Confinement could thus comfort his drooping Spirits with the prospect of that Honour would be paid him in his Grave when his Name should be imbalmed in the grateful memory of his Subjects It is a wonder there is no more care taken by the Living to render this grateful Acknowledgment to their Ancestors for all that they have left them But if we are unmindsul of the Dead if their cold Bones can merit no corner in our Hearts or thoughts why are we so regardless of the Living a Prince can scarce deserve better of his Subjects instruct direct reform or amend them more effectually by any other method than by Good Histories The Precepts that are so delivered slide insensibly and pleasantly into the minds of the Reader and make lasting Impressions on his Memory Nor is this Benefit confined to the Subject and meaner Persons even Princes themselves do borrow from History those Counsels and Assistances they shall hardly gain from Courtiers and Ministers sometimes they will not sometimes they dare not Admonish their Master whilst a good History shews them by others what will be the effect of ill-concerted Designs and Counsels and at the same time is an Awe upon them suggesting this Thought frequently to them How will this look in History Thus Augustus Queen Elizabeth and Henry the Fourth of France became Famous to Posterity by observing carefully in History what Fate had attended the Princes that preceded them Posterity too are to be taken care of if the present Age is not such as a Good or a Wise Man would wish it let us try if we can make the next Generation better by shewing the Chain of Calamities have followed at the heels of the Vices of the last and of this Age. At her Death the Thrift the Probity the Piety and the Hospitality of the English Nation was much abated The Luxury that attended the Peaceable Reign of James the First and the Beginning of Charles the First brought on a War that threatned our Ruin What has hapned since the Restitution to the time in which Their Majesties began Their Reign is now fresh in Memory but will be lost if not written And I am persuaded nothing can possibly be invented to make us Wiser than we now are sooner or more easily than a good History of this Period of Time but then our Princes and Great Men must encourage it and skreen the Writer or it will never be done The Expence is too great for a Private Man and the Materials are most of them locked up from the view of all those who have not the Royal Authority consenting to their Inspection and the Royal Purse to support the Charge of Transcribing them Methinks every Prince that resolveth to do things worthy to be written should take care to have one good Historian about him to preserve the Memory of his Actions Those that live ill will find what they fear above all things a man to paint out those things to the Life which they would gladly have concealed Story will go on with or without their care but to their Damage if not discreetly encouraged But why do I write thus in all the Misfortunes that have so lately befallen me My Character has been written with the Poison of Asps instead of Ink so that one single Word in another man's Work otherwise interpreted than either he or I meant it as is plain by the words that follow and explain it has been enough to sink me after my Reputation had been sufficiently pierced by the Arrows of Envy and Detraction But all that I shall say in my own Defence is That I hate what I am supposed to be guilty of as much as any man in the Nation and never suffered said or thought the thing in all my Life THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK THE Birth and Parentage of Queen Elizabeth Page 1 Her Education 3 Her Tutors in the Greek and Latin Tongues and her Observations in Reading 4 5 Her Tutor in Theology 8 She spoke French and Italian and understood many other European Tongues 9 The Untimely Death of her beloved Brother Edward VI. 12 And the Succession of Q. Mary 13 She was a sorrowful Spectator of the Popish Cruelty 15 She was hated by the Popish Bishops for her Religion 16 Her Life was saved by King Philip 18 The Death of Queen Mary 19 The Nation then divided into Factions 22 Calais newly lost 23 She at first dissembled her Religion 24 Her Prime Counsellors 26 She dissembled with the K. of Spain 27 She makes a Peace with France and resolves on a War with Spain 29 The Treaty of Cambray 30 The French Plea against the Restitution of Calais 31 She resolves to reform the Religion of England 32 The contending Religions equally balanced 33 Her first Parliament The Complaints of the Popish Bishops 39 The Reformation established 40 The Miseries of Scotland in the Reformation 43 The Happiness of England 44 Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergy-men 45 And to curb the immoderate Liberty of the Protestant Dissenters 47 The Behaviour of Pope Pius IV. 50 The Council of Trent restored The Plea of the Protestants against it The Popish Party inclined to Rebel 53 The Setâ—…lement of the Civil State considered 55 The Means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom 59 Laws and Orders made for the Publick Good 60 The Bishops and Commons favoured as a Balance to the Nobility 61 She favoured her Kindred and advanced them 62 Her Care to abolish the evil Customs and bad Laws of former times 64 The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry 67 Her Answer Her Temperanee and Chastity 71 The Princes and Great Men that courted her 73 The Character of the Earl of Leicester 75 Of Robert Earl of Essex 85 Of Thomas Earl of Sussex 89 Of Sir William Cecil afterward created Lord Burleigh 90 Of the Lord Willoughby 94 Of Sir Francis Walsingham Of Mary Queen of Scotland 97 And of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton 98 The French desirous of a War with England 99 They design to improve their Interest in Scotland to the Ruin of England 101 The Scots send to England for Assistance against the French The Scotch War The First Civil War in France 110 The Death of Francis II. The Beginnings of the Misfortunes of Mary Queen of Scotland The deplorable condition of Princes 113 118 Murray comes into England Queen Elizabeth durst not restore the Queen of the Scots to her Throne 124 The Trial of the Queen of the Scots 125 Foreign Princes and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Queen of the Scots Rebellions in England Northumberland taken in Scotland Westmorland fled into Flanders A second Rebellion The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of them His Character 141 143 They are fâ—…llowed by many Treasous and Conspiracies 145 Which occasion Acts of Parliament against the Recusants 146 Colleges built for the English Papists beyond the Seas 147 Parry's Conspiracy Babington's 151 A
not remember that I have read elsewhere this Order for burning the Popish Books The Complaints of the Popish Bishops The Reformation estabâ—ished The Miseries of Scotland in the Reformâ—…tion The Happinesâ—… of England Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergymen And to curb the immoderate liberty of the Protestant Dissenters Anabaptists discovered Two of which were burnt The 〈◊〉 Conventicles suppressed The Behaviour of Pope Pius IV. The Council of Trent recalled The Plea of the Protestant Princes against it Martiningo sent Nuncio into England And rejected by theQueen The Popish Party well disposed to rebel The Settlement of the Civil State taken into consideration The Money reduced to the old Standard The Security of the Nation providently taken care for Magaâ—…ines and Naval Stores provided LargeShips of War built The means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom Laws and Orders made for the publick good of her people The Bishops and Commons favoured as a Balance to the Nobility She fâ—…oured her Kindred and advanced them Her advice to the Nobility Her care to change or abolish evil Customs and Laws of former times 1559. The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry Which she refused and in a set Speech told them she resolved to live in Celebacy Her wonderful Temperance and Chastity The Princes and Great men that Couâ—…ted her * In 1560. * In 1560. †In 1568. ⸫ In 1574. By degrees she became more averse to Marriage than the seemed at first to be The character of the the Earl of Leicester She Prefer'd him in Title and estate and advanced his Brother The ill effects of Luxury His designs in debauching the Nobility Anno 1583. Leicester recommends Robert Earl of Essex to the Queen The Actions of that Earl in Holland His Character The Queen very much oppressed by the Infâ—…my and Villanies of Leicester The Character of Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex The Character of Sir William Cecil afterward Lord Burleigh The Earl of Sussex sent Ambassador to the Emperor The Ruin of Leicester HisDeath and Dishonour The Character of the Lord Willoughby The Character of Sir Francis Walsingham Burleigh made Lord Treasurer for his Virtue The Character and Story of Mary Queen of Scotland The Character of Sir N. Throgmorton The French desirous of a War with England Tâ—…rogmorton kindles the Civil Wars in France The French design to improve their Interest in Scotland to the Ruin of England The Scotch complain and arm against them The French retire to Leith The Scots send into England for assistance A Fleet sent into Scotland And an Army which besieged Leith Leith dismantled The first Civil War in France The Death of Francis II King of France Mary Queen of the Scoâ—…s Marrieth James 1. borr The beginniâ—…g of the Miâ—…ortunes of Mary Qu. of Scotland Her Impriâ—…onment at Carlâ—… The Queen of Scots Letter to Q. Elizabeth upon her first Landing in England The Thiâ—…d Letter The deploâ—…ble state of the Princes of the earth The Difficulties attending the keeping or dismissing the Queen os the Scots A Resolution taken to detain her as a Prisoner of War The Queen of England not acted by a spirit of Jealousie and Revenge Mildmay sent into Scotland to threaten the Regent Murray upon Q. Elizabeth's threats comes into England Q Elizabeth durst not restore the Qu. of the Scots to her Throne The Queen prevailed upon to put the Queen of Scots upon her Trial. The Trial of the Q. of the Scots Hatton's wheedling Speech The Speech censured Foreign Princes and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Q. of the Scots Pins V Excommunicates the Qu and absolves all her Subjects Thereupon followed Rebellions and Insurrections in England The E. of Northumberland leads the way And is followed by the E. of Westmorland Northumberland taken in Scotland Westmorland fled into Flanders The Causes of the Miscarriage of this Insurrection The Calamities of the Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Sussex prosecutes the Rebels with great Severity Another Rebellion springeth out of this The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of these Rebellions The Character of the D. of Norfâ—… After these Rebellions followed a shoal of Treasons and Conspiracies Which occasioned the Acts of P. against the Recusants The Colleges of the Jesuits opene lin Eanders c. And called Seminaries Parson and Campian the two first Seminary Priests sent into England Parry's Conspiracy against the Queen Babington's Conspiracy His Character Savage sent to assassinate the Qâ—…en The Persons in Babington's Conspiracy Babington the great Actor in it This Conspiracy proved fatal to the Queen of the Scots A Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists The Queen has a plentiful Supply given her in Parliament She dischargeth a Part of what was granted by her Proclamation The Spaniards send Lopez and two others to murther the Queen Cullin York and Williams sent from Flanders on the same Errand And executed in 1595. She spared none of those who fell into her hands A Digression concerning William Parry Parry's Confession His Design discovered by one Nevil The Queen's Severity to these Conspirators made her terrible to the English Papists But it was God that preserved her There has been but one Protestant Prince Murthered since the Reformation by them The second Civil War in France The third Civil War of France She sends 100000 Crowns and great Stores of Arms and Ammunition into 〈◊〉 to the Protestants A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without Success The true Causes of this and the other Civil Wars of France The Queen of England preserv'd the Protestants of France The beginning of the Low-Countrey War Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and re-called The King of Spaâ—…n enraged at the Edict for Liberty of Conscience The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government in the Nâ—…therlands The Regent grows severe against the Protestants on various pretences Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison The rest of the 〈◊〉 petition for a General Assembly of the States The Designâ—… of Spain discovered to the Nobility of the Netherlands The Discovery at the first only terrified and divided them Valenciens besieged A bloody Persecution against the Pâ—…otestants of the Netherlands The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The use Spain designed to make of this Disorder The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flandâ—…rs The Council of Blood setled Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized And after them vast numbtrs of the meaner Inhabitants These Proceedings alarm all the Protestants in France and Queen Elizabeth They fly into England and set up many Manufactures The Conduct of this Prince considered The reasons which mov'd the Queen of England to oppose the Spaniards The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of Q. Elizabeth He com-plains to Q. Elizabeth of her Harbouring the Netherland Pyrates
the Queen was dead and that the Princess Elizabeth was the indisputed Heir to the Crown of whose Right and Title none could make any Question and therefore the Lords intended to Proclaim her Queen and desired their Concurrence which was joyfully entertained by them and they all cried God save Queen Elizabeth long and happily may she reign She being thus advanced to the Throne not only by her own undoubted Right and the Providence of God but by the Confent and with the Approbation of all the Three Estates then Assembled in Parliament which I think never before hapned to any of our Princes besides her she was received by the whole Nation with incredible Transports of Joy and Affection and the loudest Acclamations they could make men highly valuing the Innocence of her former Life and commiserating the hardships she had suffered in the former Reign to the hazard of her Life When God had thus brought this Queen to the Throne of her Ancestors of a sudden the course of things and the current of affairs took a new bias the heavy Tempests and Misfortunes that attended England weâ—e instantly blown over and a serene and prosperous course of things succeeded in their place Thus in a moment she was not only freed from the Miseries of an Imprisonment but adorned with the highest degree of Honour and Power and this Lady with a Masculine or rather Heroick Soul which was worthy to have governed the Empire of the World for almost Forty five years after managed the Royal Scepter of England and was the Arbitrator prescribing the Conditions of Peace and War to all the Princes of Christendom with a Greatness of Mind and a Wisdom that became so high a Station This Virtue which was almost Divine joined with so admirable a Prudence renders her worthy of the Applause and Honour of all mankind Thus one may see and admire the great force and power of Time and the wonderful Changes of Human Affairs and how useful it is to arrive at Prosperity by the Waves of Adversity Whilst she was in her private Station she was perpetually under the fear and danger of Death but by the Goodness of God she escaped all the Insults of Adverse Fortune her Innocence procured her Safety that made way for her Liberty so her Soveraignty was acknowledged and from her prudent Management of that Royal Station she gained an â—…ndless Glory and an Immortal Name Thus attaining the Possession of a Kingdom with Glory and the Publick Safety and the Good Will of her Subjects she on all occasions shewed the Greatness and Brightness of her Wit and Soul That she had well studied and digested the best Arts and had had an excellent Education and wise Instruction the good Effects of which were now made known by her wise promoting the Good and Safety of her People In the beginning of her Reign she found the Nation at home filled with Divisions and Heart-burnings by reason of the contrary methods used in the two preceding Reigns Abroad she had never an Ally she could trust to all was in War or an uncertain and unsteady Peace The Spanish Government was bâ—…come odious here and the English called their Assected Gravity Pride and Insolence The French had equally incensed us by the late Surprize of Calais The Tâ—…easury was at the lowest Ebb and our Bulwark which our ncestors had preserved Two hundred and ten years was taken from us in one weeks time in the beginning of January in this year The New Queen proposed to herself the common Safety and Welfare of her People and pursued it with the utmost Care and Asfection She was then Twenty five years of Age and something more when the Royal Diadem of England descended to her and she began the difficult work of raising the low and calamitous state of England and redressing those Grievances which the opposite Interests and Designs of the former times had brought upon this Nation She was not only ripe and sit for Government but she had by this time acquired a strange and unusual degree of Civil Prudence She knew the Publick or Royal Laws of England not only by reading them in Books but also by the great Reflection she had made on our History and on what had happened in her own times and by her Conversation with great men and the application she had ever made of her Mind to whatever was worth regarding The 14th of January after her Sister's Death 1558 9 she was Crowned with the Ancient and Usual Ceremonies when her People gave her fresh Instances of their Loyalty and Affection by crowding in unusual Numbers to see and partake in the Joy of this Solemnity And she having observed that her Sister by the sullenness of her Behaviour had much disobliged the People frequently looked on them with a chearful and pleasing Countenance and returned the Respects they paid her with great sweetness She took the Ancient and Usual Coronation-Oath That she would govern her Kingdom according to the Ancient and Laudable Laws and Customs of England which she observed more willingly than most of her Predecesfors had before her and this gained her both the Love and Reverence of her People At first she cherished in her Roman Catholick Subjects a belief she would Imbrace that Religion they prosessed She changed nothing in the Publick Service or the Administration of the Sacraments that she might not enrage her Papists and give them a pretence for Separation before she had well Established herself The Kingdom of England was then very unsetled and had received great Damages both at home and abroad the French had wrested from us the strong Town of Bologne in the Year 1546. before the death of Henry the VIII â—h and Calais in the beginning of this Year The Sea was full of Privateers and there was scarce any thing to be trusted to In this Disorder of Affairs she wisely thought That the only way to settle and preserve the Nation from Imminent Ruine was to chuse wise and upright Men to manage the Publick Affairs She declined the use of Rash and overbold Men who have commonly brought mischief on the States that have trusted to them Being weary of the Popish Ceremonies and their Conversation she retired for some time to one of her Country Houses as it were for Diversion and Pleasure but in truth that she might with the greater Leisure and Secrecy consider of the Methods she should take for the removing the Dangers which threatned her Kingdom for the Preservation of its Peace for the Abating the Power of the Popish Party and the setling that Religion here which she believed was most for the Glory of God as being most agreeable to the Sacred â—…criptures The Men that she most relied on in this great and difficult Work were William Lord Parre of Kendal Marquess of Northampton whom she had restored to his Honours Francis Russel Earl of Bedsord Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
murthered them but that Tyrone pretended to intercede to have their 〈◊〉 spared This they durst never 〈◊〉 done but that they knew all the â—…ans in Ulster would second them The Deputy to revenge this Insurrection proclaimed Mac Guire a Traytor and invading Fermanagh he took Inniskilling but upon his withdrawing the Irish returned and drove the English he had left out of Fermanagh During this Tumult Tyrone came thither as by chance and asking what the matter was and what had provoked their Anger against the English he gravely reprehended Mac Guire the Beginner of the Insurrection and then began seemingly to appease the exasperated meaner Irish people tho in truth he was the first Promoter of all this Disturbance and did this only to conceal himself and avoid being suspected by the English Hereupon the Queen recalled Fitz-William who had never been a Soldier and sent a new Deputy in his stead Sir William Russel youngest Son of Francis Earl of Bedford was sworn Lord Deputy of Ireland the 11th of August 1594. Under him this great Revolution hapned Tyrone's Brother about the same time Befieged Inniskilling and defeated 46 English Horse and 600 Foot that came to Relieve it under the Conduct of Sir Edward Herbert and Sir Henry Duke yet Tyrone had the Impudence to come to Dublin and impose upon the Council That he had no hand in this Insurrection tho some offered to prove him a Traytor which was not then believed In March 1595. he broke into a second open Rebellion notwithstanding all his Oaths and Asseverations which in an Irish man are the certain tokens of Treachery and Falshood Bagnal his mortal Enemy thereupon marched against him with 1500 Foot and 250 English Horfe and Tyrone appeared with 1500 Irish Horse but retired without attempting any thing but soon after he appeared with 8000 Foot to second his Horse Yet this handful of men fought all his Forces and came off with good Success tho they were in great danger of being destroyed as they had been if the Enemies Powder had not failed in the Action In June 1595. Sir John Norris arrived with Two thousand Veterane Soldiers and One thousand New-raised men and with the Title of Lord General of the Forces in Ulster he being to command absolutely in the absence of the Deputy The Queen's Design in sending Norris with this large Commission was that he and the Deputy should act with the greater vigor against the Enemy But then tho Norris was an excellent Commander he was a little too violent and disdained to be subject to the Orders of the Deputy and which was yet worse disagreed with him in the general method of managing the War and was very stiff in his opinion besides so that much time was spent in useless Contests between these two high-spirited men which very much prejudiced the Queen's Affairs and secured Tyrone who cunningly made use of it from being suppressed in the beginning of his Rebellion By this time the Rebels had taken several of the English Forts and were become so expert in the use of Arms that they were almost a Match for the English Sir John Perrot to save charges had armed the Irish in Ulster against the Islâ—…nder Scots and taught them the use of Fire-Arms and Fitz-Williams had pursued the same false Measures and had taken many Irish into the English Army and sent others of them into the Low-Countries to be bred Soldiers and now they were become stout Rebels to the damage of the English The Deputy having in the mean time spent the Summer in the Field against the Enemy took care to settle Connaught and Leinster in the Winter and finding them much disordered by the Injuries of the Presidents he heard their Complaints very patiently and redressed what he found amiss with much Justice that he might raise in the people an expectation and hopes of better â—…mes to come And he also levied â—…ore Forces and invited Tyrone to coâ—… 〈◊〉 him to Dublin and sent him a Passport The Earl came accordingly being tossed between hopes and fears and there the Deputy before many of the Nobility of that Kingdom represented to him the Benefits he had received at the Queen's hands which he readily acknowledged pretending That he had on that consider at ion patiently born the Injuries of Fitz-Williams Government and the Wrongs done him by Bagnal the Marshal That he had saved the English from the Fury of Mac Guire and preserved them in the possession of Fermanagh That his good Actions had been misrepresented and he had been ill rewarded for them That he desired nothing more than to be restored to the Queen's Favour which he had been deprived of by the slanders of his Enemies This cunning Defence appeased the Deputy and he was resolved to try if he could reclaim him by favours and good usage and so he permitted him to return home again Yet in September of this year he offered the King of Spain the Kingdom of Ireland if he would supply him with 3000 Men and a little Treasure Thus were the Winter of this year and the Spring of the next spent in needless and ineffectual Treaties Tyrone pretending to submit to gain time and at last he was Pardoned but Three Ships arriving from Spain with Powder and 200 men he refused his Pardon a great while and when he took it he used it as a cover for his Treasonable Designs He was always Treating and Rebelling at the same time and finding a Discontent between Sir John Norris and the Lord Deputy he made use of the one against the other and in the mean time surprized the Garisons and embroiled the Countrey to the great hazard of Extirpating the English A Treaty with a perfidious man tends to nothing but to make him insolent and the Government secure to its Ruin If you never trust him he can never hurt you The English Council was so weary of these Chargeable Wars that they dreaded nothing more than a War in Ireland So that it was then a Maxim here That it were well for England if Ireland could be sunk into the bottom of the Ocean but since that was not possible to be done it had been well if they had gone roundly to work and sending competent Forces had pursued these counterfeiting Rebels to utter destruction not suffering any Irish-man to have any Fire-Arms The Deputy observing that Tyrone slighted him and made his applications to Norris to whom he sent Messengers to commemorate his Loyalty and Duty to the Queen and to beg her Majesties Pardon he thereupon wrote to the Queen That he had not been used to Wars and was unacquainted with the Fatigues that attended Insurrections and Tumults That King Philip of Macedonia was less terrible to him than a desultory Enemy and a barbarous Irish Teagne That this languid Sedition might be composed without wounds or bloodshed as some thought if good men were but sent to treat with the Rebels That
Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists A plentiful Supply given to the Queen She dischargeth a part of it 158 A Digression concerning Parry 160 The Queen's Severity towards the Conspirators 163 The second Civil War in France 165 The third in which the Queen sends great Supplies of Men and Money 167 A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience 169 The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without success The true Causes of these Civil Wars 170 The Queen preserved the Protestants of France 171 The beginning of the Countrey-Wars 172 Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and recalled 172 The King of Spain enraged at it 174 The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government there 176 Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison 177 The rest of the Cities petition for a General Assembly of the States 178 The Designs of Spain discovered to the rest of the Nobility 179 Which at first only terrified and divided them 181 A Bloody Persecution against the Protestants in the Netherlands 182 The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flanders The Council of Blood 185 Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized and after them vast Numbers of meaner people 187 The Protestants of France and the Queen of England alarmed at these Proceedings 188 The Subjects of the Low Countries fly into England 189 The Conduct of King Philip considered The Reasons why Queen Elizabeth opposed the Spaniards 191 The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of England 193 The King of Spain complains of the Queen for harbouring the Netherland Pyrates 194 They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand The Queen of England undertakes the Protection of this oppressed People 197 The French Affairs during her time 201 A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants 203 The Duke of Guise made Head of this League against his Sovereign 204 An Account of the House of Guise 205 The Reasons why Henry III. was to be deposed and Henry IV. excluded 207 The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money 209 Spain invaded by the English 211 The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex 212 The Affairs of Ireland during her Reign 216 Ulster the first Province that rebelled 218 A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond 219 The Pope and King of Spain Interested in the Wars of Ireland 221 The Difficulty of administring Justice and Mercy seasonably 224 Sr. Jo. Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English 226 And they of the Deputy 227 William's Character 228 The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet for some time Part of the Spanish Armado Shipwrackt on the Coast of Ireland 229 The Rise of Hugh Oneale Earl of Tyrone 232 He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned that Rebellion 233 Sir William Russell Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom it began 234 Sir John Norris sent into Ireland 235 The Irish made very Expert in the use of Arms. Tho. Lord Burroughs made Deputy The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an Universal Rebellion of the whole Nation 241 Tyrone beats the English 243 He treats with Spain and England at the same time 244 The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy 246 No Irish pardoned but what merited the favour by some Signal Service 247 The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's Flesh 248 Religion causlesly made the Pretence of this Irish War Liberty of Conscience considered 249 The great Reputation of England in Queen Elizabeth's time 250 Sir Drake's Original and Story 253 The Story of John Oxenham 256 Drake's two Voyages into America 258 The Story of Mr. Tho. Cavendish 263 Philip King of Spam highly inc◅nsed against the English 265 The Invincible Armado Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it 273 The King of Spain bears his Loss with much patience and prudence 275 The English and Hollanders glorify God for the Victory over the Spaniards at Sea 277 The Queen declares a War against Spain 278 The English Expeditions against that Kingdom A rare Example of Martial Valour Complaints made of the Depredations of the English at Sea 285 The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English 287 The Trade of England prohibited in Germany 288 The Queen seizes the Still-yard 289 Poland continues a Trade with England 291 The Queen ends a War between the Russ and Swedes ibid. Her Laws for the enriching her Subjects Her Severity to those she imployed when found faulty 292 The Liberty of the Theatre restrained 297 The Calamities that happened in her times 298 Her kindness to her good Magistrates 299 Her tender care of the Church 300 Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments 301 She was concerned in her old Age for the decay of her Beauty She loved Flattery because it raised a good opinion of her in her Subjects but Crafty men made ill uses of it 303 She loved good Preachers 307 She loved Religion but hated Faction 308 Her Devotion in publick She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church 309 She humoured and caressed the body of the People 310 Parliaments frequently held 312 Her Maxims concerning Peace and War 314 She would never arm the meanest of the People All honours carefully and sparingly bestowed in her time 315 Her Justice and Severity towards Offenders which made her beloved 317 Her Justice in other Instances 322 She was sparing in her Personal Expences but magnificent in her Publick 323 She was too sparing in her Rewards She shewed a great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service 327 The Praises of Henry VII who was her Example 329 Her Bounty to some Great Men 330 The manner of her bestowing Honours 333 The choice of her Servants Officers and Ministers 335 Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men 337 Her Principal Favourites and Statesmen 338 Her Habit 339 Her Furniture 341 Her Dyet in publick and private 342 The Splendor and Divertisements of her Court 344 Her private way of living 346 Her Summer Progresses and her Carriage towards the People 348 She spent the Winter in London 350 Her Diet in Summer and Winter 352 Her Diversions and Private Conversation 353 She was subject to violent Anger 's 355 Her Sevērity to the Queen of Scots To Leicester 358 To Hatton 360 The Provocations she met with many and great 361 The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her 363 Her last Sickness 367 he spent the last moments of her life in Devotion 371 Her last Words and Death 373 The Sorrow for her Death at Home and Abroad 374 LICENS'D November 10. 1692. THE CHARACTER OF Queen ELIZABETH ELIZABETH Queen of England was born
Plenty and was attacked by the Blandishments of Nature and a multitude of external pleasing Objects yet she persisted in the Resolution she had taken and with a constant and unmoveable Soul preferred her Maiden State to any Marriage Though she was almost every night tempted to change her Resolution by the Luxury Chearfulness and Wantonness of a Court which shewed it self in Interludes Banquets and Balls and was surrounded on all sides with the Enticements of Pleasures and the things which might provoke the most cool and languid Lust yet she preserved her self from being Conquered or broken by them For the Fear of God and a true Sense of Piety extinguished in her all Feminine Intemperance and Lust. Though she was the Sovereign and Mistress of all she did nothing that was insolent tho she haâ—… an abundance of Wealth at her Command she was not dissolute but she governed her self by the severest Rules of Chastity and Continence Yet her Juvenile Age for she was then about Twenty five years old and the Intemperance which will ever attend a Court gave occasion to some injurious Reports but then she as casily washed off that slanderous Infamy which was one of the most raging Crimes of the Age by the incredible Continence and Chastity of her whole Life her Modesty and Prudence over-ruling and controuling the Natural Inclination and Disposition Her Maids of Honour who waited on her took a wonderful pleasure in her Manners her Discourses and Conversation and wholly applied themselves to imitate her borrowing from her examples of Modesty and Chastity so that they would never suffer any young Nobleman to have any familiar Acquaintance with any of them if he had not recommended himself to them by some Generous Manly Action in the Wars Amongst those who in the several parts of her Life aspired to the Honour of her Bed Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire and Marquess of Exeter was the first who courted her in her youngest years And after him Christian III. King of Denmark for his Son Frederick after this â—…erdinand the Emperor desired her for his Son Charles Philip II. King of Spain Erix King of Sweden and Adolph Duke of Holstein the Dukes of Anjou and Alenzon both Princes of the House of France desired to have Married her but all this was to no purpose for when she had by these Treaties deluded them and secured her self she ever after pretended That at her Coronation she had obliged her self not to Marry a Foreign Prince Yet there were some at home who after this deceived themselves with these deluding hopes amongst whom was James Earl of Arran a Scotch Nobleman who was recommended to the Queen for an Husband by the Protestants of that Kingdom as the best means of Uniting England and Scotland but though she commended this Gentleman yet she rejected the Proposal There was also one Sir William Pickering a Gentleman who had improved himself by Ambassies and the French Breeding who aspired to it tho it was so much above his Fortunes And Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel asterwards Duke of Norfolk one descended of one of the Noblest and Richest Families in the English Nation and a person of great Interest and Authority though he was advanced in years yet he would also very fain have married the Queen but when he perceived his Old Age was ridicul'd and despised he left the Court and went abroad and never came back again into England She persisted in this Resolution of Celebacy with a Constancy that was admired then and ever since and at last she would grow angry when any of her Subjects spake to her of Marriage which they as passionately desired as she declined it The reason of this was wonderfully exagitated in the thoughts of men and some were very unmannerly to speak the best of it in their Conjectures whilst others ascribed it with much more probability to an habit of Chastity which put a Curb upon all irregular Desires or the fears of changing her Fortune and diminishing her Authority it being but reasonable she should â—…spect that whosoever had Married her would have taken upon him the principal Administration and so have abated her Power and Reputation others ascribed it to the Counsel of her Friends who yet prevailed with her to suffer Treaties of Marriage to be carried on to render Foreign Princes more favourable to her Interests by the hopes of attaining her at last But whatever was the true Cause of it which can be certainly known to none but God had this Queen been of the Communion of the Church of Rome this single Virtue would have gone a great way to the Canonizing of her as it has of many others and she certainly would have much more deserved it than any of the best that have been Sainted on that account only The common people of England for a long time most firmly believed That Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and Lord Steward of the House to her Majesty would be the man that would marry the Queen He was youngest Son to John Dudley Duke of Northumberland who with his Eldâ—…r Sons â—…ohn call'd Larl of Warwick Sir Amâ—…rose Sir Guilford and Sir Henry Dudley had been found Guilty of High â—…reason and the Father anâ—… Sir Guilford a younger Son was beheadâ—…d in the fiâ—…st year of Queen Mary s Reign when this Roâ—…ert who was the youngest Son his â—…ather had then living was spared merely on the account of his youth and never Tried or Dishonoured This Gentleman in his younger years was a very goodly Person of a Bâ—…autiful and Lovely Complexion and Features but high foreheaded which yet was not then thought any diminution of his Beauty he was a very great Politician but no great Soldier and tho he was not over-righteous in his Actions yet in his Letters there was not known a Stile more Religious and fuller of the strcams of Devotion This Favourite was then in the Verdure and most Flowering Spring of his Youth of a Stately Carriage a Modest and Grave Look a great Flatterer of a pleasant and easie nature in outward shew or appearance and being endowed with all those Accomplishments the City or Court could teach him in which he had had his Education he had insinuated himself into the Favour and Familiarity of the Queen by his specious shews of Loyalty Industry and Vigilance in her â—…ervice and for a long time managed the greatest Station in the Court and was reputed the First Minister of State though his Counsels were not over-fortunate His Brother Ambrose was Heir to the Estate and he to the Wisdom of that Family for he had all the Arts of the Publiâ—…an Dudley his Grandfather and the Policies of Northumberland his Father He was the most reserved man of that Age that saw all and was invisible carrying a depth not to be fathomed but by the Searcher of Heâ—…rts He became in his latter times sullen to his Superiors haughty towards his
Equals insolent to his Inferiors ungrateful to his Friends and pernicious to his Enemies and in a word intolerable to all but the Queen She made him first Master of her Horse and after Earl of Leicester for the Sufferings of his Ancestors both in her Father's and Sister's Reign But the common people who very rarely penetrate into the Thoughts of Princes ascribed all his Power and good Fortune to his Wit and Carriage which was formed by Nature and Art to the alluring of the softer Sex he being of a very taking Behaviour and an excellent Dancer so that one of the bâ—…st Dances of that Age was called by his Name The Leicester Dance When he found the Tide of Fortune flowing according to his Ambitious Wishes his heart was too much lifted up and being sometimes confounded by the Number of his Attendants and those that waited upon and visited him he would forget their Names and call them by that of other men He oftâ—…n changed his Cloathes and affected Gallantry to an Excess He put himsels forward and took up the distant Employments of Peace and War in exclusion of others who had more Experience especially in War and were Nobly born He was continually plodding to find the Studies Abilities Forces and Dispositions of other men and so great was his Application and Parts that he rarely miscarried in his Enquiries He would terrifie and sometimes destroy his Enemies and allure his Friends by the shews of Rewards He by his Interest advanced his Dependants Kindred and Relations to Honours and Employments And when he found his opportunity he as craftily sold his Mistress's Favours and the Employments he had taken from others He did the same by the Livings of the Church but then he took Bonds and other Securities to avoid the Penalties of Simony Yet there were few for a great while called to the Council-Table or admitted to Titles of Honour but by his Commendation and Procurement so that he seemed not so much to be the Queen 's particular Favourite as her Partner in the Royal Power and he was accordingly courted and revered by the rest of the Nobility The Queen made him Earl of Leicester in the year 1564. she gave him also a considerable Estate out of the Crown Lands and advanced him from Master of the Horse to Lord Steward of her Houshold She had made Ambrose Dudley his eldest Brother then living for John the eldest of them died a Prisoner in the Reign of Queen Mary without Issue about two years before Earl of Warwick and enriched him with the Grant of a plentiful Estate to bear the Charge of that Honour much of which being made up out of the Estates that had been forfeited to the Crown this and the sudden Rise of these two Brothers who had not done any considerable Service to the Nation that was known either in Peace or War made them envied and hated not only by the Nobility and Courtiers but by the Populace And Leicester encreased the Aversion of all men by his licentious and expensive way of living and by his Rapins which he craftily made upon many he in other Instances perverted the Laws and invaded the last Wills and Testaments of the Dead He ruined many of his Neighbours by cunning and tedious Law-Suits to get their Estates which lay convenient for him In the mean time he gave himself up intirely to the exercise of a most wicked and univerfal Luxury and brought into England from Foreign Countreys many new and unheard-of Pleasures and invented new kinds of Dishes to gratifie his Gluttony He would drink dissolved Pearls and Amber to excite his Lust and had so accustomed himself to the scents of Musk and Civet that when he went General into the Low-Countries he could not live without them so that in short he very much exceeded the Intemperance of all former times and made an accursed addition to the ruining-disorders of men His Example corrupted many of the younger Nobility also who being prone to Luxury very easily imitated his Vices and thought that the height of human Happiness was in Pleasures and therefore wholly neglecting the Care and Improvement of their Minds spent all their Time Money and Thoughts on the Dressing themselves after the French Fashion and pleasing their Senses Who can conceive the Poverty that followed these immense Expences And the bold Adventures these impoverished Gallants were forced upon to supply their Wants Desperation and Effeminacy making them outragious to the Ruin of the State Certainly there is nothing that is more destructive to a Nation and consequently more to be avoided than the Feasts and Riots of a prodigal Apicius or the Luxury and Banquets of a profuse 〈◊〉 Thus was Fitz-Alan the last â—…arl of Arundel and Edward de Vere Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Oxford the Baron of Windfor and many rich Knights and Gentlemen who might have been the Ornaments of their Countrey by his ill Example and Conversation drawn into great Expences Chargeable Feasts Balls and Interludes and an excessive Gallantry the common Attendants of too much Ease and Plenty by which they much wasted their Estates and impoverished their Families and their Bodies also were much softned and unmann'd by their Excesses and Sloth and the generous Inclinations and Faculties of their Souls stifled and weakned by the Charms of Pleasures There are some who think that the crafty Earl of Leicester designed this debauching the Prime Nobility of England when he entred upon this way of living that he might by it render them weak and contemptible But however it is most certain the great influence he had upon the Queen and his being the Prime Minister of State and acquainted with all her Counsels and Intentions made him extremely hated by all the rest He had by his cunning and crafty Projects and Counsels engrossed all the Rewards of Virtue Riches Honours Attendants and the first Place of Minister of State and he managed them and lived without any Religion towards God or Fidelity to men making it his great design to cover all things with Luxury Cruelty and Rapines With whom did he continue in a constant Friendship What good man did not find him an Enemy He was to the utmost degree ungrateful to all his Friends and if any of his Enemies had at any time a little too freely expressed their Resentments against his Dishonesty Wickedness Injuries Power or Perfidy as he gave men too frequent occasions to reflect on them he seldom failed to cause them to be treacherously murdered Many fell in his time saith a Great Man of that Age who saw not the hand that pull'd them down and as many died that knew not their own disease He would not trust his Familiars above one year but either Transported them to Foreign Services or wafted them to another world In the year 1583 he caused one Mr. Edward Adern a Generous but Imprudent and Rash Gentleman a zealous Roman-Catholick and a great
Defamer of others to be drawn into Troubles by the means of one Somervil a mad Papist his Father-in-Law and one Hall a Popish Priest and being found guilty of Treason he his Wife Somervil and the Priest were all sentenced to die Somervil hanged himself in Prison Adern was executed and Hall the Author and Procurer of all this Mischief was preserved by the Intercession of Leicester This was by all men looked upon a Spectacle of great Compassion He laid Snares for many of the Nobility ruining the Reputation of some of them endangering the Lives of others and some Noble Families he utterly extinguished He impiously and sacrilegiously invaded the Revenues of the Church and brought some of the Bishops into Danger and Dis-favour He incensed the Queen against the Lord Archbishop Grindal a Prelate of great Integrity and Honesty by his Calumnies and Slanders This Grave and Religious Prelate was as Mr. Cambden saith first made Bishop of London then Archbishop of York and afterwards of Canterbury and for many years enjoyed the Favour of the Queen till by the crafty Insinuations of Leicester she was set against him upon a pretence and slanderous Report That he was a Favourer of the Conventicles of the turbulent Puritan Preachers and of their Preachments but in truth because he would not patiently dissemble the Disorders of one Julio an Italian Physician and a Favourite of Leicester's who had Married another man's Wife for which the good Prelate stoutly prosecuted him though Leicester appeared for the Criminal The best of Princes after all the Care and prudent Foresight that Mortality is capable of are yet sometimes deceived in the choice of their Servants Leicester having married the Countess Dowager of Essex who was a Widow when his first Lady died and having no Children of his own was easily perswaded by his Wife to recommend Robert Devereux the young Earl of Essex her Son to the Queen as one fit to serve her Majesty and by this he opened the way to that great man and brought him with good advantage into the Court and into Business Nor would this Nobleman afterwards refuse to acknowledge That all the Authority and Favour he had acquired with the Queen was owing in a great measure to the Assistance his Step-Father had at first given him When he had some time served as a Volunteer first under his own Father in Ireland and after in other places he was made General of the Horse and Field-Marshal under the Earl of Leicester when in the year 1585 he went General of the English Forces in the Low Countries In this Expedition this Noble Gentleman behaved himself with that Courage Bravery Moderation and Prudence that he won the Love and Esteem of the whole Army and by that Reputation he became very Popular which afterwards was the occasion of his Ruin The truth was he for Honesty Valour Liberality and Sincerity was equal to the best of the Nobility of his time but in Prudence and Discretion he was inferior to many He for a long time enjoyed the Favour of the Queen which his goodness prompted him freely to employ to the doing good and to the relief of the indigent and oppressed so that all his Greatness seemed only to be lodged in him as Water in a Cistern for the good of others He was not observed to be addicted to any Vice but that of Missing and Luxury but as to all his other Appetites he had them in a tolerable subjection to his Reason In the year 1587 he was made Master of the Horse In 1590 he was sent into France with an English Army to assist Henry the IVth In 1596 he was made Earl Marshal of England and after that Master of the Ordnance the same year In the year 1597 he was Admiral of the second Squadron of that Fleet which was sent against Cadiz In 1599 he was made Lord Deputy of Irelâ—…nd with more ample power than had been given to any of his Predecessors and a good Army This Expedition was the occasion of the Ruin of this Great Man his Army being wasted without any considerable Advantage Cambden attributes this to the Discontent of the Earl of Essex Because Sir Robert Cecil was made Master of the Wards which so netled him who desired to engross all hâ—…s Mistress's Favours that he left Ireland without leave and returned to England where he perished in his Discontent and Folly in the year 1600. The Queen was in her own Temper a Person of an extraordinary Piety and Goodness and without any exception yet her Virtue was scarce able to secure her from being made infamous and unhappy by the Wickedness of the Earl of Leicester she in the beginning of her Reign relying too much upon his Counsel and as it were committing her self and her Kingdoms to his Industry and Care to the neglect of the rest of the Nobility who hated this Minister Whilst the rest of the Peers withdrew from Danger or stood as it were at a gaze in a stupid amazement or servilely and patiently complied with him But Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex and Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold to the Queen and President of the North agoodly Gentleman of a Brave and Noble Nature constant to his Friends and Servants and the best Soldier the Queen then had would not so tamely yield to Leicester there being in his Nature as well as Morals a perfect Antipathy to the other so that the Court for a long time stood divided between them and they kept Spies upon each other's actions The Queen did what she could to reconcile them but it was utterly impossible they were equal in Power and Estate but so differing from each other in their Designs and Interests and so unwilling on both sides to yield that nothing but Death could determine this mortal Feud between them This Noble Martial Earl died in the year 1583. He would often remonstrate That Leicester's Covetousness and his other Vices were intolerable that he had more Authority with the Queen than all the rest of the Nobility that he disposed of all the Rewards of Virtue and Industry and all the rest were forced to truckle under and serve him that his Pride Laziness Luxury and dissolute Manners were not to be born and there was hardly a good man in the Nation who was not in his heart convinced of the truth of all this and did not wish to see this ill man humbled The truth is Sussex was the honester man and the better Soldier Leicester the more accomplished Courtier and the deeper Politician not for the general Good but his own partitular Profit Sir William Cecil was a Person of great Learning singular Judgment and admirable Moderation and Prudence unto which is justly attributed very much of the Prosperity which England for so many years enjoyed under this most auspieious Government He was made Secretary of State the 5th of Edâ—… the 6th 1551. His opposition to the Exclusion of
the Crown which yet could not be proved by certain Evidence That the times were unjust and wicked and Malice was blinded with Prejudice and made no scruple to charge the most Innocent with horrid Crimes â—…hat however there was an All-seeing Justice which attended at the Throne of God which was the best Avenger of all secret Villanies It will appear by all this what Difficulties there were on all hands in this great Affair and that the Queen was not acted only by a spirit of Jealousie and Revenge for what was past or out of a Personal and Selfish Humour oppressed this Banished Queen without considering all things with great application of mind The Lord Herris who attended the Court for the Queen of Scots was not idle in the mean time but earnestly sollicited Queen Elizabeth That she would not rashly believe any Accusation which should be brought against a Sovereign Queen till she had been heard and that the Meeting of the States of Scotland should not be precipitated by the Earl of Murray the Prime Regent to the Prejudice of the Deposed Queen and the Ruin of all her Loyal and Good Subjects The Queen of England accordingly did interpose her Authority with Murray as to the lattter of these but the Regent went on for all that Assembled the States of Scotland and attainted several of those that had taken Arms for the Queen and seized their Estates and Houses The Queen of England being highly incensed upon this sent Sir Walter Mildmay to the Regent to tell him from her That she could not sit still and see the Sacred Power of Princes be brought into Contempt amongst their Subjects and be trodden under foot at the Will and Pleasure of Factious men That altho they had forgot all that Duty and Respect which they owed to their Queen yet she for her part could not forger the Affection and Compassion her Piety obliged her to shew to a Sister and a Neighbour Queen That therefore Murray should either come to her himself or send some able men who might answer the Complaints of the Queen of Scots against the Regent and his Partakers and shew the Causes for which they had Abdicated Deposed the Queen which if they did not forthwith do she would dismiss the Queen of Scots and lend her all her Forces in order to the resettling her in her Kingdom And at the same time she admonished them not to sell the Queen's Jewels and Wardrobe tho the States had given him leave to do it The Earl of Murray accordingly and some other of the Nobility came into England and the case of the Queen of Scots was heard at York by several of the Lords of the English Council but could be brought to no Issue by reason of the cross Interests and the mutual Fears on all sides Tho the Queen of England to the last declared That she detested the Insolence of the Scots in her soul who had presumed to Abdicate their Queen But then when the Duke of Norfolk thought it reasonable that Murray should be stayed in England and be prosecuted for the Death of the Lord Darnley which the Queen of Scots said she would prove against him tho this was approved by the Earls of Arundel Sussex Leicester and Clinton afterwards Earl of Lincoâ—…n yet the Queen was very angry at the Motion and openly said The Queen of Scots would never want an Advocate as long as the Duke of Norfolk lived So that upon the whole it is strongly probable she durst not dismiss or restore the Queen of Scots for fear it should involve both England and Scotland in Wars and Calamities which would have very much endangered the utter Ruin of both the Nations but then she was desirous as much as was possible to keep the Example from spreading to the Damage of other Princes and the Endangering other States in other Circumstances as much as it tended now to their Preservation Many have endeavoured to blacken this Act of the Queen's and others to defend and excuse it but for my part I think the Character God gave of King David may be applied to Queen Elizabeth here David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite And what if upon the whole the Queen of the Scots is to be excepted only in our Instance This Reflection will appear so much the more reasonable if we take into Consideration her Death too The Queen of Scots had been now a Prisoner in England almost XVIII Years when the Queen of England was prevailed upon by the earnest Solicitation of many of the Peers and Commons of England who fell down upon their Knees humbly requesting her Majesty as Melvil expresseth it to have Compassion upon their unsure Estate albeit she should slight her own Alledging That her Life was in hazard by the Practices of the Queen of Scotland and their Lives and Fortunes also Now as it was possible for the English to have kept all those ill men from her which might put the Queen of Scotland upon such Practices so it was utterly unreasonable that Queen Elizabeth should expect the Queen of Scots would desist from endeavouring by all the ways that were possible to recover her Liberty and her Kingdom tho with the Death of her Oppressor But by this time the King of Scotland her Son was become a man and he would have secured the Peace and Possession of that Kingdom and the Queen of Scots was now XLIV Years of Age and so not so likely if she had escaped to have been Courted or to have wrought her any great Mischief in the world as she might have done in her Younger years besides by this time the States of Holland had pretty well establishtd themselves to balance the Spaniards but then the House of Guise was then in its greatest Pride and the King of Spain was preparing his Invincible Armado which came two years after and these two may seem to have been the real Motives to it But whatever they were the thing cannot be justified neither ought it and Queen Elizabeth seems to own as much by her ruining Davison the Secretary to conceal her own fault tho in truth it made it much worse When the Queen of Scots was brought before the Lords that were to Try her for her Life she declined their Jurisdiction as well she might and alledged she was a Sovereign Queen to which the Chancellor the Lord Hatton replied You are accused but not condemned You say you are a Queen be it so if you are innocent you wrong your Reputation in avoiding Tryal You protest your self Innocent the Queen feareth the contrary not without grief and shame To examine your Innocence are these Honourable Prudent and upright Commissioners sent Glad will they be with all their hearts if they may return and
could get down and get into a Posture of Assisting them he saw all their Army dispersed and they forced to flee into Scotland whereupon he formed a Design to Murder the Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord scrope Warden of the West Marshes which when he saw he could not effect he recommended the Two Earls to the Scots and seized Greistoke and Caworth Castles as his own which belonged to the Family of the Dacres and he got together about 3000 Borderers with some others who were the Friends of that Ancient and Splendid Family The Lord Hunsdon hearing of this Insurrection drew out a part of the Garison of Berwick of which he was Governour and marched against this Incendiary who met Hunsdon and fought stoutly at the Head of his Party which was yet at last over-powered and broken the Lord Hunsdon having no great reason to be overjoyed at the Victory by reason of the Number of men he lost Dacres fled into Scotland and was with the two Earls Attainted in the next Parliament Both these Rebellions were caused by Pope Pius his Bull tho they broke out before the Bull was Published here in England which was one great reason that they spread no further The Delivery of the Queen of Scots who was then in the Custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury the Restoring the Popish Religion and the suppressing the Protestant was the last thing they aimed at and the King of Spain was the Fomenter of these Troubles and had sent them Assurances that he would send them Assistance from Flanders and had his Agent at Court to promote it But all these Projects being disappointed England soon returned to her former state of Peace and the rest of the Popish Party seeing their Weakness and the Severity of the Government against these Ring-leaders soon found how much it was their Interest to be quiet The secret Head of all these Motions was Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk who was the Richest most Noble and Wisest Peer then in England and of the greatest Authority with the Queen and no less beloved by the People This Great Man having appeared a little over-inclined to favour the Interest of the Captive Queen of the Scots in the XIth year of the Queen's Reign he drew upon himself both the Suspicion of the Queen and the Practices of his Enemies at Home and Abroad The Pope the King of Spain and many of the Nobility of England for different and very contrary ends promoting a Marriage between the Queen of Scots and this Duke which being by the means of these Rebellions discovered in part to the Council of England in the latter end of the year 1669 he was first Committed he left the Court in Discontent and resolved to Marry the Queen of Sâ—…ots without the Queen of England's Leave tho he had promised the Queen he would proceed no further in this business Whereupon he was committed Prisoner to the Tower in the year 1571 and the 16th of January 1572. he was found Guilty of High-Treason and Beheaded the 15th of June following The Greatness of his Fortunes and Soul and the wonderful Affection the People of England on all occasions shewed to this Noble Gentleman added to his Compassion for the Queen of Scots who was a Lady of great Wit and Beauty first stirred in him the thought of Marrying her upon her first coming into England which coming to the Queen's ears he was a little before the Rebellion of the North put under Confinement yet he found means to send Money to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland but so privately that after this he had his Liberty again By the procurement of one Robert Ridolf Agent for Pope Pius Quintus here in England under the pretence of Merchandize he was again drawn into a secret Practice for the Marrying that Captive Queen which being discovered to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh by the Duke's Secretary out of mere Treachery he was again Imprisoned Tried and Convicted by one whom he most trusted and leaft suspected of Designing against him Thus wonderfully did God appear for this Religious Queen turning all the Crafty Imaginations of her Enemies and all their intended Violences upon their own heads for the Preservation of this Church and Nation Saith Mr. Cambden The Love that the People of England bore to the Duke of Norfolk is incredible which he had acquired by a Courtesie and Goodness which was worthy of so great a Prince The Wiser part of the Nation were very differently affected towards him some being affrighted at the Danger which was threatned to the Nation from his Numerous Party whilst he lived to Head them And others very heartily commiserating this Noble Gentleman who was of an excellent Temper of great Beauty and of a Manly Aspect and would have been the Ornament and Securer of his Countrey if the fraudulent Arts of his Enemies had not turned him out of his former course and way of living by the deceivable hopes of greater things and the specious pretences and shews of promoting the Publick Welfare His End renewed the Memory of his Father's most unhappy Fate who Twenty Five Years before was Beheaded in the same place only because he wore the Scutcheon of Edward the Confessor in his Arms which were granted to the. Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolk from whom he was descended Lineally by King Richard the IId This Bull of Pope Pius V. and his Practises against England produced a shoal of Traytors to plague that Generation for they were ever after it restlefly plotting and conspiring against their Sovereign their Countrey and their Kindred with an invincible perfidy and obstinacy which the Executions of many could not extinguish But yet the Calamity did not end there for from the same Exuberant Fountain of Mischief issued those refractory and stabborn Recusants who separating from the Communion and Service of the Church of England which till then they had frequented without the least scruple or difference they set up Popish Conventicles and the Latin Mass and called over a swarm of Jesuits Priests and Monks to infest the Nation and incense those that entertained them against the Religion and Government that was established and so perpetuated our Quarrels and kept open the bloody wounds of this Kingdom This is the thing we have most reason to complain of because it has brought upon all the succeeding Times great miseries and distresses and the Wisdom of our Forefathers has not been able to cure this Disease The Queen seeing in the mean time the mischief this would bring upon her Kingdoms and being roused by the Rebellions in the North and the intimations she had that there were Designs on foot against her Person and Life took up a resolution to put a stop to it and to that end passed an Act in the next Parliament for the levying 20 l. the Month upon all that should refuse to go to Church and attend at the Service of God or to take the Oath
the Town on the first Assault by the Cowardise of the Spaniards which paid Five hundred and twenty thousand Ducats for its Ransom There was Two Millions more offered for the Redemption of the Ships in Port Real but it was refused by the Admiral he saying He was sent to Burn and not to Ransom the Spanish Navies The Spaniards confess they lost in the Sack of this Town in Ships Taken and Burnt in Canon Taken and Sunk and in Stores and Ammunition and Victuals above Twenty Millions of Ducats The Magnanimous Earl of Essex was for keeping the Town and Island and he offered to do it with Three hundred men and Three Months Provision for them but the rest of the Commanders who had enriched themselves were for returning and so he was forced to return much against his will the 5th of July when he had got little but a Noble Library which he chose out of that Rich Spoil The Spaniards observed The English in this Sack shewed themselves to be Hereticks by their Contempt of their Religious Houses and Places but in all other things they behaved themselves with great Valour Prudence and Generosity The Noble Earl would fain in his return have attempted the Groyne St. Andreo and St. Sebastian but the rest of the Commanders were against making any other Trial of their Fortune believing they had done enough for the Glory and Safety of their Countrey This Expedition secured England for the Remainder of her Reign against all the Attempts and Fears of Spain In the year 1599. this Earl was made Deputy of Ireland which proved his Ruin Sir Robert Cecil in his Absence being made Master of the Wards tho the Queen had promised him that Office and he depended upon it as that which was to repair his Estate shattered in her Service whereupon he came back without her Leave and the next year after was beheaded for Attempting to Raise an Insurrection in London against the Court. To pass from these Foreign Affairs to others that were of nearer concern to England there was in all her days a Destructive and most Chargeable War continued against her in Ireland The Irish Nation have ever since it was subdued by the English born an implacable hatred to the Conquerors which neither Marriages nor Benefits nor Losses nor Time it self has been able to extinguish But when in her time the Religion of England was changed and the general Body of the Irish and a great part of the old English Families persisted in the Popish Religion there was by that means a new Ferment added to their restless and unquiet spirits so that there was nothing to be heard of from thence but frequent and perfidious Rebellions which were the more dangerous and lasting because they were excited by the Pope's Bulls whom the Irish reverence above all other Nations and supported and carried on by Spanish Counsels Money and Forces Yet however the Queen did never think it her Interest to make a sharp and a concluding War upon them because this was not possible to be done without being grievous to her People of England whilst she was forced to spend such prodigious Sums of Money in the Netherlands and France as would have made an effectual War in Ireland insupportable She took care in the mean time to send over thither the Best and Wisest of her States men and Sword-men as her Deputy-Lieutenants and she sent them such Supplies of Men and Moneys as enabled them from time to time to keep the English Pale in good order and to hinder the Spanish Party from growing more Potent in the North than was convenient to consume his Forces and divert him from nearer and more dangerous Attempts and by her Generals and the Forces she sent over she wasted and consumed the Forces of the CLANS and great Irish Lords and by degrees brought the Wild and Barbarous Irish from the former way of living more like Beasts than Men in Woods and Mountains to the living in Populous and well-govern'd Towns and Villages She taught them to leave off their barbarous cruel Customs and to live soberly and according to Law to forsake their wild ways of Diet and Cloathing and live more Civilly and like the English The Northern Province of Ulster was the first that Rebelled the Scots and the Islanders in great Numbers pouring into that Province whereupon Shan O Neale in the year 1563. took up Arms against his Sovereign instead of sending to her for Assistance to drive out these Foreign Enemies He was first Reduced by the Earl of Sussex and forced to come into England to beg Pardon of the Queen The next year he broke out again and was reduced by Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy and in 1565. he perished in a drunken Fray by the Macdonnels to whom he fled for Succour and Refuge This Shan O Neale was so wicked and debauched a Villain in all his Actions that all men approved of the Revenge Macdonnel took of so false and perfidious a man that had done many Wrongs to them and their Families as well as to the English The Macdonnels were Scots and of the number of the Islanders that had setled in this Province of Ulster This Execution hapned the 2d of June 1567. Mr. Cox writes their Names MACCONEL In the year 1564. there hapned a Quarrel between the Earls of Ormond and Desmond which came to a Battel between them at Affane in the County of Waterford The next year they went over into England together to implead each other before the Queen who of the two was most inclined to favour Desmond In 1566. they returned and Desmond took the Field with Two thousand men to join Shan O Neale as was pretended but in truth to Revenge his Quarrels on the Earl of Ormond who defeated him and all his Forces near Drumelin and in the close of that year the Lord Deputy Sidney took Desmond Prisoner and at Limerick tried him for High-Treason and he was found Guilty and committed to Prison and his Brother John was Knighted and made Earl of Desmond This Quarrel was at first a personal private Feud between these Two Potent Families but in the year 1568. some Laws having passed in a Parliament which displeased the Great Men they took up the pretence of Religion to draw in the People and the Pope entred into it and the King of Spain was solicited to send Forces by the Earl of Desmond's younger Brother Titular Bishop of Cashil Thereupon the Lord Deputy began the War this very year and defeated Two thousand of their men near Kilkenny with the loss of one single man The Earl of Ormond was then in England and went into Ireland to reclaim his own Brothers who joined with Desmond in this Revolt which was designed to subvert the Government and clear the Countrey of all English Men and English Laws In the year 1569. Pope Pius Quintus Excommunicated the Queen and deprived her of all her Dominions and
there were those in Ireland who had conferred with the Rebels and had sent into England the Rebels Defamations against him and others of her Governors By which passage the Deputy slily taxed Sir John Norris as one that had done nothing worthy of his former Military Reputation but thought to work upon the good nature of the Ulster Clowns by his Courtship and Flattery which tended rather to the making them more insolent This carriage of the General 's was the occasion of fierce Contests and Quarrels between him and the Deputy and the effect of it was that not only the Heads of the Clans in Ulster but those also in Connanght and Leinster took Arms and revolted from the Crown of England The Deputy seeing things by their Divisions brought to so desperate an estate resolved to get rid of the Government and by his Letters humbly besought the Queen a good General might be sent in his place In this doubtful time Sir John Norris as earnestly desired to be Deputy and that his Brother who was fitter for the Labours of the War might be made President of Munster But he obtained neither of his Requests The Council of England was divided for some time between the Lord Burroughs and the Earl of Essex but the latter joining with the former it was carried for him and he had both the Supreme Civil and Military Power put into his hands The 15th of May 1597. Thomas Lord Burroughs arrived at Dublin with a Commission to be Lord Deputy of Ireland With the Supreme Authority he presently commanded Norris to his Presidency of Munster which with the disappointment of the Deputy's Place broke his heart Johnstonius saith The reason of this was because Norris was a person of more Experience in the War and of greater Fame than Burroughs So that when he came to Dublin Norris was no way pleased with the change for that he dreaded the fiery Temper of that Lord with whom he had formerly had some quarrels which he would now have willingly sacrificed to the Welfare of his Countrey But the Deputy was of an Implacable Temper and commanded him into Munster upon the peril of his life not permitting Norris to see him This Great and Stout Man could not bear the Affront but he that had run through so many Perils in the Field in the Netherlands France and Portugal he that had despised the Rages of the Duke d' Alva in Holland and put a stop to the Victories of the Duke of Parma fell under this and expired in the Arms of his Brother Thus he became a wonderful Instance of humane frailty as well as of Martial Courage being rather pitied than approved because his Management in Ireland was much inferior to what he had done elsewhere and short of what was expected from him The Lord Lieutenant died in November following yet in that short time he beat the Irish in Ulster and recovered the Fort of Blackwater and Garison'd it with English Sir Thomas Norris was nominated for his Successor but he was melancholy and would not accept it his Brother the General being just then dead also Thereupon the Archbishop of Dublin and Sir Robert Gardiner Lord Chief Justice were sworn the 15th of November when the Council concluded their Account of the State of the Kingdom That it was an universal Irish Rebellion to shake off all English Government In August this year Tyrone had the good fortune to rout Marshal Bagnal his mortal Enemy in a Wood half a mile beyond Armagh where the Marshal 13 Captains and 1500 English Soldiers were slain The Irish by this Defeat got Arms Victual Ammunition and Reputation and the Fort of Blackwater so that the English were reduced from an Offensive to a Defensive War This nettled the Queen and she sent to Ormond who was Lieutenant-General to clear the Army of all the Irish and she sent 2000 Foot and 100 Horse to recruit the Army Tyrone sent after this 4000 Kerns into Munster and the President not being able to resist them by reason his Forces were small that whole Province rebelled also in October 1598. and began to Kill Rob and Ravage the English without Measure or Mercy Thus the Rebellion grew to that height that it became terrible to the Queen Tyrone in the mean time sent submissive Letters to the Earl of Ormond and promised the Spaniards that he would accept no Conditions from the English magnifying his Victories beyond all reason and truth So that now the Courtiers in England began to consider as Mr. Cambden observes That by long use it was grown to a destructive custom in Ireland That Rebels and Traytors might with the Money they had gotten from the spoiled English by Pillage and Villany procure for themselves Protection and Pardon The Queen was well inclined to have sent the Lord Montjoy into Ireland but the Earl of Essex pretended to it and he was chosen Others say the Council put him upon it that he might put an end to the Troubles of Ireland which had been encreased by the Contentions between the Commanders that were employed before and also by the deaths of Sir John Norris and that of the Lord Deputy as well as by the Defeat of Marshal Bagnal That the Lords cried up the Valour of the Earl of Essex to the skies and affirmed that there was not in England any General who could undertake the Reduction of so far-spread a Rebellion with that Prudence Diligence and Courage they might expect from him Thus he was sent thither by the perfidious Commendations of his Enemies against the opinion of his real and true Friends that they that put him upon it might when he was there find an opportunity to ruin him The Earl on the other side was anxious and unresolved what to do for as he feared the Fate of his Father who perished in that Kingdom so he could not tell how to oppose his own Destiny and accepted of an Employment which no other durst pretend to purely to comply with the good opinion of the whole Privy Council which loaded him with Praises on this occasion tho in his heart he misdoubted the Event The Queen also sent him away thither with great Testimonies of her Affection to him commending him excessively for preferring her Service before his own Safety but then this was the last good day that unfortunate Earl ever saw He landed there the 15th of April 1599. with 13000 Horse and 16000 Foot which were made up 20000. there being more than that number in Arms against the Queen But with all these Forces he did nothing worthy of his former Reputation or of his Army And that Winter he went out of Ireland in a Discontent without the Queen's Leave and returned unexpectedly to the Court which proved his Ruin Tyrone grew insolent hereupon and profess'd publickly he would recover the Liberty of Religion and his Countrey Charles Lord Montjoy was thereupon sent Lord Deputy who landed the
Queen went into the City of London in a Triumphant Chariot the Spanish Colours that were taken being born before her to St. Paul's Church where was a Sermon and a solemn Thanksgiving at which the Mayor and all the Companies were present and the same Piety was commanded at the same time in all the remoter parts of her Kingdom and it was observed by her Subjects with the highest Expressions of Joy and Gratitude towards God and of Loyalty and Affection towards her so that she was now in the height of all her Glory both at Home and Abroad beloved by her Friends and feared by her Enemies who were never after in a condition to assault her Kingdom the second time but found it difficult to defend their own against her and her brave Martial Commanders To revenge this Attempt upon her Kingdoms the Queen the same year put out a Declaration of War against Philip King of Spain which was sharply Penn'd and from thenceforward to the end of her days there was a perpetual and a sharp War carried on against the Spaniards which kept her Subjects quiet at home The very next year she sent Sir Francis Drake with a Fleet into Spain who took the Groyne as is said above by which Action she defeated the Designs of that King who was preparing there for a second Invasion and having abated his Pride and Rashness into a more tractable Modesty she thereby delivered her People from a signal Danger In this War the Earl of Essex signalized himself by taking Cadiz in 1596. and Burning all the ships he found in that Harbour George Earl of Cumberland and Thomas Lord Howard a younger Son of the Duke of Norfolk lay heavy upon the Spaniards and took many of their ships richly laden giving all but the tenth part which was reserved for the Queen to the Mariners and Soldiers as the Reward of their Valour In the year 1597. having heard the King of Spain was preparing a Fleet against Ireland she sent a Navy of 120 ships part English and part Hollanders under the Earl of Essex and in it a Land-Army of 6000 men but this Fleet went out and met with so severe a storm that it was forced to return and after that was detained by contrary Winds so that the Provisions being spent the greatest part of the Army and of the ships were dismissed the rest got to Sea the 17th of August This Fleet went to the Azores where Sir Walter Rawleigh took the Town of Fial and beat the Spaniards that endeavoured to hinder his passage to it After this they lost the opportunity of surprizing the Spanish Indian Fleet which they there waited for and returned into England without any signal Victory or what might help to bear the Charges of this Expedition which was owing in great part to the Emulations between the Chief Commanders who envied each other the Glory of doing well Tho the English did not get much by this Expedition yet the Spaniards were great Losers one of their biggest Caracks being forced ashore and burnt three ships were taken and many others of that Fleet being kept out too long perished by tempestuous weather whereas all the English Fleet returned in safety In the year 1597. George Clifford Earl of Cumberland at his own proper Costs and Charge put out a Fleet of Eleven ships to way-lay the Caracks that go every year from Lisbon to the East-Indies but they having notice of his being there sheltered themselves under the Fort of St. Juliana which had a Hundred great Guns to defend it and here he attended so long that there was no ships sent that year From thence he set sail to the Canary Islands and took that which is called Lancerata with the Town upon it which he pillaged Thence he passed to Boriquena in the Bay of Mexico in the West-Indies and took Porto Rico the principal Town in it and one of the Keys of America with the loss of less than 30 of his men though it was very strong and defended by 400 Spanish Soldiers besides the Towns-men The Earl considering the strength and importance of the Place resolved to keep it though the Spaniards offered him a vast price for the redemption of it but within a short time a Disentery with grievous Torments seized the English Garison so that in 40 days he buried 70 of his men and this forced him to return home with 60 great Guns but otherwise more exalted by the Victory than enriched However he did the Crown of Spain a vast damage for that Year there went no Fleet to the East-Indies and there came none home from America It is observed of this Great Man That his building so many great ships and some other less honourable Diversions wasted more of his Estate than any of his Ancestors had spent After this the Rebellion of Tyrone grew so formidable to the Queen and the English Nation that all the Money and Forces the Queen could space were imployed that way and spent in Ireland of which I have given an Account in its proper place So that from henceforth there was no considerable Expedition undertaken against the Spaniards There was one singular Instance of Personal Valour in the Course of this War which happened in the Year 1591. but was reserved to this Place that the Steps by which the Spanish Pride and Greatness were abated and pull'd down might appear the better by being laid together May this Magnanimity of this Virgin Queen be an encouragement and an Example to the Present Age for the humbling another Prince who in our times and by our means is become a terror to all his Neighbours on the score of his Naval Forces though infinitely inferior in that and the Point of Wealth too to Philip the IId King of Spain But to return Tho. Lord Howard Second Son of the Duke of Norfolk was sent this year with six Men of War and six Ships of Burthen to way-lay the American Flect in its return to Spain whilst he was waiting for it at the Azores where he lay six months his Soldiers and Sea-men being generally sick Alphonso Bassano the Spanish Admiral came upon him suddenly with 80 Ships so that the English could hardly gain the main Sea to make their defence One RICHARD GREENVILL Vice-Admiral being in a Ship called the REVENGE staying a little too long to take in some of his men who were on shoar and not hoisting his Sails neither in the mean time out of a contempt of the Spaniards by all these oversights happened to be shut in between the Spanish Fleet and the Island Attemping when it was too late to break through the Spanish Fleet which was divided into four Squadrons the Spanish Admiral called the St. Philip a Ship of vast bulk clapt in between him and the Wind to deprive him of it and three smaller Ships surrounded him and poured in their great and small Shot on all sides the Spaniards very often boarded him but
never granting them upon Caprice to shew her Absolute Power upon the Intercession of Favourites or the Letters of Great men to those that were mean and neither deserved nor could maintain the Grandeur of that Noble Title She set a high Value upon the most Noble Order of the Garter and took the utmost care to keep it as the sincerest Reward of an extraordinary Fidelity Industry and Nobility and therefore she would never suffer it to be in the least corrupted by any mixture of mean persons Tho the Lord Burleigh was her Principal Councellor and the First Mover in all her greater Affairs without whose advice she would rarely resolve upon any thing of moment and he had deserved so very well of her by his unparallel'd Care Labour and Vigilance yet because he was but a Gentleman born and a Peer of her own Creation only it was very long before she could persuade her self to take him into the Order of the Garter which has flourished now Three hundred years and more and has in all times been given to the Greatest and Best of the Nobility at Home for the best Services they could do for their Princes and Countrey or to Foreign Princes Abroad who were united to us by the most strict and indearing Bonds of Friendship and Interest She gave Governments Magistracies Court-Offices and other Places of Trust Reputation and Profit to those that deserved well of her that by the example of these Rewards she might provoke others to imitate their Fidelity and Industry She would never endure that any man she employed should raise to himself an odious or oppressive Gain either from the Power or Office she had given him If she observed a man to do nothing but for Money she would never trust him and as for any Offices or Governments she took care to keep them as much as was possible out of such men's hands Yet she was not too hard to or suspicious of her Servants she extended her Favour to all those she found good men and her Friendship and Kindness was lasting to all those she found honest thrifty sober men but then in Law-Suits she would not suffer any the least distinction to be made between her Servants and Favourites and the rest of her Subjects lest they being exalted by it above measure should any way endanger the common Liberty of her People or the Publick Peace and Safety She raised Sadler from nothing Mildmay and Fortescue from mean Fortunes to the Honour of Knighthood and made them Privy Councellors for their good Services and lest that Dignity should suffer by the meanness of their Estates she gave them a Competency by way of Addition to what they had before She would always remember to Reward those well that had served her faithfully as her Ambassadors in Foreign Courts And she raised many of her servants for their Fidelity and protected others of them from the Violence of Great Men She protected Sir Thomas Knevet from the Violence of the Earl of Oxford who to revenge a Wound he had received from Sir Thomas in a Duel was mustering up all his Friends and Servants to destroy him which the Queen prevented by giving him a Guard for some time She so effectually recommended the Cause of her Bishops to her people when they were attacked by the Clamours and Reproaches of the Puritans that nothing was more dear to the Multitude than their Bishops and no Name was more Popular or beloved than theirs so that all men stood up for their Dignity and Authority She curbed the Boldness Rage and Fury of these Pretenders to Godliness by Laws well and severely executed and she made it her business to preserve the Church to the utmost of her Power as well from the Disturbance of Seditious Preachers within as the Insults of Declared Enemies without Her Motto was Semper eadem Always the same and in this affair she took the greatest care to verify it never departing one tittle from what she had once setled or changing the Methods she had established but upon great reason She had a very great Love for Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary of State who was one of the Pillars of her Kingdom and so intent upon the Preservation of the Publick Safety and the Discovery of the Designs of her Enemies against her Person and Government that he took little care of his own private Family and made no provision for those he left behind him But then it was hardly well taken by the body of the Nation to see the most part of his Inheritance sold after his death to repay those Moneys to the Treasury which he had spent in the Queen's Service The Envy of which however fell heaviest upon the Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester who were none of his Friends whilst he lived and took this opportunity to revenge the Affronts they had received from him She had also a particular favour for Sir Nicholas Bacon the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal who was the Ornament of the Court and the great Luminary of Westminster-Hall She highly esteemed Egerton and Popham But above all her other Councellors and Ministers of State she valued Burleigh the Lord Treasurer and Howard the Lord Admiral of England the Ornament of his own Family and a strange Example of Modesty Civility and Liberality These men enjoyed her Favour to the last and were ever of great Authority with her She loved a Prudent and Moderate Habit in her private Apartment and conversation with her ownServants but when she appeared in Publick she was ever richly adorn'dwith the most valuable cloaths set off again with much gold and Jewels of inestimable Value and on such occasions she ever wore High Shooes that she might seem Taller than indeed she was The first day of the Parliament she would appear in a Robe Embroidered with Pearls the Royal Crown upon her Head the Golden Ball in her Left-hand and the Scepter in her Right and as she never failed then of the loud Acclamations of her People so she was ever pleased with it and went to the House in a kind of Triumph with all the Ensigns of Majesty There was at such times so great a Concourse of the People to see and salute the Queen that many were trodden down and some have been lamed The Royal Name was ever venerableâ—… to the English Nation but this Queeâ—… was more sacred than any of her Ancestors She alone was able to furnish her whole Sex with the Examples of Chastity Temperance and all other Vertues And she was very vigilant to keep her Family and Court in severe Discipline She persuaded all Married Women to pay a modest Respect to their Husbands as to their Superiors She kept a severer Guard upon her own desires than upon those of others that were about her so that by degrees she made them seem at least like her self because she ever laboured so to have them She banished from her Court all
Military Discipline and this in a State the most closely united to her and he had ambitiously affected the Power of a Lieutenant·General in England and Ireland which Burleigh represented to the Queen as intolerable and thereupon she became so incensed against him that she brought him to a Despondence of Mind which ended in his Death the Queen declining all Reconciliation that he might be an Example to all others to consult their own and the Publick Interest better than he had done and not aspire like him to too great and dangerous Honours Upon this Repulse he resolved to retire into the Countrey and to live remote from the Court at Killingnorth but on the Road he fell into a violent Feavet which brought him to his Grave He left a Brother behind him who was Earl of Warwick and had the Character of a good man from his Enemies and he succeeded him in the Estate but did not long enjoy it He left also a Son who laid Claim afterwards to the Earldom of Leicester but he was then very young and not owned as Legitimate When the Queen heard of the Death of Leicester she could not forbear grieving at it She ordered however his Personal Estate to be seized for Money due to the Exchequer from the deceased Earl but she got little by it the Creditors and others by various Stratagems and on various Pretences drawing it out again Hatton was a very good Dancer and that was his best Qualification and was the means of promoting him to be Lord Chancellor of England Being in that high and undeserved Station he became proud and arrogant and at last began to favour the Popish Party more than the Queen thought well of The Queen thereupon told him That he was too much exalted by the Indulgence of his Fortune which had placed him in a Station for which he was unfit he being ignorant of the Chancery-Law and needing the Assistance of others to enable him to do his Duty This Reproach struck him to the heart and he resolved to admit no Consolation When he was almost half-dead the Queen repented of her Severity and went her self in Person to comfort the Dying Chancellor and did what was possible to retrieve him but it was all to no purpose for he was obstinately resolved to dye His Brother's Son succeeded him in his Estates and Goods he dying a Batchellor and raised a Family upon this Foundation and the Queen did not exact from him the Debts due to the Exchequer whether out of Respect to the Deceased or Favour to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh whose Niece this Gentleman had Married As the Queen was by Nature severe so she did not want the utmost Provocations to exert her Natural Temper For there was in all her Reign a Chain of Conspiracies detected which were so outragious and wicked that they exceeded by their Cruelty and bruitish Ferity all measures and seemed to deserve and call for Severity in her punishing of them she was also exasperated by Rebellions and Insurrections in both her Kingdoms and by most infamous Libels published without any Author's Name against the Cruelty of this Prince with the Infamy of them that writ these Books The Reproach of Cruelty would not fix upon her tho they did what was possible to defame her because all men thought the Actors and Leaders in these horrible Treasons and Rebellions deserved all the Punishments and Severities she inflicted on them for their Crimes However it is apparent That in her Reign many of the Nobility were put to Death some of the most Noble Families were ruined and that the Roman-Catholicks were punished banished or forced to flye into Foreign Countries to escape those Punishments they had drawn upon themselves by their restless endeavours to undermine her Throne and subvert her Government or to destroy her Person After all some of these Papists out of a spirit of Slander and Detraction and a desire to gratifie the Pope and his Party laboured by all ways that they could invent to have her thought a Cruel and a Bloody Princess and with the utmost Impudence represented her as such in their Pamphlets tho she was forced to this Severity by their great and repeated Villanies There were some that with an unsusserable Rashness charged her with Unchastity The principal of which was Nicholas Sanders one of the basest and wickedest Slanderers and of the most hellish and incurable Malice that ever was born This Fellow forgot all Modesty and not content with the defaming her Mother and the reviving all those Slanders against her which had before his time been sufficiently detected and disproved or were forgotten he went on to slander and defame the Queen too and to that end invented very many lewd Stories and most infamous Satyrs against her and her Ministers endeavouring to have the World believe she was guilty of Rapine villanous Lusts and intolerable Frauds for the Subversion of the English Nation But the Modesty and the incredible Chastity of her Life easily dispelled all these black and noisom Slanders and Reproaches her worst Enemies having never been able to discover the least shadow of Luxury or Unchastity in all her Life which was so pure and so spotless and unblamable that it is very hard to believe she was a Mortal This her rare Temperance and Continence put a stop to the Lyes and Defamations of this abominable Slanderer and made all men despise him and his Writings Nor did he so escape the Justice of God which pursued him for this and his other Crimes and before his Death deprived him of his Reason and Understanding and banishing him from the Conversation of men he perished in a desolate place in Ireland after he had a long time struggled with Hunger and Cold and endeavoured to preserve himself alive with the Roots of the Herbs that naturally grew in those Woods he lurked in nor was there one Friend to cover his Carkass with a little earth after he was dead but it was found by the English in the Woods and left a Prey to the Wild Beasts all men rejoicing that the Justice of God had thus fhewn it self in the Punishment of this infamous Slanderer and Impenitent Rebel Another virulent Slanderer printed a Book under the Title of Dydimus Veridicus being infected with the same contagious distemper of Lying and presumed to pollute the ears of men with most wicked Difcourses and to attempt the Ruin of the Fame of a most Noble Princess which was supported by the united Approbation and Praises of Mankind He invented many absurd false and incredible things that were like the fained Representations of Poets and Painters so that they appear false at first sight and only serve to shew the liberty he took of Lying notoriously so that he may be left without any answer to receive his Confutation from the Prudence of the Reader Florimond Remond another indiscreet Writer transcribes the Defamations and Lyes which Sanders had invented
They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand Which was the beginning of the United Provinces ☞ Q. Elizabeth undertakes the Protection of her oppressedNeighbours French Affairs A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants Henry III. succeeds in France The D. of Guise designs against that Prince An Account of the House of Guise The Reasons why Hen. III. was to be Deposed and Henry IV. Excluded Henry III. slain The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money The Spaniards invade Britagne a Province of France Q. Elizabeth assists the French against these Spaniards Spain invaded by the English They take the Groyne Robert Earl of Essex stole away from the Court and served as a Volunteer in this Expedition The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex The second Expedition into Spain Cadiz taken by the English The loss the Spaniard sustained The Affairs of Ireland in her time Ulster the first Provencethat Rebelled against her A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond The Pope and King of Spain interested in the Irish War Fitz-Morris and Sanders invade Ireland with Spaniards The Deputy for his good Service slandered in England The difficulty of Administring Justice and Mercy seasonably Sir John Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies of English sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English The English complain of the Lord Deputy Fitz-Williams Character The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet a while Part of the Spanish Armada shipwracked on the Coast of Ireland Hugh Roe wrongfully murthered by the Deputy The Rise of Hugh O Neale Earl of Tyrone He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned Neal's Rebellion Sir William Russel made Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom O Neal broke into a Rebellion Sir John Norris sent into Ireland with 3000 men The Character of this Great Man The Irish become very expert in the use of Arms. Tyrone's Pretences to the Deputy The Deputy offended with Tyrone The Lord Burroughs made Deputy of Ireland The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an universal Rebellion of that whole Nation Tyrone beat the English And at the same time treats with England and Spain The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Army under Essex 20000 men The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy The Methods by which he ruined the Irish and ended the War No Irish pardoned but what merited the Mercy by some signal Service The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's flesh Tyrone submits Religion causlesly made the pretence of the Irish Rebellion Liberty of Conscience considered The Greatness of the Reputation of the English Nation in Q. Elizabeth's time Her Carriage towards her Allies abroad Sir Drake's Original and Story The Story of John Oxenham Drake's second Voyage to America He takes St. Jago He sails for the Nolucca Islands The Story of Mr. Thomas Cavendish Hackluit records and publishes all the English Expeditions in these and former times Philip King of Spain highly incensed against the English Nation The Invincible Armado in 1588. prepared and sent to invade Enggland Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it The King of Spain bears his Loss with much Patience and Prudence The English and Hollanders glorifie God for the Victory The Queen declares a War against the King of Spain The English Expeditions against that Kingdom The Earl of Cumberland put out a Fleet against Spain at his own Cost A rare Example of Martial Valour and Courage Complaints made to her of the Depredations of the English at Sea A Reflection concerning Proclamations The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English The Trade of the English prohibited in Germany She takes away the Stillyard from the Easter lings or Germans Poland continues the Trade with the English The Embassy into Muscovy p. 213 She ends a War between the Russians and Swedes Her Laws for the Enriching of her Subjects at home The Purveyers reformed As also the Concealers Her Severity to her Judges and Governors Usury mitigated The Customs carefully looked after Monopoly suppress'd Informers and Promoters carefully inquired into She detested multitude of Suits Her Admonition to the Judges The licentious liberty of the Theatre restrained The Calamities and Misfortunes that hapned in her Times Her Care of and Kindness to her good Magistrates Her Care of the Poor Her affectionate and tender Care of the Church Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments In her Old Age she was offended at the Decay of her Beauty Adulation sometimes used to her The Flatteries of learned men noted She endeavoured at first to raise a good opinion of her self in her Subjects Which by degrees brought her to love Flattery Crafty men wrought upon this her Infirmity She understood Preacliing very well and loved Severe and Grave men But curbed the Fiery Turbulent Preachers She loved Religion but hated Factions Her Devotion in the Publick Service of God She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church She humoured and caressed the Body of the People Parliaments frequently held and for the most part well tempered Her Maxim concerning War and Peace She would never arm the meanest of the People The Honours belonging to the Peerage carefully given Her care in chusing good Councellors Bishops Judges and Ministers Her Justice and Veracity and Severity to Offenders Sir John Perrot an Instance of her Severity Her very Severity to Offenders made her the more beloved by the People Her Justice She was sparing in her personal Expences but magnificant in her publick Actions She was too sparing in her Rewards especially to the Sword-men Sir Philip Sidney much lamented She shewed great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service But was not liberal to the Great men which had an ill effect The Praises of Henry VII Her Bounty to the Earl of Oxford and some few others of the Nobility And her Severity towards Luxurious Spend-thrifts Her Favours to Anthony King of Portugal †This Anthony is by all confessed to have been a Bastard of the former King's Ursino Duke of Bracciano She never Knighted any but men of Virtue and good Estate The Peerage well and sparingly given The Noble Order of the Garter prudently given The Choice of her Servants Officers and Min isters Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men She loved Sir F. Walsingham herSecretary Sir Nicholas Bacon Egerton Popham but above all the Lord Burleigh and Howard Her Habit in Publick and in Private Her Furniture Her Diet in Publick and in Private Aligophore The Splendor and Divertisements of the Court. Her private way ofliving Her Studies Her Summer Progress and catriage towards her People in it The Winter she spent in London Her Diet in Summer and Winter Her Diversions and private Conversation She was subject to be violently angry Her Severity and especially to the Queen of Scots Her Severity to Leicester and Hatton Hatton's Death The Provocations she met with were many and great The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her Dydimus Veridicus Florimond Remond a French Writer George Conc a Scot. Her last Sickness Her last Words to her Council She nominated her Successor She spent the last Moments of her Life wholly in Devotion Her last Words to the Archbishop And her Death The Sorrow for her Death