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
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
this had such effect upon Ireland that there was no quiet to be looked for in that Kingdom to the end of her days But yet by the year 1571. Sir John Perrot Governor of Munster brought that Province into Peace The King of Spain was slow in meddling with the Irish Affairs and sent them little or no Supplies till the year 1578. which was Ten years after they began to treat with him for his Assistance This year one Stukely an English-man was sent by Gregory XIII Pope of Rome and the King of Spain with Eight hundred Italian Soldiers but he went with Sebastian King of Portugal into Africa where he and his men perished with that King In 1578. Sir William Drury was sworn Lord Deputy of Ireland the 14th of September The same year James Fitz Morris after he had Sworn Allegiance to the Queen before Sir John Perrot went into France and failing of any Supplies from thence he went into Spain where he obtained a few Men and some Money and in July 1579. he landed Eighty Spaniards at Semerwick in Kerry where he built a Fort and Sanders the Pope's Legate Consecrated the ground but the English took the three Ships for all that and put the Spaniards into a wonderful fright The Desmonds joined with these Rebels and soon after a great many of the old English who persisted in the Roman-Catholick Religion which was in a great degree owing to the smalness of the English Forces in Ireland the Army being then but about Six hundred men Sir William Drury sickned and died and Sir William Pelham was chosen in his Place by the Council and Sworn the 11th of October 1579. who was succeeded by Arthur Lord Grey Baron of Wilton Sworn the 14th of September 1580. He took the Fort above-mentioned and put all the Spaniards to the Sword which much displeased the Queen tho the Deputy alledged That he could not keep them his Prisoners the Army was so small and the Numbers of his Enemies were so great The Deputy went on with small Forces and an Invincible Resolution and Industry defeating and reducing them so often and so strangely that at last they got him represented to the Queen as a Bloody man that regarded not the Lives of the Subjects any more than the lives of Dogs but had Tyrannized with that Barbarity that there was little left for the Queen to reign over but Carcasses and Ashes The Necessity of the Times had indeed made him severe but he had shewed much more Mercy to the Irish than either they deserved or was consistent with the Queen's Interest or the Safety of the English that were in Ireland however in the midst of his Victories he was re-called in August 1582. The next year the miserable Earl of Desmond was taken in a Cabin in a Wood and slain unknown by an Irish man and his Head sent over into England and set on London-Bridge His Name was Girald and he was the Fifteenth Earl of that Family and with his Life ended this Rebellion in Munster The Queen was however a Lady of that Generous Mercy and Compassion that she was heartily concerned for the Bloods of these miserable Wretches who sought hers and her Protestant Subjects Ruin with an Hellish and Implacable â—…ury The distributing Mercy and Justice with Prudence is the hardest Task a Prince has and in truth there is none but God that can pretend to do it always well because he alone knows both the truth of all mens actions the ends and designs of them and the tempers of the Agents as to the present and the future But Princes are often deceived in one or more of these and so spare or punish when they should not Besides they are subject to the same Passions other men are and by them they are mis-led when the thing is plain It is better generally speaking to be too Merciful than too severe But when it is known once that a man will be so it ruins more than it can save and too much exposeth the Innocent Mercy to Multitudes and mean people is always seasonable and the contrary destructive but to pardon Great men for two three or four Rebellions one after another is to proclaim a liberty of doing it impunedly She was never guilty of this in England but in Ireland it was frequently done and therefore it was her own fault that she met with so much trouble and all her Mercy almost was thrown away and proved Cruelty to the English Pardon a barbarous Enemy and you make him insolent and therefore inexorable Justice especially upon a relapse is absolutely necessary but then this is to be understood only of great Men and of great Crimes such as Murder and Rebellion In the year 1584. June 26. Sir John Perrot was made Lord Deputy of Ireland He was sent thither in unquiet and dangerous times and he managed Affairs with so much Industry and Courage that he saved Ireland tho he himself fell a Sacrifice to the Malice of Hatton the Lord Chancellor of England In his time the Queen gave to several Adventurers of the Lands forfeited by Desmond and his Accomplices 574628 Acres The Proprietors were to People the same and to pay the Queen over and besides 1976 l. 7 s. 5 d. the year Quit-Rent To this end she invited the younger Brothers of the English Nation to settle in Ireland promising them great Privileges and Land at reasonable Rents The Burks in Connaught hereupon rebelled but were overthrown Seven of Three thousand scaping Thus things were again reduced into a tolerable good order and the dispeopled Province of Munster was at once Peopled and Civilized by the English but the Deputy had no share in it but it was managed by a Committee for he was on ill terms with the Queen upon the account of some indiscreet passionate words he had dropped and which were by the Malice of his Enemies told the Queen with many invidious Additions The Queen had ordered That if any unforfeited Lands were intermixed with those that were forfeited that the Proprietor should be compounded with to his content and be bought out that so the Undertakers might have his Mannor intire But when this came to be put in practice there was great and loud Complaints brought to the Deputy That the Adventurers had unjustly outed many innocent men of their Inheritances out of covetousness to get their Estates Whereupon a Proclamation was issued out Commanding the Proprietors to restore what they had unjustly taken which with the favour the Deputy shewed to the Ejected Irish by the Queen's Order put a stop to the Wrong and the Complaints As he had had no hand in the distribution of these Lands so he soon made the Adventurers sensible they were to expect no favour from him which turned to the advantage of the Irish but occasioned bitter Complaints from the English against the Deputy as a Favourer of the Irish rather than of the English But
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
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
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
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
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
compassionating the Dangers of Scotland foreseeing also at the same time the great and almost unavoidable danger which was approaching her own Kingdom if the French were suffered by force or fraud to subdue that part of the Scots which were of the Protestant Religion she couragiously and prudently resolved to undertake the Defence and Protection of this Nation and broke with the French whose Friendship is at all times doubtful and uncertain Thereupon she sent Mr. William Winter the Master of her Naval Cannon with a Fleet into the Fryth of Edinburgh in the year 1560 which took the Island of Keth from the French and expelled their Garifoâ—… and relieved the Scots that were then in Arms. She made also the Duke of Norfolk a Peer of good Experience in Warlike 〈◊〉 President of the North. At the same time she sent the Lord Grey of WILTON who had been very unsuccessful in the Defence of GUINES a Fortress belonging to Calais in her Sister's Reign with an Army by Land into Scotland He entred Scotland with this Army which consisted in Six Thousand Foot and Two Thousand Horse in a peaceable and civil manner treating the Countries through which he passed as a Friend and an Ally that came to help them and sat down before Leith a Sea-Port which was then Garison'd by the French Martigues who was a young and a fiery Gentleman being spurr'd on by the over-warm desires of Glory would needs undertake with Twelve Companies of Foot to beat the English Army upon their first approach from the Hills on which they were posted tho the French were to charge up the Hill whereupon there was presently a sharp and bloody Fight for that Ground the French for a great while sustained with much Bravery the Charge of the English Army on their Front but the Scotch Horse Wheeling about and Charging them on the flank too they were at last beaten with great Loss from their ground and forced into the Town of Leith and very few of them had escaped if the English Horse had done their part as well as the Scotch did theirs The French however were not quiet tho thus beaten but making a Sally after this the 15th of April they surprized the Advanced Guards and cut them off broke into the Lines and Nailed up Three of the English Cannons and took Maurice Berkley one of the Commanders Prisoner But Robert Crofâ—…s and Cuthbert Vaghan two other English Officers fell on the French who pursued their point too far and forced them back into the Town In this Sally Arthur the Eldest Son of the Lord Grey who then commanded in the Trenches was wounded in the Shoulder by a Musket-Bullet whilst he valiantly opposed the French This Sally exasperated the English and they observingthat their Batteries had not any considerable effect on the Walls by reason of their distance they came nearer to the Town and erected new Batteries There was nothing wanting in the Town which was needful to enable the Garison to make a stout Defence the Walls and Bastions were full of men excellently Armed and they played furiously on the English wounding some and killing others and both by day and by night making furious Sallies besides which the English bore with so much Patience and Bravery that they surâ—…ounted all these difficulties The last day of April a Fire happened in the Town which bâ—…rned all that night and the English by turning their Cannon upon those parts that were burning terrified the Inhabitants and spread the Fire and the same night they passed the Dike and measured the heighth of the Walls The French within the Town were no less industrious than the English were without and at last they had the good fortune to put out the Fire and to prevent the English from turning the Terror of it to the best advantage After this the English burnt the Water-Mills upon the River Leith which here falls into the Fryth of Edinburgh and gives name to the Town and what they could not burn they demolished The 5th of May the English storm'd the Town with the Assistance of the Scots under the Command of one Vincer the French tho much terrified with the bold approaches of the English yet manfully defended the Walls and the Ladders proving too short and the Waters being restrained by the Garison were also found deeper than was expected to their great damage so that 160 of the English were slain and nothing gained The whole blame of this Misfortune was cast upon Crofts who stood stone still in the placâ—… he was appointed to act in and neither diverted the Enemy or sent any Assistance to them that were engaged and thereupon he was accused to the Queen by the Duke of Norfolk and thâ—… Lord Grey for which he afterwards being called beâ—…ore the Council was deprived of the Government of Berwick The Duke of Norfolk in the mean time took care to revive the droopiâ—…g Spirits of the English by a fresh Supply of 2000 men which he soon after senâ—… to reinforce the Camp and to curb the Insolence of the French which rose higher upon this Misfortune of the Besiegers so that they made more frequent Sallies after iâ—… than they had done before At the same tiâ—…e the Duke sent a Letter to the Lord Grey to coâ—…fort the Army for the late 〈◊〉 and to assure him that within a short time he would follow with all the Forces he had under his Command This Recruit blew off the Memory of their Loss and kindled in the minds of the Besiegers a strong desire to revenge the Baffle they had received and recover their former Reputation By this time the Besieged had tried all the ways their prudence could suggest to raise the Siege without any success and were now as much oppressed by Famine within as by the Enemy without and having no hopes of any Relief they at last began with the consent of the French King to Capitulate with the Queen for he scorned to Treat with the Scots who were his Subjects who to that end sent Sir William Cecil and Sir Nicholas Throgmorton to Edinburgh The Lord James a Scotch Peer proposed some things on the behalf of the Scots in this Treaty which Sir William Cecil told him did not become Subjects to ask or Princes to grant And the French on the other side offered the Queen that if she would withdraw her Forces out of Scotland he would restore Calais to the English to which she generously replied She did not value that Fisher-Town so much as to hazard for it the State of Britain so even did she hold the Balance between that King and his Subjects suffering neither of them to wrong the other At last it was agreed That the French should within Twenty days depart out of Scotland and the Fortifications of Leith and Dunbar should be slighted The 16th of July the French accordingly embarked on the English Fleet for France and the same day the Lord Grey began his
of Supremacy And finding that the Iesuits and Secular Priests were under the Mask and Pretence of Religion the Spies and Partisans of Philip II. King of Spain and the Emissaries and Promoters of the Papal Tyranny and Disorder and that their greatest business was to pervert her Subjects and to entice them to commit the most unnatural and horrid Crimes she banished them for ever from her Kingdoms and Territories and made it Treason for them to return and Felony for any of her Subjects knowing them to be such to entertain conceal or harbor them This which was designed by the Queen and the Government to cure or rather to prevent their Treachery and Malice by keeping them at a distance inflamed their rage against her so that concealing themselves under the Habits and Dresses of Lay men and sometimes under the Disguise of Mechanick and mean Trades and Employments they lay as it were in ambush expecting and ready to catch at any opportunity that offered it self to murther her In the year 1578. which was the 12th year of her Reign and the very year when the Popish Schism began several of the Popish Priests fled over into Flanders where Philip II. had already prepared for them a College at Doway and here they put themselves under the Government of one William Alan a Divine of Oxford who having obtained a large Pension from the Pope opened here a School for Rebellion and Treason To the end say they that as the Papal Priests in England are by time extinguished there might always be a new Race to supply their Places and sow the Seeds of the Roman Religion in England and therefore they called these Places Seminaries and those that were educated in them Seminary Priests The first of these Seminary Priests sent over were Robert Parson and Edmund Campion in the year 1580. Parson was a Somersetfhire man of a furious and hot Temper and of an ungenteel behaviour Campian was a Londoner well bred sweet and elegant and both of them had been bred up in the University of Oxford and had profess'd the Protestant Religion These men upon their coming over into England appeared sometimes in a Military Habit sometimes in the Dress of a Gentleman and at others in the Habits of the Clergy and sometimes like Paritors and frequented the Country Houses and Seats of the Popish Nobility and Gentry Parson was so hot with them for the deposing of the Queen that some of them were strongly inclined to deliver him up into the Hands of the Magistrates Campian made it more his business to pervert the People by his Writings to the Popish Religion but his Reign was not long for in the year 1581. he was taken and executed for High-Treason The Queen had before this put out a Proclamation to give these men a caution before-hand That seeing they had put off all that Love which they owed to their Countrey and the Allegiance which was due to her they should yet behave themselves prudently and modestly and not irritate her Justice any farther against them for she was now resolved not to be cruel to her self and her good Subjects any longer by sparing such Miscreants as she had found them to be So that how severely soever they were used they had the lessâ—…ason to complain because she had fairly before-hand told them what she meant to do and what usage they might expect at her hands In the year 1583. Francis Throgmorton the eldest Son of John Throgmorton Chief Justice of Chester Thomas Lord Paget and Charles Arundel and others of the Popish Religion conspired to deliver the Queen of Scots out of her Confinement Henry Earl of Northumberland and Philip his Son Earl of Arundel were suspected and confined to their own Houses and some others were suspected and difficultly delivered themselves For about this time the outragious Malice of the Popish Party against the Queen broke out to that degree that they printed Books to exhorâ—… the Queens Servants to serve her as Judith did Holofernes The Author of which was never fully discovered but iâ—… was suspected that it was written by Gregory Martin of Oxford but Carter a Printer that printed it was hanged Throgmâ—… had the same Fate but Paget and Charles Arundel left the Nation and went into France Stafford the Queen's Ambassador desired they might be sent out of France which was denied because the Queen had at the same time entertained the Count de Montgomery and had then with her Sagner an Advocate of Berne an Ambassador for the King of Navar who was endeavouring to promote a War in France In the year 1585. William Parry a Welshman by Birth and of a very mean Extraction meanly learned in the Civil Law but proud and gallant beyond his Means being chosen a Member of the Lower-House declaimed very furiously against a Bill then proposed in Parliament against the Jesuits averring tâ—…at it was a cruel bloody desperate Bill and would be destructive to the Kingdom of England Being desired to shew his Reasons for what he said he refused to answer before any other than the Privy Council whereupon he was commitâ—…ed and afterwards upon his submission readmitted into the House but was afterwards accused by Edmund Nevil the Heir Male of the House of Westmorland to have a Design against the Life of the Queen which he confessed afterwards in the Tower upon which he was tryed and executed In the year 1586. J. Ballard a Ruffling Priest of the College of Reims came over to embroil the Nation and made his visit to most of the Popish Nobility and Gentry in England and Scotland being every where accompanied by one Mand who was a Spy employed by Sir F. Walsingham This Silken Priest came into England about Easter and contracted a great acquaintance and friendship with Mr. Anth. Babington of Dethick in Derbyshire a young Gentleman of good Birth and Estate of great Wit and Learned above his years but being a great Zealot for the Romish Religion he about a year before this without the Queen's leave went into France and there was first debauched as to his Loyalty by Morgan an Agent for the Scotchmen in that Court Ballard informed this Gentleman that the Queen of England would not live long because there was one Savage come over to assassinate her This Project did not please Babington so he formed a new Design in which were Edward Brother to the Lord Windsor Thomas Sarisbury of the County of Denbigh Charles Tilney one of the Gentlemen Pensioners that waited upon the Queen and the only hope of his Family but reconciled to the Church of Rome under-hand by this Ballard Chidick Tichburn of the County of Southampton Edward Abington Son of the Queen's Cosserer Robert Grage of Surry John Traverse John Charnock of Lancaster John Jones whose Father had been Master of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary Savaâ—…e and one Barnwell of a Noble 〈◊〉 Family Henry Dun a Clerk in
this Great Man who was of a Regal Spirit and is supposed to have been a Bastard Son of Henry the VIIIth despised too much the Complaints of his Countrey-men and forced the greatest of the English to fly before his Authority and as for the Irish he made them better than they would otherwise have been both by his Threats and Severity and by his good Advices and by the strength of his Reason he made them understand how much it was for their good to continue firm in their Allegiance to the Queen This was an hard Task considering the Capacity and Temper both of the People he was to deal with and of the Times in which he governed Ireland In the year 1588. Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Lord Deputy of Ireland and continued till the 11th of August 1594. He was a Covetous Unjust man and laid the Foundations of a great many Troubles to the English in after times but in all his Ireland was tolerably quiet till towards the latter end of his Government only the Irish took up an Aversion for the English Government and Sheriffs by his means and Tyrone having Six Companies allowed him under the Queen's Pay he changed his men so often that the whole Countrey became Disciplined men and he got great quantities of Lead into his Possession under pretence of building a fine House In the year 1593 the College of Dublin was finished at the Queen's Charges and Burleigh was the first Chancellor and Usher the first Scholar in it That which made Ireland so quiet under Fitz-Williams was the Justice Prudence and Valour of his Predecessor Sir John Perrot which had broken the Power of the Heads of the Irish Clans and so well Civilized and Planted that Kingdom with English Colonies and Garisons that during these Six years there was but Eight hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse maintained to keep the Natives in quiet The Irish were also so well setled in their Lands Estates and Cattel that it was no mans Interest to make any Disturbance And there was no Foreign Prince that could be brought to join with them or lend them any Assistance The Spanish Armada in the latter end of the year 1588. lost Seventeen of its Ships upon the Northern and Western Shores of this Kingdom and 5394 of the men in it perished and tho some of the Popish Natives sheltered some of them yet they all robbed them of their Freasures and got what they had for it And King James of Scotland looked upon himself as the Presumptive Heir of this Kingdom after the Queen and kept a fair Correspondence with the English and restrained the Scots and Islanders from joining with the Irish. There was a Rumor in England That there was a vast Treasure found in the Spanish Ships which perished in Connaught and Ulster And Fitz-Williams the Lord Deputy made a severe search after it commanding by a Proclamation all the Spanish Treasures to be brought into the Exchequer for the Queen's use and he imprisoned Sir Owen O Toole and Sir John O Dogherty two of the greatest men in the North in the Castle of Dublin on this pretence tho they were the best affected to the English of any of the Inhabitants but he could discover nothing tho he kept the first Two years in Restraint and the latter all his time who was discharged by his Successor and died soon after being much decayed by the Hardships of a long Imprisonment and Old Age. But all these ill things done under Fitz Williams made work for them that followed him Upon the Death of Mac Mahon who was one of the Heads of an Irish Clan and had not long before taken a Patent from the Queen for the County of Monaghan to him and his Heirs Male for ever Hugh Roe his Brother and Heir Petitioned the Deputy to be setled in his Inheritance according to the Queen's Patent and the Laws of the Kingdom and the Irish say it coft him Six hundred Cows to have a Promise of it And then the Deputy only said he would go in person to do it But as soon as he came to Monaghan he Imprisoned Tried and Condemned Hugh Roe by Military Law and without any Legal Trial pretending he had Levied Forces two years before to distrain for Rent he pretended was due to him in the Ferny Hereupon he was hanged and the County was divided between Sir Henry Bagnal Marshal Captain Henslow and four of the Mac Mahons under a Yearly Rent each of these giving the Deputy considerable Bribes as they said in their Complaint to the Council of England The Deputy denied all this but it was observed That from thenceforward the Irish loathed Sheriffs and the Neighbourhood of the English fearing the same fate might at one time or other attend them that had befallen Hugh Roe The Report of this Villany Spread it self all over Ulster and the Heads of the Clans were greatly terrified and incensed at it and had close Cabals wherein they severely taxed the ill Management Covetousness and Cruelty of the Deputy There was then in Ulster a Great Man called Hugh O Neal the Son of one Mathew a Smith a Cunning and a Crafty man who from his youth had served the Queen in the Wars In Desmond's Rebellion he had done the Queen good Service and got much Reputation both for his Courage and Industry The Queen on the other side protected this poor obscure Gentleman against the Malice of the O Neals who hated him as the Enemy to their Nation and she advanced him from an abject and mean Condition to great Honour and made him Earl of Tyrone for his Merits and Deserts He became intoxicated with his too good fortune and ungratefully and madly design'd to ruin her that had made him what he was and now nothing would serve him but he would needs be King of Ulster and to that end he assumed the Title of O Neale and cast off all Respect and Allegiance for the Queen He disciplined the rude and ignorant Kerns after the English manner under the pretence I have before recited and in the mean time under hand instilled into them an invincible hatred of the English Religion and Government calling the first Heresy and the latter a shameful Slavery and Servitude by which he disposed them so well to a Rebellion that almost the whole Nation revolted at once from the Queen In July 1591. Tyrone was made a County and divided into Eight Baronies Dungannon being appointed for the Shire-Town which with the Authority of Marshal Bagnal so fretted Tyrone that it 's believed it occasioned his Confederating this Summer underhand with the rest of the Irish to defend their pretended Rights and not to admit Sheriffs into their Counties The effects of this first appeared in the year 1593. when O Connor became troublesome in Connaught and O Donnel and Mac Guire chief of Fermanagh rose in Ulster against the Sheriffs and would have
he every time drove them into their own ships or into the Sea Thus he defended himself all that night with the great slaughter of his own men but with the greater loss of the Enemy In the morning the English found their Powder fail their Masts shot down their Rigging torn and the most part of their bravest men slain or wounded and the rest so wearied with the fight that they could hardly stand to their Arms The ship also had received 800 shot of Cannon from the Enemy Greenvill was wounded and whilst the Chyrurgeon was applying a Plaister to the Wound he was wounded on the head and the Chyrurgeon was slain When the day broke upon them they found the Deck all covered with Blood shattered Timber dead and dying men so that it struck terror into the beholder Greenvill having now fought 15 hours and there being no hope of escaping commanded the ship to be sunk the Pilot forbad it and went forth within the Long-boat to the Spanish Admiral to resign the English ship covenanting for their Lives and Liberties that were left in it Greenvill thereupon was carried aboard the Spanish Admiral languishing and just ready to expire The Spaniards when they came to fetch him off found him lying upon the Deck all covered with Blood and Wounds and gasping out his Soul and they being amazed at the Resistance he had made and the Condition they found him in endeavoured to stanch his Wounds and applied fit Remedies to him But all they could do or say to mitigate his Sorrows was despised by him and he answered all their Kindnesses with Frowns and Threats and thus living two days in the Agonies of Death he expired The Spaniards who are a valiant Nation were so far from being exasperated by this carriage of his that they reverenced him as an Hero The ship verified her Name at last for being sent into Spain with 200 men on board she perished in a storm and all the men were drown'd so that every way she was to them a severe REVENGE When the Queen had any small respite from the Cares of War the far greatest part of her Reign being in truth spent in the defence of her Kingdoms and her Neighbours who all had their recourse to her in their Distresses she always turned her thoughts to the amending what was amiss in the State There were great Complaints made to her by the Ministers and Ambassadors of Foreign States residing here That the Seas were infested by her Subjects and the ships of her Friends and Allies rifl'd whereupon she put out a Proclamation for the security of her Friends strictly forbidding all her Subjects for the future to offer any violence or wrong to the Ships of any of her Neighbours if they did not carry Iron Corn or Stores for Navigation and Shipping to the Spaniards with whom she was then in War Threatning that whoever was hereafter found to break her Orders should be taken for Pyrats and treated accordingly By this Proclamation and her exact care to see it executed accordingly she cleared the Seas and made them as safe as the Land The management of Proclamations in our Government is a thing of great difficulty because they can introduce no new Law and are of no force if they be contrary to Law And when they are never so legal if men are once inured to the slighting them they are no more regarded than the whistling of the Wind in a stormy day We have seen many Proclamations put out in our times which were extorted from Princes against their wills or issued upon design to serve a turn for the present and the Prince well pleased to see the Bauble ridiculed and contemned but men did not stop there they treated other Proclamations in the same manner which were of the greatest importance to the safety of the Prince and Nation And all these Orders of State which in her times were as venerable as an Act of Parliament in Ours sunk to the value of almost a common Ballad a Mischief which it will take some time perfectly to redress Amongst those that complained of the Depredations of the English none were more clamorous than the Hanse Towns in Germany who in the Year 1597. brought a Complaint before the Dyet of Germany at Ratisbon against the English That they had rifl'd and robb'd all their ships that carried Corn Iron and Cordage to the Spaniards The Quarrel went so high that the English were prohibited all Trade in Germany because they traded there upon their own Laws and not according to the Laws of the Empire That is that they would not submit their Trade to the Rules of the Hanse Towns but traded as a free Nation under the Protection of their own Queen and Laws To this the Queen by her Ambassador Mr. John Wroth replied That the Complaint of the Hanse Towns was unjust That it became her as a good Prince to consult the Welfare of her own People and to promote their safety and common advantage and that it became a good Shepherd to prefer the welfare of his own Flock before that of any other That the Hanse Towns if they did well consider it might trade upon the same Privileges with her own Subjects but then if they expected to enjoy a Monopoly in her Kingdom they desired more than was fit to be granted by a just and free Prince as she was Rodolph then Emperor of Germany was offended with the Answer the Queen had made and passed a Law in the Dyet prohibiting the English from trading in any of the Ports of Germany and commanding them to withdraw with their effects by a certain day The Queen on the other hand represented the injustice of this Edict to the Emperor and the Princes and informed them that Henry the IIId her Predecessor had by a Royal Charter made by agreement granted to the Hanse Towns a place in London call'd the Stillyard with many very large Privileges for the preserving the Freedom of their Trade That this Grant had after been confirm'd by Edward III. Richard II. Henry IV V VI. and all the other Princes to her Brother's time and had been religiously observed and therefore she desired that the Edict might be suspended and the Controversie ended by a Treaty but this was denied Whereupon the Queen by the Advice of her Council put out a Proclamation commanding the Germans to depart from the Stillyard the same day the English were commanded to leave Germany from thenceforward she put a stop to all their Trade in London or any other of her Ports and ordered the Lord Mayor of London to seize the Stillyard The Hanse Towns called a Dyet of all their Members at Lubeck and in it by way of Revenge resolved to put a stop to the Trade of the English in Poland and other places of the Baltick Sea Whereupon the Queen sent Sir George Carew Chancellor of the Exchequer into Pruffia and Poland to acquaint the
who served in their own Arms. The present Practice of imploying mean people arose upon the multiplying the Train Arms and the overcharging men which indeed has made them more numerous but not so safe considerable or governable as they were before to the damage both of the Crown and People She never advanced any to the degree of a Peer but those that were men of worth and whose virtue and industry had rendered them fit for it and yet after all these Cautions the number she created was very small She rarely created any man a Peer upon the solicitation or recommendation of others or for her own fancy or humour but when any person stood Candidate for that Honour there was an exact and careful confideration had of the Nobility of his Ancestors the Greatness of the Family the Endowments of his Mind and the briskness of his Parts of his Probity Wisdom and Prudence and of the strength and vigour of his Body which might enable him to perform some good service to the Nation It was the rare felicity of these Times That men were advanced to Honours without their seeking it and sometimes against their wills being promoted for their Virtues not Fortunes She chose her Counsellors Bishops Judges Ministers and Court-Officers and her inferior Magistrates on the single score of their Fidelity Experience Piety Justice Modesty Prudence and Wisdom That they being thus advanced might exercise their Offices the more honourably and sincerely She would often tell those she entrusted That they might rest assured she would reward their Integrity Industry and Equity and if she found them guilty of any Injustice and Oppression she would as certainly punish them for it She would never entertain in her Service any Ignorant Covetous Dishonest or Light Person She always loved Sir Walter Rawleigh for his great Ingenuity and Loyalty yet he was never admitted into the Privy Council When Burleigh the Lord Treasurer had a long time solicited her to advance his Son Robert a Person of great Parts to be Secretary of State she a great while denied it only because he was little of stature and hunch-backed and she thought it a dishonour to that Board to have a deformed Person sit amongst so many Eminent and Noble Persons and when afterwards he attained this Honour upon the solicitation of his Father and his other Friends the Nobility were highly offended at it And when after that he was upon the death of the Lord Buckhurst made his Father's Assistant in the Treasury it so far provoked the Military men that it proved the Ruine of the Earl of Essex and it was well it ended here The Queen being thus provided with a Wise and Noble Council with great care and prudence and which were highly esteemed by her People too as well as her self for their virtue she chose the most learned and uprightest of the Councellors or Lawyers to be her Judges only Hatton excepted She was an exact Observer of Justice which is the most resplendent of all the Moral Virtues and of veracity or constancy to her Word which is the foundation of Justice She was extremely severe against all that broke her Laws and punished sometimes small Offences with great severity Though the Earl of Essex was a Person of great Fame her particular Favourite and had done her and the Nation good Services and was the best Soldier her times bred which were well stored with excellent Military men yet when by the fraud of his Enemies and Flatterers rather than his own Inclinations he was so far transported as to attempt to arm her Subjects against his envious Rivals who treacherously sought his ruine That which he expected would have turned to his advantage failing the Queen delivered him into the hands of the common Executioner who mangled his Body to that degree that it enraged the people that saw it against the Hangman and they stoned and cursed him for it and drove him out of the City Soon after God took a severe account of those that had been the Procurers of this Noble Person 's death Cobham Gray and Rawleigh with their whole Families were ruined within the space of a few years Sir Robert Cecil the principal Agent in it lived longer but at last perished too by a long Disease attended with Ulcers and other painful and loathsome Circumstances and as the Story goes under an Hedge in the open Fields as he was travelling on the Road. Sir John Perrot a Welsh Gentleman of great Spirit and of much fame for his Military Exploits and his Integrity in the management of the Wars in Ireland was yet of something too fierce a temper which gave his Enemies too many opportunities to traduce and injure him The Lord Chancellor Hatton was one of those who imployed Spies upon him and they catching some Expressions that fell from him in a passion and much improving them to his disadvantage accused him to the Queen as one that was not well affected to Her Majesty and that had used some Expressions which tended to her dishonour for which and his over-stiff Contumacy he was put upon his Trial and being found guilty he was condemned and was imprisoned to the day of his death suffering want and nastiness of a common Goal and the uneasiness of an afflicted and delected mind to see himself thus in his old Age abandon'd to the malice of his Enemies by his Mistress whom he had served with much fidelity and courage in her Wars His Estate also which he had received from his Ancestors which was considerable and what he had gained himself was all taken from him The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was also suspected to have had a great share in the Contrivance of this Gentleman's Ruine Her Severity which she exerted in punishing the Disorders and Offences of her Servants was so far from being invidious that it made her more popular and the better thought of by all good men She had the utmost aversion for all contrived and malicious Murthers so that she thought such Miscreants could never be treated too ill and when she got them into her power she would rarely shew them any mercy Of this I will only give two Instances of a multitude that happened in her times which will shorten my Work and serve to illustrate her Justice and Severity There were two Brothers of the Family of Davers who were of the degree of Knights and men of good Estates and Reputations and they had a quarrel with another Gentleman of equal Birth and Estate whose name was Long a man of Valour too thereupon they resolved to murther him and taking the advantage as he was going to set down to Dinner they shot him in the breast The Queen hearing of this Fact was strangely enraged at it and resolved to revenge the Villany to the utmost degree as she ever detected all premeditated Assassinations and she accordingly ordered the Law to pass against the two Daverses and cited them to
a Lesson or two plaid upon the Lute but she would be much offended if there was any rudeness to any Person any reproach or licentious Reflection used Tarleton who was then the best Comedian in England had made a pleasant Play and when it was acting before the Queen he pointed at Sir Walter Rawleigh and said See the Knave commands the Queen for which he was corrected by a Frown from the Queen yet he had the confidence to add that he was of too much and too intolerable a power and going on with the same liberty he reflected on the over-great Power and Riches of the Earl of Leicester which was so universally applauded by all that were present that she thought fit for the present to bear these Reflections with a seeming unconcernedness But yet she was so offended that she forbad Tarleton and all her Jesters from coming near her Table being inwardly displeased with this impudent and unreasonable Liberty She would talk with Learned Men that had travelled in the presence of many and ask them many Questions concerning the Government Customs and Discipline used abroad She loved a natural Jester that would tell a Story pleasantly and humour it with his Countenance and Gesture and Voice but she hated all those Praters that made bold with other mens Reputation or defamed them She detested as ominous and unfortunate all Dwarfs and Monstrous Births She loved Little Dogs Singing Birds Parrots and Apes And when she was in private she would recreate her self with various Discourses a game at Chess Dancing or Singing Then she would retire into her Bed-chamber where she was attended by married Ladies of the Nobility the Marchioness of Winchester then a Widow the Countess of Warwick and the Lord Scroop's Lady whose Husband was Governor of the West Marshes She would seldom suffer any to wait upon her there except Leicester Hatton Essex Nottingham and Sir Walter Rawleigh who were more intimately conversant with her than anyother of theCourtiers She frequently mixed serious things with her Jests and her Mirth and upon Festival Days and especially in Christmas-time she would play at Cards and Tables which was one of her usual Pastimes and if at any time she happened to win she would be sure to demand the Money When she found her self sleepy she would take her leave of them that were present with much kindness and gravity and so betake her to her rest some Lady of good quality and of her intimate acquaintance always lying in the same Chamber And besides her Guards that were always upon Duty there was a Gentleman of Good Quality and some others up in the next Chamber who were to wake her in case any thing extraordinary happened Though she was endowed with all the Goods of Nature and Fortune and adorned with all those things which are valuable and to be desired yet there were some things in her that were capable of amendment nor was there ever any Mortal whose Virtues were not eclipsed by the neigbourhood of some Vices or Imperfections She was subject to be vehemently transported with Anger and when she was so she would shew it by her Voice her Countenance and her Hand She would chide her familiar Servants so loud that they that stood afar off might sometimes hear her Voice And it was reported that for small Offences she would strike her Maids of Honour with her hand but then her Anger was short and very innocent and she learned from Zenophon's Book Of the Institution of Cyrus the method of curbing and correcting this unruly and uneasie Passion And when her Friends acknowledged their Offences and humbly begged her pardon she with an appeased mind easily forgave them many things She was also of an Opinion That Severity was safe and too much Clemency was destructive and therefore in her Punishments and Justice she was the more severe The worst thing that she did in all her Reign was her treatment of the Queen of Scots who being by her own Subjects driven into Exile and not only deprived of her Regal Authority but of her Liberty her Estate and her Treasures and coming poor and distressed into England upon the Queen's promise and faith given she at first kindly and hospitably received and entertained her but afterwards confined her and at last upon pretence that the Queen of the Scots was plotting against her put her upon her trial condemned and at last executed her making her a sad and unheard-of Example of her cruel and unjust Severity Thus she polluted her happy Reign with the Innocent Blood not of an Enemy but of a Guest The memory of old Disgusts and Injuries prevailing more upon the mind of Queen Elizabeth than the dignity of a Sovereign Queen the Intercession of the Neighbour Princes the Laws of Hospitality the Tears of a Captive and a Kinswoman so that no Intercession no Supplications could take any place in a mind inexorably bent upon Revenge They that would excuse this mournful Action pretend the Queen of Scots was only confined to prevent mischief but she entering into a Conspiracy against the Queen of England in her own Kingdom and her Designs against the Life and Throne of Queen Elizabeth being thus detected there was no other way left to preserve the Life and consult the safety of Queen Elizabeth but by the punishment of the Queen of Scots and others who had conspired to destroy her That all Precautions were in vain and therefore it was absolutely necessary to cut off this Guest though her Cousin and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England and one that by her deprivation of her Kingdom and her Imprisonment in England was deprived of all means to hurt her If she would have taken the right method to secure her self she should have released her Captive and have sent her away which would have cut off the Causes and the Pretences of these Conspiracies and have tended more to her honour and peace than the way she took This Execution of the Queen of the Scots raised in the minds of the Neighbour Princes an enraged Indignation And she her self when she knew the Fact was done and could not be recalled deplored the united and common Indignation of all the Foreign Princes with many tears and gave many signs of her inward grief laying the blame of this wicked action wholly upon the Actors and upon every mention of the death of the Queen of Scots she would to her dying day weep bitterly and lament her misfortune in it So great was the force of her Repentance tho it came too late and was altogether useless It was thought she brought Leicester and Hatton two of her greatest Favourites to their Graves by her hard usages and the many Indignities she put upon them Leicester had offended her by attempting to imbroil the Affairs of the United Provinces in the Netherlands to that end he had suffered his Soldiers to live very irregular and without almost any
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
of England and Sir William Cecil Prime Secretary of State all of them men of great Prudence and Courage who had with much difficulty escaped the Marian Tempest These were the Chief Managers of her Secret Councels and acquainted with her most private Thoughts and Designs for the good and safety of her People and were all of them Protestants The Popish Nobility and great Men were either contented with a Vote in the Privy Council in which many of them still sat and others of them refusing however to be any otherwise concerned or foreseeing the Change that was intended had withdrawn themselves altogether and deserted their former Stations Of these she relied mostly on the Council of Cecil and Bacon who were closely united each to other and both equally in her Favour and were besides men of great Judgment They were also her Chief Ministers and most trusted by her for their Integrity and Industry Having throughly consider'd the state of the Nation she resolved at first to promote a Peace abroad and that she might gain her point in this with the greater case she used some Dissimulation Philip the II d King of Spain had lost the possession of England by the death of Queen Mary and to recover it had begun a Treaty of Marriage with Queen Elizabeth which she declined with much civility and modesty so that he still insisted upon it for some time and she was not willing wholly to undeceive him till she saw an end of the Treaty of Cambray Francis the Eldest Son of Henry the II d King of France having married Mary Steward Queen of the Scots and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England the French were forming a Design against her and made a kind of Claim of the Crown for the Dauphiness The Queen feared the King of Spain the moâ—…t of the two as being a Prince of deep Designs and formidable to all his Neighbours on the score of his vast Dominions and was resolved as time and opportunity should serve to abate his Power and cross his Designs She was as much offended with the King of France for the ravishing Calais from us and for assuming the Arms of England to hers and the Nation 's Dishonour yet she resolved to make a Peace with him as soon as she could Thus this Heroick Lady which had tried both Adverse and Prosperous Fortune being by Nature endowed with a strange Sagacity and Prudence which is very rarely to be found in that Sex and which she had also much improved by the Afflictons she had suffered by her wise Counsels soon brought this almost Shipwrack'd Vessel to a sase Port and governed it all her days with much ease and Peace by which she gave the World a noble Specimen of her Virtue Justice and Prudence She discovered all the Inclinations Forces Leagues and Counsels of her Neighbouring States She laid aside all her Feminine Indignation and would not suffer her most intimate Affections to have any place or consideration with her when she was to consult the Peace and secure the safety of her People Of which this may serve for a clear Proof From the beginning of her Reign she had established this as a Maxim That the King of Spain was the most formidable Enemy the English then had but then because that Nation was strong rich and powerful she seemingly paid for some time a great respect to the King of Spain that he and the French King might not join against her and she also sent an Ambassador to renew the Amity between her and the House of Austria Yet considering that it was necessary that she should in a short time have a War with Spain and that part of his Dominions lay near her and that others were more remote and very rich and fruitful so that they would well pay her Subjects for the pains and danger of attacking them She upon the whole concluded That it was her Interest to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the King of France and accordingly she kindly received his Ambassadors who were sent hither to renew the Peace She put out a Proclamation to forbid all her Subjects the offering any violence or wrong to the French that were then in England that she might prevent their enraging the Foreign Nations against her or her Subjects And in the Castle of Cambray she by her Ambassadors concluded a League with France upon Condition That the Town of Calais and all that belonged to it should after eight years be restored to the English and if the same was not done that the French King should pay to her at the exâ—…iration of the said Term 50000 Crowns and give Hostages of the Children of Noble Families for the persormance of the said Condition in the mean time and the assurance of an Oath that they would punctually and truly keep the said Agreement When this Peace came to be discovered by a Proclamation in London and all the Sea-port Towns almost all the good men of England were inwardly offended at it and they whispered their Discontents in all places Yet I cannot but think the Queen in this League how much soever it was spoken against did rather consult her own Honour and Reputation and the safety and welfare of her People than trust to the Faith of the King of Francâ—… as to the restitution of Calais The Hostages indeed fled away and the French broke their Faith as it was to be thought they would when they were to restore Calais but then the Advantages which England then gained by that seasonable Peace abundantly overbalanced the Damages sustained by the disappointment When the time was expired for the restitution of Caâ—…ais the English Ambassadors in the Court of France endeavoured to make that Nation appear odious and detestable to all Mankind because they had fraudulently departed from the Terms of the League so solemnly made at Cambray and afterwards sworn to by that King But Monsieur de l'Hospital Sieur de Vitry Chancellor of France a Learned and a Cunning Lawyer replied That Calais was lost by a War and regained by another That the Promise of restoring it was a Necessity imposed upon the French by the Iniquity of the Times which had enforced tâ—…em to yield so far to the English for the safety of their State but that in truth the English had as much right to Paris as they had to Calais and might with as good justice demand the first as the last Yet after all this Wise man never endeavoured to clear his Nation from the Guilt and Infamy of Fraud and Perjury which was a Task above his strength In all Revolutions and Changes the Queen always in the first place took care to secure the True Worship of God and the safety of all her Subjects When therefore she had thus secured her Peace abroad or at least had gained a Cessation of War till she might take breath and recover her strength and was now