the Prince of Conde and his Party being bound not to come to any Terms of Peace with their Enemies without the Privity and Approbation of the Queen and that for the Security of the Moneys and Forces that her Majesty should supply them with they should put into her hands the Town and Port of New Haven or Havre de Grace to be garrisoned by English Souldiers and commanded by any Person of Quality her Majesty should authorize Presently after the Conclusion of this Agreement she caused a Manifest to be published in which she declared how that having preferred the Peace of Christendom before her particular Interests she had relinquished her Claim to the Town of Calais for the term of eight years when as all other Princes were restored to their lost Estates by that Treaty that for the same Reasons she had preserved the Scots from being made Vassals to the French without retaining any part of that Kingdom in her own Possession after the Service was performed that with the like sence of Commiseration she had taken notice how much the Queen Mother of France and the young King were awed and shackled by the Guisian Faction who in their Name and under the Pretext of their Authority endeavoured to extirpate the Professors of the Reformed Religion In pursuance of which Design those bloody minded Papists had in less than five Months time caused above an hundred thousand French Hugonots to be massacred and butchered that with the like Injustice and Violence they treated such of her Majesties Subjects as traded into the Ports of that Kingdom causing their Goods and Merchandize to be seized themselves imprisoned and barbarously murdered and for no other Crime than that they were Protestants and therefore in consideration of what 's aforesaid Her Majesty thought her self obliged to endeavour the rescuing the French King and his Mother out of the hands of so dangerous a Faction by aiding such of the French Subjects as preferred the Service of their Sovereign and the good of their Countrey before all other respects whatsoever for preserving the Reformed Religion from an Universal Destruction and the maintaining her own Subjects and Dominions in Peace and Safety She not only published this Manifesto to acquaint the whole World with the reasons of her taking up Arms on this Occasion but she also commanded her Ambassadour to give a more particular Account of it to the King of Spain whom she looked upon as the Principal Patron of the Guisian League She likewise caused her Ministers and Agents with the Princes of Germany to sollicit them to aid and assist their Brother Protestants And then she her self fell to supplying the Hugonots with all things necessary to a War sending them Ships Arms and Men both for the scowring the Seas and securing the Land The Forces she sent amounting to 6000 Men under the Command of the Lord Ambrose Dudley the Eldest Son then living of the late Duke of Northunberland The Papists apprehending that the Queen by these Courses would lay the axe to the Root of their Religion laid a Conspiracy against her Life for which the Countess of Lenox Grand daughter to Henry the Seventh by his eldest daughter Margaret Queen of Scotland was confined with the Earl her Husband to her House and Arthur Pole Grand-child of Margaret Countess of Salisbury by Geofry her third Son the younger Brother unto Reginald Pole the late Cardinal Legate was Apprehended and Arraigned as also his Brother in Law Geofry Fortescue and were condemned to die but confessing the Conspiracy and being of the Blood Royal they were reprieved by the Queen The Lady Katherine Grey Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk and Grand Daughter to another Sister of King Henry the Eighth was sent to the Tower with her Husband the Earl of Hertford for marrying without the Queens Consent and were detained there several Years and their Marriage declared by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be an undue and unlawful Carnal Copulation with her and that for such their Excess both he and she to be punished About the same time was Published an Elegant and Acute Discourse called The Apology of the Church of England written Originally in Latin by the truly Learned Bishop Jewel and Translated immediately into English Dutch Italian Spanish French and Greek and was highly approved of by all Pious Learned and Judicious Men. Now the Practices of the Papists and the danger the Queen and State were in by their means obliged the Queen to call a Parliament which being Assembled at Westminster the first Act that passed was for assurance of the Queens Royal Power over all Estates and Subjects within our Dominions And Enacted that the Oath of Supremacy should be Administred unto all Persons for the better discovery of such as were Popishly affected several of that Party having lately busy'd themselves by inquiring into the length and shortness of her Majesties Life by Conjurations and other Diabolical Arts and thereupon had caused some dark and doubtful Prophecies to be spread abroad for which reason there passed two other Statutes for suppressing the like dangerous Practices by which her Majesties Person might be endangered the People stirred up to Rebellion or the Peace disturbed By which and other Acts for the strengthning of the Navy and the continual breeding of a Seminary of expert Mariners the Queen was so well provided and secured against the Machinations and Conspiracies of the Pope and his Adherents as to lie under no apprehensions of their bloody rage and malice During this Session of Parliament it was declared by the Bishops and Clergy then Assembled in their Convocation To be a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayer in the Church or to Administer the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood by the People To confirm which Declaration it was Enacted That the Bishops of Hereford St. Davids Bangor Llandaff and St. Asaph should take care amongst them for Translating the whole Bible with the Common Prayer Book into the Welch or Brittish Tongue on pain of forfeiting Forty Pound apiece in default thereof And to encourage them thereunto it was ordered that one Book of either sort being so Translated and Imprinted should be provided and brought to euery Cathedral or Parish Church as also for all Parish Churches and Chappels of ease where the said Tongue is commonly used the Minister to pay one half the Price and the Parishioners the other Care was likewise taken for the Translating the Book of Homilies being looked upon as a necessary part of the publick Liturgy by reason of the Rubrick at the end of the Nicene Creed This Parliament likewise congratulated her Majesty for the happiness of the Times for Religion Reformed Peace restored England with Scotland freed from the Foreign Enemy Mony refined the Navy strengthned Warlike Ammunition provided both for Sea and Land and for the Laudable Enterprize in France for the securing of England and
then brooding between the two Crowns being dead he was succeeded by Don Diego Gusman de Sylva who being a wise Man and sensible how damageable the Courses his Predecessors had taken were to both Parties he endeavoured to heal up the Breaches and by his mediation procured the Commerce to be restored and all that had been Decreed and Proclaimed on both sides to be suspended The most remarkable Action which attended the Queen's return from Cambridge was the preferring Sir Robet Dudley to the Titles of Lord Denbigh and Earl of Leicester she having before made him Knight of the Garter Master of the Horse and Lord Chancellour of the University of Oxford and these Honours were conferred upon him for the better qualifying him to be Husband to the Queen of Scots And now Leicester for the better screwing himself into that Queens favour immediately accused to Queen Elizabeth the Lord Keeper Bacon who was looked upon as an Enemy to the Queen of Scots and an Opposer of her Title to the Succession In the mean time the Queen of Scots knowing her Title to be disputed in England and being grown jealous of the Practices of the Earl of Murray her Bastard Brother and others at home she thought it her interest to recall the Earl of Lenox to his Native Countrey from whence he had been driven in the time of King Henry by whose great Power and Influence she hoped to ballance the Authority of the Mutineers This Lord being of Royal Extraction King Henry to engage him the more in his Interests had given him in Marriage the Lady Margaret Douglas Daughter of Queen Margaret his Eldest Sister by Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus lier second Husband of which Marriage amongst others was the Lord Darnly Now Lenox being returned into Scotland after twenty Years Abode in England he sends for the Lord Darnley to that Court Where being arrived and being a Person Graceful Lovely and of a Gentile Carriage and not yet full Twenty Years old he quickly insinuated himself into that Queens Affections She fancied she had now met with a Man who was pleasing to her Heart and conducible to her Interests for that both their Pretensions being joyned together her Title to the Crown of England would be the better secured Now Queen Elizabeth having got some notice of this Design of the Scottish Queen she advised her to think of some other Match saying that this would have so incensed the Parliament that she was forced to Prorogue them least they should have acted something against her Title to the Succession Wherefore she again recommended unto her the Earl of Leicester for a Husband to which purpose she sent Commissioners to Berwick to treat with those of the Queen of Scots about a Match But this Queen had given such Instructions to her Deputies they maintained That it did not stand with the Dignity of their Queen to enter into such Measures after having refused the Offers of several great Princes of Christendom Wherefore they broke up without coming to any Conclusion And the Queen being intent upon her Marriage with the Lord Darnly it was at length consummated And of this Marriage was born James the Sixth in the Palace of Edenborough on the 19 of July in the Year 1566 Solemnly crowned King of the Scots on the same day of the Month in the Year 1567 and joyfully received to the Crown of England on the 14 of March in the Year 1602. But not only the English but the Scots themselves being displeased with this Match the Scots raised some Commotions with design to have prevented it but being over-powered were forced to take Refuge in England where by Connivance they were allowed a safe Retreat During these Transactions the great Renown and Glory of Queen Elizabeth's Reign having invited Corcille Sister to the King of Sweden and Wife to Christopher Marquess of Baden to come tho' big with Child from the farthest Places of the North to see the Lustre of her Court and observe the Wisdom of her Government after a tedious Voyage by Sea and Land she at length arrived at Dover where she was received with all possible Magnificence and Respect and entertained by the Queen all the while she stayed here with all the Tenderness Affection and Splendour imaginable Within a few days after her Arrival she fell in Labour and was delivered of a Son whom the Queen christned in her own Person by the Name of Edwarduâ— Fortunatus Edward in Memory of her dearly beloved Brother and Fortunatus in regard of his being born after a painful Journey Having remained here they were dismiss'd with many rich Presents and an Annual Pension from the Queen During their Entertainments here a French Ambassador came hither to be installed Knight of the Garter in the Place and Person of that King and to present the Order of St. Michael the principal Order of France to the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester which were performed with the Ceremonies State and Pomp usual on such occasions In the mean time Queen Elizabeth was again sollicited to Marry by those who were fearful that the Protestant Religion in this Kingdom might be extirpated by the Pretensions and authority of the Queen of Scots should she come to the Crown and amongst other offers the Emperour Maximilian did very seasonably renew the Proposals of a Match between her Majesty and his Brother Charles About the same time there arose great Dissentions at Court between the Earls of Sussex and Leicester the former favouring this Marriage and the other opposing in regard of his own hopes and pretensions but were at length at least seemingly reconciled by the Queen About the same time came likewise into England Donald Mac Carty More a Lord of great Authority and large Territories in Ireland which were confirmed to him and his Heirs Males by the Queen who likewise conferred new Honours both upon him and his Son by making the Father Earl of Clencarn and the Son Baron of Valentia and so engaged them by Gifts and Presents that they procured great Opposers of the Innovations designed by Desmond Now Sir Nicholas Arnold being called from the Government of Ireland Sir Henry Sidney was sent in his stead as Justice of that Kingdom The English Vicegerents there being at first so termed and since Deputies or Lieutenants accoring to the pleasure of the Prince Sidney at his Arrival finding great confusion through the Discord of the Earles of Ormond and Desmond the Queen to prevent any further mischief through their Dissentions thought fit to send for the latter into England And now the Parliament being met they again move the Queen either to marry or declare her Successour which her Majesty looking upon as an Imposition she checked both Houses for what had passed in them upon this occasion and though they had offered far greater Sums than were usual upon Condition she would nominate a Successour yet she flatly refused that extraordinary offer remitting the fourth payment of
to the Invasion of England and the Queens Destruction by the confession of her Secretaries and the rest of the Traytors and which were confirmed by Letters of her own hand writing And having little to say in her own Defence the Commissioners pronounced Sentence against her in the Star Chamber And in a few days after the Parliament being convened at Westminster the Lords petitioned the Queen that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots might be published But the Queen made Answer That she could wish that that Sentence might deterr the Queen of Scots from such like Contrivances for the future and that some Expedient might be found out for the saving her Life and yet secure England and it's Queen from further Attempts and Dangers of that kind But both Houses replyed That neither her Majesty nor themselves were safe as long as the Queen of Scots was living and pressed her so hard that the Sentence might be put in Execution that Commissioners were appointed to admonish her to prepare for Death which News she received without any change of Countenance or shew of Passion And having that Night made her Will she with great Courage and Devotion prepared her self to dye the next day and was then accordingly beheaded in the six and fortieth of her Age and seventeenth year of her Imprisonment in England But what most perswaded Queen Elizabeth to suffer the Sentence to be put in Execution was the French and Scottish Ambassadors finding their Sollicitations in the behalf of the Queen of Scots to be to no purpose the French Ambassador had hired and excited some persons to kill Queen Elizabeth but being discovered both by the Confession of the Parties and the French Ambassadour himself and several Rumours spread abroad that the Spanish Fleet was already arrived at Milford Haven that the Scots were broken into England that the Duke of Guise was landed in Sussex with a strong Army that the Queen of Scots was escaped out of Prison and levyed an armed Power that the Northern men had raised a Rebellion that there was a new Conspiracy to kill the Queen and set the City of London on Fire nay and that the Queen was dead Insomuch that some Change being apprehended the Queen was after much Importunity prevailed with to sign the Sentence of Death And the Scots report that one of the principal Perswaders was Patrick Grey who was sent from the King of Scots to perswade the Queen from putting his Mother to Death Queen Elizabeth was so grieved when she received the News of her Death that she commanded her Counsellors from her Presence caused Davison to be cited in the Star-Chamber and fined ten thousand pounds She likewise sent one to pacifie the King of Scots assuring that it was done against her Meaning and Privity giving him reasons why he should not break out into the revenge he threatned and signed an instrument attested with the Great Seal and with the hands of all the Judges of England that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots could in no wise prejudice his Right to the Succession In the mean time the Queen had supplyed the King of Navarr and the Protestants of France with a great sum of Money And for a Diversion to the Spaniard she sent Sir Francis Drake to the Court of Spain with four Men of War where he chased six Galleys in the Port of Cales took sunk and burnt above a hundred ships set upon their Forts and compelled them to yield took a vast rich Carrack called the St. Philip. Thomas Cavendish with three ships ravaged the West Indies at the same time took and pillaged nineteen great ships burnt and plundred a great number of the Spanish Towns and then returned home after having been the third after Magellan that had sayled round the World During these successes of the English the Officers of the Earl of Leicester had employed having proved Treacherous in several instances the States accused the Earl to the Queen who thereupon called him home and he resigned the Government to the States Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange succeeding in his room at the Age of Twenty Years and the Lord Willoughby was made General of the English Forces in the Low Countries with orders from the Queen to reduce the English Factions into obedience of the States which he accordingly performed with the help of Prince Maurice and was in the Year 1588 which by the German Chronologers was presaged to be the Climacterical Year of the World and indeed the Rumours of War and the extraordinary preparations that the Spaniards were making for an Invasion of England by their Invincible Armado seemed to justify their Predictions At this time there was a Treaty of Peace held near Ostend between the English and Spanish Commissioners but designed by the Spaniards only to lull the English asleep till their Navy was arrived upon the Coast of England This Invincible Armado consisted of one hundred and thirty ships whereof Galleasses and Galleons seventy two in which were nineteen Thousand two hundred and ninety Souldiers eight Thousand and fifty Mariners two Thousand and eighty Gally Slaves and two Thousand six hundred and thirty Pieces of great Canon Twelve of their main ships being christned with the Names of the Twelve Apostles Alphorozo Perâ—z de Gusman being made principal Commander thereof Besides extraordinary Preparations were making in Flanders and the Prince of Parma had orders to joyn them with fifty Thousand Men. In the mean time Queen Elizabeth was preparing with all diligence as good a Fleet as she could making the Lord Howard of Effingham Admiral thereof and Sir Francis Drake Vice Admiral The Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset was appointed to lie upon the Coasts of the Low Countries with forty English and Dutch ships for the hind'ring the Prince of Parma's coming forth with his Forces At home along the Coasts were disposed twenty Tousand Men and besides two Armies of the choicest and expertest Men were raised the one under the Command of the Earl of Leicester consisting of a Thousand Horse and two and twenty Thousand Foot which encamped at Tilbury the Enemy being resolved to make their first Attack upon London the other under the Conduct of the Lord Hunsdon consisting of thirty four Thousand Foot and two Thousand Horse for the Guard of the Queens Person A Council of War was likewise established of prudent and experienced Officers All Sea Ports were likewise fortified and provided with all things necessary trusty and prudent Persons put into all Offices of Trust the most suspected Papists committed to custody the King of Scots perswaded to declare in favour of the Queen which he accordingly did with great Alacrity And now at length after several false Rumours and Alarums the two Fleets meet and engage and after several days Fight the Spaniards were utterly defeated Insomuch that of one hundred thirty four ships that set Sayl out of Lisbon only fifty three
thousand and being proclaimed Traytors the two Earls finding themselves unable to make head against such great Forces they fled with a small Company into Scotland from whence the Earl of Westmerland made his Escape into the Low Countries where he lived though poorly to a great Age. But Northumberland was betrayed by his Party to Murray The Heads of the Rebels being convicted of High Treason were proscribed and several of them executed Presently after which there broke forth a new Rebellion in Cumberland the number of the Rebels amounting to three thousand Men but were fought routed and dispersed by the Baron of Hunsdon There was likewise a Rebelliin Ireland but was quickly extinguished through the Queens prudent Conduct and the Orders she sent to the Deputy of that Kingdom But notwithstanding these Commotions both in England and Ireland she failed not to assist the French Protestants with Men Money and Ammunition But as the Queen assisted the French the French King out of Revenge designed to have done the same to the Scots had he not been prevented by Death During these Occurrences Murray Regent of Scotland when he had setled all things to his Desire and thought himself secure against all Attempts he was shot by one Hamilton in the Belly as he was riding along the Streets in Litchquo of which Wound he immediately dyed the Assassinate making his Escape into France Presently after his Death the Scots that were devoted to their Queen being joyned with the English Fugitives and Rebels made some Incursions into England but Forces being sent against them under the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Hunsdon they were defeated and the Borders of that Kingdom severely punished for their Folly After which Performances the English assisted their Friends in Scotland and by so doing removed from the King the Hamiltons and the rest who stood for the deposed Queen Whereupon the Lords of that Kingdom met together about choosing a new Regent and demanded Queen Elizabeth's Advice in the Business but she replied That she would not be concerned in it lest if any thing should be done to the prejudice of the Queen of Scots she might be suspected for it whereupon they created the Earl of Lenox Regent which was the more pleasing to Queen Elizabeth as hoping he would have a particular care of the young King being his Grand-child and live in good Intelligence with the English by Favours and Benefits he had received during his abode among them and be at her Devotion because she had his Wife in her Power Whilst Queen Elizabeth was thus assisting the Queen's Party in Scotland the Duke of Castle-Herault the Earls of Huntley and Argyle the Queen of Scots Lieutenants send an Envoy to the Duke of Alva to demand his Assistance and Offices in favour of their Queen which he readily granted promising to do all that lay in his Power to satisfie their Request and thereupon sent them Arms Powder Cannon and Money In the mean time the French and Spanish Ambassadours request Queen Elizabeth in the name of their Masters to set the Queen of Scots at Liberty to all which Importunities Queen Elizabeth returned Answer That as she would do all that lay in her Power to reconcile the Queen of Scots and her Subjects so she thought it was but Justice in her to provide for her own and her Subjects Safety And now the Pope seeing that these Princes could not procure that Queens Liberty he caused one Felton to fasten up in the Night-time his Bull Declaratory upon the Bishop of London's Palace wherein he absolved all Elizabeth's Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance or any other Duty and all who obey her accursed with Anathema Whereupon Felton being taken and confessing and justifying the Fact he was condemned and executed accordingly near the Place where he had fixed up the Bull. About this time were some Commotions and Suspicions of more amongst the rest a Conspiracy of some Norfolk Gentlemen to set the Duke of that Name at liberty but soon defeated and some of them executed The Duke of Norfolk was delivered out of the Tower the same day that Felton was Executed having Confessed and asked forgiveness of his Crime with a promise under his hand never to think of Marrying the Queen of Scots nor to do any thing more against the Queens Authority Shortly after which broke out a new Conspiracy in Darbyshire whereof the principal Ringleaders were two oâ— the Stanleys being the younger Sons of the Earl of Darby their Design was to have freed the Queen of Scots out of Prison But the Plot being revealed by one of the Conspiracy the Heads of it were taken and put into Prison Hereupon followed an Expedition into Scotland under the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Scroop who forced the Scots of the Queen of that Names Party to give it under their hands that they would abstain from War and forsake the English Rebels Queen Elizabeth being now full of Ombrage and Suspitions by reason of the several late Conspiracies and the Popes Bull she sent Sir William Cecyl and Sir Walter Mildmay to the Queen of Scots to Treat with her they found her bemoaning her Condition excusing Norfolk and referring her self wholly to the Queens Clemency they proposed that the Treaty of Edenborough should be confirmed that she should renounce her Title and Claim to England as long as Queen Elizabeth and the Children lawfully born of her Body should live that she should not renew or keep any League with any Foreign Prince against England that she should not receive any Foreign Souldiers into Scotland that she should have no intercourse of Counsels with the English or Irish without acquainting the Queen therewith that she should deliver up the English Fugitives or Rebels that she should recompence the dammages done to the English Borderers that she should enquire according to Law into the Murther as well of the Lord Darnly her Husband as of Murray that she should deliver her Son into England as an Hostage that she should Contract Marriage with no English Man but with the Advice of the Queen of England nor with any other against the Wills of the Estates of Scotland that the Scots should not cross over into Ireland but by Licence obtained out of England that for Confirmation of these things the Queen and the Delegates to be appointed should set to their Hands and Seals that the Hostages whom the Queen of England should name should be sent into England that if the Queen of Scots should attempt any thing by her self or any other against Queen Elizabeth she should ipso facto forfeit all her Right and Title she claimeth to England that Humes Castle and Fast Castle should be holden by the English for three Years that in like manner some strong Holds in Galloway or Cantyr should be delivered into the English mens Hands lest from thence the Scottish Irish might infest Ireland Lastly That the Estates of Scotland should confirm all these things by
Authority of Parliament To which Propositions the Queen of Scots replyed with a Proviso referring the fuller Answer to the Bishop of Ross her Ambassadour in England and to some other Delegates who afterwards granting some of the Propositions and rejecting others the Treaty came to nothing and things remained in the same state as they were in before Onely Queen Elizabeth as Head of all Britain by her Authority prorogued the Parliament of Scotland Whilst things were in this posture the Pope supplied the English Rebells and Fugitives with Monies and Philip of Spain contracted a Marriage with Anne of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian his own Neece by his Sister and she being to go by Sea from Zealand into Spain Queen Elizabeth to shew the Love and Respect she had for the House of Austria sent Sir Charles Howard with the Navy Royal to Convoy her through the British Sea And now Queen Elizabeth having compleated the Twelfth year of her Reign which some Wizzards had flattered the Papists that it would be her last the People out of their great Affection and Loyalty to her Majesty celebrated the 17th of November with all the Pomp Joy and Thanksgiving imaginable which was not only continued upon that day during her Life but even to this very day In Ireland a new Rebellion was contrived by the Earl of Thoumond and his Adherents which was disappointed when it was just ready to break out merely by the Earl's Suspicions of his being discovered whereupon he fled into France and confessing his Crimes and showing himself very penitent to the Queen's Ambassador there this Minister procured him his pardon and the Restitution of his Estate Soon after which Queen Elizabeth made a very magnificent Entry into the City of London for to go see the new Burse which Sir Thomas Gresham had newly built and in a solemn manner nam'd it the Royal Exchange with Sound of Trumpets and by the Voice of an Herald Shortly after which she created Sir William Cecyl Baron of Burghley There was at this time in England Delegates from the King of Scots of whom Queen Elizabeth having demanded that they should explain the Reasons they had for deposing their Queen whereupon they exhibited so insolent a Writing that the Queen could not read it without Indignation and told them That she did not see that they had any just Cause to treat their Queen after that manner and therefore desired they would immediately think of some means to allay the Dissentions of that Kingdom Hereupon several Propositions were again made them for the setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty which being rejected by the Scottish Delegates and Norfolk beginning a new his Practices in favour of that Queen and she her self corresponding and caballing with the Enemies of the Crown of England whereto they were both excited by Ridolpho the Pope's Agent that Queen had many of her Servants taken from her and she her self put under a stricter Confinement and a watching Eye was kept over the Duke to whom the Pope had promised great Assistance both of Money and Men in case he would raise a Rebellion assuring him That the King of Spain would aid him with four thousand Horse and six thousand Foot and that he had already deposited a hundred thousand Crowns and that he would be at all the Charge of the War But whilst these things were acting in England the Queen of Scots Party was very much oppressed in Scotland several of her principal Adherents being put to Death and their strongest Holds taken in In France was the Marriage now solemnized between Charles the Ninth the French King and Elizabeth of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian to Congratulate which the Lord Buckhurst was sent into France by Queen Elizabeth and was there received with all the Honours and Pomp imaginable and possibly the more in respect of a Motion that the French Court designed to make in favour of a Match between the Duke of Anjou and the Queen of England After the Lord Buckhurst had performed his Commission he returned home with great Presents and with one Cavalcantio a Florentine who had attended him in his Embassy This Cavalcantio being a prudent Person was entrusted by the Queen Mother of France to make a motion of this Match to Queen Elizabeth Which he accordingly performed and the Queen seemed to listen favourably to the Proposal for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdom of England the Dukedoms of Anjou Bourbon Avern and possibly the Kingdom of France it self Whereupon a Treaty was held in which the French proposed three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the joint Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a toleration of his Religion whereto it was replyed that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but hardly the third for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdom yet between a Wife and her Husband it seemed very incongruous and inconvenient however the matter was brought at length to this Conclusion that if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Roman not being expressly against the Word of God But they could not accommodate these Niceties insomuch that the Treaty was quite broak off after it had continued almost a Year But during these Occurrences it happened at Kinnaston in Herefordshire the ground was seen to open and certain Rocks with a piece of Ground removed and went forwards four days together carrying along great Trees and Sheep-Coats some with sixty Sheep in them and overthrew Rimnalstone Chappel the Depth of the whole where it first broke out is thirty Foot and the bredth of the Breach sixteen Yards also High-ways were removed near an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedg-rows and the like And now the Papists were plotting and contriving new Attempts against the Queen but they were all frustrated by the goodness of God and the Prudence of the Queen and the Loyalty and Zeal of her Ministers and Protestant Subjects Amongst others of those Devillish Instruments of Popery was the Bishop of Ross the Queen of Scots Ambassador who made it his whole Business to excite and stir up People to Rebellion He had laid several Plots for seizing Queen Elizabeth and freeing the Queen of Scots but they all failed him in the Execution But notwithstanding that Bishop had received so many checks for these Practices of his yet he continuing them to that degree as not only to pervert the Subjects from their Loyalty but even to Designs against the Queen's Life the Privy Council after mature Deliberation in the Business notwithstanding his Character thought fit he should be sent and kept close Prisoner in the Tower which was accordingly done as likewise with the Duke of Norfolk
who was again committed to the same Place it having been discovered by a Pacquet of Letters that he still continued in his Affections Design to marry and free out of Prison the Queen of Scots having for that end kept correspondence with the Pope and the other Enemies of the Crown and traiterously consulted to take away the Queens Life and to bring in Foreign Forces to invade the Kingdom for which being brought to his Tryal he was found guilty by his Peers and accordingly beheaded The Parliament being assembled upon this occasion it was Enacted amongst other Laws that if any man should go about to free any Person imprisoned by the Queens Commandment for Treason or Suspicion of Treason and not yet arraigned he shall lose all his Goods for his life time and be Imprisoned during the Queens Pleasure if the said Person having been Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his Life if Condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion Presently after the Dissolution of the Parliament a Consultation was had whether John Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke of Alva's Searcher who some time before having been engaged to go on Board a Ship to search for Goods was by that piece of cunning brought into England being an English Man born and having in Brabant consulted with a Foreign Prince were to be held guilty of High Treason which being given in the affirmative by the Learned in the Law he was thereupon brought to his Tryal and Accused of having consulted with one Preshal a Conjurer to make away the Queen that he had Cursed her daily when he said Grace at Table that he shewed a way to the Duke of Alva how to Invade England of which being found guilty he accordingly suffered Death as a Traytor About this time Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox Regent of Scotland and the King's Grandfather was surprized unawares by the Nobility of the adverse Faction and having yielded himself to David Spence of Wormstone who thereupon lost his Life in his Defence and they were both slain together by Bell and Chaulder after he had with great Pains and care governed the Kingdom for his Grandchild above fourteen Months and in his room was unanimously elected by the Kings Faction the Earl of Marr for Regent of Scotland but the place being two full of troubles for a Man of his quiet Disposition he departed this Life after he had Governed thirteen Months Some few days after the Execution of the Duke of Norfolk one Barnes and Mather were put to Death for Conspireing with one Herle to take away the Life of certain Counsellours and freeing the Duke and at the same time suffered one Rolph for Counterfeiting the Queens hand Shortly afterwhich the Queen conferred new Honours upon several of the Nobility concluded a League with the French King and sent several Persons to expostulate with the Queen of Scots for that she had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the Agreement of the Treaty of Edenborough that she had endeavoured the Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk without acquainting the Queen and had used all forcible means to free him out of Prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had releived the Rebells both in Scotland and in the Low Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spain and others had conspired with certain of the English to free her out of Prison and declare her Queen of England and finally that she had procured the Pope's Bull against the Queen and suffered her self to be publickly named the Queen of England in Foreign Countries all which Points she either denyed or endeavoured to extenuate And though as she said she was a free Queen and not subject to any Creature yet she was willing and desired that she might make her personal Answer at the next Parliament In the mean time Scotland was full of Civil Distractions and Dissentions the English countenancing the King's Party and the French the other And the King of Spain having made Complaints to the Queen by his Ambassador that the Low Country Rebells were entertained and harboured in England the Queen caused a severe Proclamation to be put forth That all the Dutch who could in any wise be suspected of Rebellion should immediately depart the Kingdom which proved rather disadvantageous than beneficial to the King of Spain For Count Vander Marea and other of the Netherlanders being hereupon compelled out of England first seised upon the Brid and then upon Flushing the Surprize of which Places being attended by the Revolt of other Towns the Spaniards were in a short time in some kind excluded from the Sea and were never after able to recover themselves in those Countries During these Transactions the French Ambassador here made Intercession in the behalf of the Queen of Scots and likewise endeavoured to promote the Match between the Queen and the Duke of Anjou but perceiving that all his Offices were to no purpose he returned into France where he found that Court very much taken up with making Preparations for the Marriage of the King of Navarr with the Lady Margaret the French King's Sister To this Solemnity were allured by an inviting prospect of perpetual Peace and Amity not only the Queen of Navarr and the Chief of all the Protestants in that Kingdom but likewise the Earl of Leicester and the Lord Burleigh the Elector Palatine's Sons with several of the Principal of the Reformed Party of other Nations were desired to be at the Celebration of that Marriage designing at one Blow to have cut down the Protestant Religion And though those Blood-thirsty Papists could not catch all they aimed at yet as soon as the Marriage was Solemnized there followed that Cruel Massacre of Paris and that terrible Butchering of the Hugonots throughout all the Cities of France but for the extenuating and vindicating of this horrible Fact Proclamations and Edicts were immediately put forth whereby the Protestants were accused of a Conspiracy against the King and the whole Royal Family But the French King notwithstanding his mask of Piety did not escape Divine Vengeance for before a year was expired he fell sick of a Bloody Flux which brought him to his end after long and tedious Torments And now came the Head of the Earl of Northumberland to the Block who Rebelling and then flying into Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered for a Sum of Money to the Lord Hunsdon Governor of Berwick and was shortly after Executed at York About this time was Sir William Cecyl Lord Burleigh promoted to be Lord High Treasurer of England upon the Decease of the Marquess of Winchester who a little before ended his days after he had lived Ninety seven years and had seen the Issue of his Body to the number of One hundred and three Persons Not long before which was a motion made to the Queen in favour of a Match between her Majesty and the Duke of
Ships in one Road and in them great store of Silks and a Chest full of Money ready Coyned but not so much as a Boy aboard so secure they think themselves on that Coast And then making all the Sail he could he followed the rich Ship called the Cacofogo and by the way met with a small Ship without Canon or other Arms out of which he took fourscore pound weight of Gold a Golden Crucifix and some Emeraulds of a fingers length On the first of March he overtook the Cacofogo and having shot down the Foremast with the shot of a great Piece of Ordnance he set upon her and soon took her and in her besides Jewels fourscore pound weight of Gold thirteen Chests of Silver ready Coyned and as much Silver as would ballance a Ship And now thinking himself sufficiently rich he resolved to make Sail for England and soon the third of November 1580 he arrived at Plymouth having sayled round about the World in the space of three Years to his Eternal Renown and the great admiration of all Men. He was graciously received by the Queen who yet sequestred his Goods that they might be forth coming if the King of Spain demanded them And her Majesty having given order for his Ship to be drawn on shoar near Deptford whereto and where it does remain for a Monument and in it being consecrated for a Memorial with great solemnity and having been there treated with great Magnificence her Majesty conferred the Honour of Knighthood upon Captain Drake But the Spanish Embassadour in England began to bluster and re-demanded the Goods that had been taken by Drake and made Complaints of the English sayling in the American Seas To whom the Queen replied That she had caused the Goods to be sequestred and that they were forth-coming for the King of Spain's satisfaction notwithstanding that the Queen had been at greater Expences in suppressing the Rebellions that had been raised by the Spaniard's Instigations in England and Ireland than all the Money that Drake had brought with him And as for sayling on the American Sea that it was as lawful for her Majesties and and other Princes Subjects as the King of Spain's and that she could not acknowledge any Right in the Pope to appropriate those or any other Countreys to any Person However the King of Spain's Agent in this Business had a great Sum of Money repayed him which instead of being restored to the Owners was employed against the Queen and the Protestants in the Low Countries where the English did extraordinary Exploits in behalf of the confederated States General Norris raising the Siege of Fenwick that was besieged by the Forces of the King of Spain and shortly after fought another Spanish Army but being over-powered with Numbers made a gallant Retreat In the mean time new Troubles were raised in Scotland some envying the Duke of Lenox his great Favour with the King accused him of endeavouring to pervert the King to Popery and allure him into France which suspicions he endeavoured to dissipate and thinking those Rumours were promoted by Morton and that he was not secure as long as Morton lived he caused him to be beheaded as accessory to the Death of the King's Father During these Transactions the Match with the Duke of Alanzon was prosecuted afresh several of the Principal Lords of France coming over for that end and shortly after that Duke himself came over hither In the mean time the Articles of Marriage were agreed upon by the Commissioners on both sides but with some Reservations that were disclaimed by the French King who refused to enter into an Offensive and Defensive League until such time as the Marriage was consummated Yet the French Duke's Presence here seemed to have so promoted his Business that the Queen having one day given him publickly a Ring this was looked upon as a Contract by all the standers by and thereupon publick Rejoycing was made in several Places abroad as for a thing concluded but not so at home when the innate Aversion the English have for the French broke out into publick Murmurs and Libells against this Match which occasioned the Queen to put forth Proclamations to stifle them and the Authors and Dispersers of those Seditious Pamphlets to be punished according to Law About the same time a Jesuit and several Popish Priests were convicted of having plotted the Ruine of the Queen and Kingdom of adhering to the Pope the Queens Enemy and of coming into England to raise Forces against the State for which they were condemned and accordingly executed Shortly after whom several Papists suffered Death likewise for the same Crimes In the mean time the Duke of Alanzon suspecting that he had onely been lured with empty hopes of a Crown here in England having the Government of the Low Countries conferred upon him by the States he prepared for his Journey thither and was accompanied by the Queen as far as Canterbury where they parting her Majesty ordered some of the Principal Courtiers to attend him to Antwerp where finding his Commission so limited that he had only the Name of Authority he made a rash Attempt upon Antwerp for which he was forced to leave the Low Countreys with the Aversion and Scorn of those People But during these Occurences the King of Spain subdued all Portugal in Seventy dayes time which being a great Addition to the vast Dominions he before had put all Europe in mind of uniting for their common Security In the mean time the English continued their Bravery in the Low Countries and with great Success and Advantage to the States And the Queen to procure the Amity of the King of Denmark and an Abatement of the Customes in the Sound sent him the Order of the Carter which he accordingly received with all acknowledgment And now broke out again new Commotions in Scotland the King being surprized and detained by the Earls of Goury Lindsey Marr and others who caused Arran to be imprisoned Lenox to be banished out of Scotland and the Earl of Arguse to be called home from Exile But shortly after the King being then about eighteen years old made his Escape out of their Hands whereupon Sir Francis Walsingham was sent to him by Queen Elizabeth for the giving him good Counsel and the endeavouring to compose the Distractions of that Kingdom During which the famous Irish Rebell Gyrald Fitz Gyrald the eleventh Earl of Desmond of this Family having a long time kept himself outof the hands of the English by lurking in private places was about this time found out and slain by a Common Souldier in a poor Cottage This great Lord was descended from Maurice the Son of Gyrald of Windsor an English man famous among those who first invaded Ireland in the Year 1170. He possessed whole Counties together with the County Palatine of Kerry and had of his own Name and Race at least five hundred Gentlemen at his Command all whom and his own Life also
England should be agreed upon and Delegates nominated to that purpose During these Transactions new Rebellions broke forth in Ireland the Mutineers calling into their aid the Hebridian Scots who together with the Irish were utterly defeated by the English above three thousand of them being all except fourscore killed upon the Place Which Victory was famous and advantageous both for the present and future times for hereby the name of the Mac-Williams in Connaught was utterly extinct and the insolent Attempts of the Scottish Islanders absolutely crushed About this time the States of the Low Countries being brought very low and unable to secure themselves any longer against the ruine that was threatned them by the vast power of the Spaniards they implored Queen Elizabeth's Protection and offered her the sovereignty of their Provinces which for the present after much debate in her Council she refused but was willing to supply them with four Thousand Souldiers in case the Town of Sluce with the Ordnance belonging to it were delivered to her for caution But afterwards upon their farther representations of the sad condition they were reduced to and commiserating the doleful estate of so great a Branch of the reformed Religion she at last resolves to take them into her Protection promising to supply them with five Thousand Foot and a Thousand Horse under a sufficient General and paying them during the War upon condition that they should by way of Pledge deliver to her Flushing the Fort of Ramekin and the Brill And her Majesty immediately caused to be put forth a large Declaration in justification of â—his her Conduct And thereupon that the War might not be brought to her own Doors by the King of Spain she sent Sir Francis Drake Admiral of her Fleet and Christopher Carlile General of her Land Forces into America with a Fleet of Twenty one ships wherein were two Thousand three Hundred Volunteers and Saylors for to make a Division thereby who after they had taken and plundered several places in those parts of the World and lost seven hundred of their men most of whom dyed of the Calenture they returned home with a Booty valued at six Thousand Pounds sterling and two hundred and forty of the Enemies great Brass and Iron Guns and with Tobacco being the first time it was brought into England During these Transactions in America John Davies with two ships set forth at the Charges of the Citizens of London first discovered and found a passage by the Northern parts of America to the East Indies About this time the Earl of Leicester was sent by the Queen as General of her Forces into Holland being accompanied by the Earl of Essex and several Persons of Quality with a choice Band of five hundred Gentlemen The Earl of Leicester's Reception was attended with all the Pomp and Magnificence imaginable And at his Arrival at the Hague the chief Government and absolute Authority over the confederated Provinces was committed to him by Instrument in Writing by the States General with the Title of Governour and Captain General of Holland Zeland the United and the confederated Provinces Which he accepted of and also the Title of excellency All which severely displeased the Queen and she made both him and the States sensible of her anger by her Letters to them desiring the latter to devest Leicester of that absolute Authority they had devolved upon him The States let the Queen know how much they were grieved for having incurred her displeasure by having devolved that Authority upon the Earl without her Previty and desire her to be pacifyed considering the necessity they were in so do Upon these Letters and those of Leicester's that were Written with all the Submission Respect and Repentance imaginable the Queen was reconciled and satisfyed But Leicester's Arbitrary way of Government imposing new Customes upon Merchandizes and introducing Martial Laws quickly raised an Aversion to him in the People His first Warlike Exploit was the undertaking to Relieve Grave a Town in Brabant then besieged by the Prince of Parma but notwithstanding all the great Efforts of the English the Town was at length taken through the Cowardice of the Governour who was thereupon executed After which the Prince of Parma laid Siege unto Venlo in Guelderland where one Roger Williams a Welchman performed great Service yet the Spaniards took that Town also while the Earl of Leicester was beating the Spaniard out of the Betou a River Island lying between the Rhine and the Waul and near the Tolhuis built a strong Sconce After which the Lord Willoughby Governour of Bergen-op-zoom cut off the Enemies Convoys and took away their Provisions And Sir Philip Sidney with Maurice the Prince of Orange's Son took in Axill a Town in Flanders and Doesburgh was likewise besieged and taken by the Earl of Leicester But in a Rencounter before Zutphen was the renowned Sir Philip Sidney slain being the greatest Ornament of the Age he lived in he was honoured with an Epitaph by the King of Scotland and both Universities celebrated his Memory with Elegies and his Funerals were solemniz'd with great Ceremony in St. Paul's Church in London The Earl of Leicester laid siege to Zutphen but the Winter Season being far advanced he was forced to quit the farther Prosecution of it leaving it only blocked up and returned to the Hague where the States entertained him with Complaints of his Conduct and the ill Circumstances he had thereby brought them into whereupon he took away the Jurisdiction of the States Council and Presidents of the Provinces and then returned into England About this time was concluded the League of strict Amity between the Queen of England and the King of Scotland being chiefly designed for the maintenance of the Reformed Religion Shortly after the Conclusion of which League was discovered a new dangerous Conspiracy against the Queen one John Savage having been perswaded by some Popish Priests that it was a meritorious Work to take away the Lives of excommunicated Princes Hereupon was a Combination made of English Catholicks and Correspondence held with the Queen of Scots the Pope the Guises the Spaniard and the other Enemies of the Queen and the Protestant Religion but was first discovered by one of the Plotters themselves and confessed by the rest both before and at their Executions whereupon long Debates and Consultations were held what was to be done with the Queen of Scots and at length those Voices prevailed that were for the bringing her to her Tryal insomuch that the Queen was perswaded to sign a Patent for the constituting the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the principal Officers of the Crown the chief Nobility of the Kingdom and the Privy Counsel her Commissioners to hear and try that Queens Cause But the Queen of Scots for some time refused to plead as being an absolute Princess and therefore exempted from any Jurisdiction But at length consenting she was charged with having been privy to all the fore-mentioned Conspiracies consenting