Yet Fortescue was not miss'd because Markham succeeded him and that losse which otherwise could not be repair'd now could not be perceiv'd For though these two Judges did severally lean to the sides of Lancaster and York yet both sate upright in matters of Judicature We will instance and insist on one memorable act of our Judge which though single in it self was plurall in the concernings thereof And let the Reader know that I have not been carelesse to search though unhappy not to find the originall Record perchance abolished on purpose and silenced for telling tales to the disgrace of great ones We must now be contented to write this Story out of the English Chronicles and let him die of drougth without pity who will not quench his thirst at the river because he cannot come at the fountain King Edward the fourth having married into the family of the Woodvills Gentlemen of more antiquity then wealth and of higher spirits then fortunes thought it fit for his own honour to bestow honour upon them But he could not so easily provide them of wealth as titles For honour he could derive from himself like light from a candle without any diminishing of his own lustre whereas wealth flowing from him as water from a fountain made the spring the shallower Wherefore he resolved to cut down some prime subjects and to engraff the Queens kinred into their estates which otherwise like suckers must feed on the stock of his own Exchequer There was at this time one S r Thomas Cook late Lord Maior of London and Knight of the Bath one who had well lick'd his fingers under Queen Margaret whose Wardroper he was and customer of Hampton a man of a great estate It was agreed that he should be accused of high Treason and a Commission of Oyer and Terminer granted forth to the Lord Maior the Duke of Clarence the Earl of Warwick the Lord Rivers Sr. John Markham Sr. John Fogg c. to try him in Guild Hall And the King by private instructions to the Judge appear'd so farre that Cook though he was not must be found guilty and if the Law were too short the Judge must stretch it to the purpose The fault laid to his charge was for lending moneys to Queen Margaret wife to King Henrie the sixth the proof was the confession of one Hawkins who being rack'd in the Tower had confessed so much The Counsell for the King hanging as much weight on the smallest wier as it would hold aggravated each particular by their Rhetoricall flashes blew the fault up to a great height S r Thomas Cook pleaded for himself that Hawkins indeed upon a season came to him and requested him to lend one thousand marks upon good security But he desired first to know for whom the money should be and understanding it was for Queen Margaret denyed to lend any money though at last the said Hawkins descended so low as to require but one hundred pounds and departed without any peny lent him Judge Markham in a grave speech did recapitulate select and collate the materiall points on either side shewing that the proof reached not the charge of high Treason and misprision of Treason was the highest it could amount to and intimated to the Jurie to be tender in matter of life and discharge good consciences The Jurie being wise men whose apprehensions could make up an whole sentence of every nod of the Judge saw it behoved them to draw up Treason into as narrow a compasse as might be lest it became their own case for they lived in a troublesome world wherein the cards were so shuffled that two Kings were turn'd up trump at once which amazed men how to play their games Whereupon they acquitted the prisoner of high Treason and found him guilty as the Judge directed Yet it cost S r Thomas Cook before he could get his libertie eight hundred pounds to the Queen and eight thousand pounds to the King A summe in that age more sounding like the ransome of a Prince then the fine of a Subject Besides the Lord Rivers the Queens Father had during his Imprisonment despoyled his houses one in the city another in the countrey of plate and furniture for which he never received a penie recompence Yet God righted him of the wrongs men did him by blessing the remnant of his estate to him and his posterity which still flourish at Giddy Hall in Essex As for S r John Markham the Kings displeasure fell so heavy on him that he was outed of his place and S r Thomas Billing put in his room though the one lost that Office with more honour then the other got it and gloried in this that though the King could make him no Judge he could not make him no upright Judge He lived privately the rest of his dayes having besides the estate got by his practice fair lands by Margaret his wife daughter and coheir to S r Simon Leak of Cotham in Nottinghamshire whose Mother Joan was daughter and heir of S r John Talbot of Swannington in Leicestershire CHAP. 9. The good Bishop HE is an Overseer of a Flock of Shepherds as a Minister is of a Flock of Gods sheep Divine providence and his Princes bounty advanced him to the Place whereof he was no whit ambitious Onely he counts it good manners to sit there where God hath placed him though it be higher then he conceives himself to deserve and hopes that he who call'd him to the Office hath or will in some measure fit him for it His life is so spotlesse that Malice is angry with him because she cannot be angry with him because she can find no just cause to accuse him And as Diogenes confuted him who denyed there was any motion by saying nothing but walking before his eyes so our Bishop takes no notice of the false accusations of people disaffected against his order but walks on circumspectly in his calling really refelling their cavils by his conversation A Bishops bare presence at a marriage in his own diocesse is by the Law interpreted for a licence and what actions soever he graceth with his company he is conceived to priviledge them to be lawfull which makes him to be more wary in his behaviour With his honour his holinesse and humility doth increase His great Place makes not his piety the lesse farre be it from him that the glittering of the candlestick should dimme the shining of his candle The meanest Minister of Gods word may have free accesse unto him whosoever brings a good cause brings his own welcome with him The pious poore may enter in at his wide gates when not so much as his wicket shall be open to wealthy unworthinesse He is diligent and faithfull in preaching the Gospel either by his pen Evangelizo manu scriptione saith a strict Divine or by his vocall Sermons if age and other indispensable occasions hinder him not teaching the Clergie to
THE HOLY STATE By Thomas Fuller Bachelour of Divinitie Prebenda ry of Sarum late of Sidney Colledge in Cambridge CAMBRIDGE Printed by R D for John Williams at the Signe of the Crowne in St. Paules Church-yard 1642 W Marshall Sculpt THE HOLY STATE BY THOMAS FULLER B. D. and Prebendarie of Sarum ZECHARIAH 14.20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses HOLINESSE UNTO THE LORD CAMBRIDGE ¶ Printed by ROGER DANIEL for Iohn Williams and are to be sold at the signe of the Crown in S. Pauls Churchyard 1642. To the Reader WHo is not sensible with sorrow of the distractions of this age To write books therefore may seem unseasonable especially in a time wherein the Presse like an unruly horse hath cast off his bridle of being Licensed and some serious books which dare flie abroad are hooted at by a flock of Pamphlets But be pleased to know that when I left my home it was fair weather and my journey was half past before I discovered the tempest and had gone so farre in this Work that I could neither go backward with credit nor forward with comfort As for the matter of this Book therein I am resident on my Profession Holinesse in the latitude thereof falling under the cognizanse of a Divine For curious method expect none Essays for the most part not being placed as at a Feast but placing themselves as at an Ordinary The characters I have conformed to the then standing Laws of the Realm a twelvemoneth agoe were they sent to the presse since which time the wisdome of the King and State hath thought fitting to alter many things and I expect the discretion of the Reader should make his alterations accordingly And I conjure thee by all Christian ingenuity that if lighting here on some passages rather harsh-sounding then ill-intended to construe the same by the generall drift and main scope which is aimed at Nor let it render the modestie of this Book suspected because it presumes to appear in company unmann'd by any Patron If right it will defend it self if wrong none can defend it Truth needs not falshood deserves not a Supporter And indeed the matter of this Work is too high for a subjects the workmanship thereof too low for a Princes patronage And now I will turn my pen into prayer That God would be pleased to discloud these gloomy dayes with the beams of his mercie which if I may be so happy as to see it will then encourage me to count it freedome to serve two apprentiships God spinning out the thick thred of my life so long in writing the Ecclesiasticall History from Christs time to our dayes if I shall from remoter parts be so planted as to enjoy the benefit of walking and standing Libraries without which advantages the best vigilancie doth but vainly dream to undertake such a task Mean time I will stop the leakage of my soul and what heretofore hath run out in writing shall hereafter God willing be improved in constant preaching in what place soever Gods providence and friends good will shall fix Thine in all Christian offices THOMAS FULLER An Index of the severall Chapters contained in this Book the first figure shewing the book the second the chapter the third the page B. Ch.  Page 1 4 Abrahams life 10 2 1 The Advocate 51 5 19 Duke D'Alva's life 435 5 18 Andronicus his life 429 3 8 Anger 169 2 6 Antiquary 69 3 6 Apparell 164 2 7 Artist 72 5 6 Atheist 378 4 11 S. Augustines life 284 5 13 Barrettour 408 4 9 The Bishop 277 3 18 Books 199 5 7 Borgia his life 383 4 4 Brandon his life 254 1 14 Elder Brother 44  15 Younger Brother 47 3 7 Building 166 4 6 Lord Burleigh his life 265 2 23 Cambdens life 145 1 6 Child 14 3 24 Churches 219 3 5 Company 161 3 17 Contentment 195 2 4 The Controversiall Divine 60 3 15 Deformity 190 5 14 The Degenerous Gentleman 410 5 11 The Donatists 396 2 21 S r Francis Drakes life 132 4 20 Edward the black Prince his life 342 1 9 Eliezers life 22 4 15 Queen Elizabeth her life 312 4 16 The Embassadour 319 5 4 Endor Witch her life 369 3 9 Expecting Preferment 171 3 23 Fame 215 4 1 Favourite 237 3 12 Fools 180 4 17 The Generall 326 2 24 The Gentleman 149 3 21 Gravity 209 4 2 Hamans life 245 2 19 Handicrafts-man 119 5 1 Harlot 357 2 22 Herald 141 5 10 Heretick 393 1 13 Hildegardis her life 40 3 1 Hospitality 153 1 3 Husband 8 5 8 Hypocrite 388 4 14 Lady Iane her life 307 5 9 Iehu his life 390 3 2 Iesting 155 5 5 Ioan of Arc her life 372 5 2 Ioan Queen of Naples her life 361 4 7 Iudge 270 4 21 The King 349 4 13 The Lady 301 2 13 Landlord 99 5 12 The Lyer 406 3 22 Marriage 212 4 8 Markham his life 274 1 7 Master 17 2 14 Master of a Colledge 102 3 10 Memory 174 2 17 Merchant 113 2 15 Metcalfe his life 105 2 9 The Minister 80 3 25 Ministers maintenance 228 3 20 Moderation 205 1 2 Monica her life 4 4 12 The Nobleman 296 2 3 Paracelsus his life 56 1 5 Parent 12 2 11 Parishioner 93 2 12 Patron 95 1 11 Lady Paula her life 27 5 16 Pazzians conspiracie 421 2 10 Perkins his life 88 3 11 Phancy 177 2 2 Physician 353 3 16 Plantations 193 4 19 The Prince 336 3 13 Recreations 183 4 11 Bishop Ridleys life 289 2 8 Scaliger his life 76 2 16 Schoolmaster 109 2 20 Sea-Captain 128 3 3 Self-praising 157 1 8 Servant 19 2 19 Souldier 119 4 5 Statesman 257 4 18 Swedens King 330 3 19 Time-serving 202 3 14 Tombes 187 5 15 Traitour 418 3 4 Travell 158 5 17 Tyrant 425 1 12 The Virgin 34 2 5 Whitakers his life 65 1 10 Widow 24 1 1 Wife 1 5 3 Witch 365 4 3 Cardinall Wolsey his life 249 2 18 The Yeoman 116 ERRATA Page 70 line 29 after superstition adde How the Fathers 121. 9. r. wear 152. 8. r. Yea Mercury was a greater speaker thâ—n Jupiter himself 202. 5. r. affectation The Holy State THE FIRST BOOK CHAP. 1. The good Wife St. PAUL to the Colossians chap. 3. vers 18. first adviseth women to submit themselves to their husbands and then counselleth men to love their wives And sure it was fitting that women should first have their lesson given them because it is hardest to be learned and therefore they need have the more time to conne it For the same reason we first begin with the character of a good Wife She commandeth her husband in any equall matter by constant obeying him It was alwayes observed that what the English gained of the French in battel by valour the French regained of the English by cunning in Treaties So if the husband should chance by his power in his passion
then come to them for a piece of bread He holds the reins though loosely in his own hands and keeps to reward duty and punish undutifulnesse yet on good occasion for his childrens advancement he will depart from part of his means Base is their nature who will not have their branches lopt till their bodie be fell'd and will let go none of their goods as if it presaged their speedy death whereas it doth not follow that he that puts off his cloke must presently go to bed On his death-bed he bequeaths his blessing to all his children Nor rejoyceth he so much to leave them great portions as honestly obtained Onely money well and lawfully gotten is good and lawfull money And if he leaves his children young he principally nominates God to be their Guardian and next him is carefull to appoint provident overseers CHAP. 6. The Good Child HE reverenceth the person of his Parent though old poore and froward As his Parent bare with him when a child he bears with his Parent if twice a child nor doth his dignity above him cancell his duty unto him When Sr. Thomas More was Lord Chancellour of England and Sr. John his father one of the Judges of the Kings-Bench he would in Westminster-Hall beg his blessing of him on his knees He observes his lawfull commands and practiseth his precepts with all obedience I cannot therefore excuse S. Barbara from undutifulnesse and occasioning her own death The matter this Her father being a pagan commanded his workmen building his house to make two windows in a room Barbara knowing her fathers pleasure in his absence injoyned them to make three that seeing them she might the better contemplate the mystery of the holy Trinity Methinks two windows might as well have raised her meditations and the light arising from both would as properly have minded her of the Holy Spirit proceding from the Father and the Sonne Her father enraged at his return thus came to the knowledge of her religion and accused her to the magistrate which cost her her life Having practised them himself he entayls his Parents precepts on his posterity Therefore such instructions are by Solomon Proverbs 1.9 compared to frontlets and chains not to a sute of clothes which serves but one and quickly weares out or out of fashion which have in them a reall lasting worth and are bequeathed as legacies to another age The same counsels observed are chains to grace which neglected prove halters to strangle undutifull children He is patient under correction and thankfull after it When M r West formerly Tutour such I count in loco parentis to Dr. Whitaker was by him then Regius Professor created Doctour Whitaker solemnly gave him thanks before the University for giving him correction when his young scholar In marriage he first and last consults with his father when propounded when concluded He best bowls at the mark of his own contentment who besides the aim of his own eye is directed by his father who is to give him the ground He is a stork to his parent and feeds him in his old age Not onely if his father hath been a pelican but though he hath been an estridge unto him and neglected him in his youth He confines him not a long way off to a short pension forfeited if he comes in his presence but shews piety at home and learns as S. Paul saith the 1. Timothy 5.4 to requite his Parent And yet the debt I mean onely the principall not counting the interest cannot fully be paid and therefore he compounds with his father to accept in good worth the utmost of his endeavour Such a child God commonly rewards with long life in this world If he chance to die young yet he lives long that lives well and time mispent is not lived but lost Besides God is better then his promise if he takes from him a long lease and gives him a free-hold of better value As for disobedient children If preserved from the gallows they are reserved for the rack to be tortured by their own posterity One complained that never father had so undutifull a child as he had Yes said his sonne with lesse grace then truth my grandfather had I conclude this subject with the example of a Pagans sonne which will shame most Christians Pomponius Atticus making the funerall oration at the death of his mother did protest that living with her threescore and seven years he was never reconciled unto her Se nunquam cum matre in gratiam rediisse because take the comment with the text there never happened betwixt them the least jarre which needed reconciliation CHAP. 7. The good Master HE is the heart in the midst of his houshold primum vivens et ultimum moriens first up and last abed if not in his person yet in his providence In his carriage he aimeth at his own and his servants good and to advance both He oversees the works of his servants One said that the dust that fell from the masters shooes was the best compost to manure ground The lion out of state will not run whilst any one looks upon him but some servants out of slothfulnesse will not run except some do look upon them spurr'd on with their Masters eye Chiefly he is carefull exactly to take his servants reckonings If their Master takes no account of them they will make small account of him and care not what they spend who are never brought to an audit He provides them victualls wholsome sufficient and seasonable He doth not so allay his servants bread to debase it so much as to make that servants meat which is not mans meat He alloweth them also convenient rest and recreation whereas some Masters like a bad conscience will not suffer them to sleep that have them He remembers the old law of the Saxon King Ina If a villain work on Sunday by his lords command he shall be free The wages he contracts for he duly and truly payes to his servants The same word in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies rust and poyson and some strong poyson is made of the rust of mettalls but none more venemous then the rust of money in the rich mans purse unjustly detained from the labourer which will poyson and infect his whole estate He never threatens his servant but rather presently corrects him Indeed conditionall threatnings with promise of pardon on amendment are good and usefull Absolute threatnings torment more reform lesse making servants keep their faults and forsake their Masters wherefore herein he never passeth his word but makes present paiment lest the creditour runne away from the debtour In correcting his servant he becomes not a slave to his own passion Not cruelly making new indentures of the flesh of his apprentice To this end he never beats him in the height of his passion Moses being to fetch water out of
one to see the old learning in the other But grant that Metcalf with Themistocles could not fiddle yet he could make a little city a great one though dull in himself he could whet others by his encouragement He found the Colledge spending scarce two hundred marks by the yeare he left it spending a thousand marks and more For he not onely procured and settled many donations and by-foundations as we term them of Fellowships and Scholarships founded by other but was a Benefactour himself Pro certis ornamentis structuris in Capella pro aedificatione sex Camerarum à tergo Coquinae c. as it is evidenced in the Colledge books He counted the Colledge his own home and therefore cared not what cost he bestowed on it not like those Masters who making their Colledges as steps to higher advancement will trample on them to raise up themselves and using their wings to flie up to their own honour cannot afford to spread them to brood their Colledge But the thriving of the nourcery is the best argument to prove the skill and care of the nource See what store of worthy men the house in his time did yield Statesmen William Cecill Lord Burly Sr. John Cheek Walter Haddon Ralph Bain Bishop of Coventrie and Lichfield John Christopherson Bishop of Chichester Robert Horn Bishop of Winton James Pilkinton Bishop of Duresme John Tailour Bishop of Lincoln Thomas Watson Bishop of Lincoln Learned writers Roger Ascham George Bullock Roger Hutchinson Alban Langdale John Seaton Learned Men. Hugh Fitz-Herbert William Jreland Laurence Pilkinton Tomson Henry Wright With very many more For though I dare not say that all these were old enough to bear fruit in Metcalfs time yet sure I am by him they were inoculated and in his dayes admitted into the Colledge Yet for all these his deserts Metcalf in his old age was expell'd the Colledge and driven out when he could scarce go A new generation grew up advanced by him whose active spirits stumbled at his gravity young seamen do count ballast needlesse yea burthensome in a ship and endeavoured his removall It appears not what particular fault they laid to his charge Some think that the Bishop of Rochester his good lord being put to death occasioned his ruine Fishers misfortune being Metcalfs highest misdemeanour He sunk with his Patron and when his sunne was set it was presently night with him for according to the Spanish proverb where goes the bucket there goes the rope where the principall miscarries all the dependants fall with him Others conceive it was for his partiality in preferring Northern men as if in his compasse there were no points but such onely as looked to the North advancing alone his own countrey-men and more respecting their need then deserts Indeed long before I find William Millington first Provost of Kings Colledge put out of his place for his partiality in electing Yorkshire men But herein Metcalf is sufficiently justified for he found Charity hottest in the cold countrey Northern men were most partiall saith one in giving lands to the Colledge for the furtherance of learning Good reason therefore Northern Scholars should be most watered there where Northern Benefactours rained most Well good old Metcalf must forsake the House Methinks the blushing bricks seem asham'd of their ingratitudes and each doore window and casement in the Colledge was a mouth to plead for him But what shall we say Mark generally the grand deservers in States and you shall find them lose their lustre before they end their life The world out of covetousnesse to save charges to pay them their wages quarrelling with them as if an over-merit were an offence And whereas some impute this to the malignant influence of the heavens I ascribe it rather to a pestilent vapour out of the earth I mean That rather men then starres are to be blamed for it He was twenty years Master and on the 4 day of June 1537. went out of his office and it seems dyed soon after his Epitaph is fastned on a piece of brasse on the wall in the Colledge-Chappell We must not forget that all who were great doers in his expulsion were great sufferers afterwards and dyed all in great miserie There is difference betwixt prying into Gods secrets and being stark blind Yea I question whether we are not bound to look where God points by so memorable a judgement shewing that those branches most justly whithered which pluck'd up their own root CHAP. 16. The good Schoolmaster THere is scarce any profession in the Common-wealth more necessary which is so slightly performed The reasons whereof I conceive to be these first young scholars make this calling their refuge yea perchance before they have taken any degree in the University commence Schoolmasters in the countrey as if nothing else were required to set up this profession but onely a rod and a ferula Secondly others who are able use it onely as a passage to better preferment to patch the rents in their present fortune till they can provide a new one and betake themselves to some more gainfull calling Thirdly they are disheartned from doing their best with the miserable reward which in some places they receive being Masters to the children and slaves to their parents Fourthly being grown rich they grow negligent and scorn to touch the school but by the proxie of an Usher But see how well our Schoolmaster behaves himself His genius inclines him with delight to this profession Some men had as lieve be schoolboyes as Schoolmasters to be tyed to the school as Coopers Dictionary and Scapula's Lexicon are chained to the desk therein and though great scholars and skilfull in other arts are bunglers in this But God of his goodnesse hath fitted severall men for severall callings that the necessities of Church and State in all conditions may be provided for So that he who beholds the fabrick thereof may say God hewed out this stone and appointed it to lie in this very place for it would fit none other so well and here it doth most excellent And thus God mouldeth some for a Schoolmasters life undertaking it with desire and delight and discharging it with dexterity and happy successe He studieth his scholars natures as carefully as they their books and ranks their dispositions into severall forms And though it may seem difficult for him in a great school to descend to all particulars yet experienced Schoolmasters may quickly make a Grammar of boyes natures and reduce them all saving some few exceptions to these generall rules 1 Those that are ingenious and industrious The conjunction of two such Planets in a youth presage much good unto him To such a lad a frown may be a whipping and a whipping a death yea where their Master whips them once shame whips them all the week after Such natures he useth with all gentlenesse 2 Those that are ingenious and idle These think with the
veins in mens hearts to the eye of the beholder yea the sweat of anger washeth off their paint and makes them appear in their true colours 3 When accidentally they bolt out speeches unawares to themselves More hold is then to be taken of a few words casually uttered then of set solemn speeches which rather shew mens arts then their natures as endited rather from their brains then hearts The drop of one word may shew more then the stream of an whole oration and our Statesman by examining such fugitive passages which have stollen on a sudden out of the parties mouth arrives at his best intelligence In Court-factions he keeps himself in a free neutrality Otherwise to engage himself needlessely were both folly and danger When Francis the first King of France was consulting with his Captains how to lead his army over the Alpes into Italy whether this way or that way Amarill his fool sprung out of a corner where he sate unseen and bade them rather take care which way they should bring their army out of Italy back again Thus is it easie for one to interest and embarque himself in others quarrells but much difficulty it is to be disengaged from them afterwards Nor will our Statesman entitle himself a party in any feminine discords knowing that womens jarres breed mens warres Yet he counts neutrality profanenesse in such matters wherein God his Prince the Church or State are concern'd Indeed He that meddleth with strife not belonging unto him is like one that taketh a dog by the eares Yet if the dog worrieth a sheep we may yea ought to rescue it from his teeth and must be champions for innocence when it is overborn with might He that will stand neuter in such matters of moment wherein his calling commands him to be a party with Servilius in Rome will please neither side Of whom the Historian sayes P. Servilius medium se gerendo nec plebis vitavit odium nec apud Patres gratiam inivit And just it is with God that they should be strained in the twist who stride so wide as to set their legs in two opposite sides Indeed an upright shoe may fit both feet but never saw I glove that would serve both hands Neutrality in matters of an indifferent nature may fit well but never suit well in important matters of farre different conditions He is the centre wherein lines of intelligence meet from all forein countreys He is carefull that his outlandish instructions be full true and speedy not with the sluggard telling for news at noone that the sunne is risen But more largely hereof in the Embassadour hereafter He refuseth all underhand pensions from forein Princes Indeed honourary rewards received with the approbation of his Sovereigne may be lawfull and lesse dangerous For although even such gifts tacitly oblige him by way of gratitude to do all good offices to that forein Prince whose Pensioner he is yet his counsells passe not but with an open abatement in regard of his known engagements and so the State is armed against the advice of such who are well known to lean to one side But secret pensions which flow from forein Princes like the river Anas in Spain under ground not known or discerned are most mischievous The receivers of such will play under-board at the Counsell-table and the eating and digesting of such outlandish food will by degrees fill their veins with outlandish bloud even in their very hearts His Master-piece is in negotiating for his own Master with forein Princes At Rhodes there was a contention betwixt Apelles and Protogenes corrivalls in the Mystery of Limming Apelles with his pencill drew a very slender even line Protogenes drew another more small and slender in the midst thereof with another colour Apelles again with a third line of a different colour drew thorow the midst of that Protogenes had made Nullum relinquens amplius subtilitati locum Thus our Statesman traverseth matters doubling and redoubling in his forein negotiations with the Politicians of other Princes winding and entrenching themselves mutually within the thoughts each of other till at last our Statesman leaves no degree of subtlety to go beyond him To conclude Some plead that dissembling is Lawfull in the State-craft upon the presupposition that men must meet with others which dissemble Yea they hold that thus to counterfeit se defendendo against a crafty corrivall is no sinne but a just punishment on our adversary who first began it And therefore Statesmen sometimes must use crooked shoes to fit hurl'd feet Besides the honest Politician would quickly be begger'd if receiving black money from cheatours he payes them in good silver and not in their own coin back again For my part I confesse that herein I rather see what then whither to flie neither able to answer their arguments nor willing to allow their practice But what shall I say They need to have steddy heads who can dive into these gulfs of policy and come out with a safe conscience I 'le look no longer on these whirl-pools of State lest my pen turn giddy WILLIAM CECIL Baron of Burgleigh Lord Treasurer of England He dyed Anno 1598. Aged 77 yeares W. Marshall sculp CHAP. 6. The life of William Cecil Lord Burleigh WIlliam Cecil born at Bourn in Lincolnshire descended from the ancient and worshipfull Family of the Sitsilts or Cecils of Alterynnis in Herefordshire on the confines of Wales a name which a great Antiquary thinks probably derived from the Romane Cecilii No credit is to be given to their pens who tax him with meannesse of birth and whose malice is so generall against all goodnesse that it had been a slander if this worthy man had not been slandred by them The servant is not above his master and we know what aspersions their malice sought to cast on the Queen her self He being first bred in S. Johns Colledge in Cambridge went thence to Grayes Inne and used it as an Inne indeed studying there in his Passage to the Court where he attained good learning in the Laws yet his skill in fencing made him not daring to quarrell who in all his life-time neither sued any nor was sued himself He was after Master of the Requests the first that ever bare that office unto the Duke of Sommerset Lord Protectour and was knighted by King Edward the sixth One challengeth him to have been a main contriver of that act and unnaturall will of King Edward the sixth wherein the King passing by his sisters Marie and Elizabeth entailed the Crown on Queen Jane and that he furnished that act with reasons of State as Judge Montague filled it with arguments of Law Indeed his hand wrote it as Secretary of State but his heart consented not thereto yea he openly opposed it though at last yielding to the greatnesse of Northumberland in an age wherein it was present drowning not to swim along with
the stream But as the Philosopher tells us that though the Planets be whirled about daily from East to West by the motion of the Primum mobile yet have they also a contrary proper motion of their own from West to East which they slowly yet surely move at their leisures so Cecill had secret counter-endeavours against the strain of the Court herein and privately advanced his rightfull intentions against the foresaid Dukes ambition and we see that afterward Queen Marie not onely pardoned but employ'd him so that towards the end of her reigne he stood in some twilight of her favour As for Sr. Edward Montague Lord chief Justice what he did was by command against his own will as appears by his written protestation at his death still in the hands of his honourable posterity But whilest in this army of offenders the Nobility in the â—ront made an escape for themselves Queen Maries displeasure overtook the old Judge in the rere the good old man being not able with such speed to provide for himself yea though he had done nothing but by generall consent and command the rest of the Lords laid load on him desirous that the Queens anger should send him on an errand to the prison and thence to the scaffold to excuse themselves from going on the same message However after some imprisonment he was pardon'd a sufficient argument that the Queen conceived him to concurre passively in that action In Queen Elizabeths dayes he was made Secretary of State Master of the Wards Lord Treasurer and at last after long service Baron of Burleigh For the Queen honoured her honours in conferring them sparingly thereby making Titles more substantiall wherewith she payed many for their service The best demonstration of his care in stewarding her Treasure was this that the Queen vying gold and silver with the King of Spain had money or credit when the other had neither her Exchequer though but a pond in comparison holding water when his river fed with a spring from the Indies was dreined dry In that grand faction betwixt Leicester and Sussex he meddled not openly though 't is easie to tell whom he wish'd the best to Indeed this cunning Wrestler would never catch hold to grapple openly with Leicester as having somewhat the disadvantage of him both in height and strength but as they ran to their severall goles if they chanced to meet Burleigh would fairly give him a trip and be gone and the Earl had many a rub laid in his way yet never saw who put it there T is true the Sword-men accus'd him as too cold in the Queens credit and backward in fighting against forein enemies Indeed he would never engage the State in a warre except necessity or her Majesties honour sounded the alarm But no reason he should be counted an enemie to the Sparks of Valour who was so carefull to provide them fewel and pay the Souldier Otherwise in vain do the brows frown the eyes sparkle the tongue threaten the fist bend and the arm strike except the belly be fed The Queen reflected her favour highly upon him counting him both her Treasurer and her principall Treasure She would cause him alwayes to sit down in her presence because troubled with the gout and used to tell him My Lord we make much of you not for your bad legs but for your good head This caused him to be much envied of some great ones at Court and at one time no fewer then the Marquesse of Winchester Duke of Norfolk Earls of Arundel Northumberland Westmerland Pembroke and Leicester combining against him taking advantage about his making over some moneys beyond sea to the French Protestants and on some other occasions S r Nicholas Throgmorton advised them first to clap him up in prison saying that if he were once shut up men would open their mouths to speak freely against him But the Queen understanding hereof and standing as I may say in the very prison-doore quash'd all their designes and freed him from the mischief projected against him He was a good friend to the Church as then established by Law he used to advise his eldest sonne Thomas never to bestow any great cost or to build any great house on an Impropriation as fearing the foundation might fail hereafter A Patron to both Universities chiefly to Cambridge whereof he was Chancellour and though Rent-corn first grew in the head of S r Thomas Smith it was ripened by Burleighs assistance whereby though the rents of Colledges stand still their revennues increase No man was more pleasant and merry at meals and he had a pretty wit-rack in himself to make the dumbe to speak to draw speech out of the most sullen and silent guest at his table to shew his disposition in any point he should propound For forein intelligence though he traded sometimes on the stock of Secretary Walsingham yet wanted he not a plentifull bank of his own At night when he put off his gown he used to say Lie there Lord Treasurer and bidding adieu to all State-affairs disposed himself to his quiet rest Some looking on the estate he left have wondered that it was so great and afterwards wondred more that it was so little having considered what Offices he had and how long he enjoyed them His harvest lasted every day for above thirty years together wherein he allowed some of his servants the same courtesie Boaz granted to Ruth to glean even among the sheaves and to suffer some handfulls also to fall on purpose for them whereby they raised great estates To draw to a conclusion There arose a great question in State whether warre with Spain should be continued or a peace drawn up The Sword and Gown-men brought weighty arguments on both sides stamping also upon them with their private interests to make them more heavy Burleigh was all against warre now old being desirous to depart in peace both private in his Conscience and publick in the State But his life was determined before the question was fully decided In his sicknesse the Queen often visited him a good plaister to asswage his pain but unable to prolong his life so that Cum satis naturae satisque gloriae putriae autem non satis vixisset in the seventy seventh yeare of his age Anno 1598. he exchanged this life for a better God measured his outward happinesse not by an ordinary standard How many great Undertakers in State set in a cloud whereas he shined to the last Herein much is to be ascribed to the Queens constancy who to confute the observation of Feminine ficklenesse where her favour did light it did lodge more to his own temper and moderation whereas violent boysterous meddlers in State cripple themselves with aches in their age most to Gods goodnesse who honoureth them that honour him He saw Thomas his eldest sonne richly married to an honourable coheir Robert able to stand alone in Court having a competent portion of favour which
he knew thriftily to improve being a pregnant proficient in State-discipline CHAP. 7. The good Iudge THe good Advocate whom we formerly described is since by his Princes favour and own deserts advanced to be a Judge which his place he freely obtained with Sr. Augustine Nicolls whom King James used to call the Iudge that would give no money Otherwise they that buy Justice by wholesale to make themselves savers must sell it by retail He is patient and attentive in hearing the pleadings on both sides and hearkens to the witnesses though tedious He may give a waking testimony who hath but a dreaming utterance and many countrey people must be impertinent before they can be pertinent and cannot give evidence about an hen but first they must begin with it in the egge All which our Judge is contented to hearken to He meets not a testimony half-way but stayes till it come at him He that proceeds on half-evidence will not do quarter-justice Our Judge will not go till he is lead If any shall brow-beat a pregnant witnesse on purpose to make his proof miscarry he checketh them and helps the witnesse that labours in his delivery On the other side he nips those Lawyers who under a pretence of kindnesse to lend a witnesse some words give him new matter yea clean contrary to what he intended Having heard with patience he gives sentence with uprightnesse For when he put on his robes he put off his relations to any and like Melchisedech becomes without pedigree His private affections are swallowed up in the common cause as rivers lose their names in the ocean He therefore allows no noted favourites which cannot but cause multiplication of fees and suspicion of by-wayes He silences that Lawyer who seeks to set the neck of a bad cause once broken with a definitive sentence and causeth that contentious suits be spued out as the surfets of Courts He so hates bribes that he is jealous to receive any kindnesse above the ordinary proportion of friendship lest like the Sermons of wandring Preachers they should end in begging And surely Integrity is the proper portion of a Judge Men have a touch-stone whereby to try gold but gold is the touch-stone whereby to trie men It was a shrewd gird which Catulus gave the Romane Judges for acquitting Clodius a great malefactour when he met them going home well attended with Officers You do well quoth he to be well guarded for your safety lest the money be taken away from you you took for bribes Our Judge also detesteth the trick of Mendicant Friers who will touch no money themselves but have a boy with a bag to receive it for them When he sits upon life in judgement he remembreth mercy Then they say a butcher may not be of the Jurie much lesse let him be the Judge Oh let him take heed how he strikes that hath a dead hand It was the charge Queen Marie gave to Judge Morgan chief Justice of the common Pleas that notwithstanding the old errour amongst Judges did not admit any witnesse to speak or any other matter to be heard in favour of the adversary her Majestie being party yet her Highnesse pleasure was that whatsoever could be brought in the favour of the Subject should be admitted and heard If the cause be difficult his diligence is the greater to sift it out For though there be mention Psal. 37.6 of righteousnesse as clear as the noon-day yet God forbid that that innocency which is no clearer then twilight should be condemned And seeing ones oath commands anothers life he searcheth whether malice did not command that oath yet when all is done the Judge may be deceived by false evidence But blame not the hand of the diall if it points at a false houre when the fault 's in the wheels of the clock which direct it and are out of frame The sentence of condemnation he pronounceth with all gravity 'T is best when steep'd in the Judges tears He avoideth all jesting on men in misery easily may he put them out of countenance whom he hath power to put out of life Such as are unworthy to live and yet unfitted to die he provides shall be instructed By Gods mercy and good teaching the reprive of their bodies may get the pardon of their souls and one dayes longer life for them here may procure a blessed eternity for them hereafter as may appear by this memorable Example It happened about the yeare one thousand five hundred and fiftie six in the town of Weissenstein in Germany that a Jew for theft he had cōmitted was in this cruell manner to be executed He was hang'd by the feet with his head downwards betwixt two dogs which constantly snatch'd and bit at him The strangenesse of the torment moved Jacobus Andreas a grave moderate and learned Divine as any in that age to go to behold it Coming thither he found the poore wretch as he hung repeating Verses out of the Hebrew Psalmes wherein he cryed out to God for mercy Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsell him to trust in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of mankind The Jew embracing the Christian Faith requested but this one thing that he might be taken down and be baptized though presently after he were hanged again but by the neck as Christian malefactours suffered which was accordingly granted him He is exact to do justice in civill Suits betwixt Sovereigne and Subject This will most ingratiate him with his Prince at last Kings neither are can nor should be Lawyers themselves by reason of higher State-employments but herein they see with the eyes of their Judges and at last will break those false spectacles which in point of Law shall be found to have deceived them He counts the Rules of State and the Laws of the Realm mutually support each other Those who made the Laws to be not onely disparate but even opposite terms to maximes of Government were true friends neither to Laws nor Government Indeed Salus Reip. is Charta maxima extremity makes the next the best remedy Yet though hot waters be good to be given to one in a swound they will burn his heart out who drinks them constantly when in health Extraordinary courses are not ordinarily to be used when not enforced by absolute necessity And thus we leave our good Judge to receive a just reward of his integrity from the Judge of Judges at the great Assize of the world CHAP. 8. The life of Sr. JOHN MARKHAM IOhn Markham was born at Markham in Nottinghamshire descended of an ancient and worthy familie He employed his youth in the studying of the Municipall Law of this realm wherein he attained to such eminencie that King Edward the fourth Knighted him and made him Lord chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the place of S r John Fortescue that learned and upright Judge who fled away with King Henrie the sixth
testifie their valour who also had the best cards in his own hand though he kept them for a revie The victory began to incline to the English when rather to settle then get the conquest the King hitherto a spectatour came in to act the Epilogue Many English with short knifes for the nonce stabb'd the bellies of their enemies cut the throats of more letting out their souls wheresoever they could come at their bodies and to all such as lay languishing they gave a short acquittance that they had paid their debt to nature This makes French Writers complain of the English cruelty and that it had been more honour to the Generall and profit to the souldiers to have drawn lesse bloud and more money in ransoming captives especially seeing many French Noblemen who fought like lions were kill'd like calves Others plead that in Warre all wayes and weapons are lawfull where it is the greatest mistake not to take all advantages Night came on and the King commanded no pursuit should be made for preventing of confusion for souldiers scarce follow any order when they follow their flying enemy and it was so late that it might have proved too soon to make a pursuit The night proved exceeding dark as mourning for the bloud shed nor was the next morning comforted with the rising of the sun but remained sad and gloomy so that in the mist many French men lost their way and then their lives falling into the hands of the English so that next dayes gleanings for the number though not for the quality of the persons slain exceeded the harvest of the day before And thus this victory next to Gods Providence was justly ascribed to the Black Princes valour who there wonne and wore away the Estridge feathers then the Arms of John King of Bohemia there conquer'd and kill'd and therefore since made the hereditary Emblemes of honour to the Princes of Wales The battel of Poictiers followed ten years after which was fought betwixt the foresaid Black Prince and John King of France Before the battel began the English were reduced to great straits their enemies being six to one The French conceived the victory though not in hand yet within reach and their arm must be put out not to get but take it All articles with the English they accounted alms it being great charity but no policy to compound with them But what shall we say warre is a game wherein very often that side loseth which layeth the oddes In probability they might have famished the English without fighting with them had not they counted it a lean conquest so to bring their enemies to misery without any honour to themselves The conclusion was that the French would have the English lose their honour to save their lives tendring them unworthy conditions which being refused the battel was begun The French King made choice of three hundred prime horsmen to make the first assault on the English the election of which three hundred made more then a thousand heartburnings in his army every one counted his loyalty or manhood suspected who was not chosen into this number and this took off the edge of their spirits against their enemies and turned it into envy and disdain against their friends The French horse charged them very furiously whom the English entertain'd with a feast of arrows first second third course all alike Their horses were galled with the bearded piles being unused to feel spurres in their breasts and buttocks The best horses were worst wounded for their mettall made one wound many and that arrow which at first did but pierce by their struggling did tear and rend Then would they know no riders and the riders could know no ranks and in such a confusion an army fights against it self One rank fell foul with another and the rere was ready to meet with the front and the valiant Lord Audley charging them before they could repair themselves overcame all the Horse Qua parte belli saith my Authour invicti Galli habebantur The Horse being put to flight the Infantry consisting most of poore people whereof many came into the field with conquered hearts grinded with oppression of their Gentry counted it neither wit nor manners for them to stay when their betters did flie and made post hast after them Six thousand common souldiers were slain fifty two Lords and seventeen hundred Knights and Esquires one hundred Ensignes taken with John the French King and two thousand prisoners of note The French had a great advantage of an after-game if they had returned again and made head but they had more mind to make heels and run away Prince Edward whose prowesse herein was conspicuous overcame his own valour both in his piety devoutly giving to God the whole glory of the conquest and in his courtesie with stately humility entertaining the French Prisoner-King whom he bountifully feasted that night though the other could not be merry albeit he was supped with great cheere and knew himself to be very welcome The third performance of this valiant Prince wherein we will instance was acted in Spain on this occasion Peter King of Castile was driven out of his kingdome by Henry his base Brother and the assistance of some French forces Prince Edward on this Peters petition and by his own Fathers permission went with an army into Spain to re-estate him in his kingdome For though this Peter was a notorious Tyrant if Authours in painting his deeds do not overshadow them to make them blacker then they were yet our Prince not looking into his vices but his right thought he was bound to assist him For all Sovereignes are like the strings of a Basevioll equally tuned to the same height so that by sympathy he that toucheth the one moves the other Besides he thought it just enough to restore him because the French helpt to cast him out and though Spain was farre off yet our Prince never counted himself out of his own countrey whilest in any part of the world valour naturalizing a brave spirit through the Universe With much adoe he effected the businesse through many difficulties occasioned partly by the treachery of King Peter who performed none of the conditions promised and partly through the barrennesse of the countrey so that the Prince was forced to sell all his own plate Spain more needing meat then dishes to make provision for his souldiers but especially through the distemper of the climate the aire or fire shall I say thereof being extreme hot so that it is conceived to have caused this Princes death which happened soon after his return What English heart can hold from inveighing against Spanish aire which deprived us of such a jewell were it not that it may seem since to have made us some amends when lately the breath of our nostrills breathed in that climate and yet by Gods providence was kept there and returned thence in health and safety Well may this Prince be taken