these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time
Roman Coins The Physicians tamper with him They leave him to Kitchin Physick Goes into the Country Dies Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady dies His Person described CHAP. XVI His last Will. Makes his Will For the finishing his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good Housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queen's College or Peter-House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith His Learning A Platonick A Physician His Recipe for the Plague His Chymical Water sent to the Countess of Oxford His Matthiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmetician An Astronomer His Iudgment of the Star in Cassiopaeia A Politician A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library Books by him written A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning His Places His houses in Chanon-Row In London At Ankerwick Mounthaut His heir Sir William Smith CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith 's Vertuous Accomplishments His Religion His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit His Apparel Not oppressive Of an universal Charity His Apophthegms Leland's Copy of Verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaph on him THE LIFE Of the Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. CHAP. I. Sir THOMAS SMITH's Birth Parentage and Education THE Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH sometimes Secretary of State to K. Edward VI. and afterward to Q. Elizabeth was born at Walden in the County of Essex distinguish'd by the Name of SAFFRON Walden the Lands of that Parish and the Parts adjacent being famous for the Growth of the useful Medicinal Plant whether first brought thither by this Knight's Industry being a great Planter I know not for it was first brought into England as we are told in the Reign of K. Edward III. According to Cambden who writes that Sir Thomas Smith died Anno 1577. in his Climacteric he must have been born in the Year 1514. According to Fox who in his Relation of an Evidence given by the said Knight in February Anno 1551 against Bishop Gardiner assigned his Age then to be Three and Thirty he must have been born in the Year 1518. But himself putteth his Age out of doubt in his Book of the English Commonwealth where he saith that March the 28th 1565 he was in the One and Fiftieth Year of his Age. By which Computation he must have come into the World in the Year 1512. a Year famous to England for building of a Ship the biggest that ever the Sea bore And by the Inscription on his Monument it appears he departed this Life in the 65th Year of his Age. So that Cambden made him Two Years younger than he was and Fox Five unless we should say the Figure 33 is mis-printed for 39 a Fault too common in his Books Our Knight's Father was Iohn Smith of Walden Gentleman a Person of good Rank Quality and Wealth Of which we may take some Measure from two Purchases he made of K. Edward in one Year viz. the Third of his Reign that is to say a Chauntry in the Church of Long Ashton in Somersetshire with other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Somerset and Glocester which cost him 293 l. 16. s. 8 d. His other Purchase was all the Guild or Fraternity in Great Walden lately dissolved with divers other Lands and Tenements in Essex and London For which he with another Joint-Purchaser paid 531 l. 14 s. 11 d. Of which Fraternity of Walden this by the way must be remembered for the Honour of it that in a Grant made to it by K. Henry VIII as he willed there That he might evermore be remembred in their perpetual Prayers so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a Brother thereof and his dear Wife Q. Katherine to be a Sister And divers others are expressed there to be desirous to be admitted to the same as the Right Worshipful Dr. Wolsey Almoner to the King Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich Henry Earl of Essex and his Lady Lord Brook Chief Justice of England Sir Iohn Cutts Sir Tho. Semer and divers other Gentlemen and Ladies This Iohn Smith if we look further back was in the 30th of King Henry VIII High Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hertford For in those Times one Sheriff served both Counties In the year 1545. and the 35th of K. Henry aforesaid his Coat of Arms was granted him by the principal King of Arms or rather confirmed For the said King's Parent specifies That he was descended of honest Lineage and his Ancestors had long continued in Nobility and bearing of Arms and that it was Mr. Smith's Desire that the King of Arms would ratifie unto him his former Coat and Register it in the Records of his Office The Coat therefore granted annexed and attributed unto him was Sables a Fesse Dauncy between three Lionceux regardant Argent Languid Gules pawing with their Left Paws upon as many Altars flaming and burning thereon for that these were Anvils as some have thought alluding to the Name of Smith is a Fancy Upon the Fesse Nine Billets of his Field The Crest an Eagle rising Sable holding in his Right Claw a Pen Argent Flames of Fire issuing thereout This Crest Sir Thomas changed upon a notable Reason as we shall relate in due place Of this Coat of Arms I have laid a Copy of the Original Patent in the Appendix which is in Parchment very well adorned round about with Pictures of Rosâ—â— and Flowers de Lys and the Lively Efsigies of Garter arrayed in his rich Coat standing with a white Wand in his Hand and a Crown on his Head and the Coat of Smith blazonâ—d on the right side of him and pointâ—d to by the said white Wand I have but one thing more to say of this Gentleman and that is That he was an old Favourer of the Religion Reformed in which he brought up his Son Thomas from his Youth He lies buried in the Church of Walden where his Monument is yet remaining that is so much of it as contains his Coat of Arms but the Brass that bore the inscription torn off This for Sir Thomas's Father His Parentagâ— on his Mother's side was also Genule being derived from the ancient Name of the Châ—â—â—ecks of Lancashire his Mother Agnes being a Daughter and Co-heir of that Family By this Gentlewoman Iohn Smith had Issue divers Children of both Sexes viz. Four Daughters Agnes and Margery Alice and Iane which two last were married and three Sons Thomas Iohn and George The Posterity of which last flourish to this Day in Wealth and Honour and possess the Seat and Inheritance of Thomas the Subject of our ensuing History with great Improvements of the Estate Tho' no more Sons are express'd in the Roll
was not idle For he had a busy active Mind and a Philosophical Head And this put him among other Things upon a Project of Alchimy about the Year 1571. Hoping to transmute Iron into Copper Into this Chargeable but as was hoped gainful Business he brought the Secretary Cecil who had also a Philosophical Genius the Earl of Leicester Sir Humsrey Gilbert and others The first Occasion of this Business was by one Medley who had by Vitriol changed Iron into true Copper at Sir Thomas Smith's House at London and after at his House in Essex But this was too costly as Sir Thomas saw to make a Benefit by Therefore he propounded to find out here in England the Primum Eus Vitrioli and therewith to do the same Work at a cheaper Rate Upon which Sir Thomas Sir Humphrey Gilbert a Learned Kt. also and of a projecting Head and our Medley entred into a Company under Articles to sind this out That is to say That Medlâ—y should be employed in this Business at the Charge of the two other till by the Profit he should reap from the thing found out he might bear his Proportion The Place where this was to be attempted and laboured was in the Isle of Wight or at Poole or elsewhere But at Winchelsey he had made the first Tryal because of the Plenty and readiness of Wood. He received of Sir Thomas and Sir Humphrey an Hundred and One Pounds apiece for the buying of Vessels and Necessaries They removed to Poole thinking this Ens of Vitriol to be there and took a Lease of Land of the Lady Mountjoy of 300 l. per Annum For the Payment of which Sir Thomas with the other two entred into a Bond of 1000 l. While these Things were in this State Smith was sent Ambassador beyond Sea Which was in 1572. as we shall see in due place And a Quarrel then happening between Medley and Sir Humphrey and Medley gone to Ireland being reported to be run away the Business lay asleep for some time But Sir Thomas revived it at his Return Going down himself to Poole where he found Arrears of Rent due to the Lady Mountjoy and above 60 l. due to Workmen and no Copper nor any Crocus of Copper made The satisfying of which Debts and other Charges cost him 200 l. And after for clearing of things at Poole sending down at several times his Nephews William Smith and Iohn Wood thither And moveover Smith had perswaded the Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester to enter into the Society This was now about December Anno 1574. leaving them to satisfie themselves by sending some able or knowing Person to Medley to see his Method and Ability and so accordingly to report it to them And if they were satisfied he could do it then to consider of the Terms Medley had propounded and if they thought good to yield unto them In sine these Lords were willing to come into the Society and they deposited each of them an 100 l. towards the carrying it on And it was to be ratifiâ—d by a Patent to be obtained from the Queen Medley was now removed to Anglesey where was Fuel Earth and Water proper for his Business being sufficient to do it for ever or at the least for a very long Time The Things which he undertook to do were these 1. To make of raw Iron good Copper and of the same Weight and Proportion abating one Part in Six As Six hundred Tun of Iron should by Boyling make Five hundred Tun of perfect Copper II. The Liquor wherein the Iron was boyled to make Coperas and Allom ready for the Merchant Which keeping the Price they then bore should of the Liquor of Five hundred Tun of Copper be worth 10000 l. that is for every Tun 2000 l. Sir Thomas was satisfied that true Copper was made of Iron but whether all the other incident Expences which would be considerable would countervail that was the Matter to be examined The Society had seen the Tryal of Crocus at London which might be satisfaction in part Smith for his own part made no doubt that Copper might be made that way and two or three other ways also as he told the Lords But of the whole Work which rested in many other Points as of the Proportion of Iron to the Crocus of the Crocus to the Copper of the Allom and Coperas that came of it with what time of Boyling what Expences of Fire and Men's Labour Carriage Buildings Vessels and all other things which be many this he said could not be done nor well esteemed nor judged upon at London but at the Place Whereupon he propounded to the two Lords to send down two Persons and he and Sir Humphrey Gilbert one or two others whom they might trust These together to viâ—w and see the Doings and one be Witness to the other and so all Parties to be fully satisfied by the Answer of these Viewers to every Part of their Instructions and Articles what they should find true according to Medley's Promise and what not and the Occasion thereof That so the Society might be broken if it were Deceit and Abuse or gone forward with if it were not so At length there arising so much Probability of Success in the Project he got the Patent of the Society Signed in Ianuary 1574. And therein it was Stilâ—d The Society of the new Art And the two Lords put into the Stock an 100 l. a piâ—ce more Now when the Patent was signed and the Great Seal obtained their next Work was to forward the Business with all speed that they might lie no longer at great Expence Smith excited the Lord Burghley that they might proceed to a perfect Beginning of the Work in the manner of a Society The Earl of Leicester was very forward offering Iron and Lead and Money also and making more Vessels Smith also put on the Lord Burghley to make Orders when and how it should begin and that one Man or two should be fixed upon as chief Overseers to take Care and Charge of the Works who should be answerable to the whole Society Making clear Books for one Day prefixed what the Daily Ordinary and Extraordinary Expences be and what the Comings in again Weekly of Copper Allom Coperas and other Things be and were like to be Then what common Seal for the whole Society And that Burghley also would out of other Statutes for other Societies cull out some good and wholsome Statutes and Orders for this Which without a Society he said could not well stand And the fewer Statutes and well kept the better And lastly he desired that all might be ready so as by the 10th or 15th of February the Work might be fully begun That so by the last of March a sure Guess might be made what were like to ensue thereof One Sir Iohn Hibbord was the Man agreed upon to have the chief Charge of the Provisions for all things necessary for
preserve her long to Reign over her People and that his Grace and Mercy would turn all to the best In the midst of these Cares of our Ambassador the Lord Burghley wrote to him of a Matter that put him and his Collegue into a great Consternation It was concerning the Queen's falling Sick of the Small-Pox and withal of her speedy Recovery again His careful Mind for this Matter he thus exprest in his next Letter to the said Lord That he and his Fellow read the News of the Queen's Illness together in a marvellous Agony but having his Medicine ready which was that her Majesty was within an Hour recovered it did in part heal them again But that as his Lordship wrote of himself that the Care did not cease in him so he might be assured it did as little cease in them Calling to their remembrance and laying before their Eyes the Trouble the Uncertainty the Disorder the Peril and Danger that had been like to follow if at that Time God had taken her from them whom he styled The Stay of the Common-wealth the Hope of their Repose and that Lanthorn of their Light next God Not knowing whom to follow nor certainly where to light another Candle Another great Solicitude of his at this Time was as the Queen's Sickness so her Slowness to resolve and the tedious Irresolutions at Court. Of which he spake in some Passion after this sort That if the Queen did still continue in Extremities to promise in Recoveries to forget what shall we say but as the Italians do Passato il pericolo gabbato il fango He told that Lord moreover That he should perceive by their Proceedings in their Embassy what justly might be required was easie to be done But if her Majesty deceived her self and with Irresolution made all Princes understand that there was no Certainty of her or her Council but dalliance and farding off of Time she should then first Discredit her Ministers which was not much but next and by them discredit her self that is to be counted uncertain irresolute unconstant and for no Prince to trust unto but as to a Courtier who had Words at will and true Deeds none These were Expressions proceeding somewhat as may be perceived from his Spleen and partly from his present Indisposition of Body Which he seemed to be sensible of For he begged his Lordship's Pardon for what he had said rendring his Reason That he had been kept there so long that he was then in an Ague both in Body and in Spirit And that as the Humours in his Body made an Ague there of which he wisht it would make an end so that irresolution at the Court he hoped would help to conclude that he might feel no more Miseries Which he feared those that came after should feel Because we will not see said he The Time of our Visitation Thus did Smith express his Discontents into the Bosom of his trusty Friend for the Mismanagement of publick Affairs as he conceived discovering as his Zeal and Affection to the Queen and the State so the Temper of his Mind somewhat enclined to Heat and Choler This he writ from Blois on Good-Friday While Sir Thomas Smith was here Ambassador the Treaty of Marriage was in effect concluded between the Prince of Navarre and the Lady Margaret the present French King's Sister Which lookt then very well toward the Cause of Religion and both that Ambassador and his Collegues Walsingham and Killigrew liked it well One Matter in Debate and the chief was about the manner of Solemnizing the Marriage Whereupon they sent to the Queen of Navarre a true Copy of the Treaty of the Marriage between King Edward the Sixth and the late Queen of Spain the French King's Sister Wherein it was agreed that she should be Married according to the Form of the Church of England Which stood the said Queen of Navarre in such good stead that she produced it to the Queen-Mother of France To which they took Exceptions and said it was no true Copy of the Treaty Whereupon she the Queen of Navarre sent to Sir Tho. Smith who happened to be at that very Treaty By her Messenger she signified that she sent to him to know because he was a Dealer in the same whether he would not justifie it to be a true Copy To whom Sir Thomas answered That knowing the great good Will his Mistress did bear her and how much she desired the good Success of that Marriage as a thing that tended to the Advancement of Religion and Repose of this Realm he could not but in Duty avow the same and be willing to do any good Office that might advance the said Marriage CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre SIR Thomas being still abroad in France the Queen conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter in the Month of April as some Reward of the League that he had taken so much pains in making For which he thanked her Majesty and said it must needs be to him many times the more welcome because that without his Suit and in his Absence her Highness of her gracious goodness did remember him About Iune 1572. he came home with the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral who was sent over to take the Oath of the French King for the Confirmation of the Treaty Which being done by the Queen's Command he was no longer to abide in France but to return at his best Convenience It was not long from this Time that the old Lord Treasurer Marquess of Winchester died and the Lord Burghley Secretary of State succeeded in his Place Then Smith was called to the Office of Secretary viz. Iune 24. having sometime before assisted the Lord Burghley in that Station And surely it was the Opinion of his great Learning as well as his long Experience and other Deserts that preferred him For his Learning had rendred him very famous in the Court A Poet in those Times writing an Heroick Poem to the Queen therein describing all her great Officers one after another thus depainted this her Secretary Inde tibi est altis SMYTHUS à gravibúsque Secretis Doctrinae Titulis Honoris fulgidus ut qui Pierius Vates prompto facundus ore Et cui solliciti exquisita Peritia Iuris Astronomus Physicusque Theologus insuper omni Eximiè multifaria tam structus in Arte Ut fedes in eo Musae fixisse putentur Wherein of all the Queen 's Wise and Noble Counsellors Smith her Secretary is made to be the deeply Learned Man about her as being an ingenious Poet an excellent Speaker of exquisite Skill in the Civil Law in Astronomy in natural Philosophy and Physick in Divinity and in a word so richly furnished in all the Arts and Sciences that the Muses themselves might be supposed to
introducing a Slavery among that free People and very apprehensive he was of the growing Power of that Nation that so threatned their Neighbours France as well as England Especially seeing withal how tender both Realms were to send Succors to those Parts to enable them to Vindicate their own Liberty and Safety from those inhumane and insufferable Practices there prevailing In the mean time the French accused the Sluggishness of the English and the English did the like of the French The Queen had sent some Forces to Flushing But there was a Report that she upon Duke D'Alva's Motion did revoke them But that was not so but he was gently answered with a dilatory and doubtful Answer But indeed more that would have gone from England thither were stayed The English on the other hand had knowledge that the French did Tergiversari hang off and wrought but timorously and under hand with open and outward Edicts and made Excuses at Rome and Venice by the Ambassadors importing their not meddling in Flanders or excusing themselves if they had done any thing there On which Occasion Smith in a Letter to the Ambassador in France gave both Princes a Lash reflecting upon the pretended Activity and warlike Qualities of the French King yet that he should thus waver and be afraid to engage and upon the Slowness and Security of the Queen of England You have saith he a King void of Leisure and that loves Fatigue whose warlike House hath been used to the shedding as well of their own as of foreign Blood What shall we a slothful Nation and accustomed to Peace do Whose supream Governor is a Queen and she a great Lover of Peace and Quietness But to see a little more of his Service and Counsel in the Quality and Place he served under the Queen When in this Year 1572. the Earl of Desmond was in England a Prisoner but reconciled unto the Queen and had promised to do her good Service in Ireland and soon to drive out the Rebels out of the Country the Queen and Court thought he would prove an honest and faithful Subject and so resolved to dismiss him into his Country And she told Sir Thomas that she would give him at his Departure the more to oblige him a piece of Silk for his Apparel and a reward in Money Upon which Sir Thomas's Judgment was That seeing the Queen would tye the Earl to her Service with a Benefit it would be done Amplè liberaliter ac prolixè non malignè parcè i. e. Nobly liberally and largely not grudgingly and meanly Which as he added did so disgrace the Benefit that for Love many times it left a Grudge behind in the Heart of him that received it that marred the whole Benefit A Quarrel happened this Year between the Earl of Clanrichard and Sir Edward Fitton Governor of Connaught who was somewhat rigorous in his Office which had caused the Rebellion of the Earl's Son The Case came before the Deputy and Council in Ireland and at last to the Queen and her Council in England Our Secretary drew up the Loâ—ds of the Councils Order about it to be sent to the Lord Deputy and the Council there to hear and decide it between them and withal was sent the Earl's Book and Sir Edward Fitton 's Answers given into the Council in England The Earl seemed desirous to have Matters sifted to the full Trial. And then each Party might say and prove the most and worst they could But Sir Thomas thought it the best way for the Deputy to perswade them both to wrap up as he exprest it all things by-past and to be Friends as they had promised it seems to be at a Reconciliation formerly made before the Lord Deputy and to joyn faithfully for the Furtherance of the Queen's Majesty's Service and the Quietness and good Order of the Country hereafter And it was in his Judgment as he added The best way to tread all under foot that had gone heretofore with a perpetual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to begin a new Line without grating upon old Sores Very wise and deliberate Council to avoid all ripping up former Grievances which is not the way to heal so much as to widen the old Differences There was this Year both Massing and Conjuring in great measure in the North especially and all to create Friends to the Scotch Queen and Enemies to Queen Elizabeth The one to keep the People in the Blindness of Popery and the other to hood-wink them to believe as it were by Prophesy the speedy approaching Death of the Queen The Earl of Shrewsbury was now Lord President of the Council in the North. He employed two sharp Persons to discover these Persons and their Doings Which they did so effectually that in the Month of February many of these Conjurers and Massmongers were seized and by the said Lord Presidents Order were brought up by them that seized them to Secretary Smith good store of their Books which Sir Thomas seeing called Pretty Books and Pamphlets of Conjuring They brought also to him an Account in Writing of their Travail and pains in this behalf There was apprehended danger in these Practices For the Papists earnestly longing for the Queen's Death had cast Figures and consulted with unlawful Arts which they mixt with their Masses to learn when she should die and who should succeed and probably to cause her Death if they could This piece of Service therefore the Queen and Counsel took very thankfully at the Earl of Shrewsbury's Hands Which together with the Course that was intended to be taken with these Criminals the Secretary signified to him in a Letter to this Tenor My very good Lord the Pain that the two to whom you gave Commission viz. Pain and Peg have taken to seek out the Conjurers and Mass-mongers is very well accepted of by my Lords of the Council and they willed me to give your Lordship therefore their most hearty thanks The Queen also not without great Contentation of her Highness hath heard of your careful ordering of those matters The matters be referred touching the Massing and such Disorders to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the great Commission Ecclesiastical That which shall appear by Examination to touch the State and the Prince to be referred again to my Lords of the Council c. This was dated from Greenwich Feb. 17. 1572. But it was thought highly needful that this dangerous Nest in the North should be searched more narrowly for and the Birds taken that they might no more Exercise these evil Practices or worse hereafter The care of which was therefore committed by the Council to the Justices of those parts out of some secret Favour as it seems in some of the Privy Counsellors to Papists For those Justices were known well enough to be generally Popishly affected Therefore it was the Judgment of the Secretary that these Justices would rather Cloak than Open
Excuse than Accuse them who were worthy of Accusation and very doubtful he was whether they would hinder the Discovery of the Nest that would be broken As he broke his Mind to the Lord Treasurer who was of the same Judgment and so also the Lord Chamberlain shewed himself to be in Conference with the Secretary But the said Treasurer who was for doing all things with Doulceur and with as little opposition to others as could be judged that for this time the doings of these Justices should be tried to which Opinion the Secretary did shew himself to condescend and agree There came soon after to his hands more Indicia of these Conjurers which were taken and withall a foul knot of Papistical Justices of Peace discovered and of Massing Priests which made him signify his judgment to the Lord Treasurer that it would be well done some of them should be sent for out of hand and laid hold on if they could be found And accordingly Letters were dispatched into the North for that purpose About this time it was that Sir Thomas was earnest with the Queen to send aid to reduce the Rebels in Scotland who had fortified Edenburgh Castle against the King and Regent and for that purpose he let the Queen understand from Mr. Killigrew her Ambassador in Scotland how dangerously things stood there and therefore that it was his desire that the Peace-makers as he phrased it might shortly be transported thither to whom when the Queen asked who be they Marry said he Your Majesty's Cannons they must do it and make a final Conclusion Then said the Queen I warrant you and that shortly Whereupon Sir Thomas said he was glad for it was better to prevent than to be prevented such was his Facetious way sometimes of getting his designs and Council to the Queen to succeed For it is to be understood that the Queen for the securing of her Affairs with respect to Scotland had by her Interest there procured the Earl of Morton a Protestant to be Regent of Scotland But the Papists and Frenchified Party resisted and took Edenburgh Castle the reducing of which so expeditely before the French could come in to their assistance was owing to the Managery of the Lord Treasurer and the Secretary His part was to urge the Queen to send speedy supply thither and the Lord Treasurer would have Men Ammunition and other Necessaries and a Ship immediately ready at Newcastle to go for Scotland upon the Queen's Order So about the 11 th or 12 th of February the Secretary moved the Queen for aiding the said Regent to reduce that place into the young King's Hands But she considered the Expence and told Smith of a device she had to do it without any such charge that is by a Letter to be written it seems to them that held the Castle thinking to bring them to yielding by some good words and promises But this the Secretary shewed her the inconvenience of namely that it would be a protracting of time being the very thing which they desired that the French might have time to come to them with their Succours He shewed her moreover that now the French King being thorowly occupied was the best time to perform that enterprize that was to be done and in fine she consented to his opinion and shewed her self very well pleased with the Lord Treasures making Provision in this mean while to have Powder and a ship of Newcastle and other things necessary provided beforehand for the doing it as the Secretary had signified to Her And she told him that upon that Lords coming to Court which then was at Greenwich she would fully determine with him all those Matters to be set forward with speed About this time were two Scotch men coming from France stopt at Rye by the Mayor and sent up to the Secretary who examined them They related what confident Report went in France what the French would do in Scotland and with what a mighty hand they would bring their Desires to pass there in spight of the English and such like But this the Secretary saw was but such Talk as might appear to be common in France For that Nation he said was full of Babble and Words and all for magnifying of their doings and Threatning what they would do rather than what they could do These men who called themselves Merchants were searched at Rye and no Letters nor other things suspicious found about them Yet the Secretary advised that Mr. Randal the Queens Ambassadour in Scotland or some other who knew Scotch Manners and Matters better should somewhat consider of them and if there were no matters against them to dismiss them in his Mind were best This year Sir Thomas procured a Colony to be sent into a Land of his in Ireland called The Ardes It was a rich and pleasant Country on the Eastern Coast of Ulster and of considerable Extent lying well for Trade by Sea Bordering upon a Country where Sarleboy contained himself with his Party He was an Hebidian Scot the Hebrides bordering upon this Province a long time detained prisoner by Shan O Neal the chief Prince in Ulster This Country was called Clandeboy where these Scots lived but they were beaten out once by this Shan who called himself Earl of Tir Oen and had killed two of the Brethren of Mac Conel Of which Family was Sarleboy whom he then had taken Prisoner but afterwards in an Extremity gave him his liberty This Shan was afterwards in a revenge slain by Sarleboy and his Party A Prospect of these Parts this Map will give In this Patent his base and only son Thomas Smith was joyned with him And under his Conduct Sir Thomas this year sent thither the Colony beforesaid having this good Design therein that those half barbarous People might be taught some Civility And his hope was that the Place might easily be defended by Garrisons placed in a strait neck of Land by which it was joyned to the rest of the Island And there was a Reward of Land to every Footman and Horseman But this extensive Project took not its desired effect For the hopeful Gentleman his Son had not been long there but he was unhappily and treacherously slain It was pity it had no better Issue For Sir Thomas a great while had set his Thoughts upon it undertaking to people that North Part of the Island with Natives of this Nation But for his more regular and convenient Doing of it and Continuance thereof he invented divers Rules and Orders The Orders were of two kinds I. For the management of the Wars against the Rebels and the preserving the Colony continually from the Danger of them II. For the Civil Government To preserve their Homeâ—manners Laws and Customs that they degenerated not into the Rudeness and Barbarity of that Country He divided his Discourse into thâ—â—e Parts First to speak of Wars And therein of Military Officers to be used there
Secondly Concerning Laws for the Politick Government of the Country to be possest for the Preservation of it Thirdly In what Orders to proceed in this Journey from the beginning to the End which Sir Thomas called A Noble Enterprise and A Godly Voyage His Son being now with his Colony upon the Place proceeded commendably in order to the Reduction of it He was in a good forwardness of reducing Sarleboy to Obedience For they had much Converse together and came at length to Articles of Agreement The main of which was that he should be made a Denizon of England by the Queen and hold his Land of her and him and the same Privilege should the rest of his Scots enjoy Paying to the Queen a yearly Rent in acknowledgement and he to become Homager to Her by Oath and so to be a faithful Subject or else lose his Right Mr. Smith also began a new Fort in this Country He laboured also to unite the English and Scots that were there who did not it seems very well agree That their strength being united they might be the more able to withstand the Wild Irish. And this the Scots were for promoting as considering that if the English and they should strive together when the one had weakened the other the Wild Irish like the Puthawk it was Sir Thomas's own similitude might drive them out or carry away both Besides the Pains Sir Thomas had already taken for the settlement of the Ardes he drew up this year Instructions to be sent from the Queen to his Son Containing directions upon what terms Sarleboy and his fellows should hold their Lands of her Majesty and him Likewise he drew up a draught for explaining certain Words doubtful in the Indentures between the Queen and him and his Son As about his Sons soldiers if they should Marry in that Country as it was likely they would The Secretary entreated the Lord Treasurer to steal a little leisure to look these Writings over and correct them so that he might make them ready for the Queens signing And this he hoped when once dispatched might be as good to his Son as Five Hundred Irish soldiers At Mr. Smith's first coming hither he found some few that claimed themselves descended of English blood namely the Family of the Smiths and the Savages and two Surnames more And these presently joyned with the English and combined with them against the Wild Irish. But all the rest were mere Irish or Irish Scots and natural Haters of the English The Queen had a Force of men in those Parts for necessary Defence and for the keeping of Knockfergus a very important Place for curbing the Irish. But to retrench her Charge in Ireland she was minded now to discharge them as she had done some already expecting that Smith should secure those Quarters nor would she grant any Foot or Horse to him Sir Thomas therefore in February interceded with her by the means of the Lord Treasurer that at least for that year she would suffer those Bands to be there to Countenance and support the New begun Aid and Fort and not to leave it so naked as it had been it seems all that Winter by Cassing those Bands that were heretofore the Defence of Knockfergus and the Bar of the North. And he told the Lord Treasurer upon this Occasion that it was certain if his Son had not retrieved a Band of the Lord of Harvey's at his own Charge Knockfergus had been in great danger or else clean lost But while these matters thus fairly and hopefully went on Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a wild Irish man Yet Sir Thomas did not wholly desist but carried on the Colony and procured more Force to pass over there For in March Anno exeunte his Son being but newly if yet dead there were Harrington Clark and some others Adventurers on this Design that gave certain Summs of Money for Lands there to be assured to them In the beginning of March 1572 the Ships Captains and Soldiers were ready to be wasted over When unhappily some Persons concerned had started some new Matter in regard of the Bargain Which put a stop to their Departure And one Edward Higgins the Chief of the Gentlemen and Captains that were going over and forward in this generous Expedition was hindred for want of the money agreed upon Hence it came to pass that the Captains lay at great Charges when their Ships Mariners and Soldiers were ready and they did nothing but dispend their Money This troubled Sir Thomas not a little as appears by a Letter he wrote to one Mrs. Penne a Gentlewoman that had an Influence upon some of these Persons that made the stop To whom therefore Sir Thomas applied himself praying her to call upon them to consider at what Charge the Captains did lie and to do what she could in any wise to help them away Whereby she should do the Queens Majesty good service and him and them great Pleasure It being a matter said he which indeed for the goodness of it I take much to heart This was writ from Greenwich the 6th of March This Care the Secretary continued For a year or two after I find him drawing out other Passports and Licences for transportation of Victuals for certain that went to the Ardes and expressing himself then to a Friend that it stood him upon both in Profit and Honesty not to let the present Month pass which was May An. 1574. And so during his Life Sir Tho. laboured in the Civilizing and Settlement of this his Colony But upon his Death it seems to have lain neglected for some Time And tho' the Family and Heirs of Sir Thomas who are extant to this day have often claimed their Interest in this Land which their Ancestor did so dearly purchase and well deserve yet they enjoy not a foot of it at this present For as I have been informed by some of that Worshipful Family Sir William Smith Nephew and Heir to our Sir Thomas Smith was meerly tricked out of it by the Knavery of a Scot one Hamilton who was once a Schoolmaster tho' afterwards made a Person of Honour with whom the said Sir William was acquainted Upon the first coming in of King Iames I. He minded to get these Lands confirmed to him by that King which had cost Sir Thomas besides the death of his only Son 10000 l. being to go into Spain with the English Ambassador left this Hamilton to solicite this his Cause at Court and get it dispatch'd But Sir William being gone Hamilton discovered the Matter to some other of the Scotch Nobility And he and some of them begged it of the King for themselves pretending to his Majesty that it was too much for any one Subject to enjoy And this Hamilton did craftily thinking that if he should have begged it all for himself he might perhaps have failed of success being so great a Thing but that
College Hall or House of Learning after the End of that Sessions of Parliament should make any Lease for Life or Years of any of their Lands Tenements or other Hereditaments to which any Tithe Arable Lands Medow or Pasture did appertain Except that one Third Part at the least of the old Rent were reserved and paid in Corn that is to say in good Wheat after Six Shillings and Eight Pence the Quarter or under and good Malt after Five Shillings the Quarter or under To be delivered Yearly upon Days perfixed at the said Colleges c And for default thereof to pay the said Colleges in ready Mony at the Election of the said Leasees after the Rate as the best Wheat and Malt in the Market of Cambridge and in the Market of Oxford and of Winchester and Windsor for the Rents that were to be paid to the use of the Houses there were or should be sold the next Market day before the said Rent should be due without Fraud or Deceit And that all Leases otherwise hereafter to be made and all Collateral Bonds and Assurances to the Contrary by any of the said Corporations should be void in Law to all intents and purposes And the same Wheat Malt or Money coming of the same to be expended to the Use of the Relief of the Commons and Diet of the said Colleges And by no Fraud or Colour 〈◊〉 or fold away from the Profit of the said Colleges and the Fellows and Scholars of the same and the Use aforesaid upon pain of Deprivation to the Governors or chief Rulers of the said Colleges and all others thereto consenting And this was no more than Sir Thomas himself had practised long before when he was Provost of Eaton whensoever he made or renewed the Leases of that College The Benefit of which he had well experienced by the rising of the Prizes of Corn even in his Remembrance For this Eternal Benefit to the Houses of Learning he deserved an eternal Monument and so a member of one of them in a Poetical Flight wrote O! Statua dignum Inventum Phrygiaque Columna About the year 1576. Sir Thomas Smith began to be afflicted with that Sickness and the publick Cares of the Queen and State As it is a Thing that is wont to create a true Friendship I mean the Proportion and Likeness of Tempers so it is not without Remark that Sir Thomas and the Lord Treasurer Burghley their Distempers were the same And which was more remakable still they used to seize upon these two Persons at the same Time Their Distemper was a Rheum The Rheum as he wrote to the same Lord which is my natural Enemy is commonly wont to assault me most when your Lordship is also grievously troubled with yours For April 22d 1576. at which time the Lord Burghley was very ill of his Distemper Sir Thomas wrote him a Letter that he was then seized with his And which was an ill Sign whereas before it used to take him either in his Jaw or Teeth or in the Lower Body with Loosness and all over with Sweat now it fastned it self in his Throat and Tongue and would not by any Art be removed So that he was almost out of Hope of any Amendment but clearly without Hope of any speedy Help tho' he never took so much Advice as he wrote nor used so many Physicians nor observed so much their Rules which he styled their Preciseness But when all is done added he piously that man may or ought to do the Sequel and Event of Health and the End of Life is in Gods Will and Pleasure That which he shall appoint is best to me Surely all is one being as willing now to Die as to Live and I trust with Gods Mercy and Hope therein as ready For it grieveth me to Live unserviceable to my Prince and unprofitable to my Country Heavy and unpleasant to my self For what Pleasure can a man have of my years when he cannot speak as he would For his chief Grief was in Eating and Drinking and Speaking and in the last especially While his Legs he said his Hands his Memory and his Wit served as much as need be desired It was indeed a great Grief to him that it so affected his Tongue And he avowed That if it were at his own Choice he had rather his Disease had taken hold of any other Part of his Body So that that Piece only as he called it which is contained in an handful space were at quiet Which yet was without pain or grief but when he Eat or Drank or Spake The continual Defluxion and falling down of tough Flegm still vexing it and interrupting the most necessary uses of the Throat This envious Disease stopt that Eloquent Tongue of his And that Sweet and streaming Rhetoric which was wont to flow to the Delight and Admiration of all received now a Fatal Check and Sir Thomas must play the Orator no more no nor scarce utter a single Word For to that Extremity he was brought at last Which the Poet that wrote the Muses Tears for him thus expresses Nescio quis subito Morbus sic occupat artus 〈◊〉 quâ—â—lim mellita din jam verba solebat Fundâ—re vix aliquam possit transmittere vocem Gutturis ast imis latitans radicibus intus Haereret nullumque Sonum Lingua ederet illo Qâ—o solita esl Splendore decus laudemque merente He foresaw that he was like to continue a long while in this Condition And be so disablied from his common Function and to attend the Queen's Business But he could not be idle which he said was contrary to his Nature He was therefore minded to follow his Study and take a Review of what he had formerly done and in this â—eathful Leisure as he called it among other Occupations and Pastimes he would remember the Days of his Youth and look back again to his Doings then and now being Old Quasi repueraseâ—re i. e. hereby as it were to grow a Child again When he was Secretary in King Edwards Days he wrote a Book of the Value of the Roman Coins to our English Standard upon a Question Cecil his fellow Secretary had moved to him viz. What was the Ordinary Wages of a Soldier at Rome This Book as many others which he wrote in his Youth he had now lost Two of these he had sent he remembred one to Sir Robert Dudley now Earl of Leicester and the other to Sir Will. Cecil now Lord Treasurer Now he had lately desired Mr. Wolley to search in the said Earl's Study for it but it could not be found He desired therefore the Lord Treasurer to see for it who he thought had not laid it up so negligently And especially he desired the Tables which were exactly and plainly set forth For searching among his old Papers he could find the first Draught of the said Book and the Adversaria Whereby he was able to fill up all