King Henry could expect as piously meek as King Edward could wish as warily zealous as Queen Mary's times required and as piercingly observant as Queen Elizabeths perplexed occasions demanded It was by him and my Lord Bacon said of business That it was in business as it is in ways that the next and the nearest way is commonly the foulest and that if a man will go the fairest way he must go somewhat about Sitting in a Committee about invading Scotland whereof Sir Anthony Brown then Viscount Mountacute presented a Draught there arose as great a debate between him and my Lord in Council as afterwards in the Field about the point of Entrance Nay said my Lord in the heat of the Discourse with as much power on others passions as command over his own We stand quarrelling here how we shall get in but here is no discourse how we shall get out It 's a Rule Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his person that doth induce contempt hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn either by vertue or malice And my Lord having some disadvantage from Nature made it up by Art None more bold none more industrious and more successful because that disadvantage took off envy on the one hand and jealousie on the other so that upon the matter in a great Wit Contempt is a great advantage to rising Judge Brooke had a Project against Usury which came up to the Lords House this rich Peer upon the first motion of it stands up and saith Shew me a State without Usury and I 'll shew you a State without Men and Trade Rich he was for expence and expend he did upon
John had a moving beauty that waited on his whole Body as that standing one doth upon the Face and Complexion Such a grace and comeliness waited on his Noble Meen as exacted a liking if not a love from all that beheld him A midling Clarity and quickness is best in Wine that is neither too thick upon the Lees nor yet too quick our Knights comportment and carriage was neither dull nor vapouring neither gross nor affected but of a becoming temper at equal distance with the Clown and the Pedant what 's contemptible and what 's invidious 3. But both these were set off with his Person of a middle stature neither tall to a formidableness nor short to a contempt straight and proportioned vigorous and active with that pure blood and spirits that flowed and flowred within his swelling Veins and disposed him to those natural and innocent those manly and noble Exercises of Dancing c. Dancing I say which he was not exquisite in for that is vanity nor ignorant of for that 's meanness but a graceful exercise wherein he was carelesly easie as if it were rather natural motion then curious and artificial practising which endeared his severer Vertues to that place where the worth that riseth must be complaisant and pleasing as well as serviceable and useful But the favour which proceeds from personal grace and comeliness although it seem to be doubly united yet it is that which is soonest dissolved and dissipated there being nothing so inconstant as mens humours which not onely change through Ages but also by some small occasion or accident which may arise Sir John therefore brought himself into Court by what humoured but kept himself in there by those things that did oblige him and stood not upon his Majesties pleasure but his Interest adding to his more aiery Courtships more solid Employments From the softer Court therefore we must follow him to the Camp and that before Terwyn where we finde him daring and active 1. In skirmishing the French every day 2. In recovering the red Gun overthrown in a Lane from 10000 French under the Earl St. Paul as General with 250 resolute Reformades under himself but Captain although he was once taken Prisoner as before Calice where he redeemed himself from the Officer that had taken him for 250 Crowns on condition he would conduct him safe from the French Quarter as the man did until they were gone so far that Sir John takes him Prisoner compelling him to the Reimbursement of his money with 200 Crowns more to be bestowed on the Common Souldiers As severely active was he at the siege of Tournay as the oldest Souldier and yet as innocently pleasant at the Mask there as the youngest Courtier One of the sixty he was that went with the King to cut off the Passage between that City and the Army and one of the eleven that went with his Majesty to entertain the Ladies at Lisle From serving one King in France he had the honour as it was thought to kill another in England I mean James of Scotland and challenge a third in Paris The same thing raised him that advanced Wolsey for he being sent to Maximilian after Treasurer Napbant had brought him to Court dispatched his business so soon that the King chid him for not being gone when he was returned and withal asked him Whether he had seen the Post that he had sent after him about a circumstance that had escaped him He answered He met him in his return but he had presumed to adde that particular of his his own head for which he asked his Majesties pardon and had his favour too for the Deanery of Lincoln and the Almonership Sir John was commanded with 1500 men to cut off the Convoy to Terwyn which he performed with that speed and success that when the King saw him he said I I Sir John while we are fooling the Town is relieved So it is indeed said he for I have sent them 2000 Carcases and they have spared me 1200 Wagons of Provision I but said the King I sent after you to cut off the Bridge Dreban That replyed the Knight was the first thing I did wherefore I am upon my knees for your Majesties grace and pardon Nay then said the King by Lady thou hast not my pardon but my favour too He is the man for a Princes service whose minde is present and prudence is ready to meet with suddain occasions and accommodate unexpected emergencies The first effect of that favour was his Nomination for one of the sixteen that answered the French Challenge at the Lady Mary's Marriage at Paris November 7 1513. which shewed his man-hood and how valiant he was The second was that he was one of the Forty five that were to be about his Majesty at the instant of his Interview with the King of France at Guisnes which was an Argument of his presence and how goodly a man he was The third was that he was one of the Twenty two that with the Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral and Sir William Fitz-Williams Vice-Admiral proposed that secret and therefore successful Designe upon Britain under pretence of Scowring the Narrow Seas for now he is as good in the Sea as he had been in the Field for which he and eight more of his fellow-Captains Sir Joh. Cornwallis c. are Knighted by the aforesaid Lord Admiral which speaks him a Sea-man and indeed one of a general capacity The fourth was the great Trust his Majesty reposed in him when he was sent in disguise to widen the difference that was newly broken out between the Duke of Bourbon the High Constable of France and the French King which he managed so well that the discontented Duke declares for the Emperour and the King of England to the great encouragement of the English the satisfaction of his Majesty and the success of his Designe upon Anchor Boungard Bray and other places where Sir John shewed himself as active now as he was before cunning as much surpassing the French Spirit in action as he had over-reached their Prudence in Negotiation But in vain was it to serve that King unless a man obliged the Cardinal he that courts the Virgin Mary must not neglect her little Saints him he attended in his second Journey to France first to honour and then to serve him And now after his decease when King Henry had done the work of mercy which was most proper for himself as being most popular upon the Lincolnshire Rebels he deputed the Duke of Suffolk Sir Francis Briâ—ns and Sir John Russel to perform that of Justice which is most distastful wherein yet he behaves himself with that exactness that the Country was very well pleased and the King as well satisfied insomuch that we finde our Knight now called from a Commander in the Field to be Controller at Court where he managed his Masters Expences thriftily reduced his Family discreetly reformed his followers effectually and filled up his
might surprize the Interval between the dissolution of the old and the erection of this new Foundation civilly declined the motion informing his Grace That the way to advance the study of the Law was by promoting the present Professors of that Faculty now so generally discouraged and not by founding a new Colledge for the future Students thereof seeing Trinity-Hall alone could breed more Civilians then all England did prefer according to their deserts Observations on the Life of Sir William Herbert HIs Family had not endeared its self to the antient Kings by its service nor his Grand-father himself to King Henry the Seventh by his Relation more then He did Himself to King Henry the Eighth by his Merit He was a great Pattern of antient Vertue that in the greatest Fortune enjoyed the least Liberty Vigilant and careful One whose Power was attended with Sollicitude there was an Eye in the ancient Scepters and his Sollicitude with Temperance he that commands himself commands the World too While some mens imprudent integrity can do no harm and others base cunning can do no good Sir William's Prudence and Integrity was equally able for both as there was occasion Very close and successful were his and my Lord Sheffield's Negotiations abroad Very resolute and manly his Conduct at home He was one of the twenty four Counsellours to Henry the Eighth while he lived and one of the sixteen Executors of his Will when he died All great Undertakers must avoid softness and effeminacie the bane of great Natures and Actions For where there is love and pleasure there is fear and where there is fear there is that which enchains Generosity and confines Courage He had his double Diary the first for Actions the second for Observations upon them And indeed his and Sir William Kingston's Manuscripts give a great light to the History of those times In which Diary we finde what actions he did against the Scots by constant alarms with three thousand Welch and what against Ket's Rebels by notable stratagems with two thousand The man is compleat that hath a Head and a Heart As to the Faction in King Edward's time he would not concern himself looking on accusations in a Commonwealth as great advantages to check ambition and vent discontent that the one may not aspire too dangerously nor the other break out too irregularly And as little concern'd was he in King Edward's Will his business being rather obeying the Soveraign that was then determining who should be He was a throughly advised man one that gazed not on the issues but enquired into the reasons and springs of Actions Very useful he was in Queen Mary's Council and no less in King philip's War where he got St. Quintin for him and a lasting Renown for himself who died in Queen Elizabeth's time and left this plain Character behinde That he was a noble Gentleman of a trusty a free and an open Nature Observations on the Lives of Sir Tho. Mannors and Sir Ralph Euers IJoyn them both in my Observations because they agreed both in their dispositions 1. Both Nobly Religious and so blessed themselves and being a blessing unto others Their Religion was attended with Magnanimity Constancy Wisdom Prudence Valour and Counsel as the Products of it and with Success as the Issue 2. Both famous and renowned having Honour as the shadow doth the Sun going before them in their younger years to make their way to action keeping even with them in their middle age to countenance and credit their proceedings and following them in old Age to eternize and embalm them Both making their way to Honour as Agesilaus in Plutarch or Epictetus in Strabo by saying what was well and doing what was better or with Socrates by being what they appeared and appearing no more then they were Vertue though obscure may satisfie me it must be renowned or it cannot serve others But action is the life of things and good dispositions are rather a mans Inclinations than his Vertue Both therefore were in their Courage regular in their Conduct observant in their Addresses obliging in their Passions even in their Enjoyments severe and in their Services equal Sir Thomas Mannors first weakened the Northern Rebels by such discreet Propositions as met with many of their Humours and Interests and then resolved to engage them but that the little Brook Dun swelled miraculously to a River between both Armies And at the same time Sir Ralph Euers held Scarborough-Castle where he had no Souldiers but his own Servants nor any sustenance for twenty days but bread and water For this service he is made Lord Warden of the Marches as Sir Thomas is Lord Governour of the North. Both did his Majesty as much service in Peace for his Revenue as in War for his Security Both against the Cardinal's way of raising Money which was but the relieving of a present need by laying the foundation of a lasting inconvenience being very careful that their Master did not lose in the president what he gained in the money Observations on the Life of Sir John Baker THere is one of this Name remarqueable in every Kings Reign since the Conquest here is one now renowned in this 1. For Integrity to be neither awed nor corrupted 2. For a Spirit publick as Nature neither moved with particular respects nor terminated in a private Design The French were so insolent in London the eighth year of Henry the Eighth that when one Williamson a Carpenter was about to pay for two Pigeons he bought a Frenchman takes them out of his hand saying They were no meat for Carpenters but for my Lord Embassadour who concerned himself so much in the case that he had Williamson imprisoned Sir John sued to the Embassador for the man who answered That the English Knave deserved to be banged for denying any thing to a Frenchman Whereupon Sir John replied You know not that you are in London A notable reply considering that the City was up next day against Strangers in so desperate a tumult that none could suppress but Sir Thomas More and none settle but Sir William Kingston and Sir John Baker No sooner had he allayed the disorder at home but he with the Bishop of St Asaph are sent to appease a Rebellion abroad I mean in Denmark though in vain when the Kings cruelty exceeded their apology and ruine was more elegible with that people then duty or obedience Where he observed these six Maximes in order to a newly-conquer'd-Kingdom 1. That the Royal Line should be extinguished 2. That the old Customs in Laws and Taxes should be observed 3. The Prince must be there to observe their humours in person 4. That the Officers be moderate and honest 5. That there be Colonies planted in one or two places that are the Keys of the State 6. That the Neighbours should be weakened and divided and the In-land Forts demolished As he would have composed the troubles of forreign Princes so he served the
of a strong and valiant Knight and a greater of being overthrown by his Majesty Having engaged his Majesties Person at home he had the Honour to represent it abroad where his Commission was to complement the French King about his Liberty but his Business to observe the state of that place Where he saw that a Kingdom governed by a Prince who hath under him other independent Lords as that of France is no longer safe than those Lords are either in Humour or in Purse being always in danger either from their discontent or corruption 2. That Faction is always eager while Duty is modest and temperate This Occasion ennobled his Vertue and his Vertue improved the Occasion so well that I finde him so eminent a Parliament-man the 22th of King Henry that as Sir Brian Tuke had the Honour to open the several Boxes sent from the respective Universities with their opinions about the Kings Divorce so Sir Thomas had the happiness in a set Speech to insist upon them all in general and every one in particular And at Queen Anne's Coronation my Lord Vaux Sir John Mordant Sir Thomas and ten more are made Knights of the Bath Having acquitted himself Nobly in Court and Council he attends the Earl of Hertford against the Scots as Commissary and Sir John Wallop with Sir John Rainsford as Marshal for his Services in both which capacities he is made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in England and with the Comptroller Sir John Gage made Field-Marshal and Treasurer of the Army before Bulloign And not long after Treasurer of the Houshold and one of the Assistants for the Over-seeing of King Henry's Will When some were joyning Others with the Protector others for limiting him Sir Thomas would say That as Machiavel saith No Laws so No good could be done by a Governour that was not absolute without either a Restraint or a Competitor Upon the Reformation he would say That the disestcem of Religious Ceremonies argued the decay of the Civil Government good Princes have first kept their People Religious and thereby Vertuous and united both old and new Rome stand by this In a word what makes all men made him A generous industry of Minde and a well-set hardiness of Body which were attended while he lived with Honour and Success and since he is dead with Repute and Renown Where eminent and well-born Persons out of a habit of sloath and laziness neglect at once the Noblest way of employing their times and the fairest occasions of advancing their fortunes that State though never so flourishing and glorious wants something of being compleatly happy As soon as ever therefore the Kingdom is settled sedate times are the best to improve a Commonwealth as his quiet hours are the best to improve a man he and Sir William Howard addressed themselves as vigorously to the opening of Commerce and Traffick for the enriching of this Nation as they had before to the exercise of Arms to secure it Pursuing the Designe with Resolution and keeping the frame of it in order with Industry their constant Spirit surmounting all Difficulties that stood in the way of their own Glory or their Countrey 's Happiness working so well upon the Russians that they not onely obtained their Desire but gained so far upon the Affections of that People that they obtained the greatest Priviledges any Tradesmen ever enjoyed in Muscovy which the Russians were not easier in the promise of then just in the execution of that promise So that that Trade is advanced not onely beyond our hopes but our very pretences too by those three Particulars that never fail of success 1. Union 2. Conduct 3. Courage in enterprizes vigorously begun and watchfully pursued Until Queen ELIZABETH concerned her self so far in the Undertaking as to influence it with a Character peculiar to the Dignity of such a Constitution which carried that Commerce higher then Others could raise their Imaginations as we see whose profit by it is as remarqueable in this Age as their zeal for it was in the last When Fear and Distrust those ignoble Passions that disparage all great Undertakings which judged that Design a Piece of extravagant Folly seeth it now an Act of profound Wisdom especially when it may be improved under CHARLES the Second and the Great a Prince who by admirable order of his conduct the just administration of his Revenue and by his fatherly goodness towards his people hath put himself into a condition to undertake without fear whatsoever may be put in execution with Honour or Justice The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Mary THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of Queen Elizabeth Observations on the Life of Sir Nicholas Bacon SIr Nicholas Bacon a man full of wit and wisdome was a Gentleman and a man of Law and of great knowledge therein whereby together with his other parts of Learning and Dexterity he was prompted to be Keeper of the Great Seal and being kin to the Treasurer Burleigh was brought by his help into the Queens favour This Gentleman understood his Mistress well and the times better He could raise Factions to serve the one and allay them to suit the others He had the deepest reach into Affairs of any man that was at the Council-table the knottiest Head to pierce into difficulties the most comprehensive Judgement to surround the Merit of a Cause the strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a Business to one View the greatest patience to debate and consider for it was he that first said Let us stay a little and we will have done the sooner and the clearest reason to urge any thing that came in his way in Court or Chancery His favour was eminent with his Mistress and his Alliance strong with her States-men No man served his Soveraign more faithfully none secured himself more wisely Leicester seemed wiser then he was Bacon was wiser then he seemed to be Hunsdon neither was nor seemed wise Much Learning my Lord Bacon gained in Bennets Colledge in Cambridge more Experience in Paris of France His Dexterity and Dispatch advanced him to the Court of Wards his deep Experience made him Lord Keeper Alliance was the Policy of that time Bacon and Cecil married two Sisters Walsingham and Mildmay two more Knowles Essex and Leicester were linked the prudent Queen having all her Favourites Relations and Dependencies in her eye and disposing of them according to their several Interests Great was this States-mans Wit greater the Fame of it which as he would say being nothing made all things For Report though but Fancy begets Opinion and Opinion begets Substance He was the exactest man to draw up a Law in Council and the most discreet to execute it in Court When others urged the repeal of that Act whereby Queen Elizabeth was declared Illegitimate he rather suppressed it chusing the closure of a festered Wound more
all their Designes and freed him from the mischief projected against him Great was the value the Queen set upon him as her ablest Minister of State for coming once to visit him being sick of the Gout at Burleigh-house in the Strand and being much heightned with her Head-attire then in fashion the Lords servant who conducted her through the door said May your Highness be pleased to stoop The Queen returned For your Masters sake I will stoop but not for the King of Spain She would make him always sit down in her presence saying My Lord we make use of you not for your bad Legs but your good Head He was a good friend to the Church as then established by Law advising his son Thomas never to build a great House or bestow any great charge upon an Impropriation as fearing the foundation might fail hereafter yet conniving at sober Non-conformists to strengthen the foundation at present he checked the forwardness of private men and advanced the honour of the publick Establishment on all hands Good my Lord saith he in his Letter to Archbishop Whitgift in the behalf of some squeamish Ministers bear with my scribbling I write with the testimony of a good Conscience I desire the peace of the Church I desire concord and unity in the exercise of our Religion I fear no sensual or wilful Recusant I would not make Offenders neither would I protect them And I pray your Grace bear this and perchance a fault and yet I have sharply admonished them that if they will be Disturbers in their Churches they must be corrected and yet upon your Graces answer to me Ne sutor ultra Crepidam neither will I put Falcem in alterius Messem Was his Chaplain Traverse his hand in all this And then again If I had known his fault saith he of Brown I might be blamed for Writing for him Thus he carried matters without passion and prejudice prudently as became so great a States-man He was not rigid yet he was careful He would help the good-natured yet punish the stubborn He would rather be where nothing is lawful then where all things are so He would never skrue up the Law to the pitch of cruelty nor unloose it to the remissness of Libertinism He was no less honourable a Patron of the University then he was a faithful Son of the Church the Church strengtheneth the State and the Universities furnish both particularly in the case of Rent-corn which saith my Author first grew in Sir Thomas Smiths head yet was ripened by Burleighs assistance whereby though the Rents of the Colledges stand still their Revenues increase He was not surer of all Church-men and Scholars by his Obligations upon them then he was of all by his complaisance and pleasantness None more grave then he in Publick none more free in Private especially at his Table where he drew something out of his heaviest guests having an admirable Dexterity in reading and observing men their own occasional openings in common discourse there being more hold to be taken of a few words casually uttered then of set solemn Speeches which rather shew mens Arts then their Natures as indited rather of their brains then hearts His power awed many his conversation obliged more He had his hour to put on his Gown and his hour to put it off When he would say Lie thou there Lord Treasurer and bidding Adieu to all State-affairs he disposed himself to his quiet and rest He laid the Designes of War by his own Theory and his friends Intelligence yet he advised peace and died before the Question was determined Whether a War with Spain Others understood the Nature of War but he onely the Expediency and Conveniency If War was necessary none more forward to promote it none more careful to maintain it knowing that in vain do the brows beat the eyes sparkle the tongue threaten the fist bend and the arm strike if the belly be not fed and the back cloathed and indeed this was his Master-piece that the Queen vying Gold and Silver with the King of Spain had Money or Credit when the other had neither Her Exchequer saith my Author though but a Pond in comparison holding water when his River fed with a Spring from the Indies was dreined dry It was with his advice that that Queen paid her Obligations in Preferments rather then Money giving away not above two Largesses of that nature in her life In a word when others set in a Cloud he shined clear to his last He saw Essex dead Leicester slighted Mountjoy discountenanced and what with the Queens constant favour which lodged where it lighted and his own temper and moderation when more violent men failed he died as great a Favourite as he lived leaving his son Thomas so much Estate as advanced him to the Earldome of Exeter and his son Robert so much State-Discipline as raised him successiâ—è to be Secretary of State Master of the Court of Wards Lord Treasurer and Earl of Salisbury He was a very exact and a wary Observer of Forreign Transaction witness this passage to Sir Henry Norris Embassador in France The rare manner of your Entertainment hath moved the Queens Majesty to muse upon what score it should be being more then hath been used in like cases to her Embassadors and such as besides your own report hath been by others lately advertised And for that in such things Guesses be doubtful I pray you by your next advertise me what your self do think of it and in the mean time I know you are not untaught to judge of the difference between fair words and good deeds as the saying is Fortuna cum adblanditur Capitum advenit His thoughts of a Rebel that submitted take in these words Of late Shane Oneal hath made means to the Lord Deputy of Ireland to be received into grace pretending that he hath meant no manner of unlawfulness towards the Queen by which is gathered that he groweth weary of his lewdness yet I think he is no therwise to be reformed then by sharp prosecution which is intended to be followed no whit the less for any his fair Writings as reason is Of Intelligence he writes thus I doubt not but you shall have of his hand no lack of Intelligence which you must credit as you see cause by proof of the event About Embassadors Dispatches he saith He must write apart to the Secretary in matters containing trouble and business and to his Soveraign of Advice In a particular Negotiation about Pyrates he advised That the King of France and his Council might perceive that it is well known how the Pyrates are suffered to do what they will notwithstanding it be contrary to Proclamation And yet you shall so order the matter saith he to a French Ambassador as not that you shall finde fault with this manner of suffering for that ought properly to be to the Spanish or Portugal Embassador with whom you may sometime deal to understand how
Moderation preserves in it Men come down by Domineering Haste undoeth that which a just Delay ripeneth Our Wise man would say Stay a little and we will have done the sooner An Estate evened with these thoughts endureth It 's an excellent Motto Nolo Minor me timeat despiciat ve Major 3. Humility shuns Honour and is the way to it The purest Gold is most Ductile It 's commonly a good Blade that bends well The Reed that bends and is whole is better then the strong Oak that not bending breaks 4. There is no such prevalent Work-man as Sedulity and Diligence A man would wonder at the mighty things which have been done by degrees and gentle augmentations Patience Diligence and Moderation are the common steps to Excellency It 's for Omnipotence to do mighty things in a moment but degreeingly to grow to Greatness is the course he hath left for Man Observations on the Life of Walter Devereux Earl of Essex WAlter Devereux was by his Mothers side born to and by his Soveraigns favour possessed of the Earldom of Essex His Spirit was as the time martial and active equally impatient of rust in his Soul and in his Sword Forreign Countreys bred then those Souldiers that England employed The University made a Scholar the Court a Man and Flanders the Souldier His Actions brought him to the presence and his Presence commended Him to the Heart of Queen Elizabeth But the shadow doth not more naturally attend the Sun then Envy doth Favour Since he must rise it s contrived he should rise so high that he must fall Yet he might have lived longer it was thought if his Wife had not there more favour then himself Abraham was afraid of and Sir Walter was undone by his Sarah's Beauty This is certain he was no sooner in his Grave than the same great man whom he declared his Enemy at his Death was his Successor in his Marriage-Bed Ambitious was he of the Irish Service and subtle were others to fill up his Sayls so wide as to be over-turned at once diving into and ruining him by his Humour Weary was he of the Court and weary as he observed was that of him In comes Leicester in this juncture and advanceth him to the Soveraign Honour of maintaining an Army at his own charge and the Royalty of Claudboy in Vlster the first he knew would as it fell out undo him the other was the Bears skin when he could catch kill and fley it and the whole plot was but the supplanting of him out of a real Estate in England and Wales to an imaginary one in Ireland Over he goeth with as splendid a Retinue of Kindered Friends supernumerarie Voluntiers as his Son to the same Service or his Grandson to one more unhappy Sir William Fitz-William's Jealousie heard of his Parade and his Industry out-reached him so far that all that preparation amounted to no more honour than to have been commissioned after much importunity and attendance by him nor to any more advantage than the bare Government of Vlster Little good did he in Vlster now under the discouraging and heartless impressions of discontent less in the South of Ireland whither he was remanded by the Deputy whose design was not to see how successfully he would conquer but how dutifully he would obey in six months time spending 4000 l. to ruine himself But alas in vain doth he conquer who was always forbid to pursue and improve his Victory no sooner did his Fortune favour him in one place but he was called to his Misfortune in another for no sooner doth he by experience and acquaintance with the situation of any Place the humour or interest of any People the weaknesses and strengths of any Enemy the advantages or disadvantages of any Undertaking ripen circumstances towards success but he is called off to a new and unacquainted scene of action where he shall lose his Army before he knoweth how to employ it His friends at Court grew few and cold his foes many and active his affronts continual to disorder him by passion or sink him in despair His Commission was but short before but is none now onely three hundred men stick to him his Money failing his Noble Followers withdrawing his Common Souldiers mutiny and he is recalled And happy had he been could he have been quiet but nothing would compleat some mens Designes but his Ruine and nothing could ruine him but Honour that at once pleased his humour and wasted his Estate Earl-Marshal of Ireland he is made and thither he goeth in great state to die anno 1576 and the 36 of his Age a year fatal to that Family which none of them exceeded but the last who had been 〈…〉 ppy if he had died sooner or lived longer then he did Although Sir Walter Devereux had not that success over others which his Valour deserved yet he had that conquest of himself that Vertue onely gives shewing himself as good at the Buckler as at the Sword at suffering as well as acting All his changes from without he bore with none within his even and solid minde that fashioned its own fate enjoying its constant calm amidst all the tempests of malice and ambition Those ignoble courses were not greater Arguments of his Enemies narrowness and degeneracy then his resolved Patience was of his largeness and generousness of spirit he being as much above those smaller tricks as they were below his Adversaries We make our selves more Injuries then are offered us and the apprehension of wrong doth more harm then the smartest part of the wrong it self It 's the Wise-mans glory and the States-mans prudence to pass by Offences A Fool struck Cato in the Bath and when he was sorry for it Cato had forgot it for saith Seneca Melius putavit non agnoscere quam ignoscere Light Injuries are made none by a not-regarding which with a pursuing Revenge grow both to heighth and burden and live to mischief us when they might die to secure us It 's Princely saith one to disdain a Wrong who when Embassadours have offered Undecencies use not to chide but deny them audience as if silence were the way Royal to revenge a Wrong The upper Region is most composed The wisest Rage the least knowing that Observation and Resentâ—ent do but provoke and encourage that Malice which neglect and silence deads and dissipates And it was Sir Walter 's Fathers Maximâ— That Discontent was the greatest weakness of a generous Soul which is always so intent upon its unhappiness that it forgets its remedies This Lord was a great instance of that Maxime That it 's an equal mischief to distrust all as to believe all although of the two the safest is to distrust for Fear had secured this Noble Person while Confidence ruined him it being a Vertue onely when men were innocent but ever since the bane of those that own it Three things undid this Earl 1. That he could not imagine he was to be ruined
by his Advancement 2. That he never mistrusted an Oath 3. That he never considered that as Princes so Favourites have many eyes and long hands He that is so open as to reserve nothing from friends is renowned for Charity but he that is so to lie at the mercy of all is marked for ruine No sooner understood my Lord of Leicester Essex his Disposition but the bitter Fool Pace could tell his Fortune begging of my Lord at his departure the making of his Mourning and adding You and I have done for this world Walter Earl of Essex had been happy if he had not lived in my Lord of Leicester's time his son Robert renowned had he not been Sir Robert Cecil's Contemporary and his Grandchilde an Heroe had he not known my Lord Say and Mr. Hampden Observations on the Life of the Earl of Sussex THomas Radcliff Earl of Sussex was of a very Noble and Ancient Lineage honoured through many Descents by the Title of Viscounts Fitz-Walters He was a goodly Gentleman and of a brave noble Nature true and constant to his friends and servants noted for honesty a very excellent Souldier being one of the Queens Martialists who did very good service in Ireland at her first accession till she recalled him to the Court where she made him Lord Chamberlain and though he was not endowed with the cunningness and dexterity as others were yet upon his Death-bed he gave his friends a caveat whom they should beware His words saith Sir Robert Naunton are these I am now passing into another World and must leave you to your Fortunes and to the Queens Graces but beware of the Gypsie for he will be too hard for you all you know not the beast so well as I do His Prowess and Integrity drew the Souldiers after him Leicester's Courtship and Cunning the Courtiers Cecil's Prudence and Service the States-men He succeeded his Father in his Fortune and in his Favour his Prudence and Resolution promoting him to the Government of Ireland and the North his good husbandry and skill in Surveying making him Justice in Eyre of all the Parks beyond Trent and his comely Presence advancing him Lord Chamberlain Queen Elizabeth poyzed her State by Factions abroad and Parties at home her chiefest wisdome lying in her general correspondence and complyance with each Party as her Interest lay in their incomplyance and distance from one another My Lord of Sussex left this Memorial behind him That for Rising Men to stick to a side is necessary For Great Men to be indifferent is wise and this That he and my Lord of Leicester cleared and purged the Court their cross Observations refining each person that was admitted to Court none daring any injustice while Leicester observed him on the one hand and Sussex punished him on the other Then no deserving Person could be excluded by the one that could serve his Prince nor any undeserving one admitted that might disparage him one Interest being sure to receive the one as the other was to exclude the other Divers persons saith one of equal Authority though both wicked do in experience produce more Justice then a greater Probity in a single individuaâ— hath been heard to pronounce in a divided Court the Creatures of one Party being the Enemies of another no less powerful and so they both become liable to accusation or capable of defence and from the sparkles of this clashing not onely Persons and Actions but the Publick Councils came to be refined from the Rust and Cankers that grow by an Unanimity Faction can be as little spared in a Monarchy as an Eye or an Ear as through which the Prince hath a clearer apprehension of his own and others Affairs then he can have when his followers are all agreed through the percussion of equal Factions as through that of Flint and Steel all things coming to light by Debates that might either advance or eclipse a Princes glory When my Lord of Sussex could not overbear Leicester with Power he did it with Policy and by yeilding to him conquered him for as he observed when he and his friends retired Leicester and his subdivided and he was checked more by the Ambition he taught his own Followers then by the competition of his Adversaries When Factions are carried too high and too violently it is a signe of weakness in Princes and much to the prejudice of their Authority and Business The motions of Factions under Kings ought to be like the motions as the Astronomers speak of the Inferiour Orbs which may have their proper Inclination but yet are still quietly carried by the higher motion of the Primum Mobile Queen Elizabeth had an happy time of it if it were but for this That her Favourites Divisions were her support for thereby she attained the knowledge of all things that happened so as no Suit or Designe passed the Royal Assent before she understood as much of Reason as Enemies or Friends could bring for or against it The Character this third great Lord of his Family left behind him was This year died a man of a great spirit and faithfulness to his Country and therefore none freer then he of his thoughts none sounder then he in his counsels Nor did this freedome of Communication betray his future Resolutions to the discovery of his Enemies as they opened his heart to the observation of his Prince for through a seeming unconstancy not of words but of action not his weakness but his nimbleness the Bird on the wing is safe he could so often vary as it was not easie to discover where or when he would be buzzing and give the blow by which unsteady carriage He so befooled his Adversaries with their Spies and Pensioners as they were at a loss what to inform their Patrons of or themselves how to resolve Fortune and Conduct set up this Favourite it falling in his Character as at Primero and other Plays wherein Fortune is directed and conducted by Art The best and subtilest Gamester may loose if it cross him but if it smiles and favours he knoweth best how to manage and govern it Five things raised this person to a respect as great as his fortune to be as high in the Queens favour as he was in his Descent 1. A Civility set off with State 2. A pleasing Modesty of Countenance and Aâ—â—ability of Speech ennameled with Gravity 3. A Boldness attended with Patience 4. A great Capacity enlivened with as great Dexterity And 5. An Integrity secured with wariness Observations on the Life of the Lord Willoughby THe Lord Willoughby was one of the Queens first Sword-men he was of the antient extract of the Bartues but more eâ—â—obled by his Mother who was Dutchess of Suffolk He was a great Master of the Art Military and was sent General into France and commanded the second of five Armies that the Queen sent thither in aid of the French As he was a great Souldier so was he of a suitable Magnanimity
and could not brook the obsequiousness and assiduity of the Court at that time He had more favour then he courted and he courted more rather to comply with the Queens humour then his own inclination then he desired He would say and that saying did him no good saith Sir Robert Naunton That he was none of the Reptilia being made rather to march as a Souldier then to creep as a Courtier But Civility must allay Nature in a Courtier Prudence regulate it in a States-man and modest submission check and soften it in a Subject It 's as dangerous to be stubbornly above the Kindnesses as it is to be factiously against the Power of Princes Willoughby got nothing Stanley lost all by his haughtiness which when it cannot be obliged is suspected But his service in France Holland and on the Borders compounded for his roughness so that to he who could not endure he should be high at Court were pleased he should be so in the Field Stiffness which displeased when looked on as Pride at home took when heard to be Resolution abroad Each Nature is advanced in its own Element Leicester among the Ladies my Lord Willoughby among the Souldiers It 's a step to Greatness to know our own way to it to exercise and shew our proper Vertues as he did his Magnanimity in these two instances among many others 1. When one challenged him then sick of the Gout he said That though he were lame in his feet and hands yet he would carry a Rapier in his teeth to fight his Adversary 2. Having taken a Spanish Gennet designed a present to that King and being offered either 1000l or 100 l. a year in exchange for it he nobly answered If it had been a Commander he would have freely released him but being onely a Horse he saw no reason be could not keep a good Horse as well as the King of Spain himself Sir Christopher Hatton was to an excess a Courtier and my Lord Willoughby so a Souldier Observations on the Life of Sir Philip Sidney HE was Son to Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland and President of Wales A Person of great Parts and in no mean grace with the Queen His Mother was Sister to my Lord of Leicester from whence we may conjecture how the Father stood up in the place of Honor and Employment so that his Descent was apparently Noble on both sides For his Education it was such as Travel and the University could afford for after an incredible proficiency in all the Species of Learning he left the Academical life for that of the Court whither he came by his Uncles invitation famed aforehand by a Noble report of his Accomplishments which together with the state of his Person framed by a natural propension to Arms he soon attracted the good opinion of all men and was so highly prized in the good opinion of the Queen that she thought the Court deficient without him and whereas through the fame of his deserts he was in the election for the Kingdome of Poland she refused to further his advancement not out of Emulation but out of fear to loose the Jewel of her times He married the Daughter and sole Heir of Sir Francis Walsingham then Secretary of State a Lady destinated to the Bed of Honour who after his deplorable death at Zutphen in the Netherlands where he was Governour of Flushing at the time of his Uncles being there was married to my Lord of Essex and since his death to my Lord of St. Albans all persons of the Sword and otherwise of great Honour and Vertue He had an equal temperament of Mars and Mercury Valour and Learning to as high a pitch as Nature and Art could frame and Fortune improve him so Dexterous that he seemed born for every thing he went about His representations of Vertue and Vice were not more lively in his Books then in his Life his â—ancy was not above his Vertue his Humours Counsels and Actions were renowned in the Romancer Heroick in the States man His Soul was as large as his Parents and his Complexion as Noble an equal Line of both the modesty of the Mother allaying the activity of the Father A man so sweetly grave so familiarly staid so prettily serious he was above his years Wisdome gained by travel Experience raised from Observations solid and useful Learning drawn from knowing Languet his three years Companion and choicest Books accomplished him for the love of all and the reverence of most His Converse was not more close at home then his Correspondence abroad equally mixed with Policy Pleasure Wisdome and Love his Worth being penned up and smothered within the narrowness of his fortune sallied not out to discontent but pleasure sweetning the Affairs of State with the Debonnairness of the Stage his Romance being but Policy played with Machiavil in jest and State-Maximes sweetened to a Courtiers Palate He writ men as exactly as he studied them and discerned humours in the Court with the same deep insight he described them in his Book His Infant-discourses teach men O what had his riper years done He put Life into the dead Notions of Ancestors made Philosophy practicable joyned the Arts as closely in him as they are in themselves His Book is below his Spirit a Spirit to be confined with Kingdomes rather then Studies to do what was to be written then onely to write what was to be done All eyes were upon him but his own at first in all Affairs he was the last at last he was the first obliging all men that ever he saw and seeing all that were worth obliging All were pleased with his Arcadia but himself whose years advanced him so much beyond himself as his Parts did beyond others He condemned his Arcadia in his more retired judgement to the fire which wise men think will continue to the last Conflagration His private Correspondence with William of Nassau about the highest Affairs of Europe was so exact and prudent that he assured Sir Fulke Grevil he deserved a Kingdom in Forreign Parts though he had not an Office in England The Earl of Leicester held his Authority in the Low-Countries by his Counsel when alive and gave it over when he was dead Sir Francis Walsingham was so much overshot by him in his own Bow that those with whom Sir Philip were acquainted with for his sake were his friends for Sir Philips King James was honoured when King of Scotland with his friendship Henry the fourth with his correspondence Don Juan highly obliged with his Visits the King of Spain himself concerned in his death whom England he said lost in a moment but could not breed in an Age. The Universities were proud of his Patronage the Field of his Presence the Studious in all Parts communicated with him the Hopeful were encouraged by him all excellent Persons thronged to him all serviceable men were entertained by him and he among them a Prince whose minde was great
but his spirit greater He taught England the Majesty of Honest Dealing the Interest of being Religious He looked deep into men and Counsels and found no Wisdom without Courage no Courage without Religion and Honesty with which solid and active reaches of his I am perswaded saith my Lord Brooks he would have found or made a way through all the Traverses even of the most weak and irregular times Although a private Gentleman he was a publick Good of a large yet uniform disposition so good that the great Monarch might trust so great that a little one must fear him something he did for Fame most for Conscience His publick spirit which might have enjealoused the cautious wisdome of other Princes promoted the concerns of his own He was sent to complement Rodalph but he dealt really with the Protestant Princes and raised a Ceremony to a piece of Interest He shewed that long-breathed and cautious people that imminent danger from Romes Superstition joyned with Spains Power their private confederacies and practices their cruelty and designe which awaked their drowzie wariness into an association for Conscience and Religion more solid as he demonstrated then a Combination out of Policy He went against the stream and current about the French Match which he disswaded from the consequent inconveniencies of Engagements and charge to England and the little advantage from France backing his Argument with a late experience and so staying Queen Elizabeths Match by some reflexions on Queen Mary's which was A five years Designe or Tax rather then a Mrriage adding withal That in a Forreign Match besides the unequalness and danger of it when a strange Prince hath such an influence on our Constitution the different Religion would make the Queen either quit the reputation of a good Protestant or the honour of an obedient Wife Ten ways he laid down a Forreign Prince might endanger our Religion by 1. Opposing and weakning the reverend Fathers of our Church 2. By disgracing her most zealous Ministers 3. By Latitude and Connivance 4. By a loose and too free a behaviour steering mens Consciences which way he pleased and setting up indifferency 5. By decrying Customes and Statutes and enhansing Proclamations to the Authority of Laws 6. By provoking the English with French Oppressions 7. By entrenching on the British Liberties with Gallicane Prerogatives 8. By breaking our League and Correspondence with other Protestant States 9. Frighting our Queen to a Complyance 10. And at last attempting the Protestant cause He would say to his â—â—end the Lord Brooke That if the Netherlands joyn with France they are terrible to Spain if with Spain they are dreadful to France if with us they support the Reformation if they stand on their own legs they are too strong to be forced to Pyracy He though a private person opposed her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in that Affair with that sincerity with that ingenuity that freedome that duty and peaceableness that angered and pleased her His Opinion was not more against her humour then his Manage of it was to her minde in which Affair when most were hood-winked with ignorance and many captived with fear he enjoyed the freedome of his own thoughts with dayly access to her Majesty hourly converse with the French and constant respect from the people None more dutiful to his Soveraign then Sir Philip none more resolute against Eucroachers upon Gentlemen and Freemen none more dear to the whole State which when he had designed Sir Francis Drake's second Voyage and stollen to him at Windsor commanded his stay by an Earl and for his sake the whole Fleets although his stay disturbed and his death destroyed his most exact Model for the Conquest of America the exactest Europe ever saw A Conquest not to be enterprized but by Sir Philips reaching spirit that grasped all circumstances and commanded all interests on this side the Line When his great Soul could not improve Europe he considered it and made that the Field of his mediation that could not be the stage of his Actions England he saw so humoursome and populous that it was to be refined with War and corrupted with Peace Her interest was he said to balance Neighbor-Princes France he observed weak and effeminate the Empire enslaved and secure the Hanses too big Rome subtle and undermining Spain crept to the Power and Councils of Europe the Protestant Princes enjealoused and distrustful Poland divided Denmark strong Sweden invironed or imprisoned the Muscovite distressed and ignorant the Switz enemies yet servants to Monarchs a dangerous body for the soul of any aspiring Monarch to infuse defignes into the Princes of Italy awed by their Superiours and cautious against their equals Turkie asleep in the Seraglio but Spain all this while Master of Rome and the wisest Council or Conclave in the Word Lord of the Mines of America and the Sword of Europe Concluding that while the Spaniard had Peace Pope Money or Credit and the World Men Necessity or Humours the War could hardly be determined upon this Low-Country-stage And that there were but two ways to conquer Spain the one That which diverted Hannibal and by setting fire on his own House made him draw his spirits to comfort his heart The other that of Jason by fetching away his Golden Fleece and not suffering any one quietly to enjoy that which every man so much affected The assistance of Portugal the surprize of Cales her key and Seviâ— her treasure the drawing in of other Well-willers the command of the Sea an exact Intelligence the Protection of Rochel Brest Bourdeaux or some other distressed Protestant to balance the over-mytred Countries the encouragement of religious or ambitious Roytolets to advance and secure themselves the engaging of the French and Spaniards a League with Venice and the Maritime States some temptations to Italy to remove their French and Spanish Garisons an opportunity to recover Sicily some insinuations to the Pope of the Austrian Greatness the setting up of the World in an Aequilibrium the invasion of America removing the diffidence overpoyzing the Neutrality and working upon the Complexions of Kings and Kingdomes was this young but great mans designe An Expedition to the Indies he would perswade with these motives 1. That Honour was cheaper abroad then at home at Sea then at Land 2. That the Spanish Conquests like the Jesuites Miracles made more noise at distance then nearer hand 3. That the Indians would joyn with the first Undertaker against their cruel Masters 4. That Spain was too far for supply 5. That the Spaniard was Undisciplined and trusted more to the Greatness of his Name then to Order Policy or Strength 6. That England was populous 7. That it was an Action complyant with the present Humour and not subject to Emulations 8. That it would either cut off the Spanish treasure or make it chargeable 9. And at last set up a Free Trade by Sea open a great Door to Valour or Ambition for new Conquests and
body his gate his features his carriage his gate his parts his carriage his prudence his parts and his close patience his prudence The Queen loved him well for his activity better for his parts best of all for his abilities which were as much above his experience as that was above his learning and that above his education The little the wary man did was so exactly just and discreet and the little he said was so prudent and weighty that he was chosen to keep the Queens Conscience as her Chancellour and to express her sense as her Speaker the Courtiers that envyed the last capacity were by his power forced to confess their errours and the Sergeants that would not plead before him in the first by his prudence to confess his abilities The Chancellourship was above his Law but not his Parts so pregnant and comprehensive that he could command other mens knowledge to as good purpose as his own Such his humility that he did nothing without two Lawyers such his ability that the Queen did nothing without him Two things he said he was jealous of His Mistresses the Queens Prerogatives and his Mother the Churches Discipline the one that Majesty might be at liberty to do as much good and the other that Iniquity might not be free to as much evil as it pleased His enemies advanced him that they might weaken him at Court by his absence and kill him at home by a sedentariness This even and clear man observed and improved their practices closing with Malice it self to his own advancement and tempering the most perverse enmity to the greatest kindness None Nobler none less aspiring none more busie yet none more punctual in his hours and orders Corpulent he was but temperate a Batchelor and the onely one of the Queens Favourites yet chaste quick were his Dispatches but weighty many his Orders and consistent numerous were the Addresses to him and easie the access Seldome were his Orders reversed in Chancery and seldomer his Advice opposed in Council So just he was that his sentence was Law with the Subject so wise that his Opinion was Oracle with his Soveraign so exact was Queen Elizabeth that she called upon him for an old debt though it broke his heart so loving that she carried him a Cordial-broath with her own hand though it could not revive him Observations on the Life of the Lord Hunsdon THe Lord Hunsdon was of the Queens nearest Kindred and on the decease of Sussex both he and his Son took the place of Lord Chamberlain He was a fast man to his Prince and firm to his friends and servants downright honest and stout-hearted having the charge of the Queens Person both in the Court and in the Camp at Tilbury The integrity of his temper allayed the greatness of his birth which had rendred him dangerous if the other had not vouched him faithful He spoke big but honestly and was thought rather resolute then ambitious His words were as his thoughts and his actions as his words He had Valour enough to be an eminent Souldier in ruffling times and a renownedly honest man in Queen Elizabeths Reign His Latine faith Sir Robert Naunton and his dissimulation were both alike His custome of swearing and obscenity in speaking made him seem a worse Christian then he was and a better Knight of the Carpet then he should be The Polititians followed Cecil the Courtiers Leicester and the Souldiers Hunsdon whose hands were better then his head and his heart then both He led so brave a Train of young Gallants as after another threatned a Court but after him secured it whose Greatness was not his Mistresse jealousie but her safeguard One of his blunt Jests went further then others affected Harangues the one being Nature the other forced His faithfulness made him Governour of Berwick a place of great service and General of the English Army a place of great Trust He had something of Leicesters Choler but none of his Malice A right Noble Spirit not so stupid as not to resent not so unworthy as to retain a sense of Injuries To have the Courage to observe an Affront is to be even with an Adversary to have the patience to forgive it is to be above him There goeth a story of him that when his Retinue which in those times was large would have drawn on a Gentleman that had returned him a box on the ear he forbad them in these Souldier-like words You Rogues cannot my Neighbour and my self exchange a box on the ear but you must interpose He might have been what he would for relieving Queen Elizabeth in her distress he would be but what he was Other Interests were offered him to stand upon he was contented with his own He suppressed the Court-Factions and the Nothern Commotions the one by his Interest the other by his Valour for the one he had always the Queens Heart for the other he had once a most Gracious Letter His Court-favour was as lasting as his Integrity One hath left this remarque concerning him That he should have been twice Earl of Wilishire in right of his Mother Bollen And the Queen when he was on his Death-bed ordered his Patent and Robes to his bed-side where he who could dissemble neither well nor ill told the Queen That if he was not worthy of those Honours when living he was unworthy of them when dying In a word Sir William Cecil was a wise man Bacon was reaching Leicester cunning Walsingham was a Patriot and my Lord Hunsdâ—n was honest Observations on the Life of Nicholas Heath Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellour of England AT once a most wise and a most learned man of great Policy and of as great Integrity meek and resolute more devout to follow his own Conscience then cruel to persecute others It is enough to intimate his moderate temper equal and dis-engaged from violent extreams that the first of Queen Elizabeth in the Disputation between the Papists and Protestants he was chosen by the Privy-Council one of the Moderators when Sir Nicholas Bacon was the other The Civility he shewed in Prosperity he found in Adversity for in Queen Elizabeths time he was rather eased then deposed like another Abiathar sent home by Solomon to his own fields in Anathoth living cheerfully at Cobbam in Surry where he devoted his Old Age to Religion and Study being much comforted with the Queens Visits and kindness and more with his own good conscience that as he would often say he had been so intent upon the service as never to enjoy the greatness of any place he was advanced to Sir Henry Wotton being bound for Rome asked his Host at Siena a man well versed in men and bufiness What Rules he would give him for his Port Conduct and Carriage There is one short remembrance said he will carry you safe through the world nothing but this said he Gli Pensiere stretti el viso Sciolto i. e. Your Thoughts close and
much altered here where this Lords Granchilde was at once the chiefest Councellour and the most eminent Scholar of his Age. It 's a reverend thing to see any ancient piece standing against Time much more to see an ancient Family standing against Fortune Certainly Princes that have able men of their Nobility shall finde ease in employing them and a better slide into their business for people naturally bend to them as born in some sort to command Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Challoner THis Gentlemans birth in London made him quick his Education in Cambridge knowing and his travail abroad expert In Henry the eighth's time he served Charles the fifth in the expedition of Algier where being ship-wracked after he had swum till his strength and arms failed him at the length catching hold of a Cable with his teeth he escaped not without the loss of some of his teeth We are consecrated by dangers to services and we know not what we can do until we have seen all we can fear In Edward the sixth's Reign he behaved himself so manly at Muscleborough that the Protector honoured him with a Knighthood and his Lady with a Jewel the delicate and valiant man at once pleasing Mars and his Venus too The first week of Queen Elizabeths Reign he is designed an Embassadour of Honour to the Emperour such his port and carriage and the second year her Leiger for business in Spain such his trust and abilities The first he performed not with more Gallantry then he did the second with Policy bearing up King Philips expectation of the Match with England for three years effectually until he had done the Queens business abroad and she had done her own at home In Spain he equally divided his time between the Scholar and the States-man his recreation and his business for he refreshed his more careful time with a pure and learned Verse de rep Anglorum instauranda in five Books whilst as he writes in the Preface to that Book he lived Hieme in furno aestate in Horreo i. e. Wintered in a Stove and Summered in a Barn He understood the Concerns of this estate well and those of his own better it being an usual saying engraven on all his Plates and Actions Frugality is the left hand of Fortune and Diligence the right Anthony Brown Viscount Mountacute urged with much Zeal and many Arguments the Danger and Dishonour of revolting off from the Catholick and Mother-Church Sir Thomas Challoner with more Eloquence enlarged on the just Cause for which we deceded from the Errours of Rome the true Authority by which we deceded from the Usurpation of Rome and the Moderation in what we deceded from the Superstition of Rome When the Spanish Embassadour urged that some Catholicks might with the Queens leave remain in Spain he answered him in a large Declaration That though the instance seemed a matter of no great moment yet seeing the Parties concerned would not receive so much advantage by the license as the Commonwealth would damage by the President it was neither fit for the King of Spain to urge or for the Queen of England to grant He was very impatient of Injuries pressing his return home when his Coâ—â—ers were searched but admonished by his Mistress That an Embassadour must take all things in good part that hath not a direct tendency to the Princes dishonour or his Countries danger His death was as honourable as his life Sir William Cecil being chief Mourner at his Funeral St. Pauls containing his Grave and he leaving a hopeful Son that should bring up future Princes as he had served the present being as worthy a Tutor to the hopeful Prince Henry as his Father had been a faithful Servant to the renowned Queen Elizabeth Observations in the Life of Sir Edward Waterhouse SIr Edward Waterhouse was born at Helmstedbury Hartfordshire of an ancient and worshipful Family deriving their descent lineally from Sir Gilbert Waterhouse of Kyrton in Low-Lindsey in the County of Lincoln in the time of King Henry the third As for our Sir Edward his Parents were John Waterhouse Esquire a man of much fidelity and sageness Auditor many years to King Henry the eighth of whom he obtained after a great Entertainment for him in his house the grant of a weekly Market for the Town of Helmsted Margaret Turner of the ancient House of Blunts-Hall in Suffolk and Cannons in Hertfordshire The King at his departure honoured the children of the said John Waterhouse being brought before him with his praise and encouragement gave a Benjamins portion of Dignation to this Edward foretelling by his Royal Augury that he would be the Crown of them all and a man of great honour and wisdome fit for the service of Princes It pleased God afterwards to second the word of the King so that the sprouts of his hopeful youth onely pointed at the growth and greatness of his honourable Age. For being but twelve years old he went to Oxford where for some years he glistered in the Oratorick and Poetick sphere until he addicted himself to conversation and observance of State-affairs wherein his great proficiency commended him to the favour of three principal Patrons One was Walter Devereux Earl of Essex who made him his bosome-friend and the said Earl lying on his death-bed took his leave of him with many kisses Oh my Ned Oh my Ned said he Farewel thou art the faithfullest and friendliest Gentleman that ever I knew In testimony of his true affection to the dead Father in his living Son this Gentleman is thought to have penned that most judicious and elegant Epistle recorded in Holinshed's History pag. 1266. and presented it to the young Earl conjuring him by the Cogent Arguments of Example and Rule to patrizare His other Patron was Sir Henry Sidney so often Lord Deputy of Ireland whereby he 〈…〉 ame incorporated into the familiarity of his Son Sir Philip Sidney between whom and Sir Edward there was so great friendliness that they were never better pleased then when in one anothers companies or when they corresponded each with other And we finde after the death of that worthy Knight that he was a close-concerned Mourner at his Obsequies as appeareth at large in the printed Representation of his funeral Solemnity His third Patron was Sir John Perrot Deputy also of Ireland who so valued his counsel that in State-affairs he would do nothing without him So great his Employment betwixt State and State that he crossed the Seas thirty seven times until deservedly at last he came into a port of honour wherein he sundry years anchored and found safe Harbour For he receiving the honour of Knighthood was sworn of her Majesties Privy-Council for Ireland and Chancellour of the Exchequer therein Now his grateful soul coursing about how to answer the Queens favour laid it self wholly out in her service wherein two of his Actions were most remarkable First he was highly instrumental
in Modelling the Kingdome of Ireland into Shires as now they are shewing himself so great a lover of the Polity under which he was born that he advanced the Compliance therewith as commendable and necessary in the Dominions annexed thereunto His second service was when many in that Kingdome shrowded themselves from the Laws under the Target of power making Force their Tutelary Saint he set himself vigorously to suppress them And when many of the Privy-Council terrified with the greatness of the Earl of Desmond durst not subscribe the Instrument wherein he was proclaimed Traytor Sir Edward amongst some others boldly signed the same disavowing his and all Treasons against his Friends and County and the Council did the like commanding the publication thereof As to his private sphear God blessed him being but a third Brother above his other Brethren Now though he had three Wives the first a Villiers the second a Spilman the third the Widow of Herlakenden of Wood-church in Kent Esquire and though he had so strong a brain and body yet he lived and died childless intercommoning therein with many Worthies who are according to Aelius Spartianus either improlifick or have children in Genitorum Vituperium famarum Laesuram God thus denying him the pleasure of posterity he craved leave of the Queen to retire himself and fixed the residue of his life at Wood-church in Kent living there in great Honour and Repute as one who had no designe to be popular and not prudent rich and not honest great and not good He died in the 56 year of his Age the 13 of October 1591. and is buried at Wood-church under a Table-Marble-Monument erected to his memory by his sorrowful Lady surviving him Queen Elizabeth on the Lord Willoughby Good Peregrine VVE are not a little glad that by your Journey you have received such good fruit of amendment specially when we consider what great vexations it is to a mind devoted to actions of honour to be restrained by any indisposition of body from following those courses which to your own reputation and our great satisfaction you have formerly performed And therefore as we must now out of our desire of your well-doing chiefly enjoyn you to an especial care to encrease and continue your health which must give life to all your best Endeavours so we must next as seriously recommend to you this consideration That in these times when there is such appearance that we shall have the tryal of our best noble Subjects you seem not to affect the satisfaction of your own private contentation beyond the attending of that which Nature and Duty challengeth from all persons of your Quality and Profession For if necessarily your health of body being recovered you should Eloign your self by residence there from those Employments whereof we shall have too good store you shall not so much amend the state of your body as happily you shall call in question the reputation of your mind and judgement even in the opinion of those that love you and are best acquainted with your Disposition and Discretion Interpret this our plainness we pray you to our extraordinary estimation of you for it is not common with us to deal so freely with many and believe that you shall ever finde us both ready and willing in all occasions to yield you the fruits of that interest which your Endeavours have purchased for you in our Opinion and Estimation Not doubting but when you have with moderation made tryal of the success of these your sundry Peregrinations you will finde as great comfort to spend your days at home as heretofore you have done of which we do wish you full measure howsoever you shall have cause of abode or return Given under our Signet at our Manâ—or of Nonsuch the seventh of October 1594. in the 37 year of our Reign Your most loving Soveraign E. R. Observations on the Life of the Duke of Norfolk HIs Predecessors made more noyse it may be but he had the greater fame their Greatness was feared his Goodness was loved He was Heir to his Uncles Ingenuity and his Fathers Valour and from both derived as well the Laurel as the Coronet His God and his Soveraign were not more taken with the ancient simplicity that lodged in his plain breast then the people were endeared by that noble humility that dwelt in his plainer cloaths and carriage The most honourable Personages like the most honourable Coats of Arms are least gawdy In the election of the first Parliament of Queen Elizabeth and as a consequent to that in the settlement of the Kingdome Sir William Cecils Wisdome did much the Earl of Arundels Industry more but the Duke of Norfolks Popularity did most Never Peer more dread never more dear as he could engage the people to comply with their Soveraign at home so he could lead them to serve her abroad That Martial but unfortunate Gentleman William Lord Grey draweth first towards Scotland for the first Cloud that would have darkened our glorious Star came from the North Whence all evil is equally our Proverb and our experience as Warden of the middle and East Marches but he is seconded by the Duke as Lieutenant-General of the North-parts where his presence commands a Treaty and his Authority a League Offensive and Defensive to balance the French Interest to reduce the North parts of Ireland and keep the peace of both Kingdomes Now as the watchful Duke discovered by some private Passages and Letters that Scotland was to be invaded by the French so he writ to his Soveraign That notwithstanding the Spanish French Embassadors Overtures she would proceed resolutely in her preparations for Scotland as she did under his Conduct until the young Queen was glad to submit and the King of France by Cecil and Throgmortons means now busied at home to come to terms He brought the Kingdome to Musters the People to ply Husbandry the Nobility to keep Armories and the Justicers to Salaries The Ensignes of St. Michael were bestowed upon him as the Noblest and on Leicester as the dearest Person at Court Now Arundel who had spent his own Estate in hope of the Queens under pretence of recovering his health travelled abroad to mitigate his grief When the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester were openly for the Queens Marriage for the future security of our present happiness the Duke though privately of their mind yet would discourse 1. That Successors take off the peoples eyes from the present Soveraign 2. That it was the safest way to keep all Competitors in suspence 3. That Successors though not designed may succeed 4. Whereas when known they have been undone by the Arts of their Competitors 5. And that most men whatever the busie Agitators of the Succession pretended have no more feeling in publick matters then concerneth their own private interest But he had a private kindness for the Queen of Scots which he discovered in all the Treaties wherein she was concerned 1.
with 2. To proclaim the Queen of Scots succession and in the Train he laid to serve Leicester in the Duke of Norfolks ruine But he was too familiar with that Politicians privacy to live long anno 1570 he died A Man saith Mr. Cambden of great experience passing sharp wit and singular diligence an over-curious fancy and a too nimble activity like your too fine Silks or Linen and more for shew then service never blessing their Owners but when allayed with something of the heavy and the wary nor rising but when stayed Observations on the Life of Edward Earl of Derby HIs Greatness supported his Goodness and his Goodness endeared his Greatness his Heighth being looked upon with a double aspect 1. By himself as an advantage of Beneficence 2. By others as a ground of Reverence His great Birth put him above private respects but his great Soul never above publick service Indeed he repaired by ways thrifty yet Noble what his Ancestors had impaired by neglect Good Husbandry may as well stand with great Honour as Breadth may consist with Heighth His Travel when young at once gained experience and saved expences and his marriage was as much to his profit as his honour And now he sheweth himself in his full Grandeur when the intireness of his Minde complyed with the largeness of his Soul 1. In a spreading Charity Other Lords made many poor by Oppression he and my Lord of Bedford as Queen Elizabeth would jest made all the Beggers by his liberality 2. In a famous Hospitality wherein 1. His House was orderly a Colledge of Discipline rather then a Palace for Entertainment his Servants being so many young Gentlemen trained up to govern themselves by observing him who knew their Master and understood themselves 2. His Provision Native all the Necessaries of England are bred in it rather plentiful then various solid then dainty that cost him less and contented his guests more His Table constant and even where all were welcome and none invited 3. His Hall was full most commonly his Gates always the one with the honest Gentry and Yeomen who were his Retainers in love and observance bringing good stomacks to his Table and resolved hearts for his service the holding up of his hand in the Northern business being as effectual as the displaying of a Banner The other with the 1. Aged 2. Maimed 3. Industrious Poor whose craving was prevented with doles and expectation with bounty the first being provided with meat the second with money and the third with employment In a word Mr. Cambden observes That Hospitality lieth buried since 1572 in this Earls Grave whence may that Divine Power raise it that shall raise him but before the last Resurrection when there will be plenty to bestow in one part of the world and no poor to be relieved poverty in the other and no bounty to relieve Neither was he Munificent upon other mens charge for once a moneth he looked into his Incomes and once a week to his Disbursements that none should wrong him or be wronged by him The Earl of Derby he would say shall keep his own House wherefore it 's an Observation of him and the second Duke of Norfolk That when they were buried not a Trades-man could demand the payment of a Groat that they owed him nor a Neighbour the restitution of a peny they had wronged him They say The Grass groweth not where the Grand Seigniors Horse treads nor doth the People thrive where the Noble-men inhabit But here every Tenant was a Gentleman and every Gentleman my Lords Companion such his Civility towards the one and great penyworths to the other Noblemen in those days esteemed the love of their Neighbours more then their fear and the service and â—ealty of their Tenants more then their Money Now the Landlord hath the sweat of the Tenants brow in his Coffers then he had the best blood in his Veins at his command That grand word On mine Honour was security enough for a Kingdome and the onely Asseveration he used It was his priviledge that he need not swear for a testimony and his renown that he would not for his honour Great was this Families esteem with the people and eminent their favour with their Soveraigns as which ever bestowed its self in obliging their Liege-people improving their interest and supporting their Throne for though they were a long time great Kings of Man and Hearts yet were they as long faithful subjects to England Oservations on the Life of Sir Williliam Fitz-Williams A Childe of Fortune from his Cradle made up of confidence and reputation never unwarily shewing his Vertue or Worth to the world with any disadvantage When Britain had as little sleepiness and sloath as night when it was all day and all activity He as all young Sparks of that Age trailed a Pike in the Netherlands the Seminary of the English Soldiery and the School of Europes Discipline as a Souldier and travelled as a Gentleman until that place graced him civilly with a Command which he had honoured eminently with his service His friends checked him for undertaking an Employment so boysterous and he replyed upon them That it was as necessary as it seemed irregular for if some were not Souldiers all must be so He said He never durst venture on War with men till he had made his Peace with God A good Conscience breeds great Resolutions and the innocent Soul is impregnable None more fearful of doing evil none more resolved to suffer there being no hardship that he would avoid no undecency that he would allow Strict he was to his Commission and yet observant of his advantage never tempting a danger never flying it careful of his first life and himself but more of his other and his name When the methods of Obedience advanced him to the honour of commanding six things he was Chronicled for 1. Never making the Aged the Young or the Weak the Objects of his Rage which could not be so of his Fear 2. That he never basely killed in cold blood them that had nobly escaped his Sword in hot 3. That he never led the Souldiers without pay or quartered in the Country without money 4. That though he was second to none that acted in War such his Valour yet he was the first that spake for Peace such his sweet Disposition 5. That he would never suffer that a Clergy-man should be abused a Church violated or the Dead be unburied 6. That he would never force an Enemy to a necessity always saying Let us disarm them of their best Weapon Despair nor fight an Enemy before he had skirmished him nor undertake a defigne before he consulted his God his Council his Friends his Map and his History His own Abilities commended and his alliance with Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy whose Sister he married promoted him to the Government of Ireland Once did the Queen send him thither for his Brothers sake four times more for his own
nothing because it may be at liberty to do any thing Indeed saith one Necessity hath many times an advantage because it awaketh the powers of the minde and strengtheneth Endeavour Sir James Crofts was an equal Composition of both as one that had one fixed eye on his Action and another indifferent one on his retreat Observations on the Life of William Lord Grey of Wilton THat great Souldier and good Christian in whom Religion was not a softness as Machiavil discourseth but a resolution Hannibal was sworn an Enemy to Rome at nine years of Age and my Lord bred one to France at fourteen Scipio's first service was the rescue of his Father in Italy and my Lord Grey's was the safety of his Father in Germany He had Fabius his slow way and long reach with Herennius his fine Polices and neat Ambuscadoes having his two Companions always by him his Map and his Guide the first whereof discovered to him his more obvious advantages and the second his more close dangers His great Conduct won him much esteem with those that heard of him and his greater presence more with those that saw him Observable his Civility to Strangers eminent his Bounty to his Followers obliging his Carriage in the Countries he marched through and expert his Skill in Wars whose end he said was Victory and the end of Victory Nobleness made up of pity and munificence It lost him his Estate to redeem himself in France and his Life to bear up his Reputation in Berwick Having lived to all the great purposes of life but Self-interest he died 1563 that fatal year no less to the publick sorrow of England which he secured then the common joy of Scotland which he awed Then it was said That the same day died the greatest Scholar and the greatest Souldier of the Nobility the right honourable Henry Manners Earl of Rutland in his Gown and the honourable Lord Grey in his Armour both as the Queen said of them Worthies that had deserved well of the Commonwealth by their Wisdome Counsel Integrity and Courage Two things my Lord always avoided the first To give many Reasons for one thing the heaping of Arguments arguing a neediness in every of the Arguments by its self as if one did not trust any of them but fled from one to another helping himself still with the last The second To break a Negotiation to too many distinct particulars or to couch it in too compact generals by the first whereof we give the parties we deal with an opportunity to look down to the bottom of our business and by the second to look round to the compass of it Happy are those Souls that command themselves so far that they are equally free to full and half discoveries of themselves always ready and pliable to the present occasion Not much regarded was this gallant Spirit when alive but much missed when dead we understand what we want better then what we enjoy and the beauty of worthy things is not in the face but the back-side endearing more by their departure then their address Observations on the Life of Edmund Plowden EDmund Plowden was born at Plowden in Shrop-shire one who excellently deserved of our Municipal Law in his learned Writings thereon A plodding and a studious man and no wonder if knowing and able Beams in reflexion are hottest and the Soul becomes wise by looking into its self But see the man in his Epitaph Conditur in hoc Tumulo corpus Edmundi Plowden Armigeri Claris ortus Parentibus apud Plowden in Comitatu Salop natus est à pueritia in literarum Studio liberaliter est educatus in Provectiore vero â—tate Legibus Jurisprudentiae operam dedit Senex jam factus annum aetatis suae agens 67. Mundo Valedicens in Christo Jesu Sancte obdormivit die Sexto Mensis Februar anno Domini 1584. I have the rather inserted this Epitaph inscribed on his Monument on the North-side of the East-end of the Quire of Temple-Church in London because it hath escaped but by what casualty I cannot conjecture Master Stow in his Survey of London We must adde a few words out of the Character Mr. Cambden gives of him Vitae integritate inter bomines suae professionis nu 〈…〉 secundum As he was singularly well learned in the Common Laws of England whereof he deserved well by writing so for integrity of life he was second to none of his profession And how excellent a Medley is made when Honesty and Ability mee in a man of his Profession Nor must we forget how he was Treasurer for the honourable Society of the Middle-Temple Anno 1572 when their magnificent Hall was builded he being a great Advancer thereof Finding the Coyn embased by Henry the eighth so many ways prejudicial to thier State as that which first dishonoured us abroad secondly gave way to the frauds of Coyners at home who exchanged the best Commodities of the Land for base Moneys and exported the current money into Forreign parts and thirdly enhansed the prizes of all things vendible to the great loss of all Stipendiaries He offered 1. That no man should melt any Metal or export it 2. That the Brass-money should be reduced to its just value 3. That it should be bought for good by which silent and just methods that defect of our Government for many years was remedied in few moneths without any noise or what is proper to alterations of this nature discontent The middle Region of the Air is coolest as most distant from the direct beams that warm the highest and the reflexed that heat the lowest the mean man that is as much below the favour of the Court as above the business of the Country was in our Judges opinion the most happy and composed man this being the utmost of a knowing mans wish in England That he were as much out of the reach of contempt as to be above a Constable and as much out of the compass of trouble as to be below a Justice A Mean is the utmost that can be prescribed either of Vertue or Bliss as in our Actions so in our State Great was the Capacity and good the Inclination of this Man large the Furniture and happy the Culture of his Soul grave his Meen and stately his Behaviour well-regulated his Affections and allayed his Passions well-principled his Mind and well-set his Spirit solid his Observation working and practical his Judgement and as that Romane Heroe was more eminent whose image was missing then all the rest whose Portraictures were set up so this accomplished Gentleman is more observable because he was not a States-man then some of those that were so There is a glory in the obscurity of worthy men who as that Sun which they equal as well in common influence as lustre are most looked on when eclipsed Observations on the Life of Sir Roger Manwood SIr Roger Manwood born at Sandwich in Kent attained to such eminency in
manage by which upon occasion he hath unravelled the studied cheats and intrigues of the Closet-men to which when you adde his happy faculty of communicating himself by a free and graceful elocution to charm and command his Audience assisted by the attractive dignity of his presence you will not admire that he managed his Justiceship with so much satisfaction to the Court and that he left it with so much applause from the Country for these two Peculiarities he had That none was more tender to the Poor or more civil in private and yet none more stern to the Rich I mean Justices of Peace Officers c. or more severe in publick He delighted indeed to be loved not reverenced yet knew he very well how to assert the Dignity of his Place and Function from the Approaches of Contempt Observations on the Life of the Earl of Worcester THe Lord of Worcester a no mean Favourite was of the ancient and noble Blood of the Beauforts and of the Queens Grandfathers line by the Mother which she could never forget especially where there was a concurrency of old Blood with Fidelity a mixture which ever sorted with the Queens Nature He was first made Master of the Horse and then admitted of her Council of State In his Youth part whereof he spent before he came to reside at Court he was a very fine Gentleman and the best Horse-man and Tilter of the Times which were then the manlike and noble recreations of the Court and when years had abated these exercises of Honour he grew then to be a faithful and profound Counsellour He was the last Liver of all the Servants of her favour and had the honour to see his renowned Mistress and all of them laid in the places of their rest and for himself after a life of a very noble and remarkable reputation he died in a peaceable Old Age full of Riches and Honour His Fathers temperance reached to 97 years of Age because he never eat but one Meal a day and his sparingness attained to 84 because he never eat but of one Dish He came to the Queens favour because as her Father so she loved a man he kept in because as her Father too so she loved an able man His Man-like Recreations commended him to the Ladies his prudent Atchievments to the Lords He was made Master of the Horse because active and Privy Counsellour because wise His Mistress excused his Faith which was Popish but honoured his Faithfulness which was Roman it being her usual speech that my Lord of Worcester had reconciled what she thought inconsistent a stiff Papist to a good subject His Religion was not pompous but solid not the shew of his life but the comfort of his soul A great Master he was of others affections and greater of his own passions many things displeased nothing angered my Lord of Worcester whose Maxime was That he would not be disordered within himself onely because things were out of order without him He had this Maxime whence he had his Nature from his prudent Father Sir Charles Somerset the first Earl of Worcester of that Name whose temper was so pliable and nature so peaceable that being asked as it is usually reported of him How he passed so troublesome a Reign as King Henry's so uncertain as King Edward's so fierce as Queen Mary's and so unexpected as Queen Elizabeth's with so quiet so fixed so smooth so resolved and ready a mind and frame answered It was because he understood the Interest of the Kingdome while others observed its Humours His first Publick Service was to represent the Grandeur of his Mistress at the Christening of the Daulphine of France and his last the like at the marriage of the King of Scots whom he honoured with the Garter from his Mistress and advised to beware of Papists from the Council The frame of this Noble Mans body as it is delineated by Sir W. P. seems suited to the Noble use it was designed for The entertaining of a most pure and active Soul but equally to the advantage of strength and comeliness befriended with all proportionate Dimensions and a most grave yet obliging Carriage There was a clear sprightfulness in his Complexion but a sad reservedness in his Nature both making up that blessed compositon of a wise and winning man of as great hardship of body as nobleness of spirit Of a quick sight and an accurate ear a steady observation and ready expression with the Torrent whereof he at once pleased King James and amazed King Henry being the most natural Orator in the world Among all which Endowments I had almost forgot his memory that was very faithful to him in things and business though not punctilio's and formalities Great Parts he had the range and compass whereof filled the whole circle of generous Learning in that Person as it hath done in the following Heroes of that Family to this day Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Killigrew TRavellers report That the place wherein the body of Absalom was buried is still extant at Jerusalem and that it is a solemn custome of Pilgrims passing by it to cast a stone on the place but a well-disposed man can hardly go by the memory of this worthy person without doing gratefuâ— homage thereunto in bestowing upon him one oâ— two of our Observations It 's a question sometimeâ— whether the Diamond gives more lustre to the Ring it 's set in or the Ring to the Diamond This Gentleman received honour from his Family and gave renown to it Writing is the character of the speech as that is of the mind From Tully whose Orations he could repeat to his dying day he gained an even and apt stile flowing at one and the self-same heighth Tully's Offices a Book which Boys read and men understand was so esteemed of my Lord Burleigh that to his dying day he always carried it about him either in his bosome or his pocket as a compleat piece that like Aristotle's Rhetorick would make both a Scholar and an Honest man Cicero's magnificent Orations against Anthony Catiline and Verres Caesar's great Commentaries that he wrote with the same spirit that he fought flowing Livy grave judicious and stately Tacitus eloquent but faithful Curtius brief and rich Salust prudent and brave Xenophon whose Person was Themistocles his Companion as his Book was Scipio Affrieanus his Pattern in all his Wars ancient and sweet Herodotus sententious and observing Thucydides various and useful Polybius Siculus Halicarnasseus Trogus Orosius Justine made up our young mans Retinue in all his Travels where as Diodorus the Sicilian writes he sate on the stage of Humane Life observing the great circumstances of places persons times manners occasions c. and was made wise by their example who have trod the path of errour and danger before him To which he added that grave weighty and sweet Plutarch whose Books said Gaza would furnish the world were all others lost Neither was he amazed in
the Labyrinth of History but guided by the Clue of Cosmography hanging his Study with Maps and his Mind with exact Notices of each place He made in one View a Judgement of the Situation Interest and Commodities for want whereof many States-men and Souldiers have failed of Nations but to understand the nature of places is but a poor knowledge unless we know how to improve them by Art therefore under the Figures of Triangles Squares Circles and Magnitudes with their terms and bounds he could contrive most tools and instruments most Engines and judge of Fortifications Architecture Ships Wind and Water-works and whatever might make this lower frame of things useful and serviceable to mankinde which severer Studies he relieved with noble and free Poetry-aid once the pleasure and advancement of the Soul made by those higher motions of the minde more active and more large To which I adde her Sister Musick wherewith he revived his tired spirits lengthened as he said his sickly days opened his oppressed breast eased his melancholy thoughts graced his happy pronunciation ordered and refined his irregular and gross inclination fixed and quickened his floating and dead notions and by a secret sweet and heavenly Vertue raised his spirit as he confessed sometime to a little less then Angelical Exaltations Curious he was to please his ear and as exact to please his eye there being no Statues Inscriptions or Coyns that the Vertuosi of Italy could shew the Antiquaries of France could boast of or the great Hoarder of Rarities the great Duke of Tuscany whose antick Coyns are worth 100000 l. could pretend to that he had not the view of No man could draw any place or work better none fancy and paint a Portraicture more lively being a Dureâ— for proportion a Goltzius for a bold touch variety of posture a curious and true shadow an Angelo for his happy fancy and an Holben for Oyl-works Neither was it a bare Ornament of Discourse or naked Diversion of leisure time but a most weighty piece of Knowledge that he could blazon most noble and ancient Coats and thereby discern the relation interest and correspondence of great Families and thereby the meaning and bottom of all transactions and the most successful way of dealing with any one Family His Exercises were such as his Employments were like to be gentile and man-like whereof the two most eminent were Riding and Shooting that at once wholsomely stirred and nobly knitted and strengthened his Body Two Eyes he said he travelled with the one of wariness upon himself the other of observation upon others This compleat Gentleman was Guardian to the young Brandon in his younger years Agent for Sir John Mason in King Edward the sixth's time and the first Embassador for the State in Queen Elizabeths time My Lord Cobham is to amuse the Spaniard my Lord Effingham to undermine the French and Sir Henry Killigrew is privately sent to engage the German Princes against Austria in point of Interest and for her Majesty in point of Religion he had an humour that bewitched the Elector of Bavaria a Carriage that awed him of Mentz a Reputation that obliged them of Colen and Hydelbergh and that reach and fluency in Discourse that won them all He assisted the Lords Hunsdon and Howard at the Treaty with France in London and my Lord of Essex in the War for France in Britain Neither was he less observable for his own Conduct then for that of others whose severe thoughts words and carriage so awed his inferiour faculties as to restrain him through all the heats of youth made more then usually importunate by the full vigour of a high and sanguine Constitution insomuch that they say he looked upon all the approaches to that sin then so familiar to his Calling as a a Souldier his Quality as a Gentleman and his Station as a Courtier not onely with an utter disallowance in his Judgement but with a natural abhorency and antipathy in his very lower inclinations To which happiness it conduced not a little that though he had a good yet he had a restrained appetite a Knife upon his Throat as well as upon his Trencher that indulged it self neither frequent nor delicate entertainment its Meals though but once a day being its pressures and its fasts its only sensualities to which temperance in diet adde but that in sleep together with his disposal of himself throughout his life to industry and diligence you will say he was a spotless man whose life taught us this Lesson which if observed would accomplish Mankinde and which King Charles the first would inculcate to noble Travellers and Dr. Hammond to all men To be furnished always with something to do A Lesson they proposed as the best expedient for Innocence and Pleasure the foresaid blessed man assuring his happy Hearers That no burthen is more heavy or temptation more dangerous then to have time lie on ones hand the idle man being not onely as he worded it the Devils shop but his kingdome too a model of and an appendage unto Hell a place given up to torment and to mischief Observations on the Life of Arthur Gray Baron of Wilton ARthur Gray Baron of Wilton is justly reckoned amongst the Natives of Buckingham-shire whose Father had his habitation not at Wilton a decayed Castle in Herefordshire whence he took his Title but at Waddon a fair House of his Family not far from Buckingham He succeeded to a small Estate much diminished on this sad occasion His Father William Lord Gray being taken Prisoner in France after long ineffectual solliciting to be because captivated in the publick service redeemed on the publick charge at last was forced to ransome himself with the sale of the best part of his Patrimony Our Arthur endeavoured to advance his Estate by his Valour being entred into Feats of War under his Martial Father at the siege of Leith 1560 where he was shot in the shoulder which inspirited him with a constant antipathy against the Scots He was afterwards sent over Lord Deputy into Ireland anno 1580 where before he had received the Sword or any Emblems of Command ut acricribus initiis terrorem incuteret to fright his foes with fierce beginnings he unfortunately fought the Rebels at Glandilough to the great loss of English Blood This made many commend his Courage above his Conduct till he recovered his credit and finally suppressed the Rebellion of Desmond Returning into England the Queen chiefly relied on his counsel for ordering our Land-forces against the Spaniards in 88 and fortifying places of advantage The mention of that year critical in Church-differences about discipline at home as well as with forreign force abroad mindeth me that this Lord was but a back-friend to Bishops and in all divisions of Votes in Parliament or Council-table sided with the Anti-prelatical Party When Secretary Davison that State-Pageant raised up on purpose to be put down was censured in the Star-chamber about the business of
the Queen of Scots this Lord Gray onely defended him as doing nothing therein but what became an able and honest Minister of State An Ear-witness saith Haec fusè oratoriè animosè Greium disserentem audivimus So that besides bluntness the common and becoming Eloquence of Souldiers he had a real Rhetorick and could very emphatically express himself Indeed this Warlike Lord would not wear two heads under one Helmet and may be said always to have born his Beaver open not dissembling in the least degree but owning his own Judgement at all times what he was He deceased anno Domini 1593. Three things he was observed eminent for 1. Dispatch San Joseph having not been a week in Ireland before he had environed him by Sea and Land 2. For his resolution that he would not parley with him till he was brought to his mercy hanging out a white flag with Misericordia Misericordia 3. For his Prudence 1. That he saved the Commanders to oblige the Spaniard 2. That he plundered the Country to enrich his Souldiers 3. That he decimated the Souldiery to terrifie Invaders and hanged all the Irish to amaze the Traytors Henry Fitz-alan Earl of Arundel when Steward at King Edward's Coronation or Constable at Queen Mary's was the first that rid in a Coach in England my Lord Gray was the first that brought a Coach hither one of a working Brain and a great Mechanist himself and no less a Patron to the Ingenious that were so That there was an emulation between him and Sussex was no wonder but that the instance wherein he thought to disgrace him should be his severity to the English Traytor and the Forreign Invadors would seem strange to any but those that consider 1. That Princes of late would seem as they look on the end and not the means so they hug a cruelty and frown on the instrument of it who while he honestly sacrificeth some irregular particulars to the interest of Soveraignty may be made himself a sacrifice to the passion of populacy And 2. which is the case here That aspiring Princes may employ severer Natures but setled ones use the more moderate Love keeps up the Empire which Power hath set up Observations on the Life of Thomas Lord Burge THomas Lord Burge or Borough was born in his Fathers noble House at Gainsborough in the County of Lincoln He was sent Embassadour into Scotland in 1593 to excuse Bothwel his lurking in England to advise the speedy suppression of the Spanish Faction to advance the Protestants in that Kingdome for their Kings defence and to instruct that King about his Council which was done accordingly He was made Lord-Deputy of Ireland anno 1597 in the room of Sir William Russel Mr. Cambden saith thus of him Vir acer animi plenus sed nullis fer◠Castrorum rudimentis As soon as the Truce with Tyrone was expired he straightly besieged the Fort of Black-water the onely receptacle of the Rebels in those parts besides their Woods and Bogs Having taken this Fort by force presently followed a bloody Battle wherein the English lost many worthy men He was struck with untimely death before he had continued a whole year in his Place it being wittily observed of the short Lives of many worthy men Fatuos à morte defendit ipsa insulsitas si cui plus caeteris aliquantulum salis insit quod miremini statim putrescit Things rare destroy themselves those two things being incompatible in our nature Perfection and Lastingness His Education was not to any particular Profession yet his Parts able to manage all A large Soul and a great Spirit apart from all advantages can do wonders His Master-piece was Embassie where his brave Estate set him above respects and compliance and his comely Person above contempt His Geography and History led to the Interest of other Princes and his Experience to that of his own His skill in most Languages helped him to understand others and his resolution to use onely his own to be reserved himself In two things he was very scrupulous 1. In his Commission 2. In his Servants whom he always he said found honest enough but seldome quick and reserved And in two things very careful viz. 1. The time and humour of his Addresses 2. The Interest Inclinations and Dependencies of Favourites A grave and steady man observing every thing but affected with nothing keeping as great distance between his looks and his heart as between his words and his thoughts Very exact for his priviledges very cold and indifferent in his motions which were always guided by the emergencies in that Country and by his intelligence from home Good he was in pursuing his limited instruction excellent where he was free and his Business was not his obedience onely but his discretion too that never failed but in his last enterprize which he undertook without any apparent advantage and attempted without intelligence An Enterprize well worthy his invincible Courage but not his accustomed Prudence which should never expose the person of a General to the danger of a common Souldier Observations on the Life of William Lord Pawlet WIlliam Pawlet where-ever born had his largest Estate and highest Honour Baron of Basing and Marquess of Winchester in Hantshire He was descended from a younger house of the Pawlets in Hinton St. George in Somersetshire as by the Crescent in his Arms is acknowledged One telleth us That he being a younger Brother and having wasted all that was left him came to Court on trust where upon the stock of his Wit he trafficked so wisely and prospered so well that he got spent and left more then any Subject since the Conquest Indeed he lived at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys which was the Harvest of Estates and it argued idleness if any Courtier had his Barns empty He was Servant to King Henry the seventh and for thirty years together Treasurer to King Henry the eighth Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the later in some sort owed their Crowns to his Counsel his Policy being the principal Defeater of Duke Dudley's Designe to dis-inherit them I behold this Lord Pawlet like to aged Adoram so often mentioned in Scriptures being over the Tribute in the days of King David all the Reign of King Solomon until the first year of Rehoboam And though our Lord Pawlet enjoyed his Place not so many years yet did he serve more Soveraigns in more mutable times being as he said of himself No Oak but an Osier Herein the Parallel holds not the hoary hairs of Adoram were sent to the Grave by a violent death slain by the People in a Tumult this Lord had the rare happiness of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting in his full splendour having lived 97 years and seen 103 out of his body He died anno Domini 1572. Thus far Mr. Fuller This Gentleman had two Rules as useful for Mankinde as they seem opposite to
the Affairs of Ireland He had that Majesty in his Countenance that he awed and Affability in his Speech that he obliged the Country His Counsel would be smart and solid his Reproof grave and affectionate his Jests quick and taking doing more with a quick Droll towards the peace of the Country then others did with longer Harangue Secretary Bourns Son kept a Gentlemans Wife i◠Shropshire when he was weary of her he cause her Husband to be dealt with to take her home an offered him 500 l. for reparation The Gentleman went to Sir Henry Sidney to take his advice telling him That his Wife promised now a new life and to say the truth five hundred pounds would be very seasonable at that time By my troth said Sir Henry take her home and the Money then whereas other Cuckolds wear their Horns plain you may we◠yours gilt His great word after a difference ended was Is not this easier then going to London as Ludlow When a man fretted against himself of others My Friend he would say take it from me a weak man complains of others an unfortunate man of himself but a wise man neither of others nor of himself It was his Motto I 'll never threaten To threaten an Enemy is to instruct him a Superiour is to endanger my Person an Inferiour is to disparage my Conduct Old Servants were the Ornament and stay of his Family for whom he reserved a Copyhold when aged a Service when hopeful an Education when pregnant Twice was he sent underhand to France and once to Scotland to feel the pulse of the one and to embroyl the other It 's for setled Kingdomes and for Wealthy men to play above-board while the young State as the young Fortune should be least in sight He and Sir Thomas Randolph amuse the Queen of Scots with the hope of the Crown of England and the King of France by a League with his Protestant Subjects to whose assistance Sir Adrian Poynings arrives as Field-marshal and the Earl of Warwick as General Sir Nicholas Arnold had disposed Ireland to a settlement when Justicer and Sir Henry Sidney formerly Justicer and Treasurer was now to compleat it as Deputy being assisted in Munster by Sir Warham St. Leiger and elsewhere by the brave Earl of Ormond having procured his Antagonist the Earl of Desmond to be called to England in order to a peace and tranquillity Great was his Authority over far greater his love to and esteem of the Soldiers with whom he did wonders against Shane Oneals Front while Randolph charged his Rear until the wild Rebel submits and is executed When he resigned his Authority and Honour to Sir William Drury he took his farewel of Ireland in these words When Israel departed out of Egypt and the house of Jacob from a barbarous people A singular man he was saith the Historian and one of the most commendable Deputies of Ireland to whose Wisdome and Fortitude that Kingdome cannot but acknowledge much though it is as impatient of Deputies as Sicily was of old of Procurators Alter idem or other Observations on the Life of Thomas Ratcliffe THomas Ratcliffe Lord Fitz-Walter second Earl of Sussex of that surname twice Lord-Deputy of Ireland was a most valiant Gentleman By his Prudence he caused that actual Rebellion brake not out in Ireland and no wonder 〈◊〉 in his time it rained not War there seeing his diligence dispersed the Clouds before they could gather together Thus he who cures a Disease may be skilfullest but he that prevents it is the safe Physitian Queen Elizabeth called him home to be her Lord Chamberlain and a constant Court-faction was maintained between him and Robert Earl of Leicester so that the Sussexians and the Leicesterian divided the Court whilst the Cecilians as Neuters did look upon them Sussex had a great Estate left by his Ancestors Leicester as great given or restored him by the Queen Sussex was the honester man and greater Souldier Leicester the more facete Courtier and deep Politician not for the general Good but for his particular Profit Great the Animosity betwixt them and what in vain the Queen endeavoured Death performed taking this Earl away and so the Competition was ended New-Hall in Essex was the place if not as I believe of his Birth yet of his principal Habitation He died anno Domini and lieth buried in the Church of St. Olives Hartstreet London The first of Queen Elizabeth found this brave Earl commanding Ireland in peace and plenty with three hundred and twenty Horse and eight hundred and sixty Foot prudently garisoned and well paid And the second employed him thither again with Instructions That he should beware above all things lest the Irish being an uncivil people and therefore the more superstitious should by the cunning practices of the French be excited to rebellion under the pretext of Religion 2. That he should fortifie Ophale with Castles and Forts 3. That he should engage the Souldiery with large Possessions 4. That the Irish Nobility should hold their Estates in Fee 5. That he should improve the Queens Revenues moderately and reduce her Exchequer there to the form of that in England At what time Maximilian the Emperoun courted Queen Elizabeth whom all English men wished married all Protestants married to a Protestant and the Earl of Leicester had designed for himself there arose a deadly feud in the English Court between the Earl of Sussex that favoured the Match upon common Principles of Government and the Earl of Leicester who opposed it upon a private designe of his own Certainly very great and shameful hopes do they foster who have already attained things beyond hopes The open-hearted Earl would call his Antagonist an Upstart that had but two Ancestors his Father a Traytor and his Grandfather a Publican The Court is divided the Earls are always attended with their armed Guards until the Queen who took pleasure in and made use of the innocent emulation of her women but was afraid of the dangerous contests of her Favourites rather skinned over then healed the rupture At the Emperours Court whither he is sent with the Order of Saint George he presseth the Marriage closely as much out of love to his Country as hatred to Leicester having nothing more ordinary in his discourse then that a Forreign Prince was to be preferred before the noblest Englishman for the three grand things of Honour Power and Wealth But what he promoted publickly the Lord North who was joyned with him rather as his Guardian then his Colleague opposed privately until a few fond scruples broke the most solemn Negotiation wherein yet this Earl behaved himself with a Gallantry that gained him a familiarity from the Emperour a reverence from the Archduke a respect from all the people and his Mistress a kindness in that Court that stood her in great stead against the attempts of Spain and Rome From Germany he returned with much honour to Command in the North with
for and that is Stratagems Now you should have him surprize a Town by Butter-women another time by Workmen anon he would face the Enemy and draw them with success upon a Train of Gunpowder he would lay for them and Iron Pricksteds he would sow for them He would steal their hands and seals buy the very keys of their Closets and so amuse them with Letters and distract them with Jealousies while in the mean time the vigilant man alarmed them every hour of the day and each watch of the night so that he tamed those wild Irish as we do some wild beasts by watching Observations on the Life of Roger Ashcam FRom his Cradle a Royal Servant and to his Grave a Favourite a good man saith Cambden and if his ambition had been but as great as the occasion was fair a great one too Born he was honestly in York shire and bred handsomely at Cambridge and both born and bred for that Age which was to refine Greek and Latine to a politeness and raise them to an Eloquence He was the University-Orator at Cambridge and at Court there using his Eloquence here his Interest against that Sacriledge that having Dined on the Church as he writ came to Sup on the Universities Thence he was rather removed then advanced more suitably to his merit then his expectation to be Queen Elizabeths Schoolmaster for the Latine Tongue in her Sisters time and her Secretary for the same in her own What he got by his Ingenuity he lost by his Gaming viz. at Dice and Cock-fighting dying rich onely in those two Books his Estate and Monument whereof the one is intituled Toxophilus and the other Scholarcha He and his dear Smith were the happiest men in the Nation their large and ingenious Souls clasping together in an entire friendship made up of kindness and integrity apart from the little fears the jealousies the suspitions that vex Mankinde What learned Letters what loving Expostulations what discreet Intimations what faithful Advertisements what indifferent Community what common Cares and Pities How they loved how they chid and how they loved again how plain how malleable how sweet What little Observations upon one anothers inadvertencies neglects or miscarriages how they improved their Mollia tempora to the great end of friendship information and advice How secretly they vented their thoughts into each others breasts and there looked upon them by reflexion and the advantage of a second consideration And it 's a happiness to have another self to shew our selves to before we appear to the world that all men wish and the good men onely enjoy An honest man this that abhorred all artifice and cunning and hated all concealments and pretensions which he had sagacity enough to discover and look through but a spirit too generous to practise it none being more able for yet none more averse to that circumlocution and contrivance wherewith some men shadow their main drift and purpose Speech was made to open Man to Man and not to hide him to promote Commerce and not betray it HOw happy is he born and taught That serveth not anothers will Whose Armour is his honest thought And simple Truth his utmost skill Whose Passions not his Masters are Whose Soul is still prepar'd for death Vntide unto the world by care Of publick Fame or private breath Who envies none that Chance doth raise Nor Vice bath ever understood How deepest wounds are given by praise Nor Rules of State but Rules of Good Who hath his life from rumours freed Whose Conscience is his strong retreat Whose state can neither flatterers feed Nor ruine make Oppressors great Who God doth late and early pray More of his Grace then Gifts to lend And entertains the harmless day With a Religious Book or Friend This man is freed from servile bands Of hope to rise or fear to fall Lord of himself though not of Lands And having nothing yot hath all Observations on the Life of Sir John Packington SIr John Packington was a Person of no mean Family and of form and feature no way despiseable for he was a brave Gentleman and a very fine Courtier and for the time which he stayed there was very high in the Queens Grace but he came in and went out and through disassiduity lost the advantage of her favor and then Death drawing a vail over him utterly deprived him of recovery They say of him saith the same Author that had he brought less to the Court then he did he might have carried away more then he brought for he had a time of it but he was an ill husband of Opportunity His handsome features took the most and his neat parts the wisest at Court He could smile Ladies to his service and argue States-men to his designe with equal ease His Reason was powerful his Beauty more Never was 〈◊〉 brave Soul more bravely seated Nature bestowed great Parts on him Education polished him to and admirable frame of prudence and vertue Queen Elizabeth called him Her Temperance and Leicester His Modesty It is a question to this day Whether his Resolution took the Souldiers his Prudence the Politicians his Complyance the Favourites his Complaisance the Courtiers his Piety the Clergy his Integrity and Condescention the People or his Knowledge the Learned most This new Court-star was a nine-days wonder engaging all eyes until it set satisfied with its own glory He came to Court he said as Solomon did to see its vanity and retired as he did to repent it It was he who said first what Bishop Sanderson urged afterwards That a sound Faith was the best Divinity good Conscience the best Law and Temperance the best Physick Sir John Packington in Queen Elizabeths time was vertuous and modest and Sir John Packington in King Charles his time Loyal and valiant the one did well the other suffered so Greenbam was his Favourite Hammond his the one had a competant Estate and was contented the other hath a large one and is noble this suppresseth Factions in the Kingdome the other composed them in the Court and was called by Courtiers Moderation Westmerland tempted his fidelity and Norfolk his stedfastness but he died in his Bed an honest and an happy man while one of them goes off tainted on the Scaffold and the other dies a Begger in Flanders Observations on the Lives of the Norrises and Knowles MY Lord Norris had by his Lady an ample Issue which the Queen highly respected for he had six sons all Martial brave men of haughty courage and of great experience in the conduct of Military Affairs Greater was not the Faction between Leicester and Sussex at Court then that between the Knowles and the Norrises in the Country both Families of Oxfordshire the one resolute at Greyes the other valiant at Rycote the former got great Estates at home the latter attained to great Honour abroad The Knowles were beloved by the Queen for their own sakes the Norrises for theirs
and her own sake the Knowles were of the same blood with her Majesty the Norrises spent theirs for her 1. My Lord Norris died at Court an honest man 2. Sir Francis at Bulloign a good Souldier 3. Sir William at Berwick a brave Governour As the first eminent Norris suffered for Anne Bullen the Queens Mother so the first eminent Knowles suffered with Protestantism her Religion 4. Sir Thomas at Munster a wise President 5. Sir Maximilian at Bretaign an expert Engineer 6. Maximilian at Groen a renowned Heroe 7. Sir John was a most accomplished General no less eminent for his safe retreats then for his resolute onsets France hath recorded this testimony of him That he brought on his men so warily as one that could bring them off and England this That he brought them off so resolutely as one that durst bring them on His fortune often overthrew his enemy and his wisdome oftner saved his friends His Conduct was famous and his Discipline exact His Actions are Presidents and his Orders Laws of War to this day He was bred under Castilion and out-did him Ireland was always possessed but never conquered till Norris came who could lie on the coldest earth swim the deepest Rivers Norris could not rise though he deserved his Honour because of Leicester that favoured his Brother Knowles and Essex that envyed him neither could Knowls advance because of Sussex that feared and Cecil that suspected him The Knowles were deserving but modest favoured but humble powerful but quiet rather firm at Court then high allied to the Queen and faithful to the Crown Queen Elizabeth advanced Sir Francis to the Vicechamberlainship Treasurership of the Houshold Captainship of the Guard and the Order of the Garter because she said He was an honest man and King James and King Charles raised his Son Sir William to the Earldome of Banbury because he was a serviceable man force the straightest Passes find out the most secret corners tread the softest Bog who could endure any thing but an affront and a Superiour the first whereof upon a repulse at Court saddened his heart as the second upon another Deputies being sent over him broke it Unsuccessful he was with Don Antonio in Spain because he understood not the Country In the Low-Countries he gained experience first and then victory in Ireland he had Connaught for his Grave Mount Norris his Monument and the Letter of Queen Elizabeth to his Mother his Epitaph Honestly faithful was that family to their Mistress that was and providently so were they to their Master that should be Handsom men they were when attending at Court and valiant when called to the Camp Norrises Knowles 1. The Norrises are employed in Embassies of War wherein they were active 1. The Knowles are abroad in religious Negotiations for which they had been Confessors Sir Francis in France and Sir Henry in Germany 2. My Lord Norris his resolution was very becoming in the demand of Calice 2. Francis Knowles his meekness was suitable to his perswasions for Religion 3. The Irish Conspirator Thoumond opened a Plot against the Government in Ireland to the Agent Norris 3. And the Scots Schismatick Humes discovered a designe against the Church in England to the Embassadour Knowles In 88 My Lord Hunsdon guarded the Queens person with 34000 foot and 2000 horse the Earl of Leicester commanded the Midland Army of 22000 foot and 1000 horse Sir Roger Williams and Sir Richard Bingham were in the head of 20000 in the Thames mouth and Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Knowles with other Assistants sate in the Council of War to overlook all Sir John advised three things 1. The Guarding of the Havens 2. The Training of the Militia and the preparing of them to be at an hours warning upon a signal given which was then the firing of a Beacon 3. That if the Enemy did land the Country should be laid waste before him the Train-bands alarming him day and night Sir Francis added 1. What Shires and what numbers should assist each Coast how the men should be armed how commanded and in what order they should fight 2. That the Papists should not be massacred as some would have it but secured 3. That the Deputy of Ireland should be instructed 4. That the King of Scots should be engaged 5. That Agents should be sent to the Netherlands and to France And 6. That the Queen should encourage the people with her own presence Sir John Norris died when he saw beyond others expectation and his own merit the Lord Burghe made Lord-Deputy and himself but President of Munster his great minde sinking under one affront from his Soveraign which had born up against all the assaults of her enemies leaving this honour behinde him That he laid the best grounds of Military practice in England But who can stand before Envy A further Character of Sir John Norris from Queen Elizabeths Letter to his Mother My own Crow HArm not your self for bootless help but shew a good example to comfort your dolorous yoak-fellow Although we have deferred long to represent to you our grieved thoughts because we liked full ill to yeild you the first reflexion of misfortune whom we have always rather sought to cherish and comfort yet knowing now that Nec'ssity must bring it to your ear and Nature consequently must move both grief and passion in your heart We resolved no longer to smother neither our care for your sorrow or the sympathy of our grief for your loss Wherein if it be true That Society in sorrow works diminution We do assure you by this true Messenger of our minde that Nature can have stirred no more dolorous affection in you as a Mother for a dear Son then Gratefulness and memory of his Service past hath wrought in Us his Soveraign apprehension of our miss for so worthy a Servant But now that Natures common work is done and he that was born to die hath paid his Tribute let that Christian discretion stay the flux of your immoderate grieving which hath instructed you both for example and knowledge that nothing in this kinde hath happened but by Gods Divine Providence And let these Lines from your loving gracious Soveraign serve to assure you that there shall ever appear the lively Character of our Estimation of him that was in our gracious care of you and yours that are left in valuing rightly all their faithful and honest Endeavours More at this time we will not write of this unpleasant subject but have dispatched this Gentleman to visit both your Lord and you and to condole with you in the true sense of your love and to pray that the world may see what time cureth in a weak minde that Discretion and Moderation helpeth in you in this accident where there is so just cause to demonstrate true Patience and Moderation Your Gracious and Loving Soveraign E. R. Observations on the Life of Secretary Davison THat Meteor of the Court raised onely in an
of it when great be wary when successful reserved when rising stayed especially in that Age when men were poysoned with Oyl and undone with Honey when active modest when checked yeilding when dandled distrustful when flattered fearful when great not absolute as my Lord would have been in point of favour against my Lord Mountjoy and valour against my Lord Norris Serve not your Followers but employ them Let others service administer to your designe not your power to theirs Let great Actions encourage greater and let Honour be your merit and not your expectation Some have been busie in the enquiry of what reason the Virgin-Queen had for her kindness to Leicester and this man if there be a reason in any much less in Royal love save the affection its self that bears it true he had Vertue and suffering enough at his first arrival to engage the kindness and the pity of a worse Princess yet some then discoursed of a Conjunction of their Stars that made way for that of their minds Certainly saith Cambden the inclination of Princes to some persons and their disfavour towards others may seem fatal and guided by higher Powers A Parallel between the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Buckingham by H. W. THe beginning of the Earl of Essex I must attribute wholly or in great part to my Lord of Leicester but yet as an Introducer or supporter not as a Teacher for as I go along it will easily appear that he neither lived nor died by his Discipline Always certain it is that he drew him first into the fatal Circle from a kinde of resolved privateness at his house at Lampsie in South-wales where after the Academical life he had taken such a taste of the Rural as I have heard him say and not upon any flashes or fumes of Melancholy or traverses of discontent but in a serene and quiet mood that he could well have bent his mind to a retired course About which time the said Earl of Leicester bewrayed a meaning to plant him in the Queens favour which was diversly interpreted by such as thought that great Artizan of Court to do nothing by chance nor much by affection Some therefore were of opinion that feeling more and more in himself the weight of time and being almost tired if there be a satiety in power with that assiduous attendance and intensive circumspection which a long-indulgent fortune did require he was grown not unwilling for his own ease to bestow handsomely upon another some part of the pains and perhaps of the envy Others conceived rather that having before for the same ends brought in or let in Sir Walter Rawleigh and having found him such an Apprentice as knew well enough how to set up for himself he now meant to allie him with this young Earl who had yet taken no strong impressions For though the said Sir Walter Rawleigh was a little before this whereof I now speak by occasion much fallen from his former splendour in Court yet he still continued in some lustre of a favoured man like billows that sink by degrees even when the wind is down that first stirred them Thus runs the discourse of that time at pleasure yet I am not ignorant that there was some good while a very stiff aversation in my Lord of Essex from applying himself to the Earl of Leicester for what secret conceit I know not but howsoever that humour was mollified by time and by his mother and to the Court he came under his Lord. The Duke of Buckingham had another kinde of Germination and surely had he been a plant he would have been reckoned amongst the Sponte Nascentes for he sprung without any help by a kinde of congenial composure as we may term it to the likeness of our late Soveraign and Master of ever blessed memory who taking him into his regard taught him more and more to please himself and moulded him as it were Platonically to his own Idea delighting first in the choice of the Materials because he found him susceptible of good form and afterward by degrees as great Architects use to do in the workmanship of his Regal hand nor staying here after he had hardned and polished 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 could peruse men as well as Books he made him the associate of his Heir apparent together with the new Lord Cottington as an adjunct of singular experience and trust in forraign travels and in a business of love and of no equal hazard if the tenderness of our zeal did not then deceive us enough the world must confess to kindle affection even betwixt the distantest conditions so as by the various and inward conversation abroad besides that before and after at home with the most constant and best-natured Prince Bona si sua norint as ever England enjoyed this Duke becomes now secondly seized of favour as it were by descent though the condition of that estate be no more then a Tenancy at Will or at most for the life of the first Lord and rarely transmitted which I have briefly set down without looking beyond the vail of the Temple I mean into the secret of high inclinations since even Satyrical Poets who are otherwise of so licentious fancy are in this point modest enough to confess their ignorance Nescio quid certa est quod me tibi temperet Astrum And these were both their Springings and Imprimings as I may call them In the profluence or proceedings of their fortunes I observe likewise not onely much difference between them but in the Earl not a little from himself First all his hopes of advancement had like to be strangled almost in the very Cradle by throwing himself into the Portugal Voyage without the Queens consent or so much as her knowledge whereby he left his Friends and Dependents near six months in desperate suspense what would become of him And to speak truth not without good reason For first they might well consider That he was himself not well plumed in favour for such a flight besides that now he wanted a Lord of Leicester at home for he was dead the year before to smooth his absence and to quench the practices at Court But above all it lay open to every mans discourse that though the bare offence to his Soveraign and Mistriss was too great an adventure yet much more when she might as in this case have fairly discharged her displeasure upon her Laws Notwithstanding a noble report coming home before him at his return all was clear and this excursion was esteemed but a Sally of youth Nay he grew every day more and more in her gracious conceit whether such intermissions as these do sometimes foment affection or that having committed a fault he became the more obsequious and plyant to redeem it or that she had not received into her Royal Breast any shadows
entertainment and above all in his darling piece of love and self-love his Stile was an elegant perspicuity rich of phrase but seldome any bold Metaphors and so far from Tumor that it rather wanted a little Elevation The Dukes delivery of his mind I conceive not to be so sharpe as solid and grave not so solid and deep as pertinent and apposite to the times and occasions The Earl I account the more liberal and the Duke the more magnificent for I do not remember that my Lord of Essex in all his life-time did build or adorne any house the Queene perchance spending his time and himself his meanes or otherwise inclining to popular ways for we know the people are apter to applaud hous-keepers then hous-raisers They were both great cherishers of Scholars and Divines but it seems the Earl had obtained of himself one singular point that he could depart his affection between two extremes for though he bare always a kinde of filial reverence towards Dr Whitgift both before and after he was Archbishop yet on the other side he did not a little love and tender Master Cartwright though I think truly with large distinction between the persons and the Causes howsoever he was taxed with other ends in respecting that party They were both fair-spoken Gentlemem not prone and eager to detract openly from any man in this the Earl hath been most falsly blemished in our vulgar Story only against one man he had forsworn all patience namely Henry Lord Cobham and would call him per Excellentiam the Sycophant as if it had been an Emblem of his name even to the Queen her self though of no small insinuation with her and one Lady likewise that I may civilly spare to no â—inate for her sex sake whom he used to terme the Spyder of the Court yet generally in the sensitive part of their Natures the Earl was the worse Philosopher being a great Resenter and a weak Dissembler of the least disgrace And herein likewise as in the rest no Good Pupill to my Lord of Leicester who was wont to put all his passions in his pocket In the growth of their Fortunes the Duke was a little the swifter and much the greater for from a younger brothers meane estate he rose to the highest degree whereof a Subject was capable either in Title or Trust Therein I must confesse much more consortable to Charles Brandon under Henry the Eight who was equall to him in both For matter of Donative and addition of substance I do not believe that the Duke did much exceed him all considered under both Kings For that which the Earl of Essex had received from her Majesty besides the Fees of his Offices and the disposition of great Summes of money in her Armies was about the time of his Arraignment when faults use to be aggravated with precedent benefits valued at three hundred thousand pounds sterling in pure gift for his onely use to the Earl of Dorset then Lord Treasurer who was a wise man and a strict Computist and not ill affected towards him And yet it is worthy of note in the Margent of both Times that the one was prosecuted with silence and the other with murmur so undoing a measure is popular judgment I cannot here omit between them a great difference in establishing of both their Fortunes and Fames For the first the Duke had a care to introduce into neer place at the Court divers of his confident Servants and into high places very sound and grave Personages Whereas except a Pensioner or two we can scant name any one man advanced of the Earls breeding but Sir Thomas Smith having been his Secretary who yet came never further though married into a noble House then to the Clerk of the Councell and Register of the Parliament not that the Earl meant to stand alone like a Substantive for he was not so ill a Grammarian in Court but the Truth is in this point the Cecilians kept him back as very well knowing that upon every little absence or disassiduity he should be subject to take cold at his back For the Other in managing of their Fames I note between them a direct contrary wisdome For the Earl proceeded by way of Apology which he wrote and dispersed with his own hands at large though till his going to Ireland they were but aiery objections But of the Duke this I know that one having offered for his ease to do him that kinde of Service He refused it with a pretty kinde of thankfull scorn saying that he would trust his own good intentions which God knew and leave to him the pardoning of his Errours and that he saw no fruit of Apologies but the multiplying of discourse which surely was a well-setled Maxime And for my own particular though I am not obnoxious to his memory in the expression of Tacitus Neque injuria neque beneficia saving that he shewed me an ordinary good Countenance And if I were yet I would distinguish between Gratitude and Truth I must bear him this Testimony that in a Commission laid upon me by Soveraign Command to examine a Lady about a certain filthy accusation grounded upon nothing but a few single names taken up by a Footman in a kennel and straight baptized A list of such as the Duke had appointed to be poysoned at home himself being then in Spain I found it to be the most malicious and frantick surmise and the most contrary to his nature that I think had ever been brewed from the beginning of the World howsoever countenanced by a Libellous Pamphlet of a fugitive Physician even in Print and yet of this would not the Duke suffer any answer to be made on his behalf so constant he was to his own principles In their Military Services the Characters of the Earls imployments were these viz. His forwardest was that of Portugal before mentioned The saddest that of Roan where he lost his brave Brother His fortunatest peece I esteem the taking of Cadiz Malez and no less modest for there he wrote with his own hands a censure of his Omissions His jealousest imployment was to the relief of Calais besieged by the Cardinall Arch-duke about which there passed then between the Queen and the French King much Art His Voiage to the Azores was the best for the discovery of the Spanish weakness and otherwise almost a saving Voiage His blackest was that to Ireland ordained to be the Sepulchre of his Father and the Gulph of his own Fortunes But the first in 88 at Tilbury-camp was in my judgement the very poyson of all that followed for there whilest the Queen stood in some doubt of a Spanish Invasion though it proved but a Morrice-dance upon our Waves she made him in Field Commander of the Cavalry as he was before in Court and much graced him openly in view of the Souldiers and people even above my Lord of Leicester the truth is from thenceforth he fed too fast The Dukes employment abroad
3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford where he entertained Qu Elizabeth with a most sumptuous Feast He was called the Star-chamber-Bell so very flowing his invention and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispatch faculties which yet run in the blood He took a Roll of the names of all Sutors with the Date of their first Addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a Fresh-man could not leap over the head of his Senior except in urgent Affairs of State Thus having made amends to his house for his mispent time both in increase of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19th of April 1608. The Lord Buckburst was of the noble house of the Sackvils and of the Queens consanguinity his Father was that provident wise man Sir Richard Sackvil or as the people then called him Fill-sack by reason of his great wealth and the vast Patrimony which he left to this his son whereof he spent in his youth the best part until the Qu by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion he was a very fine Gentleman of person and endowments both of Art and Nature His elocution is much commended but the excellency of his Pen more for he was a Scholar and a person of quick faculties very facete and choice in his phrase and style He was wise and stout nor was he any ways insnared in the factions of the Court which were all his time very strong He stood still in grace and was wholly intentive to the Queens service and such were his abilities that she received assiduous proofs of his sufficiency As 1. In his Embassie to France whereas the Queen-Mother complemented him he behaved himself very worthy of his Mistrisses Majesty and his own Peerage there he had an experienced Tuscan Calacanti by name to deal with that Florentine Queen Montmorancy's brother to undermine the Guises and his own great parts to grapple with old Hospital He began that subtle piece the French Match under pretence whereof we balanoed and understood Europe and Walsingham finished it 2. In his Negotiations in the Low-Countries where he watched Leicester and the Commanders he observed the States and their changeable and various Interests accommodating the present emergencies and suiting their occasions They that censure this Nobleman's death consider not besides the black worm and the white day and night as the Riddle is that are gnawing constantly at the root of the tree of Life There are many insensible diseases as Apoplexies whose vapors sodainly extinguish the animal spirits and Aposthumes both in the upper and middle Region of man that often drown and suffocate both the animal and vital who are like embodied Twins the one cannot subsist without the other If the animal wits fail the vital cannot subsist if the vitals perish the animals give over their operation and he that judgeth ill of such an act of Providence may have the same hand at the same time writing within the Palace-walls of his own body the same period to his lives Earthly Empire The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Eliz. THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King James Observations on the Lives of the Cliffords Earls of Cumberland THE name hath been for three Ages ancient and Noble and in this last Age Warlike and serviceable They had the government of the North in their own right for an hundred yeares and the hereditary Sheriff-dome of Westmorland in right of the Viponts their Relations for two Henry the first Earl of Cumberland was raysed by Henry the Eighth to that Honour 1525 for his service at Tournay and Berwick Henry his son was by Queen Mary honoured with the Garter for his conduct against Wyat and by Queen Eliz. graced with peculiar favours for his Industry Integrity and Vigilance in the North. As Nature so Nobility subsists and grows by the same thing that it is made of Vertue that creates supports it Observations on the Life of the Lord George Clifford GEorge Clifford Lord Clifford Vesoye c. Earl of Cumberland was son to Henry second Earl of that Family by his second Lady a person wholly composed of true honour and valour whereof he gave the world a large and clear demonstration It was resolved by the judicious in that Age The way to humble the Spanish greatness was not in pinching and pricking of him in the Low-Countries which onely emptied his veins of such blood as was quickly re-filled But the way to make it a Cripple for ever was by cutting off the Spanish s 〈…〉 ews of War his Monies from the West-Indies the back-door robs the house In order whereunto this Earl set forth a small Fleet on his own cost and adventured his own person therein being the best born Englishman that ever hazarded himself in that kinde His Fleet may be said to be bound for no other Harbour but the Port of Honour though touching at the Port of Profit in passage thereunto I say touching whose design was not to enrich himself but impoverish the Enemy He was as merciful as valiant the best metal bends best and left impressions of both in all places where he came Queen Eliz. Anno 1592 honoured him with the dignity of the Garter When King James came first out of Scotland to Yorke he attended him with such an equipage of Followers for number and habit that he seemed rather a King than Earl of Cumberland Here happened a Contest between the Earl and the Lord President of the North about carrying the Sword before the King in Yorke which Office upon due search and enquiry was adjudged to the Earl as belonging unto him and whilest Clifford's Tower is standing in Yorke that Family will never be therein forgotten His Anagram was as really as literally true Georgius Cliffordius Cumberlandius Davidis regno clarus cum vi fulgebis He died Anno 1605. leaving one Daughter and Heir the Lady Anne married to the Earl of Dorset This noble person taught the world That the Art of making War hath not a positive form and that it ought to be diversified according to the state of Occurrences They that will commit nothing to Fortune nor undertake any Enterprize whose event appeareth not infallible escape many dangers by their wary conduct but fail of as many successes by their unactive fearfulnesse It 's uselesse to be too wise and spend that time in a grave gaze on businesse that might serve the speedy dispatch of it Neither was our Peer great onely in the atchievements of the Field to please higher spirits but gaudy at Court to astonish and ravish the lowest making noble expences when necessary and appearing splendid on the important
Bed by studying Sir Philip Sidney had her Heart for writing and Sir Fulke Grevil had her favour for both one great argument for his worth was his respect of the worth of others desiring to be known to posterity under no other notions than of Shakespear's and Johnson's Master Chancellor Egerton's Patron Bishop Overal's Lord and Sir Sidney's friend His soul had the peace of a great fortune joyned to a greater minde His worth commended him to Majesty his affablenesse indeared him to the popularity his mornings were devoted to his Books his afternoons to his knowing Friends his nights to his debonair Acquaintance He was the Queens Counsellor for persons as others were for matters and things Sweet was his disposition winning his converse fluent his discourse obliging his looks gestures and expressions publick his spirit and large his soul his Genius prompted him to prepare himself for Domestick services by Foreign employments but the great Mistriss of her Subjects affections and duties forbad it and his own prudence checked it So dear was he to the Queen that when his horses were shipped at Dover for the Netherlands her Mandate by Sir Edward Dier stopped him When he went over with Walsingham he was remanded and when with Leicester he was checked He was the exact image of action and quiet happily united in him seldome well divided in any He would have acted his great principles of Government yet he could be confined only to write them He could sit down with some Poetick and polite Characters of Vertue when he was debarred the real exercises of it He had kept Essex his head on had not that unhappy man's Parasites made the Earl deaf to his Counsels and his Enemies removed him from his presence under a pretence of guarding the Seas against his Enemies while his Kinsman was betrayed by his Friends Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Cecil SIr Robert Cecil since Earl of Salisbury was the heir of the Lord Burleigh's prudence the inheritour of his favour and by degrees a successor to his places though not to his Lands for he was a younger Brother He was first Secretary of State then Master of the Wards and in the last of her 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 he was his Father's own son and a pregnant Proficient in all discipline of State He was a Courtier from his Cradle yet at the age of twenty and upwards he was much short of his after-proof but exposed and by change of climate he shewed what he was and what he would be He lived in those times wherein the Queen had most need and use of men of weight and amongst able ones this was a chief as having his sufficiency from his instructions that begat him the Tutorship of the Times and Court then the Academy of Art and Cunning when English prudence and Counsel was at the highest as most exercised with Foreign dangers and Domestick practices Vast was his apprehension because so large his prospect Sir Francis Walsingham having opened the Conclave of Rome and his Father the Cabals of Spain insomuch that he knew each design in both places every Port every Ship with the Burthens whither bound what impediments for diversion of Enterprizes Counsels and Resolutions as appears by his private dispatches as his manner was with those of the Councel one whereof to my Lord Mountjoy since Earl of Devonshire with whom he seasonably closed runs thus I must in private put you out of doubt for of fear I know you cannot be otherwise sensible than in a way of honour that the Spaniard will not come to you this year for I have it from my own what preparations are in all Parts and what he can do For be confident he beareth up a reputation by seeming to embrace more than he can gripe but the next year be assured he will cast over unto you some Forlorn-Hopes which how they may be re-inforced 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 their Landing at Munster and the more to distract you in several places as at Kingsale Beer-haven and Baltimore where you may be sure coming from Sea they will first fortifie and learn the strength of the Rebels before they dare take the Field This States-man's character is engraven upon his honour and his portraicture drawn in his Patent for Earl of Salisbury which to many formal words hath added these effectual expressions As also for his faithfulnesse circumspection stoutnesse wisdome dexterity providence and care not onely in the great and weighty Affairs of Counsell but generally also in all other Expeditions of the Realm And indeed not a man upon the Helme of this Common-wealth understood all points of the Compasse better than himself who in a stayed and calm setlednesse looked on the private designs that were promoted upon his Mistriss declining and privately overthrowed them and their Masters while in an uninterrupted course of integrity towards his Mistriss and faithfulness to his Countrey he kept clear the succession equally careful not to enjealous his present Mistress and not to obstruct his future Master with whom he kept an honest correspondence although there goeth this story of him that a Post from Scotland meeting her Majesty upon Greenwich-heath Sir Robert Cecil in all hast would needs cut open the Packet and pretending it stunk had time to perfume it her Majesty being very curious in her smelling and convey away his own Letters be this so or so it 's certain that when assistant to the Earl of Derby in his French Embassie he promoted the young King of Scots interest against his Mothers when Sir Walsingham's Colleague he defeated her Counsels against him and when principal Secretary he sounded crossed and undid the little plot that was shrowded under the great name of Essex turning and winding raising and ruining the Authors of it at his own pleasure No sooner was the Queen dead than his Messenger was with the King at Edenburgh and he himself with his Favourite Sir George Humes at Yorke with whose assistance and honest Sir Roger Aston's mediation King James makes him his bosome-friend his house Theobalds his residence and his account of the English Laws Government and temper his rule Finding him but Knight and Secretary he created him Baron of Essenden Viscount Cranbourn Knight of the Garter and Earl of Salisbury He promoted him Master of the Wards and Lord Treasurer in all which capacities how vigilant he was against the Papists and their Plots their Libels which he answered in English and Latine very elegantly and wisely demonstrate how careful of the publique Treasure this
Narrative shews King James had bestowed upon Sir Robert Carr twenty thousand pound my Lord apprehending the sum as more correspondent with his Master's goodnesse than his greatnesse with the royalty of his heart than the poverty of his Exchequer and observing his Majesty more careful of what money passed his own hands than what passed his servants contrives that the good King should goe through the place where this great sum lay in silver to a treatment where demanding whose money it was and being answered that it was his own before he parted with it He understanding the design protested he was cheated and intended not above five hundred pounds and the Favourite was glad to make use of the Lord Treasurer's mediation for the moyety of that great sum How industrious in the improvement of his Masters Revenue these particulars conclude viz. 1. A survey of the Crown-lands known before by report rather than by measure and let by chance rather then knowledge 2. A Revival of the Custody-lands Revenue by Commissioners of Asserts 3. A tarrier of Crown-wood-lands their growth and value where he numbered marked and valued all the Timber hitherto unknown 4. The Commissioners he procured to look into Copy-hold-Lands Wastes and Commons 5. The Rules to forfeited Estates and extended Lands 6. The improvement of the Customs from 86000 to 135000 pounds per annum 7. The bargain about the London River-water 8. The encouragement of all English Inventions Manufactures and Trade whereby the Subjects might be employed our Commodities enhanced and our Treasure kept among our selves 9. The Plantations and Transplantations in Ireland And 10. The Reformation of the Court of Wards in the poynt of disposing of Orphans These services advanced him to great honour and to as great envy the popular effects whereof no man could have escaped but one whose soul was immoveable temper calm thoughts deep apprehensions large and resolution great to engage vulgar Errors rather by the greatness of his Actions than the eminence of his Interest And satisfie the world leisurely by his Vertues and not awe it rashly by his power which got him even in that time St. Gregories Encomium That he was the first bad and the last good Treasurer since Queen Elizabeth's Reign I shall never forget his or his Fathers discourse with Claud Grollart primier President of Roan about the troubles in France wherein he advised him to stick fast to the King though be saw difficulties For it was his Maxime That Kings are like the Sun and Vsurpers like falling-Stars For the Sun though it be offuscated and eclipsed with Mists and Clouds at length they are dispersed where the others are but the figures of Stars in the eyes of view and prove no more but Exhalations which sodainly dissolve and fall to the earth where they are consumed A discourse which events there and elsewhere made an Oracle Observations on the Life of the Lord Howard of Effingham Earl of Nottingham THe Lord Howard of Effingham a man of most approved fidelity and invincible courage and Governour of Callice though a Courtier betimes yet seemed not to be in favour before the Queen made him high Admiral of England For his extract it may suffice that he was the son of a Howard and of a Duke of Norfolk As for his person he was as goodly a Gentleman as the times could afford he was one whom the Queen desired to honour who at his return from Cadiz accounts was created Earl of Nottingham He was a good honest and a brave man and a faithful servant to his Mistrss and such a one as the Queen out of her own Princely judgement knew to be a fit Instrument for the Admiral 's service having a great opinion of his fidelity and conduct And though his death was not honored with much wealth yet was it grac'd with the reputation of honesty He was raised to check Essex his ambition and Leicester's undermining being equally popular and honest yet having those at his heels that could lay a snare and bring in the prize Nature was a better friend to him than Fortune and his Integrity than both which commended him to a Mistress that understood Men as well as Books and knew it was no lesse the interest of Princes to take counsel concerning Persons than concerning matters He had that goodnesse without which man is a busie mischievous and wretched thing yet that wisdome whereby he was not so good as the Italian saith as to he good for nothing He was gentle but not easie milde but not soft obliging not the fancies of men but their Interest None more civil to Strangers his heart being not a narrow Island as my Lord Bacon observes but a large Continent None more tender of Inferiors none more humble to Superiours none more compassionate to the afflicted none more loving to or more beloved of all The Queen said she trusted her Kingdom to his faithfulnesse in 88. and her self to his conduct His alliance to the Queen brought him to Court but his honesty kept him there when jealousie had overcast that great house of the Howards ancient Nobility was a good recommendation to the Qu first Favours but modesty submission and integrity were the Vertues that continued them He had onely so much Ambition as rendred him active and serviceable and not busie or dangerous He knew a Nobleman cannot be safely aspiring nor smooth man securely popular and a man of his Retinue must not be busie He lived in an age when all honour was perillous that was not designed for service when the State chose Ministers that were more sensible of duty than of rising that loved businesse rather upon conscience than upon bravery and when the Prince discerned a busie nature from a willing minde as the stone had need be rich that is set without foyl so this noble person that was onely real had need of great parts of vertue So valiant he was that he made the Spanish Fleet veil to him though it carried the Empress of Germany so active that he tugged at the Cable himself in 88. and did much by his own pains and more by his example so skilful that he contrived the Fire-ships that frighted and scattered the Spanish Navy Two eminent services he did the Protestant Religion when but twenty one years of age The first is that he was so observant a witnesse of Arch-Bishop Parker's consecration that with his bare word the tale of the Nags head came to nothing 2. That he was so close an Agent in the Court of France that no Design was brewed in Scotland none seconded in France but he with the Emperour and the King of Spain's Embassadors assistance whom he had engaged with the hope of a Match between the King of the Romanes and his Mistriss discovered and defeated with that successe that the King of France courted his Mistriss to a Peace and himself to Favour None more careful in matter of Businesse none more splendid in businesse of Complement
condoling King Francis his death with a Majesty no lesse becoming the Personage he represented than the Prince he addressed himself to 1. His providence in contriving the English Ships nimble and such as could tack about at pleasure 2. His prudence in not hazarding his weak Navy against the Spanish Army and Armado in an Engagement wherein a victory would be but a little glory and a defeat a ruine 3. His activity in alarming the Spanish Navy day and night 4. His wisdome in honouring the most serviceable under him as Hawkins Forbisher Sheffield c. 5. His popularity that drew so many Voluntiers to his service as the Earls of Oxford Northumberland Cumberland the Cecils c. 6. His warinesse in dividing his fourteen Sail into four squadrons round about the Spanish Navy 7. His excellent contrivance of eight Ships filled with pitch wilde-fire rofin c. which sent down the winde in the dead of night so much to the terrour of the Spaniards that fearing the Fire together with some more deadly Engines they raised a pitiful cry weighed Anchor cut their Cables and in a terrible pannick Fear with great haste and confusion put to Sea 8. His admirable dexterity in disposing of the Navy so as they met the Spanish Navy upon their dispersion with such successe that the invincible Fleet never saw again its own formidablenesse ever since grown the most contemptible thing that ever sailed upon these Seas 9. His seasonable order to the Dutch Fleet to watch the Duke of Parma in the Ports of Dunkirk and Newport 10. His exact intelligence whereby he understood what a Controversie there was in the Spanish Navy about this poynt Whether they should stick to their Commission in staying for Parma which was their duty or follow the emergent advantages which had been their discretion and dealt with them accordingly These grand particulars of this Noble-man's service were so eminent and signal that Queen Elizabeth who was over-lavish neither of her honour nor her preferments would say commonly of him and those brave Heroes under him That they were born to save their Countrey This noble person was of greater experience than knowledg and more beholding to his years than to his Education whence K. James took great pleasure in his discourse that was not morose obstinate narrow unactive or formal like a Students harangues but free active and ingenuous like a States-man's Maximes Whereof one was this That never did Commander a noble Act that was Commission-bound it being a question whether the Venetians and Spanyards lost more at Sea and in the Netherlands before they discovered that Error or gained more since For whilest we addresse our selves to the State occasions are lost things take another countenance and so many unexpected accidents happen for which sodain provision must be made that opportunities escape before we dare lay hold of them and sometimes we perish for want of a Commission to save our selves Great content did he give by his presence in the French Court 1605. and greater in his carriage at the Prince Elector's marriage 1612. A prudent care did he discover in providing for posterity by the seasonable resignation of his Admiralty a faithful friend he shewed himself in confirming Sir Robert Mansel's place when he parted with his own a great argument of his own worth and service that he was so careful to reward others Observations on the Life of Sir Geo. Hume Earl of Dunbar NO wonder he is so great a Favourite of King James in his riper years who was so faithful a servant of his in his youth trusted with his Royal secrets in Scotland and therefore in his Royal bosome in England The natural reservednesse of all Scots-men and the vast depth of this are not more necessary to all Princes then they were pleasing to King James who had no secrecies that endangered his Privadoes though many that tried them and particularly our States-man who had no hidden weakness to be over-reached nor private Interest to be corrupted but was a great Master of himself owning a reach not to be comprehended and thoughts not to be fathomed but by him whose heart was as the sand of the Sea Exact was his correspondence with Sir Robert Cecil while in Scotland and intimate was their friendship in England both extorting from each other those observations touching their respective Countreys which they might both communicate to His Majesty at their respective opportunities His Enterprizes were well layd but unsuccessful rational but unhappy an argument that Designes are onely in our power and Events in a higher There was not a man more noble and renowned more comely and graceful of more years and experience Versatus Versutus of a greater estate or revenue more liberal and munificent more accostable and courteous more resolved and reserved all the qualities of a compleat Ambassador than the Earl of Dunbar when sent to Germany yet none more ineffectual having gained no more by a tedious and chargeable Negotiation than as the Earl of Nottingham with his gallant Retinue in Spain that the Papists who were formerly perswaded by their Jesuites that we were Monsters do now believe we are Men so useless was soft Courtship in rough tumults and so little heed was given to smooth complements in Arms and Uproars More happy was he in Scotland where his prudence as Lord Treasurer and his Chaplain Doctor Abbot's gravity as Preacher reduced that Nation to so much sobriety as to admit a regular Religion and Government for which service he had the Exchequer and the Wardrobe for himself and the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury for the Doctor when the King was in a great streight between the known merit of the incomparable Bishop Andrews and the last request of dying Sir George Hume a great instance of King James his abilities in what Machiavel calleth a Princes Master-piece viz. the choice of Servants Observations on the Life of the Earl of Somerset HIs extraction from Scotland put him in the way his Education in England set him in a capacity of Advancement He was born seasonably when his Father served him that should be a King of England and brought up happily when he might please him that was so His beauty and comelinesse tooke his Majestie his parts and prudence obliged him who loved the Cabinet but valued the Jewel He was admitted Page of honour to King James when of Scotland and his Favourite when of England His Majesties first observation of him was at a solemn Tilting where his delight in his person meeting with his pity of his mischance I mean the breaking of his leg there first took him to his tuition and then to his Council All King James his Favourites were of his own education and so imbued with his principles and engaged to his interest It was his Majesties policy to retain Scots States-men to balance the English It was Somerset's prudence to entertain English Favouries to endear the Scots therefore Sir Tho. Overbury was
as much of his Councel as he was of his Majesties too haughty a carriage was the miscarriage of other Minions too good a nature was bis His great defect being that goodnesse and humanity that knoweth no excess but errour which was rather a softnesse than a kindnesse his heart was as large to others as his Masters was to him and knew as little how to mistrust as how to do any thing for which he should be mistrusted This is the Lesson he was short in That civilities should be common but favours choice The Whale is steered at Sea by a far smaller Fish and this States-man at Court by far meaner men than himself I my self saith an ingenious man have known many so far strangers to what was convenient as they would scarce concede or deny any thing out of the presence of their Secretary and this proceeded not seldome from a distrust there was no cause for manifest in the Earl of Somerset who though himself owner of a competent sufficiency was so enchanted with an opinion of Sir Overbury's parts that he preferred him from a Servant to such an intimate friendship as he could think nothing well educated for employment in his Office that had not passed his correction nor secret laid up but in his bosome which swelled him saith he to such a monstrosity in pride that I have heard not being my self then neer the English Court how he offered to rant at his servants and did once beat his Coachman for putting his commands under an inferiour expostulation to his Master and through this intolerable arrogance in him and remisness in the Earl the sparks first flew that kindled the ruine of them both Friendship being no more able to maintain its interest against a feminine affection than so great a pride was to confine it self within the tedder of moderation The greatest are not free but led in triumph by the affections of others through the mediation of their own Sir Thomas Overbury would do what was most plausible and the Earl must peform what was lesse popular The King trusted Carr with his Dispatches and Carr trusts Overbury a month together without examination who had full Commission to receive and answer any Letters or other Expresses that came to his hands Great opportunities offered themselves to Sir Robert Carr and a great Soul he had to observe them Fortune being nothing else but an attentive observation of the revolution of Affairs and the occasions resulting therefrom observant he was of his Master who raised him not to eclipse others but like a brave Prince to ease himself For Princes to use my Lord Bacon's words being at too great a distance from their Subjects to ease themselves into their bosomes raise some persons to be as it were participes curam or their Companions but this Favourite understood as well the humour of the People as he did the disposition of his Prince obliging the one no lesse than he pleased the other Gay he was as a Courtier grave as a Counsellour to Scholars none more civill to Soldiers none more liberal of States-men none more respective He had his extraordinary great Vertues upon occasions to shew and his ordinary little ones always to oblige a compleatnesse in all turnes and upon all occasions was his nature Familiar he was yet not cheap sociable upon regard and not upon facility His behaviour was his soul free for any exercise or motion finding many and making more opportunities to endear himself He broke his minde to small observations yet he comprehended great matters His carriage was so exact as if affected and yet so graceful as if natural That which overthrew the first bewitched the wisest and tyred the most patient man undid this noble person yet so regular were his affections that he did nothing publickly in the Countesse of Essex the Earl of Suffolk's Daughters case but by due course of Law the approbation of the gravest and wisest Divines and Counsellors and the applause of England his failings were the faults of his years rather than of his person of his sodain fortune than of his constant temper his counsels were safe and moderate his publick actions honest and plain his first years of favour industrious and active his minde noble and liberal His soul capacious and inquisitive his temper yielding and modest In a word Sir Robert Carr deserved to be a Favourite if he had not been one He fell because he medled too little with the Secretaries place while in it and too much when out of it giving Overbury too much scope on the one hand to mate him and Sir Ralph Winwood too much offence to undermine him who finding that new Earls occasions growing with his advancements I say his occasions because I think his miscarriages were not his nature but his necessity apt to encroach upon his and other Court-Offices gave ear to that Intelligence from Flushing that might ruine him and set free himself The first Intimation of his guilt was his earnestnesse for a general Pardon and the first argument of it was my Lord Chancellor's scruples in sealing it whence I date his first declining attended with as much pity as his first advancement was with envy We and the Troglodites curse not the Sun-rising more heartily than we worship it when it sets The Gentleman was as to his stature rather well compacted than tall as to his features and favour comely rather than beautiful The hair of his head was flaxen and that of his face yellow His nature was gentle his disposition affable his affections publick untill a particular person and interest engrossed them and the good Gentleman being sensible of failers that might ruine him was wholly intent upon a treasure that might preserve him His defect was that he understood onely his own age and that the experience of man's life cannot furnish examples and presidents for the events of one mans life Observations on the Life of George Abbot GEorge Abbot being one of that happy Ternion of Brothers whereof two were eminent Prelates the third Lord Mayor of London was bred in Oxford wherein he became Mr. of University-Colledge a pious man and most excellent Preacher as his Lectures on Jonah do declare He did first creep then run then flye into Preferment or rather Preferment did flie upon him without his expectation He was never Incumbent on any Living with cure of Souls but was mounted from a Lecturer to a Dignitary so that he knew the Stipend and Benevolence of the one and the Dividend of the other but was utterly unacquainted with the taking of Tithes with the many troubles attending it together with the causelesse molestations which Parsons presented meet with in their repective Parishes And because it is hard for one to have a Fellow-suffering of that whereof he never had a suffering this say some was the cause that he was so harsh to Ministers when brought before him Being Chaplain to the Earl of Dunbar then omni-prevalent with
King James he was unexpectedly preferred Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being of a more Fatherly presence than those who might almost have been his Fathers for age in the Church of England There are two things much charged upon his memory First That in his house he respected his Secretary above his Chaplains and out of it alwayes honoured Cloaks above Cassocks Lay above Clergy-men Secondly That he connived at the spreading of Nonconformity insomuch that a Modern Author said Had Bishop Laud succeeded Bancroft and the project of Conformity been followed without interruption there is little question to be made but that our Jerusalem by this time might have been a City at unity within it self This Arch-Bishop was much humbled with a casual Homicide of a Keeper of the Lord Zouch's in Bramel-Parke though soon after he was solemnly quitted from any irregularity thereby In the Reign of King Charles he was sequester'd from his Jurisdictions say some on the old account of that Homicide though others say for refusing to License a Sermon of Doctor Sirptborps Yet there is not an Expresse of either in the Instrument of Sequestration the Commission onely saying in the general That the Arch-Bishop could not at that present in his own Person attend those Services which were otherwise proper for his Cognizance and Jurisdiction To say the truth he was a man of good intentions and knew much but failed in what those ordinarily do that are devoted to our modern singularities being extreamly obstinate in his opinions which the King was more willing to understand than follow because most times he looked upon things according to the rigour of Ecclesiastick maximes and was either too curious and irresolute by variety of reading or too peremptory and positive from the strictnesse of his Rules or too zealous by reason of the seriousnesse of his Study or wide from the matter by reason of his inexperience and aptnesse to require in the times he lived the regularity of the times he read of heeding not the force of Circumstances the errours of Comparison or the cautions of Application I like his Apology for his severity to the Clergy that he was austere to prevent others being cruel as well as his zeal for the Protestant Religion onely his Principles betrayed his profession which he rendered too obnoxious while he supported it by those novel grounds which our Adversaries could make us confesse were Heterodox and by those streight-laced foundations which we saw our selves too narrow As for instance King James his vast capacity took him up once for making the Scripture the onely rule of Civil Affairs owning the piety but observing to his face the imprudence of that assertion Imprudence I say as for many reasons so for this because to assert a truth upon a weak principle is to tempt the world to doubt of the strength of the first when they see the weaknesse of the other Whether he went off in discontent and said He would not attend at the Councel-Table because he should not wait at the Altar Whether he had such malignant followers as called themselves Nicodemites or Night-Disciples Whether he turned noon-day into mid-night and mid-night into noon-day having a candle always burning in his Chamber or if so for what reason I would not have one of my years determine but rather refer the present age to his Contemporaries pen which describes him thus A very learned man he was his Erudition all of the old stamp fitly principled in the Doctrine of St. Augustine pious grave and exemplary in his Conversation But some think him a better man than Arch-Bishop and that he was better qualified with merit for the Dignity than with a spirit answering the Function in the exercise whereof he was conceived too facile and yielding his extraordinary remisness in not exacting strict Conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in point of Ceremony seemed to resolve those legal Determinations to their first Principle of Indifference and led in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienced men to long discontinued obedience was interpreted an innovation Observations on the Life of Sir George Calvert SIr George Calvert was bred first in Trinity-Colledge in Oxford and then beyond the Seas His Abilities commended him first to be Secretary to Bobert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer of England Afterwards he was made Clerk of the Council and at last principal Secretary of State to King James succeeding Sir Tho. Lake in that Office Anno 1619. Conceiving the Duke of Buckingham highly instrumental in his preferment he presented him with a Jewel of great value which the Duke returned him again not owning any Activity in his Advancement whom King James ex mero motn reflecting on his Abilities designed for the Place This Place he discharged five years until he willingly resigned the same 1624. on this occasion He freely confessed himself to the King that he was then become a Roman Catholique so that he must either be wanting to his Trust or violate his conscience in discharging his Office This his Ingenuity so highly affected King James that he continued him Privy-Councellor all his Reign and soon after created him Lord Baltemore of Baltemore in Ireland During his being Secretary he had a Patent to him and his Heirs to be Absolutus Dominus Proprietarius with the Royalties of a Count Palatine of the Province of Avalon in the New-found land a place so named by him in imitation of old Avalon in Somersetshire wherein Glassenbury stands the first-fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that part of America Here he built a fair house in Ferry-land and spent twenty five thousand pounds in advancing the Plantation thereof Indeed his publick spirit consulted not his private profit but the enlargement of Christianity and the Kings Dominions in that his ancient primitive and heroick work of planting the world After the death of King James he went twice in person to New-found Land Here when Monsieur de l'Arade with three men of War sent from the King of France had reduced our English Fishermen to great extreamity this Lord with two Ships manned at his own charge chased away the French-men relieved the English and took sixty of the French Prisoners He removed afterwards to Virginia to view those parts and thence came into England and obtained of King Charles the first who had as great an esteem of and affection for him as King James a Patent to him and his heirs for Mary-Land on the North of Virginia with the same Title and Royalties conferred on him as in Avalon aforesaid now a hopeful Plantation peopled with eight thousand English Souls which in process of time may prove more advantageous to our Nation Judge Popham and Sir George Calvert agreed not more unanimously in the publick design of Planting than they differed in the private way of it the first was for extirpating Heathens the second for converting them He sent
away the lewdest this the soberest people the one was for present profit the other for a reasonable expectation it being in the case of planting Countreys as in that of planting Woods you must account to lose almost twenty years profit and expect your recompence in the end it being necessary the Province should first finde her self and then enrich you The Judge was for many Governors the Secretary for few and those not concerned Merchants but unconcerned Gentlemen The one granted Liberties without any restraint the other with great caution The first set up a common Stock out of which the Island should be provided for by proportions the second left every one to provide for himself Two things are eminent in this man 1. That though he was a Catholick yet kept he himself sincere and disingaged from all Interests and though a man of great judgement yet not obstinate in his sentiments but taking as great pleasure in hearing others opinions as in delivering his own which he heard moderated and censured with more patience than applauded 2. That he carried a digested and exact account of Affairs to his Master every night and took to himself the pains to examine the Letters which related to any Interest that might be any ways considerable He was the onely States-man that being engaged to a decryed party yet managed his business with that huge respect for all sides that all who knew him applauded him and none that had any thing to do with him complained of him Observations on the Life of Sir Arthur Chichester SIr Arthur Chichester spent his youth first in the University then in the French and Irish Wars where by his valour he was effectually assistant First to plough and break up that barbarous Nation by Conquest and then to sow it with seeds of civility when by King James mad Lord Deputy of Ireland Indeed good Laws Provisions had been made by his Predecessors to that purpose but alas they were like good Lessons set for a Lute out of tune uselesse until the Instrument was fitted for them Wherefore in order to the civilizing of the Irishry in the first year of his government he established two new Circuits for Justices of Assize the one in Connaught the other in Munster And whereas the Circuits in former times onely encompassed the English Pale as the Cynosura doth the Pole hence forwards like good Planets in their several Spheres they carried the influence of Justice round about the Kingdome Yea in short time Ireland was so cleared of Thieves and capital Offenders that so many Malefactors have not been found in the 32 Shires of Ireland as in six English Shires in the Western Circuits He reduced the Mountains and Glinnes on the South of Dublin formerly thorns in the side of the English Pale into the County of Wicklow and in conformity to the English custome many Irish began to cut their Mantles into Cloaks So observant was his eye over the actions of suspected persons that Tyrone was heard to complain That he could not drinke a full carouse of Sack but the State within few hours was advertised thereof After he had been continued many years in his Deputyship and deservedly made a Lord King James recalled him home and loth to leave his Abilities unemployed sent him Embassador to the Emperour and other German Princes Being besieged in the City of Mainchine a place much indebted to his prudence for seasonable victualling it by Count Tilley he sent him word that it was against the Law of Nations to besiege an Embassador Tilley returned that he took no notice that he was an Embassador The Lord Chichester replyed to the Messenger Had my Master sent me with as many hundred men as he hath sent me on fruitless Messages your Generall should have known that I had been a Soldier as well as an Embassador King James at his return entertained him with great commendations for so well discharging his Trust and he died in as great honour as any English-man of our Age. Thus farre the Historians Whence I observe him stout in his nature above any disorder upon Emergencies resolved in his temper above any impressions from other Princes and high in his Proposal beyond the expectation of his own Al vergonzoto el Diablo le traxo al Palacio The Devil brought the Bashful to Court where none succeeds but he who can aske enough to be granted and enough to be a abated There is a memorable observation of Philip the second King of Spain called El prudente That when he had designed one for Embassador the man came faintly and coldly to him to propose some things for the accommodation of his Embassie and he said How can I expect that this man can promote and effectuate my businesse when he is so faint and fearful in the solicitation of his own Yet was not my Lord Chichester more resolute in Germany than wary in Ireland where his opinion was that time must open and facilitate things for Reformation of Religion by the Protestant Plantations by the care of good Bishops and Divines the amplification of the Colledge the education of Wards an insensible seisure of Popish liberties c. and that the Council there was so numerous fifty or sixty at least that the authority of it was debated and its businesse divulged In a word this brave Gentleman had an equal minde that kept up it self between the discourses of Reason and the examples of Histories in the enjoyment of a good fortune and a conflict with a bad Observations on the Life of the Lord Chancellor Egerton THe Lord Chancellour Egerton extracted from the ancient Family of the Egerton's of Kidley in Cheshire was bred in the study of the Municipal Laws of our Land wherein he attained to such eminency that Queen Elizabeth made him her Solicitor then Master of the Rolls and at last Keeper of the Great Seal May 6. in the 38 year of her Reign 1596. Olaus Magnus reporteth that the Emperour of Moscovia at the Audience of Ambassadors sendeth for the gravest and seemliest men in Mosco and the Vicinage whom he apparelleth in rich Vests and placing them in his presence pretendeth to Forraigners that these are of his Privy-Council who cannot but be much affected with so many reverent Aspects But surely all Christendome afforded not a person which carried more gravity in his countenance and behaviour than Sir Thomas Egerton insomuch that many have gone to the Chancery on purpose onely to see his venerable Garb happy they who had no other businesse and were highly pleased at so acceptable a spectacle Yet was his outward Case nothing in comparison of his inward Abilities quick Wit solid Judgement ready Utterance I confess Master Cambden saith he entred his Office Magna expectatione integritatis opinione with a great expectation and opinion of Integrity But no doubt had he revised his work in a second Edition he would have afforded him a full-faced commendation when this Lord had
turned his expectation to performance In the first of King James of Lord Keeper he was made Lord Chancellor which is also another name for the same Office and on Thursday the seventh of November 1616. of Lord Elismer he was created Viscount Brackley It is given to Courts whose Jurisdictions do border to fall out about their bounds and the contest betwixt them is the hotter the higher the spirits and parts of the respective Judges Great was the contention for many years together betwixt this Lord of Equity and Sir Edward Cooke the Oracle of Justice at Westminster-Hall I know not which of them got the better sure I am such another Contest would if this did not have undone the Conqueror He was attended on with servants of most able parts and was the sole Chancellor since the Reformation who had a Chaplain which though not immediately succeeded him in his place He gave over his Office which he held ful twenty years some few dayes before his death and by his own appointment his body was brought down and buried at Duddleston in Cheshire leaving a fair estate to his Son who was afterwards created Earl of Bridgewater as he did to his excellent Son now living When he saw King James his munificence to some Courtiers with the grave Fidelity of a States-man he sticked not often to tell him That as he held it necessary for his Majesty amply to remunerate all those his Countrey-men so he desired him carefully to prese ve his Crown-lands for his own support seeing he or his Successors might meet with Parliaments which would not supply his occasions but on such conditions as would not be very acceptable unto him It was an ordinary speech in his mouth to say Frost and Fraud both end in Foul. His plain but honest advice to my Lord of Essex was 1. Not to trust himself because they that stand by see more than they that play the game 2. To yield to Time and Fortune and not do that for his Enemies which they could never do for themselves 3. To have a careful eye upon those actions on which he knew there were many envious ones And for himself his supplication to King James was That since his conceit and sense was grown so heavy his Memory decay'd his Judgement weak his Hearing imperfect and his Voice faltering he might desinere potius quam deficere and retire from his Businesse to his Meditation as he did while living imparting many mysteries of the Chancery and when dying bequeathing as many choice Books and Directions to his then Chaplain and his after-Successor Doctor Williams Secretary Winwood having received the Seal and left this gracious Message with this good man that his Majesty would be his Under-keeper and not dispose of it while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor nor did any receive the Seal out of the Kings fight while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor A company of Citizens got a Cause passed by keeping a Witnesse away in this manner one of them gets him to the Tavern and there leaves him with a quart of Sack before him and the glass at his mouth and swears in open Court that he left him in a condition wherein if he continueth but two hours he is a dead man The other Party finde out the cheat and have their remedy in Chancery Sir Edward Cook brings the matter to the Star-Chamber and threatneth the Chancellor with a Premunire The business is debated and sentence passed for my Lord Chancellor with the comfort whereof and the Kings and Princes Letter to him upon his Death-bed he went to his Grave Observations on the Life of the Lord Chief-Justice Popham SIr John Popham in his youthful dayes was a stout and skilful man at Sword and Buckler as any in that Age and wilde enough in his Recreations But oh saith my Author if Quick-silver could be really fixed to what a treasure would it amount Such is wilde youth seriously reduced to gravity as by this young man did appear who applyed himself to a more profitable Fencing the study of the Lawes therein attaining to such eminency that he became the Queens Attorney afterwards Lord Chief-Justice of England Being sent Anno 1600. by the Queen with some others to the Earl of Essex to know the cause of the confluence of so many Military men unto his house the Soldiers therein detained him for a time which some made tantamount to an Imprisonment This his violent detention Sir John deposed upon his Oath at the Earl's Tryal which I note the rather for the rarity thereof that a Lord Chief-Justice should be produced as Witness in open Court In the beginning of the Reign of King James his justice was exemplary on Theeves and Robbers The Land then swarmed with people which had been Soldiers who had never gotten or else quite forgotten any other Vocation Hard it was for Peace to feed all the idle mouths which a former War did breed being too proud to beg too lazy to labour Those infested the High-wayes with their Fellonies some presuming on their multitudes as the Robber on the Northern Rode whose knot otherwise not to be untied Sir John cut asunder with the Sword of Justice He possessed King James how the frequent granting of Pardons was prejudicial to Justice rendring the Judges to the contempt of insolent Malefactors which made his Majesty more sparing afterwards in that kinde In a word the deserved death of some scores preserved the lives and livelihoocs of some thousands Travellers owing their safety to this Judges severity many years after his death Neither did he onely punish Malefactors but provide for them for observing that so many suffered and died for none other reason but because they could not live in England now grown too populous for it's self and breeding more Inhabitants toan it could keep he first set up the discovery of New-England to maintain and employ those that could not live honestly in the old being of opinion that banishment thither would be as well a more lawful as a more effectual remedy against those extravagancies the Authors whereof judge it more eligible to hang than to work to end their days in a moment than to continue them in pains onely a great Judgement observes it is a shameful and an unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men to be the people with whom to plant And not onely so but it spoyleth the Plantation for they will ever live like Rogues and not fall to work and do mischief and spend Victuals and be quickly weary and then certifie over to the Countrey to the disgrace of the Common-wealth Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Dudley SIr Robert Dudley son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Dougles Shefield whether his Mistriss or his Wife God knows was born at Sbene in Surrey and bred by his Mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex where he became a most compleat Gentleman
King as he studied him more and understood him better than any man though one observeth he was rather in his favour than in his bosome and therefore he took care That as his Expedition and Civility made him the great Master of Requests at Court so his Marriage with the Heir-general of the Dennies should get him an Estate in the Countrey wherewith he compleated his kindnesse with bounty and adorned his bounty with courtesie Courtesie not affected but naturally made up of humility that secured him from Envy and a Civility that kept him in esteem he being happy in an expression that was high and not formal and a Language that was Courtly and yet real Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Lake SIr Thomas Lake was bred a Scholar under Saravia in Hampshire a States-man under Sir Francis Walsingham at Court where such his dexterity and dispatch that he would indite write and discourse at the same time more exactly than most men could severally perform them being then called the Swift-sure such his celerity and solidity in all Affairs From the Secretaries Amanuensis he was promoted the Queens Clerk of the Signet to whom he read French and Latine to her dying day for he was reading to her when the Countesse of Warwick told him that the Queen was departed In which Tongues she often said he surpassed her Secretaries Such his sufficiency especially in keeping secrets that King James employed him in some French Affairs at his first arrival without Cecil and afterwards as Secretary of State above him For King James that loved what ever was facile and fluent being taken among other his Abilities with his Latine pen said that he was a Minister of State fit to serve the greatest Prince in Europe and that the Secretaries place needed him more than he it Of whom I have no more to add but that he was oue of the three noble hands that first led Mr. George Villiers to King James his Favour Observations on the Life of Lyonel Cranfield Earl of Middlesex SIr Lyonel was born in Basinghal street a Citizen bred in the Custome-house a Merchant-Adventurer his own Tutor and his own University though his Family was ancient in Gloucestershire and his Arms in the Heralds Office King James was taken with hm for his brief clear strong and pertinent discourses The Duke of Buckingham was displeased because he would stand without him yea in some things against him many were as active as this stirring Lord none more exact his presence was comely his countenance cheerful and grave his soul witty and wise his apprehension quick and solid his thoughts setled and resolved When one asked him how a man might prevent death he said Get to be Lord-Treasurer for none died in that Office Though no Scholar yet was he bountiful to Scholars though a Courtier yet was he hospitable in the Countrey though he suffered much yet was he contented and though he lost much yet was he charitable Very serviceable he was to the State in the business of Trade in general but most in that of the Custom-house in particular His first preferment was the custody of the Wardrobe his second was the Mastership of the Court of Wards and Liveries and his third the Treasurer-ship of England In the last whereof his improvement of the Revenue gained him not more honour with the King than it did him envy from the Courtiers While to piece out the Treasure with the expence he husbanded the one so thristily and retrenched the other so rigidly that malice it self after many attempts to that purpose could finde no fault with his exact account in the boundlesse trust of the tempting Treasury When the Prince was in Spain he was the States-man of the Council-Table and the chief Minister of the Cabal managing all the Dispatches and overlooking all the Expences In the last of which services he ran counter to the Duke of Buckingham's inclination and his own Interest which was to keep himself up by that noble Person 's favour as he rose by his alliance The occasion of his preferment might be some saving secrets of the Custome-house-men to improve the Revenue the reason of his decline was some thristy suggestion touching the Courtiers to preserve it This is certain he was a man fit for government who quickly apprehended where any evil was and had capacity enough to apply the remedy onely he had a little too stiffe a nature that would not easily yield when he found on which side there was most reason and too much of the City in his maximes which pretended to attain to that in a short time which Politicians think not proper to arrive at but by a leasurely succession of Ages and Generations Observations on the Life of Henry Howard Earl of Northampton THis Family had endeared it self to many Kings by its services but to none more than King James by its obligations Thomas Duke of Norfolke being as it were his Mothers Martyr executed for a design to marry her and all his Relations his Confessors kept under for their inclinations to advance him Reasonable therefore it was that my Lord that Dukes brother should be made Baron of Marnhill Earl of Northampton Knight of the Garter Privy-Councellor Lord Privy-Seal and Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Learning in any man had King James his affection especially in a Noble-man as our States-man who was as serious a Student in Kings-Colledge and Trinity-Hall in Cambridge as a discerning observator in Rome and Florence in Italy His Dispensative against the supposed poyson of Prophesies dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham bespeaks him a great and a general Scholar His Speeches at Cambridge and in Star-Chamber argue him both witty and wise His expences shewed him publick-spirited the unparallel'd port of his Family and dependants an Ancient Noble-man His designing of Audley-End and building of Suffolk-house an Architect His Hospital for twelve poor women and a Governour at Rise in Norfolk for twelve poor men and a Governour at Clin in Shropshire for twenty poor men and a Governour at Greenwich in Kent whereof eight to be chosen out of Shose-Sham where he was born a charitable man his using of all his interest to avoid the burthen weight of the Treasurer's place and procure it for the Earl of Suffolke his Nephew his noble disposition not to advance himself by Court-flattery or his fortune by State employment being a Batchellour and a Student An instance of my Lord Bacon's observation He that hath Wife and Children hath given Hostages to Fortune for they are Impediments to great Enterprizes either to Vertue or Mischief Certainly the best works and of greatest merit for the Publick proceed from the unmarried and the Childelesse which both in affection and means have married and endowed the Publick But to conclude this particular this Lord told his intimate Secretary Mr. George Penny who related it to my Author that his Nativity at his Fathers desire was calculated by a skilful Italian
Astrologer who told him that this his Infant-son should taste of much trouble in the middest of his life even to the want of a meals meat but his old age should make amends for all with a plentiful estate which came to passe accordingly For his Father dying in his infancy no plentiful provision was made for him and when his eldest Brother Thomas Duke of Norfolke was executed his condition was much impaired insomuch that being once in London not overstocked with money when his noble Nephews the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Thomas Howard were out of Town and loath to pin himself on any Table uninvited he was fain to dine with the Chair of Duke Humphrey but other not to say better company viz. reading of books in Stationers Shops in St. Paul's Church-yard though afterwards he attained to great wealth honour and command However that Lord gave little credit to and placed lesse confidence in such Predictions as appeared by a learned Work he hath written on that subject Observations on the Life of Sir John Ramsey Earl of Holderness and Sir Tho. Ereskin Earl of Kelly BOth their preferments began on the same occasion both their natures were eminent for the same innocence and goodnesse both their services tend to the same issâ—e and therefore both their Characters come under one observation which it's more proper to take in the word of their Countrey-man and Contemporary that knew them than in the expression of a stranger that onely heard of them The whole story runs thus The name of Ruthen in Scotland was not notorious until Anno 1568. when Ruthen amongst others Confederates in those divided times of trouble laboured much for the imprisoning Queen Mary Mother to King James In 1582. his son William was created Earl Gowry in the time of that King's minority though the Father bore deadly hatred to the King's prosperity And in 1584. himself was in actual Rebellion in which he suffered at Dondee His eldest son John then in Travel in Italy returns home to inherit his lands and honours but not one jot changed in disposition from the traiterous wayes of his Predecessors For not long after he falls into this Conspiracy which is not so ancient but that many then and now living can and my self have heard the repetition The house of Gowry were all of them much addicted to study Chymistry and these more to practise it often publishing as such Professors usually do more rare experiments then ever could be performed wherein the King a general Scholar had little faith But to infuse more credit to the practice Alexander Ruthen the second brother takes this occasion and withal conspires with Gowry to assassinate the King and taking opportunity in his hunting not far from his house St. Johnstone invites the King to be an eye-witnesse of his productions In their way Sir Thomas Erskin after Lord Kelly overtakes them and others Demanding of the Duke of Lenox then present why Alexander had ingrossed the King's eare to carry him from his Sports Peace man said the Duke Wee's all be turn'd into gold Not far they rid but that the Earl Gowry made good by protestation his Brother's story And thus was the King brought to be a Guest Neer the end of Dinner at his Fruit and the Lords and Waiters gone to eat Alexander begs of the King at this opportunity to withdraw and to be partaker of his Production to the view of that which yet he could not believe And up he leads the King into by-lodgings locking each door behind them till they came into a Back Room where no sooner entered but that Alexander claps on his Bonnet and with stern countenance faces the King and says Now Sir you must know I had a Father whose blood calls for revenge shed for your sake The King amazed deales gently with his fury excuses the guilt of his death by his then Infancy Advising him not to lay violent hands on the sacred Person of his Anointed Soveraign Especially in a cause of his Innocency Pleading the Laws of God Man which so much wrought upon him that he said Well I will speak with my Brother and so put the King into a Lobby Room next the Chamber where no sooner entered but that there appeared a fellow weaponed ready for execution to whose custody the King is committed till his return Alexander gone down the fellow trembles with Reverence puts down his Sword and craves pardon which gave the King occasion to work upon that passion and to ask him whether he resolved to murther him Being assured to the contrary the King gets leave to open a window that looked into a back Court When presently Alexander returns and tells the King that he must dye But much affrighted at the Fellow's 〈◊〉 with his sword offers violence to the King Which the fellow seemingly opposes and between them began a 〈◊〉 which gave advantage to the King to cry Treâ—son at the Window which looked into a back-Court where Sir Thomas Erskin and oâ—â— Herries were come in pursuit of the King who was rumoured to be gone out the back-way to his â—â—nting At the cry of Treason and known to be the King's voice they both hastened up a back-stair called the Turn-pike being directed by a servant of the house who saw Alexander ascend that way And so forcing some doors they found them above panting with the fray and up comes also at heels of them John Ramsey after Earl of Holdernesse by them Alexander was soon dispatched Not long after came the Earl Gowry by his double key the first way with a case of Rapiers his usual weapons and ready drawn To whom Erskin said as to divert his purpose What do you mean my Lord the King is kill'd for the King was shadowed having cast himself upon a Bed from his sight and his Cloak was thrown upon the Body of Alexander bleeding upon the ground At which Gowry stops sinking the points of his weapons when suddenly Herries strikes at him with a hunting Falchion And Ramsey having his Hawk on his â—ist casts her off and steps in to Gowry and stabs him to the heart and forthwith more Company came up Not long after this Conspiracy Herries dies well rewarded John Ramsey hath the Honour of Knighthood with an additional bearing to his Coat of Arms A Hand holding forth a Dagger reversed proper piercing a bloody Heart The point crowned Emperial with this Distick Haec Dextra Vindex Principis Pâ—triae Afterwards he was created Lord Haddington and Earl of Holdernesse Sir Thomas Erskin was afterwards created Earl of Kelly Knight of the Garter Captain of the King's Guard and Groom of the Stool and the Fellow designed for the Murtherer had a large Pension confirmed by Act of their Parliament And all these men but Herries were living with other witnesses at King James his journey when he went from hence to visit Scotland and met together by direction at the same house with Ceremony and
all of them with a number of Courtiers ascended into the same Room the blood yet remaining where the King related the Story which was confirmed by them And afterwards kneeling down with tears of Contrition for his Sins to God and thankfulnesse for this Mercy using many pious Ejaculations embraced all these Actors in the former Tragedy when the poor fellow also kist the King's hand These circumstances gave occasion then that this whole story was freshly revived to the common Satisfaction of the whole Countrey and our Engglish Courtiers And in especial unto the very reverend Bishop and nobly born James Mountague then present to whom the King addressed himself in this Relation and from whose Mouth I received these particulars at his return into England And thus much we have by word of mouth somewhat I shall add out of writings for more satisfaction This Treason was attempted the fourth of August 1600. And though there followed sundry Suspitions and Examinations of several other Persons supposed Abbettors and Contrivers yet it lay undiscovered tanquam è postliminio until eight years after by the circumspection principally of the Earl of Dunbar a man of as great wisdome as those times and that Kingdome could boast of upon the person of one George Sprot Notary-publick of Ayemouth in Scotland from some words which at first he sparingly or unawares expressed and also by some papers which were found in his house whereof being examin'd with a little ado he confessed and was condemned and executed at Edenburgh the 12th of Aug. 1608. A Relation I conceive not common but in my hands to be produced and written by that learned Gentleman William Hart then Lord Justice of Scotland and Principal in all the Acts of Judicature herein Neither of these Lords professed any skill in Politicks yet neither wanted a strong judgement which they could make good use of in time and place convenient giving testimonies in those Employments they had of a strict secrecy a great moderation and a happy compliance with opportunity Qualities exceedingly well lodged in men of Interest and Command especially in these two who neither too easily closed with others resolutions nor too obstinately adhered to their own Observations on the Fall of Sir Tho. Lake A Great Estate this Gentleman had honestly got and a greater esteem being King James his right hand and the Scots both hands that with which they begged and that with which they bestowed the instrument of the meaner sorts relief and the greaters bounty untill that Malice and Revenge two violent passions over-ruling the Weaker Sex concerning his Wife and daughter involved him in their quarrell the chief and onely cause of his ruine He had by his Wife sons and daughters His eldest married unto the Lord Baron Rosse in right of a Grandmother the son of Thomas Earl of Exeter by a former venter And upon the credit of Sir Thomas Lake he was sent Embassador Extraordinary into Spain in a very gallant Equipage with some hopes of his own to continue Lieger to save charges of transmitting any other In his absence there fell out an extream deadlyâ—ewd â—ewd 't is no matter for what between the Lady Lake and the Countess of Exeter A youthful Widow she had been and vertuous and so became Bedfellow to this aged gowty diseased but noble Earl And that preferment had made her subject to Envy and Malice Home comes the Lord Rosse from his Embassie when being fallen into some neglect of his Wife and his kindred I conceive upon refusal of an increase of allowance to her settlement of Joynture which was promised to be compleated at his return not long he stayes in England but away he gets into Italy turns a professed Roman Catholick being cozened into that Religion by his publick Confident Gondamore In this his last absence never to return the Mother and Daughter accuse the Countess of former Incontinency with the Lord Rosse whilest he was here and that therefore upon his Wives discovery he was fled from hence and from her Marriage-Bed with other devised Calumnies by several designes and contrivements to have poysoned the Mother and Daughter This quarrel was soon blazon'd at Court to the King 's â—are who as privately as could be singly examines each party The Countess with tears and imprecations professeth her Innocency which to oppose the Mother Lake and her Daughter counterfeit her hand to a whole sheet of Paper wherein they make the Countess with much contrition to acknowledge her self guilty crave pardon for attempting to poyson them and desire friendship with them all The King gets sight of this as in favour to them and demands the time place and occasion when this should be writ They tell him that all the parties met in a visit at Wimbleton the house of the Lord of Exeter where in dispute of their differences she confesses her guilt of attempting their poison And being desirous of absolution and friendship being required thereto consents to set down all Circumstances therein under her own hand which presently she writ at the Window in the upper end of the great Chamber at Wimbleton in presence of the Mother and Daughter the Lord Rosse and one Diego a Spaniard his confiding Servant But now they being gone and at Rome the King forthwith sends Mr. Dendy one of his Serjeants at Armes sometimes a Domestick of the Earl of Exeters an honest and worthy Gentleman post to Rome who speedily returns with Râ—sse and Diego's hand and other testimonials confirming That all the said Accusation and Confession Suspitions and Papers concerning the Countesse were notorious false and scandalous and confirms it by receiving the Hoast in assurance of her Honour and his Innocency The King well satisfied sends to the Countesses Friends and Trustees for her Joynture and Estate who comparing many of her letters with this Writing do confesse it counterfeit Then he tells the Mother and Daughter That this writing being denied by her and their testimonies being parties would not prevail with any belief but any other Additional witnesse would give it sufficient credit To which they assure him That one Sarah Swarton their Chamberesse stood behind the Hanging at the entrance of the Room and heard the Countess read over what she had writ and her also they procure to swear unto this before the King To make further tryal the King in a hunting journey at New-part near Wimbleton gallops thither views the Room observing the great distance of the Window from the lower end of the Room and placing himself behind the Hanging and so other Lords in turn they could not hear one speak loud from the window Then the Housekeeper was call'd who protested those Hangings had constantly furnisht that Room for thirty years which the King observed to be two foot short of the ground and might discover the woman if hidden behind them I may present also the King saying Oaths cannot confound my sight Besides all this the Mother and Daughter counterfeit
to friend then was the Lord Treasurer Burleigh For when occasion had been offered of declaring his conceit as touching my service he would always tell the Queen which I received from her self and some other Ear-witnesses that there was not any man in England so meet as my self to undergo the Office of the Secretary And sithence his son the present Lord Treasurer hath signified unto me in private conference that when his Father first intended to advance him to that place his purpose was withal to make me his Colleague But that the daily provocations of the Earl of Essex were so bitter and sharp against him and his comparisons so odious when he put us in a balance as he thought thereupon he had very great reason to use his best means to put any man out of hope of raising his fortune whom the Earl with such violence to his extream prejudice had endeavoured to dignifie 7. When I had well considered how ill it did concur with my natural disposition to become or to be counted either a stickler or partaker in any publick faction how well I was able by Gods good blessing to live of my self if I could be contented with a competent livelihood I resolved thereupon to possess my soul in peace all the residue of my days to take my farewel of State-employments and so to retire me from the Court. 8. Now although after this by her Majesties direction I was often called to the Court by the now Lord Treasurer then Secretary and required by him and also divers times since by order from the King to serve as Ambassador in France and to negotiate in other very honourable employments yet I would not be removed from my former final resolution but have continued at home my retired course of life which is now methinks to me as the greatest preferment the State can afford 9. This I must confesse of my self that though I did never repent me yet of my often refusals of honourable offers in respect of enriching my private Estate yet somewhat more of late I have blamed my self and my nicety that way for the love that I bear to my Reverend Mother the University of Oxford and to the advancement of her good by such kinde of means as I have since undertaken 10. Having examined what course I might take I concluded at the last to set up my staffe at the Library door being throughly perswaded that in my solitude and surcease from the Common-wealth affairs I could not busie my self to better purpose then by reducing that place which then in every part lay ruined and waste to the publick use of Students 11. For the effecting whereof I found my self furnished in a competent proportion of such four kinds of aids as unlesse I had them all there was no hope of good successe For without some kinde of knowledge as well in the learned modern Tongues as in sundry other sorts of Scholastical literature without some purse-ability to go through with the charge without very great store of honourable friends to further the design and without special good leisure to follow such a work it could but have proved a vain attempt and inconsiderate 12. But how well I have sped in all my endeavours and how full provision I have made for the benefit and ease of all frequenters of the Library that which I have already performed in fight That besides which I have given for the maintenance of it and that which hereafter I purpose to add by way of enlargement to that place for the project is cast and whether I live or die it shall be God willing put in full execution will testifie so truly and abundantly for me as I need not to be the publisher of the dignity and worth of mine own institution Writtten with mine own hand Anno 1609. Decemb. 15. Observations on the Life of Henry Vere Earl of Oxford HEnry Vere was son of Edward Vere the seventeenth Earl of Oxford and Anne Trentham his Lady whose principal habitation the rest of his patrimony being then wasted was at Heningham-Castle in Essex A vigorous Gentleman full of courage and resolution and the last Lord Chamberlain of England of this Family His sturdy naâ—ure would not bow to Court-compliants who would maintain what he spake speak what he thought think what he apprehended true and just though sometimes dangerous and distastful Once he came into Court with a great milk-white Feather about his hat which then was somewhat unusual save that a person of his merit might make a fashion The Reader may ghess the Lord who said to him in some jeer My Lord you wear a very fair Feather It 's true said the Earl and if you mark it there is ne're a Taint in it Indeed his Family was ever loyal unto the Crown deserving their Motto Vero nil Verius Going over one of the four English Colonels into the Low-Countries and endeavouring to raise the fiege of Breda he so over-heated himself with Marching Fighting and vexing the Designe not succeeding that he dyed after Anno Dom. 16 ...... He married Diana one of the Co-heirs of William Earl of Exeter afterwards to Edward Earl of Elgin by whom he left no Issue Observations on the Life of Sir Francis Vere SIr Francis Vere Governour of Bril and Portsmouth was of the ancient and of the most noble extract of the Earls of Oxford and it may be a question whether the Nobility of his house or the honour of his Achievements might most commend him who brought as much glory to his name as he received honour from it He was amongst his Queens Sword-men inferiour to none but superiour to many He lived oftner in the Camp than Court but when his pleasure drew him thither no man had more of the Queens favour and none lesse envied He was a Soldier of great worth and commanded thirty years in the service of the States and twenty years over the English in Chief as the Queens Generall and he that had seen the Battel of Newport might there best have taken him and his noble Brother the Lord of Tilbury to the life They report that the Qu as she loved Martial men would court this Gentleman as soon as he appeared in her presence for he seldome troubled it with the noyse and alarms of supplication his way was another sort of undermining as resolved in the Court as in the Camp as well to justifie his Patron as to serve her Majesty telling her the plain truth more sincerely than any man choosing as he said rather to fall by the malice of his enemies than be guilty of Ingratitude to his friends Yea and when he sued for the government of Portsmouth and some Grandees a objected that that place was always bestowed on Noblemen he answered There were none ennobled but by their Princes favour and the same way be took The Veres compared Veri scipiadae Duo fulmina belli SIr Francis and Sir Horace Vere sons
to the buildding of Audley-End as might displace his Father An Apothecaries boy giveâ— the first and a servant that carried the money the second both whom he surprized with the Spanish proverb Di mentura y sacaras verdad Tell a lye and finde a truth Indeed the natures and dispositions the conditions and necessities the factions and combinations the animosities and discontents the ends and designs of most people were clear and transparent to this watchful man's intelligence and observation who could do more with King James by working on his fear than others by gratifying his pleasure When I observe how close and silent he was at the Council-Table it puts me in minde of the man that gave this reason why he was silent in a Treaty and Conference Because said he the Enemy might know that as there are many here that can speak so here is one that can hold his peace Observations on the Life of Sir Francis Bacon SIr Francis was born where we are made men bred where we are made States-men being equally happy in the quicknesse of the City and politeness of the Court He had a large minde from his Father and great abilities from his Mother his parts improved more than his years his great fixed and methodical memory his solid judgement his quick fancy his ready expression gave high assurance of that profound and universal knowledge and comprehension of things which then rendered him the observation of great and wise men and afterwards the wonder of all The great Queen was as much taken with his witty discourses when a School boy as with his grave Oracles when her Counsel learned He was a Courtier from his Cradle to his Grave sucking in experience with his milke being inured to policy as early as to his Grammar Royal Maximes were his Sententia Puerilis and he never saw any thing that was not noble and becoming The Queen called him her young Lord Keeper for his grave ingenuity at seven years of age and he could tell her Majesty be was two years younger for her happy Reigne At twelve his industry was above the capacity and his minde above the reach of his Contemporaries A prodigy of parts he must be who was begot by wise Sir Nicholas Bacon born of the accomplished Mrs. Anne Cook and bred under the wise learned and pious Doctor Whitgift His strong observations at Court his steady course of study in the University must be improved by a well contrived Travell abroad where his conversation was so obliging his way so inquisitive his prudence so eminent that he was Sir Paulet's Agent between the Juncto of France and the Queen of England He allayed the solidity of England with the Ayre of France untill his own Affairs and the Kingdomes service called him home at his Fathers death to enjoy a younger Brothers estate and act his part Policy was his business the Law was onely his livelyhood yet he was so great a States-man that you would think he only studied men so great a Scholar that you would say he onely studied Books Such insight he had in the Law that he was at thirty her Majesties Advocate such his judgement that he was the Student of Grayes-Inn's Oracle so generous and affable his disposition that he was all mens love and wonder He instilled wholsome precepts of Prudence and Honour to Noble-men particularly the Earl of Essex to whom he was more faithful than he to himself Great principles of Arts and Sciences to the learned noble Maximes of Government to Princes excellent rules of Life to the Populacy When his great Patron Essex sunk he was buoyed up by his own fleadiness and native worth that admitted him to the Qu own presence not onely to deliver matter of Law which was his profession but to debate matters of State which was his element his judgement was so eminent that he could satisfie the greatest his condescention so humble that he instructed the meanest his extraordinary parts above the modell of the age were feared in Queen Elizabeths time but employed in King James his Favour he had in her Reign but Trust onely in his It 's dangerous in a factious Age to have my Lord Bacon's parts or my Lord of Essex his favour Exact was his correspondence abroad and at home constant his Letters frequent his Visits great his Obligations moderate and temperate his Inclination peaceable humble and submissive his minde complying and yielding his temper In Queen Elizabeths time when he could not rise by the publick way of service he did it by that more private of Marriage and other commendable Improvements whereby he shewed a great soul could be rich in spight of Fortune though it scorned it in point of Honour In the House of Commons none more popular none more zealous none so knowing a Patriot In the house of Lords none more successfully serviceable to the Crown the easie way of Subsidies was his design in Queen Elizabeths time the union with Scotland was his contrivance in King James's His make and port was stately his speech flowing and grave each word of his falling in its place the issue of great reason when conceived and of great prudence when expressed so great skill he had in observing and contriving of occasions and opportunities in suiting of Humours and hitting of Junctures and Flexures of Affairs that he was in his time the Master of speech and action carrying all before him The Earl of Salisbury saith Sir Walter Rawleigh was a good Orator but a bad Writer the Earl of Northampeon was a good Writer but a bad Orator Sir Francis Bacon excelled in both Much he said he owed to his Books more to his innate Principles and Notions When he thought he said he aimed more at Connexion than Variety When he spake he designed rather the life and vigour of expression and perspicuity of words than the elegancy or order of phrase His axiome was Words should wait on things rather than things on words and his resolution was That all affected elegance was below the gravity and majesty of a publick discourse He rather judged Books and Men than either read or talked with them His Exercises were man-like and healthful his Meditations cohaerent his Table temperate and learned where his great Discourses were the entertainment and he himself the treat resolving Cases most satisfactorily stating Questions most exactly relating Histories most prudently opening great Secrets most clearly answering Arguments and replying most familiarly and speaking what he had thorowly weighed and considered most effectually All matters and speeches came from him with advantage so acute and ready his wit so faithful his memory so penetrating his judgement so searching his head so large and rational his soul My Lord of Salisbury said he had the clearest prospect of things of any man in his age and K. James said That he knew the method of handling Matters after a milde and gentle manner His Religion was rational and sober his spirit publick
sake they may be termed there must be also an eye unto them and upon them they have usually risen in the Houshold by degrees and it is a noble way to encourage faithful service But the King must not binde himself to a necessity herein for then it will be held ex debito neither must he alter it without an apparent cause for it but to displace any who are in upon displeasure which for the most part happeneth upon the information of some great man is by all means to be avoided unlesse there be a manifest cause for it 5. In these things you may sometimes interpose to do just and good offices but for the general I should rather advise meddle little but leave the ordering of those Houshold-affairs to the White-staff which are those honourable persons to whom it properly belongeth to be answerable to the King for it and to those other Officers of the Green-cloth who are subordinate to them as a kinde of Councel and a Court of Justice also 6. Yet for the Green-cloath Law take it in the largest sense I have no opinion of it farther then it is regulated by the just Rules of the Common-Laws of England 7. Towards the support of his Majesties own Table and of the Princes and of his necessary Officers his Majesty hath a good help by Purveyance which justly is due unto him and if justly used is no great burthen to the Subject but by the Purveyors and other under-Officers is many times abused In many parts of the Kingdome I think it is already reduced to a certainty in money and if it be indifferently and discreetly managed it would be no hard matter to settle it so throughout the whole Kingdom yet to be renewed from time to time for that will be the best and safest both for the King and People 8. The King must be put in minde to preserve the Revenues of his Crown both certain and casual without diminution and to lay up treasure in store against a time of extreamity empty Coffers give an ill found and make the people many time forget their Duty thinking that the King must be beholden to them for his supplies 9. I shall by no means think it fit that he reward any of his servants with the benefit of forfeitures either by Fines in the Court of Star-Chamber or High-Commission Courts or other Courts of Justice or that they should be farmed out or bestowed upon any so much as by promise before judgement given it would neither be profitable nor honourable 10. Besides matters of serious consideration in the Courts of Princes there must be times for pastimes and disports When there is a Queen and Ladies of Honour attending her there must sometimes be Masques and Revels and Enterludes and when there is no Queen or Princess as now yet at Festivals and for entertainment of Strangers or upon such occasions they may be fit also Yet care would be taken that in such cases they be set off more with wit and activity then with costly and wasteful expences 11. But for the King and Prince and the Lords and Chivalry of the Court I rather commend in their turns and seasons the riding of the great Horse the Tilts Barriers Tennis and Hunting which are more for the health and strength of those who exercise them than in an effeminate way to lease themselves and others And now the Prince groweth up fast to be a man and is of a sweet and excellent disposition it would he an irreparable stain and dishonour upon you having that accesse unto him if you should mis-led him or suffer him to be mis-lead by any flattering Parasites The whole Kingdom hath a deep interest in his virtuous education and if you keeping that distance which is most fit do humbly interpose your self in such a case he will one day give you thanks for it 12. Yet Dice and Cards may sometimes be used for recreation when field-sports cannot be had but not to use it as a mean to spend the time much less to mis-pend the thrift of the Gamesters SIR I shall trouble you no longer I have run â—over these things as I first propounded them please you to make use of them or any of them as you shall see occasion or to lay them by as you think best and to add to them as you daily may out of your experience I must be bold again to put you in minde of your present condition you are in the quality of a Senâ—â—el if you sleep and neglect your charge you are an undone man and you may fall faster than you have risen I have but one thing more to minde you of which neerly concerns your self you serve a great and gracious Master and there is a most hopeful young Prince whom you must not desert it behoves you to carry your self wisely and evenly between them both adore not so the rising Son that you forget the Father who raised you to thâ— height nor be you so obsequious to the Father that you give just cause to the Son to suspect that you neglect him But carry your self with that judgement as if it be possible may please and content them both which truly I believe will-be no hard matter for you to do so may you live long beloved of both which is the hearty prayer of Your most obliged and devoted servant THese were his Rules and this his practice My Lord of Nottingham he bought nobly from the Admiralty his Assistant Vice-Admiral Maunsel he entertained civilly and procured that place for life which he had onely during pleasure The Warden of the Cinque-ports resigned his place seasonably the Master of the Horse gave up his preferment and his life opportunely He advanced his Relations prudently gratifying them and fortifying himself He made an excellent choice of Servants and Confederates entertained the ablest and most faithful Assistants Doctor Williams and Dr. Laud were of his Council for the Church Sir Francis Bacon for the State From the first he received frequent Schedules of Persons and Doctrines from the other constant Transcripts of Rules and Intelligence Never any man more constant to his approved friend never any more fatal to his known Enemies He was the instrument of all the Subjects services to his Soveraign and of his Sovereign's favours to his Subjects no place was bestowed without his knowledge no action passed without his approbation not an eminent man but depended on him and was subordinate to him His dispatches were many and pregnant testimonies that he was a great Master of his Time and a greater of his Method and Affairs Great he was indeed and humble too not raised by his present fortune above the sense of his former envied he was not haud applauded in the same Parliament for his services declaimed against for his preferments ever studious of the Peoples Interest which is the care if few Favourites never happy in their love which is the fate of all He approved himself
should be weighed in those Scales with whom all men concur that know themselves And this was the first evidence of his parts and the occasion of his reputation Three Grasiers at a Faiâ— had left their money with their Hostess while they went to Market one of them calls for the money and runsaway the other two come upon the woman and sue her for delivering that which she had received from the three before the three came and demanded it The Cause went against the Woman and Judgement was ready to be pronounced when Mr. Noy being a stranger wisheth her to give him a Fee because he could not plead else and then moves in Arrest of Judgement that he was retained by the Defendant aâ—d that the case was this The Defendant had received the money of the three together and confesâ—eth was not to deliver it untill the same three demanded it and therefore the money is ready Let the three men come and it shall be paid a motion which altered the whole proceeding Of which when I hear some say it was obvious I remember that when Columbus had discovered America every one said it was easie And he one day told a company at Table where he was that he could do a stranger thing than that discovery he would make an Egge stand an end on a plain Table the speculatives were at a losse how it should be done he knocks the Egg upon the end and it stands Oh! was that all they cryed Yes saith he this is all and you see how hard a thing it is to conceive a thing in the Idea which it 's nothing to apprehend in the performance I need say no more of this Gentleman but that Sergeant Maynard will say to this hour he rose mainly at first by being looked upon as Mr. Noy's Favourite Observations on the Life of Sir John Savil. THe methods of this Gentleman's advancement exactly parallel those of his Countrey-man Sir Thomas Wentworth Both had the same foundation of wealth and honour to build on both had solid and strong parts to act by both began with Popularity in the Countrey proceeded with activity in Parliaments accomplished themselves with correspondence all over the Nation both eminent upon the Bench both hospitable at home both bountiful to Lecturers both well skilled in and stedfast to the great poynts of Prerogative and Liberty For the last whereof they were so bold as sure either by carrying the Cause to oblige the People to themselves or by suffering for it to enrage them against the Government that Sir R. Weston made it his business to take off the one and my Lord of Canterbury the other which they did with such successe that as my Lord Wentworth became a great Favourite so the Lord Savile was an eminent Counsellor onely finding that his young Neighbor had got the start of him he kept to one of his popular Principles always viz. a restless impetuosity towards Papists against whom he made himself famous 1. For a Disputation procured by him in Drury-Lane whither he brought Bishop Vsher under the notion of a Countrey-Parson when the Jesuites cryed There was more Learning in that Parson than in all the men in England 2. For a project offered by him in Parliament For when they taking advantage of King Charles his wants proffered to maintain five thousand men to serve his Majesty in Ireland and a proportion of Ships to secure him in England on condition of the free exercise of their Religion Sir John interposed That if the King were pleased but to call on the Recusants to pay Thirds legally due to the Crown it would prove a way more effectual and lesse offensive to raise a masse of money It being but just that they who were so rich and free to purchase new Priviledges should first pay their old Penalties When I read of a Lord Savile going privately to Scotland 16â—9 subscribing to a Petition with other moderate Lords as they called them containing the very sense of the faction insomuch that it is observed the City-Petition and theirs were couched in the same words yet going to Oxford and after all being so turbulent there that his Majesty was feign to send him beyond Sea where his Majesty writes with his own hand He doubts be will rather exchange his villany than end it I am almost of that wise mans minde that there were no lesse then 17 particular Designs set on foot by the promotion of the late Troubles whereof though most yet not all were carried on in Westminster or to enforce something more solid that a King should say as the Italian doth If my Subject deceives me once God forgive him If a second time God forgive me and the rather because it 's fatal for Majestie to erre twice Oservations on the Life of the Lord Bishop Williams A Strong constitution made his parts a strict education improved them unwearied was his industry unexpressible his capacity He never saw the book of worth he read not he never forgot what he read he never lost the use of what he remembred Every thing he heard or saw was his own and what was his own he knew how to use to the utmost His extraction being Gentile his Soul large and noble his presence and carriage comely and stately his learning copious his judgement stayed his apprehension clear and searching his expression lively and effectual his elocution flowing and majestick his Proctorship 1612. discovered him a person above his place and his Lectures to his Pupils above his preferment Bishop Vaughan first admitteth him to his Family and then to his bosome there his strong Sermons his exact government under my Lord his plentiful observation his numerous acquaintance made him my Lord Chancellor Egerton's friend rather than his servant his familiar rather then his Chaplain Never was there a more communicative Master to instruct than my Lord Elsemere never a more capable Scholar to learn than Doctor Williams who had instilled to him all necessary State-maximes while his old Master lived and had bequeathed to him four excellent Books when his Master was dead These four books he presented to King James the very same time that he offered himself to the Duke of Buckingham The Excellent Prince observed him as much for the first gift as the noble Duke did for the second the King and Duke made him their own who they saw had made that excellent Book his Willing was King James to advance Clergy-men and glad to meet with men capable of Advancement His two Sermons at Court made him Dean of Westminster his exact state of the Earl of Somerset's Case made him capable of and the KING'S inclination to trust his Conscience in a Divines hand fetled him in the Lord Keepers place actually onely for three yeares to please the people who were offended with his years now but 34. and his calling a Divine but designedly for ever to serve his Majesty The Lawyers despised him at first but the
Judges admired him at last and one of them said That never any man apprehended a Case so clearly took in all the Law Reason and other Circumstances more punctually recollected the various Debates more faithfully summed it up more compendiously and concluded more judiciously and discreetly For many of them might have read more than he but none digested what they had read more solidly none disposed of their reading more methodically none therefore commanded it more readily He demurred several Orders as that of my Lord Chancellor's pardon the Earl Marshal's Patent c. to let his Majesty see his judgement yet passed them to let him see his obedience He would question the Dukes Order sometimes discreetly to let him know he understood himself yet he would yield handsomely to let him see he understood him and indeed he had the admirable faculty of making every one of his actions carry prudence in the performance Necessary it was for one of his years and place to keep his distance and avoid contempt yet fatal was it to him to do so and incur envy Well understood he the interest of all his places and resolutely he maintained them What saith he shall the Liberties of Westminster be infringed when the chief Favourite is Steward and the Lord Keeper Dean and I the contemptible man that must be trampled on When he was in trouble what passion what insinuation what condescention hath he at command when petitioned to how quickly he looked through men and business how exactly would he judge and how resolutely conclude without an immediate intimation from his Majesty or the Duke Many eyes were upon him and as many eyes were kept by him upon others being very watchful on all occasions to accommodate all Emergencies and meet with all humors-alwayes keeping men in dependance on the Duke according to this intimation of his Cabal 287. Let him hold it but by your Lordships favour not his own power A good way had he been constant to it the neglect whereof undid him for designing the promotion of Doctor Price to the Arch-Bishoprick of Armagh he moved it to the Duke who told him it was disposed of to Doctor Vsher Whereupon he went his own way to advance that man and overthrew himself For then his Lord let him feel what he had threatned my Lord Bacon when he advanced him That if he did not owe his preferment alwayes to his favour he should owe his fall to his frown The peremptorinesse of his judgement rendered him odious his compliance with Bristol suspected and his Sermon at King James his Funeral his tryal rather than his preferment obnoxious His spirit was great to act and too great to suffer It was prudence to execute his decrees against all opposition while in power it was not so to bear up his miscarriages against all Authority while in disgrace A sanguine complexion with its resolutions do well in pursuit of success Phlegme and its patience do better in a retreat from miscarriages This he wanted when it may be thinking fear was the passion of King Charles his Government as well as King James he seconded his easie fall with loud and open discontents and those discontents with a chargeable defence of his servants that were to justifie them and all with that unsafe popularity invidious pomp and close irregularity that layd him open to too many active persons that watched him Whether his standing out against Authority to the perplexing of the Government in the Star-Chamber in those troublesome times his entertainment and favour for the Discontented and Non-conformists his motions for Reformation and alteration in twelve things his hasty and unlucky Protestation in behalf of the Bishops and following Actions in England and Wales where it 's all mens wonder to hear of his meruit sub Parliamento had those private grounds and reasons that if he Bishop could have spoke with the King but half an hour he said would have satisfied him the King of Kings onely knoweth to whom he hath given I hope a better account than any Historian of his time hath given for him But I understand better his private inclinations than his publick actions the motions of his nature than those of his power the conduct of the one being not more reserved and suspicious than the effects of the other manifest and noble for not to mention his Libraries erected at St. John's and Westminster his Chappel in Lincoln-Colledge the repairs of his Collegiate Church his pensions to Scholars more numerous than all the Bishops and Noble-mens besides his Rent-charges on all the Benefices in his Gift as Lord Keeper or Bishop of Lincoln to maintain hopeful youth according to the Statute in that case provided Take this remarkable instance of his muniâ—icence that when Du Moulin came over he calleth his Chaplain now the R. R. Father in God John Lord Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and telleth him he doubted the good man was low wishing him to repair to him with some money and his respects with assurance that he would wait upon him himself aâ— his fiâ—st liesure The excellent Doctor rejoyneth that he could carry him no lesse than twenty pounds the noble Bishop replyeth he named not the sumâ— to sound his Chaplains mind adding that twenty pounds was neither fit for him to give nor fo 〈…〉 the reverend Foreigner to receive Carry him said he an hundred pounds He is libelled by common same for unchaste though those that understood the privacies and casualties of his Infancy report him but one degree removed from a Misogonist though to palliate 〈◊〉 infirmities he was most compleat in Courtly addresses the conversablenesse of this Bishop wiâ—â— Women confisted chiefly if not onely in his treatments of great Ladies and Persons of honour wherein he did personate the compleatness of coâ—tesie to that Sex otherwise a woman was seldome seen in his house which therefore had always mo 〈…〉 of Magnificence than Neatnesse sometimes defective in the Punctilio's and Niceties of Daintinesse lying lower than masculine Cognizance and as level for a womans eye to espy as easie for her handâ— to amend He suffereth for conniving at Puritans out of hatred to Bishop Laud and for favouring Papists o 〈…〉 of love to them Yet what-ever he offered Ki 〈…〉 James when the Match went on in Spain as 〈◊〉 Councellour or what-ever he did himself as 〈◊〉 States-man such kindnesse he had for our Lituâ—gy that he translated it at his own cost into Spanish and used it in the visitation of Melvin when sick to his own peril in the Tower and such resolution for Episcopacy that his late Majesty of blessed memory said once to him My Lord I commend you that you are no whit daunted with all disasters but are zealous in defending your Order Please it your Majesty replyed the Arch-Bishop I am a true Welsh-man and they are observed never to run away till their General first forsakes them No fear of my flinching while your Majestie doth
countenance our Cause His extraction was Gentile and Ancient as appeared from his Ancestors Estate which was more than he could purchase without borrowing when at once Lord Keeper Bishop of Lincoln and Dean of Westminster His minde great and resolute insomuch that he controuled all other advices to his last to his losse in Wales and daunted Sir John Cook as you may see in his character to his honour in England His warinesse hath these arguments 1. That he would not send the Seal to the King but under lock and key 2. That being to depute one to attend in his place at the Coronation he would not name his Adversary Bishop Laud to gratifie him nor yet any other to displease the King but took a middle way and presented his Majesty a List of the Prebendaries to avoid any exception referring the Election to his Majesty himself 3. That he proposed a partial Reformation of our Church to the Parliament to prevent an utter extirpation by it 4. That he exposed others to the censure of the Parliament 1625. to save himself 5. That he answered to several Examinations without any the least advantage taken by his Antagonist This character of his I think very exact That his head was a well-fitted treasury and his tongue the fair key to unlock it That he had as great a memory as could be reconciled with so good a judgement That so quick his parts that others study went not beyond his nature and their designed and forelayd performances went not beyond his sudden and ready accommodations Onely he was very open and too free in discourse disdaining to lye at a close guard as confident of the length and strength of his weapon Observations on the Life of Sir Isaac Wake THis honourable person whom I look upon at Oxford in the same capacity and fortune that Sir Robert Naunton and Sir Francis Nethersole were in at Cambridge He was born in Northampton-shire his Father Arthur Wake being Parson of Billing Master of the Hospital of St. Johns in Northampton and Canon of Christs-Church bred Fellow of Merton-Colledge in Oxford Proctor and Orator of that University whence he was admitted Secretary to Sir Dudley Carleton Secretary of State and afterward advanced into the King's service and by his Master and the Duke of Buckingham employed Embassadour to Venice where he neglected his own interest to attend his Majesties employment the reason that he dyed rich onely in the just conscience of his worth and the repute of his merit Coming from Venice he was appointed Lieger of France and designed Secretary of State had not Death prevented him at Paris being accomplished with all qualifications requisite for publick Employment Learning Languages Experience Abilities and what not King CHARLES hearing of his death commanded his Corps to be decently brought from Paris into England allowing the expences of his Funeral and enjoyning his neerest Relations to attend the performance thereof These accordingly met his body at Bulloign in France and saw it solemnly conveyed into England where it was interred in the Chappel of the Castle of Dover His REX PLATONICUS or his Latine account of King James his six dayes stay at Oxford speaks his Learning and his Instructions for Travel his experience He observing his Predecessors failings retrenched his expences satisfying himself with a repute of noblenesse while in his way to preferment and others with the expectation of his bounty When preferred he seemed liberal that he might not be despised abroad but he was neer that he might not be odious at home His prodigality it may be might have satisfied the curiosity of a few Strangers while he incurred the displeasure of all his friends Besides a close wary man may be bountiful at his pleasure but the munificent cannot be so easily sparing for if his occasions or fortunes check his profuseness all his gallantry is in his first action of good husbandry Caution in expences if it be a vice is one of those saith the Italian that never disinherited a man Nay of the two saith Machiavel It 's more discretion to hold the style of miserable which begets an infamy without hatred than to desire that of Liberal which being maintained by necessitous courses procures an infamy with hatred As never did States-man a brave action that seemed illiberal so never did he any such that was not so Yet four things our Knight spared no cost in 1. Intelligence He could afford he said a golden key for the Pope's Cabinet 2. Books his Study was his Estate 3. In watching the Spanyards saying The Indies will pay for this And 4. Entertaining knowing men often applauding that Emperour's maxime That bad rather go fifty miles to hear a wise man than five to see a fair City And this he was eminent for that he saw nothing remarkable in Foreign parts that he applyed not to his own Countrey Sir Henry Wotton being not more curious in picking up small Rarities to pleasure particular persons than Sir Isaac Wake was industrious to observe any useful invention that might improve the publick good Observations on the Life of the Lord Cottington SIr Fran. Cottington being bred when a youth under Sir .......... Stafford lived so long in Spain till he made the garb and gravity of that Nation become his and become him too He raised himself by his natural strength without any artificial advantage having his parts above his learning his Experience above his Parts his Industry above his Experience and some will say his Successe above all So that at last he became Chancellor of the Exchequer Baron of Hanworth in Middlesex Constable of the Tower 1640. and upon the resignation of Doctor juxon Lord Treasurer of England gaining also a very great Estate Very reserved he was in his temper and very slow in his proceedings sticking to some private Principles in both and aiming at certain rules in all things a temper that indeared him as much to his Master Prince Charles his person as his integrity did to his service Nor to his service onely but to that of the whole Nation in the Merchandize whereof he was well versed to the trade whereof he was very serviceable many ways but eminently in that he negotiated that the Spanish Treasure which was used to be sent to Flanders by the way of Genoa might be sent in English Bottoms which exceedingly enriched England for the time and had it continued had made her the greatest Bank and Mart for Gold and Silver of any Common-wealth in Europe Indeed the advantage of his Education the different Nations and Factions that he had to deal with the direct opposition of Enemies the treachery of Friends the contracts of States-men the variety and force of Experience from the distinct knowledge of the natures of the people of several Countreys of their chief Ministers of State with their Intrigues of government made him so expert that the Earl of Bristol and Sir Walter Aston could do nothing without him and he
the Hugonots depended and put a re 〈…〉 resolution in King Lewis to advance against the Valtoline and Spain by the advantage of the Leaguâ— with England proceeding upon this Maxime wiâ—â— that King They that have respect to few things 〈◊〉 easily misled I had almost forgot how this Lord finding thaâ— want of Treasure at home was the ground of ouâ— unsuccessful and despicableness abroad and thaâ— Principe senza quatrius è come un muro senza crâ—l 〈…〉 da tulls scompisliato That a Prince without money is like a wall without a Crosse for every one to draw upon did mention the Excize in the Parliament-House and in no ill meaning neither and was violently cryed to the Bar and though a person of that eminence as being then a Privy-Councellor and principal Secretary of State he hardly escaped â—eing committed to the Tower So odious was â—â—at Dutch-Devil as they called it in the excelâ—â—t King Charles which was raysed by the beloâ—ed Parliament with many more that were conjuâ—ed up in three or four years but not likely to be â—aid in three or fourscore Living in those times when weak men imagined â—o themselves some unknown bliss from untried goâ—ernments and considering that alterations counâ—ervail not their own dangers and as they bring â—ittle good to any so they bring least of all to those â—hat first promoted them This Lord refused to be â—he mouth of the Zealous multitude whose rage â—ould neither be well opposed nor joyned with whom a pardon or compliance might bring off leaving their Demagogues to compound for their folâ—â—y with their ruine choosing rather to be patient than active and appear weak than be troublesome and once resolved upon an exact survey of circumstances for power against the faults of it on the one â—â—and and the affronts of it on the other he gained the esteem of all parties by his fidelity to his own I am much taken with his plain saying which I finde of late printed There will be mistakes in Divinity while men preach and errours in Government while such govern And more with his method of proceeding in his affairs whereof he laid first an Idea in his own minde and then improved it by debate the result whereof was usually so compleat as shewed the vast difference between the shallow conceptions of one man and the deep judgement of many Observations on the Lives of Sir Richard and Sir Jerome Weston Earls of Portland SIr Richard Weston in his youth impaired his estate to improve himself with publick accomplishment but came off both a saver and a gainer at the last when made Chancellor of the Exchequer and afterwards upon the remove of the Earl of Marlborough July 15. in the fourth of King Charles Lord Treasurer of England His activity in Parliament made him considerable at Court none fitter to serve a Prince than he who commands the humor of the people Indeed where ever he was he discovered himself able and faithful 1. In his Foreign Employments his judgement was searching and reach admirable he being the first that smelt out the intentions against the Palatinate which were then in brewing and mashed with much art In his Domestick charge his Artifice was singular both in a faithful improvement of the Inâ—â—mes and a discreet moderation of the expences in his Masters Revenues In his Aspect there was a mixture of authority and modesty in his apprehensions quickness and solidity in his port and train a suitable dignity and correspondence with little noyse and outward form An enemy to Complements yet very courteous no flatterer yet of great power irreconcileable to frothy formality yet maintaining a due regard to his person and place A great Scholar he was and yet a great States-man of various erudition and as large observation He secured himself much by Alliances with the best Nobility more by the love and what is more the esteem of a constant King it being one of the wonders of that time that my Lord of Canterbury and he who were at so much distance from one another should be so inward with their Soveraign but that that excellent Prince measured not his affections to his Dependants so much by a particular interest as by a publick serviceableness The necessity of the Exchequer put him upon some ways of supply that displeased the rabble though his three particular cares viz. The paying of the Navy the satisfying of the City and the Queen of Bohemia's supply three things he was very much intent upon while Treasurer obliged the wiser sort of men I know nothing he was defective in being careful to use his own words to perform all duties with obedience to his Majestie respect to the Duke and justice to the particular parties concerned But that he had so much of his Master's love and so little of his patience being grated as all States-men are that have to do with various interests and humors between a strong inclination of satisfying every man and the impossibility of pleasing all Considering the importunities of persons and affairs a little impatience must needs fall upon your Lord-ship writes Sir Henry Wottoâ— to him unlesse you had been cut out of a Rock of Diamonds especially having been before so conversant with liberal Studies and with the freedom of your own minde In his time was the great Question agitated Whether a Prince should aime at the fear or the lovâ— of his People Although no Prince did more to oblige his People than the Excellent King Charles the I Yet was there no Prince ever more advised to awe them For this Lord and many more who looked upon over-much indulgence as the greatest cruelty considering that men love at their own pleasure and to serve their own turn and that their fear depends upon the Princes pleasure were of opinion That every wise Prince ought to ground upon that which is of himself and not upon that which is of another government being set up in the world rather to trust its own power than stand upon others courtesie Besides two things the vulgar are taken with 1. Appearance 2. The event of things which if successful gains both their love and reverence Neither was the Father more exact in his Maximes than the Son in his of whose many infallible principles this was one That it was the safest way for the King's Majestie to proceed upon a Declaration that the Faction at Westminster was no Parliament upon his own and his most loyal Lords and Commons removal to Oxford And this another That provided the Gentry and Clergy were well principled and His Majestie that now is had a constant correspondence with the most eminent of them it was our Interest to promote his Majesties grandeur abroad and sit still at home untill the Faction might be so secure as to divide and his Majesties Interest became so conspicuous by the Principles that were kept up at home and the State that was born abroad as to command all And really his
Annuentâ— Divino Numine naturae debitum libenter solviturum quam primum Deo placuerit In cujus rei memoriam Manum meam Sigillum apposui Datum 27 Februarii 1635. Julius Caesar Here his Seal or Coat of Arms is affixed and beneath them is written Irrotulatur Caelo He dyed the twenty eighth day of April Anno Domini 1636. in the seventy ninth year of his Age. They say of Witches that they are unable to hurt till they have received an Almes It 's certain none ever undermined this Gentleman's insufficiency but such as were advanced by his civility a civility that secured him as well as it impowered them making his Grants to all persons double kindnesses by Expedition and cloathing his very Denyals in such robes of Courtship as that it was not obviously discernable whether the Request or Deâ—yal were most decent having this peculiar to himself That he was very cautious of Promises lest falling to an Incapacity of performance he might forfeit his Reputation and multiply his certain Enemies by his design of creating uncertain Friends Besides he observed a sure principle of rising viz. That great persons esteem better of such they have done great Courtesies to than those they have received greater Civilities from looking upon this as their disparagement the other as their glory Observations on the Lives of Sir Henry Sir Lucius Sir Henry Cary Lords Viscounts Faulkland ARace of accomplished men the ornaments and supports of their Countrey which they served with no lesse faithfulnesse and prudence in their Negotiations abroad than honour and justice in their Places at home Of such a Stock of reputation as might kindle a generous emulation in Strangers and a noble ambition in those of their own Family Henry Cary Viscount Falkland in Scotland son to Sir Edward Cury was born at Aldnam in Hertfordshire being a most accomplished Gentleman and a compleat Courtier By King James he was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and well discharged his Trust therein But an unruly Colt will â—ume and chase though neither switch nor spur meerly because back'd The Rebellious Irish will complain onely because kept in subjection though with never so much lenity the occasion why some hard speeches were passed on his Government Some beginning to counterfeit his hand he used to incorporate thâ— year of his age in a knot flourished beneath h 〈…〉 name concealing the day of his birth to himsel 〈…〉 Thus by comparing the date of the month with his own Birth-day unknown to such Forgers 〈◊〉 not onely discovered many false Writings which were past but also deterred dishonest Cheated from attempting the like for the future He made good use of Bishop Vsher's Interest while he was there as appears by the excellent Speech that the Bishop made for the King's supply Being recalled into England he lived honourably in the County aforesaid until by a sad casualty he broke his Leg on a Stand in Theâ—bâ—ld's Parke and soon after dyed thereof He married the sole Daughter and Heir of Sir Lawrence Tanfield Chief Baron of the Exchequer by whom he had a fair Estate in Oxfordshire His death happened Annâ— Dâ—m 1620. being Father to the most accomplished States-man 2. Lucius Lord Falkland the wildness of whose youth was an argument of the quicknesse of his riper years He that hath a spirit to be unruly before the use of his reason hath mettle to be active afterwards Quick-silver if fixed is incomparable besides that the adventures contrivances secrets confidence trust compliance with opportunity and the other sallies of young Gallants prepare them more serious undertakings as they did this noble Lord great in his â—own greater in his Buffe able with his Sword abler with his Pen a knowing States-man a learned Scholar and a stout manâ— One instance of that excess in learning and other great perfections which portended ruine to this Nation in their opinion who write that all Extreams whether of Vertue or Vice are ominous especially that unquiet thing call'd Learning whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth its own period and that of the Empire it flourisheth in a too universally dilated Learning being not faithful to the settlements either of Policy or Religion it being no lesse reaâ—ly to discover blemishes in the one than Incongruities in the other Sophisters saith my smart Author like the Countrey of the Switz being as able upon the least advantage proposed to engage on the wrong side as on the sight As to go no further this excellent Personage being among the Demagogues that had been for twelve years silenced and were now to play the prize in Parliament and shew their little twit-twat but tedious faculties of speaking makes the bitterest Invective against the Governours and government of the Church that ever was penned in English which though designed by him it'â— thought onely to allay the fury of the Faction by some compliance with it carried things beyond the moderation and decency of that Assembly which he made too hot for himself retyring in cooler thoughts as many more that like Brutus could not lay the storms they had raised to Oxford where his Pen was more honourably employed in detecting the fundamental Errour of Rome their infallibility and countermining the main props of Westminster their Hypoerisie this as Secretary the other as a Student in both laying open the little pretensions whereby poor people were insnared in their Civil and Religious Liberty Much was the gall always in his Inke and very sharp his Pen but even flowing and full his Style such as became him whose Learning was not an unsetled masse of reading that whirled up and down in his head but fixed Observations that tempered with solid prudence and experience were the steady Maximes of his Soul fitted for all times and occasions he having sate as some Noble-mens sons used to do formerly in the House of Lords behind the Chair of State from his very child-hood and owning a large heart capable of making that universal inspection into things that much becomes a Gentleman being a Master in any thing he discoursed of Insomuch that his general knowledge husbanded by his wit and set off by his Meine and Carriage attracted many to come as far to see him as he prosessed he would go to see Mr. Daillee which rendred him no lesse necessary than admirable at Court until his Curiosity engaging him at Newbery he was strangely slain there dying as he lived till then between his Friends and Enemies to the King 's great grief who valued him because he understood his parts and services in the Treaty at Oxford where he was eminent for two things the timing of Propositions and concealing of Inclinations though no man so passionate for his design as never enduring that hope that holds resolution so long in suspence but ever allaying it with that fear that most commonly adviseth the best by supposing the worst His usual saying was I pity unlearned Gentlemen in a rainy day 3. He was Father first
to Henry Lord Falkland whose quick and extraordinary parts and notable spirit performed much and promised more having a great command in the Countrey where he was Lord-Lieutenant a general respect in the house where he was Member a great esteem at Court with his Majesty and his Royal Highness the Duke of Yorke where he was both wit and wisdome When there was the first opportunity offered to honest men to act he laid hold of it and got in spight of all opposition to a thing called a Parliament By same token that when some urged he had not sowed his wilde Oats he is said to reply If I have not I may sowe them in the House where there are Geese enough to pick them up And when Sir F. N. should tell him he was a little too wilde for so grave a service he is reported to reply Alas I am wilde and my Father was so before me and I am no Bastard as c. In which Contention he out-did the most active Demagogues at their own weapon speaking When Major Huntington and his followers were for the long Parliament Sir F. N. L. S c. were for the secluded Members My Lord carried all the County for an absolute free Parliament which he lived to see and act in so successfully that he was voted generally higher in trusts and services had he not been cut off in the prime of his years as much missed when dead as beloved when living A great instance of what a strict Education for no man was harder bred a general Converse and a noble Temper can arrive to and what an Orator can do in a Democracy where the Affections of many is to be wrought upon rather than the judgement of few to be convinced A golden tongue falling under a subtle head under such a constitution hath great influence upon the whole Nation Observations on the Life of Sir James Ley Earl of Marlborough SIr James Ley son of Henry Ley Esquire one of great Ancestry who saith my Author on his own cost with his men valiantly served King Henry the Eighth at the siege of Boloin being his Fathers sixth son and so in probability barred of his inheritance endeavoured to make himself an Heir by his Education applying his book in Nose-Colledge and afterwards studying the Laws of the Land in Lincolns-Inne wherein such his proficiency King James made him Lord Chief-Justice in Ireland Here he practised the charge King James gave him at his going over yea what his own tender Conscience gave himself namely not to build his Estate upon the ruines of a miserable Nation but aiming by the unpartial execution of Justice not to enrich himself but civilize the People But the wise King would no longer loose him out of his own Land and therefore recalled him home about the time when his Fathers Inheritance by the death of his five elder brethren descended upon him It was not long before Offices and Honours flowed in fast upon him being made by King James King Charls 1. Attorney of the Court of Wards 1. Earl of Marlborough in Wiltshire 2. Chief-Justice of the Upper Bench the 18 of his Reign Jan. 29. immediately after the King's Coronation 3. Lord Treasurer of England in the 22 of his Reign Dec. 22. 2. Lord President of the Council in which place he died Anno. Dom. 1629. 4. Baron Ley of Ley in Devonshire the last of the same month  He was a Person of great Gravity Ability and Integrity And as the Caspian Sea is observed neither to ebbe nor flow so his minde did not rise or fall but continued the same constancy in all conditions a good temper enough for a Judge but not for a States-man and for any States-man but a Lord Treasurer and for any Lord Treasurer but in King CHARLES his active time who was put to it to finde out such stirring men as might recover him from the hazard and defection he was fallen into in Purse and Power Observations on the Life of Henry Vere Earl of Oxford THis noble person had more of the Camp in h 〈…〉 temper than the Court whence his rougâ— Armour-constitution grated often against the our tiers Silks for when one of them laughed at h 〈…〉 milk-white Feather he returned smartly upon him with reflections on his Ancestors That it had no 〈…〉 in t in it His Predecessors had not been more 〈…〉 placable enemies to Spain in the Low-Countries 〈…〉 an he was at White-Hall backing those arguments against the Match stoutly in the Presence-Chamber that Doctor Hackwel had urged zealously in the Pulpit and as resolutely suffering imprisonment for the one as the Doctor did suspension for the other declaring himself as freely against the Agent Gondomar as against his business â—he Marriage For chancing to meet Gondomar at â—n Entertainment the Don accosted him with high Complements vowing That amongst all the 〈…〉 obility of England there was none he had tendered his service to with more sincerity than to his Lordship though hitherto such his unhappinesse that his affections were not accepted according to his integrity that tendered them It seems replyed the Earl of Oxford that your Lordship hath good leisure when 〈…〉 ping in your thoughts to one so inconsiderable as my self whose whole life hath afforded but two things memorable therein It is your Lordships modesty returned the Spaniard to undervalue your self whilest we the spectators of your Honours deserts make a true and impartial estimate thereof hundreds of memorables have met in your Lordshipe life But 〈…〉 od my Lord what are those two signal things more 〈…〉 spicuous than all the rest They are these two said the Earl I was born in the year 88 and chri 〈…〉 ned on the fifth of November Neither was he a more inveterate enemy to the Church of Rome than a cordial friend to that of England for presenting one Mr. Copinger to 〈…〉 neham he added to try him He would pay no tythes of his Parke Mr. Copinger desired again to resign it to his Lordship rather than by such sinful gratitude to betray the rights of the Church Well if you be of that minde said the Earl then take the tythes I scorn that my Estate should swell with Church-goods Observations on the Life of Sir John Cook SIr John Cook younger brother to Sir Francis Cook born at Trusley in the Hundred of Apple-tree in Derby-shire of ancient and worshipful Parentage and allied to the best Family in that County was bred Fellow of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridg where his wit being designed his Estate he was chosen Rhetorick-Lecturer in the University where he grew eminent for his ingenious and critical reading in that School where Rhetorick seemed to be not so much an art as his nature being not onely the subject but the very frame of his discourse then travelled he beyond the Seas for some years when his judgement was fitted for Foreign observations by Domestick experience in the company of a person of quality
Vice but he thought below him and no Vertue which he esteemed not either his duty on ornament Neither was his prudence narrower than his virtue nor his virtue streighter than his fortune His main service was his inspection into the Intrigues and Reserves of the Parliamentiers at Vxbridge and his cajoling of the Independants and Scots at London where the issue of his Observations was That the King should as far as his conscience could allow comply with the unreasoble desires of an illimited ambition to make it sensible of the evils that would flow from its own Counsels being confident as events have assured us that the people would see the inconvenience of their own wishes and that they would return that power which they sought for but could not manage to its proper place before it became their-ruine for unbounded Liberty overthroweth its self But alas it was too late to grant them any thing who by having so much were onely encouraged more eagerly to desire what they knew the King in honour could not give For when a Prince is once rendred odious or contemptible his Indulgences do him no lesse hurt than injuries As his services were great so were his Recreations useful Hunting that manly Exercise being both his pleasure his accomplishment his accomplishment I say since it is in the list of Machiavel's rules to his Prince as not onely the wholsomest and cheapest diversion both in relation to himself and his People but the best Tutor to Horse-manship Stratagems and Situations by which he may afterwards place an Army what-ever Sir Sidney's apprehension was who used to say Next hunting he liked hawking worst Observations on the Life of the Lord Chief-Justice Banks SIr John Banks his Parents perceiving him judicious and industrious bestowed good breeding on him in Grayes-Inne in hope he should attain to preferment wherein they were not deceived For after he was called to the Bar for some years he solicited Suits for others thereby attaining great practical experience He afterwards might laugh at them who then did smile at him leaving many behind him in Learning whom he found before him in time until at last he was Knighted by King Charles made first his Attorney then Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas dying in the middest and heat of our Civil Dissentions He ordered by his Will that his Body should be buried under some plain Monument at the discretion of his Executors and after an Epitaph mentioning the severall Places he had held this Motto to be added Non nobis Domine non nobis sed Nomini tuo da Gloriam By his said Will he gave to the value of thirty pound per ann with other Emoluments to be bestowed in pious Uses and chiefly to set up a Manufacture of course Cottons in the Town of Keswick He was one whom the Collar of S S. S. worn by Judges and other Magistrates became very well if it had its name from Sanctus Simon Simplicius no man being more seriously pious none more singly honest When Sir Henry Savile came to Sir Edward Cook then at bowls in Arch-Bishop Abbot's behalf and told him he had a Case to propose to him Sir Edward answered If it be a Case in Common-Law I am unworthy to be a Judge if I cannot presently satisfie you but if it be a point of Statute-Law I am unworthy to be a Judge if I should undertake to satisfie you without consulting my Books Sir John Bankes though ready without his Books on the Bench yet always resolved Cases out of them in his Chamber answerable to his saying to Dr. Sibs A good textuary is a good Lawyer as well as a good Divine His invention was prompt and ready his apprehension sure and solid his memory capacious and retentive his knowledge in the Law and the inward reasons of it profound his experience in affairs of State universal and well laid patient he was in hearing sparing but pertinent in speaking very glad always to have things represented truly and clearly and when it was otherwise able to discern through all pretences the real merit of a Cause He was a man of singular modesty of the ancient freedome plain-heartednesse and integrity of minde Very grave and severe in his deportment yet very affable in such sort that as Tacitus saith of Agrippa Illi quod est rarissimum nec facilitas authoritatem nec severitas amorem diminuâ—â— And in a word so even and circumspect he was in the several turnings and occasions of his life that though he went himself and brought over as many as he had any interest in to the King I finde him under no extraordinary displeasure from the Rebels and I observe but one unhappinesse in his whole life and that is that all men speak well of him Observations on the Life of Sir Tho. Edmonds THe Trophees of Miltiades would not let Themistocles sleep nor the Courts-advancements of his Relations this Gentleman to sit still having both Livie's qualifications for an eminent man a great spirit and a gallant conduct for actions a sharp wit and a fluent tongue for advice Whence we meet with him Comptroller of the Kings Houshold at home and his Agent for Peace abroad equally fit for businesse of courage and resolution and for affairs of Councel and complement I think it was this Gentleman who foreseeing a Contest likely to ensue between the English and the Spanish Embassadors to the first whereof he belonged went to Rome privately and fetched a Certificate out of the book of Ceremonies which according to the Canon giveth the rule in such cases shewing that the King of England was to precede him of Castile a good argument because ad homines wise men having always thought fit to urge not what is most rational in its self but what all circumstances considered is most conrincing Sir Thomas Edmonds used to puzzle the Catholicks about six Records 1. The original of Constantine's grant of Rome to the Pope 2. St. Marke's grant of the Adriatique Guiph to Venice 3. The Salique Law in France 4. The Instrument whereby King John passed away England to the Pope 5. The Letter of King Lucius And 6. The Ordinal of the Consecration at the Nags-head Neither did he perplex them with these Quaeries more than he angered the Faction with his Principles Tertio Car. I. 1. That the King was to be trusted 2. That the Revenue was to be setled 3. That the Protestant cause was to be maintained 4. That Jealousies were to be removed and things past were to be forgotten Observations on the Life of Sir Paul Pindar HE was first a Factor then a Merchant next a Consul and at last an Embassador in Turkey Whence returning with a good purse and a wary Headpiece he cast about what he might do to gratifie K. James and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury most and finding them much pleased with acts of Charity and Piety he repaired the Entry Front and Porches of St. Paul's Cathedral to
all the upper Church Quire and Chancel and enriched them with Marble structures and figures of the Apostles with carvings and guildings far exceeding their former beauty which cost above two thousand pounds the act of a good man said K. James who made him one of the great Farmers of the Customes in gratitude whereof Sir Paul besides his former expences took upon him to new build the South Isle which cost him above 17000 l. A Projector such necessary Evils then countenanced and he a Clergy-man too informed K. James how he might speedily advance his Revenue by bringing in Spiritual preferments now forsooth under-rated in the Kings books to a full value to the great encrease of first-Fruits and Tenths the King demands the Lord Treasurer Cranfield's judgement thereof he said Sir You are esteemed a great lover of Learning you know Clergy-mens Education is chargeable their prefermeut slow and small Let it not be said you gain by grinding them other ways lesse obnoxious to just censure will be found out to furnish your occasions The King commended the Treasurer as doing it onely for tryal adding moreover I should have accounted thee a very Knave if encouraging me herein But he sends for Sir Paul Pindar and tells him he must either raise the Customes or take this course who answereth him nobly That he would lay thirty thousand pounds at his feet the morrow rather than he should be put upon such poor projects as unsuitable to his honour as to his inclination Go thy way saith the King thou art a good man Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Vane Senior THree things Henry the fourth of France said would puzzle any man 1. Whether Qu Elizabeth was a Maid 2. Whether the Prince of Orange was valiant 3. What Religion he himself was of To which I may add a fourth viz. what Sir Henry Vane was whom I know not what to call but what Mr. Baxter calleth his son a bider the Fathers life being as mystical as the Sons faith men as little understanding the actions of the one as they did the writings of the other But the two powers that govern the world the best and the worst are both invisible All Northern men are reserved to others but this was too slie for his own Country-men neither Sir John Savile that brought him to Court nor Sir Thomas Wentworth that advanced him there understanding either his temper or his design He betrayed any Council he was present at and marred all the Actions he was employed in As 1. When he was sent to relate the Emperor's overture to the Queen of Bobemia of thirty thousand pounds per ann and a Marriage between her eldest Son and his Daughter he did it with those ackward circumstances that transported the good Lady to such unseasonable expressions as at that time blasted her cause and expectations And thence it 's thought he brought Sir Dudley's Rhapsody of Projects to disparage the King's government under pretence of supplying his necessities it was the way of the late Underminers to relieve their Masters present need upon future inconveniences hiding themselves under Proposals plausible for the present and fatall in the consequence which juggles of his were so long too little to be considered that at last they were too great to be remedied 2. He is said to have shuffled other Conditions into the Pacification at Yorke where he was a Commissioner than were avowed by the Lords Commissioners much insisted on by the Scots and burned by the common Hang-man as false and contrary to the true Articles 3. When sent to the House 1640. to demand 12 or 8 or six Subsidies he requireth without abatement twelve with design as it 's judged to aske so much as might enrage the Parliament to give nothing and so to be dissolved unhappily or continued unsuccessfully 4. He and his son together betray the Votes passed in the select Councel taken by him privately under his hat for the reducing of Scotland to the ruine of the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-Bishop of Carterbury The story is Sir Henry Vane was trusted with the Juncto where he took Notes of their several opinions these Notes he puts up in his Closet A while after he delivers to his son Sir H. Vane Junior a key to fetch some Papers out of a Cabinet in which he findes another key to an inward shutter which he opened and lighted upon this Paper and communicates it to Mr. Pym for the end aforesaid and upon this very Paper doest not tremble Reader at this Treason alone the House of Commons voted that brave Earl out o 〈…〉 his Life the same day that twenty two years after the same Sir Henry Vane Junior lost his head Absolvi numen Observations on the Life of Sir Richard Hutton SIr Richard Hutton was born at Perith of a worshipful Family his elder brother was a Knight and bred in Jesus-Colledge in Cambridge He intended his Studies for Divinity till disswaded by the importunity of his friends amongst whom George Earl of Cumberland was most eminent he became Barrister of Grayes-Inne But in expression of his former Affection to Divinity he seldome if ever took fee of a Clergy-man Afterwards being Recorder of Yorke he was Knighted and made Judge of the Common-Pleas In the case of Ship-money though he was against the King or rather for the Commons yet his Maiesty manifested not the least distaste continuing to call him the honest Judge This person so pious to God and charitable to the Poor was dissolved about the beginning of our National misery Thus God before he ploweth up a Land with the furrows of a Civil War first cutteth down his old crop and gathereth them like ripe sheaves into his Barn He died at Sergeant's Inne and was buried at his earnest desire with the Common-Prayer without any Funeral-Sermon save what his own Vertues preached to posterity at St. Dunstan's in the West on the 27 day of February Anno Dom. 1638. Here I learn how circumspect our counsels must be in reference to things and persons above us which implying an over-poyzing of our own judgement and a debating of others in all cases is obnoxious to jealousie but in these to danger under which there are no Qualifications to patience and moderation The vertues of this happy Judge if he had cast obstinacy over-board and let his wisdome tack about in things capable of expedience whereby he knew well both how to allay the asperities of a bad fortune and check the excesses of a good one packing up his fears and hopes in so narrow a compasse as made the last lesse tedious and the first more portable to which he added an unaffected plainnesse the argument of his worth and weight a weaknesse and emptinesse being as safely as usually concluded from too much affectation an over-much care of the out side being an argument of remisnesse in what is within it remaining saith one equally rare to finde a starched and formal man
wise as a Woman valiant the most serious Endeavours of both being to take onely the Eyes Observations on the Life of the Marquess of Hertford HE was none of those Male-contents who make the sins of their riper years make good the follies of their youth and maintain oversights with Treasons as he was patient under his Imprisonment for the one so he was active in his services against the other not more dutifully submitting to the severity of K. James for his Marriage then loyally assisting the necessities of King Charles in his Wars It 's natural to return an Injury it 's heroical to overcome it and be above it when we are below our selves It is true he was drawn in to subscribe the untoward Proposals at Yorke but it is as true he did of his own accord declare against the unnatural War in London where the King advanced him to the tuition of the Prince and he went himself to the defence of the King at what time such his popularity that he raysed an Army himself such his humility that he yielded the command of it to another as if he knew nothing but others merit and his own wants being one of those choice men that admire every thing in others and see nothing in themselves His face his carriage his habit savoured of Lowlinesse without affectation and yet he was much under what he seemed His words were few and soft never either peremptory or censorious because he thought both each man more wise and none more obnoxious than himself being yet neither ignorant nor carelesse but naturally meek lying ever close within himself armed with those two Master-pieces Resolution and Duty wherewith he mated the blackest Events that did rather exercise than dismay that spirit that was above them and that minde that looked beyond them He was the easiest enemy and the truest friend whom extremities obliged while as the Reverend Bishop speaks he as a well-wrought Vault lay at home the stronger by how much the more weight he did bear He offered his life for his Prince's service in the Field and his person for his ransom at the Court and when many wished they might dye for that excellent King he the Earls of Lindsey and Southampton offered That since his Majesty was presumed by the Law to do no harm himself and since he did all by them his Ministers as they had the honour to act under they might have the happinesse to suffer for him Observations on the Life of Sir John Finch THis Family hath had an hereditary eminence in the study of the Law Sir Henry Finch the Author of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 learned Sergeant at Law in King James his time 〈◊〉 Heneage Finch Recorder of London in K. Charles time and this noble person at the same time the Queen's Attorney and Speaker of that curious knowing and rich Parliament wherein some have observed though wide I suppose that the House of Commons modestly aestimated consisting of 500 could buy the House of Peers consisting of 118 thrice over Norimbergh in Germany and Florence in Italy would not of old admit of any learned men into their Councel because great learned men saith the Historian of those places are perplexed to resolve upon Affairs making many doubts full of Respects and Imaginations Semblably this Parliament was too rich and curious to do any good though this noble personage even when the House-doors were shut and he violently detained in his Chair refused to countenance their proceedings always abhorring Eliot's doctrine That men should not be questioned for offences in Parliament As if that reverend Assembly were called for no other end than that turbulent spirits might be at liberty to speak Treason once every three years When he was questioned for his opinion about Ship-money his judgement was That if the whole were in danger the whole should contribute When he was urged to read the Remonstrance against Sir R. W. 4 Car. in Parliament his opinion was That at any rate though at the highest that can be Authority must be vindicated and redeemed from contempt since the Life of Government is reputation Observations on the Life of the Lord Say WHether the first impressions of his Tutor Schoolmasters though the most neglected are not the most inconsiderable parts of a Common-wealth the narrownesse of his fortune unequal to his honour younger brothers of noble houses had need in every State to be observed the repulse 1613. other men must look to whom they are kinde but Princes to whom they are unkind inclined this personage to popularity This is certain no man was better tempered for that humour than himself being in his nature severe and rigid in his carriage close and reserved in his resolutions firm and immoveable in his apprehension provident and foreseeing in his Sentiments nice and curious in his Discourse full of Fears and Jealousies dissatisfied and bold in his followers irregular and pretending in the Law well seen in the Scripture very ready in the occurrences of his age very exact at Lectures most constant to the liberty of the Subject then the Diana of the age most faithful insomuch that he made a motion 1628 That they who stood for the Liberties forsooth then called the Lower-House Lords of the Upper-House not fifty might make their Protestation upon record and that the other party should with subscription of their names enter their reason upon Record that posterity might not be to seek good lack who they were that so ignobly betrayed the Liberty of our Nation And this being done they should resolve themselves to a Committee and proceed to vote Yet so well acquainted with the King's temper that he would â—ake any occasion of his being pleased by the Parliament to 〈…〉 sinuate himself into favour with all his Male-contents as Bishop Williams Earl of Lincoln Earl of Essex the Earl of Warwick c. As he wrought upon the peoples humour in that point of Liberty so he did upon the Nobilities temper in another of Ambition For in a Petition to King James against Foreign titles of Honour we finde him first in design though last in subscription teaching Essex Warwick St. John for they joyned with him to tilt against their Soveraign's Prerogative with their Pens as they did after with their Swords And when this failed the wise King a wing the young Lords to renounce that asunder which they had subscribed together none so bold as the factious in company none so fearfull apart the Champion of English honour and priviledge becomes the Patron of Propriety too for we read Ter. Hill Anno 14. Car. 1. in Banco Regis the Lord Say's Case Action for Trover and Conversion of thrée Oxen taken a great matter for three pounds five shillings by the Sheriff of Lincoln upon the Plaintiff towards the finding of a Ship A goodly reason for going to Law first and then to war with his Soveraign as he did afterwards when he had sent his son Nathaniel with
Hampden and Lawrence 1639. to settle the League with their dear Brethren in Scotland while he formed the grand Design in England with so much successe that when there were some Overtures made for saving the Earl of Strafford and securing the Kingdome by the Party upon condition of preferment as that Master Hampden should be Tutor to the Prince the Earl of Essex his Governour Mr. Pym Chancellor of the Exchequer the Earl of Warwick Vice-Admiral he was to be Master of the Court of Wards which he compassed when the rest mist of their expectation No more of him but that the King going to Scotland he refusing a Protestation against the Scots had these questions proposed to him 1. Whether he would go with the King at his own charge 2. Whether Rebellion was a just cause of War 3. Whether the taking of Castles Crowns Magazines c. was not Rebellion To the first he answered That though as a Peeâ— and Subject he could not be forced out of his Countrey but upon extraordinary occasion yet out of affection to his Majesty he would attend him referring the matter of charge to himself To the two last he said he understood not the Law of Scotland but that those proceedings were Treason in England Observations on the Life of the Earl of Lindsey HE and that whole Family I know not whether more pious or more valiant whether more renowned abroad as Confessors for their Religion or as Champions for their Country have been in this last Age an ornament and a defence to this Crown equally reverenced by the Subjects of it and honoured by the Soveraigns This Noble-man and the Earl of Essex did as Jugurtha and Manus learn in one School what they practised in two The one as a faithful Subject for that government that had obliged his Family the other as a discontented Rebel against that that had disobliged his Both Commanders for the Palatinate against the Emperor and for Rochel against the French When the Duke of Buckingham returned from the Isle of Rhee his Majestie told him The neglect of his relief must lodge on his Friend and Confident Holland To which he acknowledged That indeed he had very affectionately intrusted him in ordinary Affairs but never in such an esteem as to second him in Arms that place being more proper for my Lord of Lindsey whose judgement of that Expedition was That it was friendship in earnest and War in jest He it was that pursued twelve French Vessels in his own single one to their Haven heated at once with anger and shame He it was who when all men were amazed at the Duke's fall was assigned his successor Certainly saith one them present He was a person of no likely presence but of considerable experience by his former Expeditions and one that to the last of his life made good his Faith with Gallantry and Courage notwithstanding his ill successe the times fate rather than his fault 1. In scouring the narrow Sea 〈…〉 where he was Admiral and the Earl of Essex Vice-Admiral 2. In presiding in several great Cou 〈…〉 on many solemn occasions the Earl of Strafford's unparallel'd Tryal c. And 3. In leading the King's Army at Edge-Hill with a Pike in his hand Where what is observed of Cataline and his followers was true of this noble Earl and his Country-men the Loyal Gentry of Lincoln-shire that they covered the same place with their Corps when dead where they stood in the fight whilest living Observations on the Life of Judge Richardson JUdge Richardson was born at Mulbarton in Norfâ— his Father being Minister thereof and he a friend to Ministers though a foe of the Church He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and became the King's Sergeant therein Afterwards on the 28 of November 1626. he was sworn Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas that Place having been void ten months before wherein he was humorsome but honest onely unhappy in that he raised the Sabbatarian Controversie by his orders against Wakes in Somerset-shire His Brasse Monument on the South-side of Westminsterâ—bby thus entertaineth the Reader Deo om Thomae Richardsoni Icaeni Equitis Aurati Humanum Depositum Ille Juris Municip omnes gradus exantlavit â—enventus tertii ordinis ann Jacobi Regis 21 22. Prolocutor extitit Fori civilis communium Placitorum vocant Supremum Magistratum quinquennium gessit Ad summum tandem primarii per Angliam Judicis Tribunal A Rege Carolo evectus expiravit Anno Aetatis 66. Salutis MDCXXXIIII Tho. Richardson fil unicus Eques Aâ—â— Baro Scotiae designatus Patri incomparabili posuit As one reason of his advancement you must know this Judge married for his second Wife the Lady Eliz. Beaumont the Sister as I take it of Mary Countess of Buckingham and the Relict of ..... Ashburnham Knight She was by K. Charles 〈…〉 eated Baronesse of Croumont in Scotland and though Issuless by the Judge the Honour discented to his Grand-child He died an enemy to Bishop Williams over-ruling all his Pleas in his Cham 〈…〉 r in a quarter of an hour and yet which was strange at that time no friend to Arch-Bishop Laud for he said The Lawn-sleeves had choaked him Observations on the Life of Sir Tho. Coventry A Competent Estate he had for his education and excellent Abilities for advancement his fortune was not wanting to his parts nor his parts to his fortune the one being as ready to support as the other was to raise him His staid soul was well prepared for general learning in the Schools and University for his particular learning at the Innes of Court his skill in the study of Law called him no sooner to the Bar than his prudence to Court Take we his character from his Honour Why was he created Lord Coventry of Alisbury and Keeper of the great Seal Why saith the Patent for his eminent fidelity for his 〈◊〉 worthy service for his exact circumspection for his deep prudence for his constant resolution for his skill and dexterity for his integrity and industry for his immoveablenesse and fidelity No man morâ— apprehensive of the interest of England none more faithful to it His kindness to the Church and Clergy argued his piety his safe Counsels to his Majesty argued his moderation his dignity rather enjoyed him than he it A man he was that filled uâ— his great capacities having digested a body 〈◊〉 the most honest Law and a scheme of the most innocent policy that ever fillled the head of an ablâ— States-man or the heart of an upright Judge Whaâ— belonged to him he knew and what he knew hâ— practised He was as constant to his rule as he knew his rule was to him Reserved he was as the King's Councellor honest as his conscience We measure Pyramides by their shadows and this great Lord by his followers every one whereof was eminent in his way and all advanced Each Action of his though never so little yet great as himself
so gravely did he manage it so solemnly did he perform it His orders were seldome reversed because mostly including the consent of Parties Few Attorney-Generals came off with lesse censure and few Lord Keepers with lesse guilt his Predecessors miscarriages being foils to set off his exactnesse Eminent as in most other Ca 〈…〉 s so particularly in that of Pryn Bastwicke and Burton against whom when after six weeks time given them to put in an effectual Answer they urged that their Adversaries the Bishops should not be their Judges He replyed smartly That by that Plea had they Libelled all the Magistrates in the Land none should passe Censure upon them because all were made parties He had fifteen years enjoyed his Place not more proper to say that Dignity had enjoyed him so long this latter age affording not one every way of more apt Qualifications for the place His front and presence bespake a venerable regard not interiour to any of his Antecessors His train and suit of Followers was disposed agreeable to shun both Envy and Contempt Vain and ambitious he was â—ot his port was state though others ostentation Of what concerned his place he knew enough and which is the main acted conformable to his knowledge For in the Administration of Justice he was so erect so incorrupt as captious malice stands mute in the blemish of his Fame A miracle the greater when we consider he was also a Privy-Councellor A trust wherein he served his Master the King most faithfully and the more faithfully because of all those Councels which did disserve his Majesty he was an earnest disswader and did much disaffect those sticklers who laboured to make the Prerogative rather tall than great 〈◊〉 knowing that such men loved the King better the Charles Stuart So that although he was a Courtier and had had for his Master a Passion most in tense yet had he always a passion reserved for the publick welfare an argument of a free noble and right-principled minde For what both Court and Country have always held as inconsistent is 〈◊〉 truth erroneous And no man can be truly loyal who is not also a good Patriot nor any a good Patriot which is not truly loyal Observations on the Life of the Earl of Strafford SIr Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford owned his birth to the best-govern'd City London his breeding to the best-modelled School York and a most exact Colledge St. John in Cambridge his accomplishments to the best Tutors Travail and Experience and his prudence to the best School a Parliament whither he cam in the most active and knowing times with 〈◊〉 strong brain and a large heart his activity waâ— eminent in his Country and his interest strong in Parliament where he observed much and pertinently spake little but home contrived effectually but closely carried his Defigns successfully but reservedly He apprehended the publick temper as clearly and managed it to his purposes as orderly as any man He spoke least but last of all with the advantage of a clear view of others reasons and the addition of his own He and his leading Confidents moulded that in a private Conference which was to be managed in a publick Assembly He made himself so considerable a Patriot that he was bought over to be a Courtier So great his Abilities that he awed a Monarchy when dis-obliged and supported it when engaged the balance turning thither where this Lord stood The North was reduced by his prudence and Ireland by his interest He did more there in two years than was done in two hundred before 1. Extinguishing the very reliques of the War 2. Setting up a standing Army 3. Modelling the Revenue 4. Removing the very roots and occasions of new troubles 5. Planting and building 6. Setling Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts 7. Recovering the hearts of the people by able Pastors and Bishops by prudent and sober Magistrates by justice and protection by obligations and rewards 8. Recovering the Churches patrimony and discipline 9. Employing most able and faithful Ministers and Instruments 10. Taking an exact view of all former Precedents Rules and Proceedings 11. An exact correspondence with his Majesty and the Favourites of England None was more conversant in the Factions Intrigues and Designs than he when a Common-wealths-man none abler to meet with them than he when a States-man he understood their methods kenned their wiles observed their designs looked into their combinations comprehended their interest And as King Charles understood best of any Monarch under heaven what he could do in point of Conscience so his Strafford apprehended best of any Counsellor under the Sun what he could do in point of power He and my Lord of Canterbury having the most particular account of the state of Great-Britain and Ireland of any persons living Nature is often hidden sometimes overcome seldome extinguished yet Doctrine and Discourse had much allayed the severity of this Earl's nature and Custome more None more austere to see to none more obliging to speak with He observed pauses in his discourse to attend the motion and draw out the humour of other men at once commanding his own thoughts and watching others His passion was rather the vigour than the disorder of his well-weighed soul which could dispense its anger with as much prudence as it managed any act of State He gave his Majesty safe counsel in the prosperity of his Affairs and resolute advice in Extreamity as a true servant of his interest rather than of his power So eminent was he and my Lord of Canterbury that Rebellion despaired of successe as long as the first lived and Schisme of licentiousnesse as long as the second stood Take my Lord of Strafford as accused and you will finde his Integrity and Ability that he managed his whole Government either by the Law or the Interest of his Countrey Take him as dying and you will see his parts and piety his resolution for himself his self-resignation for the Kingdoms good his devotion for the Church whose patrimony he forbade his son upon his blessing Take him as dead you will finde him glorious and renowned in these three characters The first of the best King I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great Abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State for those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to hetray him to great Errors and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract great store while moving in so high a sphere and with so vigorous a lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious exbalations which condensed by a popular Odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and integrity though I cannot in my judgement approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of Times and the temper of that People more than led by his own disposition to any beighth
correspondence with the Duke of Bucks weekly constant his contrasts with Count Soisons and Madam Blanvile in behalf of her Husband here in England resolute and honourable urging very nobly and successfully that the clamours of a turbulent Agent was not to out-weigh the favour of a mighty Monarch The discovery he made of the Duke of Buckingham's enemies their Cabals and Oaths from the said Blanviles Letters was seasonable and compleat but his Master-piece was his command over all affections and tempers but his own so soft and smooth that it endured not the roughnesse of the following times wherein he was very unsetled when Commissioner in Scotland while he lived and very fearful when he died The fate of all delicate and too fine Constitutions It hath been the method of Grandees to endear themselves to power for a present interest and to learning for their future fame to add the renown of the one to the greatnesse of the other Neither was this Lord more careful to succeed his great friend the Duke of Buckingham in his favour at Court as Captain of the Guard and Groom of the Stool than in his Place at the Vniversity as Chancellor of which he expresseth himself thus â—o his Cambridge That his Master had raised his fortune beyond wishing in this world that he could desire no more than a fair name when he was gone out of it which the University contributed to whom he devoted his Iuterest Though they answered not his expectation in their Contributions for St. Pauls and other particulars wherein he was defeated and over-born by the busie faction who thought it a vain thing â—o repair any Church when they intended to pull down all After all this great man is a great instance of â—hat observation viz. That when able and prudent men are brought on the Stage to manage their â—wn parts they are then mostly not of the clearâ—st sight and commonly commit such errours as â—re both discernable and avoidable even by men of â—ean abilities Although I finde him subject â—o no great errour before the War save that when Dr. Preston was by his party judged of so great parts 〈◊〉 to make a fit Patron for them and thereupon â—irected to appear aloof the way of Court-obâ—ervers in his Addresses to the Duke of Buckingâ—m by his Confident the Earl of Holland whose â—amily favoured that side though the Duke said he â—new him and so would use him accordingly â—et this Earl was so far over-reach'd by him that in the Apology the Doctor writ under-hand to 〈◊〉 Partizans touching his Court-compliance he sheâ—eth he over-reached the Court-wits as indeâ— he was a great Politician and used Lap-wiâ—â— like to flutter most on that place which was fa 〈…〉 thest from his Egges a copy of which Letteâ— with some satyrical stanzaes was found unsealed 〈◊〉 the streets and carried to the Duke a noble frienâ— discovering to the Doctor how witty he was 〈◊〉 Rhime to the breaking of his heart he confessâ—â—â— then he was undone especially when the Duke Barber could finger the Letter out of his Lord pocket as he was directed And now I cannoâ— but remember how this Earl at his death said 〈◊〉 had been a friend to godly Ministers as had 〈◊〉 friends before him by whom he bad been instructâ—â— when young Whence I collect that the membeâ— of those great Families into which the godly Ministers i. e. peevish factious and discontented persoâ— which usurp that precious name insinuate theâ— selves and their principles seldome come to theâ—â— Grave in peace they usually instilling into theâ—â— such imaginations as make their lives unquiet aâ—â— their deaths dishonourable Whence the gooâ— old Lord Willoughby would say Carry the peeviâ—â— man this speaking of one Chambers a Separatist but tell him he must not come under my Roof for will not meddle with them that are given to changâ— whose calamity ariseth suddenly and who knoweth tâ—â— ruine of them both To conclude it is observed as the reason whâ— he fell off from the Parliament that the warâ— Sirs would not trust two Brothers him and thâ— Earl of Warwick with supream commands therefore when they voted the one Admiral they deâ—yed the other General of the Horse Both are charactered by their Contemporaries for natural Endowments excellent for temper sweet and loving for behaviour affable and courteous for spirit meek and lowly of the same inclinations before and after their advancement In honore sine â—â—more lifted up with honour but not puffed up with pride Observations on the Life of Arch-Bishop LAUD THe pregnancy of his childhood promised the wisdome of his riper years and obliged his friends beyond their abilities to his support and strangers beyond expectation to his encouragement Some persons offering him great sums of money for his maintenance in his younger years upon the bare security of his parts which payd them well in his more reduced age None more observant of favour none more mindful of kindnesses and none more grateful for civilities He was so wise as seldome to forget an injury in the consequence of it and so noble as ever to remember love in the return of it His honest Parents conveyed him an excellent temper and that temper a brave spirit which had the advantage of his birth some say at Reading some at Henley at an equal distance from the University where he was to be a Scholar and the Court where he was to be a Man In the first of these his indefatigablâ— industry his methodical study his quick apprehension his faithful memory his solid judgement his active fancy his grave and quick countenance his sharp and piercing eye raised him bâ— discreet and wary steps to all the perferments anâ— commended him to all the employments of thâ— University when Proctor whereof he was admitted for his prudence to the Earl of Devonshire's service which hazarded and when Divinity-Reader observed by the Lords of Rochester and Lincoln for his judgement which advanced him As his design was above the level of modern Sciolists sâ— were his Studies not prepossessed with the partiâ—â— Systemes of Geneva but freely conversant with the impartial volumes of the Church Catholick 〈◊〉 had an infallible apprehension of the Doctrine and Discipline and a deep insight into the interest 〈◊〉 Christianity This capacious soul conversed with the most knowing of all Judgements to finde the bottome of all Errors and with the most Judicious of his own to discern the grounds of all truth He had his eye on the University to reduce it when Head of St. John's on the lower Functions oâ— the Church in his Pastoral charges to reform them and upon the higher when Dean of Gloucester Prebend of Westminster and Bishop of St. Davids to settle them He was a man of that search and judgement that he found out the principles of government that were true to the Church of that faithfulnesse and resolution that amidst all discouragements he was true to them The Church-government he found by many
private spirited men accommodated to their ease and interest he adjusted to truth and settlement consulting not humors which are uncertain as interest but truth which is certain as Eternity Arch-Bishop Abbot's Yield and they will be pleased at last was a great miscarriage Arch-Bishop Laud's Resolve for there is no end of yielding was great policy His great reach in Government suitable to that King's apprehensions commended him to King James his vast ability and integrity to K. Charles and the Duke of Buckingham To the first whereof he was a Privy-Councellor to the other a Bosom-friend before both whom he laid the best Representations and Ideas of the English government as to things and persons in severall abstracts of any man under heaven I have heard a States-man say That none knew the joynts turnings flexures and interests of all Parties in Church or State that were either to be encouraged or suppressed with the seasons and opportunities to do it so well as Dr. Laud. Discerning was his fore-sight compleat his intelligence exact his correspondence quick his dispatches seasonable and effectual his Sermons and Discourses inquisitive and observing his Converse His Instruments were able and knowing men that were faithful to the Church as he was in Manwaring and Mountagu's case to them Knowing well as he wrote to my Lord of Buckingham that discouragements would deter men of parts whom encouragements might make serviceable He knew no man better how to temper a Parliament having a Catalogue of all the Nobility and Gentry with their Interest and Inclination in his eye He understood none more exactly what was to be discoursed and proposed to them having a clear apprehension of the several Junctures and Tendencies of affairâ— He entertained no thought but what was publick 〈◊〉 his breast no man but what was nobly spiritâ—â— in his familiarity Ever watchful he was of all opportunities to advance the Churches honour 1. In her Sons as Bishop Iuxon c. 2. Hâ—â— Discipline as in his several Visitations Articles Star-Chamber and High-Commission-matters 3. In her Endowments as the buying of Impropriations in Ireland 4. In her Priviledge as the Canons of England 5. In her Ornaments as the repairing furnishing of St. Pauls and most other Churches in his Province 6. In her Universities 〈◊〉 the Statutes of Oxford the priviledges of Cambridge and his vast gifts of Oriental Books and Buildings and his vaster design for both and as watchful against all the designs to undermine it The Feoffees for Impropriations he laid aside the Sabbatizing and Predestinarian controversies he silenced the Licentious Presse he reduced Dignities and Preferments he worthily filled up bribes at Court he retrenched No interest no alliance could ever advance an unworthy person while he lived Breed up your children well and I will provide for them was his saying to all his Relations Many a man would be disobliged by his sternnesse at first view for whom if deserving he would afterwards contrive kindnesses by after and unexpected favours No place of experience did he ever misse none of employment did he ever decline He would never see Authority baffled but either wave all proceedings against offenders or go through with them His prosecutions as in Leighton's Case were close his observation of all circumstances as in Lincoln's wary his declarations of the Cases clear and conâ—â—cing as in Pryn's Bastwick's and Burton's 〈◊〉 sentence milde and compassionate as in Walâ—â—'s his resolution and justice ever making way to 〈◊〉 mercy and his mercy crowning his justice Often did he confer with the ablest and most Orâ—â—odox Clergy with the most experienced and â—owing Civilians with the most observing and â—â—served Courtiers with the profoundest Lawyers â—ith the skilfullest and discreetest Mechanicks out fall whose opinions the result was his most exact â—â—dgement in any case that came before him at Court or at Lambeth The roughnesse of his nature sent most men disâ—â—tented from him but so that he would often of â—â—â—self find ways and meanes to sweeten such as had 〈◊〉 worth again when they least looked for it â—ny were offended at his prudent zeal against the â—â—wish Sabbatism in his government who were â—â—ry well satisfied with the strictnesse of his obserâ—â—tion of the Lords day in his person But let â—â—e great man expresse another Bishop Gauden â—â—rch-Bishop Laud whose thoughts lye so much â—â—e more levelled to his brave Sentiments as his â—â—ignity did to his high place As to his secret design of working up this Church by little and little to a Romish conformity and captivity I do not believe saith he he had any such purpose or approved thought â—ecause beside his declared judgement and consciâ—â—nce I finde no secular Policy or Interest which â—ecould thereby gain either private or publick â—ut rather lose much of the greatnesse and freedom â—hich he and other Bishops with the whole Church had without which temptation no man in charity may be suspected to act contrary to so cleaâ— convictions so deliberate and declared determinations of his Conscience and Judgement in Religion as the Arch-Bishop expresses in his very excellent Book I am indeed prone to think that possibly he wished there could have been any fai 〈…〉 close or accommodation between all Christian Churches the same which many grave and learned men have much desired And it may be 〈◊〉 Lordship thought himself no unfit Instrument 〈◊〉 make way to so great and good a work considering the eminencies of Parts Power and Favour which he had Haply he judged as many learned and moderate men have that in some things between Papists and Protestants differences are made wider and kept more open raw and sore they need be by the private pens and passions of some men and the Interests of some little parties whose partial policies really neglect the public and true Interest of the Catholike Church and Christian Religion which consists much in peace as well as in purity in charity as in verity He found that where Papists were silenced and convinced in the more grand and pregnant Disputes that they are Novel partial and unconform to Catholick Churches in ancient times then he found they recovered spirits and contested afresh again 〈…〉 the unreasonable transports violences and immoderations of some professing to be Protestants who to avoid Idolatry and Superstition run to Sacriledge and rudenesse in Religion denying many things that are just honest safe true and reasonable meerly out of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excessive Antipathy to Papists Possibly the Arch-Bishop and some other Bishops of his minde did rightly judge That the giving an Enemy fair play by just safe and honourable concessions was not to yield the conquest to him but the most ready way to convince him of his weaknesse when no honest yieldings could help him any more then they did endanger the true cause or courage of his Antagonist For my part I think the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was neither Calvinist nor Lutheran nor Papist as to any
Mother that the Scots could say The son of son of 〈◊〉 geud a Mother could do them no harm Qu. 18. Why had he a hand in most of the Monopolies and Projects of England Qu. 19. Why did he refuse to contribute as others had done to the Scots Wars Qu. 20. Why did he intercede for Lowdon's release notwithstanding the trayterous Letter to the French King was his hand Qu. 21. How comes Montrosse to be slighted by the gracious King at first And when he offered his service again how came his Letters into the Covenanters hands at Newcastle Qu. 22. Why did he and Argyle raise such Fears and Jealousies in Scotland and England by with-drawing suddenly from the Court under pretence forsooth of danger to their persons Qu. 23. Why could not the King hear of the Scots design to invade England 1643. before Montrosse posted first to Oxford and then to Gloucester to tell him of it though the Marquess was all the while in Scotland Qu. 24. And yet why was that noble person mistrusted till the Kings interest was lost in that Country Qu. 25. Why was he and his brother imprisoned at Oxford And why did the King say Nay if Hamilton leads them there is no good to be done for me Qu. 26. Why did the King say That he must dispose of the Master of the Horse place to the Earl of N. That my Lord Cottington was the fittest man for the Treasury and that Sir Edward Hyde was the onely man he could trust with the Secretaries affairs Being loth that D. H. should return to an opportunity of recozening them Questions these that shew After-ages can scan great mens lives with the same liberty that they live them Observations on the Life of Sir Ralph Hopton GEntile was this excellent person's extraction in the West of England and man-like his Education in the Low-Countries that School of War where Sir William Waller and he learned in one Camp what they practised in two The one being no lesse eminent for his service under his late Majesty of blessed memory than the other was for his against him The one was the best Soldier the King had the other the most experienced that the pretended Parliament boasted of None siceâ— to balance Sir Hopton's successe none likelier to understand his stratagems none abler to undermine his designes than his Fellow-soldier Sir William who understood his method as well as he was acquainted with his person Both were equally active both equally vigilant But what better character of this Heroe than that which his Master gave him in his Patent for Baron which is his history as well as his honour Carolus Dei Gratiâ Angliae c. Cum Nominis nostri Posteritatis interest ad clara Exempla propaganda utilissimè compertum palam fieri omnibus praemia apud nos virtuti sita nec periâ—â— fidelium subditorum officia sed memori benevoli pectore fixissimè insidere His praesertim temporibus cum plurimum quibus antehac nimium indulsimus temerata aut suspecta fides pretium aliorum constantiae addidit Cumque nobis certò constat Radulplium Hopton Militem de Balneo splendidis Antiquis Natalibus tum in eaetera sua vita integritatis moris eximium tum in hac novissimâ tempestate fatalique Regni rebelli motu rari animi fideique exemplum edidisse Regiae dignitatis in eaque publicae contra utriusque dversarios assertorem vindicem acerrimum Quippe quia non solum nascenti huie Furori nec dum omnibus manifesto optimis consiliis fortis in curia Senator restiterit sed insinuante se latius veneno crescente ferocia domum ad suos reversus fortior Miles in Agro suo Somersetensi vicinis partibus omni ope manu iniquissimam causam oppugnaverit in Arce praesertim Sherborniana sub Anspiciis Marchionis Hertfordiae egregiam operam navaverit Mox ulterius progressus pollenti in Devonia factionis Tyrannide munitissima civitate in foedus illecta jam undique bonis subditis perniciem minante ipse penè in illa Regione Hospes contracto è Cornubia Milite primoribus statim impetum earum repressit jacentesque affictas nostras partes mirifica virtute recreavit Et licet summis necessitatibus conflictanti exigua pars Negotii hostes erant tantum abfuit ut vel illis vel istis succumberet ut contra copiis auctiores bellico apparatu instructissimas saepius signis Collaris in acie dimicans semper superior excesserit Testis Launcestonia Saleash Bradock aliaque obscura olim nomina loca nunc victoriis illius perduellium cladibus Nobilitata Vix etiam ab his respiraverat cum novus belli furor Lassas jam ferâ— continuis praeliis laxatas vires Numerosissimo exercitu adortus uberiorem triumphandi dedit materiam Cum ille in campis Strattoniae in difficillimas licet Augustias redactus inops militaris instrumenti consumpto jam pulvere tormentario armatos inermis Vallo munito inter sola causa virtute animatus ita retudit cencidit castris exuit ut totum belli molem cum ipsis Authoribus profligavit Quic quid fugae illius residuum erat inter urbis unius Moenia eaque arcta obsidione astricte concluso Qua quidem pugna memorabili praeter quod miserum popellum jugo intolerabili levaverat sedes suas expulsis Ecclesias Pastoribus pacem omnibus Firmamentum pacis obsequium pristiaeter restituerit Et jam sequenti armorum nostrorum foelicitate qua partes Regni occidentales maturius aâ— officium verum Dominum redierunt viam apperuisse momentum ingons extitisse libentissimè profitemur In hac opera laudabili cum praefatus Radulphus perstiterit adhuc in victo animo industria indefessa nullo arduo quantumvis labore periculo excusatus cumque mille argumentis testatum fecerit Honorem salutemque nostram sibi omni fortuna capite potiorem nos virum fortissimum optimeque affectuâ— animum benigno studio prosequi amplius demereri volentes hunc praeconio merito ornandum propiori ad nos gradu extollendum censuimus Sciatis igitur nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu praefatum Radulphum Hopton ad statum gradum stylum Dignitatem Titulum Honorem Baronis Hopton de Stratton in Comitatu nostro Cornubiae c. In cujus rei Testimonium has Literas Nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Oxon. quarto die Septembris Anno Regni Nostri Decimo nono His two great Actions the one at Liscard the other at Stratton cannot be better described than by an Eye-witnesse whose are these as he saith out of a Manuscript corrected with Sir Ralph 's own hand communicated to him by his Secretary Mr. Tredus At Liscard a little before the Fight began the King's party took it into seasonable consideration
that seeing by the Commission the Lord Mobun brought from Oxford four persons viz. the said Lord Mohun Sir Ralph Hopton Sir John Berkley and Colonel Ashhurnham were equally impowered in the managing of all Military matters And seeing such equality might prove inconvenient which hitherto had been prevented with the extraordinary moderation of all parties in ordering a Battel it was fittest to fix the power in one chief and general consent setled it in Sir Ralph Hopton He first gave order that publick Prayers should be read in the head of every Squadron and it was done accordingly and the Enemy observing â—t did stile it saying of Masse as some of their Prisoners afterwards did confesse Then he caused the Foot to be drawn up in the best order they could and placed a Forlorn of Musquetiers in the â—â—ttle Inclosures winging them with the few Horse and Dragoons he had This done two small My 〈…〉 ion Drakes speedily and secretly fetched from the Lord Mohun's house were planted on a little â—urrough within random-shot of the Enemy yet 〈◊〉 that they were covered out of their sight with small parties of Horse about them These concealed Mynions were twice discharged with such successee that the Enemy quickly quitted their ground And all their Army being put into a rout the King's Forces had the execution of them which they performed very sparingly taking 1250 prisoners all their Cannon and Ammunition and most of their Colours and Arms and after publick Thanks taking their repose at Liscard Stratton Fight succeeds on Tuesday the 16th of May 1643. The King's Army wants Am munition and hath a steep hill to gain with all disadvantage and danger the Horse and Dragoons being not above five hundred and the Foot two thousand four hundred The Parl. Forces were well furnished and barticadoed upon the top of the hill their Foot 3400. and their Horse not many indeed having dispatched 1200 to surprize the Sheriffâ— and Commissioners at Bedmin On the King's side order was given to force the passage to the top of the Hill by four several Avenues the ascent was steep and difficult resolutely did his Majesties Forces get up and obstinately did the Enemy keep them down The Fight continued doubtful with many countenances of various events from five in the Morning till three in the Afternoon amongst which most remarkable the smart charge made by M. G. Chudleigh with a stand of Pikes on Sir Bevil Greenvil who fell nobly himself and had lost his squadron had not Sir John now Lord Berkley who led up thâ— Musquetiers on each side of Sir Bevil seasonably relieved it so resolutely reinforcing the Charge that Major-General Chudleigh was taken Prisoner Betwixt three and four of the Clock the Commanders of the King's Forces who embraced those four several wayes of ascent met to their mutual joy almost at the top of the hill which the routed enemy confusedly forsook In this service though they were Assailants they lost very few men and no considerable Officer killing of the Enemy about three hundred and taking seventeen hundred prisoners all their Cannon being thirteen pieces of brasse Ordnance and Ammunition seventy barrels of powder with a Magazine of Bisket and other provision proportionable For this victory publick Prayer and Thanksgiving was made on the hill then the Army was disposed of to improve their successe to the best advantage Nothing had sunk this great spirit but the fate of Kingdomes with whose ruine onely he was contented to fall and disband his brave Soldiers upon honourable terms Five things made my Lord Hopton so eminently serviceable 1. His great insight into the designes and prudent foresight of the events of present Councels which when most doubted and wavered gave him that resolution that undertook great difficulties and bore up against greater 2. His experience of War in general and his acquaintance with that seat of it committed to him in particular 3. His renown all over the Kingdome for piety and moderation and within his own association for hospitality civility and charity 4. His name among the Enemies as confiderable for his generousnesse and justice as for his valour and conduct 5. His Estate that set him above mercenarinesse and his care for money that set his Soldiers above need the occasion of mutinying among themselves or of incivilities towards others Observations on the Life of the Earl of Carnarvan RObert Dormer Ar. was on the tenth of June 1615. made Baronet by K. James on the 30 day of the same month was by him created Baron Dormer of Wing in Buckinghamshire His Grand-childe Robert Dormer was by K. Charles in the 4th of his Reign created Viscount Ascot Earl of Carnarvan He lost his life fighting for him who gave him his honour at the first Battel of Newbury Being sore wounded he was defired by a Lord to know of him what suit he would have to his Majesty in his behalf the said Lord promising to discharge his trust in presenting his request and assuring him that his Majesty would be willing to gratifie him to the utmost of his power To whom the Earl replyed I will not dye with a Suit in my mouth to any King save to the King of Heaven By Anne daughter to Philip Earl of Pembrook and Montgomery he had Charles now Earl of Carnarvan From his noble Extract he received not more honour than he gave it For the blood that was conveyed to him through so many illustrious veins he derived to his Children more maturated for renowâ— and by a constant practice of goodnesse more habituated to vertue His youth was prepared for action by study without which even the most eminent parts of Noble-men seem rough and unpleasant sant in despight of the splendor of their fortune But his riper years endured not those retirements and therefore brake out into manlike exercises at home and travel abroad None more noble yet none more modest none more valiant yet none more patient A Physician at his Father-in-Law's Table gave him the Lye which put the company to admire on the one hand the man's impudence and on the other my Lord's mildenesse until he said I 'll take the Lye from him but I 'll never take Physick of him He may speak what doth not become him I 'll not do what is unworthy of me A vertue this not usual in Noble-men to whom the limits of Equity seem a restraint and therefore are more restlesse in Injuries In the middest of horrour and tumults his soul was serene and calm As humble he was as patient Honour and nobility to which nothing can be added hath no better way to increase than when secured of its own greatnesse it humbleth it self and so at once obligeth love and avoideth envy His carriage was as condescending as heroick and his speech as weighty as free He was too great to envy any mans parts and vertues and too good not to encourage them Many a time would he stoop with his own spirit
further from him But no Message being brought him from Luynes he had in pursuance of his Instructions a more civil Audience of the King at Coignac where the Marshal of St. Geran told him he had offended the Constable and he was not in a place of security here whereunto he answered That he held himself to be in a place of security wheresoever he had his Sword by him Luynes resenting the affront got Cadenet his brother Dâ— of Chaun with a ruffling train of Officers whereof there was not one as he told K. James but had killed his man as an Embassador extraordinary to mis-report their Traverses somuch to the disparagement of Sir Edw that the Earl of Carlisle sent to accommodate Le Mal Entendu that might arise between the 2 Crowns got him called home until the Gentleman behinde the Curtains out of his duty to truth and honour related all circumstances so as that it appeared that though Luynes gave the first affront yet Sir Edward kept himself within the bounds of his Instructions and Honour very discreetly and worthily Insomuch that he fell on his knees to King James before the Duke of Buckingham to have a Trumpeter if not an Herald sent to Monsieur Luynes to tell him that he had made a false Relation of the passages before-mentioned and that Sir Edward Herbert would demand reason of him with Sword in hand on that point The King answered he would take it into consideration But Luynes a little after died and Sir Edward was sent Embassador to France again and otherwise employed so that if it had not been for Fears and Jealousies the bane of publick services he had been as great in his Actions as in his Writings and as great a States-man as he is confessed a Scholar Observations on the Life of the Lord Capel HIS privacy before the War was passed with as much popularity in the Country as his more publick appearance in it was with valour and fidelity in the Field In our too happy time of Peace none more pious hospitable charitable and munificent In those more unhappy of our Differences none more resolved Loyal and active The people loved him so well that they chose him one of their Representatives and the King esteemed him so much that he sent for him as one of his Peers in that Parliament wherein the King and People agreed in no one thing save a just kindnesse for my Lord Capel who was one of those excellent Gentlemen whose gravity and discretion the King saith he hoped would allay and fix the Factiou to a due temperament guiding some mens well-meaning Zeal by such rules of moderation as are best both to preserve and restore the health of all States and Kingdomes keeping to the dictates of his conscience rather than the importunities of the people to what was just than what was safe save onely in the Earl of Strafford's case wherein he yielded to the publick Necessity with his Royal Master but repented with him too sealing his contrition for that miscarriage with his blood when he was more troubled for his forced consent to that brave person's death than for losing his own life which he ventured throughout the first War and lost by his Engagement in the second For after the surrender of Oxford he retyred to his own house but could not rest there until the King was brought home to his which all England endeavouring as one man my Lord adventured himself at Colchester to extremity yielding himself upon condition of Quarter which he urged by the Law of Arms that Law that as he said on the Scaffold governeth the world and against the Lawes of God and Man they are his own words for keeping the fifth Commandment dying on the Scaffold at Westminster with a courage that became a clear conscience and a resolution befitting a good Christian expressing that judicious piety in the Chamber of Meditation at his death that he did in his Book of Meditation in his life a piety that as it appeared by his dismission of his Chaplain and the formalities of that time 's devotion before he came to the Scaffold was rather his inward frame and habit than outward ostentation or pomp from the noble Sentiments whereof as the Poet not unhappily alluding to his Arms A Lyon rampant in a Field Gules between three crosses expresseth it Our Lyon-like Capel undaunted stood Beset with Crosses in a Field of blood as one that affrighted death rather than was afrighted by it It being very observable that a learned Doctor of Physick present at the opening and embalming of this noble Lord and Duke Hamilton delivered at a publick Lecture that the Lord Capel's was the least heart and the Duke 's the greatest that ever he saw agreeable to the observation in Philosophy that the spirits contracted within the least compasse are the cause of the greater courage Three things are considerable in this incomparable person 1. His uninterrupted Loyalty keeping pace with his Life for his last breath was spent in proclaiming K. Charles the II. in the very face of his Enemies as known to him to be a vertuous noble gentle just and great Prince a Perfect English-man in his inclination 2. His great merits and modesty whereof K. Charles I. writes thus to his excellent Queen There is one that doth not yet pretend that doth deserve as well as any I mean Capel Therefore I desire thy assistance to finde out something for him before he aske 3. The blessing of God upon his noble but suffering Family who was a Husband to his excellent Widow and a Father to his hopeful Children whom not so much their birth beauty and portion though they were eminent for these as their Vertues married to the best Bloods and Estates in the Land even when they and the Cause they suffered for were at the lowest It 's the happiness of good men though themselves miserable that their seed shall be mighty and their Generation blessed Observations on the Life of Bishop Andrews I Have much a-do to prevail with my own hand to write this excellent Prelate a States-man of England though he was Privy-Councellor in both Kingdomes For I remember what he would say when he came to the Council-Table Is there any thing to be done to day for the Church If they answered Yea then he said I will stay If No he said I will be gone Though yet this be an instance of as much prudence as any within the compass of our Observation So safe is every man within the circle of his own place and so great an argument of abilities hath it been always confessed to know as well what we ought as what we can especially in Clergy-men whose over-doing doth abate their reverence and increase their envy by laying open those defects and miscarriages which are otherwise hallowed or at least concealed in the mystick sacrednesse of their own function Not but that men of that gravity and exactnesse of that
of England he that was one of King Henry's Executors King Edward's Secretary of State Queen Mary's right hand and that refused the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury in in Queen Eliz. days 3. Being bred 1. In Winchester that eminent School for Discipline and Order 2. In New-Colledge and Queens those famous Colledges for the method of Living by rule could promise no lesse than he did in his solidly sententious and discreetly humoured Play at Queens called Tancredo in his elegant Lecture of the nobleness manner and use of Seeing at the Schools for which the learned Albericus Gentilis called him Henrice Mi Ocelle and communicated to him his Mathematicks his Law and his Italian learning in his more particular converse with Doctor Donne and Sir Richard Baker in the University and his more general conversation with Man-kinde in travells for one year to France and Geneva where he was acquainted with Theodore Beza and Isaac Casaubon at whose Fathers he lodged for eight years in Germany for five in Italy whence returning balanced with Learning and Experience with the Arts of Rome Venice and Florence Picture Sculpture Chimistry Architecture the Secrets Languages Dispositions Customes and Laws of most Nations set off with his choice shape obliging behaviour sweet discourse and sharp wit he could perform no lesse than he did 1. In the unhappy relation he had to the Earl of Essex first of Friend and afterward of Secretary 2. In his more happy Interest by his Secretary Vietta upon his flight out of England after the Earl's apprehension with the Duke of Tuscany then the greatest patron of Learning and Arts in the world who having discovered a design to poyson King James as the known successor of Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Henry Wotton with notice of the plot and preservatives against the poyson by the way of Norway into Scotland under the borrowed name of Octavio Baldi where after some suspicion of the Italian message discovering himself to the King by Lindsey's means he was treated with much honour complacency and secrecy for three months After which time he returned to Florence staying there till King James enquiring concerning him of my Lord Wotton the Comptroller the great Duke advised his return to congratulate his Majesty as he did the King embracing him in his arms calling him the best because the honestest Dissembler that he met with and Knighting him by his own name Adding withal That since he knew he wanted neither Learning nor Experience neither Abilities nor Faithfulnesse he would employ him to others as he was employed to him which accordingly he did to Venice the place he chose as most suitable to his retyred Genius and narrow Estate where 1. Studying the dispositions of the several Dukes and Senators 2. Sorting of fit Presents curious and not costly Entertainments sweetned with various and pleasant discourse particularly his elegant application of Stories He had such interest that he was never denyed any request whereby he did many services to the Protestant interest with his Chaplain Bishop Biddle and Pauloe's assistance during the Controversie between the Pope and the Venetians especially in transmitting the History of the Councel of Trent sheet by sheet to the King and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as it was written And in his three Embassies thither gained many Priviledges for the English along all those Coasts In the second of which Embassies calling upon the Emperour he had brought Affairs to a Treaty had not the Emperour's successe interposed whereupon he took his leave wishing that Prince to use his Victory soberly an advice his carriage indeared to his Majesty together with his person so far that he gave him a Diamond worth above a thousand pounds which he bestowed on his Hostess saying He would not be the better by a man that was an open Enemy to his Mistress so the Queen of Bohemia was pleased he should call her Onely while abroad and writing in the Album that friends have this sentence Legatus est vir bonus peregre missus ad mentiendum reipublicae causâ whereof Scioppius made a malicious use in his Books against King James He lost himself a while for using more freedome abroad than became his Employment until his ingenuous clear and choicely eloquent Apologies recovered him to more respect and cautiousnesse until he writ Invidiae remedium over his Lodgings at Eaton-Colledge the Provostship whereof he obtained in exchange for the reversion of the Mastership of the Rolls and other places promised him Where looking upon himself in his Surplice as Charles 5 or Philip 2. in Cloysters his Study was divine Meditations History and Characters His recreation Philosophical conclusions and Angling which he called his idle time not idly spent saying he would rather live five May-months than sorty Decembers His Table was exquisite where two youths attended upon whom he made the observations that were to furnish his designed discourse of Education His Histories and Observations remarkable his Apophthegms sage and quick 1. Being in a Popish Chappel a merry Priest that knew him sent a Paper to him with this question Where was your Religion before Luther Under which he writ Where yours is not in the written word of God 2. Being asked whether a Papist could be saved He replyed You may be saved without knowing that look to your self 3. Hearing one rayl against Arminius Popery he answered Sâ—â— he that understands amisse concludeth worse If you had studied Popery so much as I have and knew Arminius so well as I did how learned how strict and how rare a man he was you would not fall so foul on his person nor thinke that the further you go from the Church of Rome the nearer you are to God 4. One pitched upon for Embassador came to Eaton and requested from his some Experimental rule for his prudent and sase carriage in his Negotiation to whom he smilingly gave this for an in 〈…〉 ble Aphorism That to be in safety himself serviceable to his Country be should alwayes and upon all occasions speak the truth For said he you shall never be believed and by this meanes your truth will secure your self if you shall ever be called to any account and it will also put your Adversaries who will still hunt counter to a losse in all their disquisitions and undertakings 5. And when he made his Will two years before he died out of policy to let the King understand his Debts and Arrears to which end he bestowed in that Will on his Majesty Sir Throgmorton's Papers of Negotiation in Queen Elizabeths dayes on the Queen Dioscorides in Tuscany with the Herbs naturally coloured on the Prince the Queen of Bohemia's picture on my Lord of Canterbury the picture of Divine love to my Lord of London high Treasurer Heraclitus and Democritus and to Secretary Windebanke old Bastano's four Seasons he directed that this onely should be written on his plain Marble Hie jacet hujus sententiae primus auctor Disputandi Pruritus
fit Ecclesiarum Scabies Nomen alià s quâ—re 7. Going yearly to Bocton for the connaturalness of that Ayr and to Winchester or Oxford for Recreation he would say to his friends How useful was that advice of a holy Monk who perswaded his friend to perform his customary devotion in a constant place where his former thoughts might meet him for said he at my being at that School seeing the place where I sate when I was a boy occasioned me to remember my youthful thoughts sweet thoughts indeed that promised my growing years numerous pleasures without mixture of cares and those to be enjoyed when time which I thought slow-paced changed my youth to man-hood and now there are a succession of Boys using the same recreation and questionless possessed with the same thoughts Thus one generation succeeds another both in their Lives Recreations Hopes Fears and Deaths 8. There are four things that recommend Sir Henry Wotton to posterity 1. That King Charles took great pleasure in corresponding with him in Letters 2. That my Lord Racon took great pains in collecting his Apophthegmeâ— 3. That Sir Richard Baker who submitted most of his Writings to his Censure said of him That the Kingdome yielded not a fitter man to match the Capriciousnesse of the Italian wits And 4. That his work of Architecture is translated into Latine printed with Vitruvius and this Elogy prefixed Henricns Wottonus Anglo-Cantianus Tho optimi viri Filius Natu minimus a serenissimo Jacobo I. Magnae Britanniae c. Rege in Equestrem titulum ascitus ejusdemque ter ad Remp Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confaederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliensi Negotio bis ad Carolum Emanuelem Subaudiae ducem Semel ad unitos superioris Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbronnensi Postremo ad Archducem Leopoldum Ducem Wirtenbergensem Civitates Imperiales Argentinam Ulmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum II. Legatus Extraordinarius Tandem hoc Dedicit Animas sapientiores fieri quiescendo Observations on the Lives of the Lord Wilmot and Sir Tho. Roe THese honourable persons are united not so much in their own relation or character as in my unhappinesse who was promised Observations on the life of the first but never had them and had some on the life of the second but lost them 1. My Lord Wilmot I finde acting like a States-man when Commissary in the expedition against the Scots and speaking like a Soldier when a Member of the Parliament that was for them in the first capacity speaking with my Lord Conway he saw the King would be overcome by the English at home if he overcame not the Scots abroad In the second whispering with some Army-Officers he said If the Scots Army were paid in the North the King's Army would be paid in the South A wise and brave speech that had almost rallied all the Army against the Parliament as soon as that Parliament had rallied their multitude against the King but that treachery got easily into the bosome of that brave Prince that had nothing but honesty in his heart Yet since he could not awe the counsels of the faction in the City he went to suppresse their Rebellion in the Field being voted a Traytor by the Rebels because he endeavoured they should not be so What he performed in the Wars all the Kingdome knows what he did at Oxford the King's Letters intimate what he negotiated in Germany acted in Scotland endeavoured at Wâ—rcester and other places for the King's Majesties escape and restauration posterity shall celebrate while he lives as renownedly in History as he doth nobly in his son the most hopeful Earl of Rochester 2. Sir Thomas Roe understood the dispositions of men so exactly could suit their humours so fitly observe opportunities and seasons of actions so punctually keep correspondence so warily wade through difficulties so handsomely wave the pinch of a businesse so dexterously contrive Interests so suitably that he was advised with concerning the most important Affairs of the Kingdoms he resided in abroad and admitted of the Privy-Councel while he lived at home Where his speech against the debasing of the Coyn at the Council-Table will last as long as there is reason of State in the world His settlement of Trade as long as this is an Island and his Eastern MSS. as long as there are Books to furnish Libraries or Libraries to preserve Books Three of the noblest English actions beyond Sea are these 1. That Sir Thomas Roe pardoned the Dutch Merchants thrice in Persia and Turkey at his mercy 2. That my Lord Wilmot when Embassador in Germany refused the assistance of the Popes Nuncio or Turkish Aga judging his great Master when at lowest above those suspected Auxiliaries 3. That my Lord Culpeper having offered him in Muscovy all the English goods there refused them declaring his Royal Master a Father of his Country though kept out of it by Traytors and a merciful Prince to his People when cast off by the Rebels Observations on the Life of Arch-Bishop Juxon WIlliam Juxon born at Chichester in Sussex was bred Fellow in St. John's Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Batchelor of Law very young but very able for that Degree afterwards becoming Doctor in the same Faculty and President of the Colledge was one in whom Nature had not omitted but Grace had ordered the Tetrarch of humours being admirably Master of his Pen and Passion For his Abilities he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hereford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England wherein he had Religion to be honest and no self-interest to be corrupt A troublesome place in those times being expected he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers he found empty he left filling and had left full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildenesse of his temper that Petitioners for money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his Denials they were so civilly languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Treasurers at all Times are liable to the complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience Nor was it the least part of this Prelat's honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdome when he honoured him with this testimony That good man He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishop's Conscience was bottom'd on piety not policy the reason that
from him he received the Sacrament good comfort and counsell just before he was murthered I say just before the Royal Martyr was murthered a Fact so foul that it alone may confute the Errour of the Pelagians maintaining that all sin cometh by imitation the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if chose Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the observation of Solomon that there is no new thing under the Sun King Charles the second preferred him Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 1660. He died in the year of our Lord 1663. and with great solemnity was buried in St. John's Colledge in Oxford to which he was a great Benefactor though a greater to Pauls and Lambeth and greatest of all to the Church which his eminence adorned and his temper secured in those times wherein roughnesse enraged that humour which delay and moderation broke a discreet yielding to the multitude is the securest way of Conquest They that hold together by opposition languish and moulder away by indulgence In his duty this good man went along with Conscience in Government with Time and Law He had the happinesse that K. James admired in a States-man of his time to do all things suavibus modis He referred his Master in the Earl of Strafford's case as he did himself in all cases to his own Conscience for matter of fact and to the Judges for matter of Law who according to their Oath ought to carry themselves indifferently between the King and his Subjects The King was not more happy in this faithful servant than he was in his followers among whom there was no uncivil Austerity to disoblige the Subjects nor base Corruption to incense them They need not keep state they had so much real power nor extort they had so much allowed advantage His care was his servants and their care his businesse His preferments were his burthen rather than his honour advanced by him rather than advancing him and therefore he was more ready to lay them down than others to take them up Witnesse his Treasurers Place which when he parted with like those that scatter their Jewels in the way that they may debar the violence of greedy pursuers no lesse than four durst undertake when his single self sufficed for the two greatest troubles of this Nation the Treasurer-ship of England and the Bishoprick of London Religion was the inclination and composure as well as care of his soul which he used not as the artifice of pretence or power but as the ornament and comfort of a private breast never affecting a pompous piety nor a magnificent vertue but approving himself in secret to that God who would reward him openly His devotion was as much above other mens as his Calling his meditations equall with his cares and his thoughts even and free between his Affairs and his Contemplations which were his pleasures as well as his duty the uniform temper and pulse of his Christian soul Neither was his Religion that of a man onely but that of a Bishop too that made his Piety as universal as his Province by such assistances of power as brought carnal men if not to an obedience yet to such a degree of reverence that if they did not honour they might not despise it His justice was as his Religion clear and uniform First the ornament of his heart then the honour of his action Neither was Justice leavened with rigour or severity but sweetned with clemency and goodnesse that was never angry but for the publick and not then so much at the person as the offence So ambitious of that great glory of Moderation that he kept it up in spight of the times malignity wherein he saw all change without himself while he remained the self-same still within the Idea of sobriety and temperance vertues that he put off onely with his life Neither was this a defect of spirit but the temper of it that though it never provoked troubles yet it never feared them His minde was always great though his fortune not so Great to suffer though not always able to act so good his temper and so admirable his humility that none ever went discontented from him Never â—ourting but always winning people having a passage to their hearts through their brain and making them first admire and then love him He was slow not of speech as a defect but to speak oâ— of discretion because when speaking he plentifully paid the Principal and Interest of his Auditoâ—â— expectation In a word his government as a Bishop was gentle benigne and paternal His management of the Treasury was such that he served his Prince faithfully satisfied all his friends and silenced all his enemies of which he had enough as a Bishop Greatnesse is so invidious and suspected though none as a man goodnesse is so meek and inoffensive The most thought the worse of Dr. Juxon for the Bishops sake the best thought the better of the Bishop for Dr. Juxon's sake Observations on the Life of John Lord Culpeper I Finde nothing promoting him to his first preferment of Chancellor of the Exchequer but his pure merit nor any thing advancing him to his after-honours but his steady Loyalty which when others stuck to London in compliance with that Maxime In all Divisions keep your self to the Metropolis the chief City being for the most part preserved who-ever prevaileth in a Civil Commotion abounding in Money and Friends the readiest Commodities to purchase Quiet carryed him after a persecuted Soveraign for twenty years together by the strong obligation of a well-principled Conscience and the well-weighed observation of the natural Affection of all Englishmen to their lawful Soveraign from whom though the Arts and Impulses of seditious Demagogues may a while estrange and divorce their mindes yet their Genius will irresistibly at last force them to their first love It was the resolution of a great States-man That if the Crown of England were placed but on an Hedge-stake he would be on that side the Crown was His first service was to discover his Soveraign to his deluded People worthy not onely of their obedience but their lives and fortunes His next was to lay open his Enemies in all their Intrigues and Reserves being most happy in all the Treaties he was engaged in in discerning the bottome of his own Parties Interest and their Adversaries pretensions discoveries that prevailed on all that was either noble or but ingenuous in the Nation especially whither my Lord came with his indefatigable Industry his obliging Converse and potent Eloquence excepting London it's self whither he was sent from Nottingham with the Earls of Southampton and Dorset and Sir William Wedale Knight the very day the King set up his Standard there The Principle he went upon was That the Faction at Westminster was no Parliament A Principle most safe on all hands For which and the rest of his judicious Sentiments he hath the honour to be enrolled among those that Traytors durst not pardon
graceful Eloquence doth meet a There were two sorts of these Knights the first made by way of encouragement the second by way of Reward Sir Ralph was of the second sort and the last that survived of that sort b That of the Queens Marriage c Luther Melancthon Carolostadius b The Creed The Lords Prayer and the Commandments e Saith Sir Richard Baker f Per celebriora Anglorum Gymnasia artes excoluit * Being called Bifrons Janus g Cecil was the first * Mr. More in the printted Life of his Grand-father Sir Tho. More page 334. * That is from Will. Molineux Knight of Sefton in Lancashire Cic. pro Archiâ Poetâ * When Cardinal * One of the house of York * He is made Viscount Rochford * They were 50 with an Archer a Demilance and a Constillier apiece They and their horses being vested in Cloth of Gold * Of Bretany and Normandy a Master of the Ordnance who was killed the first night before Therouene Edw. 6. Bacons Ess 116. The Duke of Somerfet's march a The same day that 30 years ago they were beaten at Flodden b He made the first and last Bannerets The Lady Stanhope c Whom they put in new Liveries d For contriving the death of a Privy 〈…〉 Counsellour There was another of his name Sheriff Nephew to this Knight in 25 of H 8. Lord Bacon's Essayes a A Duffeild b Recommending to him the care of three thrings 1. His God 2. His Soul 3. His Company Full. Hist Cambr. p. 119 Vid. Full. Eccl. Hist Edw. 6. T. F. p. 9. This story is related from the mouth of his Grandchild the Earl of Warwick that last was See Ep. ad Lect. Lees Plees des Coron Eth. l. 10. c. 7. Vid. Waterhouse in Fortesc de laud. Leg. Angl. Vid. Cok. in Littl. Prefat Q. Mary Here William Cordel doth in rest remain Great by his Birth but greater by his Brain Plying his studies hard his Youth throughout Of Causes he became a Pleader stout His Learning deep such Eloquence did vent He was chose Speaker to the Parliament Afterwards Knight Queen Mary did him make And Counsellour State-Work to undertake And Master of the Rolls Well worn with Age Dying in Christ Heaven was his utmost Stage Diet and Clothes to poor he gave at large And a fair Alms-House founded on his charge Fuller Eccles Hist B. 8. Cent. 15. Cambd. Eliz. an 1576. The things that overthrow a Favourite * The first of these loved Alexanders interest the other his person * France Spain and England Cicero * He meant land Anno H. 8. 24. Mach Prince p. 56. 6 Viz. The Lord Tho. Seymour Hist Camb. p. 131. * His Mother was Daughter to the Duke of Clarence and Granchild to Edward the IV Full. Hist Cent. 16. p. 14. * Governor of Biâ—â— * Kept at Black Fryars Upon Record in Sir Rob. Cotton's Library * As Ecclesia poenitentia Episcopus Sacrificium Pontifex * Viz. Those of his Diocess * In King H. 8's time when they rise against the Resormation * When the rising was there Q. Eliz. a Descended of the Roman Cecilii say some b Grays Inne c Fuller Holy State ex Arist l. 2. de Coelo c. 4. 10. d Camb. Eliz. anno 15 79. 80. Take all there 's but one Jove above him He Is Rich Fair Noble King of Kings and free My Inferiour shall not fear my Superiour shall not despise me * Cicely Daughter of Thomas Bourchier late Earl of Essex Verulam's Essays Cambden Eliz. 13. K. H. 4. K. Jaâ—es * In Opposition to him of Spain In Ll. a They say his father married a Familiar of King Henry's See his Negotiation in France in his Letters to Cecil in The compleat Embassador See Fuller in his Worthies * Causa virtus à Deo vel ipse Deus Vol. 3. p. 95â— * Camb. Eliz. 1560. Bacon Ess 7. Oct. 15. 1565. * Sir Tho. By the learned industrious and ingenious Edward Waterhouse Esquire of Siâ—n Colledge a Which he made out from Dr. Wottons Discourse on that subject at Cambray b To which Queen Elizabeth addeth a saying of Valentinians Have the French for thy Friend not for thy Neighbor c De jure Reg. apud Scotos d About moneys transported beyond Sea Cambden Eliz. 1566 * Cambd. Eliz. anno 1577. * The Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford John Grey of Pyrgo Sir William Cecil and Sir Tho. Smith * The Doctors Parker Bill May Cox Grindal Whitehead Pillington and Sir Tho. Smith * At Cambray * Who put Cardinal Wolsey then but a Schoolmaster in the Stocks His Eliz. 1584. * As Cyrus at Thermopylae Crassus in Parthia therefore Alexander had exact Maps always about him to observe Passages Streights Rocks Plains Rivers c. Nethersole Fun. Orat. Prince Hen. p. 15 16 17. * Sir Rob. Naunton in his Fragmenta Regalia a 2 Sam. 20 2â— b 1 King 4. 6. c 1 King 12 d Ibidem See Davies of Ireland and Ware and Powel of Wales H. W. Sir Robert Naunton F. B. a Leicester See Sir H. Wottons Observalions b He was one of them whose Natures disclose but slowly c Under Dr. Whitgift a His Eliz. to which Cambden gave but the language and the transcript a From the mouth of Mr. Ramsey Minister of Rougham in Norfolk who married the widow of Mr. Giles Fletcher sou to this Doctor * In his volume of English Navigations P. 473. †Camb. in his Eliz. Anno 1583. when he was Agent in Muscov as afterward Ambassador K. James In his Book called The Declination of Monarchs Sir Robert Naunton ' s Fragmenta a Adversus perduelles a Where he was Bridegroom a Witnesse his entertainment at London H. Holland p. 39. a Domanda assai che non Manchera poi calare Proverb Hisp apud Insig D. Howeilum de legatis Psal 104. 3 a In the life of Richard the second b Sir John Davies in Disc of Ireland pag. 39 c. * Vere's Commentaries a Therefore the Yoke is their supporter * Cambdeâ— Eliz. Anno 1587. Idem Anno 1600. * The Eâ— of Essex The Loâ— Nortis Plau. in Aularia * Though some observe that his digressions marred his repute and had broke his neck had he lived in any Kings reign but King James's * Vid. Duke of Buckingham's Life K. Charls Compleat Instructions for a States-man given by L. B. to D. B. a Sir Hen. Wotton's life of the Duke of Buckingh a 1. Of the Prerogative Royal. 2. Priviledges of Parliament 3. The proceedings in Chancery 4. The power of the Star-Chamber * Being not used to the Common-Prayer * In Tiberioâ— a As about the Petition of Right in reference to which he Sergeant Glanvile satâ—â—fiâ—d the Lords Admin Card. de Rich. p. 283. F. O. p. 12. 〈◊〉 O. 134. a See the Eaâ—â—â—f Northampton's Speech b See Lord Spencer c Nobly communicated to all ingenious persons by the honourable H Howard of Norfolk greater in his own worth than in any tiâ—â—es a See his late Majesties recomdation to him at his departure from Hamton-court * In France 1629. * At Perroâ—s Aleppo a So saith the Historian but I think as much against them as against the K. Not onely because the welfare of K. people are inseparable but also because there is not a more common saying among the people than defend me and spend J. H. * 〈◊〉 T. C. a The most pious learned wise and Reverend Father in God the Lord Arch-Bishop of Cant. was his Domestick E 〈…〉 E 〈…〉 Meditat. 2. Exemplified by his Chaplain Tho. Pritter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. crudit J. H. de legaâ—s p. 25. a Since published