advice to my Lord of Essex was 1. Not to trust himself because they that stand by see more than they that play the game 2. To yield to Time and Fortune and not do that for his Enemies which they could never do for themselves 3. To have a careful eye upon those actions on which he knew there were many envious ones And for himself his supplication to King Iames was That since his conceit and sense was grown so heavy his Memory decay'd his Judgement weak his Hearing imperfect and his Voice faltering he might desinere potiùs quam deficere and retire from his Business to his Meditation as he did while living imparting many mysteries of the Chancery and when dying bequeathing as many choice Books and Directions to his then Chaplain and his after-Successor Doctor Williams Secretary Winwood having received the Seal and left this gracious Message with this good man that his Majesty would be his Under-keeper and not dispose of it while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor nor did any receive the Seal out of the Kings sight while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor A company of Citizens got a Cause passed by keeping a Witness away in this manner one of them gets him to the Tavern and there leaves him with a quart of Sack before him and the glass at his mouth and swears in open Court that he left him in a condition wherein if he continueth but two hours he is a dead man The other Party find out the cheat and have their remedy in Chancery Sir Edward Cook brings the matter to the Star-Chamber and threatneth the Chancellor with a Pâemuânire The business is debated and sentence passed for my Lord Chancellor with the comfort whereof and the Kings and Princes Letter to him upon his Death-bed he went to his Grave Observations on the Life of the Lord Chief-Iustice Popham SIr Iohn Popham in his youthful days was a stout and skilful man at Sword and Buckler as any in that Age and wild enough in his Recreations But oh saith my Author if Quicksilver could be really fixed to what a treasure would it amount Such is wild youth seriously reduced to gravity as by this youngâ man did appear who applyed himself to a more profitable Fencing the study of the Laws therein attaining to such eminency that he became the Queenâ Attorney afterwards Lord Chief-Justice of Eâgland Being sent Anno 1600. by the Queen with some others to the Earl of Essex to know the cause of the confluence of so many Military men unto his house the Soldiers therein detained him for a time which some made tantamount to an Imprisonment This his violent detention Sir Iâhn deposed upon his Oath at the Earl's Tryal which I note the rather for the rarity thereof that a Lord Chief-Justice should be produced as Witness in open Court In the beginning of the Reign of King Iameâ his justice was exemplary on Thieves and Robbers The Land then swarmed with people which had been Soldiers who had never gotten or eâse quite forgotten any other Vocation Hard it was for Peace to feed all the idle mouths which a former War did breed being too proud to beg too lazy to labour Those infested the High-wayes with their Fellonies some presuming on their multitudes as the Robber on the Northern Rode whose knot otherwise not to be untied Sir Iohn cut asunder with the Sword of Justice He possessed King Iames how the frequent granting of Pardons was prejudicial to Justice rendring the Judges to the contempt of insolent Malefactors which made his Majesty more sparing afterwards in that kind In a word the deserved death of some scores preserved the lives and livelihoods of some thousands Travellers owing their safety to this Judges severity many years after his death Neither did he onely punish Malefactors but provide for them for observing that so many suffered and died for none other reason but because they could not live in England now grown too populous for it's self and breeding more Inhabitants than it could keep he first set up the discovery of New-England to maintain and employ those that cou'd not live honestly in the old being of opinion that banishment thither would be as well a more lawful as a more effectual remedy against those extravagancies the Authors whereof judge it more eligible to hang than to work to end their dayes in a moment than to continue them in pains onely a great Judgment observes it is a shameful and an unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men to be the people with whom to plant And not onely so but it spoyleth the Plantation for they will ever live like Rogues and not fall to work and do mischief and spend Victuals and be quickly weary and then certifie over to the Countrey to the disgrace of the Common-wealth Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Dudley SIr Robert Dudley son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Douglas Shefield whether his Mistriss or his Wife God knows was born at Shene in Surrey and bred by his Mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex where he became a most compleat Gentleman in all suitable Accomplishments endeavouring in the Reign of King Iames to prove his Legitimacy and meeting with much opposition from the Court in distaste he left his Land and went over into Italy But worth is ever at home and carrieth its own welcome along with it Therefore he became a Favourite to the Duke of Florence who highly reflected on his Abilities and used his Directions in all his Buildings At this time Legorn from a Child started to a Man without ever being a youth and of a small Town grew a great City on a sudden and is much-beholding to this Sir Robert for its Fairness and Firmness as chief contriver of both But by this time his Adversaries in England had procur'd him to be call'd home by a special Privy-Seal which he refused to obey and thereupon all his Lands in England were seised upon by the King by the Statute of Fugitives These losses doubled the love of the Duke of Florence unto him And indeed Sir Robert was a much-meriting person on many Accounts being an Excellent 1 Mathematician especially for the Practical part thereof in Architecture 2 Physician his Catholicân at this day finding good Esteem amongst those of that Faculty 3 Navigator especially in the Western Seas Indeed long before his leaving of England whilest as yet he was Rectus in Curiâ well esteemed in Queen Elizabeths Court he sailed with three small Ships to the Isle of Trinidad in which voyage he sunk and took nine Spanish Ships whereoâ one an Armada of 600 Tun. He was so acceptable to Ferdinand the second Emperour of Germany that by his Letters Patents bearing date at Vienna March 9â 1620. he conferred on him and his Heirs the Title of a Duke of the Sacred Empire Understand it a Title at large as that
force of Circumstances the errors of Comparison or the cautions of Application I like his Apology for his severity to the Clergy that he was austere to prevent others being cruel as well as his zeal for the Protestant Religion onely his Principles betrayed his profession which he rendered too obnoxious while he supported it by those novel grounds which our Adversaries could make us confess were Heterodox and by those streight-laced foundations which we saw our selves too narrow As for instance King Iames his vast capacity took him up once for making the Scripture the onely rule of Civil Affairs owning the piety but observing to his face the imprudence of that assertion Imprudence I say as for many reasons so for this because to assert a truth upon a weak principle is to tempt the world to doubt of the strength of the first when they see the weakness of the other Whether he went off in discontent and said He would not attend at the Councel-Table because he should not wait at the Altar Whether he had such malignant followers as called themselves Nicodemites or Night-Disciples Whether he turned noon-day into mid-night and mid-night into noon-day having a candle always burning in his Chamber or if so for what reason I would not have one of my years determine but rather refer the present age to his Contemporaries pen which describes him thus A very learned man he was his Erudition all of the old stamp fitly principled in the Doctrine of S. Augustine pious grave and exemplary in his Conversation But some think him a better man than Arch-Bishop and that he was better qualified with merit for the Dignity than with a spirit answering the Function in the exercise whereof he was conceived too facile and yielding his extraordinary remisness in not exacting strict Conformity to the prescribed Orders of the Church in point of Ceremony seemed to resolve those legal Determinations to their first Principle of Indifference and led in such an habit of Inconformity as the future reduction of those tender-conscienced men to long discontinued obedience was interpreted an innovation as if he thought it might fall out in Politicks as it doth sometimes in Physick bina venena juvant that the two contrary poysons of Superstition and Innovation might prove a Cordial to the Church Observations on the Life of Sir George Calvert SIr George Calvert was bred first in Trinity-Colledge in Oxford and then beyond the Seas His Abilities commended him first to be Secretory to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury Lord Treasurer of England Afterwards he was made Clerk of the Council and at last principal Secretary of State to King Iames succeeding Sir Tâo Lake in that Office Anno 1619. Conceiving the Duke of Buckingham highly instrumental in his preferment he presented him with a Jewel of great value which the Duke returned him again not owning any Activity in his Advancement whom King Iames ex mero motu reflecting on his Abilities designed for the Place This Place he discharged five years until he willingly resigned the same 1624. on this occasion He freely confessed himself to the King that he was then become a Roman Catholick so that he must either be wanting to his Trust or violate his conscience in discharging his Office This his Ingenuity so highly affected King Iames that he continued him Privy-Councellor all his Reign and soon after created him Lord Baltemore of Baltemore in Ireland During his being Secretary he had a Patent to him and his Heirs to be Absolutus Dominus Proprietarius with the Royalties of a Count Palatine of the Province of Avalon in the New-found land a place so named by him in imitation of old Avalon in Somersetshire wherein Glassenbury stands the first-fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that part of America Here he built a fair house in Ferry-land and spent twenty five thousand pounds in advancing the Plantation thereof Indeed his publick spirit consulted not his private profit but the enlargement of Christianity and the Kings Dominions in that his ancient primitive and heroick work of planting the world After the death of King Iames he went twice in person to New-found land Here when Mounsieur de l' Arade with three men of War sent from the King of France had reduced our English Fishermen to great extreamity this Lord with two Ships manned at his own charge chased away the Frenchmen relieved the English and took sixty of the French Prisoners He removed afterwards to Virginia to view those parts and thence camâ into England and obtained of King Charles the first who had as great an esteem of and affection for him as King Iames a Patent to him and his Heirs for Mary-Land on the North of Virginia with the same Title and Royalties conferred on him as in Avalon aforesaid now a hopeful Plantation peopled with eight thousand English Souls which in process of time may prove more advantageous to our Nation Judg Popham and Sir George Calvert agreed not more unanimously in the publick design of Planting than they differed in the private way of it the first was for extirpating Heathens the second for converting them He sent away the lewdest this the soberest people the one was for present profit the other for a reasonable expectation it being in the case of planting Countreys as in that of planting Woods you must account to lose almost twenty years profit and expect your recompence in the end it being necessary the Province should first find her self and then enrich you The Judge was for many Governors the Secretary for few and those not concerned Merchants but unconcerned Gentlemen The one granted Liberties without any restraint the other with great caution The first set up a common Stock out of which the Island should be provided for by proportions the second left every one to provide for himself Two things are eminent in this man 1. That though he was a Catholick yet kept he himself sincere and disingaged from all Interests and though a man of great judgment yet not obstinate in his sentiments but taking as great pleasure in hearing others opinions as in delivering his own which he heard moderated and censured with more patience than applauded 2. That he carried a digested and exact account of Affairs to his Master every night and took to himself the pains to examine the Letters which related to any Interest that might be any ways considerable He was the onely States-man that being engaged to a decryed party yet managed his business with that huge respect for all sides that all who knew him applauded him and none that had any thing to do with him complained of him Observations on the Life of Sir Arthur Chichester SIr Arthur Chichester spent his youth first in the University then in the French and Irish Wars where by his valour he was effectually assistantâ First to plough and break up that barbarous Nation by Conquest and then to sow it with seeds
deep judgment of manyâ Observations on the Lives of Sir Richard and Sir Jerome VVeston Earls of Portland SIr Richard Weston in his youth impaired his estate to improve himself with publick accomplishment but came off both a saver and a gainer at the last when made Chancellor of the Exchequer andâ afterwards upon the remove of the Earl of Marlborough Iuly 15. in the fourth of King Charles Lord Treasurer of England His activity in Parliament made him considerable at Court none fitter to serve a Prince than he who commands the humor of the people Indeed where ever he was he discovered himself able and faithful 1. In his Forreign Employments his judgement was searching and reach admirable he being the first that smelt out the intentions against the Palatinate which were then in brewing and mashed with much art In his Domestick charge âis Artifice was singular both in a faithful improvemânt of the Incomes and a discreet moderation of the expences in his Masters Revenues In his Aspect there was a mixture of authority and modesty in his apprehensions quickness and solidity in his port and train a suitable dignity and correspondence with little noise and outward form An enemy to Complements yet very courâeous no flatterer yet of great power irreconcileable to frothy formality yet maintaining a due regard to his person and place A great Scholar he was and yet a great Staâes-man of various erudition and as large observation He secured himself much by Alliances with the best Nobility more by the love and what is more the esteem of a constant King it being one of the wonders of that time that my Lord of Canterbury and he who were at so much distance from one another should be so inward with their Soveraign but that that excellent Prince measured not his affections to his Dependants so much by a particular interest as by a publick serviceableness The necessity of the Exchequer put him upon some ways of supply that displeased the rabble though his three particular cares viz. The paying of the Navy the satisfying of the City and the Queen of Bohemia's supply three things he was very much intent upon while Treasurer obliged the wiser sort of men I know nothing he was defective in being careful to use his own words to perform all duties with obedience to his Majesty respect to the Duke and justice to the particular parties concerned But that he had so much of his Master's love and so little of his patience being grated as all Statesmen are that have to do with various interests and humours between a strong inclination of satisfying every man and the impossibility of pleasing all Considering the importunities of persons and affairs a little impatience must needs fall upon your Lordship wriâes Sir Henry Wotton to him unless you had been cut out of a Rock of Diamonds especially having been before so conversant with liberal Studies and with the âreedom of your own mind In his time was the great Question agitated Whether a Prince should aim at the fear or the love of his People Although no Prince did more to oblige his People than the Excellent King Charles the I. Yet was there no Prince ever more advised to awe them For this Lord and many more who looked upon over-much indulgence as the greatest cruelty considering that men love at their own pleasure and to serve their own turn and that their fear depends upon the Princes pleasure were of opinion That every wise Prince ought to ground upon that which is of himself and not upon that which is of another government being set up in the world rather to trust its own power than stand upon others courtesie Besides two things the vulgar are taken with 1. Appearance 2. The event of things which if successful gains both their love and reverence Neither was the Father more exact in his Maxims thaâ the Son in his of whose many infallible principles this was one That it was the safest way for the King's Majesty to proceed upon a Declaration that the Faction at Westminster was no Parliament upon his own and his most loyal Lords and Commons removal to Oxford And this another That provided the Gentry and Clergy were well principled and His Majesty that now is had a constant correspondence with the most eminent of them it was our Interest to promote his Majesties grandeur abroad and sit still at home until the Faction might be so secure as âo divide and his Majesties Interest became so conspicuous by the Principles that were kept up at home and the State that was born abroad as to command all And really his little saying hath much in it He that will see what shall be let him consider what hath been For there are the same desires humours and interest in every age that were before it So that as Machiavel observeth It is very easie for him that with diligence âxamineth past Occurrences to serve himself of those remedies which were in use among the Ancienâs Or if they fail to devise what is most like them Observations on the Life of William Earl of Pembrook HE was an ancient Gentleman of good repute and therefore well esteemed a proper person well set and of graceful deportment and therefore well beloved of King Iames and Queen Anne His inclination was as generous as his extraction and manners ancient as his Family One of his Ancestors is renowned for that he would condâscend to deliver his Embassies in no Language but Welch and he is commended for that he would comply with no customs in his converse but the old English though his Contemporaries make that his defect rather than his ornament proceeding from his want of Travel rather than his observance of Antiquity He having had only saith the Historian the breeding of England which gave him a conceited dislike of Forreign men their manners and mode or of such English as professed much advantage thereby so that the Scots and he were ever separate and therefore he was the only old Courtier that kept close to the Commonalty and they to him though never suspected by either of his Sovereigns not because he was not over-furnished with Abilities as that pen insinuates to be more than Loyal but because he had too much integrity to be less Being munificent and childless the University of Oxford hoped to be his Exâcutor and Pembrook-Colledge his Heir Pembrook-Colledge I say called so not only in respect to but also in expectation from him then Chancellor of the University and probably had not cut noble Lord died suddenly soon after according as a Fortune-teller had informed him whom he laughed at that very night he departed being his Birth-night this Colledge might have received more than a bare name from him He was saith one of his own time the very picture and Vive Essigies of Nobility his person rather Majestick than Elegant his presence whether quiet or in motion full of stately gravity his mind generous and
help him to a young Wife but he must raise him to a new Power Wolsey must be Pope or King Henry could not be divorced and to make all sure he was no sooner to be parted from a Daughter of Spain than he was to be joyned to a Princess of France whose Nuptial Ring should wed King Henry to Her and King Francis to Himself Two ways did he disoblige Queen Anne Bullein that was his deadly enemy 1. by dissolving the Contract between her and the Lord Piercy the Earle of Northumberlands Eldest Son to please the King 2. by endeavouring to hinder or at least delay the Marriage between her and the King to gratifie himself whom in vain afterwards by Inventions unheard of he endeavoured to please as well as the King when he saw the Contrivances of a great Wit the Allurements of a Famous Beauty and the malice of a disappointed Woman joyned to the envy of the greatest Lord whom he had ordered as irrespectively as the meanest subject When it is once past Noon with a Court-Favourite it is presently Night with him for knowing that the Cardinal was cunning and the King not yet cruel they longed to have him at York while at Londen and again they contrive to bring him to London while at York the first upon pretense that he might do good the last with design that he might do no harme Sed nullae sunt occultiores insidiae quà m hae quae latent in simulatione officij as he observed the method of some old cunning Parliament-men who when they had a mind to cross a Bill were always highest for it in the House as the Eagle carried the shell up in the skye to break it and would insert so many and so great inconveniences into the Act that they were sure it could never pass Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen Missing of Power he meditates Honour and instead of lavishing his infinite Treasure upon airy Expectations he bestoweth it on real Monuments witness the great work at Callice c. which makes his Memory a Renowned as his Life That Statesman lives to small purpose whose Actions are as short as his Life and his Exploits of no longer duration than his Age. At this time though King Henry bore the Sword yet Cardinal Wolsey as I am told bore the stroâe all over the Land being Legate a latere by verâus whereof he visited all Churches and Religion Houses even the Friers Observants themselves notwithstanding the stoutness and stubbornness that first opposed him Papal and Royal Power met in him being the Chancellour of the Land and keeping so many Bishopricks in Commendam that his yearly Income is said to equal if not exceed the Revenues of the Crown He gave the first blow to Religious Houses by making one great Cardinal Colledge now Christ-Câurch of which one comparing his project with his performance said Instituit Collegium absolvit Popinam And another being asked what he thought of the ampleness of the Foundation answered Fundatione nihil amplius to which I may add his Colledge at Ipswich of forty small Monasteries to make way as some thought upon the Popes consent procured by him to the overthrow of all He called all Captains and Officers to an accounâ who bought off their own small corruption with his great one and paid him the penalties of their Cheats with the Gains of it the Richest of them escaping and the poorest only made exemplary Several Courts of pretended Equity he erected to redress the poor that was the Colour to inrich himself that was the Reality at whose constitution the Law-Courts were unfrequented so specious was their seeming Integrity at the lsât they are deserted so manifest was their real Grievances the people not flocking so fast aâter the Novelty as they ran away from the Cheat though his pretense was fair that the Kingdome should not be a Common-Wealth of Fish where the greater devoured the Less What he did to reform the Courtiers as a Fâvourite he did to reform the Clergy as Legate erecting a Court Legantine not without danger of a Praemunire wherein all Clergy were visited the Rich in their Purses that excused them the Poor in their Reputation that compounded for them Neither did his profits arise from the Living onely but the Dead he engrossing the Probation of all Wills and Testaments within his own Court he had petty projects viz. that Children should foâlow their Fathers Profession saying that he observed that the Fathers Eminency in any act begat in the Child a propension to the same and wheâe two or three successiâe Generations happily insist in the steps one of another they raise an art to great peâfection and liked well the prudence of our Parliaments in permitting the Eldest Son of Barons to be pâesent at their Cânsultations to fit them by degrees for the person they are to sustain And not long after he hath a Paâeât under the Great Seal of England to do what he pleased in the French Couât in order to the Kingâ Progresse thither as he hath likewise afâer with his Masters leave under the great seal of France After which honour he was with the Kings Order by English Subjects the Lord Mayor and Aldermen c. honoured at no lesse rate than that of a Prince and by the Clergy who kept close to the publick temper with Processions c. at the same rate with a Pope Great he was in England greater in Germany where all the Nobiliây attended him the Great Seal of England was carried before him and the Emperour oâserving his Commission and Honour met him with his whole Train and harangued it with him no less than two days He that over-ruled Empires might well presume on Subjects and no sooner therefore doth he return than by his own Authority he levieth four shillings in the pound of every man that was worth fifty pound per annum and when that would not do pretending to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen that he had been upon his Knees to revoke those Commissiâns other Letters for a Benevolence which lost him as much in the Countrey as his Reformation of the Houshold did him at Court But the King employeth him to France as his Second and takes his leave of him as hiâ intimate Friend 1200 Horse attended him Calliceâ Bullein Amiens honour him with the name of The Peaceable Cardinal and the Statue of a Cardinal Rescuing a Church and a Pope from danger whom yet underhand he brought into danger making the Duke of Bourbon General against the King of France to Revenge himself and yet making an underhand Peace with France which the Duke knew not of till he took the Instrument of Peace Sealed at the Castle of Pavia to please others for which last exploit carried on privately by receiving the French Ambassadour as an Italian Jester the Duke of Bourbon resolved to goe and Sack Rome and punish all the Cardinals he could come at for the fault
for him honourably in England where the Kings Cause waited for his Assistance and the See of Canteâbury for his Acceptance He was willing to promote Religion he was unwilling for some Formalities he scrupled to advance himself but after seven Weeks delay it being as fatal to reâuse King Henry's Favours as to offer him Injuâies he is Archbishop in his own Deâence in which capacity to serve the King and salve his own Conscience he used the Expedient of a Protestation to this purpose In nomine c. Non est nec erit meae voluntatis aut intentionis per hujusmodi Iuramentum Iuramenta qualiter verba in ipsis posita sonare videbuntur me obligare ad aliquid ratione eorundem post hac dicendum faciendum aut attestandum quod erit aut esse videbitur contra legem Dei vel contra Regem aut Rempublicam legesve aut Praerogativa ejus quod non intendo per hujusmodi juramentum quovis modo me obligare quò minùs liberè loqui consulere consentire valeam in omnibus singulis Reformationem Ecclesiae prorogativam Coronae concernentibus ea exequi reformare quae in Ecclesia Anglicana reformanda videbuntur This Protestation he made three times once at the Charter-House another time at the Altar and a third time at the receiving of his Pall. In his place he was moderate between the Superstition of Rome and the Phrensies of Munster As he was cheif Instrument in beginning the Reformation so he was in continuing it He withstood the Six Articles and though the King sent five prime Ministers of State to comfort him would not be satisfied until he saw them mitigated in King Henry's time and repealed in King Edward's Gardiner would have questioned him for entertaining forein Hereticks and promoting Domestick Schisms the Northern Rebels accused him for subverting the Church but the King upheld him against both suppressing the One and checking the Other and advising the good Man whom he called Fool for his meek disposition to appeal to him Whereupon Russel cried The King will never suffer him to be imprisoned until you find Him guilty of High Tâeason He is to be pitied for his intermediate failings but renowned for his final constancy The King having declared before all his Servants that Cranmer was his best Servant he employeth him in his best service the Reformation of Religion wherein all others failed but the King Cromwel and Brandon backed him so far that he had the Bible the necessary Offices of the Church translated into English He had both Universities at his command He brought the Lords House and Convocation to his Lure and was invested with a Power 1. To Grant Dispensations in all things not repugnant to Gods Law nor the Kings safety 2. To determine Ecclesiastical Causes He as charitably as politickly advised the King to accept of Bishop Fisher's partial Subscription considering his Learning and Reputation As he is King Henry's Instrument at Dunstable to divorce him from Queen Katharine so he is at Lambeth to divorce him from Anna Bullein He promoted in the Convocation all Primitive Doctrines and condemned all new-fangled Opinions He was so charitable that he interceded with the King for his Enemies so munificent that he made the Church and his own House a Refuge for Strangers particularly for P. Fagius P. Martyr Martin Bucer c. The King loved him for his Integrity the People for his Moderation He was called the Kings Father and was Queen Elizabeth's Godfather His Piety reduced the Câurch and his Policy the State He spake little to others he conferred much with himself Three words of His could do more than three hours discourse of others He would say as Victorinus There is a time to say nothing there is a time to say something but there is never a time to say all things That King who awed all Others feared Him A Second to the Eternal Power is the Wise Man uncorrupt in his Life He was the Executor of God's Will in King Henry's Life-time and the first of His after his Death As He spurred King Henry to a Reformation so King Edward did Him whose Prudence was not so forward as the Others Zeal who looked at what was Lawful as He did at what was Convenient He maintained the Churches Power as resolutely against Bishop Hooper's Scruples notwithstanding potent Intercession as he reformed its Corruptions against the Popes Interest notwithstanding a general Opposition He allowed not the least Errour in nor the least contempt of the Church He restored its primitive Doctrine and Discipline lest it should be an impure Church he upheld them lest it should be none He was one of fourteen that compiled the Common-Prayer He was One of Two that set out the Homilies and the only man that published the Institution of a Christian man and other good Books With his Advice King Edward did much and designed more He was the chief Author of King Edward's Injunctions and the first Commissioner in them He was President of the Assembly at Windsor for Reformation and of the Council at London His Aâticles were strict and seveâe as much grounded on the Canon of Scripture as on the Canons of the Church He convinced more Papists with his Reason and Moderation than others by their Power His Heart never failed him in his Life and it was not burned at his Deaâh He did so much for the Protestant Religion in King Henrys Days that he foresaw he should suffer for it in Qâeen Mary's He was unwilling to wrong Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth therefore he refused at first to sign King Edwards's Testament but Duke Dudley's Will He was willing to continue the Protestant Religion therefore he signed it at last It was a Bishop that was one of the first that abolished Popery in England and one of the last that died for Protestantisme It was a Bishop that maintained the Protestant Cause with Arguments while he lived with his Blood when he died This prelates endeavor for Reformation is shadowed by this Mystical Relation The Castle of Truth being by the King of Ierusalem left to the guard and keeping of his best Servant Zeal the King of Arabia with an infinite host came against it begirt it round with an unreasonable Seige cuts ofâ all passages all reliefs all hopes of friends meat or munition which Zeal perceiving and seeing how extremity had brought her to shake hands with despair he calleth his Council of War about him and discovered the âffliction of his state the puissance of his Enemies the violence of the siege and the impossibility of conveying either messages or Letters to the great King his Master from whom they might receive new strength and incouragement Whereupon the necessity of the occasion being so great they concluded that there was no way but to deliver up the Castle though upon some unwholsome conditions into the hand of the Enemy but Zeal staggereth at the resolution and
being loath to loose hope as long as hope had thread or hair to hold by he told them he had one friend or companion in the Castle who was so wise so valiant and so fortunate that to him and his exploits alone he would deliver up the manage of their safelty this was Prayer Chaplain to the great King and Priest of that Colony then Prayer was called for and all proceedings debâted he presently armeth himself with Humility Clemency Sincerity and Fervency and in spight of the Enemy passeth his Camp comes to the King his Master and with such moving passion entereth his eares so that presently Armes are raysed which returning under the Conduct of Prayer overthroweth the King of Arabia makes spoyl of his Camp and gives to the Castle of Truth its first noble Liberty Observations on Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellour of England HE roseâup high because he stept out well Sir Thomas More was half way Chancellour when born to Sir Iohn More Chief Iustice. The Father's Prudence Wit and Nobleness flowed with his Blood to the Sons Veins Much Honour he received from his Family more he gave to it His Mother saw his Face shining in a Dream on her Wedding Night and his Father saw his Life so really A quick City-Spirit made him capable of great State-Employments He was saved by a Miracle and was One For his Nurse riding with him over a Water and being in some danger threw him over a Hedge where she found him not hurt but sweetly smiling upon her A Free-School seasoned his forward Childhood and the grave wise and excellent Cardinal Mortons House his Youth The One with Learning to make him a Scholar the Other with Prudence to make him a Man But the Distractions of that House were not so proper for his promising Ingenuity as the Retirements of the University where in two years time he shewed what Wonders Wit and Diligence could do in Rhetorick Logick and Philosophy The Colledge kept him strict and his Father short so that as heâ blessed God afterward He had neither the leisure nor the means to be vicious The Cardinal said he would be Great and his excellent Genius said he would be Humble The Lord Chancellour would give place to and ask blessing of the Lord Chief Justice The Father being not more happy in his Son than the Son in his Father At 17 his wit was eminent for his Epigrams His Antilucian Oration commended by all men but Brixius for pure genuine and flowing At 18 his wisdom in overcoming his Antagonist Brixius with kindness and himself with Mortifications His fastings were frequent his watchings on the hard ground severe his Hair-cloath even in his Chancellourship course his exercises among the Carthusians in the Charterhouse for four years austere his designâ for the Franciscan Hood and a Priesthood with his Friend Lilly solemn His prayers uninterrupted When the King sent for him once at Mass he answered That when he had done with God he would wait on his Majesty He imitated Picus Mirandula's Life and writ it He heard Dr. Collet his Confessours Sermons and followed his liâe whose experience was his counsel whose conversation was his life He could not away with the good Sermon oâ a bad man Collet was his Father Linââre Lilly Grocine were his Friends He learned more by prayer than he did by study his Poems were acute his Speeches pure and copious his Latine elegant yet his head was knotty and Logical his Diet was temperate his Apparel plain his Nature tractable and condescending though very discerning to the meanest mens counsel his Vertues solid not boasted In a word the foundation of his Liâe was as low as the building was to be high Words and Terms being not by Nature but Imposition verborum ut nummorum those were best liked by him that were most current amongst the best Artists he fearing new words as leading to new things though the quitting of ancient and allowed expressions to affect new phrases will be no advantage at long run for whatsoever be the forms of speaking the state of things will be the same and the very argument that convinceth an erroneous person now in the old received and Orthodox Language would convince him likewise in the new wayes of speaking which he desires to introduce after it is formed and generally understood All the benefit that he could make of it would be only a little time between the suppression of the one and the introduction of the other wherein he might jugle and play Hocus Pocus under the Cloak of Homonymous and Ambiguous expressions In vulgar appellations we are to speak as the common people but in terms of Art which saith Scaliger are rudibus ingeniis acerba delicatis ridicula we are to follow the most approved Artists the Mushrome Errours and Haeresies springing up in his time he advised should be rather suppressed by Discipline than increased by disputations they who in the common principles of Religion clash ordinarily with the whole Church who so affectedly swerve from the approved rules and healthful constitutions of all orderly Common-wealths to the disturbance of all humane society and the cutting off of all Relations between man and man they who cannot preserve Unity with themselves but are ever and anon interfereing tripping up their own heels by contradictions need no just confutation or single or other adversary than God themselves and all mankind since their opinions are grounded upon their own imaginations rather than approved Authority and they interpret Scripture not according to the perpetual tradition of the Church but according to their own distempered âancies and that in discourses more full fraught with supercilious confidence than deep reason It were a folly to draw the saw of contenâion with them especially in such a case where it is impiety to doubt and Blasphemy to dispute Quid cum illis agas qui neque jus neque bonum aut aequum sciunt âMelius pejus prosit obsit nil vident nisi quod lubet Such daring mens opinions creating truth and falsehood by the words of their mouth being like a pillar of smoak breaking out of the top of some narrow Chimney and spreading it self âbroad like some Cloud as if it threatned to take possession of the whole Region of the Ayr darkening the skye and seeming to press the Heavens and after all this when it hath offended the eyes a little for the present the first puffe of wind or a few minutes do altogether disperse it The little Mouse stealeth up through the Elephants trunke to eat his brains the Indian Rat creepeth into the belly of the gaping Crocodile and the least opposition overthrows these great pretenders especially if you give them line and space enough to bounce and tumble up and down and tire themselves out Great he judged was the influence Religion had upon humane societies whether we consider the nature of the thing or the blessing of God without which they are
Let any man think as he pleaseth I like this room well 15. It 's easier to prevent than redress Indeed throughout his Works he argueth sharply he reasoneth profoundly he urgeth aptly stateeth exactly expresseth himself elegantly and diâcourseth learnedly He would rather convince than punish yet he would rather punish than indulge them his Epitaph be speaking him grievous to Hereticks Thieves and Murtherers When King Henry scrupled his fiâst marriage Sir Thomas told him That neither he nor my Lord of Durham were so fit to advise him in that case as St. Augustine St. Jerome and the other Fathers His advice was so unseasonable that it opposed the King yetâ so grave and honest that it pleased him His Experience and Prudence had a fore-fight next door to Prophecy and from the unquiet times oâ King Henry did he guess the ruine of King Charles He would say that it would never be well in England until the same course obtained there that did in Syria where Zeleucus was so severe against Innovators that he enacted that if any Man made a proposition for a change in their policy he should make it with an Halter about his Neck that if he failed to justify it by reason he should justify his attempt by suffering because as some Philosophers hold that there is not so much as an Aspin Leaf stirreth in one part of the World but it maketh some alteration in the whole the efficacy of it like Drake and Cavendish compassing the Globe of the Earth and making the eighth Sphere of Heaven tremble so wise men know that every change in a State altereth the constitution and the effects of an Innovation in the body politick circleth as do those of a new Imprâssion according to Harvey's method upon a body natural though I must confess that many new proposals are opposed not for the distant effects of them feared in the Common-wealth but for some neer influence they may have upon some Mens private Interest It hath been given out that the burning of our Heaâhs in England did hurt their Vines in France bât wise Men looked upon this pretense âs a meer scare-crow or made-dragon the hurt it did was neerer home to destroy the young moore-fowles and spoyl some young burgesses game He converted many with his Arguments more with his Prayers which workt wonders of reformation on the erroneous as they did of recovery on the weak He wished three things to Chriâtendome 1. An Universal Peace 2. An Uniform Religion 3. A Reformation rather of Lives than Religion He never aâked any thing of his Majesty but Employment and nevâr took any thing more acceptable than Service His Alms were liberal to his Neighbours and good works numerous towards God He would take no Fees from the poor and but moderate ones from the Rich. All London was obliged to him for his Counsel at home and all England for his Peace at Cambray where he out-did expectation The King raised him to the Chancellorship but not to his own opinion he professed he would serve his Majesty but he must obey his God he would keep the Kings conscience and his own His Wisdome and Parts advanced him his Innocence and Integrity ruined him his Wit pleased the King but his Resolution crossed him Wolsey was not so proud and reserved as Sir Thomas was open and free to the meanest his mind was not so dazled with honour but he could fore-âee his âall When his âonâ complained how little they gained under him I will do juââice said he for your sakes to any man and I will leave you a blessing decâeeing one day against his own son that would not hear reason Fiâst he offered the Judges the Reformation of Grievances and when they refused he did it himself No Subpoena was granted but what he saw no Order but what he pârused nothing passed from âim towards the suâject but what became a good Magistrate nothing towards his Master but what became a faithful servant Neither King nor Qâeen could corrupt neither could the whole Church in Convocation fast ân any thing upon him To one who told him of hiâ Detractârs he said Would you have me punish those by whom I reap more benefitâ than by all you my friends Peâfect Patience is the Companion of tâue Peâfection But he managed not his trust with more integrity and dexterity than he left it with honour leaving not one cause undecided in the Chancery foreseeing that he could not at once conâent his Majesty and his own heart His Servanâs upon his fall he disposed oâ as well as his Children and his Children he taught to live soberly in a great estate and nobly in a mean one He never put an Heretick to death when Châncellour neither would he suffer Heresies to live when a private man When my Lord Cromwel came to him in his retirement he advised him to tell âhe King what he ought not what he can do so shall you shew your self a true and faithful servant and a right worthy Councellour for if a Lyon knew his own strength hard were it for any man to rule him The King feared him when he could not gain him therefore he was âiâted in his âormer carriage and present temper whicâ continued constant to his duty and even under his changes He was open-hearted to all that came yet so wary in his discourse with the Maid of Kent âhat his enemies confessed he deserved rather hânor tâan a check for that matter When the Duke oâ Norfolk told him that the wrath of a Prince is death he said Nay if that be all you must die to morrow and I to day He behaved himself at all Examinations at once wisely and honestly When Archbishop Cranmer told him he must obey the King which was certain rather than follow his conscience that Lesbian rule which was uncertain he replyed It 's as certain that I must not obey the King in evil as that I must follow my conscience in good When the Abbot of Westminster told him his conscience should yield to the wisdom of the Kingdom he said He would not conform his conscience to one Kingdom but to the whole Church He underwent his sufferings with as much cheerfulness as his preferment pleasing himself with his misfortunes and enjoying his misery resolving to obey God rather than man to leave others to their own consciences to close with the Catholick Church rather than the Church of England and to submit to general Councils rather than âo Parliaments Mr. Rich put to him this Question Whether if the Parliament made a Law that he were Pope would he not submit to it and he replyed If the Parliament made another that God should not be God would you obey it Though he could not own the Kings Supremacy yet he would not meddle with it either in his Writings or discourse shewing himself at once a civil man a good Christian and a noble Confessour His soul was well setled his stature was
how much they have eaten but concocting their meat inwardly do bring forth Wool and Milk True learning is the improvement of other Mens studies and experiences by our own meditation adding to that frame by consideration which they had built from the ground by many Ages observation The Lord Herbert's Character of Cromwel ANd to this end came Cromwel who from being but a Black-smiths Son found means to travel into forein Countries to learn their Languages and to see the Wars being a Souldier of Bourbon at the taking of Rome whence returning he was received into Cardinal Wolsey's service To whom he so approved himself by his fidelity and diligence that the King after his fall voluntarily took him for his Servant in which place he became a special Instrument for dissolving the Abbeys and other Religious Houses and keeping down the Clergy whom in regard of their Oath to the Pope he usually termed the Kings half Subjects And for expelling the Monks he said it was no more than a restoring them to the first Institution of being lay and labouring persons Neither did it move him that so much strictness and austerity of Life was enjoyned them in their several Orders since he said they might keep it in any condition But as these Reasons again were not admitted by divers learned and able Persons so he got him many Enemies who at last procured his fall but not before he had obtained successively the Dignities of Master of the Rolls Baron Lord Privy Seal Vicegerent to the King in Spiritualities Knight of the Garter Earl of Essex Great Chamberlain of England c. He was much noted in the exercises of his Places of Iudicature to have used much Moderation and in his greatest pomp to have taken notice and been thankful to mean persons of his old acquaintance and therein had a Virtue which his Master the Cardinal wanted As for his other Descriptions I leave them to be taken out of Granmer's Letter formerly mentioned with some deduction For it seems written to the King in more than Ordinary Favour of his antient service Arch-Bishop Cranmer's Character of Cromwel in a Letter to King Henry the Eighth WHo cannot bâ sorrowful and amazed that he should be a Traytor against your Majesty He that was so advanced by your Majesty He whose surety was only by your Majesty He who loved your Majesty as I ever thought no less than God He who studied always to set forwards whatsoever was your Majesties will and pleasure He that cared for no Mans displeasure to serve your Majesty He that was such a Servant in my Iudgment in wisdom diligence faithfulness and experience as no Prince in this Realm ever had He that was so vigilant to presârve your Majesty from all Treasons that few could be so secretly conceived but he detected the same in the beginning If the Noble Princes of memory King John Henry II. and Richard II. had had such a Counsellor about them I suppose they should never have been so Traiterously abandoned and overthrown as those good Princes were After which he says again I loved him as my Friend for so I took him to be but I chiefly loved him for the love which I thought I saw him bear ever towards your Grace singularly above all other But now if he be a Traytor I am sorry that ever I loved or trusted him and I am very glad that his Treason is discovered in time But yet again I am very sorrowful for who shall your Grace trust hereafter if you might not trust him Alas I bewail and lament your Graces chance herein I wot not whom your Grace may trust But I pray God continually Night and Day to send such a Councellor in his place whom your Grace may trust and who for all his qualities can and will serve your Grace like to him and that will have so much solicitude and care to preserve your Grace from all dangers as I ever thought he had Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Audley SIr Thomas Audley's Birth was Generous his Education more Essex bred him to that Honour which his Ancestors lost His Soul ennobled his Body and his Body graced his Soul The one quick solid apprehensive and judicious the other tall and majestick King Henry loved a Man and here was one whose Austerity was allayed with Debonairness whose Gravity was sweetened with Pleasantness whose Knowledge was as large as his Authority whose Wit was equal with his Wisdom whose Memory was strong and Judgment solid His fair Estate brought him to the Temple his proficiency in the Law to the Court His reading upon the Statute of Priviledges commended him to the Kings Service his speaking for the Prerogative in Parliament brought him to the Kings Favour Although the Liberties of the People can never be seâured without the Prerogative of the Sovereign who cannot do the good they would if he wants a power to do the evil they fear yet his first Preferment was to withdraw him from Popularity and the second only to confirm him to Sovereignty Noble Service is the way to a Royal One â His Stewardship to the Dutchy of Suffolk raised him to the Attorneyship of that of Lancaster But in troublesome and designing times a popular Orator is a good Courtier and leading Parts in Parliament or Convocation are great Merits In the black Parliament he was a Member by his own Interest and a Speaker by his Majesties Choice Sir Tho. More was to serve the Crown in the Lords House and Sir Tho. Audley was to succeed him in the House of Commons When Abbey-Lands were bestowed on the King in gross and returned by him to the leading Lords and Commons in the Retayl most of that Parliament looked for âhares Sir Thomas for the first cut to secure himself with the King He was always in favour with the Queens who had no less interest in the Kings Heart than the Kingdom had in his Head The Age was uncertain Interest not so Sir Thomas was fixed on the One above the alterations of the Other understanding what was most convenient at a time when there was nothing lawful He was well seen in the flexures and windings of affairs at the depth whereoâ other Heads not so steady turned giddy He had the Arts of a Statesman and the closeness of a Politician Reserved he was but no Dissembler For if a man have that penetration of judgment as he can discern what things are to be laid open and what to be kept secret and what to be shewed with half âights and to whom and when which indeed are Arts of States and Arts of Life to him an Habit of Dissimulation is a hinderance and a poorness He as an able man was always frank and open but wary knowing how to stop and turn within the compass of equity and honesty He understood business well and men better and knew King Henry's Temper better than Himself whom he surprized always to his own bent never moving any
him one night to dancing this being his grave resolution That he who thought himself a wise man in the day-time would not be a fool at night otherwise none carryed himself more handsomely none conversed more ingeniously and freely none discoursed more facetiously or solidly In a word it was his peculiar happiness that his deportment was neither too severe for King Henry the eighth's time nor too loose for Henry the seventh's neither all honey nor all gall but a sweet mixture and temperament of affability and gravity carrying an equal measure of Sir Thomas More 's ingenuity in his head and Sir Thomas Cromwel's wisdome in his heart equally fashioned for discourse and business in the last whereof he was active but not troublesome in the first merry but innocent A Jest if it hit right may do more good then sober Counsels Archee made King Iames sensible of the danger the Prince was in in Spain by telling him that he came to change Caps with himâ Why said the King Because thou hast sent the Prince into Spain from whence he is never like to return But said the King what wilt thou say when thou seest him come back again Marry saith he I will take off the Fools Cap which I now put upon thy head for sending him thither and put it on the King of Spains for letting him return A Jest of Sir Thomas Wiat's began that Reformation which the seriousness of all Christendome could not commence King Henry was at a loss concerning the Divorce which he no less passionately desired than the Pope warily delayed Lord saith he that a man cannot repent him of his sin but by the Popes leave Sir Thomas hinted Doctor Cranmer opened and the Universities of Europe made the way to Reformation His Majesty was another time displeased with Wolsey and Sir Thomas ups with a story of the Curs baiting of the Butchers Dog which contained the whole method of that great mans ruine The Pope was incensed Christian Princes were enraged and the numeroâs Clergy discontented and King Henry afraid of a Revolution Butter the Rooks Nests that is sell and bestow the Papal Clergies Habitations and Land among the Nobility and Gentry said Sir Thomas and they will never trouble you One Day he told his Master he had found out a Living of an hundred pounds in the year more than enough and prayed him to bestow it on him Why said the King we have no such in England Yes Sir said Sir Thomas the Provostship of Eaton where a man hath his Diet his Lodging his Horse-meat his Servants wages his Riding-charge and an 100 l. per annum besides What Lewis the eleventh said of one Kingdome i. e. France may be true of all That they want one thing i. e. Truth Few Kings have such discreet Courtiers as Cardinal Wolsey to look into things deeply fewer so faithful Servants as Sir Thomas Wiat to report things as they see them honestly His Jests were always confined to these Rules 1. He never played upon a mans unhappiness or deformity it being inhumane 2. Not on Superiours for that is sawcy and undutiful 3. Nor on serious or holy matters for that 's irreligious applying to this occasion that of the Athenians who would not suffer Pathus to play his Comedies where Euripides repeated his Tragedies 4. He had much Salt but no Gall often jesting but never jearing 5. He observed times persons and circumstances knowing when to speak and knowing too when to hold his peace 6. His apt and handsome Reparties were rather natural than affected subtle and acute prompt and easie yet not careless never rendring himself contemptible to please others 7. Not an insipid changing of words was his gift buâ a smart reâort of matters which every body was better pleased with than himself 8. He always told a story well and was as good at a neat continued discourse as at a quick sentence contriving it in an handsome method cloathing it with suitable expressions without any Parenthesis or impertinencies and representing persons and actions so to the life that you would âhink you saw what you but hear A noâable way that argued the man of a ready apprehension an ingenious fine fancy a tenacious memory a graceful Elocution an exact judgment and discâeâion and perfect acquâintance with things and circumstances His phrase was clean and clear the pictuâe oâ his thoughts and language even in an argument not harsh or severe but gentle and obliging never contradicting but with an Vnder favour Sir always subjoyning to his adversaries discouâse what the Dutch do to all Ambassadors Proposals It may be so Observations on the Life of Sir John Fineux SIr Iohn Fineux born at Swinkfield in the County of Kent a place bestowed on his Ancestors by a great Lord in Kent called T. Criol about the reign of King Edward the second He followed the Law twenty eight years before he was made a Judge in which Office he continued twenty eight years and was twenty eight years of Age before he âetook himself to this study whence it necessarily âollows that he was four-score and four when he died He was a great Benefactor to St. Augustines in Canterbury the Pâior whereof William Mallaham thus highly commendeâh him good deeds deserve good words Vir prudentissimus Genere insignis Iustitia praeclarus Pictate refertus Humanitate splendidus charitate foecundus He died in 1526. and lies buried in Christ-Church in Canterbury having had a fair habitation in this City and another in Herne in this County where his Motto still remaineth in each Window Misericordias Domini cantabo in AEternum Nile's original is hidden but his stream is famous This Judge's Ancestors were not so obscure as he was illustrious His Device upon his Seâgeants Ring was Suae quisque fortunae faber and his discourse was always to this purpose That no man thrived but he that lived as if he were the first man in the world and his father were not born before him Forty years he said he lived by his industry Twenty by his reputation and Ten by favour King Henry the seventh knew not how well this Gentleman could serve him until he saw how effectually he did oppose him about the Tenth Peny raised for the War in Britain which raised another in York where though the Rabble that murthered Henry Earl of Northumberland who was to levy the Tax had not his Countenance for their Practice yet had they his Principle for their Rule which was this Before we pay any thing let us see whether we have any thing we can call our own to pay So able though reserved a Patriot thought the wise King would be an useful Courtier and he that could do so well at the Bar might do more at the Bench. Cardinal Morton was against his advancement as an incouragement to the Factious whose Hydra-heads grow the faster by being taken off by Preferment and not by an Ax the King was for it as the most probable
3. Constant correspondence and observation 4. A happy medley of Debonairness and Complacency Reservedness and Gravity with the first he had taken Princes and with the last Statesmen the one discovers others while the other conceals you 5. Resolution I made often said hâ as if I would fight when they knew my calling allowed me onely to speak 6. Civility That man said the Prince of Orange is a great bargain who is bought with a bare salvation Fourthly To Privy-Counsellours That excellent caution Always to speak last and be Masters of other strength before they displayed their own This was that rare man that was made for all business so dexterous This was he that was made for all times so complying This was he who lived Doctor of both Laws and died Doctor of both Gospels the Protestant which had the States-mans part of this man and the Popish who had the Christian. Noah had two faces because he was a son of the old world before the flood and a father of the new one after Wotton sure had four faiths who was a Favourite in King Henry's days of the Counsel in King Edward's of the Juncto in Queen Mary's and the second Statesman in Queen Elizabeth's With these two things of this person I shall conclude 1. His refusal of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury which argued his extraordinary humility or wariness His admission of Doctor Parker as Dean of Canterbury to that See which argueth the legality of his calling there being no circumstance with any likelihood omitted by so exquisite a Civilian as Doctor Wotton or forgotten by so great an Anâiquary as Doctor Parker Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Wriothesly the first Earl of Southampton THomas Wriothesly Knight of the Garter was born in Barbican Son to William Wriothesly descended from an Heir general of the antient Family of the Dunsteâviles King of Arms. He was bred in the University of Cambridge as it appears by Mr. Ascam's Letter unto him writing in the behalf of the University when he was Lord Chancellour Quamobrem Academia cum omni literarum ratione ad te unum conversa cui uni quam universis aliis se chariorâm intelligit partim tibi ut alumno suo cum authoritate imperat partim ut patrono summo demisse humiliter supplicat c. His University-Learning prepared him for the Law âis indefaâigable study of the Law promoted him to the Court where for his Honour he was created Baron of Tichbourn Jan. 1. 1543. and âor his Profit the next year May 3. Lord Chancellour a place he discharged with more Applause than any before him and with as much Integrity as any since him Force he said awed but Iustice governed the World It is given to that Family to be Generous and Resolute This incomparable Person was under a cloud in King Edward's time for being a rigidly-conscientious Papist and his great Grandchild suffered in King Charles his time for being a sincerely honest Protestant Yeâ so reverenced was the first of this Family by his Adversaries that he was made Earl of Southampton and so honoured was the other by his Enemies that they courted him to their party Integrity hath a Majesty in its full and a Glory in its lowest Estate that is always feared though not always loved No Nobleman understood the Roman Religion better than the first Earl of Southampton and none the Protestant better then the last the Right Honourable and truly Excellent Thomas Earl of Southampton and Treasurer of England His Court he said gave Law to the Kingdom His constant and exact Rules to the Court and his Conscience guided by the Law of the Kingdom to his Rules Affable and acceptable he was as More quick and ready as Wolsey incorrupt as Egerton apprehensive and knowing as Bacon Twice were all Cases depending in Chancery dispatched in Sir Thomas Wriothesly's time 1538. and in Sir Thomas More 's 1532. Truly did he judge intra Cancellos deciding Cases with that Uprightness that he wished a Window to his Actions yea and his Heart too King Philip was not at leasure to hear a poor Womans Cause Then said she cease to be King My Lord over-hearing a servant putting off a Petitioner because his Master was not at leasure takes him up roundly and repliâs You had as good say I am not at leasure to be Lord Chancellour Two things he would not have his servants gain by his Livings and his Decrees The first he said weâe Gods the second the Kings whom every man he said sold that sold Justice To honest men your places said he are enough to Knaves too much Every Week he had a Schedule of his own Accounts and every Month of his Servants Cato's greatest Treasure was his Account-Book of Sicily and my Lord of Southampton's was his Table of the Chancellours place A great Estate was conferred upon him which he took not in his own name to avoid the odium of Sacriledge as great an Inheritance he bought but in others names to escape the malice of Envy He loved a bishop he said to satisfie his Conscience a Lawyer to guide his Judgment a good Family to keep up his Interest and an University to preserve his name Full of Years and Worth he died 1550. at Lincoln-place and was buried at St. Andrews Church in Holborn where his Posterity have a Diocess for their Parish and a Court for their Habitation Observations on the Life of Sir John Fitz-James JOhn Fiâz-Iames Knight was born at Redlinch in Somersetshire of Right Antient and Worthy Parentage bâed in the study of our Municipal Laws wherein he proved so great a Proficient that by King Henry the Eighth he was advanced to be Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. There needs no more to be said of his Merit save that King Henry the Eighth preferred him who never used either Dunce or Drone in Church or State but Men of Ability and Activity He sat thirteen years in his place demeaning himself so that he lived and died in the Kings Favour He sat one of the Assistants when Sir Thomas More was arraigned for âefusing the Oath of Supremacy and was shrewdly put to it to save his own Conscience and not incur the Kings Displeasure For Chancellour Audley supreme Judg in that plaâe being loath that the whole burthen of More 's condemnation should lie on his shoulders alone openly in the Court asked the Advice of the Lord Chief Justice Fitz Iames Whether the Indictment were sufficient or no To whom our Judge warily returned My Lords all by St. Gillian which was ever his Oath I must needs confess That if the Act of Parliament be not unlawful then the Indictment is not in my conscience sufficient He died in the Thirteeth Year of King Henry the Eighth and although now there be none left at Redlinch of his Name and Family they flourish still at Lewson in Dorsetshire descended from Alured Fitz-Iames brother to this Judge and
refused a Treaty but upon condition that Ashe their Leader was pledged advised an engagement with them out of hand saying No English-man should be undervalued so far as to be an Hostage for a Villain and adding further so good was his Intelligence That if they were not defeated speedily the Scots and Germans would discover that they had but too much hand in this plot For which his services his Master raised him to the Admiralship of England and the Earldom of Southampton in which Quâlity he was one of the three Noblemen that managed the Business of Divorce between the King and Anne of Cleve with that applause that made him Lord Privy-Seal Nov. 14. Anno 1541. and the grand Examinant of the particulars in the Lady Katharin Howard's Case a matter of great trust and secrecy wâich he performed with a searching and deep Judgment beyond that Ladies fear and the King's expectation as appears from the exact Account given under Sir Tho. Audley and his own hands touching that matter Having provided for the Kings Safety at Home he is One of Four that treat for his Intrest abroad I mean upon the Borders of Scotland where our excellent Persons dexterity was observed in gaining that time by various Proposals âor Peace that served his Master to provide against the War in the beginning whereof the brave Lord died at York so much esteemed that for the Honour of his Memory his Standard was born in the Fore-ward all this Expedition A Person in whom prudence was even with activity resolution with prudence Success with Resolution Moderation with Success Honour and Favour with All. Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Darcy SIr Thomas Darcy was one of King Henry the Eighth'â first Counsellours so advanced aâ most of his Fellows not for Affection but Interest owing his Promotion to his own sufficiency rather than his Masters favour His Counsel was weighty at Home his Assistance necessary Abroad where in behalf of Pope Iulius the second and the Emperour he did more with 1500 Archers in â year for the balancing of Europe than had been done before in an Age. No Employment so dangerous at that time as that of the Warden of the West Marches of Scotland none so noble for that Employment as my Lord who was equally knowing and stout and at once most feared and most loved The Earl of Shrewsbury made some Inroads into Scotland the Lord Darcy seconds him But being surprized by the Duke of Albany's preparations he had as much Wit to make Peace as he had Resolution to carry on the War None knew better when to yield none better when to conquer so great â command had he over himself so great over thâ Enemy that he brought them to request his Wish aud offer what was his Interest With the Duke of Surrey's assistance by Land and Fitz-Williamâ his by Sea he reduced that Nation to a good Intelligence with Us that year and a Peace the next a Peace as he observed that would âe no longer kept than we had a Sword in our Hands and an Army on their Borders For Conâcience guided other parts of the World he said and Fear Scotland Whence he invaded them duely once a year Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Howard SIr Edward's Brother in Worth as well as Blood His Fathers Interest set him up and his own Industry kept him so All the Children were brought up for Sea-Services this Gentleman for Sea Commands He immediatly succeeds his younger Brother in the Admiralty and wisely considering the advantage of the French Gallies in a calm the number of their ships the danger of their winds for us if they blew South-west desired of the King so many Souldiers as might man the ships and make good the landing wherewith he scoured the seas and secured the Kings passage with so much Honour that he was able to assist his Father at Court as much as Wolsey did Fox his Gallantry being no less pleasing to his Master than the other young Favouâites Compliance and both these young men had no less Art to govern his Prince than he had to govern his Kingdom These Arts which all other Favourites use being Hopes and Fears which as Doors Passages to the heart aâe so guarded by their vigilancy that they cân both let themselves in and keep all others out the two Ends upon which the Thread of Government depends His Father is made Duke of Norfolk and he Earl of Surrey both are an eye-sore to the Cardinal whoâe Fortune hâd no Superior in the Kiâgs Favour whose Ambition would endure no Equal The Old Mans years and cares are fitted with a Retirement in the Country the Young Mans ambition and activity with a Government in Iâeland which he reduced as speedily to obedience notwithstanding Desmond's Rebellion as he had to civility had it not been for Wolsey's Underminings who endured no publick service but what he did himself and would chuse rather that the Kingdom should perish by a Traytor then be saved by a Nobleman Beloved he was by that Country where he left a Peace and a Parliament Anno 1521. so that they were loth to part with him Wanted he was by the King to scour the narrow seas for the French War so that he must have him The King hath made him formerly His Admiral the Emperour upon his return from England makes him his and with both their Commissions he lands in Normandy wastes the adjacent Countries sparing only Religious Houses takes and sacks Morlais in Bretaign which he entered under the smoak burns their ships commands the sea and sets the Emperour safe in Spain advising his Majesty from thence to make a general Muster of his Subjects for his own satisfaction and others terrour March 27 1522. The troubles in Scotland required an able Head and a stout Heart two Endowments that no man was more Master of than the Earl of Surrey now Duke of Norfolk upon his beloved Fathers decease whose Prudence toyled the Scots to deliver up their King as his Prowess frighted them to yeild up themselves as they did in that most exquisiâe Treaty where the Earl of Worcester beat the Bush saith my noble Author and our Duke catched the Hare A while after he is Earl Marshal and Embassador to King ârancis about tâose two grand poinâs 1. That the French King should set up a Patriarch 2. That he should stop up all the payments made to Rome wiâh fair promises of that supply of men and money he then most wanted When the Pope stuck to Queen Katherine three things he advised the King to 1. To teach the people that a general Council was above the Pope and proclaim that he did appeal to it 2. To fix upon every Church-Door the Dowagers Appeal to Rome and the late Statute against it 3. To confederate with the Kings of Hungaây and Poland the Estates of the Empire and the Hanse Towns Three things that would settle his People at home and
strengthen his Interest abroad To which he added the Statute of Succession the Oath of Supremacy Sir William Howard's Embassy to the Scotch King the suppression of Religious Houses the War in Ireland under Sir William Sheffington and a thorow search into the bottom of the Rebellion in the North by a connivance and delay But all his services could not quit him from suspicion nor his popularity from envy The Lord Daâcy accuseth him to excuse himself and Cromwel seconds him âo secure himself as unhappinesses follow one another in the same order as one wave floweâh after another his Nieces miscarriages threatned his fall but that the honest man as appears from a Letter the whole Council sent to Sir William Paget then resident in France was the first that declared against her and put the King upon the most safe honourable ways of trying her which satiâfied his Majesty so far that he employed him as câief in the Treaty upon the Borders and General in the War when that Treaty failed Sir Anthony Brown upon his Recommendation being added to the Commissioners in Scotland and to the Privy-Council in England âs Master of the King's Horse as Sir Iohn Gages was Comptâoller of his House Several Persons came to London for a Reward of their Scotch serviceâ this Duke gave the King a waây and grave counsel to bestow upon them as much Land as they could win in Scotland But Greatness is fatal The King is old and testy the Government disordered irregular the Duke too stifly honest to comply the Council envy him and in this Juncture his Wives passion discovereth his Minions and they to save themselves his privacies and secrets His son a man of a deep undeâstanding of a sharp wit and great valour bred up with Henry Fitz-roy at Windsor and afterwards at Paris was beheaded before his face His Favourite Mâs. Holland deposed That he said many looked for the Protectorship when the King who lived and moved by Engines and Art rather than by Nature should die but he would carry it That the King did not love him because he was loved by his Country but he would follow his Fathers Lesson which was That the less others set by him the more he would set by himself That he had a Daughter for the King as well as othersâ c. His Estate was great his power greater the King's occasions had swallowed up the one and his Enemies ambition the other notwithstanding his humble submission before the Council and his many services to the King had not his Majesties Death saved his Life As the deepest Hate is that which springs from violent Love so âhe greatest Discourtesies oft arise from the largest Favours It is indiscreet to oppress any dangerous a Prince with Kindnesses which being Fetters are Treason on that Person But Suspicion Ah sad Suspicion The Companion of the Weak or Guilty The Cloud of the Mind The Forfeiture of Friends The check of Busineâs Thou that disposest Kings to Tyranny Husbands to Jealousie Wise men to Irresolution and Melancholy Trust and you need never suspect But Policy and Friendship are incompatible I see where Norfolk begs that Life from the Block at last which he had ventured two and thirty times for his Sovereign Who knows the Cares that go to Bed with Statesmen Enemies Abroad Treacheâies at Home Emulations of Neighbours Dissatisfaction of Friends Jealousies of most Fear of all unwelcome Inventions to palliate unjust Courses fears of Miscarriage and Disgrace with Projects of Honour and Plausibility with restless thoughts how to discover prevent conceal accommodate the Adversaries or his own Affairs Let us live and love and say God help poor Kings Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Stanley THe Stanley's service to Henry the Seventh was a sufficient pledge of their faithfulness to Henry the Eighth Honour floated in Sir Edward's blood and Valour danced in his spirits His stirring childhood brought him to Henry the eighth's company and his active manhood to his service The Camp was his School and his Learning was a Pike and Sword therefore his Masters Greeting to him was when they met Hoh my Souldier In many places did he shew himself but no where more than at Flodden where his Archers fetched down the Scots from their fastness and relieved the English from their distress the Earl of Surrey beginning the Conquest and Siâ Edward crowning it for which the King immediately set him high in his favour and not long aâter as high in the world being made Baron Stanley and Lord Mounteagle Twice did he and Sir Iohn Wallop land with only 800. Men in the heart of France and four times did he and Sir Tho. Lovell save Callis the first time by Intelligence the second by a stratagem the third by valour and resolution and the fourth by hardship patience and industry In the dangerous Insurrection by Ashe and Capââin Cobler his Zeal for the States welfare was aâove scruples and his Army was with âim before âis Commission for which dangerous piece of âoyalty he asked pardon and received thanks Two things he did towards the discomfiture of the Rebels whose skill in Arms exceeded âis Followârs as much as his policy did their Leaders first he cut off their provisions and then secondly sowâd sedition among them whilst his Majesty gained âime by pretended Treaties to be even with them drawing off the most eminent of the factions every day and confounding the rest He lived wiâh this strange opinion that the soul of Man was like the winding up of a Watch and when the String was run out the Man died and there the Soul determined but he died not so Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Bolen THe City enriched this Family their Parts raised them His Activity was as taking with King Henry as his Daughters beauty He was the Picklock of Princes upon his word only would the King model his Designs and upon his word alter them He discovered Ferdinand's underhand-treaty with Lewis and his design upoâ Navarre aâd writ to his Master to press the ambiguous man to a coâclusion and to send over some treasure for said he the whole World iâ now to be sold adding the necessity of a peace oâ at least a truce with Scotland Sir Thomas Boleâ was against the Kings going to France in person before he had some more issue or Edmund de la Poââ were dispatched out of the way Sir Thomas Howard was for it it being dangerous to entrust so Noble an Army or so renowned an Action with any subject especially when Maximilian the Emperour offered to serve under his Majesty as Lieutenant and the Pope to attend him as Chaplain There is nothing more remarkable of Sir Thomââ Bolen than 1. The Education of his Children his eldest son being bred at the Emperours Court his youngest with the Pope at Rome and his Daughter with Queen Mary in France 2. His Negotiation with the Lord St. Iohns in Germany where
he over-reached the Emperour no less than the Earl oâ Worcester did the French King so cunningly binding him that he understood nothing of our Affairs and yet so narrowly siâting him that we knew all his Intrigues Visible was all the world to our State then and invisible our State to all the world From Germany he is sent with Richard Sampson D. H. to Spain to set Charles as forward against the French as he had done Maximilian His service advanced him to the honour of a Barony and a Viscountship and the profit of the Treasureship of the Houshold and his success upon the Malecontent Duke of Bourbon by Sir Io. Russel who treated with him in Disguise set him as high in the Kings favour as his Wife was a virtuous Lady that was the Kings Friend but not his Mistriss his delight and not his sin In Spain so earnestly did our Sir Thomas mediate âor the delivering up of the French Hostages that as Sandoval saith Charles protested to him that for his sake onlâ he would relinquish his Demand for the restitution of Burgundy in which the difficulty of the peace consisted adding further That for the same reason he would accept as well for Francis his two sons ransome as his charge what was freely offered viz. 2000000 Crowns and he with Sir Robert Poyntz make up that treaty the great Arbiârators of Europe at whose disposal Kings set their Crowns and Kingdoms their Peace in whose breast fate the fate of Christendome by their voices to stand or fall As faithful is he to the King at home though to his own prejudice as he is serviceable abroad to his honour for when the people talked oddly out of envy to his Daughter now visibly in favour and piây to Qâeen Katherine Sir Thomas adviseth his Majesty to âorbid his Daughter the Court and declare that those proceedings âere more to satisfie his Conscience and secure Succession than to gratifie any other more private respect so far to his Daughters discontent that she would not come near the King until her Father was commanded not without threats to bring her thither who by representing the common danger to them both obtained at length saith my Lord Herbert though not without much difficulty the consâât of his unwilling Daughter to return where yet she kept that distance that the King might easily perceive how sensible she was of her late dismission Sir Thomas would have married her to the Lord Percy but the King and Cardinal forbad it deterrin old Northumberland from it and he his Son Many Love-Letters between King Henry and Anne Bolen are sent to Rome one Letter beâwâen the Cardinal and his Confedeâates is fetched thence by Sir Thomas his Dexterity who advised Sir Francis Bryan then Resident to get in with the Popes Closet-keepers Courtezan and shew her the Cardinals hand by which she might find out and copy his Expresses as she did to his ruine and our King 's great satisfaction To which Letter is annexed a Declaration under his hand and the Lords Darcy Mountjoy Dorset and Norâolk of 44 Articles against the great Cardinal His hand being now in he must through He adviseth the King to consult the Universities of Christendome He goeth in person when made Earl of Wiltshire to the Pope and contrives that a Declaration of the whole Kingdome in Parliament should follow him which so amused his Holiness with our Earls stratagems that he was asleep as it were until the state of England was quite altered To this he adds the peace with France and the interview with King Francis where his Daughter is married privately and her Brother made Yiscount Rochford Convening a Parliament to his mind at Black-Fryers and advancing an Arch-bishop to his purpose in Canterbury he is secure of the Church and of the Kingdom whereof the first hallowed the action the second confirmed it I say nothing of the bird the egge is bad and left by the hard hearted and Orstredg posterity in the Sand thinking it more engenuous to confess that the scandal of it is not to be answered than to bustle and keep a coil and twist new errors with old falling to Scylla for fear of Charybdis for fear of the absurditieâ that dropped from that first one as thick as Sampsons Enemies heaps upon heaps Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Howard HE set out with his Fathers Reputation and came home with his own Britain feels his Arm to this day and the French his success Desperate were his Undertakings yet happy rash his Engagements yet honourable it being his Maxime That never did Sea-man good that was not resolute to a degree of madness The French Fleet he pursueth to the Haven under their own Forts closely Sir Edward considering the order wherein the French lay thought fit to advertise his King and Master thereof advising him withal saith my Author to come in person and have the glory of this Action but the Kings Council taking this Message into consideration and conceiving that it was not altogether fear as was thought but stratagem and cunning that made the French thus attend their advantage thought the King was not invited so much to the honour as to the danger of this Action therefore they write sharply to him again commanding him to do his duty whereof that brave person was so sensible that he landed 1500 men in the sight of 10000 and wasted the Country until being too confident he fell a while after into his Enemies hands the Lord Ferrers Sir Thomas Cheyney Sir Richard Cornwal and Sir Iohn Wallop looking on but not able to relieve him Four Reasons he would usually give against a War with the Low-Countries 1. The decay of Trade 2. The Diminution of Customs 3. The strengthening of France 4. The loss of their industry and inventions and so of the improvement of our Commodities Manufactures In the youth of this State as of all others Arms did flourish in the Middle-gate of it Learning and in the Declining as Covetousness and Thrift attend Old Age Mechanick Arts and Merchandize and this Gentleman was made for each part being not so much a Souldier as a Scholar nor so much a Scholar as a Merchant But a private spirit is most unfortunate and as my Oracle assures me whereas men of that temper all their time sacrifice to themselves they become in the end themselves sacrifices to fortune whose wings they thought by their wisdome to have pinioned Observations on the life of Sir Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey SIr Thomas Howard was this Kings prime Counsellour a brave and an understanding man who was obliged to be faithful to his Master because an Enemy to Winchester emulation among Favourites is the security of Princes Four motives he offered for a Marriage with the Princess Katharine 1. A League with Spain against the growing power of our dangerous Neighbour France 2. The saving of much time and expense in Marriage by her being here 3. The
consideration of that vast sum of Money that must be exported if she goeth away And 4. The great Obligation laid on the Pope by that Dispensation which would secure to him the King aud his Posterity not otherwise Legitimate but by his Authority His Estate was much wasted in the service of Henry the seventh and as much improved by the treasures of Henry the eighth which amounted in the beginning of his Reign to 1800000 l. i. e. at the rate of money now adays six millions and an half which he dispensed so thriftily that old Winchester could not trapan him and yet so nobly that young Henry was pleased with him Sir William Compton set up the King's Rich Life-guards under Bourchier Earl of Essex as Captain and the valiant Sir Io. Peachy who kept Calais in so good order with 300 men as Lieutenant but this wary Earl put them down again When News was brought that Empson and Dudley were slain it was the Earls opinion that his Majesty had done more like a good King than a good Master When the narrow Seas whereof the Kings of England have been very tender were infested this old Treasurer and Earl-Marshal cleared it by his two sons Edward and Thomas saying The King of England should not be imprisoned in his Kingdome while either he had an Estate to set up a Ship or a son to command it In three weeks did he settle thâ North against the Invasions of Iames the fourth now inclining in to the Feench and in a fortnight did he raise 40000 l. to pay the Army now ready to mutiny insomuch that when King Iames denounced War against King Henry he said He had an Earl in the North that would secure his Kingdome as he did with much resolution prudence and success at Flodden-Field where he saw a King at his feet and a whole Kingdome at his mercy where he was forced to fight so barren the Country una salus victis nullam sperare salutem where yet he pitched upon the most advantageous place and time so great his Command of himself and so noble his Conduct He sends Rouge Croix to the Scotch King to tell him That though he saw no Enemy at Sea he hoped to find some upon the Land That he came to justifie Bretons death which it was as much below a King to revenge as it was below a Privy Counsellour to have deserved That he expected as little mercy as he intended his sword being commissioned to spare none but the King whom no hand must touch To this Defiance he added a Caution to the Herauld That he should bring no messenger from the Enemy nearer than two miles of the Camp So well were the Scots encamped that when neither Arguments nor Stratagems would draw them out the Earl cuts off their provision there and under the covert of a smoak got the Earl under the hill and under another of mist got they atop The Scots played the men until Stanley and Darcy did more than men and the old mans Reserve concluded the doubtful day in so câmpleat a Conquest as brought 12000 Arms 16 Cannons 4000 Prisoners and a Peace to the English Borders Upon which the General retires to those more necessary exerciseâ of Justice and Government until his Masters return When all his Services advanced him at that time when it was â Maxime of State That Honours are the Lustre and Security of Crowns to his Fathârs Dukedom of Norfolk as his Sons Merits promoted him to his of the Earldom of Surrey The Kings Coffers decay and his Occasions grow The old man retires to his Country-house having enjoyed his Honour Thirty years to enjoy Himself Three One of his last Undertakings being the appeasing of the London Tumults May 1. 1517. when he left this behind him A potent and wanton City is a shrewd Enemy Observations on the Life of Sir William Compton HE was chief Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry the Eighth and next to the chief in the affections of the same Prince If his spirit had been as even with his favour as his favour was with his Merits he had been the most useful as well as the most eminent man in England but he was too narrow for his Fortune and more attentive to his private advantage than to the publick affairs This Saying is at once his History and Monument Kings must hear all but believe only one for none can give a solid advice but he that knoweth all and he must not be every body As to the affairs of Europe â Sâ William was clearly for the League against France as an opportunity to regain our Right in France and strenghthen our Interest in the Church thâ Empire My Lord Darcy was against it becauââ France was too hard for us before it swallowed uâ our Confederates and much more since advising some moâe noble attempts for our just Empirâ upon the Indies The young King is for a Waâ with France aâ an Engagement upon the Pope tâ advance England above all other Kingdoms anâ declares himself as much Sir William's in opinioâ as he was his in affection This Gentleman had a deep insight in any thinâ he undertook because he had a great patience tâ consider an advantageous slowness to recollect â strong memory to grasp and an indifferent tempeâ to judge but when a matter exceeded his capaciâty or out-reached his sphere and orb he had eiâther a peremptory and great word to urge it or â sleight to wave it or a subtlety to perplex it thaâ his amazed fellow-Commissioners should as littlâ undeâstand it or a countenance and geâture too verbear it However in general he was close anâ reserved he had need go softly that cannot weâ see leaving himself without observation or holâ to be taken what he was He studied the King nature rather than his buâiness and humoureâ rather than advised him The referring of all tâ a man becomes a Prince whose self is not himâself but the community their good and evil beâing as my Lord Bacon writes at the peril of â publick fortune but not a subject whose privatâ advantage may be a publick ruine not a Favouârite whose benefit by that selfishness may be narrow as his own Fortune but the hurt done by it is as large as his Masters who must needs be undone when his servants study to please Him and to profit Themselves Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Marney SIr Henry Marney was one of young Henry's first Council who loved his Peson well and his Prospericy better and impartially advised him for his good and modestly contested with him against his harm that Council that was hand as well as head and could perform as well as advise This was the searching Judgement that discovered Buonviso the Lucchess his Letters to the French King betraying our designs as soon as thought on and instructing him for prevention before our King was ready for the attempt Industry and Thrift over-rules Princes This Personage
had no time to transcribe Intelligence but what he borrowed from his sleep nor money to buy it but what he saved out of his allowance yet he understood more than any one Prince of Europe and was more consulted than any one Statesman His Judgment was much valued his Integrity more ever offering what was solidly safe rather than what was superficially plausible as one who was a stranger to the wisdome of the latter Age as Sir Francis Bacon describes it which is rather fine Deliveries and shifts from Inconveniences than solid and grounded courses for advantage His foresight was large and his spirit larger he considered all Circumstances that occurred to him judged what he considered and spoke what he judged with that resolution as to his opinion that argued he understood the matter in question with that modesty as to his Superiours that shewed he understood himself He would say that he that could not with the Cameleon change colour with the Aire he liveâ in must with the Cameleon live only upon Aire Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Poynings SIr Edward Poynings was the third of eighteen Counsellours bequeathed by Henry the VII to his Son with his Kingdom a Privy Council wherein there was not one Lawyer and a Cabal that never condescended for advice to any below themselves or for performance of any of their Degrees to any beâides themselves being a compleat Body of active and knowing men in their own Orb. Who more prudent than Surrey who more resolved than Poynings whose Vigilancy made him Master of the Cinque Ports as his Valour advanced him General of the Low-Country Forces whom he led on to several services with such success and brought off with the loss of not above an hundred men with Honour from the Lady Margaret and Applause from the whole Country No less happy was he in his Government of Tournay until the Council at home now ãâã thin by the secession of Warham Fox ãâã Norfolk had more need of him than Garisons aâroad Vainly is that spirit penned within a City that was equal to a Kingdom It is the unhappiness of other Monarchies that they have not Men answerable to their Employments it was the unhappiness of this that it had not Employment suitable to its Men. He liv'd and di'd in Arms Bulloign saw him fiâst a Souldier and Bulloign saw him last the best Camp-Master in all Christendom always observing three things 1. The Situation of his Camp to secure his Army 2. The Accommodation of it to supply it 3. His Retreat to draw off the Avenues to be guarded with Souldiers and strengthened with Re-doubts which he made Triangular that more men might engage the Enemy at once during erection wheâeof the Army was pallisado'd in the Front with stakes headed with iron on both ends five foot long stuck slope-wise into the ground to keep off both Horse and Foot the Foot-Sentinels were without the Redoubts the Horse-Guards beyond them at distance enough to descry the Enemy and not too much to retire to their works A serious and plodding brow bespoke this Noble Knights deep Prudence and a smart look his resolved Valour who was a man vastly different in his publick capacity from what he was in his privâte employment Quemquam posse putas mores narrare futuros Dic mihi si fias tu leo qualis eris Observations on the Life of Sir Charles Somerset SIr Charles Somerset afterward Lord Herbert of Gower c. endeared himself to King H. as much for his Maxime That Reason of State was Reason of Law as for his Advice That the King should never suck at Law in case of Publique Good and yet that all âis Acts for publique Good should come as near as possible to the Law So Popular was this Gentleman that he received all the Petitions against Empson and Dudley yet so loyal that he advised his Master neither to spare those Leeches lest any should pâesume to alienate his Peoples affections from him by Extortions for the future nor yet too severely to punish them lest any should be discouraged to serve the Crown for the present for indeed Empson and Dudley suffered for that which others were advanced for the Parliament punished them for putting their Laws in execution and the King deserted them for improving his Exchequer to a Treasury Two things this Lord advised his Master to before he put the Crown upon his head 1. To redress the Peoples Grievances under his Father 2. To marry not in France where he had a Title A Kingdom so near us that by reason of mutual jelousies we may have peace with it sometimes but Friendships never In the Houshold he was Lord Chamberlain so discreet his Carriage In the French Expedition Anno 1513. he was General so Noble his conduct His Assiâstants were the Earls of Northumberland Shrewsbury Kent and Wiltshire his Followers the Lord Audley De la Ware Carew and Curson c. Therovene he besiegeth in good Order and with Wolsey's advice who had lived long in that Town understands all the Avenues of it aâd with Sir Oughtred Sir Henry Guilford Sir Edward Poynings Sir Charles Brandon and Sir Alexander Baynam's assistance sprung several Mines repulsed the French Relief and the City-Assailants so that the Town was yielded August 22. 1513. and upon Mazimilian's Intreaty razed as he did Tournay September 22. Herbert was for razing this place as farther from us than Therovene but Wolsey for the Bishopricks sake is for the garisoning of it as a Trophy The King recollecting his former occasions Febr. 3. 1514. thought he could not do a more just or a more prudent Act than recompence his Noble Servants but the cheapest way I mean that of Honour as he did old Somerset with the Earldome of Worcester With this Honour at home is joyned another abroad viz. That of Embassie to Maximilian where he reached that Germans depthâ and clearly demonstrated that those fond and impossible Offers of the Empire were but Artifices rather than Kindnesses to drain the Kings Treasure rather than enlarg his Dominions Advising him or raise a Citadel at Tournay and an Army in Normandy He finished the Espousals between the Princess Mary and the Dolphin and delivered Tournay by the âame token that he would not let the Mareschal de Castilion to enter with Banner displayed but rolled up it being as he said who when Lord Herbert was at the taking of it voluntarily yielded up and not gotten by Conquest and then bestowed himself with Sir Richard Wingfield for the great enterview between King Francis and King Henry an interview I know not whether more solemn or more dangerous Kings cannot meet without great state and they seldom part without much envy who never are further asunder than when they meet His most eminent Action here was the Device of that Motto Cui adhareo praeeât a Motto that speaks the Honour of England and the Interest of Europe The Arbitrators commanding both
the parties submitting âo their Arbitration for two Cities in Italy contending about their bounds chose the People of Room to be their Arbitrators they gave either City a small pittance and reserved all the rest to themselves Quod in medio est Populo Romano adjudicetur Observations on the Life of Thomas Grey Marquess of Dorsât THe Kings Wars called for Souldiers and his Peace for Statesmen and here is a Person ex utroque magnus When the whole design âfor âhe Invasion of France was ripened this Marquess âs made General and attended by the Lord Thomas Howard the Lords Brook Willoughby and Ferâers with divers Knights Gentlemen and others âo the number of ten thousand men armed not only with Bows but Halberâs He distresseth Navar to a submission to his Master forceth his way to Bayon and with Sir Iohn Styles assistance kept up the English Honour above that of France and the Empire keeping close to his Commission and not stirring a foot without expâess Orders from Ireland Although his preâence countenanced some Actions his hands could not perform Three things he was very careful of 1 Of Good Pay lest his Souldiers mââined 2. Of Good Diet aud Quârters lest they failed 3. Of Order Discipline and Temperancâ especiaâly in strange Climates lest they should be distempered Two things he was unsuccessful for 1. The narrowness of his Commission 2. The reach of Ferdinand who designed the Conquest of Navar rather than of France Yet what reputation he lost by Land Sir Edward Howard gained by Sea commanding the French ships to their Harbours Over-running Britain and with Sir Tho. Knevet the Master of the Horse Sir Iohn Carew and Sir Henry Guilford's assistance he gave Law in the Mediterranean until he awed the Neighbour-Princes to terms as honourable for his Master as dishounorable for themselves Now we find him valiant in earnest at Sea anon so in jest at Câurt at the solemn Justs proclaimed by Francis de Valois Duke of Angoulesm in France his Nature being not sâinted buy equally free to deboâar and serious Enterprises of Pleasure or of Honour where six Germans were at his mercy and four Frenchmen at his feet His spirit equalled those active times and his temper his spirit Three things set him up 1. His large expenses for shew at Court 2. His strength and manhood at Justs 3. His skill and experience in the Field He was the best for embattelling an Army in those times Observing 1. The number strength and experience of hih Camp 2. The Nature and extent of the place whether Champain or inclosed hilly or plain wooddy or moorish straight or large that he might accordingly diâpose of distances and stands 3. Inclosureâ he aimed at for his Foot and Champain for his Horse together with the advantages of Wind and Sun 4. He impales the Flank and Reer with Muskets Pikes aud Carriages 5. His Divisions werâ sundry but well ordered to relieve one another His main Battels three the largest in the front the next in the middle with some spaces between for the fiâst to rally it self or embody with the second the third and strongest in the Rear so divided that the two first Battels may retreat into it and draw up in it's rear to watch the Enemies disorder in pursuit It 's observed of the Turks that they nâver put their Ianizaries thir best Souldiers in the Front but make use of them for Reserves by which they have been very succesful This Noble Marquess went not by rote or fore-conceived âules but by present Prudence observing time âlace and persons neither would he lie open to ân Enemies design by a constant Method but alter âis Stratagems and contradict all the Rules of Discipline to disorder the Enemy and disappoint âis expectation He hath somtimes compounded the wings of his Battle of ablest men and the Battle it self of the meanest ordering them if overpowred to make make their retreat to the Rear of the other Diviâions through the spaces appointed for that end which the Enemy perceiving followeth not smelâng the drift not without disorder as in all pursuits between the two strong wings who crush them in pieces His Field-Piecâs after once or twice discharging were drawn within the Divisions of the main Battle to fââe the Enemy at his next approaches if the Front were disordered And to avoid the execution of hiâ Enemies his files were thin and his Dragoons ready to seize theirs whereby at least they were hinderd from shooting his Forlorn retired to the main Battel and out of the Flanks thereof issued with Fire-pots and Granadoes upon the engaged Enemy His Horse were in four Battalia's whereof the first was the greatest lined with shot placed on each wing of the main Army ways opening upon the opening of the Enemy The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving Counsel For in other confidences saith my Lord Bacon men commit the parts of life their Lands their Goods their Children their Credit some particular affair but to such as they make their Counsellours they commit the whole by how much the more they are obliged to faithfulness and integrity None was more trusted than the Marquess none more trusty None understood clearer what was fit none spoke plainer what he understood What wants a Sovereign said a flattering Crurtier Truth said a serious King Never had King more need of it than Henry never less of it than he whom it was less fatal to Ruing than to Displease But this Souldier was as much above feare as Flattery that told him when pensive That never was that man merry that had more than one Woman in his Bed more than one Friend in his Bosom more than one Faith in his Heart So waây was this Gentleman that he was not rash and so lost his advantage so valiant that he was not contemptible and so Lost his command He led others by the strongest authority of his own forwardness his own example he was led himself by the best Guide his own Observation his own Experience His Book limited not his Design nor his Paper-plot his Undertakings Land-service was his Exerciâe but the Sea his Delight The Compass his Study the Stars his Care Trade his Thoughts our own and âorein Havens his Discourâe a Sea-man his Familiar and three Sea-fights his Tâiumph His converse and speech was Souldier-like plain short smart and material There was a time when he would say nothâng and a time when he would say somthing but âeâer a time when he would say all He was in a word the happy man who notwithstanding that the times could not endure his Virtues nor he their Vices died at once full of hohonour at Court and applause in the Country with this Monument from the King That Honest and Good Man Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Wingfield HIs Parts and Person endeaâed him to the English Court his Travel and Experience recommended him to Forein Negotiations particulaâly in the Emperour Maximilians Court
whom his arguments and his own Interest drew off from France Sir Robert helping him to some Observations touching the breach of the Article of Cambray as his pretense to this alteration and offering him what men and money he pleased as his encouragement to this undertaking Sending in the mean time one Nicolas West D. L. and Dean of Windsor to feel the Pulse of all the Princes in Christendome and advising upon an entire reflection on their several Interests the repair of our frontier Towns and Forts an Army ready in the North and a constant Parliament He is Deputy of Calice and Viceroy of France What the French lost in the Fieâd they got by Treaty until Sir Richard's time whose Policy went as far as his Masters Power in that Accord Which tyed up they said the French Kings hands behind his back and the Scotch between his legs Yea he almost perswaded Maximilian out of his Empire 1615. though he wished the King not to accept of until the French were out of Italy Some do bettâ by Friends or Letters Sir Robert best by himselâ observing that he never failed but when he iââtrusted others with what he could do himself hââ person breeding regard and his eye seeing morâ than any he could employ and his present minâ being more ready in his own affairs upon any aââteration to come on draw back or otherwise acâcomodate matters than any Substitute who seeââ not the bottom of things nor turn to occasionsâ He had about him his Blades and Gallants to exâpostulate his Orators and fair-spoken-men tâ perswade his close and subtile ones to enquiââ and observe his froward men to perplex anâ his plain Agents to report Attendants for alâ services whose experience made them knowing and confident Doctor West Pace Lee and Gardener's way was the Circuit afar off Sir Robert's was the Surprize quick and nicked No man observing time more closely no man watching Natures tempers interests advantages and ends more indeâatigably It was the observation of those dayes That Sir Robert Wingfield was the best to prepare and ripen Designs and Sir Thomas Bolen to execute them But that Age was two boysterous and he too wary to advance beyond the reputation of a knowing Agent in which câpacity he lived or of a resolved Patriot with which honour he dieth Observations on the Life of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham HIs Blood was high his Revenue large and he was born to adorn the Court rather than to serve it He vied with the King in Gallantry and with the Cardinal in Pride of the one he speaks irreverently That Women governed him more than he did the Kingdome of the other indiscreetly That Francis governed France and Harry England and Wolsey both adding That the Commonalty might well complain when we had two Kings to maintain That which ruineth the world ruineth him his Tongue Fate never undid a man without his own indiscretion and her first stroke is at the Head Abroad none more Gorgeous at Home none more Noble at Court splendid among his Tenants Prince-like to his Relations impartial A Servant always pulled down the house of the Staffords and now one Knevet his Steward whom he had discharged for oppressing his Tenants undoeth him for his Father in-law the Earl of Northumbeâland is set under a Cloud and his Son-in-law the Earl of Surrey is removed on pretense of honourable employment out of the way and Wolsey's malice at the Duke hath its full scope who now deals with Knevets discontent to discover his Masters life and suggest that the Duke by way of discourse was wont to say how he meant to use the matter that if King Henry died without issue he would attain the Crown and punish the Cardinal George Nevil Lord Abergavenny his Son-in-law impeached him to save himâelf His Title to the Crown was his Descent from Anne Plantagenet Daughter of Thomas of Woodâtock Son to Edward the third His Accusation was 1. That he had conferred with a Cunning Man Hopkins Monk of Henton concerning the future state of this Realm who advised him to Popularity for he should have all if he had but the love of the People the Wizard confirming this by Revolutions and the Duke rewarding it with great encouragment 2. That he disparaged the present Government and used Arts to secure the succession 3. That he had threatned King Henry with the same Dâgger that should have murthered Richard the third He denied the Charge very eloquently and disclaimed his Life very rashly his foolish words rather than any designed malice deserving rather pity then judgement Much lamented was he by the People and as much was the Cardinal maliced being now called by the whole multitude The Butchers Son When Buckingham fell three things fell with him 1. The Splendour of the Court. 2. Hospitality and good Landlords in the Country And 3. The High-Constableship of England All Greatness is subject to Envy but none more than that which is insolent and affected being never its self without its pomp and shew Plain and modest Greatness is only safe A Witch then blasts a man when most prosperous and the Envious the onely Wizard in the world when most glorious Wise men therefore have eclipsed themselves that they might not be gazed on and great Ones have shrunk and suffered themselves to be oveâ-born to be secure Vain-glorious men are the scorn of the Wise the admiration oâ Fools the Idols of Parasites and the envy of the Unworthy the Busie the Unfortunate the Ambitious and the Rivals He lives well that lives in peace and he is safely gâeat that is great in his Conscience Anger sure is but a weakness in any man it belongeth so much to the Aged and the Childish and an indecency in a Nobleâman yet it might have been a Gallantry in this Duke had it noâ 1. Revealed secrets and so betrayed him And 2. Spoke bitterly and dangerously and so abused him So far will Discontent carry Nature that it easily believes what it wisheth So much doth a Prophetick Vanity sway English-men that have the most of men of any in the world in Divinations and an itch to know things to come that the wittiest Sir Thomas More the most devout Bishop Fisher the wisest Cardinal Wolsey and the most Noble the Duke of Buckingham have been undone by hearkening after Pâedictions the two first of Elizabeth Barton the third of Iohn Sacheveril and the fouâth Monk Hopkins Always are these Divinations like the Astâologers in Rome by seveâe Laws forbidden yet alwâys aâe they by vain persons obtruded Many Wives wo England hardned many a Male-content to his ruine in King Henry the eighth's time When HEMPE is spun England is done encouraged many a Papiât to his undoing in Queen Elizabeths time Leo Nullus confirmed many a deluded soul to hiâ downfal in our days It was as fatal to this great man to trust his Steward as his Wizard the one deluded the other betrayed him It undoeth a man to
be too close therefoâe we have fâiends to ease our selves it ruineth a man to be too open therefore there is a secret not to be communicated to a friend When the Duke of Buckingham made Knevet his Confessour he made him his Master He that is Master of my Heart is Master of my Life If my Shirt said Metellus knew my minde I would burn it If my Servant or Friend knows my intentions I must either undo him oâ be undone by him unless he be so much above a man as not out of weakness to discover me or so much above a sinner as not out of corruption to betray me Wild Beasts dwell in Dens Fishes be in Muâ and Birds in Nests and a Wise Man is wrapped up in security Gyges hiâ Ring was his wiâdome whereby he undeâstood others and was reserved himself It 's pity he ever learned to speak that knoweth not how to be silent I would first be so wise sâith a Wit and Wiâdome of our Agâ as to be my own Counsellour and next so secret as to be my own Counsel-keeper Some of my Servants may be of my Bed-chamber but none shall be of my closet Before I told you of this saith Charles the Fifth of a Designe discovered upon the seventeen Provinceâ to his Favourite Lunembergh I was Emperour but now you are so But the heighth of the Dukes âpââit was equally unfortunate with the openness of it and he fell no less because he despiâed Knevet than because he trusted him Contemned Dangers ruine surely while âhey suâprize us at once naked and careleâs as ill prepared to offend the slighted Adversary as to defend our misunderstood Selves The least Beings have their âpleen and command our caution No creature too mean to be mischievous none too inconsiderate to be feared As long as Weakness can cling to Power and Power to Malice what Knevet would but could not that Wolsey could and would If my Enemy be strong he shall awe if weak he shall guard my Life Two things are necessary in this Life Faithful Friends or Severe Enemies Tâe fewer of the former men of the Dukes fortune have the more use they should make of the latter The greatest Enemy when observed may do me a great kindness the least neglected can do no little mischief Security is the only misfortune and Carelessness the only fate that distresseth the World But the Duke threw away his life in a fatal word that could not be recalled I 'le not ask the King for my Life Great need have we to guard that Tongue whence flow the issues of Liâe and Death and weigh those words that go abroad for the measure of our Weal or Wo our words being given us to treat with the World about either discreetly to our happiness or weakly to our ruine It hath repented men that they have spoken at all times it repented none to have been silent in King Henry's when there was no security but to the Reserved and the Pliable Dionysius the Tyrant seeing one knocked down at one blow said to his fâiends what a folly is it to quit so fair a command for fear of dying which lasts no longer a space Observations on the Life of Sir Anthony Brown HE was always one of the Council to King Henây at home and of his Commissioners abroad no Treaty passing without his presence no Negotiation without his advice the first carrying as much Majesty with it as the second did Authority the Court having bred the one to a noble Mein as Experience had done the other to an Oracle Experience I say whereby he saw more as Alexander boasted with his eye than others comprehended in their thoughts that being knowledge in him that was but conjecture in others He was the best Compound in the World a learned an honest and a travelled man a good Nature a large Soul and a settled Mind made up of Notes and Observations upon the most material points of State he could learn at Courts of Religion among the Clergy of Discipline among Souldiers of Trade among Merchants or of the situation interest avenues and strong holds by his own eyes It 's a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tost upon the Sea it 's pleasure to stand in the window of a Castle and to see a Battel with the adventures thereof below but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the Vantground of Truth an Hill saith my Noble Author not to be commanded and where the air is always clear and serene and to see the Errors and Wandrings the Mists and Tempests in the Vale below That content is better felt than expressed that this Noble Person took in his own clear thoughts when it was Mist all round about him and King Henry cried What say Cromwel and Brown Vespasian asked Apollonius What was Nero's overthrow and he answered him Nero could tune the Harp well but in Government sometimes he wound the pins too high and sometimes he let them down too low Sir Anthony told Henry the Eighth That his Government had been more easie if he had either set it not so lose at first or not so strict at last as there was indeed no King so various as his Master no State so changeable as his Government An even temper begets awe and reverence whilst the wide extreams create either on the one hand contempt and insolence or on the other discontent and murmuring Haughty and violent Courts never bless the Owners with a settled Peace This deep man was Leiger in Rome six years and Agent in France ten A person of great dispatch because of an orderly method and procedure which he observed to a superstition saying Time and Method are my Masters There are saith my Oracle three parts of business Preparation Debate and Perfection The middle King Henry comunicated to the whole Council the first and last to few viz. to my Lord Cromwel and Sir Anthony Brown The highest matters were his care as the Interview in France 1533. the most eminent Statesmen his fellows as the Duke of Norfolk the Lord Rochford and the Lord Paulet thoâe Noble Persons bearing the state and he managing the business of the Embassies The wise man of Florence took care that Ferdinando of Naples Medices of Florence Sforza of Millain shouâd gain nothing of one another to the gâeat secuâity of Italy Sir Anthony watched our Neighbours Conquestâ Trade Approaches c. so closely that none of those Potentates Charles the Fifth or King Francis could win a spot of Ground but his Master would balance it and so secure Europe The Interviews between Princes he disallowed yet to satisfie his Master he provided for that in France so sumptuously as one that understood the foâmality of a Pageant was a real advantage to a Government whose Interest is as much to gain a reputation by pomp and shew as support a welfare by prudence and strength others apprehension of our greatness contributing as much to our welfare as
our welfare it self Opinion governs the World Princes with their Majesty may be oât envied and haâed without it they are always scorned and contemned Circumstances are often more than the main and shadows are not always shadows Outward Esteem to a great Person is as skin to Fruit which though a thin cover preserveth it King Henry's Person and State did England more Right in a Year than his Predecessors Arms in an Age while they onely impressed a resolution in the Neighbours he a reverence As the Reason of man corrâcting of his sense about the mâgnitude and distance oâ heavenly bodies is an argument that he hath an Inorganical Immaterial Impassible and Immortal soul so this Gentlemans Conscience often reflecting upon his policy about the Circumstances of many of his actions was an argument that he was âuled by holy serious and heavenly Principles One effect whereof was that he desired rather the admonishing paines of a lingring death than the favourable ease of a quick one he reckoning it not an effect of cruelty but a design of mercy that he should dye so ut sentiat se mori and he looked on nothing as so great a snare to his thoughts as the opinion of Origen and some otheâs called merciful Doctors who did indeavour to possess the Church with their opinion of an universal restitution of all Creatures to their pristine Estate after sufficient purgation or any thing more a temptation to other mens souls than the Blasphemy of some making God the Author of good and evil so much worse than the Manichees or Marcionites as they held it not of their good God whom they called Light but of their bad God whom they called Darkness As Princes govern the People so Reason of State the Princes Spain at that time would command the Sea to keep us from the Indies and our Religion to keep us from a Settlement France suspected our Neighbourhood and engaged Scotland the Pope undermined our Designs and obliged the French Sir Anthony at Rome in respectful terms and under Protestation that his Majesty intended no contempt of the See Apostolick or Holy Church intimated his Masters Appeal to the next General Council lawfully assembled exhibiting also the Authentick Instruments of the same and the Archbishop of Canterbury's at the Consistory where though the Pope made forty French Cardinals yet our Agent and his money made twelve English and taught Francis to assume the power of disposing Monasteries and Benefices as King Henry had done advising him to inform his Subjects clearly of his proceedings and unite with the Princes of the Reformation taking his Parliament and People along with him and by their advice cutting off the Appeals to and Revenues of Rome by visitations c. with a Praemunire together with the Oath of Supremacy and the publication of the prohibited Degrees of Marriages He added in his Expresses That his Majesty should by disguised Envoys divide between the Princes and the Empire The next sight we have of him is in Scotland the French Kings passage to England as he calls it Where in joynt Commission with the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Durham he with his variety of Instructions gained time until the French King was embroyled at home the season of Action was over there and the Duke of Norfolk ready to force that with a War which could not be gained by Treaty Fortune is like the Market where many times if you can stay a little the Price will fall The ripeness and unripeness of the Occasion must be well weighed Watch the âeginning of an Action and then speed Two âhings make a compleat Polititian Secresie in Councel and Celerity in Execution But our Knights Prudence was not a heavy Wariness or a dull caution as appears by his preferment at Court where he is Master of the Horse and his service in the North where he and the Comptroller Sir Anthony Gage are in the head of 10000 men In both these places his excellence was more in chusing his Officers and Followers than in acting himself His servants were modest and sober troubling him with nothing but his business and expecting no higher conditions than countenance protection and recommendation and his Retainers peaceable reserved close plain and hopeful the deserving Souldier and the promising were seen often at his gate not in throngs to avoid popularity Equal was his favour that none might be insolent and none discontented yet so diâcreetly dispensed as made the Preferred faithful and the Expectants officious To be ruled by one is soft and obnoxious by many troublesome to be advised by few as he was is safe because as he said in some things out of his element the Vale best discovereth the Hill Although he understood not the main matter of War yet he knew many of its falls and incidents his prudence being as able to lay a stratagem as others experience was to embattail an Army Sir Thomas Wharton Warden of the Marches he commands with 300 men behind an Ambush whither he draws the rash Scots and overthroweth them more with the surprize than his power taking the Lord Admiral Maxwel c. who was committed to his custody and putting that King to so deep a melancholy that he died upon it His death suggests new counsels and Sir Anthony watcheth in Scotland to gain hiâ Daughter for our Pâince or at least to prevent the French whom Sir Wilâiam Paget watcheth there as Sir Ralph Sadler did in Rome and Sir Iohn Wallâp at Calais and when that Kings design was discovered we find our Knight with Charles Duke of Suffolk Lieutenant-General Henry Fitz-Alan Earl of Arundel Lord General Will. Paulet Lord St. Iohn Stephen Bishop of Winchester with a rich and strong Army expecting the King before Montrevil whâch they took with Boulogn and forcing the French to a Peace and Submission that secured England and setled Europe Three things facilitate all things 1. Knowledg 2. Temper 3. Time Knowledge our Knight had either of his own or others whom he commanded in what ever he went about laying the ground of matters always down in writing and debating them with his friends before he declared himself in Council A temperance he had that kept him out of the reach of others and brought others within his Time he took always driving never being driven by his business which is rather a huddle than a performance when in haste there was something that all admired and which was more something that all were pleased with in this mans action The times were dark his carriage so too the Waves were boysterous but he the solid Rock or the well-guided Ship that could go with the Tide He mastered his own passion and others too and both by Time and Opportunity therefore he died with that peace the State wanted and with that universal repute the States-men of those troublesome times enjoyed not By King Henry's Will he got a Legacy of 300 l. for his former Service and the
Honour to be of Prince EDWARD's special Council for the future By his Order he had as his share of Abbey-Lands Battle-Abbey in Sussex enjoyed by his Heirs Males in a direct Line to this day And by his Authority he had the Honourable Garter He was the fiâst man that durst bring his Master the sad news That He must die And no wonder he durst do it for the next news is That he is dead himself How darest thou to be so plain said Heliogabalus to the Courtier Because I dare die said he I can but die if I am Faithful and I must die though I Flatter Tâis Gentlemans humour of crossing present proceedings was prettily reproved by King Hen. the Eighth's little story of a poor Woman drowned by mischance whose dead body whilst her Neighbours sought for down the River her Husband who knew her condition better than they advised them to seek up the River for all her life long she loved to be contrary to all others and he presumed she would swim against the stream being dead The End of the Obseâvations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King Edward the VI. Observations on the Lives of the Seymours EDward Seymour and Thomas Seymour both Sons of Sir John Seymour of Wolful in Wiltshire I joyn them together because whilst they were united in affection they were invincible but when divided easily overthrown by their Enemies EDward Duke of Somerset Lord Protector and Treasurer of England being the elder Brother succeeded to a fair Paternal inheritance He was a valiant Souldier for Land-service fortunate and generally beloved by Martial Men. He was of an open nature free from jealousie and dissembling affable to all people He married Anne Daughter to Sir Edward Stanhop a Lady of a high mind and haughty undaunted spirit THOMAS SEYMOUR the Younger brother was made BARON of Sudley and by Offices and the favours of his Nephew King Edward the sixth obtained a great Estate He was well experienced in Sea-Affairs and made Lord Admiral of England He lay at a close postuâe being of a reserved nature and more cunning in his carriage He married Queen Katherine Pârr the Widow of King Henry 8. Very great the Animosities betwixt their Wives the Dutchess refusing to bear the Queens Trainâ and in effect justled with her for precedence se that what betwixt the Train of the Queen and lonâ Gown of the Dutchess they raised so much dust at the Court as at last put out the eyes of both their Husbands and occasioned their Executionâ Their Sisters Beauty commended them to the Kingâ favours but a frail support that which is as lasting only as a Phancy and only as certain as Passion therefore their Parts recommended them to his service Affection shall lead me to Court but I 'le take care that Inâerest keeps me there Sir Edward Seymours temper suited with the Kings Inclinations and his spirit with his times both high both stirring In the throng of Courtiers there aâe but three steps to raise a man to observations 1. Some pecuâiar sufficiency 2. Some particular exploit and 3. An especial Friend This Noble Person shewed the first with advantage in that draught of Military Discipline presented to Henry the eighth wherein the embattling is most remarkable viz. Twenty two compleat Companies make up four Squadrons eveây Squadron of Pikes and Musquets being drawn up apart the Pikes and Colours on the left hând and the Musqueteers on the right These Squadrons make up a Brigade to be drawn up as followeth viz. Ten Corporalships of Musqueteers being 34 Rots divided into five Plattons every Platton being nine or so in front led by a Major and every division by a sufficient Commander Next after these Thirty six Rots of Pikes are to follow being twelve Corporalships with their Colours following them till they are drawn up even in front with the 32 Rots of Musqueteers This makes the Right Wing of the Brigade 2. The Battel of Pikes moveth forward in division doing in all respects as the former till they range even in front with the Pikes of the Right Wing Then the oâher 32 Rots of Musqueteers belonging to the middle Squadron who are appointed to make the Battel of the Brigade are led up as the first Musqueteers in all points but at a reasonable distance behind the Pikes of their own Squadrons Then the last Squadron of Pikes marcheth up in all respects observing the same order until they have attained to range in front even with oâher âikes This being done the Battel or middle Squadron oâ Pikes and Musquets advanceth in one body until it 's clear of the Wings Lastly the Surplus of the three Squadrons being 48 Rots of Muâquetâeâs are drawn up behind the Brigadâe where they are to attend the Commands of their Officers to guard the Baggage or Cannon to be Convoâes for Ammunition or Victuals to the rest or continue a reserve to wait upon all occasions 2. Eminent was his ability for this Draught more eminent for his performance agreeable to it in Britain where he sate before a Town six weeks to no purpose while it expected relief from Italy But at last he inâinuates a jealousie between the Pope and the French King touching that City that obstructed all relief He with aâ much speed and policy sets upon the two main Scââres for defense of the Town and took them bâth battering the Town and Castle with that violence and noise that they say it was heard 100 miles off A Train of Powder is laid to blow them up when they should enter but this succeeded not For the French in passing the Ditch had so weted their cloaths that dropping upon the Train the Powder would not take fire and so all things conspiring to crown his valour with success he takes the Castle first and then dividing the Town and weakning it by several assaults at once brought it to his own terms Here his Valour had been eminent but that his conduct was more and his Conduct renowned but that his nobleness towards the Conquered his civility and obligingness towards the Souldiery and his integrity towards all persons had out-done that There are but two things that a subject can honestly oblige his Prince in 1. Keeping his subjects in peace at home 2. Keeping his enemies under abroad 1. Those soft but prudent Acts of Peace 2. Those resolved but well-managed wayes of War Sir Thomas wanted neither a resolution for the one nor a temper for the other But sufficiency and merits are neglected things when not befriended Princes are too reserved to be taken with the first appearances of worth unless recommended by tryed judgments It 's fit as well as common that they have their Counsellours for persons as well as things His Sister therefore was married on Whit sunday and he is on the Tuesday following created Viscount Beauchamp But
next year his Nephew is born the hope and stay of his Majesty and his Realmes and he is made Earl of Hertford King Henry understanding that the Pope upon his own and Cardinal Pool's account stirred up all the Princes against him as a provident Prince rode himself to the Sea-coasts to see them fortified Admiral Fitz-williams is old Sir Thomas Seymour assists him to rigg the Navy to be in readiness in six dayes time Sir Edward is to muster the Land-Forces and particularly the City of London where were 15000 Armed men ready May 8 in St. Iameses at which place the City seemed a Camp and the Ciâizens men not of the Gown but of the Armour Great this Lords interest in and respect with the people as great his brothers with the Sea-men The Multitude would leave all for their good Lord of Hertford and the Sea-men would die with their noble Lord Seymouâ When the King of Scots had deluded King Henry in his correspondencies with France beyond all patience and had been forborn beyond all saâety or prudence Sir Edward Seymour is fiâst sent to treat and then to fight which he did with much success that 300 of his men and a Stratagem to possess the Scots with an apprehension that the whole English Army was upon them took and killed 30000 Scots had more prisoners than they could keep more booty than they could dispose of and adding this to their Victory that they broke the Kings heart There was no end to be expected of a War with Scotland but by marrying that Kings Daughter to our Sovereigns Son This Match was my Lord Seymour's interest as well as the Kings His prudence and experience is therefore employed first to perswade it and when that would not do so great and so cross the Papal power there by Cardinal Betons means his Valour and Resolution is sent with 10000 to compel it in order whereunto May 4. landing at Granther-Gray he marcheth in order towards Leith which after a defeat given the Cardinal the Earls of Arran Huntley c. by his Harquebusiers they entred and thence proceeded to Edinbuâgh My Lord Dudley leading the Front our Earl the Battle and the Earl of Shrewsbury the Reerward theâe the Keys are offered tâem upon conditions which they refusing and so making the Enemy desperate who resolveth rather to perish nobly than to be undone by submission the Town holds out and they are able to do no more with some considerable loss then burn the suburbs wast the Country to an utter desolation for seven miles compass demolish Leith Dunbar c. take all their Ships and Ammunition returning to Berwick with the loss only of 14 men Two things he was eminent for 1. His Advice that not the least Punctilio of the Law should be neglected Whereupon the Earl of Surrey and other Nobility were imprisoned for eating Flesh in Lent A secret and unobserved contempt of the Law is a close undermining of Authority which must be either its self in indulging nothing or be nothing in allowing all Liberty knows no restraint no limit when winked at 2. For his Popularity in advancing the Benevolence 52000 l. beyond expectation The Scots must have War as long as there is Poverty in their Country and interest in France This Noble Earl cutteth off the Invaders layeth wast the Country and that the source of those troubles might be dammed up entreth France with 80000 men and afer some skirmishes brought the King thereof to a peace and submission In pursuance whereof while King Henry was in Bologn he made his Will wherein the Earl of Hertford Lord High Chamberlain is appointed Principal Counsellour to his Nephew and not long after he dyeth and leaves the Kingdome to his son and his Son to his Uncle whom the common Vote made Protector and interest a Moderator of the Council which the time required able but their humours made fâctious The peace with King Francis and the Emperour was but uncertain the Scots weâe irreconciâeable the Pope implacable Religion unsettled the Clergy out of frame the People distâacted and the Nobility at variance A great Counsellour King Henry leaves his Son and a greater his Uncle makes him in Counsel is stability Things will have their first or second agitation If they be not tossed upon the Arguments of Counsel they will be tossed upon the Waves of Fortune But yet this Lord miscarried in that the Council understood him better than he did them And he advised with them rather in publick where men speak warily and in compliance with otheâs humour than in private where they deliver themselves more freely and agreeable to their own humours The Rule is Ask an inferiour mans advice in private that he may be âree and a superiours in publick that he may be respectful But he did well 1. In that the same matter if weighed was never propounded and resolved the same day 2. In that he hâd fixed dayes of petitions for the peoples and his own ease 3. In that he poyzed his Committees of contrary inclinations that watched and balanced each other to a moderation most safe for the Kingdome and himself 4. That he had of all Professions such at his command as opened the state of a business before any Commissioners debated it 5. That he seldome discovered his own inlination lest it byasâed his Counsel 6. That to prevent a Combination in the Council he weakned their power and priâiledges âheir credit their dependencies either by office or expectation their opportunities and correspondencies so that he could easily remove any when faulây discover any when dangerous disgrace any when bold and not fit to be entrusted with the Counsels Resolves Deliberations and Necessities of the State In order to which he had two useful Resolutions 1. To suppress Calumnies 2. To encourage Accusations His first Acts were Shew and Pomp necessary for Greatnessâ viz. The Knighting of the King and making himself Duke His next are Realities as 1. His modeâling the Country for a Parliament considering the temper of the people and the pulse of the last Parliament redressing Grievances settling Elections by such Legal Rules as that the people should not be corrupted with money overborn by importunity transported by fear or favour to an unworthy or an unsuitable choice and taking a just time to prepare the people for the designed settlement by his grave and sober Injunctions by godly and good Books of Instructions by a wholsome form of Prayer composed at Windsor by a more exact translation of the Bible by several Proclamations for moderation and order on all hands by inhibiting all Preachers but such learned sober grave and discreet men as were Licensed thereunto under the Lord Protector 's and my Lord of Canterbury's hand 2. His promoting the Match with Scotland first by Ambassadours and then by an Army whose order was this viz. The Avant-guard of 3 or 4000 foot-men at Arms and 600 light-horse led by the Earl of Warwick
the main Battle of 6000 foot and 600 men at Arms and 1000 light-horse led by the Protector and the Rear of half so many led by the Lord Dacres the Artillery of 16 Pieces of Ordnance making one Wing the men at Arms and Demilances the other For the Avant-guard and half of the Battel âiding about two flight-shot from their side the other half of the Battel and the whole Flank of the Rear was closed by the Carriages being 12000 Carts and Waggons the rest of the men at Aâms and Dâmiâances marching behind A fâw skiâ mishes and stratagems passed when a Trumpeter is sent by Huntley to challenge the Protector to whom the Protector replying like a wiâe man That it was not for a person of his trust to duel it with a private man The Earl of Warwick said Trumpeter bring me word that thy Master will perform the Combat with me and I 'll give thee 100 Crowns Nay rather said our Duke bring me word that he will give us Battle and I will give thee 1000 l. But in 25 days he gains a greater Battle over-runs the Country with the loss of no more then 65 men to that of 25000 Scots 3. His third Exploit was Dispensing Honours so nobly that they were due encouragements to Virtue though yet so warily that they should not be either a burden or a danger to the Crown 4. He gave the Commonalty great content in pulling down Enclosures by Proclamations and the Nobility no less by setting up Land-improvements by Rule 5. He engaged both by a good bargain of Church-lands confirmed by this Parliament 6. He weakneth the Papists 1. By conniving at them until they broke out to such outrages as made them lyable 2. By dividing them when engaged with hope of mercy on the one hand and fear of his Army on the other 7 The French taking the advantage of our seditious to break off their Treaty and proclaim a War he conâiâcaâes their Estates and secures the persons of aâ many of them as lived in England But Greatness is fatal and his Brother that should have suppoâted this great man ruines himself and him He had married a Lady high in spirit his Brother the Queen-Dowager higher in place the Ladies quarâel first and then as it must needs follow the Lords Thomas the Admiral is questioned for aiming at the Crown 1. By marrying the Lady Elizabeth and then by seizing the King-person and the Government so honest this Protector a plain man and of no over-deep insight into practices that he gave way to his Tryal saying though somewhat ominous as it happened I 'll do and suffer Iustice so Uxorious that he sealed his death And now he stands alone wanting his Brothers cunning to reach Warwick or his resolution to check Norfolk The people are troubled at that one weak and unjustifiable Act of his The pulling down of so many of Gods âhuâcheâ in the City to build one Somerset-house in the Strand The Earl takes notice of their discontent and asseâbleth eighteen discontented Counsellours who arm themselves and their followers calling the City and the Kingdome to their assistance by a Proclamation The Protector fleeth with the King and a Guard to Hampton-Court the City sometimes resolved to assist the Lords out of malice to the Protector sometimes to forbear out of such consideration of its many misfortunes in opposing Kings set forth not with more Integrity by George Stadlow then Eloquence and Life by Iohn Ayliffe They delay Sir Anthony Wingfield Captain of the Guard perswades the King of the Lords moderation and Loyalty the Duke is to answer for himself the Lawyers charge him with removing Westminster-Hall to Somerset-House where he kept a Court of Request and determined Title of Lands the Souldiers with the detaining of their pay and betraying our French Garisons the States-men with the engrossing of all Authority The Earl of Warwick vigilantly but closely manageth all disconâeââs of his designe with this great advantage that we was subtle close and implacable while the other was free-spirited open-hearted humble hard to distrust easie to forgive His friend the Lord Russel is absent he is first tryed and acquitted but with the loss of his Protectorship Treasureâsâip Marshalship and 2000 l. of Land more But Warwick's designe for the Crown ripening and Somerset being the most eminent obstruction in his way having weakned before he ruines him now he chargeth him with Treason to make a noise and with Felony to do execution the Council is packed he looseth his life for a small crime and that on a nice point subtilly devised and packed by his Enemies forgetting to ask the benefit of the Clergy that had saved it This person as one charactereth him was religious himself a lover of all such as were so and a great promoter of the Reformation Valiant and successful generally beloved by Souldiers envied by Statesmen though the most conscientious of them all doing nothing irregularly but in complyance with the necessities of Government open to dangers as one that could not be jealous better to act than designe to perform than plot When he was discharged of Treason there was so loud a shout in Westminster-Hall as was heard to Long-Acre when condemned of Felony there was a âilence and amazement for three hours It is observed of some that they have despised the benefit of their Clergy while they lived and by a just proâidence of God could not make use of it when âhey were to dye It was pitty that this Noble person should forget to crave that benefit of the Clergy which might have saved him when he was so unwiââing to enjoy any âenefit of the Clergy which might Incommode them The controversie between him and the Earl of Warwick is like that between Demades and Phocion Demades threatned Phocion that the Athenians would destroy him when they fell into their mad fits and thee Demades saith Phocion when they return to their right minds it appearing afterwards that what he was charged to have design'd against others he did only in his own defence cum moderamine Inculpatae cautelae in whose behalf Cicero had pleaded thus Si vita nosâra in aliquas Insidias si in vim in tela aut latronumâ aut in imicorum incidisset omnis honesta ratio esset expediendae salutis hoc ratio doctis necessitas barbaris mos gentibus feris natura ipsa praescripsât ut omnem semper vim quâcunque ope possint a corpore a capite a vitâ suâ propulsare-nitantur Beheaded he was on Tower-Hill with no less pâaise for his piety and patience than pitây and grief of the spectators His Death was atâended with many signes and wonders and his Name with an indelible character his house being calâed Somerset-house to this day though solemnly proclaimed by King of Iames Denmark-house because inhabited by the King oâ Denmark and his Sister Surely saith my Author this Duke was well beloâed
character and commendation of my Lord Bacon the Settling and the Peaceable such as Edward the VI in whose Reign he was advaâced and Queen Elizabeth in whose Reign he was restored It was in pursuance of King Henry's Statute that he cloâed with King Edward's Will For this Clause he pâoduced for himself Provided That if the Lady Mary do not keep nor perform such Conditions which shall be limited and appointed as aforesaid that then and from thenceforth for lack of Heirs of the Kings Body and the said Lord Prince lawfully begotten the said Imperiâl Crown and other the Premisses shall be come and remain to sucâ Person and Persons and of such Estate and Estates as the Kings Highness by his Letters Patents sealed under His Great Seal or by His last Will in Writing signed with His Hand shall limiâ and appoint Isocrates was a man of an excellent Wit but finding himself destitute of countenance gesture and confidence he never durst speak in publick contenting himself to teach even to his decrepit days and commonly saying He taught Rhetorique for a thousand Ryals but would give more tâan ten thousand to him that would teach him confidence Tâis Marqâeâs brought up many a Courtier yet had not the face to be One himself until Queen Elizabeth who balanced her Council in point of Religion in the beginning of her Reign aâ she did her Court in point of Interest throughout threatned him to the Câuncil-Board first and then to her Cabinet where none more secret to keep counsel none more faithful to gâve it and more modest to submit A sincere plain direct man noâ crafty nor involved Observations on the Life of Sir John Cheek SIr Iohn Cheek born over against the Market-Cross in Cambridge became Tuâor to King Edward the Sixth and Secretary of State Not âo meanây descended as Sir Iohn Heyward pretends who writes him The Son of his own Deserts being a Bâanch of the Cheeks of Moston in the Isle of Wight where their Estate was âhree hundred pound a year three hundred years ago and no more within this thiâty years happy in his Father Mr. Peter Cheek whose first tuiâion seasoned him happier in his good Mother that grave Matron whose good counsel Christian charge when he was going to Court setâled him and happiest of all in the place of his birth where he fell from his Mothers VVomb to the Muses Lap and learned as soon as he lived being a Scholar sooner than he was a man A German had the care of his younger studies and a Frenchman of his carriage his parâs being too large to be confined to the narrowness of English Rules and too sprightly to attend the âedioâsness and creep by the compass of an English method The same day was he and Mr. Ascham admitted to St. Iohns and the same week to Court the one to the Tuition oâ Edward the sixth the other of Queen Elizabeth there they were both happy in their Master Doctor Metcalf who though he could not as Themistocles said fiddle yet he could make a liâtle Colâedge a great one and breed Scholars thâugh he was none His advice deterred them from the rough Learning of the Modern Schoolmen and their own Genius led them to the more polite studies of the antient Orators and Historians wherein they profiâed so well that the one was the copious Orator the other the Greek Professor of that University A contest began now between the Introducers of the New and the Defenders of the Old Pronunciation of the Greek the former endeavoured to give each Leâter Vowel and Diphthong its full sound whilst Doctor Caius and others of the Old stamp cried out against his Project and the Promoters of it taxing It âor novelty and Them for want of experience and affirming Greek it self to be barbarous so clownishly utâered and that neither France Germany nor Italy owned any such Pronunciation Iohn Cheek and Thomas Smith maintained that this was no Innovation but the antient utterance of Greek most clear and most full Chancellour Gardiner then interposed against the Pronunciation and the Authors of it But custom hath since prevailed for the use of the one and the due commendation of the other Sir Iohn Cheek's Authors were Isocrates and Thucydides his Auditors the youngest that came thither for Language and the oldest that heard him for his Discourse and Policy The one preferred him to the ample Provostship of Kings the other to the great tâust of Secretary of State Prince Edward studied not his Book more sedulously than he studied him that his Rules might comply with his Inclination his Lectures with his temper Lectures that were rather Discourses instilled to him Majestically as a Prince than Lessons beaten into him pedantiquely as a School-boy The wise Man would not be debasing his Royal Pupils mind with the nauseated and low crumbs of a Pedant but ennobling it with the free and high Maximes of a States-man sugaring the more austere parts of Learning with the pleasures of Poetry Discourse Apologues and so deceiving the Royal Youth to an improvement before his own years and others comprehension His very Recreations were useful and his Series of lighter exercises for he observed a method in them too a constant study his Table his School his Meat his Discipline the industrious Tutor filling up each space of his time with its suitable instruction it being his Maxime That Time and Observation were the best Masters and Exercise the bâst Tutor While others doated over their Rules his Pupils practised them no day passing without his Letters to the King as that Literae meae unum semper habet Argumentum Rex Nobilissime Pater Illustrissime hoc est in omnibus Epistolis ago tâbi graâias c. or to the Queen as that Quod non ad te jamdiu scriberoni in causa fuit non negligentia sed studium non ânim hoc feci ut nunquam omnino scriberem sed accuratius scriberem c. I have two Tutors said King Edward to Cardan Diligence and Moderation Sir Jo. Cheeke and Doctor Coxe So exact an account he gave Prince Edward of his Fathers Kingdome and its Interest that King Henry designed him for Secretary and King Edward made him one Three years he had that place and in that three years did England more service so great his Parts Learning and Religion more kindness such his eminency in both and gave the People more satisfaction such his Integrity and Dexterity than all that went before him and most that came after him He was the first that brought in the use of a Diary and his Pupil the next that practised it His Aphorism it was That a dark and imperfect reflexion upon Affairs floating in the memory was like words dispersed and insignificant whereas a compleat view of them in a Book was like the same words pointed in a period and made significant Much did the Kingdome value him but more the King for being once
desperately sick the King carefully enquired of him every day at last his Physician told him there was no hope for his life being given over by him for a dead man No said the King he will not die at this time for this morning I begged his life from God in my Prayers and obtained it Which accordingly came to pass and he soon after against all expectation wonderfully recovered This saith Doctor Fuller was attested by the old Earl of Huntington bred up in his childhood with King Edward to Sir Tho. Cheeke who anno 1654. was alive and â0 years of Age. But though his Prayers saved his Tutors Life none could save his who died with the Protestant Religion in his heart and arms and Sir Iohn had died with him but that being outed of all his preferments he outed himself from the Kingdome loving to all the English Exiles at Strasburgh and well beloved all over Germany until trusting to the Stars too much would he had either not gone so high or gone a little higher for advice and his friends too little he went to meet his dear Wife in Brabant where neither my Lord Paget's promise nor Sir Iohn Mason's pledges nor Abbot Fecknam's intercession could excuse him ârom being unhorsed and carted imprisoned and tortured vexed with all the arts of power and perplexed until his hard usage meeting with some fair promises brought him to a Recantation that broke his heart and after much melancholick sighing and silence brought him to his Grave The great example of Parts and Ingenuity of frailty and infirmity of repentance and piety Forced he was to sit with Bonner in his Courts but forced he would not be to joyn with him in his judgment look on he did but weep and groan too A good Christian he was witness his pious Epistles an excellent States-man as appears by his True Subject to the Rebel a Book as seasonably republished by Doctor Langbaine of Queens Colledge in Oxford in the excellent King Charlâs his troubles as it was at first written in the good King Edward's commotions Vespasian said of Apollonius That his Gate was open to all Philosophers but his Heart to Him And Sir Iohn Cheeke would say to Father Latimer I have an Ear for other Divines but I have an Heart for You. A Country-man in Spain coming to an Image enshrined âhe extruction and first making whereof he could well remember and not finding from the same that respectful usage which he expected You need not quoth he be so proud for we have known you from a Plum-Tree â Sir Iohn Cheeke one day discoursing of the Pope's Threats said He need not be so high for we have known him a Chaplain He took much delight in that saying of Herod the Sophist when he was pained with the Gout in his hands and feet When I would eat said he I have no hands when I would go I have no feet but when I must be pained I have both hands and feet Applying it thus When we would serve God we have no soul when we would serve our Neighbours we have no body but when we suffer âor neglecting both we shall find we have both a body and a soul. Gustavus Adolphus some three days before his death said Our affairs answer our desires but I doubt God will punish me for the folly of my Pâople who attribute too much to me and esteem me as it were their God and therefore he will make them shortly know and see I am but a man I submit to his will and I know he will not leave this great Enterprise of mine imperfect Three things Sir Iohn Cheeke observed of Edward the sixth 1. That the Peoples esteem of him would loose him 2. That his Reformation should be overthrown 3. That yet it should recover and be finished As to publick Councels 1. Sir Iohn was against the War with Scotland which he said was rather to be united to England than separated from it 2. He was against King Edward's will saying He would never distrust God so far in the preservation of his true Religion as to disinherit Orphans to keep up Protestantism 3. He laid a Platform of a VVar with Spain 4. He kept Neuter in the Court-factions 5. Bishop Ridley Doctor Coxe seconded and Sir Iohn Cheeke contrived all King Edward's Acts of Charity Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Wentworth SIr Tho. Wentworth of Nettlesâed in Suffolk of a younger Family confessed by the Crescent in his Coat descended from the Wentworths of Wentworth-wood-house in York-shire and was created Baron Wentworth by King Henry the viii He was a stout and valiant Gentleman a cordial Protestant and his Family a Sanctuary of such Professors Iohn Bale comparing him to the good Centurion in the Gospel and gratefully acknowledging him the cause of his conversion from a Carmelite The memory of this good Lord is much but unjustly blemished because Calis was lost the last of Queen Mary under his Government The manner was huddled up in our Chronicles least is best of bad business whereof this is the effect The English being secure by reason of the last Conquest at St. Quintin and the Duke of Guise having notice thereof he sate down before the Town at the time not when Kings go forth to but return from battle of mid-winter even upon New-years-day Next day he took the two Forts of Risebank and Newman-bridge wherein the strength of the City consisted but whether they were undermined or overmoneyed it is not decided and the last left most suspicious VVithin three Days the Castle of Calis which commanded the City and was under the command of Sir Ralph Chamberlain was taken the French wading through the Ditches made shallower by their artificial cut and then entring the Town were repulsed back by Sir Anthony Ager Marshal of Calis the only Man saith Stow who was âilled in the Fight understand him of note others for the credit of the business accounting four-score lost in that service The French re-entring the City the next Day being Twelfth-day the Lord Wentworth Deputy thereof made but vain resistance which alas was like the wrigling of a Worms tayl after the head thereof is cut off so that he was forced to take what terms he could get viz. That the Towns-men should depart though plundered to a Groat with their Lives and himself with 49 more such as the Duke of Guise should chuse should remain Prisoners to be put to ransome This was the best news brought to Paris and worst to London âor many years before It not only abated the Queens chear the remnant of Christmas but her mirth all the days of her life Yet might she thank her self for loosing this Key of France because she hung it by her side with so slender a string there being but Five Hundred Souldiers effectually in the Garrison too few to manage such a piece of importance The Lord Wentworth the second of Iune following was solemnly condemned for Treason though unheard as
at Court often to encourage them for the other getting his Commanders always power and authority enough to do their Masters business but never enough to do their own There being always a contest between the Populacy and the Souldiers whom nothing reconciles but downright force and necessity it was death to his Followers to be irregular because one of their miscarriages exasperates a million and distastes a Kingdom so necessary is a strict Discipline in the Camp and an impartial Justice in the Countrey Outward occasions help Fortune a Man 's own temper makes it when there be as my Lord Bacon writes no stops or restiveness in a Man's mind but that the wheels of that keeps even with those of fortune Sir Clement and Cato Major were both of a make both having tantum robur corporis animi ut quocunque loco nati essent fortunam sibi facturi viderentur Observations on the Life of the Lord Rich. HE must needs be preferred who was so richly descended and nobly allied as to shew at Court upon his first appearance sixty Noblemen and Knights of his Relation and a hundred and fifty thousand Pound a Year Revenue among his Friends He was more beholding to the Temple for his Law than to the Universities for his Learning His severe and active Nature aspiring above the pedantiqueness of a Scholar to the usefulness of a States-man I could never endure saith he those Studies that furnish me only with unactive thoughts and useless discourse that teach me only to think and speak His staid and solid parts commended Him to Cromwel and Cromwel recommended him to King Henry the Eighth He was Solicitor-General to His Majesty and Steward to his Master Cromwel was the Mâwl and Rich the Hammer of Abbeys He laid open to the Monks their faults and his Master made use of it to force them to a surrendry For as he said when those Religious Societies saw they had faults enough discovered to take away their Lands they had wit enough to give them up His Counsels overthrew Popery and his Deposition cut off Sir Thomas More for being sent to Sir Thomas after much discourse with him he asked him this subtle Question Whether he would acknowledge the King Supream Head if it were enjoyned by an Act of Parliament Sir Thomas asked him again If the Parliament enacted that God should not be Lord whether he should consent to it And those words undid him He saw that the Protestant Religion was the Interest of England as well as the Doctrine of Scripture and therefore he carried it on in point of policy as Archbishop Cranmer did in point of conscience King Henry the eighth admired his distinct reasoning and stayed judgment and Queen Anne Bullen was taken with his graceful eloquence and ingenious discourses In the morning his plyant soul that could answer all the turnings and windings of business was as reserved and solid as that of a demure States-man in the evening as chearful and merry as that of a Debonair Courtier He was the wisdome of the Court in the Presence and its wit in the Closet its Oracle there and its pleasure here King Henry the eighth made him one of his Legators and King Edward the sixth one of his Council Under him he carried on the Protestant Religion in point of conscience which others managed in point of interest He designed the degrees of the Reformation and he set out its method than whom none more zealous in things necessary none more moderate in things indifferent Active he was but wary stirring but cautious To him the Reformers resorted in point of Law as to Cranmer and Ridley in point of Religion Such his Prudence that the Protector made him his Friend such his Integrity that the King made him Chancellour where his Decrees were just his Dispatches quick his Judgments speedy his Sums of Debates âull and satisfactory his Sentences irreversible his Assistants in the Rolls anâ other Courts able and honest None more complyant to Reason none more stiff in things againsâ Reason He would do any thing for King Edward the sixth's interest nothing for Duke Dudley's ambition therefore he observing the course of Affairs would rather resign his Place than his Integrity when he could not with a safe conscience keep it he with a contented mind parted with it being honoured with the Barony of Leez and enriched with the Western Abbies it being the Prudence of that time to interest the Nobility in the Papal Revenues that so they might be engaged against the Authority R. Rich Lord Chancellour saith my Author then living in Great St. Bartholomews though outwardly concurring with the rest began now secretly to favour the Duke of Somerset and sent him a Letter therein acquainting him with all passages at the Council-board subscribing the same either out of hast or familiarity with no other Direction save To the Duke enjoyning his servant a new Attendant as newly entred into his Family safely to deliver it The Man made more hast than good speed and his Lord wondring at his quick return demanded of him where the Duke was when he delivered him the Letter In the Charter-house said the servant on the same token that he read it at the Window and smiled thereat But the Lord Rich smiled not at the Relation as sadly sensible of the mistake and delivery of the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk no great friend of his and an utter enemy to the Duke of Somerset Wonder not if this Lord rose early up the next morning who may be presumed not to have slept all Night He hieth to the Court and having gotten admittance into the Bed-chamber before the King was up fell down on his Knees and desired that his Old Age might be eased of this burthensome Office pleading that there ought to be some preparatory intervals in States-men between their temporal business and their death in order to which he desired to retire to Essex there to attend his own Devotions Nor would he rise from the ground till the King had granted his Request And thus he saved himself from being stripped by others by first pulling off his own Cloaths who otherwise had lost his Chancellours place for revealing the secrets of the Council-board There are few places so impregnable but Nature hath left in them some place or other by which they may be taken none being armed at all points so well but there is some way left whereby he may be surprized He is the strongest that hath fewest accesses He was a wise Man that said Delay hath undone many for the other World Hast hath undone more for this Time well managed saves all in both But there is a Wheel in things which undoeth all those that have not a Wheel that answereth it in their Souls I mean a great capacity to comply and close with those grand Vicissitudes that with small and unobserved circumstances turn round the World which this great Man was Master of who
by her But Cordel was too Popular to be neglected and too honest to be corrupted Useful Parts will finde Preferment even when the Dissenting Judgement findes not Favouâ The Speaker of the unhappily healing Parliamânt was made Master of the Rolls in Queen Maries days and of a more happily healing one was made so in Charles the Second's Reign The one was of that Primitive Faith that was before the Modern names of Papists and Protestants the other of a Moderation that was elder than the new Heats of Disciplinarians and Anti-Disciplinarians The miscarriages of Authority are chiefly sixâ 1. Delay 2. Faction 3. Roughness 4. Corruption 5. Ambition And 6. Private Designs No delay hindred where set times of hearing were observed access was easie the order and method of business uninterrupted No corruption where there durst be no suspicion of it insomuch as that it was heinous to offer a Bribe to him as to take it in another Here was severity that awed men to a discontent but no austerity that sowred them to discontent all was smooth and grave pleasing and becoming yet nothing easiâ or soft it being worse to yield to importunities that are dayly than to be bought with money which comes but seldom Vârtue in Ambition is violent but in Authority as here it was calm and settled He âided with no Faction in his rise but balanced himself by all He had no design when he lived but to be spent in the Publick Service and none when he dyed but to spend himself in publick charity a charity that is at once the continued blessing and grace of that worshipful Family Cato Major would saâ That wise men learn more of fools than fools do of wise men And King Charles the first would say That it was wisdom in fools to jest with wise men but madness for wisemen to iest with fools And Sir william Cordel bequeathed us this Oâservation There is no man that talks but I may gain by him and none that holds his toâgue but I may lose by him Observations on the Life of Sir Anthony Cooke SIr Anthony Cooke greât Grandchilde to Sir Thomas Cooke Lord Mayor of London was born at Giddy-Hall in Essex where he finished a fair House begun by his great Grandfather as appeareth by this Inscription on the Frontispiece thereof AEdibus his frontem Proavus Thomas dedit olim Addidit Antoni caetera sera manus He was one of the Governors to King Edward the âixth when Prince and is charactered by Mr. Cambden Vir antiqua âerenitate He observeth him also to be happy in his Daughters learned above their Sex in Greek and Latine namely 1. Mildred married unto William Cecil Lord Treasurer of England 2. Anne married unto Nicholas Bacon L. Chancellour of England 3. Katherine married unto Henry Killigrew K t 4. Elizabeth married unto Thomas Hobby K t 5. ãâã married unto Ralph Rowlet K t Sir Anthony Cooke dyed in the year of our Lord 1576. leaving a fair Estate unto his Son in whose name it continued till our time Gravity was the Ballast of his Soul and General Learning its Leading In him met the three things that set up a Family 1. An Estate honestly gotten in the City 2. An Education well managed in the University And 3. Honor well bestowed at Court Yet he was some-body in every Art and eminent in all the whole circle of Arts lodging in his soul. His Latine fluent and proper his Greek critical and exact his Philology and Observations upon each of these Languages deep curious various and pertinent His Logick rational his History and Experience general his Rhetorick and Poetry copious and genuine his Mathematicks practicable and useful Knowing that souls were equal and that Women are as capable of learning as Men he instilled that to his Daughters at night which he had taught the Prince in the day being resolved to have Sons by Education for fear he should have none by birch and lest he wanted am âeir of his body he made five of his mind for whom he had at once a Gavel-kind of affection and of Estate His Childrens maintenance was always according to their quality and their employment according to their disposition neither allowing them to live above their fortunes nor forcing them against their natures It is the happiness of Forreigners that their Vocations are suited to their Natures and that their Education seconds their Inclination and both byass and ground do wonders Iâs the unhappiness of Englishmen that they are bred rather according to their Estates than their temper and Great Parts have been lost while their Calling drew one way and their Genius another and they sadly say Multum incola fuere animae nostrae We have dwelt from home Force makes Nature more violent in the return Doctrine and Discourse may make it less importune Custom may hide or suppress it nothing can extinguish it Nature even in the softer Sex runs either to Weeds or Herbs careful was this good Father therefore seasonably to water the one and destroy the other Much was done by his grave Rules more by his graver life that Map of Precepts Precepts teach but Examples draw Maxima debetur pueris reverentia was Cato's Maxime Three things there are before whom was Sir Anthony's saying I cannot do amissâ 1. My Prince 2. My Conscience 3. My Children Seneca told his Sister That though he could not leave her a great portion he would leave her a good pattern Sir Anthony would write to his Daughter Mildred My example is your inheritance and my life is your portion His first care was to embue their tender souls with a knowing serious and sober Religion which went with them to their graves His next business was to inure their youngâr years to submission modesty and obedience and to let their instructions grow with their years Their Book and Pen was their Recreation the Mâsick and Dancing School the Court and City their accomplishment the Needle in the Closet and House-wifry in the Hall and Kitchings their business They were reproved but with reason that convinced and checked that wrought aswell an ingenious shame as an unfeigned sorrow and a dutiful fear Fondness never loved his Children aâd Passion never chastised them but all was managed with that prudence and discretion that my Lord Seymor standing by one day when this Gentleman chiâ his Son said Some men govern Families with more skill than others do Kingdoms and thereupon commended hiâ to the Government of his Nephew Edward the sixth Such the Mâjâstie of his looks and gate that Aââ governed such the reason and sweetness that love obliged all his Family a Family equally afraid to displease so good a Head and to offend so great In their marriage they were guided by his Reason more than his Will and rather directed by his Counsel than led by his Authority They were their own portion Parts Beauty and Breeding bestow themselves His care was that his Daughters might have compleat
in the Inner Temple in the study of the Laws untill his ability and integrity advanced him Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in the Thirtieth of Henry the Eighth He gave for his Motto AEquitas Iustitia Norma And although Equity seemeth rather to resent of the Chancery than the Kings Bench yet the best Justice will be Wormwood without a mixture thereof In his times though the golden showers of Abbey-Lands rained amongst great men it was long before he would open his lap scrupling the acception of such Gifts and at last received but little in proportion to Others of that Age. In the thirty seventh of King Henry the Eighth he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas a descent in Honour but ascent in Profit it being given to old Age rather to be thrifty than ambitious Whereupon he said I am now an old man and love the Kitchin before the Hall the warmest place best suiting with my Age. In drawing up the Will of King Edward the Sixth and setling the Crown on the Lady Iane for a time he swam against the tide and torrent of Duke Dudley till at last he was carried away with the stream Outed of his Judges Office in the first of Queen Mary he returned into Northampton-shire and what contentment he could not finde in Westminster-hall his Hospital-hall at Bougâton afforded him He died Anno 1556. and lieth buâied in the Parish Church of Weekly His well-managed Argument in Dodderige his Case brought him to Cromwel's knowledge who was vexed with his reason but well pleased with his Parts Crowmel's recommendaâion and his own modest nature set him up with Henry the Eighth who could not endure two things 1. A Lawyer that would not be guided 2. A Divine that would not be taught Yet as modest as he was he was honest and though he would submit to the Kings Power yet would he act by his Law For his Apophthegm was Mèum est Ius dicere potius quam Ius dare Iâ's my duty to interpret rather than give Law He never denied or delayed Jâstice alwayes discouraging those cunning Lâws that perplexed a Cause those contentious Clients that delayed a suit and those nice Cummin-seed men that strained iâferences and wâested cânstructions Patient stayed and equal he was in hearing grave in speaking pertinent in interrogating wary in observing happy in remembring seasonable and civil in interposing The Council durst not chop with him neither would he chop with the Council unless he defended his cause over-boldly urged indiscreetly informed slightly neglected grosly renewed the debate unseasonably or ensnared his Adversaries cunningly in those and other the like cases he would do the Publick Right by a check and the person by an admonition Six sorts of persons he discountenanced in his Courts 1. The scandalous Exactors 2. The slie shifters that as that Chancellour observed pervert the plain and direct courses of Courts and bring Justice into oblique lines and labyrinths 3. Those that engaged Courts in quarrels of Jurisdiction 4. Those that made suits 5. Those that hunted men upon Poenal Statutes 6. Those that appeared in most Testimonies and Juries His Darling was The hânâst Clerk who was experienced in his place obliging in his carriage knowing in Presidents cautious in Proceedings and skilful in the affairs of the Court. Two things he promoted in King Henry's days 1. The Law against Gaming And 2. The Order against Stews And two in King Edward's 1. That Act against sâreading of Prophecies 2. That Statute against embasing of Coyn. But King Edward's Testament and the Duke of Northumberland's Will is to be made The pious Intentions of that King wishing well to the Reformation the Religion of Qâeen Mary obnoxious to exception the ambition of Northumberland who would do what he listed the weakness of Suffolk who would be done with as the other pleased the flattery of the Courtiers most willing to comply designed the Crown for the Lady Iane Grey Mr. Cecil is sent for to London to furnish that Will with Reason of State and Sir Edward to Serjeants Inn to make it up with Law He according to the letter sent him went with Sir Io. Baker Justice Bromley the Attorney and Solicitor-General to Greenwâch where His Majestie before the Marquess of Northampton declaring himself for the settlement of Religion and against the succession of Qâeen Mary offered them a Bill of Articks to make a Book of which they notwithstanding the Kings Charge and the reâteration of it by Sir William Peter declared upon mature consideration they could not do without involving themselves and the Lords of the Council in High Treason because of the Statutes of Succession The Duke of Northumberland hearing of their Declaration by the Lord Admiral comes to the Council-Chamber all in a rage trembling for anger calling Sir Edward Traytor and saying He would fight in his shirt with any man in that Quarrel The old man is charged by the King upon his Allegiance and the Council upon his Life to make the Book which he did when they promised it should be ratified in Parliament Here was his obedience not his invention not to devise but draw things up according to the Articles tendred unto him Since shame is that which ambitious Nature abhorreth and danger is that which timorous Nature declineth the honest man must be resolute Sir Nathaniel Brent would say A Coward cannot be an honest man and it seems by this Action that modesty and fear are great temptations Give me those four great Vertues that makes a man 1. A clear Innocence 2. A comprensive Knowledge 3. A well-weighed experience And 4. The product of all these A steady Resolution What a Skein of Ruffled Silk saith the ingenious Resolver is the incomposed man Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Fines EDward Fines Lord Clinton Knight of the Garter was Lord Admiral of England for more than thirty years He was wise valiant and very fortunate as appears by his Master-piece in Museleborough field in the reign of King Edward the sixth and the Battle against the Scots He was afterwards created Earl of Lincoln where he was born May 4. 1474. and where he had a proportionable Estate to support his Dignity which he much increased beside his Paternal Inheritance He died Ianuary 16. 1558. and lieth buried at Windsor in a private Chappel under a stately Mânument which Elizabeth his third Wife Daughter to the Earl of Kildare erected in his remembrance His Fortune made him a younger Bâother and his Industry an Heir coming to Court where they that have Estates spend them and they that have none gain them His recreation was at Court but his business in the Country where notwithstanding the Statute in âenry the sevenths time against Pasturage for Tillage he Grazed 11000 Acres of Ground then a noble and gaining Employment that advanced many a Family in one Generation and now a saving one that hath kept up as many ten The best tempered Swords will bend
any way and the best metalled men will comply with any occasion At White-hall none more affable and courteous than our Lord at Sea none more skilful in the field none more resolute in the Country none more thrifty and hospitable His Entertainments were ordeâly and suitable made up of solid particulars all growing upon his own Estate King Charles would say Every man hath his vanity and mine âpeaking of the Soveraign is Building Every man hath his humour and mine said he speaking of the Fens is Drayning Adding withal He that would be merry for a day let him be trimmed he that would be merry for a week let him marry âe that would be merry for a year let him build he that would be merry for Ages let him improve Now you would have him among his Workmen and Stewards in Lincoln anon among the Commissioners either in France or Scotland by and by before Bulloign or Calice and a while after at Spieres or Muscleborough and on a sudden at a Mask in Court. Neither was his Soul less pliable to persons than things as boisterously active as King Henry could expect as piously meek as King Edward could wish as warily zealous as Queen Marys times required and as piercingly observant as Queen Elizabeths perplexed occasions demanded It was by him and my Lord Bacon said of business That it was in business as it is in ways that the next and the nearest way is commonly the foulest and that if a man will go the fairest way he must go somewhat about Sitting in a Committee about invading Scotland whereof Sir Anthony Brown then Viscount Mountacute presented a Draught there arose as great a debate between him and my Lord in Council as afterwards in the Field about the point of Entrance Nay said my Lord in the heat of the Discourse with as much power on others passions as command over his own We stand quarrelling here how we shall get in but here is no discourse how we shall get out It 's a Rule Whosoever hath any thing fixed in his person that doth induce contempt hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn either by vertue or malice and my Lord having some disadvantage from Nature made it up by Art None more bold none more industrious and more successful because that disadvantage took off envy on the one hand and jealousie on the other so that upon the matter in a great Wit Contempt is a great advantage to rising Judge Brooke had a Project against Usury which came up to the Lords House this rich Peer upon the first motion of it stands âp and saith Shew me a State without Usury and I 'll shew you a State without Men and Trade Rich he was for expence and expend he did upon honor and good action his ordinary expencâs were the third of his Estate and his extraoâdinary none of it his Rule being Extraordinary disadvantages must be balanced with extraordinary advantages He would not stoop to petty gains but he would abridge petty charges but his occasions calling him often from his Estate he turned it all to certainties often changing his Servants who being unacquainted with him and his Estate were less subtil and more timorous Much behind-hand he was when he came to the Estate and as much before when he left it Nâither was he too sudden or too slow in paying his Debts equally avoiding a disadvantageous sale on the one hand and devouring interest on the other and so inuring himself by degrees into ân habit of frugality he gained as well upon his mind as upon his Estateâ For husbanding the English Treasure in Scotland he was Knighted in the Field May 11. 34 H. 8. by the Earl of Hertford for the Clause concerning Scotland he put in at the Treaty of Guisnes 35 H. 8. he was made Baron by Patent for his discreet Conduct in demanding the young Queen of Scots together with the performance of the Articles made in Henry the eighth's time with 60 sail of ships before the battel of Muscleburgh he had 600 l. a year assigned him by the Protector for his great experience at Sea his interest in Sea-men and his Renown among the Neighbour-States he was made Eârl of Lincoln Observations on the Life of Sir Barnaby Fitz-Patrick BArnaby Fitz-Patrick had the honour of being King Edward the sixth his Proxy at School and one of his Bed-chamber at Court. In King Henry the eighth's time he was sent to School in King Edward the sixth's to travel where he had these Directions following from that King how he might learn fashions there and send intelligence hither EDWARD WE understand by your Letters received the eighth of this present month your good entertainment being glad thereof and also how you have been once to go on Pilgrimage Wherefore we think fit to advertise you to desire leave to go to Mr. Pickering or to Paris in case hereafter any such chance happen And if that will not serve to declare to some person of estimation with whom you are best acquainted that as you are loth to offend the French King by reason of his kind usage of âou so with safe conscience you cannot do any such thing being brought up with me and bound to obey my Laws also that you had commandment from me to the contrary Yet if you beââhemently procured you may go as waiting upon the King not as intending to the abuse nor willingly see the Ceremonies and so you look on the Mass but in the mean time regard the Scripture or some good Book and give no reverence to the Mass at all Furthermore remember when you may conveniently be absent from the Court to tarry with Sir William Pickering to be instructed by him how to use your self For Women as far forth as you can avoid their company yet if the French King command you you may sometime dance so measure be your mean else apply your self to Riding Shooting Tennis or such honest Games not forgetting sometimes when you have leisure your Learning chiefly reading of the Scriptures We would not have you live too sumptuouâly as an Ambassador but so as your proportion of living may serve you we mean because we know many will resort to you and desire to serve you I told you how many I thought convenient you should keep After you have ordered your things at Paris go to the Court and learn to have more intelligence if you can and after to the Wars to learn somewhat to serve us By your Letters of the second and fifteenth of April we perceive that you were at Nancy ready to go together with Mr. Pickering to the French Camp and to the intent you might be better instructed how to use your self in these Wars we have thought good to advertise you of our pleasure therein First we would wish you as much as you may conveniently to be in the French Kings presence or at least in some part of his Army
where you shall perceive most business to be and that for two causes One is because you may have more experience in the Wars and see things as might stand you in stead another day The other is because you might be more profitable in the Language For our Embassador who may not wear Harness cannot well come to those places of danger nor seem so to serve the French King as you may whom we sent thither for that purpose It shall be best for you therefore hereafter as much as you may to be with the French Kingâ and so you shall be more acceptable to him and do your self much good This I write not doubting but you would have done it though I had not written but to spur you on Adding withal To learn the Tongue to see the manner of the Court and advertise His Master of Occurrences keeping close to the King of France to whom he shall offer his service in the Wars where he is to observe the fortifications of the Cities the Conduct of the Armies the advantages and disadvantages of both Parties their Skirmishes Battels Assaults and the Plots of the chief Towns where any enterprizes of weight have been done His Exercises were to be Hunting and Riding his Company few but choice c. This Gentleman after his return out of France was created by the King Baron of Upper Ossory in Ireland where he dyed a good Protestant a Publick-spirited Patriot and an honest man Observations on the Life of Sir Henry fitz-Asane Earl of Arundel HIs first appearance in the World was to adorn the Court his next was to serve it First his Estate and Train attends King Henry to the Interview with France and a while afteâ his valour and Conduct is commanded by him to the War Equally prepared is he to please and awe thaâ Countrey The Duke of Suffolk is made General for his Popularity and the Eârl of Arundel Lord Marshal for his Spirit and Prudence and both being before Bulloign this Noble Lord run up his Squadron under a running shelter about eleven at night to the very Walls of the City which being battered down by the Canon which was mounted some forty yards higher opened to the close Bâsiegers a passage that gained the whole Town by composition Neither was he less active in Peace than War A piercing apprehension a strong memory a large and capacious judgement a dexterous prudence a discerning wisdom was the least of his happinessâ For to his sufficiency and capacity he added a good disposition and ântegrity and to that vigour and gracefulness He was the excellent Personage that 1. Discerned 2. Embraced and performed what was Noble and Publick To know to will and effect what is good make up a God To these were added a strong nature a deep study and a very great Experiencâ qualities separated in others but united in him Nature will out Education is rude Education without Resolution is loose Resolution without âxperience is heady Experience grounded upon particulâr Events is uncertain without the study of General and Immoveable Principles Knowledge of things in their sourcâs and original causes without Nature is a Burden All these without Exercise are a Notion This Nobleman thus furnished derived much Honor from his Ancestors more to them ânnobling that Blood to a Glory which some had debased to a Blush That great Name after four hundred years shining in that Honour with various lustre setting in him as the Sun he bore with a full splendour The last effort of Nature is a Masteâ-piece the last blazâ of the Candle a shine Other âoblemen were made ââing Edward's Oversâârs for thâir Integrity he one of his Assistants for his Abiliây When an Enemy was to be awed to a submission he was General such his Fâme When the Countrey was to be obliged to a loan he was Agent such his Popularityâ Tâe first advanced him to the Comptrollership under Henry the âighth the second to the Chamberlainship under Edward the Sixth Nature hath provided that ravenous Beasts should not associate lest they should be too hard for it and Government that prime Counsellours should not agree lest they overthrow it Warwick envied the Protâctors Greatness and Arundel would limit his Power both with the rest of the Council declare against him But lest he should urge the same things against Warwick that he did against Somerset they who love the Treason but hate the Traytor turn him fiâst out of Favour and then out of Council untill Queen Maries time when hâ as an antient Nobleman of England that owned no upstart-designs against the old way of succession stood for her Right and as a stiff Catholique promoted her Religion So that Iuly 21. 1553. he came from the Queen to Cambridge wheâe the Duke of Northumberland was and entering his Chamber the Duke fell at his feeâ desiring him for Gods sake to consider his case who had done nothing but ây Warrant from the Council My Lord said the Eârl I am sent hither by the Queen to arrest you And I said the Duke obey your Arrest âeseeching your mercy for what I did by Commission You should have thought of that sooner âaid the Earl Here you might have seen at once the vicissitude of Fortune the frailty of Man the dejectedness of Guilt the braveây of Innocence who would neither be trampled on by Greatness nor trample on misery of an equal temper between pity and resolution As long as his Youth bore itâ we find him for Action but when years came upon him we find him in Council as with Wottân at the great Treaty at Cambray Yet not so unactive but that as Sir William Pickering for hiâ sweet Demeaner so he for his Estate was voiced an Husband to Queen Elizabeth Wâen the rest of the Council were for dealiâg with the âueen of Scots underhand and at distance he was for treating wiâh her plainlyâ and said in the Queens presence The Wisdom of the former Age was so provident that it needed not and so plain that it endured noâ shifts Leicester would perswade the Duke of Norfolk to court the Queen of Scots but Arundel would not hear of it without the Queen of England's consent Experience is always wary yet hath its weaknesses wherein it may be surprized For this Noblemans kindness to his Friend balancing his Duty to his Mistress brought him the Earl of South-hampton the Lords Lumley Cobham Piercy c. to a Praemuâireâ whereupon he said He is never wise that is not distrustful Fear that betrayeth the succours of Reason when predominant guardeth them when moderate and is more safe âhâugh not so Noble as that valiant confidânce that bequeathâ a dilated Freedom to all faculties and senses But of all his Actions this is most remarkeable Treating with the Scots he writ to his Majesty King Henry the Eighth what he had gained already requiring to know his farther pleasure The King takes advice with his Council who all agree that the Peace
should be concluded Whereupon the King caused his Sâcretary the Lord Paget to ârite to him to that purpose but withal he called Mr. Ceâil secretly to him bidding him tell my Lord That wâatsoever he had written in his Letter yet with all speed possible he should break the Treaty Mr. Cecil replying That a message by word of mouth being contrary to his Letter would never be believed well said the King do you tell him as I bid you and leave the doing of it to his choice Upon Mr. Cecil's arrival the Earl of Arundel shewed the other Commissioners as well the Message as the Letter they are all for the Letter he said nothing but ordered that the Message should be written before and signed by his fellow-Commissioners and thereupon immediately broke up the Treaty sending Cecil wiâh the adverâisemânt of iâ to the King Who as soon as he saw him aâked aloud What will he do it or no Cecil replied that his Majesây might understand that by the inclosed But then the King half angry urged Nay tell me will he do it or no Being then told it was done he turned to the Lords and said Now Yoâ will hear news The fine Treatie is broken Whereto one presently answered That he who had broke it deserved to lose his Fead to which the King straitly replied That He would lose a dozen such heads as his was that so judged rather than one such Servant as had done it â and therewith commanded the Earl of Arundel's Pardon should be presently drawn up the which he sent with Letters of Thanks and assurance of Favour Five things must a Statesman comprehend 1. The Lâw. 2. The Government 3. The Time 4. The Peoplâ And 5. The Prince Under an active Prince you must regard the Pâerogative under an easie one the Law under a compleat one made up of a just measure of Greatness and Goodness those two things are distinguished onely in the nice discourses of some Speculativâ being but one great Rule in the solid actions of that Prince Observations on the Life of Sir John Dudley Duke of Northumberland HI favour was first purchased by hisâ Fathers blood and improved by his own cunning King Henry sacrificed Sir Edmund Dudley to allay tâe Peoples rage and raised his Son to appease his Ghost He that disobligeth a multitude must fall himsâlf but he that in so doing serveth his King may advance his Posterity Something high he was in the Kings favour because standing on his fathers Grave but higâer as he stood on his own Merit He knew his Fathers service made his way to favour hâs own education therefore must prepare him for employment Favour without Parts is a reproach Parts without Favour are a burden The King restored him to his Fathers blood and his own industry recovered his Abilities There are those that under the notion of wisdome commât the gâeatâst folly eiâher in too much conversing with the world without or in too much reââecting on themselves within Sir Iohn was made up of both some time he allowed for Action more for Consideration There is not any thing so prejudicial to Action as to be bent upon Action without intermissionâ for as the eye seeth noâ the Objects touching it but those onely more remote so the understanding continually plunged in Affairs is not so quick-sighted in occurrents as his who sometime retireth himself from publiâk Aâtion beholding it aloof off by consideration In the heat and tumult of Affairs Reason hath not that power as may give conduct and motion to active life besides experience teacheth us that the eyâ having lost its quickness wâth too much looking upon the light recovereth it again in the dark the spirit in like manner dazled weakned transported and distracted among the multitude and variety of Affairs ought to recollect and recover its force in the privacy of some small retreat which Sir Iohn made to Italy the seat of policy and experience whence I pray God he brought no more saith my Author than his closeness and reach His Sâveraign saw he deserved Honour but saw not without offence to the Populacy how to confet it until the subtle Youngster shewed him a middle way upon the strange death of the Viscount Lisle who lost his life for joy that it was saved by petitioning for that honour as a favour which upon his Mothers account was his right The crafty Youth entered himself of the Cardinals Retinue first and then of the Kings Much was he employed by him at Sea as an Overseer of the Navâ more in the Field as Director-General most of all in the Romish and French Court as a Spy He was too good a Proficient in his School to fall wiâh him therefore we immediately observe him rising with Cromwel until the King made him Admiral and he with his 200â sail upon the Coast of Scotland âale himself renowned insomuch that the Kinâ left him the next year Vicâroy of France and Deputy of Calice and Bulloign where to revenge the French attempts upon the Isle of Wight he drew his Fleet up to the Coasts of Normandy landed 6000 men at Treport burned the Suburbs of that Town with the Abby destroyed 30 Ships there in the Haven and then returned not having lost above fourteen persons in the whole Voyage insomuch that in a Treaty between Ard and Guisnes wherein he was Commissioner with the Earl of Hertford Secretary Paget and Dr. Wâtton the French were contented that we held Bulloign till they paid us 800000 Crowns within the term of eight years For the further Establishment whereof he and the Bishop of Duresm are employed to take Oath of the Fâench King and the Daulphine His Master Henry dieth but not his designe with him Norfolk is out of his way Seymour will be so he is now Executor of King Henry's Will he will be of his own Bât as Nature so Policy works by degrees first the graft then the tree after that the blossome next that the fruit first meaner Essays and then higher Actions There was nothing to be attempted at home until we were secured and feared from abroad he therefore leads the Vanâguard agâiâst the Scots so successfully that he is made Earl of Warwick Hâre his spirit had ensnarâd him had not his conduct brought him off When the Protector refused a Combat as not becoming him Warwick offereth onâ Bring me word said he to the Hârald that brought the Protector a Challenge from the Lord Huntley that thy Master will perform the Combat with me and thou shalt have an hundred Crowns for thy pains But a publick Conduct becomes a General better than peâsonal Valour and he must so far onely remember he is a Souldier as not to forget he is a commander and so a whole Army too Against the Rebels in Devonshire so happy he was that upon his discreet Overture of Pardon Mercie is a Vertue with Valour and but a Weakness with Cowardize and coming in person to assure them
of it they saying They knew him so honourable that if he came himself they would embrace it threw down their Arms and submitted to Mercie Against the French that took the opportunity of those Turmoyls he was so prosperous that he sent them home from Iersey and Guernsey with the loss of two thousand men Honour he had enough and Power too yet not what he aimed at our Souls are infinite as in their duration so in their capacity Ambition is like cholar which is an humour that maketh men active earnest full of alacrity and stirring if it be not stopped but if it be stopped and cannot have its way it becometh adust and thereby malign and venomous So aspiring men if progrâssive and successful their passage to advancement being clear are rather active than perilous but if curbed with some obstructions their sccret discontent casts an evil aspect upon all persons and actions and becomes rather dangerous than serviceable This great Earl's greater minde was usefull when prosperous abroad but at home troublesome when finding a plain man in his way to height great in his power greater in his Sovereigns affections and greatest of all in his knowing brother whose spirit bare up his Authority as his Authority supported His Courage In that mans Brest there was a Prudence that could reach and a stoutness that could balance this at once close and fierce man Interest and Blood united these Brothers so strongly that there was no dividing of them but by practising on their Wives whose Humours were above their Interest and Fancy above their Relation Their precedence is made a question at Court where it bred first a distance and upon an Interview contrived in this Lords house a diffârenceâ that difference is improved to an animosity âe can do little that cannot blow up a spark in a Womans Brest to a flame that animosity to malice and malice cannot dwell long in those weaker brests without a mischief mischief they cannot do themselves Thâ Ivy clâaves to the Oak and these Women to their Husbands though both ruine the things they cling to What suggestions What insinuaâions What pretty fears and jealousies What little tales and passionsâ Yet continual droppings wear a Stone The Womens discords derive themselves into the Husbands hearts until the Admiral falls and leaves the Protector to his own Integrity Whose large Trust and infinite Business âould not but bewray him to some Errour as his great Power did to much Envy that first divested him of that Power and then of his Life There is not a more admirable Wisdom directing the contrarieties of Nature to an Harmony than therâ is a close âeach in some men to reconcile variâty of Humours Affections Oppâsitions Rancounters Events and Changes to one Design The Prâtectors easineâs is betrayed to confidence âis too late fears to a confidence at fiâst and at last to irregularities the hopes of some were encouraged the gâievances of öâhers were aggravated and pitied âhe envy of a ãâ¦ã and he the soul in all and every part of the action The Protector was free-spirited open hearted humble hard to distrust easie to forgive The Earl was proud subtile close cruel and implacable and therefore it was impar congressus between them almost with as much disadvantage as between a naked and armed person Two nets are laid to take the Protector the one breaks the other holds The Treason was onely to give a Report the Felony for designing the death of the Earl of Warwick a Privy Councellour did the execution He being removed out of the way this Earl of Warwick as his Predecessor meditates the honour of King-making To this purpose he joyns himself by alliance to the best Families and advanceth his children by employments to the greatest trusts particularly what Sir Richard Baker saith had been better if it had never been his Son Robert afterward Earl of Leicester was sworn one of the six ordinary Gentlemen of the Kings Chamber upon which particular the foresaid Historian observeth That after his coming into a place so near him the King enjoyed his health but a while The Duke of Somerset is trained by his enemies to such fears and jâalousies as transport him beyond his owâ goâd nature to an attempt one morning upon the Eârl of Warwick now Duke of Northumberland abed where being received with much kindeness his heart relented and he came off re infecta At his coming out one of his company asked him if he had done the deed he answered No. Then said he You are âour self undone And indeed it so fell ours for when all other Accusations were refelled this onely sâuck by him and could not be denyed and so he was found guilty by a Statute of his own procurement viz. That if any should attempt to kill a Privy-Councellour although the fact were not done yet it should be Felony and to be punished with death This notwithstanding many Divertisements used went so near the consumptive Kings heart that he prepares for death The Duke now within ken of his design considering the Kings affection for Reformation the Lords and other Purchasers kindness for Church-lands the Judges fear the Courtiers compliance carried on a Will with a high hand trembling with angerâ saith Judge Mountague if any opposed him yea saying That he would fight in his Shirt with any that contradicted it wherein the Crown was bestowed on Iane Grey his fourth Sons Wife the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth being laid aside But he forgot as what man though never so reaching can consider all things that there is an invisible Power in Right that there is a natural Antipathy in English men against usurpation and as great an inclination for the succession A Point they had conned so well of late out of the Statute made for that purpose that they could not well be put out of it by this new-started Designe The People stand by Queen Mary the Council notwithstanding their Engagement to stand by him at his going away when he observed in Shoreâditch that the People gazed on him but bid him not God spâed and he âold the Lords They might purchase their safety with his ruine To wâich one of the Lords replyed Your Grace makââ a doubt of that which cannot be for which of us all can wash his hands clear of this business proclaimed the Queen at London as he doth at Cambridge where yet the Earl of Arundel who offered his life at his feet when he marched out O the Vicissitudes of this lower world arrests him âesolutely and hâ submits weakly first to an Imprisonment and then to a Tryal and Exâcution The first night he came to Cambridge all the Doctors supped with him and Doctor Sandys is appointed to preach before him next day The Doctor lââe at night betakes himself to his Prayers and Study desiring God to direct him to a fit Text for that time His Bible openeth at the first of Joâhua and though he heard no voice with St.
Artificial and careless freedome that opened others 2. A natural gravity that shut him up and was more capable of observing their Vertues and escaping their Vices Peter Earl of Savoy came to do his homage to Otho the fourth in a double attire on the one side Cloth of Gold on the other shining Armour the Emperour asked him what meant that Lindsey-Woolsey he answered Sir the attire on the right side is to honoâr your Majesty that on the left is to serve you Sir William Peter returns with those Gayeties of carriages on the one hand that might adorn a Court and with those abilities on the other that might support it His first employment was the Charts the Lattin Letters and the Forreign Nâgotiation the next was Principal Secretary In which Office Wriothesly was rough and stubborn Paget easie Cecil close Mason plain Smith noble Peter was smooth reserved resolved and yet obliging Both the Laws he was Doctor of and both the Laws he made use of the Civil Law to direct Forreign Negotiations and the other to give light to Domestick Occasions In the Kings absence in France 1554. Craumer and Thorleby are to assist the Queen in matters of Religion the Earl of Hertford in Affairs of War the Lord Parr of Horton and Doctor Peter in the Civil Government whose Maxime it was It is the interest of the Kings of England to be the Arbiters of Christendome Thus much he was to the Queen by Henry the eighth's Deputation and no less to King Edward by his Will A man would wonder how this man made a shift to serve four Princes of such distant Interests as King Henry King Edward Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth untill he recollects the French King who enquired of a wise man how he might govern himself ãâã his Kingdome the wise man took a fair large sheet of Paper and instead of an infinite number of Precepts which others use to offer upon that subject he onely writ this word Modus A Mean In King Henry's time he observed his Humour in King Edward's he kept to the Law in Queen Mary's he intended wholly Sâate-affairs and in Queen Elizabeth's he was religious his years minding him of death and his death of his faith He moved with the first Movers in most transactions to his apparent danger yet he had motions of his own for his real security Able he was at home and very dexterous abroad particularly at Bulloin The Philosophers exercising their Gifts before an Ambassador he asked one that was silent what he should say of him Report to your King saith he that you found one among the Graecians that know how to hold his tongue Ah said Mounsieur Chatillon we had gained the last 200000 Crowns without Hostages had it not been for the man that said nothing meaning Secretary Peter Neither was he better at keeping his own counsel than at discovering other mensâ as appeared by the intelligence he had that the Emperour had âent ships to transport the Lady Mary into Germany in case the King would not allow her the practice of her Religion though three men knew not that Designe in the German Court whereupon he fetched her two Leez and thence under the notion of preparing for Sea-matters he sent over five thousand pounds to relieve the Protestants Active he was about the Will in compliance with his duty to King Edward but as nimble in his intelligence suitable to his Allegiance to Queen Mary whom he assisted in two Particulars ãâã In making the Maâch 2. In searching the bottom of Wiat's Insurrection therefore 1. When the Church-lands went against her conscience Sir William Peter must be sent for 2. When the Pope sent another Legate to turn out Pool he must be sent for who advised her to forbid him this Land as she very resolutely did As serviceable was he to Queen Elizabeth till his Age not being able to go through the difficulties and his Conscience being impatient of the severities of those âââie and harsh times he retired to Essex where his Estate was great and his Charity greater both which he bequeathed his Son Iohn who was by King Iames made Baron of Writtle in that County Observations on the Life of Cardinal Pool HIs Extraction was so high that it awakened King Henry the Eighth's Jealousies and his Spirit so low that it allayed it When he reflected on his Royal Relation he was enjealousied to hard thoughts of restraint and security when he observed his modest Hopefulness he was obliged to those more mild of Education and Care as more honourable than the other and as safe Religion and Study would enfeeble that spirit to quiet contemplation which more manlike exercises might ennoble for Business and Action It was but mewing him up in a study with hopes of a Mitre and there would be no danger of his ambition to the Crown The Privacies of the School and Colledge made him a stranger to the transactions of Court and he was two follow his Book that he might not understand himself His preferments were competent to content him and yet but mean to expose him Three things concurred to his escape from King Henry's Toyl 1. His Relation's ambition that could not endure he should be wrapped in Black that was born to be clothed in Purple 2. His own Inclination to adde Experience to his Learning 3. The Kings Policy to maintain him abroad who could not safely keep at home No sooner arriveth he at Paris than the Pope caresseth him as a person âit to promote his Interest The House of York supports him as one that kept up their Claim and the general Discontent crieth him up as one that was now the hope of England and might be its Relief That he might not come short of their Expectation or his own Right his large capacity takes in the Learning of most Univeâsities observeth the way of most Nations and keeps correspendence with all eminent men The first of these improved his Learning the second his Experience the third his Converse The Marquess of Exeter the Lord Mountacute Sir Nicholas Carew Sir Edward Nevil Sir Geoffery Poole would have made him a King but to gain him a Crown they loft their own Heads and Pope Iulius made him a Kings Fellow but he was never Head of this Church since he put the Red Hat on this Cardinal The King had him declared for a Traytor in England and he him excommunicated for an Heretiâk at Rome His Friends are cut off by the King at home and the Kings Enemies cheâished by âim abroaâ But Princes are mortal though their hatred not so For before the Kings deatâ he would needs be reconciled to Pool and as some thought by him to Rome wherefore he sends to him now in great esteem in Italy desiring his opinion of his late Actions clearly and in few words Glad was Pool of this occasion to dispaâch to him his Book de Vnione Ecâlesiarum inveighing against his Supremacy and concluding with an advice
not my pardon but my favour too He is the man for a Princes service whose minde is present and prudence is ready to meet with suddain occasions and accommodate unexpected emergencies The first effect of that favour was his Nomination for one of the sixteen that answered the French challenge at the Lady Mary's Marriage at Paââs November 7 1513. which shewed his manhood and how valiant he was The second was that he was one of the Forty five that were to be about his Majesty at the instant of his Interview with the King of France at Guisnes â which was an Argument of his presenceâ and how goodly a man he was The third was that he was one of the Twenty two that with the Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral and Sir William Fitz-Williams Vice-Admiral proposed that secret and therefore successful Dâsigne upon Britain under pretence of Scowring the Narrow Seas for now he is as good in the Sea as he had been in the Field for which he and eight more of his fellow-Captains Sir Ioh. Cornwallis c. are Knighted by the aforesaid Lord Admiral which speaks him a Sea-man and indeed one of a general capacity The fourth was the great Trust his Majesty reposed in him when he was sent in disguise to widen the difference that was newly broken out between the Duke of Bourbon the high Constable of France and the French King which he managed so well that the discontented Duke declares for the Emperour and the King of England to the great encouragement of the English the satisfaction of his Majesty and the success of his Designe upon Anchor Boungard Bray and oâher places where Sir Iohn shewed himself as active now as he was before cunning as much surpassing the French Spirit in action as he had over-reached their Prudence in Negotiation But in vain was it to serve that King unless a man obliged the Cardinal he that Courts the Virgin Mary must not neglect her little Saints him he attended in his second Journey to France first to honour and then to serve him And now after his decease when King Henry had done the work of mercy which was most proper for himself as being most popular upon the Lincolnshire Rebels he deputed the Duke of Suffolk Sir Francis Brians and Sir Iohn Russel to perform that of Justice which is most distastful wherein yet he behaves himself with that exactness that the Country was very well pleased and the King as well satisfied insomuch that we finde our Knight now called from a Commander in in the Field to be Controller at Court where he managed his Masters Expences thriftily reduced his Family discreetly reformed his followers effectually and filled up his place with the awe of his presence and the influence of his Authority that he was at once its support and its glory Indeed Courts being those Epitoms wherâthrough strangers look into Kingdomes should be Royally set of as with Utensils so with attendanceâ that might possess all Comers with reverence there and fear elsewhere Hir Person graced his Imployment and therefore his Majesty honoured his Person with the Order of the Garter and the Title of Lord Râssel and that his Preferment might keep pace with his Honour he is made Lord Privy Seal and his Nephew Sir Iohn Cage Controller His Honour flacked not his Activity but improved it neither was his Vertue onely violent in Ambition and dull in Authority Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring therefore my Lord to his Staff added his Sword and to his Court-honour his Field service as Lieutenant-General before Muttrel and Marshal before Bulloign to the relief of the first whereof he drew Mounsieur Bies that his Majesty might take the second In the Camp he drew up the Designes in the Field he managed the Treasure and in Action to him was intrâsted the Conduct and manage In the Kings last Will and Testament he was the fifth person and in his Sons Council the fifth to whom he discovered a French Plot the first year of his Raign and for whom he broke the Devonshire Rebels what with delays what with stratagems to divide them according to their several Inclinations the second for which service he was made Earl of Bedford The third in the Faction at home between the Seymours and the Dudleys he was Neuter in the Treaties abroad between the French King and his Majesty of England he was Principal where he observed three Rules 1. That there should be a general Muster at home while this Treaty went on abroad 2. That there should be a blow given the Scots before there was a Peace made with the French 3. That we should first know the French Overtures before we made our own But while he was here he discovered a Plot that the Emperour had to transport the Lady Mary over to his Dominions and thereby bring her Brother to his terms whereupon he with 200 men watcheth one Port the Duke of Somerset with 200 more a second and Master St. Leiger with 400 men a third while the Lady was fetched by my Lord Chancellor to the King But while he was serving his Master the King abroad his Friend the Protector wanted his advice and assistance at home he being of purpose sent out of the way while that unfortunate Duke is first betrayed by his own folly and then ruined by his Enemies power I finde his hand among the rest of the Councellors in a Letter to Queen Mary but not in Arms against herâ He was concluded by the major Vote to a Commission for Peace but not to Action for conscience sake Faithful he is therefore to her in Council and serviceable in Spain and France from the first of which places he brought her a Husband and from the second a Treasure He understood her Right and disputed not her Religion regarding not so much her Opinion as his own Duty not what she was but what he should be And thus he behaved himself until his dear Mistress Elizabeth took him for one of her Protestant Councellours to balance her Popish ones and not onely of her Council but of her Cabinet for as every man must have his Friend to ease his heart so Princes have their Favourites to partake of their cares and the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford and Sir William Cecil were the onely Persons to whom the Queen communicated her designe of Reformation and correcting the Common-prayer and they ordered affairs so that the Protestants should be in hope and yet the Papists should not be out of hope King Philip had a quarrel with the Queen for rejecting his suit the King of Sweden for slighting his Son the King of France in his Wives Right the Queen of Scots in her Own and the Pope for excluding his Supremacie her Subiects were as unsettled in their Loyalty as in their Religion What remained but that my Lord of Bedford and Sir William Cecil should make up a well-tempered House of
Commons by their Interest who should carry along an indifferent House of Lords by their Resolution When he had served the Queen in Parliament for the settlement of her Kingdom at home he served the Kingdome in an Embassie to Scotland to set up its correspondence abroad The Earl of Leicester aimed at the Queen of England and the Earl of Bedford to divert him and secure Scotland design'd him for the Queen of Scots whom he watched for two things 1. That she should either match with an English Subject or 2. With a soft and weak Forreigner that either the Scots might be in league with us or have no peace at home His last service I finde is a complement when he was sent by the Queen as her Deputy with a font of massie Gold worth 1043 l. to hold King Iames at his Baptism with express command not to acknowledge my Lord Darley as King This his service was as lasting as his life which ended in old Age and Renown He conveyed his Vertue and Honour to the Excellent Francis as he did to the Right Honourable William Earl of Bedford now living Observations on the Life of Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester THe tuition of the Earl of Dorset's Children raised Wolsey travelling with the Duke of Norfolk's raised Gardiner Fox his service in the quality of Secretary made the fiâst and his in the same quality made Gardiner There are three kindes of Understanding The one that is advised by its self the second that understandeth when it is informed by another the third that neither is advised by its self nor by the assistance of another If this Doctor failed in the fiâst and his own invention he exceeded in the second of making use of others for he was one of them that never heard or read what was not his own His Profession was the Civil Law that guideth forreign Negoâiâtions His Inclination was that general Policy that manageth them His Eminencies were three 1. His Reservedness Whereby he never did what he aimed at never aimed at what he intended never intended what he said and never said what he thought whereby he carried it so that others should do his business when they opposed it and he should undermine theirs when he seemed to promote it A man that was to be traced like the Fox and read like Hebrew backward if you would know what he did you must observe what he did not 2. His Boldness Authority sometimes meets with those impediments which neither power can overcome nor good fortune divert if Courage and Fortitude break not through and furmount them and the motions of the irascible faculties such as Hope Boldness and Choler being well ordered and conducted by Reason engage those difficulties she encountereth in the execution of her designs Reason discovered him his enterprizes his Will enclined him to them and the noble transports of his regular passions âet out both with that ardour and vehemencie as bear down obstacles and compass the design A hope he had that never rashly engaged him in desperate underâakings an audaciây that precipitated him not weakly into impossibilities and a choler that led him not blindly to inevitable ruines Consideration managing âhe first Discretion and Forefight the second and Reason the third What doth is avail a man to be wise in knowing what is fit to be done prudent to invent means just to appropriate affairs to publick good authorized and happy to cause them to succeed if a Courage guided by Reason accompanied with Prudence âuled by Discretion animated by a generous Boldness be not diligent quick and pâompt for Execution His nature was generous and constant His Education like that of the Roman Youth among Statesmen manifold and solid His Soul was free and dis-engaged from any particular Design 3. Elâquence That added to his Parts what colours do to a Pictureâ sâate gâace and light Reason is the Oânament of a Man Speech the Interpreter of Reason and Eloquence the grace of Speech wherein the Orator excelleth other men as much as they do other creatures His Wisdom advised his Prudence contrived his Courage resolved and his Eloquence perswaded adding at once gracefulness to his Designs and vigour to his Enterprizes as that wherewith he could satisfie mens Reasons and master their Passions by which he carried them whither he pleased His lively Expreâsâon animates his Reason his Eloquânce his Expression and his Gesture hiâ Eloquence whereby he charmed the Senses mollified Hearts incited Affections framed Desires checkâd Hopes and exercised a sacred Empire over every man he dealt with These qualities improved with Travel raised the Dâctor to be the Chancellouâ's Secretary and the Legantine Courts chief Scribe at home a âly Agent in Italy a successful Orator in Germany and Leiger Embassador in France In Italy he with Dâctor Fox havâng the King of France his Agent to second them gained the Popes Commission for hearing of the Cause between King Henry the VIII and Queen Kâtherine In Germany he undermined the French King and in France the Emperour Upon the poor Pope whom he found not worth 20 l. perplexed between the King of England who had set him at liberty and the King of Spain who had maintained him he wrought so far as to gain a dubious Letter in Cypher to the King and a clear promise to the Cardinal both about the suppression of some Monasteries and the Divorce which the crafây Agent extorted from the fearful man with his Necesse est c. although all this while he palliated this his main business with some impertinent ovârtures abouâ King Henry the seventh's Canonization None better understanding the just degrees seasons and methods of Affairs than this Doctor Where he spoke one word for his Majesties Divorce he spoke two for the Cardinals Advancement having the French Kings Letter with him to that effeât in omnem eventum In order whereunto he threatned the Pope from Germany and Germany from Rome so that their mutual jealousies forced them to a compliance with his Royal and Sacred Master A great Agent he was in this business while Woolsey's Secretary a greater when the Kingâ in which capacity he writ they say one Book for the Popâ's Supremacie in his Masters Name and another for the Kings in his own He draweth the Kingdom 's Remonstrance against the Pope wherein he hath one shrew'd argument to this purpose those sacra or wayes of Religion that have any thing in them in any nation against the light of nature and the being of humane society were severely animadverted on by the Romans upon this principle that it was to be supposed that Gods Religion should interfere with government which is Gods institution ând that way of Religion which hath in woven in it principles that make the Ecclesiasticall power a Competitor with the Civil and the Pope's against the Kingdom He and Doctor Fox are employed to gain the Vote of Cambridge for the Divorce where he brought it from the
than they were Vertue though obscure may satisfie me it must be renowned or it cânnot serve otheâs But action is the life of things and good dispoâitions are rather a mans Inclinations than his Vertue Both therefore are in their Courage regular in their Conduct observant in their Addresâes obliging in their Passions even in their Enjoyments severe and in their Services equal Sir Thomas Mannors first weakned the Northern Rebels by such discreeâ Propositions as met with many of their Humours and Interests and then resolved to engage them but that the little Brook Dua swelled miraculously to a River bâtween both Armies And at the same time Sir Ralph Evers held Scarborough â Castle where he had no Souldiers but his own Servants nor any sustenance for twenty days but bread and water For this service he is made Lord Warden of the Marches as Sir Thomas is Lord Governour of the North. Both did his Majesty as much service in Peace for his Revenue as in War for his Security Both against the Cardinal's way of raising Money which was but the relieving of a present need by laying the foundation of a lasting inconvenience being veây careful that their Master did not lose in the president what he gained in the money Observations on the Life of Sir John Baker THere is one of this Name remarqueable in every Kings Reign since the Conquest here is one now renowned in this 1. For Integrity to be neither awed nor corrupted 2. For a Spirit publick as Nature neither moved with particular respects nor terminated in a private Design The French were so insolent in London the eighth year of Henry the Eighth that when one Williamson a Carpenter was about to pay for two Pigeons he bought a Frenchman takes them out of his handâ saying They were no meat for Carpenters but for my Lord Embassadour who concerned himselâ so muâh in the case that he had Williamson imprisoned Sir Iohn sued to the Embassadour for the man who answered That the English Knave deserved to be hanged for denying any thing to a French man Whereupon Sir Iohn replied You know not that you are in London A noâable reply considering that the City was up next day against Strangers in so dâsâerate a tumult that none could suppress but Sir Thomas More and none settle but Sir William Kingston and Sir Iohn Baker No sooner had he allayed the disorder at home but he with the Bishop of St. Asaph are sent to appease a Rebellion abroad I mean in Denmark though in vain when the Kings cruelty exceeded their apology and ruine was more elegiable with that people than duty or obedience Where he observed these six Maximes in order to a newly conquer'd Kingdome 1. That the Royal Line should be extinguished 2. That the old Customs in Lawes and Taxes should be observed 3. The Prince must be there to observe their humours in person 4. That the Officers be moderate and honest 5. That there be Colonies planted in one or two places that are the Keys of the Sâate 6. That the Neighbours should be weakned and divided and the In-land Forts demolished As he would have composed the troubles of forreign Princes so he served the necessities of his own being the most successfull Commissioner for the Benevolence in the Countrey and the most active Agent for the loan in London Wherefore I finde him Chancellour of the Exchequer An. 1545 and one of the assistants to the Trustees for King Edward 1547. Judge Mountague was the onely person that durst dispute King Edward's Will Judge Hales and Sir Iohn Baker were the onely Councellours that durst refuse it the first whereof stood to the Law against âower the second to his Allegiance against Interest and both to the rights of the Crown which are lasting rather than the Designes of some Favourites that are as momentary as their Greatness and as uncertain as their Grandeur This constant and firm resolution to stick to his Duty and Lâyalty brought him to his Grave in peace and honour having been a faithful Councellour and Servant to King Henry the eighth King Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Observations on the Life of Sir William Kingstons HE was one of the greatest Courriers at Masks and Revels one of the best Captains at Sea and one of the most valiant and Skilful Commanders by Land None more pleasing to the English Ladies none more terrible to the Fâench King Cunningly did he discover the King of Spains Designe upon Navarre to his Majâsty by preâending a Revolt to that King of Spain and as cunningly did he draw the French Troops into a snare by counterfeiting a retreat towards Britany His Advice had saved the Admiral at Brest and his Foresight did rescue Sir Edward Belknap near Guisâes He was Knighted for his Service at Tournay and made Marshal for his Success at Flodden He was one of them that perswaded the City to its duty at Shoreditch and if that would not do he was to command it from the Tower being Commissiâner in the fiâst place Aug. 2. and Lieutenant of the second September 6. The Multitude is rather to be awed than reasoned with Some Princes have disarmed their Subjects others have divided them a third sort have obliged them others yet have kept up Plots amongst them but all have built and commanded Fortresses to secure themselves It were well if Love did it 's necessary that Fear should guide this World The King condescended one day to Just with him and he though invincible to fall by his Majesty You must let a Prince be a Prince in every thing So complaisant he was that he was one of the six Maskers at Court at 50 and yet so grave that when divers young men that were familiar with the King after the French mode were banished he kept his Station as one of the stayed men at 30. He was one of the 16 that attended the King in his first Interview with the Emperour and one of the 40 that waited on him in the two last with the King of France narrowly escaping at the last that poyson as some thought or ill vapours as others conclude whereof the open-hearted Lord Brooks the valiant Sir Edward Poynings reserved Sir Iohn Pechy and active Sir Edward Belknap died whereupon with his advice all French-men were put to their Fines and all Scotch to their ransome Neither was he onely for shew but service too leading the Right Wing of the Army at Guisnes when Sir Everard Digby commandeth the Left the Lord Sands the Vanguard Sir Edward Guilford then Marshal of Callis the Horse Sir Richard Wink-field the Rear and the Duke of Suffolk the main Battle Where his Assaults on Cappe and Roy spake him a Souldier as his underhand correspondence with the Lord Iââlstein argued him a States-man Sir Thomas Maunors the first Earl of Rutland of that Name discovered and Sir William Kingston told His Majesty the Cardinals Plots against the Kings
Marriage with Queen Anne and his Designe to marry him to the Dutches of Alanzon A Designe that because it seemed to over-reach his Mâjesty in cunning and really did cross his Inclination in malice that incensed his Majesty to a passion which could be appeased with no less a sacrifice than the Cardinals fall in order to which the next service of this Knight is as Lieutenant of the Tower to take him to custody which he did at Leicester with a Noble resolution considering that mans greatness with a due reverence regarding his calling and with a tender compassion respecting his condition perswading him gently of the Kings Favour at that very time when he was come to be an Instrument of his Iustice. And what he did to a Cardinal now he did to Queens afterwaâds never Prince commanded higher services than King Henry nor subjects discharging them more undauntedly than Sir William because therefore he was so severe a Lieutenant in âhe Tower he is made a Pâovost-Marshal in the Field in which capacity after the Devonshire-Rebels defeat we have these two remarkable stories of him 1. One Bowyer Mayor of Bodmin in Cornwal had been amongst the Rebels not willingly but enforced to him the Provost sent word he would come and dine with him for whom the Mayor made great Provision A little before Dinner the Provost took the Mayor aside and whispered him in the Ear that an Execution must that day be done in the Town and therefore he must set up two Gallows The Mayor did so After Dinner Sir William Kingston thanks him for his Entertainment and then desires him to bring him to the Gallows where when they were come Sir William asked him Whether they were strong enough I I 'll warrant thee saith the Mayor Then saith Sir William get you up upon them I hope saith the Mayor you do not mean as you speak Nay Sir saith he you must die for you have been a busie Rebel And so without any more ado hanged him 2. A Miller that had been very active in the late Rebellion fled and left another to take his Name upon him Sir William Kingston calls for the Miller His Servant tells him that he was the Man Then saith he you must be hanged Oh Sir saith he I am not the Miller If you are not the Miller you are a lying Knave if you are the Miller you are a trayterous one and however you must dye And so he did Punish the Multitude severely once and you oblige them ever for they love that man onely for his Good Nature whom they fear for his Resolution Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Cheyney THree things advised men in King Henry the Eighth's days 1. Their Extraction 2. Their Wit 3. Their Comeliness and Strength For the first his Name was up since Battle-Abel-Roll as to the second it was enough that he traveiled with Wolsey and touching the third there need be no other instance than that at Paris where upon the Daulphin's Proclamation of solemn Justs the Duke of Suffâlke the Marquess of Dorset Sir Edward Nevil and He answered the Challenge as not long after he encountered King Henry himself at Greenwich where he had the great Honour of a strong and valiant Knight and a greater of being overthrown by his Majesty Having engaged his Majesties Person at home he had the Honour to represent it abroad where his Commission was to complement the French King about his Liberty but his Business to observe the state of that place Where he saw that a Kingdom governed by a Prince who hath under him other independent Lords as that of France is no longer safe than those Lords are either in Humour or in Purse being always in danger either from their discontent or corruption 2. That Faction is always eager while Duty is modest and temperate This Occasion ennobled his Vertue and his Vertue improved the Occasion so well that I finde him so eminent a Parliament-man the 22th of King Henry that as Sir Brian Tuge had the Honour to open the several Boxes sent from the respective Universities with their opinions about the Kings Divorceâ so Sir Thomas had the happiness in a set Speech to insist upon them all in general and every one in particular And at Queen Anne's Coronation my Lord Vaux Sir Iohn Mordant Sir Thomas and ten more are made Knights of the Bath Having acquitted himself Nobly in Court and Council he attends the Earl of Hertford against the Scots as Commissary and Sir Iohn Wallop with Sir Iohn Rainsford as Marshal for his Services in both which capacities he is made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in England and with the Comptroller Sir Iohn Gage made Field-marshal and Treasurer of the Army before Bulloign And not long after Treasurer of the Houshold and one of the Assistants for the Over-seeing of King Henry's Will When some were joyning others with the Protector others for limiting him Sir Thomas would say That as Machiavel saith No Laws so No good could be done by a Governour that was not absolute without either a Restraint or a Competitor Upon the Reformation he would say That the disesteem of Religious Ceremonies argued the decay of the Civil Government good Princes have first kept their People Religious and thereby Vertuous and united both old and new Rome stand by this In a word what makes all men made him A generous industry of Minde and a well-set hardiness of Body which were attended while he lived with Honour and Success and since he is dead with Repuâe and Renowe Where eminent and well-born Persons out of a habit of sloath and lazâness neglect at once the Noblest way of employing their times and the fairest occasions of advancing their fortunes that State though never so flourishing and glorious wants something of being compleatly happy As soon as ever therefore the Kingdom is settled sedate times are the best to improve a Common wealth as his quiet hours are the best to improve a man he and Sir William Howard addressed themselves as vigorously to the opening of Commerce and Traffick for the enriching of this Nation as they had before to the exercise of Arms to secure it Pursuing the Design with Resolution and keeping the frame of it in order with Industry their constant Spirit surmounting all Difficulties that stood in the way of their own Glory or their Countrey 's âappiness working so well upon the Russians that they not onely obtained their Desire but gained so far upon the Affections of that people that they obtained the greatest priviledges any Tradesmen ever enjoyed in Muscovy which the Russians were not easiâr in the promise of than just in the execution of that promise So that the Trade is advanced not onely beyond our hopes but our very pretences too by those three particulars that never fail of success 1. Union 2. Conduct 3. Courage in enterprizes vigorously begun and watchfully pursued Until Queen ELIZABETH concerned her self so far in the
Aâvancement of Lord Treasurer and the degree of Baron of Burleigh for as he followed the Marquess of Winchester in his Employment so he did in his Compliance When he was out of place he was not out of service in Queen Mary's days his Abilities being as necessary in those times as his Inclination and that Queens Council being as ready to advance him at last as they were to use him all her Reign In Queen Elizabeth's time he setled the Crown by setling Religion and by an utter separation from Rome strengthened England He made equal use of those that were then Protestants by Interest and they who were so in Conscience Those that had affections for Church-lands and those that had affections for the Church The Pope would by a Bull confirm the sale of Abby-Lands But who said Burleigh can confirm the Popes Bull The King of Spain secured the Queen in hope of her Bed the Pope winked at her in hope of her Heart Burleigh over-reached the one by a fair complaysance and the other by insensible alterations During the Qâeens ten years calm Cecil provided for a tempest and improved her Shipping and Ammunition to a dreadfulness at Sea as he did her Army to a great skill and experience by Land He made Holland our Stage of War and our School of Discipline where England gained the security and experience of War without its calamity and desolations always Offensive and once onely Defensive His Intelligence abroad was no less than his Prudence at home and he could write to a friend in Ireland what the King of Spain could do for two years together and what he could not do His Advicâs from his Pensioners abroad were presented Queen Elizabeth once a fortnight 1. clearly and plainly 2. methodically and distinctly 3. speedily and seasonably 4. truly and fully He exchanged his Interest for Walsinghams Intelligence who commanded what he could do as he did what the other knew The Bull clapped at London-house was first in our Sâates-mans study where they might learn what they were to do and Protestants what to expect many years before any thing was visible When Leicester would have no Equal and ââssex no Superiour then Ceeil as Neuter served himself of them both He would wrestle with neither of them yet he would trip them both they having many rubs in their way yet never saw who laid them He never quarrelled with any neither saith Cambden did he ever sue or was he ever sued Prudâns qui Patiens was his saying before it was Sir Edward Cookes Motto and he had rather tire our Opposition by his moderation than improve it by his Impatience Others wâre raised to balance Factions he to support the Kingdome Fickle Favour tossed them constant Interest secured him No fewer than the Marquess of Winchester the Dâke of Norfolk the Earls of Northumberland Arundel Pembroke Leicester and Westmorland contrived his fall but reason of State and his Mistress kept up his âtanding Sir Nicholas Throgmorton advised them to clap him up saying That then men would open their mouths to speak freely against him but the Queen understanding hereof and standing as I may say saiâh my Authoâ in the very prison-door quashed all their Designes and freed him from the mischief projected against him Great was the value the Queen set upon him as her ablest Minister of State for coming once to visit him being sick of the Gout at Burleigh-house in the Strand and being much heightned with her Head-attire then in fashion the Lords servant who conducted her through the door said May your highness be pleased to stoop The Queen returned For your Masters sake I will stoop but not for the King of Spain She would make him always sit down in her presence saying My Lord we make use of you not for your bad Lâggs but your good Head He was a good friend to the Church as then established by Law advising his son Thomas never to build a great house or bestow any great charge upon an Inpropriation as fearing the foundation might fail hereafter yet conniving at sober Non-conformists to strengthen the foundation at present he checked the forwardness of private men and advanced the honour of the publick Establishment on all hands Good my Lord saith he in his Letter to Archbishop whitgift in the behalf of some squeamish Ministers bear with my scribling I write with the testimony of a good Conscience I desire the peace of the Church I desire concord and unity in the exercise of our Religion I fear no sensual or wilful Recusant I would not make Offenders neither would I protect them And I pray your Grace bear this and perchance a fault and yet I have sharply admonished them that if they will be Disturbers in their Churches they must be corrected and yet upon your Graces answer to me Ne sutor ultra Crepidam neither will I put Falcem in alterius Messem Was his Chaplain Traverse his hand in all this And then again If I had known his fault saith he of Brown I might be blamed for writing for him Thus he carried matters without passion and prejudice prudently as became so great a States-man He was not rigid yet he was careful He would help the good-natured yet punish the stubborn He would rather be where nothing is lawful than where all things are so He would never skrue up the Law to the pitch of cruelty nor unloose it to the remissness of Libertinism He was no less honourable a Patron of the Vniversity than he was a faithful son of the Church the Church strengtheneth the State and the Vniversities furnish both particularly in the case of Rent-corn which saith my Author first grew in Sir Thomas Smiths head yet was ripened by Burleighs assistance whereby though the Rents of the Colledges stand still their Revenues increase He was not surer of all Church-men and Scholars by his Obligations upon them than he was of all by his complaisance and pleasantness None more grave than he in Publick none more free in private especially at his Table where he drew something out of his heaviest guests having an admirable Dexterity in reading and observing men their own occasional openings in common discourse there being more hold to be taken of a few words casually uttered than of set solemn Speeches which rather shew mens Arts than their Natures as indited rather of their brains than hearts His power awed many his conversation obliged more He had his hour to put on his Gown and his hour to put it âff When he would say Lie thou there Lord Treasurer and bidding Adieu to all State-affairs he dispoâed himself to his quiet and rest He laid the Designes of War by his own Theory and his friends Intelligence yet he advised peace and died before the Quâstion was determined whether a War with Spain Others understood the Nature of War but he onely the Expediency and Conveniency If War was necessary none more forward to promote it none more
by which unsteady carriage He so befooled his Adversarie with their Spies and Pensioners as they were at a loâs what to inform their Patrons of or themselves how to resolve Fortune and Conduct set up this Favourite it falling in his Character as at Primero and otheâ Plays wherein Fortune is directed and conducted by Art The best and subtilest Gamester may lose if it cross him but if it smiles and favours he knoweth best how to manage and govern it Five things raised this person to a respect as great as his fortune to be as high in the Queens favour as he was in his Descenâ 1. A Civility set off with State 2. A pleasing Modesty of Countenance and Afâfability of Speech ennameled with Gravity 3. A Boldness attended with Patience 4. A great Capacity enlivened with as great Dexterity And 5. An Integrity secured with wariness in the darke of which quality both in his Expression and in his Actions he wrapped himself as this sepia to preserve her self undiscovered doth shed forth about her a quantity of blushes in his blood to hide her self from the Fisherman Observations on the Life of the Lord Willoughby THe Lord Willoughby was one of the Queens first Sword-men he was of the antient extract of the Bartâes but more ennobled by his Mother who was Dutchess of Suffolk He was a great Master of the Art Military and was sent General into France and commanded the second of five Armies that the Queen sent thither in aid of the French As he was a great Souldier so was he of a sutable Magnanimity and could not brook the obsequiousness and assiduity of the Court at that timâ He had more favour than he courted and he courted more rather to comply with the Queens humour than his own inclination than he desired He would say and that saying did him no good saith Sir Robert Naunton That he was none of the Reptilia being made Brother to march as a Souldier than to creep as a Courtier But Civility must allay Nature in a Courtier Prudence regulate it in a States-man and modest submission check and soften it in a Subject It s as dangerous to be stubbornly abave the kindness as it is to be factiously against the power of Princes Willoughby got nothing Stanlây lost all his haughtiness which when it cannot be obliged is suspected But his service in France Holland and on the Borders compounded for his roughness so that they who could not endure he should be high at Court were pleased he should be so in the Field Stiffness which displeased when looked on as Pride at home took when heard to be Resolution abroad Each Nature is advanced in its own Element Leicester among the Ladies my Lord Willoughby among the Souldiers Itâs a step to Greatness to know our own way to it to exercise shew our proper Vertues as he did âiâ Magnanimity in these two instances among many others 1. When one challenged him then sick of the Gout he said That though he were lame in his feet and hands yet he would carry a Rapier in his teeth to fight his Adversary 2. Having taken a Spanish Gennet designed a present to that King and being offered either 1000 l. or 100 l. a year in exchange for it he nobly answered If it had been a Commander he would have freely released him but being onely a Horse he saw no reason he could not keep a good Horse as well as the King of Spain himself Sir Christopher Hatton was to an excess a courtier and my Lord Willoughby so a Souldier Queen Elizabeth on the Lord Willoughby Good Peregrine WE are not a little glad that by your Journey you have received such good fruit of amendment specially when we consider what great vexations it is to a mind devoted to actions of honor to be restrained by any indisposition of body from following those courses which to your own reputation and our great satisfaction you have âormerly performed And therefore as we must now out of our desire of your vvell-doing chiefly enjoyn you to an eâpecial care to encrease and continue your health vvhich must give life to all your best endeavours so we must next as seriously recommend to you this consideration That in these times when there is such appearance that we shall have the âryal of our best noble Subjectââ you fââm not to affect the satisfaction of your own private contentation beyond the attending of that vvhich Nature and Duty challengeth from all persons of your quality and Profession For if necessarily your health of body being recovered you should Eloign your self by residence there from those Employmentâ vvhereof we shall have too good store you shall not so much amend the state of your body as happily you shall call in question the reputation of your mind and judgement even in the opinion of those that love you and are best acquainted vvith your Disposition and Discretion Interpret this our plainness vve pray you to our extraordinary estimation of you for it is not common vvith us to deal so freely with many and believe that you shall ever find us both ready and vvilling in all occasions âo yield you the fruits of that interest vvhich your Endeavours have purchased for you in our Opinion and Estimation Not doubting but when you have vvith moderation made tryal of the success of these your sundry Peregrinations you vvill find as great comfort to spend your days at home as heretofore you have done of which we do wish you full measure howsoever you shall have cause of abode or return Given under our Signet at our Mannor of Nonsuch the seventh of October 1594. in the 37 year of our Reign Your most loving Soveraign E R. Observations on the Life of Sir Philip Sidney HE was son to Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland and President of Wales A Person of great parts and in no mean grace with the Queen His Mother was Sister to my Lord of Leicester from whence we may conjecture how the Father stood up in the place of Honour and Employment so that his Descent was apparently Noble on both sides For his Education it was such as Travel and the University could afford for after an incredible proficiency in all the species of Learning he left the Academical life for that of the Court whither he came by his Uncles invitation famed aforehand by a Noble report of his Accomplishments which together with the state of his Person framed by a natural propension to Arms he soon attracted the good opinion of all men and was so highly prized in the good opinion of the Queen that she thought the Court deficient without him and whereas through the fame of his deserts he was in the election for the Kingdome of Poland she refused to further his advancement not out of Emulation but out of fear to lose the Jewel of her times He married the daughter and sole Heir of Sir Francis Walsingham then
others as in nature he doth not fit the frame of things to the ugly nature of Monsters but the irregular shape of Monsters to the beauty of things being of opinion thaâ we should thank our Governour as the AEthiopian flaves do their Emperour when they are slashed and we should God when we are corrected for thinking of us and having a care of us universal as that God hath of the world whom they represent Rulers within their dominions having much of the Character that God hath in the universe viz. That he is a Circle whose center is every where and Circumference no where Observations on the Life of Sir William Drury SIr William Drury was born in Suffolk where his Worshipful Family had long flourished at Haulsted His name in Saxon soundeth a Pearl to which he answered in the pretiousness of his disposition clear and heard innocent and valiant and therefore valued deservedly by his Queen and Country His youth was spent in the French Wars his middleâ Age in Scotland and his old Age in Ireland He was Knight-Marshal of Barwick at what time the French had pâssâssed themselves of the Castle of Edenburgh in the minority of King James Queen Elizabeâh employed this Sir William with 1500 men to besiege the Castle which service he right worthily performed reducing it within few days to the owner thereof Anno 1575. he was appointed Lord President of Munster whither he went with competent Forces and executed impartial Iustice in despight of the opposers thereof For as the Signe of Leo immediately precedeth Virgo and Libra in the Zodiack so I hope not that Innocency will ãâã protected or Iustice administred in a barbarous Country where power and strength do not first secure a passage unto them But the Earl of Desmond opposed this good President forbidding him to enter the County of Kerry as a Palatinate peculiarly appropriated unto himself Know by the way as there were but four Palatinates in England Chester Lancaster Durham and Ely whereof the two former many years since were in effect invested in the Crown there were no fewer than eight Palatinates in Ireland possâssed by their respective Dynasts claiming Regal Rights therein to the great retarding of the absolute Conquest of that Kingdome Amongst these saith my Author Kerry became the Sanctuary of Sin and Refuge of Rebels as outlawed from any Iurisdiction Sir William no whit terrified with the Earls threatning and declaring that no place should be a priviledge to mischief entred Kerry with a competent Train and there dispenced Iustice to all persons as occasion did require Thus with seven-score men he safely forced his return through seven hundred of the Earls who sought to surprize him In the last year of his Life he was made Lord Deputy of Ireland and no doubt had performed much in his place if not afflicted with constant sickness the forerunner of his death at Waterford 1598. He was one of that Military Valour which the Lord Verulam wisheth about a Prince in troublesome times that held a good esteem with the Populacy and an exact correspondence with the noble whereby he united himself to each side by endearments and divided them by distrust watching the slow motions of the people that they should not be excited and spirited by the nobility and the ambition of the Great Ones that it should not be befriended with the turbulency or strengthened with the assistance of the Commonalty One great Act well followed did his business with the natives whom he sometimes indulged giving their Discontents liberty to evaporate and with the strangers whom he always awed In those that were commended to his service he observed two things 1. That they were not advanced for their dependence because they promote a Party which he noted to be the first ground of Recommendaâion 2. Nor for their weakness because they cannot hinder it which he remarked to be the second Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Smith SIr Thomas Smith was born at Saffroâ-Walden in Essex and bâed in Queens Colledge in Cambridge where such his proficiency in Learning that he was chosen out by Henry the eighth to be sent over and to be brought up beyond the Seas It was fashionable in that Age that pregnant Students were maintained on the cost of the State to be Merchants for experience in Forreign Parts whence returning home with their gainful Adventurers they were preferred according to the improvement of their time to Offices in their own Country Well it were if this good old Custome were resumed for if where God hath given five talents men would give but pounds I mean encourage hopeful Abilities with hopeful maintenance able persons would never be wanting and poor men with great Parts would not be excluded the Line of Prefermenâ This Sir Thomas was first Servant and Favourite to the Duke of Somerset and afterwards Secretary of State to Qâeen Elizabeth and a grand Benefactor to both Universities Anno 1577 when that excellent Act passedâ whereby it was provided That a third part of the Rent upon Leases made by Colledges should be reserved in Corn paying it either in kând or in money after the rate of the best prices in Oxford or Cambridge markets the next Market-days before Michaelmas or our Lady-dayâ For the passing of this Act Sir Thomas Sâith âurprized the House and whereas many conceived not the difference between the payment of Rents in Corn or money the knowing Patriot took the advantage of the presenâ cheap year knowing that hereaftâr Grain would grow dearer Mankinde dayly multiplying and License being lately given for Transportation so that now when the Universities have least Corn they have most Bread What his foresight did now for the Universiây his reach did the first year of Q. Eliz. for the Kingdome for the first sitting of her Councel he advised twelve most important things for the publick safety 1. That the Ports should be shuâ 2. That the Tower of London should be secured good hands 3. That the Deputy of Ireland's Commiâââon should be renewed and enlarged 4. That all Officers should act 5. That no new Office should be bestowed in a moneth 6. Thât Ministers should meddle with no Controversies 7. That Embassadors should be sent to Forreign Princes 8. That no Coyn should be transported beyond Sea 9. That no person of quality should travel for six weeks 10. That the Traiâ-bands should be mustered 11. That Ireland the Borders and the Seas should be provided for 12. And that the dissenting Nobility and Clergy should be waâched and secured Adding withal a Paper for the Reading of the Epistle the Gospel and the Commandments in the English tongue to encouragâ the Protestants expectation and allay the Papists fear In the same Proclamation that he drew up the Sacrament of the Altar was to be reverencâd and yet the Communion to be administred in both kinds He advised a Disputation with the Papists one day knowing that they could not dispute without
leave from the Pope and so would disparage theâr Cause yet they could not say but they might dispute for the Queen and so satisfie the People and is one of the âive Councellours to whom the Dâsigne of the Reformation is opened and one of the eight to whom the management of it was intrusted There you might see him a Leading man among the States-men here most eminent among Divines at once the most knowing and pious man of that Age. As his Industry was taken up with the establishment of our Affairs at home so his Watchfulness upon Sir Edward Carnees deposition of his Embassie was intent upon the plot of France and Rome abroad in the first of which places he made a Secretary his own and in the second a Cup-bearer At the Treaty of Cambray my Lord Howard of Effingham the Lord Chamberlain and he brought the King of Spain to the English side in the business of Calice 1. That France might be weakened 2. That his Netherlands might be secured 3. That the Queen his Sweet-heart might be obliged until he discovered Queen Elizabeths averseness to the marriage whereupon had it not been for the Viscount Mountacute who was not so much a Papist as to forget that he was an ânglish-man and Sir Thomas the Spaniard had stoln over Catharine Grey Queen Elizabeths Neece for a pretence to the Crown as the French had the Queen of Scots her Cozen. After which he and Sir William Cecil advised her Majesty to that private Treaty apart without the Spaniard which was concluded 1559â as much to the honour of England now no longer to truckle under Spain as its interest no longer in danger from France Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was the metal in these Treaties and Sir Thomas Smith the Allay the ones mildness being to mitigate that animosity which the others harshness had begot and the others spirit to recover those advantages which this mans easiness had yielded Yet he shewed himself as much a man in demanding as Sir William Cheyney in gaining Calice replying smartly upon Chancellour Hospitals Discourse of ancient Right the late Treaty and upon Montmorency's Harangue of Fears Conscience Pitying the neglected state of Ireland he obtained a Colony to be planted under his base Son in the East-Coast of Vlster called Ardes at once to civilize and secure that place So eminent was this Gentleman for his Learning that he was at once Steward of the Stannaries Dean of Carlisle and Provost of Eaton in King Edward's time and had a Pensâon on condition he went not beyond Sea so considerable he was in Queen Mary's Well he deserved of the Commonwealth of Learning by his Books 1. Of the commonwealth of England 2. Of the Orthography of the English Tongue and oâ the Pronunciation of Greek and 3. an exact Commentary of matters saith Mr. Cambden worthy to be published Observations on the Lives of Doctor Dale the Lord North Sir Thomas Randolph I Put these Gentlemen together in my Observations because I finde them so in their Employments the one Agent the other Leiger and the third extraordinary Embassador in France the first was to manage our Intelligence in those dark times the second to urge our Interest in those troublesome days and the third to represent our Grandeur No man understood the French correspondence with the Scots better than Sir Thomas Randolph who spent his active life between those Kingdomes none knew better our Concerns in France and Spain than Valentine Dale who had now seen six Treaties in the first three whereof he had been Secretary and in the last a Commissioner None fitter to represent our state than my Lord North who had bâen two years in Walsinghams house four in Lââcesters âeâvâce had seen six Courts twenty Batâles nine Treaties and four solemn Justs whereof he was no mean part as a reserved man a valiant Souldier and a Courtly Person So âly waâ Dale that he had a servant always attending the Qâeen-mother of France the Queen of Scots and the King of Navarre so watchâul Sir Thomas Randolph that the same day he sent our Agent in Scotland notice of a dâsigne to carry over the young King and depose the Regent he advised our Queen of a match between the King of Scot's Uncle and the Countess of Shrewsbury's Daughter and gave the Earl of Huntington then President of the North tâose secret instructions touching that matter that as my Lord Burleigh would often acknowledge secured that Coast. My L. North watched the successes of France Dr. Dale their Leagues and both took care that the Pâince of Orange did not throw himself upon the Protection of France always a dangerous Neighbour but with that accession a dreadful one Sir Iohn Horsey in Holland proposed much but did nothing Sir Thomas Randolph in France performed much and said nothing yet both with Dr. Dales assistance made France and Spain the scales in the balance of Europe and England the tongue or holder of the balance while they held the Spaniard in play in the Netherlands watched the French Borders and kept constant Agents with Orange and Don Iohn Neither was Sir Thomas âess in Scotland than in France where he betakes himself first to resolution in his Protestation and then to cunning in his Negotiations encouraging Mârton on the one hand and amusing Lenox on the other âeeping fair weather with the young King and yet practising with Marre and Anguse Nothing plausible indeed saith Cambden was he with the wiâe though youthful King Iames yet very dexterous in Scotish humours and very prudent in the northern Affairs very well seen in those interests and as successful in those negotiations witness the first and advantageous League 1586. Video rideo is Gods Motto upon Affronts Video Taceo was Queen Elizabeths Video nec vident was Sir Thomas Randolphs These three men treated with the Spaniard near Ostend for peace while the Spaniard prepared himself on our Coast for Waâ So much did Sir Iames Crofts his affection for peace exceed his judgement of his Instruction that he would needs steal over to Brussels to make it with no less commendation for the prudent Articles he proposed tâaâ censure for the hazard he incurred in the Proposal So equal and even did old Dale carry himself that the Duke of Parma saw in his Answers is the English spirit and therefore saith my Author durst not try that Valour in a nation which he was so afraid of in a single person That he had no more to say to the old Gentleman than onelâ thiâ These things are in the hand of the Almighty None moâe inward with other men than Sir Francis Walsingham none more inward with him than Sir Thomas Randolph well studied he was in Iustinians Code better in Machiavels Discourses both when a âearned student of Christ-church and a worthy Pâincipal of Broadgates three therefore was he an Embassadour to the Lords of Scotland in a commotion thrice to Queen Mary
To which I adde her Sister musick wherewith he revived his tired spirits lengthened as he said his sickly days opened his oppressed breast eased his melancholy thoughâ graced his happy pronunciation ordered and refined his irregular and gross inclination fixed and quickned his floating and dead notions and by a secret sweet and heavenly Vertue raised his spirit as he confessed sometime to a little less than Angelical Exaltation Curious he was to please his ear and as exact to please his eye there being no Statues Inscriptions or Coyns that the Vertâosi of Italy could shew the Antiquaries of France could boast off or the great Hoarder of Rarities the great Duke of Tuscany whose antick Coyns are worth 100000 l. could pretend to that he had not the view of No man could draw any place or work better none fancy and paint a Portraicture more lively being a Durer for proportion a Goltzius for a bold touch variety of posture a curious and true shadow an Angelo for his happy fancy and an Holben for Oyl works Neither was it a bare Ornament of Discourse or naked Diversion of leisure time but a most weighty piece of knowledge that he could blazon most noble and ancient Coats and thereby discern the relation interest and correspondence of great Families and thereby the meaning and bottom of all transactions and the most successful way of dealing with any one Family His Exercises were such as his Employments were like to be gentle and manlike whereof the two most eminent were Riding and Shooting that at once wholesomely stirred and nobly knitted and strengthened his body Two Eyes he saiâ he travelled with the one of wariness upon himself the other of observation upon others This compleat Gentleman was Guardian to the young Brandon in his younger yearsâ Agent for Sir Iohn Mason in King Edward the sixth's time and the first Embassador for the State in Queen Elizabeths time My Lord Cobham is to amuse the Spaniard my Lord Effingham to undermine the French and Sir Henry Killigrew is privately sent to engage âhe German Princes against Austria in point of Interest and for her Majesty in point of Religion he had a humour that bewitched the Elector of Bavaria a Carriage that awed him of Mentz a Reputation that obliged them of Colen and Hydelbergh and that reach and fluency in Discourse that won them all He assisted the Lords Hunsdon and Howard at the Treaty with France in London and my Lord of Essex in the War for France in Britain Neither was he less observable for his own Conduct than for that of others whose severe thoughts words and carriage so awed his inferiour faculties as to restrain him through all the heats of youth made more than usually importunate by the full vigour of a high and sanguine Constitution insomuch that they say he looked upon all the approaches to that sin then so familiar to his calling as a Souldier his quality as a Gentleman and his Station as a Courtier not onely with an utter disallowance in his judgement but with a natural abhorrency and antipathy in his very lower inclinations To which happiness it conduced not a little that though he had a good yet he had a restrained appetite a Knife upon his Throat as well as upon his Trencher that indulged it self neither frequent nor delicate entertainment its meals though but once a day being its pressures and it s fast its only sensualitieâ to which temperance in diet adde but that in sleep together with his disposal of himself throughout his life to industry and diligenceâ you will say he was a spotless man whose life taught us this Lesson which if observed would accomplish mankinde and which King Charles the fiâst would inculcate to noble Travellers and Dr. Hammond to all men To be furnished always with something to do A Lesson they proposed as the best expedient for Innocence and pleasure the foresaid blessed man assuring his happy heaâers That no burthen is more heavy or temptation more dangerous than to have time lie on ones hand the idle man being not onely as he worded it the Devils shop but his kingdome too a model of and an appendage unto Hell a place given up to torment and to mischief Observations on the Life of Arthur Gray Baron of Wilton ARthur Gray Baron of Wilton is justly râckoned amongst the Natives of Buckinghamshire whosâ Father had his habitation not at Wilton a decayed Castle in Hertfordshire whence he took his Title but at Waddon a fair house of his Family not far from Buckingham He succeeded to a small estate much diminished on this sad occasion His Father William Lord Gray being taken Prisoner in France after long ineffectual solliciting to be because captivated in the publick service redeemed on the publick charge at last was forced to ransome himself with the sale of the best part of his Patrimony Our Arthur endeavoured to advance his estate by his Valour being entred into Feats of War under his martial Father at the siege of Leith 1560 where he was shot in the shoulder which inspirited him with a constant antipathy against the Scots He was afterwards sent over Lord Deputy into Ireland anno 1580 where before he had received the Sword or any emblems of command ut acrioribus initiis terrorem incuteret to fright his foes with fierce beginnings he unfortunately fought the Rebels at Grandilough to the great loss of English Blood This made many commend his Courage above his Conduct till he recovered his credit and finally suppressed the Rebellion of Desmond Returning into England the Qâeen chiefly relied on his counsel for ordering our Land-forces against the Spaniards in 88 and fortifying places of advantage The mention of that year critical in Churcâ-differences about discipline at homâ as well as with forreign force abroad mindeth me that this Lord was but a back-friend to Bishops and in all divisions of Votes in Paâliament or Council-table sided with the Anti-prelatical party When Sâcretaây Davison that State-pageant raised up on purpose to be put down was censured in the Star-chamber about the business of the Queen of Scots this Lord Gray onely defended him as doing nothing therein but what became an able and honest Minister of State An Ear-witness saith Haec fusè oratorie animose Greium disserentem audivimus So that besides bluntness the common and becoming Eloquence of Souldiers he had a real Rhetorick and could very emphatically express himself Indeed this Warlike Lord would not wear two heads under one Helmet and may be said always to have born his Beaver open not dissembling in the least degree but owning his own Judgement at all times what he was He deceased anno Domini 1593. Three things he was observed eminent for 1. Dâspatch San Ioseph having not been a week in Ireland before he had environed him by Sea and Land 2. For his resolution that he would not parley with him till he was brought to his mercy hanging out a
white flag with Misericordia Misericordia 3. For his prudence 1. Tâat he saved the Commanders to oblige the Spaniard 2. That he plundered the Country to enrich his Souldiers 3. That he decimated the Souldiery to terrifie Invaders and hanged all the Irish to amaze the Traytors Henry Fitz-alaâ Earl of Arundel when Steward at King Edward's Coronation or Constable at Queen Mary's was the first that rid in a Coach in England my Lord Gray was the first that brought a Coach hither one of a working Brain and a great Mechanist himself and no less a Patron to the Ingenious that were so That there was an emulation between him and Sussex was no wonder but that the instance wherein he thought to disgrace him should be his severity to the English Traytor and the Forreign Invadors would seem strange to any but those that conâider 1. That Princes of late would seem as they look on the end and not the means so they hug a cruelty and frown on the Instrument of it who while he honestly sacrificeth some irrâgular particulars to the interest of Soveraignty may be made himself a sacrifice to the passion of populacy And ââ which is the case here that aâpiring Princes may employ severer Natures but setled ones use the more moderate Love keeps up the Empire which Power hath set up Observations on the Life of Thomas Lord Burge THomas Lord Burge or Borough was born in his Fathers noble house at Gainsborough in the County of Lincoln He was sent Embassadour into Scotland in 1593 to excuse Bothwel his lurking in England to advise the speedy suppression of the Spanish Faction to advance the Prâtestants in that Kingdome for their Kings defence and to instruct that King about his Council which was done accordingly He was made Lord-Deputy of Ireland anno 1597 in the room of Sir William Russel Mr Cambden saith thus of him Vir acer animi plenus sed nullis ferè Castrorum rudimentis As soon as the Truce with Tyrone was expired he stâaightly beâieged the Fort of Black-water the onely receptacle of the Rebels in those parts besides their Woods and Bogs Having taken this Fort by force presently followed a bloody Battle wherein the English lost many woâthy men He was struck with untimely death before he had continued a whole year in his place it being wittily observed of the short Lives of many worthy men Fatuos â morte defendit ipsa insâlsitas si cui pluâ caeteris aliquantulum salis insit quod miremini statim putrescit Things rare destroy themselves tâose two things being incompaâible in our nature Perfection and Lasliââness His Educaâion was not to any particular Profession yet his parts able to manage all A large soul and a great spirit apart from all advantages can do wonders His Master-piece was Embassi where his brave Estate set him above respectâ and compliance and his comely person above contempt His Geography and history led to the Interest of other princes and his Experience to that of his own His skill in most Languages helped him to understand others and his resoluâion to use onely his own to be reserved himself In two things he was very scrupulous 1. In his Commission 2. In his servants whom he always he said found honest enough but seldome quick and reserved And in two things very careful viz. 1. The time and humour of his Addresses 2. The Interest Inclinations and Dependencies of Favourites A grave and steady man observing every thing but affected with nothing keeping as great distance between his looks and his heart as between his words and his thoughts Very exact for his priviledges very cold and indifferent in his motions which were always guided by the emergencies in that Country and by his intelligence from home Good he was in pursuing his limited instruction excellent where he was free and his business was not his obedience onely but his discretion too that never failed but in his last enterprize which he undertook without any apparent advantage and attempted without intelligence An Enterprize well worthy his invincible Courage but not his accustomed prudence which should never expose the person of a General to the danger of a common Souldier Observations on the Life of William Lord Pawlet WIlliam Pawlet where-ever born had his laâgest estate and highest Honour Baron of Basing and Marquess of Winchâster in Hantshire â He was descended from a younger house of the Pawlets in Hinton St. George in Somersetshire as by the Crescent in his Arms is acknowledged One telleth us That he being a younger Brother and having wasted all that was left him came to court on trust where upon the stock of his Wit he trafficked so wisely and prospered so well that he got spent and left more than any subject since the Conquest Indeed he lived at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys which was the Harvest of Estates and it argued idleneâs if any Courtier had his Barns empty He was servant to King Henry the seventh and for thirty years together Treasuâer to King Henry the eightâ Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the latter in some sort owed their Crowns to his Counsel his policy being the principal Defeater of Dâke Dudley's Designe to dis-inherit them I behold this Lord Pawlet like to aged Adoram so often mentioned in Scriptures being over the Tribute in the days of King David all the Reign of King Solomon until the first year of Rehoboam And though our Lord Pawlet enjoyed his place not so many years yet did he serve more Soveraigns in more mutable times being as he said of himself No Oak but an Osier Herein the parallel holds not the hoary hairs of Adoram were sent to the Grave by a violent death slain by the people in a Tumult this Lord had the rare happiness of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã setting in his full splendour having lived 97 years and seen 103 out of his body He died anno Domini 1572. Thus far Mr. Fuller This Gentleman had two Rules as useful for mankind as they seem opposite to one another 1. That in our Considerations and Debates we should not dwell in deceitful Generals but look into clear Particulars 2. That in our Resolutions and Conclusions we should not rest on various Particulars but rise to uniform Generals A Man he was that reverenced himself that could be vertuous when alone and good when onely his own Theatre his own applause though excellent before the world his vertue improving by fame and glory as an heat which is doubled by reâlexion Observations on the Life of Sir James Dier JAmes Dier Knight younger Son to Richard Dier Esquire was born at Round-hill in Somersetshire as may appear to any by the Heralds Visitation thereof He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and waâ made Lord Chief Iustice of the Common Pleas primo Eliz. continuing therein twenty four years When Thomas Duke of Norfolk was
active 2. My Lord Norris his resolution was very becoming in the demand of Calice 3. The Irish Conspirator Thoumond opened a Plot against the Government in Ireland to the Agent Norris Knowles 1. The Knowles are abroad in religious Negotiations for which they had been Confessors Sir Francis in France and Sir Henry in Germany 2. Francis Knowles his meekness was suitable to his perswasions for Religion 3. And the Scots Schismatick Humes discovered a designe against the Church in England to the Embassadour Knowles In 88 My Lord Hunsdon guarded the Queens person with 34000 foot and 2000 horse the Earl of Leicester commanded the Midland Army of 22000 foot and 1000 horse Sir Roger Williams and Sir Richard Bingham were in the head of 20000 in the Thames mouth and Sir Iohn Norris and Sir Francis Knowles with other Assistants sate in the Council of War to overlook all Sir Iohn advised three things 1. The Guarding of the Havens 2. The Training of the Militia and the preparing of them to be at an hours warning upon a signal given which was then the firing of a Beacon 3. That if the enemy did land the Country should be laid waste before him the Train-bands alarming him day and night Sir Francis added 1 What shires and what numbers should assist each Coast how the men should be armed how commanded and in what order they should fight 2. That the Papists should not be massacred as some would have it but secured 3. That the Deputy of Ireland should be instructed 4. That the King of Scots should be engaged 5. That Agents should be sent to the Netherlands and to France And 6. That the Queen should encourage the people with her own presence Sir Iohn Norris died when he saw beyond others expectation and his own merit the Lord Burge made Lord-Deputy and himself but President of Munster his great minde sinking under one affront from his Soveraign which had born up against all the assaults of her enemies leaving this honour behinde him That he laid the best grounds of military practice in England â But who can stand before Envy A further Character of Sir Iohn Norris from Queen Elizabeths Letter to his Mother My own Crow HArm not your self for bootless help but shew a good example to comfort your dolorous yoak-fellow Although we have deferred long to represent to âou our grieved thoughts because we liked full ill to yeild you the first reflexion of mis-fortune whom we have always rather sought to cherish and comfort yet knowing now that Necessity must bring it to your ear and Nature consequently must move both grief and passion in your heart VVe resolved no longer to smotâer neither our care for your sorrow or the sympathy of our grief for your loss VVherein if it be true That Society in sorrow works diminution VVe do assure you by this true Messenger of our minde that Nature can have stirred no more dolorous affection in you as a Mother for a dear Son than Gratefulness and memory of his Service past hath wrought in us his Soveraign apprehension of our miss for so worthy a Servant But now that Natures common work is done and he that was born to die hath paid his Tribute let that Christian discretion stay the flux of your immoderate grieving which hath instructed you both for example and knowledge that nothing in this kinde hath happened but by Gods divine providence And let these Lines from your loving gracious Soveraign serve to assure you that there shall ever appear the lively Character of our Estimation of him that was in our gracious care of you and yours that are left in valuing rightly all their faithful and honest Endeavours More at this time we will not write of this unpleasant subject but have dispatched this Gentleman to visit both your Lord and you and to condole with you in the true sense of your love and to pray that the world may see what time cureth in a âeak minde that Discretion and Moderation helpeth in you in this accident where there is so just cause to demonstrate true Patience and Moderation Your Gracious and Loving Soveraign E. R. Observations on the Life of Secretary Davison THat Meteor of the Court raised onely in an an excess of heat and vapours to fall in a clearer day for having good parts to act an easie nature to comply and a good disposition to be imposed on he was raised to play others parts rather then his own in those intricate and dark times when fools were put to execute what wise men advised and the world saw but the plain side of the great watch of State within which all the springs were inclosed and hid That he was but of a private capacity and so safely to be raised as one that would neither outshine nor outdare his Patron Machiavil hath a Rule Disc. l. 3. c. 2. That it is a very great part of wisdome sometimes to seem a fool and so lie out of the reach of Observation and Iealousie appears from his Negotiations that were either payment of money in the Netherlands a Merchants business or taking security of the Merchants in France a Scriveners part or pacifying the tumult in Holland the tâsk of a Buâgomaster Beale the Clerk of the Council and he were joyned in Commission always to deal with the Scots the one the austerest and the other the sweetest man living When the first frighted those rude people with expostulations the second got into them with insinuations A hard and a soft a Hammer and a Cushion breaks a Flint Fear and Love rule the world His Grand Case as that great Historian layeth it is briefly this Many Protestants thought themselves in danger while the Queen of Scots was alive many Papists thought themselves undone while she was imprisoned these last press her to some dangerous undertakings of the first some were for securing others for transporting and a third party for poysoning her to which purpose many Overtures were made though yet none durst undertake it that had either estate or honour to lose being so wise as not to understand what was meant by the strange Letters that were sent else they might have faln into this Gentlemans fortune who unadvisedly venturing between the honour and safety of his Soveraign was ground to nothing betwixt the fear of one party and the shame of the other But this mild but stout because honest manâ was not so weak in the perpetration of this fault as he was wise in his Apology for it saying He would not confess a guilt and betray his integrity nor yet stand upon a Justification and forget his Duty He would neither contest with his Soveraign nor disparage himself but clear himself as an honest man and submit as a thankful servant and a good subject DAzled thus with heighth of place Whilst our hopes our wits beguile No man marks the narrow space 'Twixt a prison and a smile Then since Fortunes favours fade You
well enough how to set up for himself he now meant to allie him with this young Earl who had yet taken no strong impressions For though the said Sir Walter Rawleigh was a little before this whereof I now speak by occasion much fallen fâom his former splendour in Court yet he still continued in some lustre of a favoured man like billows that sink by degrees even when the wind is down that first stirred them Thus runs the discourse of that time at pleasure yet I am not ignorant that there was some good while a very stiff aversation in my Lord of Essex from applying himself to the Earl of Leicester for what secret conceit I know not but howsoever that humour was mollified by time and by his mother and to the Court he came under his Lord. The Duke of Buckingham had another kinde of Germination and surely had he been a plant he would have been recâoned amongst the Sponte Nascentes for he sprung without any help by a kind of congenial composure âs we mây term it to the likeness of oâr late Soveraign and master of ever blessed memory who taking him into his regard taught him more and more to please himself and moulded him as it were Platonically to his own Idea delighting first in the choice of the Materials because he found him susceptible of good form and afterward by degrees as great Architects use to do in the workmanship of his Regal hand nor staying here after he had hardned and polished him about ten years in the School of observance for so a Court is and in the furnace of tryal about himself for he was a King could peruse men as well as Books he made him the associate of his Heir apparent together with the new Lord Cottingtoâ as an adjunct of singular experience and trust in forraign travels and in a business of love and of no equal hazard if the tendernâss of our zeal did not then deceive us enough the world must confess to kindle affection even betwixt the distantest conditions so as by the various and inward conversation abroad besides that before and after at âome with the most constant and best-natured Prince Bona si sua norint as ever England enjoyed âhis Duke becomes now secondly seized of favour as it were by descent though tâe condition of that estate be no more than a Tenancy at Will or at most âor the life of the first Lord and rarely transmitâed which I have briefly set down without looking âeyond the vail of the Temple I mean into the secret of high inclinations since even Satyrical Poets âwho are otherwise of so licentious fancy are in this âoint modest enough to confess their ignorance Nescio quid certe est quod me tibi temperet Astrum And these were both their Springings and Imprimings as I may call them In the profluence or proceedings of their fortunes I observe likewise not onely much difference between them but in the Eaâl not a little from himself First all his hopes of advancement had like to be stâanglâd almost in the very Cradle by throwing himself into the Portugal Voyage without the Queens consent or so much as her knowledge whereby he lâft his Friends and Dependents near six months in desperate suspense what would become of him And to speak truth not without good reason For first they might well consiâer That he was himself not well plumed in favour for such a âlight besides that now he wanted a Lord of Leicester at home for he was dead the year before to smooth his absence and to quench the practices at Court But above all it lay open to every mans discourse that though the bare offence to his Soveraign and Mistress was too great an adventure yet much more when she might as in this case have fairly discharged her displeasure upon her Laws Notwithstanding a noble report coming home before him at his return all was clear and this excursion was esteemed but a Sally of youth Nay he grew every day more and more in her gracious conceit whether such intermissions as these do sometimes foment affection or that having committed a fault he became the more obsequious and plyant to redeem it or that she had not received into her Royal Breast any shadows of his popularity Theâe was another time long after when Sir Fulke Grevil late Lord Brooke a man in appearance intrinsecal with him or at the least admitted to his Melancholy hours either belike espying-some weariness in the Queen or perhaps with little change of the word though more in the danger-some marks towards him and working upon the present matter as she was dexterous and close had almost super-induced into favour the Earl of Southampton which yet being timely discovered my Lord of Essex chose to evaporate his thoughts in a Sonnet being his common way to be sung before the Queen as it was by one Hales in whose voyce she took some pleasure whereof the complot me thinks had as much of the Hermit as of the Poet And if thou should'st by Her be now forsaken She made thy Heart too strong for to be shaken As if he had been casting one eye back at the least to his former retiredness But all this likewise quickly vanished and there was a good while afer fair weather over-head Yet still I know not how like a gathering of Clouds till towards his latter time when his humours grew tart as being now in the Lees of favour it brake forth into certain suddain recesses sometimes from the Court to Wansteed otherwhiles unto Greenwich often to his own Chamber Doors shut Visits forbidden and which was worse divers contestations between with the Qâeen her self all preambles of ruine wherewith though now and then he did wring out of her Majesty some petty contentments as a man would press sowre Grapes yet in the mean time was forgotten the counsel of a wise and then a Prophetical Friend who told him that such courses as those were like hot Waters which help at a pang but if they be too often used will spoil the stomack On the Dukes part we have no such abrupt strains and precipees as these but a fair fluent and uniform course under both Kings And surely as there was in his natural Constitution a marvellous equality whereof I shall speak more afterwards so there was an image of it in his Fortune rânning if I may borrow an ancient comparison as smoothly as a numerous Verse till it meet with certain Rubs in Parliament whereof I am induced by the very subject which I hanâle to say somewhat so far as shal concern the difference between their times WHen my Lord of Essex stood in favour the Parliaments were calm nay I find it a true observation that there was no impeachment of any Nobleman by the Commons from the Reign of King Henry the sixth until the eighteenth of King Iames nor any intervenient precedânt of that nature not that something or other could be
capable of the title or pity due to innocence theirs might claim so large a share as not possible to be too severely condemned or flightly enough punished and that with such week and inconsiderable men as were rather against the government than for one another Grey being a Puritan and Cobham a Protestant were the gâeatest but there is one particular more behind That he could employ his restraint so well should âye under the justice as well as jealousie of K. James And knowing that Princes must not pardon any able man that either they have wronged or that hath wronged them be so intent upon a foolish liberây wherein he lost himself and his in that unhappy voyage of Guiana a voyage that considering King Iames his inclination to the Mâtch his own obnoxiousness to thaâ King abroad and Cecil here for oâstructing the Peace with Spain and Gondamor's vigilance must needs be as unsuccessful as it was disguâââul Methinks he that was of so incomparable a dexâeriây in his judgement as the Treasurer grew jealous of his excellent parts lest he should supplant him of so quick and ready apprehension and conduct that he puzzled the Iudges at Winchesteâ of so good a Head-piece that it was wished then on the Secretary of State 's shoulders of so considerable an interest that notwithstanâng his fourteen years imprâsonmeât Princes interceded âor him the whole Naâion pitied him and King Iames would not execute him without an Apology And to say no more of so much magnanimity that he managed his death with so high and so religious a resolution as if a Christian had acted a Roman or rather a Roman a Christian might have gone off the world at a higher rate but that there is an higher power governs wisdome as invisibly yet as really as wisdome doth the world which when I look back upon my Lord of Essex I call fate but when from him I look forward to Sir âalter Rawleigh I believe a providence He had a good presence in a handsome and well-compacted person a strong natural wit a better judgement with a bold and plaâsible tongue which set off his parts to the best advantage to these he had the adjuncts of a general Learning which by diligence and experience those two great Tutors was augmented to a great perfectionâ being an indefatigable Reader and having a very retentive memory before his Iudges at Winchester humble but not prostrate dutiful yet not deject to the Iury affâble but not fawning hoping but not trusting in them carefully perswading them with reason not distemperatâly importuning them with conjurations rather shewing love of life tâân fear of deâth patient but not careless civil but not stupid Observations on the Life of Thomas Sackvil Lord Buckhurst HE was bred in the Vniversity of Oxford where he became an excellent Poet leaving both Latine and English Poems of his to posterity Then studied he Law in the Temple and took the degree of Barrister afterwards he travelled into Forreign parts was detained for a time a Prisoner in Rome which he revenged afterwards in the Liberty of his speech at the Powder-Traytoâs Tryal When his liberty was procured for his return into England he possessed the vast inheritance left him by his Father whereof in short time by his magnificent prodigality he spent the greatest part till he seasonably began to spare growing neer to the bottome of his Estate The story goes that this young Gentleman coming to an Alderman of London who had gâined great penny worths by his former Purchases of him was made being now in the wane of his weâlâh to wait the coming down of the Alderman so long that his generous humour being sensible of the incivility of such Attendance resolved to be no more beholding to VVealthy Pride and presently turned a thrifty improver of the remainder of his Estate But others make him as abovesaid the Convert of Queen Elizabeth his CoâsinâGerman once removed who by her frequent Admonitions diverted the torâent of his profusion Indeed she would not know him till he began to know himself and then heaped places of Hânour and Trust upon him creating him 1â Bâron of Bâckâurst in Sussâx Anno Dom. 1566. 2. Sending him Amabssador into France Anno 1571. Into the Law-Countries Anno Dom. 1576. 3. Making him Knight of the Order of the Garter Anno 1589. 4. Appointing him Treasurer of England 1599. He was Chancellour of the University of Oxford where he entertained Queen Elizabeth with a most sumptuous Feast He was called the Star-Chamber-ââll so very flowing his invention and therefore no wonder if his Secretaries could not please him being a person of so quick dispaâch faculties which yet run in the blood He took â Roll of the names of all Sutors with the Date of their first Addresses and these in order had their hearing so that a Fresh-man could not leap over the head of his Senior except in urgent Affairs of State Thus having made ãâã ânds to his house for his mispent time both in iâââease of Estate and Honour being created Earl of Dorset by King James he died on the 19 th of April 1608. The Lord Buckhurst was of the noble house of the Sackvils and of the Queens consanguinity his Father was that provident and wise man Sir Richard Sackvil or as the people then called him Fill-sack by reason of his great wealth and the vasâ Patrimony which he left to this his son whereof he spent in his youth the best part untill the Queen by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion he was a very fine Gentleman of person and endowments both of Art and Nature His elocution is much commended but the excellency of his Pen more for he was a Scholar and a person of quick faculties very facete and choice in his phrase and style He was wise and stout nor was he any ways insnared in ãâã factions of the Court which were all his time very strong He stood still in grace and was wholly intentive to the Queens service and such were his abilities that she received assiduous proofs of his sâfficiency As 1. In his Embassie to Fâance whereas the Queen-Mother complemented him he behaved himself very worthy of his Mistresses Majesty and his own Peerage there he had an experienced Tuscan Calacanâi by ââme to deal wiâh that Florentine Queen â Montmorancy's brother to undermins the Guises and his own great parts to grapple with old Hospital He began that subtile piece the French Match under pretence whereof we âalanced and understood Europeâ nd Walsingham finished it 2. In his Negotiations in the Low-Countries where he watched Leicester and the Commanders he obsââââd the States and their changeable and various Interests accommodating the present emergencies and suiting their occasions They that censure this Nobleman's death consider not besides the black worm and the white day and night as the Ridddle is that are gnawing constantly at the root of the Tree of Life There aâe many
infensible diseases as Apoplexies whose vapors suddainly extinguish the animal spirits and Aposthumes both in the upper and middle Region of man that often drown and suffocate both the animal and vital who are like embodied Twins the one cannot subsist without the other If the animal wits fail the vital cannot subsist if the vitals perish the animals give over their operation and he that judgeth ill of such an act of Providence may have the same hand at the same time writing within the Palace-walls of his own body the same period to his lives Earthly ââpire His posterity refused an Apology offered in his behalf upon this ground that the things objected to him were of the number of those little Cavils which come with that rule not holding in great accusations Spreta exolescunt sâ irascare agnita videntur The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King Iames. Observations on the Lives of the Cliffords Earls of Cumberland THE name hath been for three Ages ancient and Noble and in this last Age Warlike and serviceable They had the government of the Nârth in their own right for an hundred years and the Hereditary Sheriff-dom of Westmoâland in right of the Vipânts their Relations for two Henry the first Earl of Cumberland was raised by Henry the Eighth to that Honour 1525 for his service at Teurnay and Berwick Henry his son was by Queen Mary honoured with the Garteâ for his conduct against Wyat and by Queen Eâiz graced with peculiar favours for his Industry Integrity and Vigilance in the North. As Natuâe âo Nobility subsists and growes by the same thing that it is made of Vertue that creates supports it Observations on the Life of the Lord George Clifford GEorge Cliffârd Lord Clifford Vescye c. Earl of Cumberland was son to Henry second Earl of that Family by his second Lady a person wholly composed of true honour and valour whereof he gave the world a large and clear demonstration It was resolved by the judicious in that Age The way to humble the Spanish greatness was not in pinching and pricking of him in the Low-Countries which only emptied his veins of such blood as was quickly re-filled But the way to make it a Cripple for ever was by cutting off the Spanish sinews of War his Monies from the West-Indies the back-door robs the house In order whereunto this Earl set forth a small Fleet on his own cost and adventured his own person therein being the best born Englishman that ever hazarded himself in that kinde His Fleet may be said to be bound for no other Harbour but the Port of Honour though touching at the Port of Profit in passage thereunto I say touching whose design was not to enrich himself but impoverish the Enemy He was as merciful as valiant the best metal bends best and left impressions of both in all places where he came Queen Eliz. Anno 1592. honoured him with the dignity of the Garter When King Iames came first out of Scotland to York he attended him with such an equipage of Followers for number and habit that he seemed rather a King than Earl of Cumberland Here happened a Contest between the Earl and the Lord President of the North about carrying the Sword before the King in York which Office upon due search and enquiry was adjudged to the Earl as belonging unto him and whilest Clifford's Tower is standing in York that Family will never be therein forgotten His Anagram was as really as literally true Georgius Cliffordius Cumberlandius Davidis regno clarus cum vi fulgebis He died Anno 1605. leaving one Daughter and Heir the Lady Anne married to the Earl of Dorset This noble person taught the world however others speak at pleasure jussit quod splendida bilis That the Art of making War hath not a positive form and that it ought to be diversified according to the state of Occurrences They that will commit nothing to Fortune nor undertake any Enterprize whose event appeareth not infallible escape many dangers by their wary conduct but fail of as many successes by their unactive fearfulness It 's useless to be too wise and spend that time in a grave gaze on business that might serve the speedy dispatch of it Neither was our Peer great onely in the atchievements of the Field to please higher spirits but gaudy at Court to astonish and ravish the lowest making noble expences when necessary and appearing splendid on the important occasions whose principal quality resided in Magnificence Yet was he not transported with these appearances or to make them the greatest ornament of his conduct the choicest expressions of his life fixing neither his greatness upon a transitory Pageant nor his glory upon a fading Pomp. No sullen opposer of the unavoidable occurrences of life but a dexterous complier with present exigencies comparing those that swelled doggedly against Providence or the present state of affairs to King Canutus who forbad the unobservant waves of the Sea to flow no higher and they that repined at and spoke against it to Xerxes who whipped the Hellespont Observations on the Life of Sir Tho-Smith SIr Thomas Smith was born at Abington in Bark-shire bred in the University of Oxford God and himself raised him to the Eminency he attained unto unbefriended with any extraction He may seem to have had an ingenious emulation of Sir Thomas Smith Senior Secretary of State whom he imitated in many good qualities and had no doubt equalledâin preferment if not prevented by death He attained onely to be Master of the Requests and Secretary to King Iames for his Latine Letters higher places expecting him when a period was put at once to his life and to his hopes Novemb. 28. 1609. The generous piety of the honourable Countess of Exeter having erected him one Monument at Fulham his own worth another in History His Father died when he was yet so young that he knew not what a Father meant but his Mothers affection for her Husband dyed not with him whereupon she multiplyed her cares on this Gentleman and her other Children so abundantly that a long while he little found the want of that dear name her transcendent love so well supplying the place of both relations For no sooner was he fit to learn than she did by friends procure the best Mâsters those Times afforded to render his education perfeât in those exercises as well of the mind as of the body wherein they that flattered him not would say he was no ill Proficient such majesty such modesty in his carriage that men would admire how two such distant things could meet in one subject His eye was quick and piercing his shape and motion charming the air and lineaments of his countenance lively arguments that his soul was not inferiour to his body but that the one promised no more
pleasure to those that looked on it than the other did service to those that employed it His meen deserving preferment from the favour of a Soveraign and his parts gaining it from his justice Fortune did him not so much wrong in his mean Birth as he did himself right by great merit so worthy a Prince's service and a Courts favour He read and saw what others did but not with others apprehensions his judgment of things being not common nor his observations low flat or vulgar but such as became a breast now furnishing it self for business and for government There was an ancient custom to celebrate the Anniversary of the King's Coronation with all the Shews of Magnificence and joy which the Art or Affections of the People could invent and because we are esteemed the Warlik'st Nation in the whole world to continue that just regulation we declined all those effeminacies which are so predominant in other Courts and absolutely addicted our selves to such Martial exercises as are nothing less pleasing and delightful than the other and yet fit and prepare men more for the real use of Arms and acquisition of glory Here our Knights praise came to my Lord of Carlisle's notice who first designed him a Commander but finding his Genius more courtly than Martial more learned than active recommended him to his Majesties softer services where none more obliging to the People by his industry and interest at Court none more serviceable to his Majesty by the good name he gained in the Countrey So careful was he of publick content that from five to nine his Chamber was open to all Comers where you would find him with the one hand making himself ready with the other receiving Letters and in all this hurry of Business giving the most orderly clear and satisfactory dispatches of any Statesman at that time From nine to one he attended his Master to whom he had as easie access as he gave to his People Two things set him up 1. A fair respect from his Master upon all occasions and as fair a treatment of the People He had his distinct Classis of Affairs and his distinct Officers for those Classis The order and method whereof incredibly advanced his dispatch and eased his burden which took up his day so that there remained but some hours he stole from night and sleep for his beloved and dear Studies and King Iames said he was the hardest Student in White-Hall and therefore he did not alwayes trouble his Master with business but sometimes please him with discourse If Fortune had been as kind to him as Nature greater Employments had been at once his honour and his business But from all his services and performances he derived no other advantage than the acting of them and at his death he left no other wealth behind him but that of a high reputation never arriving at those enjoyments that enhance our Cares not having time to withdraw himself from those cares that take away the relish of our enjoyments Observations on the Life of Sir Fulke Grevil SIr Fulk Grevil Son to Sir Fulke Grevil the elder of Becham Court in Warwick-shire descended from VVilloughby Lord Brook and Admiral to Hen. 7. was bred first in the University of Cambridge He came to the Court back'd with a full and fair Estate and Queen Elizabeth loved such substantial Courtiers as could plentifully subsist of themselves He was a good Scholar loving much to employ and sometimes to advance learned men to whom worthy Bishop Ovâral chiefly owed his Preferment and Mr. Camâden by his own confession feasted largely of his Liberality His studies were most in Poetry and History as his Works do witness His stile conceived by some to be swelling is allowed lofty and full by others King Iames created him Baron Brook of Beauchamp-Court as descended from the sole Daughter and Heir of Edward Willoughby last Lord Brook in the Reign of King Henry the 7th His sad death or murther rather happened on this occasion His discontented servant conceiving his deserts not soon or well enough rewarded wounded him mortally and then to save the Law the labour killed himself verifyâng the observation that he may when he pleaseth be master of another mans life who contemneth his own He lyeth buried in Warwick Church under a Monument of black and white Marble whereon he is stiled Servant to Queen Elizabeth Counsellour to King Iames and Friend to Sir Philip Sidney Though a Favourite he courts Ladies rather than Honour and pursued his study rather than his ambition being more contemplative than active Others ministred to Queen Elizabeths government this Gentleman to her Recreation and Pleasures He came to Court when all men should young and stayed there until he was old his fortune being as smooth as his spirit and the Queens favour as lasting as his merit He bred up Statesmen but was none Sir William Pickering was like to have gained the Queens Bed by studying Sir Philip Sidney had her Heart for writing and Sir Fulke Grevil had her favour for both one great argument for his worth was his respect of the worth of others desiring to be known to posterity under no other notions than of Shakespear's and Ben Iohnson's Master Chancellor Egerton's Patron Bishop Overal's Lord and Sir Philip Sidney's Friend His soul had the peace of a great fortune joyned to a greater mind His worth commended him to Majesty his affableness indeared him to the popularity his mornings were devoted to his Books his afternoons to his knowing Friends his nights to his debonair Acquaintance He was the Queens Counsellor for persons as others were for matters and things Sweet was his disposition winning his converse fluent his discourse obliging his looks gestures and expressions publick his spirit and large his soul his Genius prompted him to prepare himself for Domestick services by Forreign employments but the great Mistriss of her Subjects affections and duties forbad it and his own prudence checked it So dear was he to the Queen that when his horses were shipped at Dover for the Netherlands her Mandate by Sir Edward Dier stopped him When he went over with Walsingham he was remanded and when with Leicester he was checked He was the exact image of action and quiet happily united in him seldom well divided in any He would have acted his great principles of Government yet he could be confined only to write them He could sit down with some Poetick and polite Characters of Vertue when he was debarred the real ââercises of it He had kept Essex his head on had not that unhappy man's Parasites made the Earl deaf to his ââânsels and his Enemies removed him from his pâââânce under a pretence of guarding the Seas against his Enemies while his Kinsman was betrayed by his Friends Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Cecil SIr Robert Cecil since Earl of Salisbury was the Heir of the Lord Burleigh's prudence the inheritour of his favour and by
degrees a Successor to his places though not to his Lands for he was a younger Brother He was first Secretary of State then Master of the Wards and in the last of her Reign came to be Lord Treasurer all which were the steps of his Fathers greatness and of the honour he left to his house For his person he was not much beholding to Nature though somewhat for his face which was the best part of his outside but for his inside it may be said he was his Father's own son and a pregnant Proficient in all discipline of State He was a Courtier from his Cradle yet at the age of twenty and upwards he was much short of his after-proof but exposed and by change of climate he shewed what he was and what he would be He lived in those times wherein the Queen had most need and use of men of weight ând amongst able ones this was a chief as having a sufficiency from his instructions that begat him the Tutorship of the Times and Court then the Academy of Art and Cunning â English prudence and Counsel was at the highâââ as most exercised with Forreign dangers and Domestick practices Vast was his apprehension because so large his prospect Sir Francis Walsingham having opened the Conclave of Rome and his Father the Cabals of Spain insomuch that he knew each design in both places every Port every Ship with the Burthens whither bound what impediments for diversion of Enterprizes Counsels Resolutions as appears by his private dispatches as his manner was with those of the Councel one whereof to my Lord Mountjoy since Earl of Devonshire with whom he seasonably closed runs thus I must in private put you out of doubt for of fear I know you cannot be otherwise sensible than in a way of honour that the Spaniard will not come to you this year for I have it from my own what preparations are in all Parts and what he can do For be confident he beareth up a reputation by seeming to embrace more than he can gripe but the next year be assured he will cast over unto you some Forlorn-Hopes which how they may be re-inforced beyond his present ability and his first intention I cannot as yet make any certain judgment but I believe out of my Intelligence that you may expect their Landing at Munster and the more to distract you in several places as at Kingsale Beer-haven and Baltimore where you may be sure coming from Sea they will first fortifie and learn the strength of the Rebels before they dare take the Field This States man's character is engraven upon his honour and his portraicture drawn in his Patent for Earl of Salisbury which to many formal words hath added these effectual expressions As also for his faithfulness circumspection stoutness wisdom dexterity providence and care not onely in the great and weighty Affairs of Counsel but generally also in all other Expeditions of the Realm And indeed not a man upon the Helm of this Common-wealth understood all points of the Compass better than himself who in a stayed and calm setledness looked on the private designs that were promoted upon his Mistriss declining and privately overthrowed them and their Masters while in an uninterrupted course of integrity towards his Mistress and faithfulness to his Countrey he kept clear and succession equally careful not to enjealous his present Mistress and not to obstruct his future Master with whom he kept an honest correspondence although there goeth this story of him that a Post from Scotland meeting her Majesty upon Greenwich-heath Sir Robert Cecil in all hast would needs cut open the Packet and pretending it stunk had time to perfume it her Majesty being very curious in her smelling and convey away his own Letters be this so or so it 's certain that when assistant to the Earl of Derby in his French Embassie he promoted the young King of Scots interest against his Mothers when Sir Francis Walsingham's Colleague he defeated her Counsels against him and when principal Secretary he sounded crossed and undid the little plot that was shrowded under the great name of Essex turning and winding raising and ruining the Authors of it at his own pleasure No sooner was the Queen dead than his Messenger was with the King at Edenburgh and he himself with his Favourite Sir George Humes at York with whose assistance and honest Sir Roger Aston's mediation King Iames makes him his bosome-friend his house Theobalds his residence and his account of the English Laws Government and temper his rule Finding him but Knight and Secretary he created him Baron of Essenden Viscount Cranbourn Knight of the Garter and Earl of Salisbury He promoted him Master of the Wards and Lord Treasurer in all which capacities how vigilant he was against the Papists and their Plots their Libels which he answered in English and Latine very elegantly and wisely demonstrate how careful of the publique Treasure this Narrative shews King Iames had bestowed upon Sir Robert Carr twenty thousand pound my Lord apprehending the sum as more correspondent with his Master's goodness than his greatness with the royalty of his heart than the poverty of his Exchequer and observing his Majesty more careful of what money passed his own hands than what passed his servants contrives that the good King should go through the place where this great sum lay in silver to a treatment where demanding whose money it was and being answered that it was his own before he parted with it He understanding the design protested he was cheated and intended not above five hundred pounds and the Favourite was glad to make use of the Lord Treasurers mediation for the moyety of that great sum How industrious in the improvement of his Masters Revenue these particulars conel âde viz. 1. A survey of the Crown-lands known before by report rather than by measure and let by chance rather than knowledge 2. A Revival of the Custody-lands Revenue by Commissioners of Asserts 3. A tarrier of Crown-wood-lands their growth and value where he numbered marked valued all the Timber hitherto unknown 4. The Commissioners he procured to look into Copy-hold-Lands Wastes and Commons 5. The Rules to forfeited Estates and extended Lands 6. The improvement of the Customs from 86000 to 135000 pounds per annum 7. The bargain about the London River-water 8. The encouragement of all English Inventions Manufactures and Trade whereby the Subjects might be employed our Commodities enhanced and our Treasure kept among our selves 9. The Plantations and Transplantations in Ireland And 10. The Reformation of the Court of Wards in the poynt of disposing of Orphans These services advanced him to great honour and to as great envy the popular effects whereof no man could have escaped but one whose soul was immoveable temper calm thoughts deep apprehensions large and resolution great to engage vulgar Errors rather by the greatness of his Actions than the eminence of his Interest
of civility when by King Iames made Lord Deputy of Ireland Indeed good Laws and Provisions had been made by his Predecessors to that purpose but alas they were like good Lessons set for a Lute out of tune useless until the Instrument was fitted for them Wherefore in order to the civilizing of the Irishry in the first year of his government he established two new Circuits for Justices of Assize the one in Connaught the other in Mânster And whereas the Circuits in former times only encompassed the English Pale as the Cynosura doth the Polâ hence forwards like good Planeâs in their several Spheres they carried the influence of Justice round about the Kingdom Yea in short time Ireland was so cleared of Thieves and capital Offenders that so many Malefactors have not been found in the 32 Shires of Ireland as in six English Shires in the Western Circuits He reduced the Mountains and Glinnes on the Soâth of Dublin formerly thornes in the side of the English pale into the County of Wicklow and in conformity to the English ãâã om many Irish began to cut their Mantles into Cloaks So observant was his eye over the actions of suspected persons that Tyrone was heard to complain That he could not drink a full carouse of Sack but the Sâate within few hours was advertised thereof After he had been continued many years in his Deputyship and deservedly made a Lord King Iâmes recalled him home and loath to leave his Abilities unemployed sent him Embassador to the Emperour and other German Princes Being âeâieged in the City of Mainchine a place much indebted to his prudence for seasonable victualling it by Count Tilley he sent him word that it was against the Law of Nations to besiege an Embassador Tilley returned that he took no notice that he was an Embasâadât The Lord Chichester replyed to the Messenger Had my Master sent me with as many hundred men as he hath sent me on fruitless Mâssâges your General should have known that I had ââen â Soâdier âas well as an Embassador King Iâmes â at his return entertained him with great commendations for so well dischaâging his Trust and he died in as great honour as any English-man of our Age. Thus far the Historians Whence I observe him stout in his nature above any disorder upon Emergencies resolved in his temper above any impressions from other Princes and high in his Proposal beyond the expectation of his own Alvârgonzoto el Diablo le traxo al Palacio The Devil brought the Bashful to Court where none succeeds but he who can ask enough to be granted and enough to be abated There is a memorable observation of Philip the second King of Spain called El prudente That when ãâã had designed one for Embassador the man came faintly and coldly to him to propose some things for the accommodation of his Embassie and he said How can I expect that this man can promote and effectuate my business when he is so faint and fearful in the solicitation of his own Yet was not my Lord Chichester more resolute in Germany than wary in Ireland where his opinion was that time must open and facilitate things for Reformation of Religion by the Protestant Plantations by the care of good Bishops and Divines the amplification of the Colledge the education of Wards an insensible seisure of Popish liberties c. and that the Council there was so numerous fifty or sixty at least that the authority of it was debated and its business divulged In a word this brave Gentleman had an equal mind that kept up it self between the discourses of Reason and the examples of Histories in the enjoyment of a good fortune and a conflict with a bad Observations on the Life of the Lord Chancellor Egerton THe Lord Chancellour Egerton extracted from the ancient Family of the Egerton's of Kidley in Cheshire was bred in the study of the Municipal Laws of our Land wherein he attained to such eminency that Queen Elizabeth made him her Solicitor then Master of the Rolls and at last Keeper of the Great Seal May 6. in the 38 year of her Reign 1596. Olaus Magnuâ reporteth that the Emperour of Moscovia at the Audience of Ambassadors sendeâh for the gravest and seemliest men in Mosco and the Vicinage whom he apparelleth in rich Vests and placing them in his presence pretendeth to Forâaigners that these are of his Privy-Council who cannot but be much affected with so many reverent Aspects But surely all Christendome afforded not a peâson which carried more gravity in his countenance and behaviour than Sir Thomas Egerton insomuch that many have gone to the Chancery on purpose only to see his venerable Garb happy they who had no other business and were highly pleased at so acceptable a spectacle Yet was his outward Case nothing in comparison of his inward Abilities quick Wit solid Judgement ready Utterance I confess Master Cambden saith he entred his Office Magna expectatione integritatis opinione with a great expectation and opinion of Integrity But no doubt had he revised his work in a second Edition he would have afforded him a full-faced commendation when this Lord had turned his expectation to performance In the first of King Iames of Lord Keeper he was made Lord Chancellor which is also another name for the same Office and on Thursday the seventh of November 1616. of Lord Elismer he was created Viscount Brackley It is given to Courts whose Jurisdictions do border to fall out about their bounds and the contest betwixt them is the hotter the higher the spirits and parts of the respective Judges Great was the contention for many years together betwixt this Lord of Equity and Sir Edward Cââke the Oracle of Justice at Westminster-Hall I know not which of them got the better sure I am such another Contest would if this did not have undone the Conqueror He was attended on with servants of most able parts and was the sole Chancellor since the Reformation who had a Chaplain which though not immediately succeeded him in his place Hâ gave over his Office which âhe held full twenty years some few days before his death and by his own appointment his body was brought down and buried at Duddleston in Cheshire leaving a fair estate to his Son who was afterwards created Earl of Bridgewater as he did to his excellent Son now living When he saw King Iames his munificence to some Courtiers with the grave Fidelity of a Statesman he sticked not often to tell him That as he held it necessary for his Majesty amply to remânerate all those his Countrey-men so he desired him carefully to preserve his Crown lands for his own support seeing he or his Successors might meet with Parliaments which would not supply his occasions but on such conditions as would not be very acceptable unto him It was an ordinary speech in his mouth to say Frost and Fraud both end in Foul. His plain but honest
of Count Arundel's without the Assignation of any proper Place unto him King Iames had heard sâ much of the Father that he did not care for the Son who might have been near his Person had not his Ancestors been so near âhis Predecessors no other Considerations being likely to keep so extraordinary parts at this distance from a King that valued them so highly or a Kingdom that needed them so much That Prince being as jealous an observer of Original sin in Policy as he was an Orthodox Assertor of it in Religion would trust no tainted bloâd He writ an excellent discourse of Religion as the blind Senator in Juvenal made a large Encomium of the goodly Turbet which lay before Caesar but as ill luck would have it turned himself quite the contrary way at illi dâxtra jâcâbat bellua a man right of Chrysippus his temper who sometimes wanted Opinions but never Arguments which he managed all ways with contempt of and opposition to the School-way which going the distinctest way to stateâ went the nearest way to end controversies but was slighted by him as unintelligible because it had been passed by him as unstudied as the old Woman in Seneca complained that the Room was dark when only her Eyes were so and his new ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wherein he made his private and crazy judgment the Standard and Seal of common truth took a little with mens first thoughts but lost themselves with their wiser and second like the Log in the Fable which terrified the poor Frogs with the noise it made at the first falling of it into the waters but afterwards they insulted over it and took their turns to leap upon it When I consider Metiochus his cariage in Plutarc and Sir Robert's Character in Florence haec a se non multum abludit imago Metiochus is Captain Metiochus is Surveyor Metiochus bakes the Bread Metiochus grinds the Corn Metiochus doth all right one of AEsop's fellows that could say and do all things so that others need say and do nothing a very happy man if while living he had deserved the Character idle Vaccia had when dead Hîc situs est Vaccia here lyeth Vaccia Observations on the Life of Arch-Bishop Bancroft DOctor Richard Bancroft whom his Adversaries character a better States-man than Divine a better Divine than Preacher though upon good occasion he shewed he was all these was bred in Iesus Colledge in Cambridge where his parts in discovering the bottom of Presbytery and his sufficiency when his Patron Hatton's Examiner commended him to Queen Eliz. to be Bishop of London and to King Iames to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Indeed he was in effect Arch-Bishop while Bishop to whom Doctor Whitgift in his decrepit age remitted the managing of matters so that he was the soul of the High-Commission A great States-man he was and grand Champion of Church-discipline having well hardned the hands of his Soul which was no more than needed for him who was to meddle with Nettles and Bryars and met with much opposition No wonder if those who were silenced by him in the Church were loud against him in other places David speaketh of poyson under mens lips This Bishop tasted plentifully thereof from the mouths of his Enemies till at last as Mithridates he was so habited to poisons that they became food unto him Once a Gentleman coming to visit him presented him a Libel which he found pasted on his door who being nothing moved thereat said Cast it to an hundred more which lye here on a hâap in my Chamber Many a Libel Lye because false Bell because loud was made upon him The aspersion of covetousness though cast doth not stick on his memory being confuted by the Estate which he left small in proportion to his great preferment being but 6000 l. after being above twelve years in London and Canterbury He cancelled his first Will wherein he had bequeathed much to the Church suspecting an impression of popular violence on Cathedrals and fearing an Alienation of what was bequeathed unto them he thought fit to cancel his own to prevent others cancelling his Testament This partly appears by his second Will wherein he gave the Library at Lambeth the result of his own and three Predecessors collections to the University of Cambridge which now they possess in case the Arch-Episcopal See should be extinct How came such a jealousie into his mind what fear of a storm when the Sun shined the Sky clear no appearance of Clouds Surely his skill was more than ordinary in the complexion of the Common-wealth who did foresee what afterward for a time came to pass This clause providentially inserted secured this Library in Cambridge during the vacancy of the Archi-Episcopal see and so prevented the embezelling at the least the dismembring thereof in our late civil distempers They that accuse this excellent Prelate of cruelty never read this story A Ministeâ privately protested to him that it went against his conscience to conform Which way said the good Arch-Bishop observing the mans ingenuity will you live if you be put out of your Benefice The other answered He had no other way but to gâ a begging Not so said the Arch-bishop that you shall not need to do but come to me and I will take order for your maintenance They that exclaimed against his unserviceableness never observed this passage A company of young Courtiers appeared extraordinary gallant at a Tilting far above their Fortunes and Estates giving for their Motto Solvat Ecclesia Bishop Bancroft then of London hearing of it finds on enquiry that the Queen was passing a considerable parcel of Church-lands to them and stops the business with his own and his friends Interest leaving these Gallants to pay the shot of their pride and prodigality out of their own purses And this that a prevalent Courtier had swallowed up the whole Bishoprick of Durham had not this Arch-Bishop seasonably interposed his power with King Iames ready enough to admit such Intercessions and dashed the design They that traduce him for a Papist forget that he fomented the difference between the Seculars and Regulars to the weakning and promoted the foundation of Chelsey-Colledge to the ruining of that cause But they that perform great actions reserving as it is fit the reason of them in their own bosomes may sufficiently satisfie their Consciences towards God though they can hardly avoid the censures of men I shall add no more concerning this excellent Prelate but that it was observed as the Historian writes That at Hampton-Court-Conference Arch-Bishop Whitgift spake most gravely Bishop Bilson most learnedly but Bishop Bancroft when out of passiân most politickly Observations on the Life of the Lord Grandison SIr Oliver Saint-Iohn Lord Grandison c. descended of an ancient and honourable Family whose prime Seat was at Lediard-Tregoze in Wiltshire though their first settlement was in South-Wales He was bred in the Wars from his youth and at last by King Iames
was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and vigorously pursued the Principles of his Predecessors for the civilizing thereof Indeed the Lord Mountjoy reduced that Countrey to obedience the Lord Chichester to some civility and this Lord Grandison first advanced it to considerable profit to his Master T. Walsingham writeth that Ireland afforded unto Edward the third thirty thousand pounds a year paid into his Exchequer but it appears by the Irish Records which are rather to be believed that it was rather a burthen and the constant Revenue thereof beneath the third part of that proportion But now the Kingdom being peaceably setled the income thereof turned to good Account so that Ireland called the Land of Ire for the constant broils therein for four hundred years was now become the Land of Concord This noble Person recalled into England lived many years in great repute leaving his Honours to his Sisters son by Sir Edward Villiers but the main of his Estate to his Brothers son Sir Iohn St. Iohn Knight and Baronet So sweet and charming his Conversation that he was beloved by all his Superiours and envied by no Inferiour being never advanced to any great Dignity but he was wished to a greater So exact his vigilancy so constant his industry so plausible his actions attended with no less civility to all men than duty to his Soveraign So frank and ingenious his Integrity that none feared him so discreet his management of Business and so strong his judgement that any might confide in him One he was that crossed the Italian Proverb Di Dunaridi senno e di fede In e Mancho che non Crede having more money more faith yea and more wisdom too than was generally esteemed I mean wisdom of behaviour wisdom of business and wisdom of State in the last whereof he aimed at a general settlement which he observed would bear particular errors provided that Care Labour Vigilancy and prudent inquietâde attended that forceth Difficulties constrains Fortune assures good Counsels corrects bad supports and overthroweth designs disposeth of accidents abserveth time manageth hazards forgets nothing seldom trusts others and improveth all Occurrents and that first maxime of Policy he observed That who layeth out most layeth out least that petty frugalities undo the main Interest Observations on the Life of Sir Tho. Overbury SIr Thomas Overbury son to Sir Nicholas Overbury one of the Judges of the Marches was born at Burton on the Hill in Gloucestershire bred in Oxford and attained to be a most accomplished Gentleman partly at Grayes-Inn and partly in France which the happiness of his Pen both in Poetry and Prose doth declare In the later he is observed to be the first writer of Characters of our Nation But if the great parts of this Gentleman were guilty of Insolence and Petulancy which some since have charged on his memory reporting of him that he should say Somerset owed his advancement to him and that he should walk with his hat on before the queen we may charitably presume that his reduced age would have corrected such Juvenile extravagancies It is questionable whether Robert Carr Earl of Somerset were more in the favour of King Iames or this Sir Thomas Overbury in the favour of the Earl of Somerset until he lost it by disswading that Lord from keeping company with a Lady the Wife of another person of honour as neither for his credit here or comfort hereafter Soon after Sir Thomas was by King Iames designed Embassador for Russia His false friends perswaded him to decline the Employment as no better than an honourable Grave Better lye some days in the Tower than more months in a worse Prison A ship by Sea and a barbarous cold Countrey by Land Besides they possessed him that within a small time the King should be wrought to a good opinion of him But he that willingly goes into a Prison out of hope to come easily out of it may stay therein so long till he be too late convinced of another Judgement Whilest Sir Thomas was in the Tower his Refusal was presented to the K. as an Act of high Contempt as if he valued himself more than the Kings service His strict restraint gave the greater liberty to his enemies to practice his death 1615. which was by poyson performed Yet was his blood legally revenged which cost some a violent and others a civil death as deprived of their Offices The Earl was soon abated in King Iames his affection Oh! the short distance betwixt the cooling and quenching of a Favourite being condemned and banished the Court. Exact are the remarks he drew up of Foreign Countreys therefore no less such his transactions for his own In this most esteemed with King Iames and his Master that he suited both their Genius's in the easie and clear method wherein he expressed the most difficult and knotty Affairs for they both being perplexed with that variety of Affairs in general that they could not readily look into difficult Cases in particular loved those that made things out easie and clear to them as well fitted for their apprehensions as obvious to their judgement owning a Soul so quiet that abate its youthful extravagancies it knew not a motion but what was Duty and Interest felt no agitation but what was reason and what Philosophy conveyed into the souls of the wisest and observation inânâated into the spirit of the closest if he expectâd a recompence suitable to his services or an acknowledgment answerable to his merit he understood not the humour and nâture of mankind the interest of Fâvourites or his oân Parts too guilty of repâtâtion to be advanced and of power not to be suppressed It 's Mâchiâvel's rule That they who rise very high should desceâd timely and qâit the envy lest they lose the honour of their greâtness Although this Gentleman's skill in accommodating Factions in the Art of Negotiation in the charm oâ Language in the Iâterest of Princes in masteâing his oân Resentments as well as his Enemies thât provokâd him hâd preserved him if he had known as well how to hold his Tongâe as how to speak if he had understood otheâs humours as well as they did his and if he had skilled as well frâm whom to have refused kindness as from whom he deserved it In a woâd he that considered so many other Maximes was defective in complyance with his own viz. That vertue is there unprofitââle where too great and that many had lost the favour of their Masters by over-much meriting it Observations on the Life of Sir Clem. Edmonds SIr Clement Edmonds that learned and judicious Remembrancer of the City of London was born at Shratvardine in Shropshire and bred Feâlow of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford being generally skilled in all Arts and Sciences witness his faithful Translations of and learned Illustrations on Caesar's Commentaries Say not that Comment on Commentary was false Heraldry seeing it is so worthy a work that the
Expedition and Civility made him the great Master of Requests at Court so his Marriage with the Heir-general of the Dennies should get him an Estate in the Countrey wherewith he compleated his kindness with bounty and adoâned his bounty with courtesie Courtesie not affected but naturally made up of humility that secured him from Envy and a Civility that kept him in esteem he being happy in an expression that was high and not formal and a Language that was Courtly and yet real Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Lake SIr Thomas Lake was bred a Scholar under Saravia in Hampshire a States-man under Sir Francis Walsingham at Court where such his dexterity and dispatch that he would indite write and discourse at the same time more exactly than most men could severally perform them being then called the Swift-sure such his celerity and solidity in all Affairs From the Secretaries Amanuensis he was promoted the Queens Clerk of the Signet to whom he read French and Latine to her dying day for he was reading to her when the Countess of Warwick told him that the Queen was departed In which Tongues she often said he surpassed her Secretaries Such his sufficiency especially in keeping secrets that King Iames employed him in some French Affairs at his first arrival without Cecil and afterwards as Secretary of State above him For King Iames that loved what ever was facile and fluent being taken among other his Abilities with his Latine pen said that he was a Minister of State fit to serve the greatest Prince in Europe and that the Secretaries place needed him more than he it Of whom I have no more to add but that he was one of the three noble hands that first led Mr. George Villiers to King Iames his Favour Observations on the Life of Lyonel Cranfield Earl of Middlesex SIr Lyonel was born in Basinghal-street a Citizen bred in the Custome-house a Merchant-Adventurer his own Tutor and his own University though his Family was ancient in Gloucestershire and his Arms in the Heralds Office King Iames was taken with him for his brief clear strong and pertinent discourses The Duke of Buckingham was displeased because he would stand without him yea in some things against him many were as active as this stirring Lord none more exact his presence was comely his countenance cheerful and grave his soul witty and wise his apprehension quick and solid his thoughts setled and resolved When one asked him how a man might prevent death he said Get to be Lord-Treasurer for none died in that Office Though no Scholar yet was he bountiful to Scholars though a Courtier yet was he hospitable in the Countrey though he suffered much yet was he contented and though he lost much yet was he charitable Very serviceable he was to the State in the business of Trade in general but most in that of the Custom-house in particular His first preferment was the custody of the Wardrobe his second was the Mastership of the Couât of Wards and Liveries and his third the Treasurer-ship of England In the last whereof his improvement of the Revenue gained him not more honour with the King than it dâd him envy from the Courtiers While to piece out the Treasure with the expence he husbanded the one so thriftily and retrenched the other so rigidly that malice it self after many attempts to that purpose could find no fault with his exact account in the boundless trust of the tempting Treasury When the Prince was in Spain he was the Staâesman of the Council-Table and the chief Minister of the Cabal managing all the Dispatches and overlooking all the Expences In the last of which services he ran counter to the Duke of Buckingham's inclination and his own Interest which was to keep himself up by that noble Person 's favour as he rose by his Alliance The occasion of his preferment might be some saving secrets of the Custome-house-men to improve the Revenue the reason of his decline was some thrifty suggestion touching the Courtiers to preserve it This is certain he was a man fit for government who quickly apprehended where any evil was and had capacity enough to apply the remedy onely he had a little too stiffe a nature that would not easily yield when he found on which side there was most reason and too much of the City in his maximes which pretended to attain to that in a short time which Politicians think not proper to arrive at but by a leasurely fuccession of Ages and Generations Observations on the Life of Henry Howard Earl of Northampton THis Family had endeared it self to many Kings by its services but to none more than King Iames by its obligations Thomas Duke of Norfolk being as it were his Mothers Martyr executed for a design to marry her and all his Relations his confessors kept under for their inclinations to advance him Reasonable therefore it was that my Lord that Dukes brother should be made Baron of Marnhill Earl of Northampton Knight of the Garter Privy-Councellor Lord Privy Seal and Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Learning in any man had King Iames his affection especially in a Noble-man as our States-man who was as serious a Student in Kings-Colledge and Trinity-Hall in Cambridge as a discerning observator in Rome and Florence in Italy His Dispensative against the suppased poyson of Prophesies dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham bespeaks him a great and a general Scholar His Speeches at Cambridge and in Star-Chamber argue him both witty and wise His expences shewed him publick-spirited the unparallel'd port of his Family and dependants an Ancient Noble-man His designing of Audley-End and building of Suffolk-house an Architect His Hospital for twâlve poor women and a Governour at Rise in Norfolk for twelve poor men and a Goveânour at Clin in Shropshire for twenty poor men and a Governour at Greenwich in Kent whereof eight to be chosen out of Shose-Sham where he was born a charitable man his using of all his interest to avoid the burthen and weight of the Treasurer's place and procure it for the Earl of Suffolk his Nephew his noble disposition not to advance himself by Court-flattery or his fortune by State employment being a Batchellour and a Student An instance of my Lord Bacon's observation He that hath Wife and Children hath given Hostages to Fortune for they are Impediments to great Enterprizes either to Vertue or Mischief Certainly the best works and of greatest merit for the Publick proceed from the unmarried and the Childeless which both in affection and means have married and endowed the Publick But to conclude this particular this Lord told his intimate Secretary Mr. George Penny who related it to my Author that his Nativity at his Fathers desire was calculated by a skilful Italian Astrologer who told him that this his Infant-son should taste of much trouble in the middest of his life even to the want of a meals meat but his old age should make amends
for all with a plentiful estate which came to pass accordingly For his Father dying in his infancy no plentiful provision was made for him and when his eldest Brother Thomas Duke of Norfolk was executed his condition was much impaired insomuch that being once in London not overstocked with money when his noble Nephews the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Thomas Howard were out of Town and loath to pin himself on any Table uninvited he was fain to dine with the Chair of Duke Humphrey but other not to say better company viz. reading of books in Stationers Shops in St. Paul's Church-yard though afterwards he attained to great wealth honour and command However that Lord gave little credit to and placed less confidence in such Predictions as appeared by a learned Work he hath written on that subject Observations on the Life of Sir John Ramsey Earl of Holderness and Sir Tho. Ereskin Earl of Kelley BOth their prefermentâ began on the same occasion both their natures were eminent for the same innocence and goodness both their services tend to the same issue and therefore both their Characters come under one observation which it's more proper to take in the word of their Countrey-man and Contemporary that knew them than in the expression of a stranger that onely heard of them The whole story runs thus The name of Ruthen in Scotland was not notorious until Anno 1568. when Ruthen amongst others Confederates in those divided times of trouble laboured much for the imprisoning Queen Mary Mother to King Iames. In 1582. his son William was created Earl Goury in the time of that King's minority though the Father bore deadly hatred to the King's prosperity And in 1584. himself was in actual Rebellion in which he suffered at Dondee His eldest son Iohn then in Travel in Italy returns home to inherit his lands and honours but not one jot changed in disposition from the traiterous ways of his Predecessârs For not long after he falls into this Conspiracy which is not so ancient but that many then and now living can and my self have heard the repetition The house of Gowry were all of them much addicted to study Chymistry and these more to practise it often publishing as such Professors usually do more rare experiments then ever could be performed wherein the King a general Scholar had little faith But to infuse more credit to the practice Alexander Ruthen the second brother takes this occasion and withal conspires with Gowry to assassinate the King and taking opportunity in his hunting not far from his house St. Iohnstone invites the King to be an eye-witness of his productions In their way Sir Thomas Erskin after Lord Kelley overtakes them and others Demanding of the Duke of Lenox then present why Alexander had ingrossed the King's ear to carry him from his Sports Peace man said the Duke Wee's all be turn'd into gold Not far they rid but that the Earl Gowry made good by protestation his Brother's story And thus was the King brought to be a Guest Neer the end of Dinner at his Fruit and the Lords and Waiters gone to eat Alexander begs of the King at this opportunity to withdraw and to be partaker of his Production to the view of that which yet he could not believe And up hâ leads the King into by-lodgings locking each door behind them till they came into a Back-Room where no sooner entered but that Aâexander claps on his Bonnet and with stern countenance faces the Kinâ and says Now Sir you must know I had a Father whose blood calls for revenge shed for your sake The King amazed deals gently with his fury excuses the guilt of his death by his then Infancy Advising him not to lay violent hands on the sacred Person of his Anointed Soveraign Especially in a cause of his Innocency Pleading the Laws of God and Man which so much wrought upon him that he said Well I will speakâ with my Brother and so put the King into a Lobby Room next the Chamber where no sooner entered but that there appeared a fellow weaponed ready for execution to whose custody the King is committed till his return Alexander gone down the fellow trembles with Reverence puts down his Sword and craves pardon which gave the King occasion to work upon that passion and to ask him whether he resolved to murther him Being assured to the contrary the King gets leave to open a window that looked into a back Court When presently Alexander returns and tells the King that he must dye But much affrighted at the Fellow's countenance with his sword offers violence to the King Which the fellow seemingly opposes and between them began a scuffle which gave advantage to the King to cry Treason at the Window which looked into a back-Court where Sir Thomas Erskin and one Herries were come in pursuit of the King who was rumoured to be gone out the back-way to his hunting At the cry of Treason and known to be the King's voice they both hastened up a back-stair called the Turn-pike being directed by a servant of the house who saw Alexander ascend that way And so forcing some doors that found them above panting with the fray and up comes also at heels of them Iohn Ramsey after Earl of Holderness by them Alexander was soon dispatched Not long after came the Earl Gowry by his double key the first way with a case of Rapiers his usual weapons and ready drawn To whom Erskiâ said as to divert his purpose What do you mean my Lord the King is kill'd for the King was shadowed having cast himself upon a Reâ from his sight and his Cloak was thrown upon the Body of Alexander bleeding upon the ground At which Gowry stops sinking the points of his weapons when suddenly Herries strikes at him with a hunting Falchion And Ramsey having his Hawk on his fist casts her off and steps in to Gowry and stabs him to the heart and forthwith more Company came up Not long after this Conspiracy Herries dies well rewarded Iohn Ramsey hath the Honour of Knighthood with an additional bearing to his Coat of Arms A Hand holding forth a Dagger reversed proper piercing a bloody Heart The point crowned Emperial with this Distick Haec Dextra Vindex Principis Patriae Afterwards he was created Lord Haddington and Earl of Holdernâss Sir Thomas Erskin was afterwards created Earl of Kelly Knight of the Garter Captain of the King's Guard and Groom of the Stool and the Fellow designed for the Murtherer had a large Pension confirmed by Act of their Parliamânt And all these men but Herries were living with other witnesses at King Iames his journey when he went from hence to visit Scotland and met together by direction at the same house with Ceremony and all of them with a number of Courtiers ascended into the same Room the blood yet râmaining where the King related the Story which was confirmed by them And afterwards kneeling down with
tears of Contrition for his Sins to God and thankfulness for this Mercy using mary piâus Ejaculations embraced all these Actors in the former Tragedy when the poor fellow also kist the King's hand These circumstances gave occasion then that this whole story was freshly revived to the common Satisfaction of the whole Countrey and our English Courtiers And in especial unto the very reverend Bishop and nobly born Iames Mountague then present to whom the King addressed himself in this Relatiân and from whose Mouth saith the Relator I received these particulars at his return into England And thus much we have by word of mouth somewhat I shall add out of writings for more satisfaction This Treason was attempted the fourth of Augâst 1600. And though there followed sundry Susâitions and Examinations of several other Persons supposed Abettors and Contrivers yet it lay undiscovered tanquam e post liminio until eight years after by the circumspection principally of the âarl of Dunbar a man of as great wisdom as those tâmes and that Kingdom could boast of upon the âeâson of onâ Geoâge Sâroâ Notary-publick of Aâemouth in Scotland from some words which at first he sparingly or unawares expressed and also by some papers which were found in his house whereof being examin'd with a little ado he confessed and was condemned and executed at Edenburgh the 12th of Aâg 1608. A Relation I conceive not common but in my hands to be produced and written by that learned Gentleman William Hart then Lord Iustice of Scoâland and Principal in all the Acts of Judicature herein Neither of these Lords professed any skilâ in Politicks yet neither wanted a strong judgment which they could make good use of in time and place convenient giving testimonies in those Employments they had of a strict secrecy a great moderation and a happy compliance with opportunity Qualities exceedingly well lodged in men of Interest and Command especially in these two who neither too easily closed with others resolutions nor too obstinately adhered to their own one of which was alwayes to suspect men of new words as much as men of new opinions because to flye from proper School terms to vulgar conceptions is a way seldome troden but by false Prophets and Seditious Orators who have done this onely good in the world that from their collition a considerable deal of light hath proceeded towards the clearing of several points in Philosophy and Religion in the speculations whereof the men whose lives are so practical and involved in business are not so distinct being not at leisure to quest at every Lark which men spring in either though otherwise the best qâalified for sâch undertakings because men of most judgement and experience and of âhe least passion and prejudice and by so much the less impetuous and censorious by how much the more judicious and discreet and by so much the more value in the Eyes of others by how much the less they are in their own who have this aâvantâge in controversies that their Religion is thougât as much better than their Adversaries as their Charity and moderation is greater Observations on the Fall of Sir Tho. Lake A Great Estate this Gentleman had honestly got and a greater esteem being King Iames his right hand and the Scots both hands that with which they begged and that with which they bestowed the instrument of the meaner sorts relief and the greaters bounty until that Malice and Revenge two violent passions over-ruling the Weaker Sex concerning his Wife and daughter involved him in their quarrel the chief and onely cause of his ruine He had by his Wife sons and daughters His eldest married unto the Lord Baron Resse in right of a Grandmother the son of Thomas Earl of Exeter by a foâmer venter And upon the credit of Sir Thomas Lake he was sent Embassador Extraordinary into Spain in a very gallant Equipage with some hopes of âis own to continue Lieger to save charges of transmitting any other In his absence there fell out an extream deadly fewd 't is no matter for what between the Lady Lake and the Countess of Exeter A youthful Widow she had been and vertuous and so became Bedfellow to this aged gowty diseased but noble Earl And that preferment had made her subject to Envy and Malice Home comes the Lord Rosse from his Embassie when being fallen into some neglect of his Wâfe and his kindred I conceive upon refusal of an increase of allowance to her settlement of Ioynture which was promised to be compleated at his return not long he stays in England but away he gets into Italy turns a professed Roman Catholick being cozened into that Religion by his publick Confident Gondamore In this his last absence never to return the Mother and Daughter accuse the Countess of former Incontinency with the Lord Râsse whilest he was here and that therefore upon his Wives discovery he was fled from hence and from her Marriage-Bed with other devised Calumnies by several designs and contrivements to have poysoned the Mother and Daughter This quarrel was soon blazon'd at Court to the King's ear who as privately as could be singly examines each party The Countess with tears and imprecations professeth her Innocency which to oppose the Mother Lake and her Daughter counterfeit her hand to a whole sheet of Paper wherein they make the Counâess with much contrition to acknoâledge her self guilty crave pardon for attempting to poyson them and desire friendship with them all The King gets sight of this as in favour to them and demands the time place and occasion when this should be writ They tell him that all the parties met in a visit at Wimbleton the house of the Lord of Exeter where in dispute of their differences she confesses her guilt of attempting their poyson And being desirous of absolution and friendship being required thereto consents to set down all Circumstances therein under her own hand which presently she writ at the Window in the upper end of the great Chamber at Wimbleton in presence of the Mother and Daughter the Lord Rosse and one Diego a Spaniard his confiding Servant But now they being gone and at Rome the King forthwith sends Mr. Dendy one of his Serjeants at Armes sometimes a Domestick of the Earl of Exeters an honest and worthy Gentleman post to Rome who speedily returns with Rosse and Diego's hand and other testimonials confirming That all the said Accusation and Confession Suspitions and Papers concerning the Countess were notorious false and scandalous and confirms it by receiving the Hoast in assurance of her Honour and his Innocency The King well satisfied sends to the Countesses Friends and Trustees for her Ioynture and Estate who comparing many of her letters with this Writing do confess it counterfeit Then he tells the Mother and Daughter That this writing being denied by her and their testimonies being parties would not prevail with any belief but any other Additional witness would give it
sufficient credit To which they assure him That one Sarah Swarton their Chamberesse stood behind the Hanging at the entrance of the Room and heard the Countess read over what she had writ and her also they procure to swear unto this before the King To make further tryal the King in a hunting journey at New-park near Wimbleton gallops thither views the Rooââ observing the great distance of the Window from the lower end of the Room and placing himself behind the Hanging and so other Lords in turn they could not hear one speak loud from the window Then the Housekeeper was call'd who protested those Hangings had constantly furnisht that Room for thirty years which the King observed to be two foot short of the ground and might discover the woman if hidden behind them I may present also the King saying Oaths cannot confound my sight Besides all this the Mother and Daughter connterfeit another Writing a Confession of one Luke Hutton acknowledging for 40 pound annuity the Countess hired him to poison them which Man with wonderful providence was found out privately and denies it to the King And thus prepared the King sends for Sir Thomas Lake whom indeed he very much valued tells him the danger to imbarque himself in this Quarrel advising him to leave them to the Law being now ready for the Star-Chamber He humbly thanked his Majesty but could not refuse to be a Father and a Husband and so puts his Name with theirs in a cross Bill which at the hearing took up five several days the King sitting in Iudgment But the former testimonies and some private confessions of the Lady Rosse and Sarah Wharton which the King kept in private from publick proceedings made the Cause for some of the days of Tryal appear doubtful to the Court until the Kings discovery which concluded the Sentence and was pronounced in several Censures Sir Thomas Lake and his Lady fined ten thousand pounds to the King five thousand pounds to the Countess fifty pounds to Hutton Sarah Wharton to be whipt at a Carts tail about the streets and to do penance at St. Martin's Church The Lady Râsse for confessing the truth and plot in the midst of the Tryal was pardoned by the Major Voices from penal Sentence The King I remember compared their Crimes to the first plot of the first sin in Paradise the Lady Lake to the Serpent her Daughter unto Eve and Sir Thomas to poor Adam whom he thought in his conscience that his love to his Wife had beguiled him I am sure he paid for all which as he told me cost him thirty thousand pounds and the loss of his Masters favour and Offices of gain and honour but truely with much pity and compassion of the Court. Obsârvations on the Life of the Earl of Suffolk HIs Uncle Northampton negotiated his preferment and his Father Noâfolke deserved iâ ãâã whose sake the eldest Son Philip Earl of Arââââl was ââde Lord Marsâal and this second first Cââmberlain and then Treasurer wherein as the Earl of Middlesex understood well the priviledges of the City so my Lord kenned well the Revenues of the Crown But his fair Daughter that gained him most favour did him most harm he falling with his Son Somerset's miscarriages when he might have stood without his Relation being as plain as his brother Henry was subtle as obliging as he was insinuating as knowing as he was cunning the one conversing with Books the other with Men. A Gentleman from whom I requested his Character returns me no more but this He was a man never endued with much patience and one that much retarded the progress of his fortune by often speaking publickly with too much liberty Otherwise very true to the Maximes of his Age. 1. Linking himself to the Scots 2. Buying Fee-Farm Rents to avoid envy as my Lord of Salisbury before him in the Scots Debenturers names 3. Promoting Northern Suits And 4. projecting for money He was also Chancellor of Cambridge loving and beloved of the University When at his first coming to Cambridge Mr. Francis Nethersole Oratour of the University made a Latine Speech unto him the Lord returned Though I understand not Latine I know the sense of your Oration is to tell me that I am welcome to you which I believe verily I thank you for it heartily and will serve you faithfully in any thing within my power Dr. Harsenet the Vice Chancellor laying hold on the handle of so fair a Proffer requested him to be pleased to entertain the King at Cambridge a favour which the University could never compass from their former great and wealthy Chancellours I will do it saith the Lord in the best manner I may and with the speediest conveniency Nor was he worse than his word giving his Majesty such a Treatment in the University as cost him five thousand pounds and upwards Hence it was that after his death Thomas his second son Earl of Bark-shire not suing for it nor knowing of it was chosen to succeed him losing the place as some suspected not for lack of Voices but fair counting them Observations on the Life of Sir Robâ Cary. HE was born an ingenious man of good parts and breeding but of so uncourtly a temper that in all likelihood we had not heard of him had he not had the luck to have been the first Messenger let out of the Court by the favour of his Father the Lord Chamberlain to bring King Iames news that Queen Elizabeth was dead when the Scots expectation was so tyred that they thought Queen Eliz. would never dye as long as there was an old woman that could either wear good cloaths or eat good meat in England Upon which good account he is a Bed-chamber-man to King Iames and a Tutor to Prince Charles though he had made better use of his Talent as a Soldier than as a Courtier having too much of the Candor of that Family that as the Historian observed spake of things alwayes as they deserved And though he had wit enough yet he had not the judgment or way to make those stand in awe of him who were mâst obliged to him Observations on the Lives of Sir Robert Naunton and Sir Francis Nethersole SIr Robert Naunton is the Author of one Book of Observations upon the States-men of Queen Eliz. times and must be the subject of another of King Iames's He noted then in his youth what he was to practice afterwards in his more reduced years His University-Studies at Trinity-Colledge whereof he was Commoner and at Trinity-Hall whereof he was Fellow His Speeches both while Proctor and Orator of Cambridge discovered him more inclined to publick Accomplishments than private Studies He improved the opportunity of the speech he was to make before K. Iames at Hiâchinbrook so well that as His Majesty was highly affected with his Latine and Learning so he exactly observed his prudence and serviceableness whereupon he came to Court as Sir Thomas Overburies Assistant first and
made for the benefit and ease of all frequenters of the Library that which I have already performed in sight that besides which I have given for the maintenance of it and that which hereafter I purpose to add by way of enlargement to that place for the project is cast and whether I live or dye it shall be God âilling put in full execution will testifie so truly and abundantly for me as I need not to be the publisher of the dignity and worth of mine own institution Written with mine own band Anno 1609. Decemb. 15. Observations on the Life of Henry Vere Earl of Oxford HEnry Vere was son of Edward Vere the seventeenth Earl of Oxford and Anne Trentham his Lady whose principal habitation the rest of his patrimony being then wasted was at Heningham-Castle in Essex A vigorous Gentleman full of courage and resolution and the last Lord Chamberlain of England of this Family His sturdy nature would not bow to Court-compliants who would maintain what he spake speak what he thought think what he apprehended true and just though sometimes dangerous and distastful Once he came into Court with a great milk white feather about his hat which then was somewhat unusual save that a person of his merit might make a fashion The Reader may guess the Lord who said to him in some jeer My Lord you wear a very fair Feather It 's true said the Earl and if you mark it there is ne're a Taint in it Indeed his Family was ever loyal unto the crown deserving their Motto Vero nil Verius His predecessors had not been more implacable enemies to Spain in the Low-Countries than he was at Whiâe-Hall backing those arguments against the Match stoutly in the Presence-Chamber that Doctor Hackwel had urged zealously in the Pulpit and as resolutely suffering imprisonment for the one as the Doctor did suspension for the otâer declaring himself as freely against the Agent Gondomar as against his business the Marriage For chancing to meet Gonâomar at an Entertainment the Don accosted him with high Complements vowing That amongst all the Nobility of England there was none he had tendered his service to with more sincerity than to his Lordship though hitherto such his unhappiness that his affections were not accepted according to his integrity that tendered them It seems replyed the Earl of Oxford that your Lordship hath good leisure when stooping in your thoughts to one so inconsiderable as my self whose whole life hath afforded but two things memorable therein It is your Lordships modesty returned the Spaniard to undervalue your self whilest we the spectators of your Honours deserts make a true and impartial estimate thereof hundreds of memorables have met in your Lordships life But good my Lord what are those two signal things more conspicuâus than all the rest They are these two said the Earl I was born in the year 88 and christened on the fifth of November Neither was he a more inveterate enemy to the Church of Rome than a cordial friend to that of England for presenting one Mr. Copinger to Laneham he added to try him He would pay no tâthes of his Park Mr. Copinger desired again to resign it to his Lordship rather than by such sinful gratitude to betray the rights of the Church Well if you be of that mind said the Earl than take the tythes I scorn that my Estate should swell with Church-goods Going over one of the four English Colonels into the Low-Countries and endeavouring to raise the siege of Breda he so over-heated himselâ with Marching Fighting and vexing the Design not succeeding that âe dyed after Anno Dom. 16 He married Diana one of the Co-heirs of William Earl of Exeter afterwards to Edward Earl of Elgin by whom he left no Issue Observations on the Life of Sir Francis Vere SIr Francis Vere Governour of Bâil and Portsmouth was of the ancient and of the mâst noble extract of the Earls of Oxford and it may be a question wâether the Nobility of his house or the honour of his Achievements might most commend him who brought as much glory to his name as he received honour from it He was amongst his Queens Sword-men inferiour to none but superiour to many He lived oftner in the Camp than Court but when his pleasure drew him thither no man had mâre of the Queens favour and none less envied He was a Solâier of great wârth and commanded thirty years in the service of the States and twenty years over the English in Chief as the Queens General and he that had seen the Batâel of Newport might there best have tâken him and his nobâe Brother the Lord of Tilbâry to the life They report that the Queen as she loved Martial men would court this Gentleman as soon as he appeared in her presence for he seldom troubled it with the noise and alarms of supplication his way was another sort of undermining as resolved in the Court as in the Camp as well to justifie his Patron as to serve her Majesty telling her the plain truth more sincerely than any man choosing as he said rather to fall by the malice of his enemies than be guilty of Ingratitude to his friends Yea and when he sued for the government of Portsmouth and some Grandees objected that that place was always bestowed on Noblemen he answered There were none ennobled but by their Princes favour and the same way he took The Veres compared Veri scipiadae Duo fulmina belli SIr Francis and Sir Horace Verâ sons of Ieffery Vere Esquire who was son of Iohn Vere the fifteenth Earl of Oxford We will first consider severally and then compare joyntly to see how their Actions and Arms performed what their birth and bloud promised SIr Fran. was of a fiery spirit rigid nature undaunted in all danger not overvaluing the price of mens lives to purchase a victory therewith He served on the Scene of all Christendom where War was acted One Master-piece of his valour was at the Battel of Newport when his ragged Regiment so were the English-men called from their ragged Cloathes helped to make all whole or else all had been lost Another was when for three years he defended Ostend against a strong and numerous Army surrendring it at last a bare Skeleton to the King of Spain who paid more years purchase for it than probably the World would endure He dyed in the beginning of the Reign of K. Iames about the year of our Lord 16 SIr Horace had more meekness as much valour as his brother so pious that he first made peace with God before he went to war with man One of an excellent temper it being true of him what is said of the Caspian Sea that it doth never ebb nor flow observing a constant tenor neither elated nor depressed with sucess Had one seen him returning from a victory he would by his silence have suspected that he had lost the day and had he beheld
was as much taken with his witty discourses when a School-boy as with his grave Oracles when her Counsel learned He was a Courtier from his Cradle to his Grave sucking in experience with his milk being inured to policy as early as to his Grammar Royal Maximes were his Sententia Puerilis and he never saw any thing that was not noble and becoming The Queen called him her young Lord Keeper for his grave ingenuity at seven years of age and he could tell her Majesty he was two years younger than her happy Reign At twelve his industry was above the capacity and his mind above the reach of his Contemporaries A prodigy of parts he must be who was begot by wise Sir Nicholas Bacon born of the accomplished Mrs. Anne Cook daughter to Sir Anthony Cook King Edward the 6âhs Tutor a good Grecian and Latinist and bred at Trinity-Colledge under the wise learned and pious Doctor Whitgift His strong observations at Court his steady course of study in the University must be improved for State-business by a well-contrived Travel abroad where his conversation was so obliging his way so inquisitive his prudence so eminent that he was Sir Amie Paulet's Agent between the Juncto of France and the Queen of England He allayed the solidity of England with the Ayre of France until his own Affairs and the Kingdoms service called him home at his Fathers death to enjoy a younger Brothers estate and act his part Policy was his business the Law was onely his livelyhood yet he was so great a States-man that you would think he only studied men so great a Scholar that you would say he only studied Books Such insight he had in the Law that he was at thirty her Majesties Advocate and extraordinary Counsel such his judgement that he was the Student of Grayes-Inn's Oracle being well seen in the grounds and mysteries of the Law though not experienced in the Cases of the Common Law while he made that profession his accessary and not his principal so generous and affable his disposition that he was aâl mens love and wonder He instilled wholsome precepts of Prudence and Honour to Noblemen particularly the Earl of Essex to whom he was more faithful than he to himself Great principles of Arts and Sciences to the learned noble Maximes of government to Princes excellent rules of Life to the Populacy When his great Patron Essex sunk he was buoyed up by his own steadiness and native worth that admitted him to the Qu. own presence not only to deliver matter of Law which was his profession but to debate matters of State which was his element his judgement was so eminent that he could satisfie the greatest his condescenâion so humble that he instructed the meanest his extraordinary parts above the model of the age were feared in Queen Elizabeths time but employed in King Iames's Favour he had in her Reign but Trust only in his It 's dangerous in a factious Age to have my Lord Bacon's parts or my Lord of Essex his favour Exact was his correspondence abroad and at home constant his Letters frequent his Visits great his Obligations moderate and temperate his Inclination peaceable humble and submissive his mind complying and yielding his temper In Queen Elizabeths time when he could not rise by the publick way of service he did it by that more private of Marriage with one Alice Barneham an Alderman's Heiress and other commendable Improvements whereby he shewed a great soul could be rich in spight of Fortune for his Father dying while he was in France before he had purchased an estate he designed for him his youngest Son and Darling he had but a Portion of the money divided among five Brethren whereby he was in streights till Gorambum fell to him by his dearest Brother Mr. Anthony Bacon's death a Gentleman of his parts though not his learning having nothing either of honour or profit from that Queen but a reversion of the Register of the Star-Chambers place worth 1500. a year which he stay'd for 20 years saying that it was like another mans ground buttalling upon his house which might mend his prospect but it did not fill his Barn though it scorned it in point of Honour In the House of Commons none more popular where he was allowed to sit as Member when Atturney which is allowed none in that place none more zealous none so knowing a Patriot In the house of Lords none more sâccessfully serviceable to the Crown the easie way of Subsidies was his design in Queen Elizabeths time the union with Scotland was his contrivance in King Iames's His make and port was stately his speech flowing and grave each word of his falling in its place the issue of great reason when conceived and of great prudence when expressed so great skill he had in observing and contriving of occasions and opportunities in suiting of Humours and hitting of Junctures and Flexures of Affairs that he was in his time the Master of speech and action carrying all before him The Earl of Salisbury saith Sir Walter Rawleigh was a good Orator but a bad Writer the Earl of Northampton was a good Writer but a bad Orator Sir Francis Bacon excelled in both Much he said he owed to his Books more to his innate Principles and Notions When he thought he said he aimed more at Connexion than Variety When he spake he designed rather the life and vigour of expression and perspicuity of words asking often if the meaning were expressed plainly enough than the elegancy or order of phrase His axiome was Words should wait on things rather than things on words and his resolution was That all affected elegance was below the gravity and majesty of a publick discourse He rather judged Books and Men than either read or talked with them His Exercises were man-like and healthful walking and riding his Meditations cohaerent every minute of his time improved his Table temperate and learned where his great Discourses were the entertainment and he himself the treat resolving Cases most satisfactorily it was observed that he would express another manâ words with great advantage speaking with liberty and respect to all hearers amend much the phrase of it though retaining the substance stating Questions most exactly relating Histories most prudently opening great Secrets most clearly answering Arguments and replying most familiarly and speaking what he had thorowly weighed and considered most effectually All matters and speeches came from him with advantage so acute and ready his wit so faithful his memory so penetrating his judgment so searching his head so large and rational his soul. He drew out of every man he spake with what he was best for My Lord of Salisbury said he had the clearest prospect of things of any man in his age and King Iames by whom he was never reproved in eighteen years said That he knew the method of handling Matters after a mild and gentle manner Not ingaging his Master in any rash
or grievous courses insulting over no offender but carrying it decently and compassionately to the person of the offender when most severe against the offence His Religion was rational and sober his spirit publick his love to Relations tender to Friends faithful to the hopeful liberal to men univerfal to his very Enemies civil He lest the best pattern of Government in his actions under one King and the best principles of it in the Life of the other His Essays and History made him the admiration of polite Italy his Accomplishments the wonder of France Monsieur Fiat the French Ambassador who called him Father saying to him after an earnest desire to see him That he was an Angel to him of whom he had heard much but never saw him Solid less dissipable and juicy Meat was his Diet and Rhubarb infused in Wine before meat his Physick four hours in the morning he made his own not by any means to be interrupted business was his fate retyrement his inclination Socrates brought Morality from Discourse to Practice and my Lord Bacon brought Philosophy from Speculation to Experience Aristotâe whom he disliked at 16 years of age not for his person for he valued him highly but his way which bred disputations but not useful things for the benefit of the life of man continuing in that judgment to his dying day he said taught many to dispute more to wrangle few to find out Truth none to manage it according to his principles My Lord Bacon was a man singular in every faculty and eminent in all His Judgment was solid yet his memory was a wonder his Wit was quick yet his Reason slaid His Invention was happy yet methodical and one fault he had that he was above the age he lived in above it in his bounties to such as brought him Presents so remembring that he had been Lord-Chancellor that he forgot he was but Lord Verulam Great his understanding his knowledge was not from Books though he read much but from grounds and notions in himself which he vented with great caution Dr. Rawley attesting that he saw twelve Copies of the Instauratio Magna revised and amended year by year till it was published and great his mind too above it in his kindness to servants to whom he had been a better Master if he had been a worse and more kind if he had been less indulgent to them Persons of Quality courted his Service For the first of his Excesses K. Iames jeered him in his progress to New-market saying when he heard he gave ten pounds to one that brought him some Fruit My Lord my Lord this is the way to Beggars-bush For the second he reflected upon himself when he said to his servants as they rose to him in his Hall Your rise hath been my fall Though indeed he rather trusted to their honesty than connived at their falshood for he did impartial Justice commonly to both parties when one servant was in fee with the Plaintiff and the other with the Defendant How well he understood his own time his Letters and complyances evidence than whom none higher in spirit yet none humbler in his Addresses The proudest man is most servile How little he valued wealth appeareth in that when his servants would take money from his Closet even while he was by he would laugh and say I poor men that is their portion How well he kenned the art of Converse his Essayes discover a piece as he observed himself that of all his Works was most current for that they come home to mens business and bosomes How far skilled in the Art of Government the Felicities of Queen Elizabeth written by him in Latine ordered by his last Will to be Printed so but published in English in his resuscitatio by his Amanuensis Dr. Rawley his H. 7. War with Spain Holy War Elements of the Law irrefragably demonstrate and how well seen in all Learning his Natural History and Advancement of Learning answerably argue In a word how sufficient he was may be conjectured from this instance that he had the contrivance of all King Iames his Designs until the Match with Spain and that he gave those Directions to a great Statesman which may be his Character and our conclusion Only be it observed that though this peerless Lord is much admired by English-men yet is he more valued by Strangers distance as the Historian hath it diminishing his faults to Forreigners while we behold his perfections abated with his failings which set him as much below pity as his Place did once above it Sir Iulius Caesar they say looking upon him as a burden in his Family and the Lord Brook denying him a bottle of small beer Though in a Letter to King Iames he thanks him for being that Master to him that had raised and advanced him sâx times in Office i.e. Councel learned extraordinary Solicitor and Attorney General Lord Keeper and Chancellor Knight-Lord Verulam Viscount St. Aâban's with 1800 l. a yâar out of the broad Zeal and Alienation Offâce to his dying day most of which he allowed to his Wife towards whom he was very bountiful in gifts bestowing on her a Robe of honour which she wore while she lived which was above twenty years after his death His Religion was like a Philosophers rational and well grounded as appears by his confession of faith composed many years before his death an instance of the truth of his own observation that a little Philosophy maketh men apâ to forget God as attributing too much to second causes but depth of Philosophy bringeth a man back again to God he being constant at the publick Prayers frequent at the Sermons and Sacraments of the Church of England in whose Communion he dyed of a gentle Feaver accompanied with a choaking defluxion and cold April 9. being Easter-day 1626. 66th year of his age in the Earl of Arundel's house at High-gate near London being Buried according to his Will at St. Michael's Church in St. Alban's the onely Church in old Verulam near his Mother ânder a white Marble âet up by Sir Tho. Meauty Secretary to his Lordship and Clerk of the Councel to King Iames and King Charles whereon he is drawn in his full Stature studying with an Inscription by Sir Henry Wotton He had one peculiar temper of body that he fainted alwayes at an Eclipse of the Moon though he knew not of it and considered it not His Receipt for the Gout which eased him in two hours is at the end of his Natural History His Rhubarb-draught before meat he liked because it carryed away the gross humours not lessâning the spirits as sweating doth It was the great effect of his Religion that as he said notwithstanding the opportunities he had to be revenged he neither bred nor fed maliceâ saying no worse to the King who enquired of him what he thought of a great man newly dead that had not been his friend than that he would never have made
his Majesties estate better but he was sure he would have kept it from being worse And it was the consequence of his great worth all men applauded him Fulk Lord Brook after the perusal of his H. 7 th returned it him with these words Commend me to my Lord and bid him take care to get good Paper and Ink for the work is Incomparable Dr. Collins the Kings Professor of Divinity at Cambridge said when he had read his advancement of Learning that he found himself in a case to begin his Studies again as having lost all his former time Forreigners crossing the Seas to see him here and carrying his Picture at length that he might be seen abroad An Italian writes to the Lord Cavendish since Earl of Devonshire thus concerning the Lord Bacon I will expect the new Essays of my Lord Chancellor Bacon as also his History with a great deal of desire and whatsoever else he shall compose but in particular of his History I promise my self a thing perfect and singular especially King Henry the 7 th where he may exercise the talent of his Divine understanding This Lord is more and more known and his Books here more and more delighted in and those men that have more than ordinary knowledge in humane affairs esteem him one of the most capable spirits of this age Observations on the Life of the Lord John Digby JOhn Lord Digby of Sherborn and Earl of Bristol was a younger Son of an ancient Family long flourishing at Koleshull To pass by his younger years all Children being alike in their Coats when he had only an Annuity of fifty pounds per annum only his youth gave pregnant hopes of that Eminency which his mature age did produce He did ken the Embassador's craft as well as any in his age employed by King Iames in several Services to Foreign Princes recited in his Patent as the main motives of the Honours conferred upon him But his managing the matchless Match with Spain was his Master-piece wherein a good I mean a great number of State-Traverses were used on both sides Where if he dealt in Generalities and did not press Particulars we may ghess the reason of it from that expression oâ his I will take care to have my Instructions persâââ and will pursue them punctually If he held Affairs in suspence that it might not come to a War on our part it may be he did so with more regard to his Mr. King Iames his inclination than his own apprehension If he said That howsoever the business went he would make his fortune thereby it rather argued his weakness that he said so his sufficiency that he could do so than his unfaithfulness that he did so This is certain that he chose rather to come home and suffer the utmost displeasure of the King of England than stay in Spain and enjoy the highest favour of the King of Spain He did indeed intercede for some indulgence to the Papists but it was because otherwise he could do no good for the Protestants But whatever was at the bottom of his Actions there was resolution and nobleness a top especially in these actions 1 Being carried from Village to Village after the King of Spain without that regard due to his person or place he expressed himself so generously that the Spanish Courtiers trembled and the King declared That he would not interrupt his Pleasures with business at Lerma for any Embassador in the world but the English nor for any English Embassador but Don Iuan. 2. When impure Scioppius upon his Libel against K. Iames and Sir Humphrey Bennet's complaint to the Arch-Duke against him fled to Madrid my Lord observing that it was impossible to have Justice done against him from the Catholique King because of the Jesuites puts his Cousin George Digby upon cutting him which he did over his Nose and Mouth wherewith he offended so that he carried the mark of his Blasphemy to his Grave 3. When he was extraordinary Embassador in Germany upon his return by Heidelbergh observing that Count Mansfield's Army upon whom depended the fortune of the Palsgrave was like to disband for want of money he pawned all his Plate and Jewels to buoy up that sinking Cause for that time That his spirit was thus great abroad was his honour but that it was too great at home was his unhappiness for he engaged in a fatal Contrast with the Duke of Buckingham that hazarded both their safeties had not this Lord feared the Duke's power as the Duke this Lord's policy and so at last it became a drawn Battel betwixt them yet so that this Earl lost the love of King Charles living many years in his disfavour But such as are in a Court-cloud have commonly the Countreys Sun-shine and this Peer during his Eclipse was very popular with most of the Nation It is seldom seen if a Favourite once broken at Court sets up again for himself the hap rather than happiness of this Lord the King graciously reflecting on him at the beginning of the Long Parliament as one best able to give him the safest Councel in those dangerous times But how he incensed the Parliament so far as to be excepted pardon I neither do know nor dare enquire Sure I am that after the surrender of Exeter he went over into France where he met with that due respect in Foreign which he missed in his Native Countrey The worst I wish such who causelesly suspect him of Popish inclinations saith my Author is that I may hear from them but half so many strong Arguments for the Protestant Religion as I heard from him who was to his commendation a cordial Champion for the Church of England This Family hath been much talked of this last forty years though all that I can say of it is this that great spirits large parts high honours penned with narrow Estates seldom bless their owners within moderation or the places they live in with peace Observations on the Life of the Lord Spencer HEe was the fifth Knight of his Family in an immediate succession well allied and extracted being descended from the Spencers Earls of Gloucester and Winchester In the first year of the Reign of King Iames being a moneyed man he was created Baron of Wormeleiton in the County of Warwick He had such a ready and quick Wit that once speaking in Parliament of the valour of their English Ancestors in defending the Liberty of the Nation returned this Answer to the Earl of Arundel who said unto him Your Ancestors were then keeping of Sheep If they kept Sheep yours were then plotting of Treason But both of them were at present confined but to the Lord Spencer the Upper-House ordered Reparations who was first and causelesly provoked This Lord was also he who in the first of King Iames was sent with Sir William Dithick principal King of Arms to Frederick Duke of Wirtenbergh elected into the Order of the Garter to present and invest him with the
should be farmed out or bestowed upon any so much as by promiseâ befoâe judgement given it would neither be profitable nor hânourable 10. Besides matters of serious consideration in the Câurts of Princes there must be times for pastimes and dâsports When there is a Queenâ and Ladies of Honâur attending her there must sometimes be Masques and Revels and Enterludes and when there is no Qâeen or Princess as now yet at Festivals for entertainment of Strangers or upon such occasions they may be fit also Yet care would be taken that in such cases they be set ââf more with wit and activity than with costly and wasteful expenceâ 11. But for the King and Prince and the Lords and Chivalry of the Court I rather commend in their tuâns and seasâns tâe riding of the great Horse the Tilts Barriers Tennis and Hunting which are more for the health and strength of those who exersiâe them than in an effeminate way to please themselves and others And now the Prince growâth up fast to be a man and is of a sweet and excellent disposition it would be an irreparable stain and dishonour upon you having that access unto him if you should mis-lead him or suffer him to be mis-led by any flattering Parasites The whole Kingdom hath a deep interest in his virtuous education and if you keeping that distance which is most fit do humbly interpose your self in such a case he will one day give you thanks for it 12. Yet Dice and Cards may sometimes be used for recreation when field-sports cannot be had but not to use it as a mean to spend the time much less to mis-spend the thrift of the Gamesters SIR I shall trouble you no longer I have run over these things as I first propounded them please you to make use of them or any of them as you shall see occasion or to lay them by as you think best and to add to them as you daily may out of your experience I must be bold again to put you in minde of your present condition you are in the quality of a Sentinel if you sleep and neglect your charge you are an undone man and you may faâl faster than you have risen I have but one thing more to mind you of which neerly concerns your self you serve a great and gracious Master and there is a most hopeful young Prince whom you must not desert it behoves you to carry your self wisely and evenly between them both adore not so the rising Son that you forget the Father who raised you to this height nor be you so obsequious to the Father that you give just cause to the Son to suspect that you neglect him But carry your self with that judgement as if it be possible may please and content them both which truly I believe will be no hard matter for you to do so may you live long beloved of both which is the hearty prayer of Your most obliged and devoted servant THese were his Rules and this his practice My Lord of Nottingham he bought nobly from the Admiralty his Assistant Vice-Admiral Maunsel he entertained civilly and procured that place for life which he had only during pleasure The Warden of the Cinque-ports resigned his place seasonably âhe Master of the Horse gave up his preferment and his life opportunely He advanced his Relations prudently gratifying them and fortifying himself He made an excellent choice of Servanâs and Confederates entertained the ablest and most faithful Assistants Doctor Williams and Dr. Laud were of his Council for the Church Sir Francis Bacon for the State From the fiâst he received frequent Schedules of Persons and Doctrines from the other constant Transcripts of Rules and Intelligence Never any man more constant to his approved friend never any more fatal to his known Enemies He was the instrument of all the Subjects services to his Soveraign and of his Sovereign's favours to his Subjects no place was bestowed without his knowledge no action passed without his approbation not an eminent man but depended on him and was subordinate to him His dispatches were many and pregnant testimonies that he was a great Master of his Time and a greater of his Method and Affairs Great he was indeed and humble too not raised by his present fortune above the sense of his former envied he was not hated applauded in the same Parliament for his services declaimed against for his preferments ever studious of the peoples Interest which is the care of few Favourites never happy in their love which is the faâe of all He approved himself both to the declining Monarch and the rising as having won himself not so much to their affections which were alterable as to their judgements which were lasting and made his preferment rather a matter of Interest which is real than of favour which is personal Looking on Somerset laid at his feet Bristol and Williams brought on their knees Carlisle and Pembrook beneath him and Holland behind him and every man that would not owe his preferment to his favour must owe his ruine to his frown He was intrusted with the greatest service and secret in Spain when he dived to the bottom of that Countreys policy and the Intrigues of Europes Counsels and could come off in the Match wiâh Spain to the King and Kingdoms mind dexâerously when Sir Walter Aston and my Lord of Bristol were at a loss about it to both their displeasures weakly amidst the open entertainment and secret working of that place In his attendance on the King in Scotland as Counsell or of thât Kingdom he carried himself with singular sweetness and temper as it behoved him being now in fâvour and succeeding one of their own They thââ censure his sudden advancements and great preferments consider not that Certainly the hearts of great Princes if theâ be considered as it were in Abstract without thâ necessities of States circumstances of time being besides their natural Extent moreover oncâ opened and dilated with affection can take nâ full and proportionable pleasure in the exercâsâ of any narrow bounty And albeit at first theâ give only upon choice and love of the Personâ yet within a while themselves likewise begin tâ love their givings and to foment their deeds nâ less than Parents do their children Besides that by so long and so private anâ so various consoâiation with a Prince of such excellent nature he had now gotten as it werâ two lives in his own Fortune and Greatnessâ whereas otherwise the Estate of a Favourite is aâ the best but a Tenant at will and rarely transmitted And the moâe notable because it had beeâ without any visible Eclipse or Wane in himselfâ amidst divers variations in others How general his care appears in that amidst his more important Negotiations he condescended to this noble act oâ charity to a Scholar and to Learning which I must for my part celebrate above all his Expences There was a collection of certain rare Manuscripâs
bold as sure either by carrying the Cause to oblige the people to themselves or by suffering for it to enrage them against the Government that Sir R. Weston made it his business to take off the one and my Lord of Canterbury the other which they did with such success that as my Lord Wentworth became a great Favourite so the Lord Savile was an eminent Counsellor only finding that his young Neighbour had got the start of him he kept to one of his popular Principles always viz. a restless impetuosity towards Papists against whom he made himself famous 1. For a Disputation procured by him in Drury-Lane whither he brought Bishop Vsher under the notion of a Countrey-Parson when the Jesuites cryed There was more Learning in that Parson than in all the men in England 2. For a project offered by him in Parliament For when they taking advantage of King Charls his wants profeâed to maintain five thousand men to serve his Majesty in Ireland and a proportion of Ships to secure him in England on condition of the free exercise of their Religion Sir Iohn interposed That if the King were pleased but to call on the Recusants to pay Thirds legally due to the Crown it would prove a way more effectual and less offensive to raise a mass of money It being but just that they who were so rich and free to purchase new Priviledges should first pay their old Penalties When I read of a Lord Savile going privately to Scotland 1639. subscribing to a Petition with oâher moderate Lords as they called them containing the very sense of the saction insomuch that it is observed the City-Petition and theirs were couched in the same words yet going to Oxford and after all being so turbulent there that his Majesty was fain to send him beyond Sea where his Majesty writes with his own hand He doubts he will rather exchange his villany than end it I am almost of that wise mans mind that there were no less than 17 particular Designs set on foot by the promotion of the late Troubles whereof though most yet not all were carried on in Westminster or to enforce something more solid that a King should say as the Italian doth If my Subject deceives me once God forgive him If a second time God forgive me and the rather because it 's fatal for Majesty to err twice Observations on the Life of Bishop Williams A Strong constitution made his pârts a strict education improved them unwearied was his industry unexpressible his capacity He never saw the book of worth he read not he never forgot what he read he never loââ the use of what he remembred Every thing he heard or saw was his own and what was his own he knew how to use to the utmost His extraction being Gentile his Soul large and noble his presence and carriage comely and stately his learning copious his judgement stayed his apprehension clear and searching his expression lively and effectual his elocution flowing and majestick his Proctorship when he gave the Lord Chancellor Egerton so much satisfaction in treating the Spanish Ambassador at an Act in Cambridge that thenceforward he resolved on his preferment 1612. discovered him a person above his place and his Lectures to his Pupils above his preferment Bishop Vaughan first admitteth him to his Family and then to his bosom there his strong Sermons his exact government under my Lord his plentiful observation his numerous acquaintance made him my Lord Chancellor Egerton's friend rather than his servant his familiar rather than his Chaplain Never was there a more communicative Master to instruct than my Lord Elsemâre never a more capable Scholar to learn than Dr. Williams who had instilled to him all necessary State-maxims while his old Master lived and had bequeathed to him four excellent Books when his Master was dead These four books he presented to K. Iames the very same time that he offered himself to the Duke of Buckingham The excellent Prince observed him as much for the first gift as the noble Duke did for the second the King and Duke made him their own who they saw had made that excellent Book his Willing was King Iames to advance Clergy-men and glad to meet with men capable of Advancemeât His two Sermons at Court made him Dean of Westminster his exact state of the Earl of Somerset's Case made him capable of and the KING'S inclination to ârust his Conscience in a Divines hand setled him in the Lord Keepers place actually only for three years to please the people who were offended with his years now but 34. and his calling a Divine but designedly for ever to serve his Majesty The Lawyers despised him at first but the Judges admired him at last and one of them said That never any man apprehended a Case so clearly took in all the Law Reason and other Circumstances more punctually recollected the various Debates more faithfully summed it up more compendiously and concluded more judiciously and discreetly For many of them might have read more than he but none digested what they had read more solidly none disposed of their reading more methodically none therefore commanded it more readily He demurred several Orders as that of my Lord Chancellor's pardon the Earl Marshal's Patent c. to let his Majesty see his judgement yet passed them to let him see his obedience He would question the Dukes Order sometimes discreetly to let him know he understood himself yet he would yield handsomly to let him see he understood him and indeed he had the admirable faculty of making every one of his actions carry prudence in the performance Necessary it was for one of his years and place to keep his distance and avoid contempt yet fatal was it to him to do so and incur envy Well understood he the interest of all his places resolutely he maintained them What saith he shall the Liberties of Westminster be infringed when the chief Favourite is Steward and the Lord Keeper Dean and I the contemptible man that must be trampled on When he was in trouble what passion what insinuation what condescention hath he at command when petitioned to how quickly he looked through men and business how exactly would he judge and how resolutely conclude without an immediate intimation from his Majesty or the Duke Many eyes were upon him and as many eyes were kept by him upon others being very watchful on all occasions to accommodate all Emergencies and meet with all humors alwayes keeping men in dependance on the Duke according to this intimation of his Cabal 287. Let him hold it but by your Lordships favour not his own power A good way had he been constant to it the neglect whereof undid him for designing the promotion of Doctor Price to the Arch-Bishoprick of Armagh he moved it to the Duke who told him it was disposed of to Doctor Vsher Whereupon he went his own way to advance that man and overthrew himself For
our known duty but our visible advantage to ascribe our most eminent performances to providence since it not only takes off the edge of envy but improves the reason of admiration None being less maliced or more applauded than he who is thought rather happy than able blessed than active and fortunate than cunning Though yet all the caution of his life could not avoid the envy of âis advancement from so mean a beginning to so great honours notwithstanding that it is no disparagement to any to give place to fresh Nobility who ascend the same stâps with those before them New being only a term saith one only respecting us not the world for what is was before us and will be when we are no more And indeed âhis Personage considering the vanity and inconstancy of common applause or affronts imprâved the one and checked the other by a constant neglect of bothâ Observations on the Life of Sir Dudly Careleton SIr Dudly Careleton was born in Oxford-shire bred in Christs-Church in Oxford under Dr. King and afterwards in relation of Secretary to Sir Ralph Winwood in the Low-Countreys where he was very active when King Iames resigned the cautionary Towns to the States Here he added so great experience to his former Learning that afterwards our King employed him for twenty years together Ambassador in Venice Savoy and the Vnited Provinces Anne Gerard his Lady Co-heir to George Gerard Esquire accompanying him in all his Travels as is expressed in her Epitaph in Westminster-Abby He was by K. Charls the first to balance the Duke of Buckingham's enemies in the House of Peers with the Lord Mandevil now Earl of Manchester and the Lord Grandison created Baron of Imbercourt in Surrey and afterwards Viscount Dorchester marrying for his second Wife the Daughter of Sir Henry Glenham the Relict of Paul Viscount Banning who survived him He succeeded the Lord Conway when preferred President to the Council in the Secretary-ship of State being sworn at White-Hall December 14. 1628. and dying without Issue Anno Dom. 163 Much ado he had to remove a State-jealousie that was upon him That he insisted on âhe restitution of some Towns in Cleves and Iuliers to gratifie the Spaniards at that time in Treaty with us more to remove a Church-jealousie that in negotiating an accommodation in Religion he designed the undermining of the Remonstrants then in so much power there In which matter he was at a loss whether his Majesty should interpose by Letter or Message The former he said was most effectual but the later less subject to misconstruction considering Barnevel's interest in the State But he had a Chaplain one Mr. Hales that kept this Controversie even on the one hand while he balanced the State-interest on the other equally careful that the United Provinces should not be over-run by the Armies of Spain and that they should not be swallowed up by the protectiân of France Watchful was his eye there over the West-India Company Diligent his carriage upon any accommodations from Spain which he apprehended always as a design to distract that people then in regard of their unsetledness but too apt upon any dispute to fall into faction Great his industry in reconciling Sir Horace Vere and Sir Edward Cecil for the honour of the English Nation and the advancement of the common service Sincere his services âo the Prince Elector and his Lady Exaât his rules of Traffique and Commerce and dexterous his arts of keeping the States from new alliances notwithstanding our likely Marriage-treaty with Spain especially since the Prince of Orange bluntly after his manner asked Qui at ' il vostre Marriage And indeed he behaved himself in all Employments so well becoming a man that understood so many Languages that was so well versed in Ancient and Modern History that had composed so many choice pieces of Politicks that was so well seen in the most practical Mathematicks and added to these a graceful and charming look a gentle and a sweet elocution that notwithstanding his and his Brother Bishop Carleton's rigidness in some points kept him to his dying-day in great favour and most eminent service and failing in nothing but his French Embassy because there he had to do with Women Leaving behinde him this observation That new Common-wealthâ are hardly drawn to a certain resolution as who knowing not how to determine and remaining onely in suspence take ordinarily that course rather which they are forced âo than what they might choose for themselves And this eminent service when he assisted the Earl of Holland in France viz. That he pacified the high difference there upon which the revolt of the Hugonots depended and put a real resolution in Kâng Lewis to advance against the Valtoline and Spain by the advantage of the League with England proceeding upon this Maxim with that King They that have respect to few things are easily misled I had almost forgot how this Lord finding that want of Treasure at home was the ground of our unsuccessful and despicableness abroad and that Principe senza quatrius e come un muro senza crole da tulls scompisâiato That a Prince without money is like a wall without a Cross for every one to draw upon did mention the Excise in the Parliament-House and in no ill meaning neither and was violently cryed to the Bar and though a person of that eminence as being then a Privy-Councellor and principal Secretary of State he hardly escaped being committed to the Tower So odious was that Dutch-Devil as they called it in the excellent King Charles which was raised by the beloved Parliament with many more that were conjured up in three or four years but not likely to be laid in three or fourscore Living in those times when weak men imagined to themselves some unknown bliss from untried governments and considering that alterations countervail not their own dangers and as they bring little good to any so they bring least of all to those that first promoted them This Lord refused to be the mouth of the Zealous multitude whose rage could neither be well opposed nor joyned with whom a pardon or compliance might bring off leaving their Demagogues to compound for their folly with their ruine choosing rather to be patient than active and appear weak than be troublesom and once resolved upon an exact survey of circumstances for power against the faults of it on the one hand and the affronts of it on the other he gained the esteem of all parties by his fidelity to his own I am much taken with his plain saying which I find of late printed There will be mistakes in Divinity while men preach and errors in Government while such govern And more with his method of proceeding in his affairs whereof he laid first an Idea in his own mind and then improved it by debate the result whereof was usually so compleat as shewed the vast difference between the shallow conceptions of one man and the
purely heroick often stout but never dislââal so vehement an opponent of the Spaniard as when that Match fell under consideration he would sometimes rouze to the trepidation of King Iames yet kept in favour still for that King knew plain dealing as a Jewel in all men so was in a Privy-Councellor an ornamental duty An instance of his familiar converse with King Iames was that the King observing that he naturally hated a Frog threw one into his neck and he in requital caused a Pig of an equal disgust with the same Prince to be put under his Close-stool where though it produced no extraordinary ill effect for the present yet after the prank had been descanted upon and worst of Interpretations made by some the title of Iews being at that time bestowed on the Scots the King was much affected with it and the more because it was done at Wilton the Earls own house Though Kings when free and sociable break out to sprightful and facetious extravagancies with Courtiers yet must they not presume lest their words are interpreted not by their meaning but others jealousie free spirits cannot be too circumspect And the same true-heartedness commended him to King Charles with whom he kept a most admirable correspondence and yet stood the firm Confident of the Commonalty and that not by a sneaking cunning but by an erect and generous prudence such as rendred him as unsuspected of ambition on the one side as of faction on the other being generally beloved and regarded Observations on the Life of the Lord Conway EDward Lord Conway succeeded to his Father's Martial skill and valour who was under the Earl of Leicester Governour of Ostend and twisted therewith peaceable Policy in State-affairs so that the Gown and the Sword met in him in most eminent proportion and thereupon King Iames advanced him one of the principal Secretaries of State For these his good services he was by him created Lord Conway of Ragleigh in this County and afterwards by King Charls Viscount Killultagh in the County of Antrim And lastly in the third of King Charles Viscount Conway of Conway in Carnarvenshireâ England Ireland and Wales mutually embracing themselves in his Honours and not long after President of the Councel Upon the breâââ with Spain King Iames and the Duke of Buckingham both judged it very convenient to have a Martial Secretary neither was there any man fitter âor their turn than this Gentleman who was as able to direct them in the Affairs of War abroad as he was ready to be directed by them in those of Peace at home Being one of those three remarkable Servants that King Iames used to jest upon vizâ a Lord Treasurer meaning the Earl of Suffolââ that could not cast Account a Chaplain meaninâ Doctor Preston that could not read Pââââââ and a Secretary meaning this Lord that ãâã not write his name Sir Richârd Weston beat the Bush in the Affair of the Palatinate but Sir Edward catched the Hare his rough humour being more suitâble to that business Or indeed it having been always more successful to be bold than wary to be free for all occasions than to be obstinate to some ruleâ Fortune saith Machiavel is a Miâtriss that isâ sooner won by those that ruffle and force her than by others that proceed coldly Indeed he was charged with treachery and cowardize in the action against the Scots 1640. but he came off with his honest animosity saying If he mighâ but fight their whole Army he would settle Scotland in six months or lose his head being in that of my Lord of Canterbury's opinion who assured his Majesty they would not hold out four a motion that if as easily entertained by that gracious King as it was effectually pursued by the bloody Usurpers a sad experience hath taught us and them would have prevented much mischief there more here especially since it was that wise Prince his judicious observation That they and their Confederates were a people lost by favour and won by punishment Observations on the Lives of the Digges MAster Leonard Digges was one of excellent Learning and deep judgement His âiâd most inclined him to the Mathematicks and he was the best Architect in that age for all manner of Buildings for conveniency pleasure state strength being excellent at Fortifications Lest his Learning should dye with him for the publick profit he printed his Tectonicon Prognostick General Stratiotick about the ordering of an Army and other Works He flourished Anno Dom. 1556. and dyed I believe about the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when as in most growing times Arts were drowned in action Nothing else have I to observe of his name save that hereditary Learning may seem to run in the velâs of his Family witness Sir Dudly Digs of Chilham-Castle made Master of the Rolls in the year 1636. whose abilities will not be forgotten whilest our age hath any remembrance This Knight had a younger son of a most excellent wit and a great judgment Fellow of All-Souls in Oxford who in the beginning of our Civil Wars wrote so subtile solid a Treatise of the difference between King and Parliament that such Royalists who have since handled that Controversie have written plura non plus yea aliter rather than alia of that Subject The Son writes down those Rebellions that the Father countenanced The Father I say who by a bold impeachment against his Majesties chief Minister of State to his face taught a discontented People to draw a bolder against his Mâjesty himself Wherefore it was that after his undutiful Prologue Against his Majesties Prerogative in favouring his Servants the Preface to more disloyal methods against his right in governing his people he and Sir Iohn Elliot were whispered out of the Lords House when they were hottest against the Duke to speak with a Gentleman and thence sent immediately by two Pursevants that attended to the Tower where and in the Country this Gentleman lay under just displeasure until it was thought fit to take off so dangerous a piece of boldness and eloquence upon the growing distempers of the age by favour and preferment to a Neutrality at least if not to the just measures of his duty But our observation here is this That faction is one of those sins whereof the Authors repent most commonly themselves and their posterities are always ashamed Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Ridly Dr. LL. THis Knight and Doctor was born at Ely in Cambridge-shire bred first a Scholar at Eaton in Buckingham-shire then Fellow of Kings-Colledge in Cambridge He was a general Scholar in all kind of Learning especially in that which we call Melior Literatura He afterwards was Chancellor of Winchester and Vicar-general to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury His memory will never dye whilst his Book called The view of the Ecclesiastical Laws is living a book of so much merit that the Common Lawyers notwithstanding the difference betwixt the professions will ingenuously
allow a due commendation to his learned performance in that subject Although it startled them to hear King Iames was so affected with it insomuch that Sir Edward Coke undertook from thence to prophecy the decay of the Common-Law though in that prophecy of his others foresaw nothing but his fall Never book came out more seasonably for the Church than this never Comment came out more suitably than Mr. Gregories Notes upon it Hâ writ well and advised better being good to give better to manage Counsel which he never offered till called and never urged longer than it pleased answering no question of consequence unless upon emergent occasion without deliberation observing the design of people that ask most commonly to try his sufficiency as well as improve their own However being sure that time is likelier to increase than abate the weight of a result discovering as well what may be returned suitably to the general temper as what may be answered fitly to the particular instance What alterations he designed for the Churches benefit were not sodain but leisurely To force men out of one extreamity into another is an attempt as dangerous as it is invidious as awakening most opposition and obnoxious to most hazard Wise Tacitus observeth that men have reformed inveterate habits more by yielding to them than engaging against them though a man must so yield as not to encourage while he doth so countermine as not to exasperate Although he was always able yet was he never willing to mend the Copy his Superiors had set him unless owned as from former instruction lest they grew jealous he valued his own experience before theirs who measure mens sufficiency from their caution and not from their parts from what they can forbear rather than from what they can do To conclude he was one of those able men that cannot be eminent unless they be great men of great merit behave themselves so negligently in small affairs as that you shall never understand their abilities unless you advance their persons Mens capacities sufficiencies have certain bounds prescribed them within the limits of which they are able to acquit themselves with credit and applause But if you advance them above or depress them below their spheres they shew nothing but debilities and miscarriages Onely this he was always commended for That having the management of Affairs intrusted to him he underwent all the miscarriages himself ascribing all the honour and sufficiency to his Patron carrying his hand in all actions so that his Master had the applause of whatever was either conceded or denyed in publick without any other interruption from Mr. Ridly than what became the bare instrument of his commands however he ordered the matter in private Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Martin HE would merrily say That if his Father had left him fourscore pounds a year where he left him but forty he would never have been a Scholar but have lived on his Lands whereas his Inheritance being a large encouragement but a small maintenance he made up in study what he wanted in Estate first at Winchester and then at New-Colledge where his inclination led him to Divinity but Bishop Andrews his advice perswaded him to the Civil Law wherein he attained that great proficiency he was eminent for thus He had weekly transmitted to him from some Proctors at Lambeth the brief heads of the most important Causes which were to be tryed in the High-Commission Then with some of his familiar friends in that faculty he privately pleaded those Causes acting in their Chamber what was done in the Court But Mr. Martin making it his work exceeded the rest in amplifying and aggravaâing any fault to move anger and indignation against the guilt thereof or else in extenuating or excusing it to procure pity obtain pardon or at least prevail for a lighter punishment Whence no Cause came amiss to him in the High-Commission For saith my Author he was not to make new Armour but only to put it on and buckle it not to invent but apply arguments to his Clients As in decision of Controversies in his Courts he had a moderate and middle way so in managing of affairs in Parliament he had a healing Method Whence in most Debates with the Lords where Mr. Noy's Law and Reason could not convince Sir Henry Martin's Expedients could accommodate For which services and his other meriâs he was made Judge of the Prerogative-Court for probate of Wills and of the Admiralty for Foreign Trade Whence King IAMES would say merrily He was a mighty Monarch by Sea and Land over the Dead and the Living Observations on the Life of Sir John Bramstone SIr Iohn Bramstone Knight was born at Maldon in Essex bred up in the Middle-Temple in the study of the Common-Law wherein he attained to such eminency that he was by King Charls made Lord Chief-Justice of the King 's Bench. One of deep Learning solid Judgement integrity of Life gravity of behaviour above the envy of his own age and the scandal of posterity One instance of his I must not forget writes the Historian effectually relating to the foundation wherein I was bred Sergeant Bruerton by Will bequeathed to Sidney-Colledge well-nigh three thousand pounds but for haâte or some other accident it was so imperfectly done that as Dr. Sam. Ward informed me the gift was invalid in the rigour of the Law Now Judge Bramstone who married the Sergeants Widow gave himself much trouble gave himâelf indeed doing all things gratis for the speedy payment of the money to a farthing and the legal setling thereof on the Colledge according to the true intention of the dead He deserved to live in better times The delivering his judgement on the King's side in the case of Ship-money cost him much trouble and brought him much honour as who understood the consequence of that Maxâme Salus populi suprema lex and that Ship-money was thought legal by the best Lawyers voted down arbitrarily by the worst Parliament they hearing no Counsel for it though the King heard all men willingly against it Yea that Parliament thought themselves not secure from it unless the King renounced his right to it by a new Act of his own Men have a touch-stone to try Gold and Gold is the touch-stone to try Men. Sir William Noy's gratuity shewed that this Judges Inclination was as much above corruption as his Fortune and that he would not as well as needed not be base Equally intent was he upon the Interest of the State and the Maximes of Law as which mutually supported each other He would never have a Witness interrupted or helped but have the patience to hear a naked though a tedious truth the best Gold lyeth in the most Ore and the clearest truth in the most simple discourse When he put on his Robes he put off Respects his private affections being swallowed up in the publick service This was the Judge whom Popularity could never
that he was able with his industry and money to give an account of most proceedings In the management whereof he resigned himself to the Duke's disposal professing to own no judgement or affection but what was guided by his direction His own words are these Vntil I know by your Graces favour by what compass to guide my course I can only follow his Majesties revealed will And the Duke's answer this You desire me to give you my opinion My ancient acquaintance long custom of loving you with constancy of friendship invites me to do you this office of good will My Lord of Bristol shuâfled the Cards well but Sir Walter Aston played them best The first set a design but the second pursued it being happy in an humble and respectful carriage which opened the breast and unlocked the hearts of all men to him He that looked downward saw the Stars in the water but he who looked only upward could not see the waters in the Stars Indeed there was in his countenance such a throne of sweetness and his words had so powerful a charm set off with so agreeable and taking gravity that the respect due to him was not lost in the love he had deserved nor the love he attained to abated by the respect he commanded being one that had gave infinite satisfaction in the Negotiations he engaged in Wherein among other things he would urge how unpolitick and unsuccessful it is for the Spaniard to meditate a conquest of Europe where all his Neighbours oppose him rather than Asia where they would all joyn with him out of Interest and Conscience both to secure him from France and carry him towards Turkey at whose doors his friend the Emperour was ready to attaque them upon any Mutiny or Rebellion then frequent among them whose strength saith Machiavâl lyeth more in Tradition than in any real Truth Considering the contâary complexions of the people in point of Inâerest and Religion that can admit of no considerable coalition upon the approach of a Foreign impression Observations on the Life of Sir Julius Caesar. SIr Iulius Caesar's Father being Physitian to Qu. Elizabeth and descended of the ancient Family of the Dalmarii in Italy then living at Tottenham neer London This his Son was bred in Oxford and after other intermediate preferments was advanced Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancastâr and sworn a Privy-Councellor on Sunday the sixth of Iuly 1607. and afterwards was preferred Master of the Rolls A Person of prodigious bounây to all of worth or want so that he might seem to be Almoner-general of the Nation The story is well known of a Gentleman who once borrowing his Coach which was as well known to poor people as any Hospital in England was so rendevouz'd about with Beggars in London that it cost him all the money in his purse to satisfie their importunity so that he might have hired twenty Coaches on the same terms Sir Francis Bacon Lord Verâlam was judicious in his Election when perceiving his Dissolution to approach he made his last Bed in effect in the house of Sir Iulius He continued more than twenty years Mr. of the Rolls and though heaved at by some Expectants sate still in his Place well poysed therein with his gravity and integrity Vir tantarum Elââmosynarum non movebitur a man of so great Alms and Prayers made by him and for him sâall not be removed Nor was it without a prosperous Omen that his chief House in Hartfordshire was called Benington that is Villa benigna the bountiful Village as one Author will have it or as another Villa beneficii the Town of good turns from the River so named running by it His Arms were these viz. Gules three Roses Argent on a Chief of the first so many Roses of the second embleming the fragrancy of the Memory he hath left behind him His Monument in great St. Hellens London being out of the road of ordinary Fancies was thus designed by himself in form of a Deed in ruffled Parchment in allusion to his Office as Master of the Rolls OMnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos hoc praesens Scriptum pervenerit Sciatis me Iulium Dalmare alias Caesarem Militem utriusque legis Doctorem Elizabethae Reginae Supremae Curiae Admiralitatis judicem unum é Magistris libellorum Jacobo Regi à Privatis Conciliis Cancellarium Scaccarii Scriniorum Magistrum hac prae senti Charta mea Confirmasse me Anuuente Divino Nâmine naturae debitum libenter solviturum quam primum Deo placuerit In cujus rei memoriam Manum meam Sigillum apposui Datum 27 Februarii 1635. Iulius Caesar. Here his Seal or Coat of Arms is affixed and beneath them is written Irrotulatur Caelo He dyed the twenty eighth day of April Anno Domini 1636. in the seventy ninth year of his Age. They say of Witches that they are unable to hurt till they have received an Almâ It 's certain none ever undermined this Gentleman's insufficiency but such as were advanced by his civility a civility that secured him as well as it impowered them making his Grants to all persons double kindnesses by Expedition and cloathing his very Denials in such robes of Courtship as that it was not obviously discernable whether the Request or Denyal were most decent having this peculiar to himself That he was very cautious of Promises lest falling to an Incapacity of performance he might forfeit his Reputation and multiply his certain Enemies by his design of creating uncertain Friends Besides he observed a sure principle of rising viz. That great persons esteem better of such they have done great Courtesies to than those they have received great Civilities from looking upon this as their disparagement thâ other as their glory Observations on the Lives of Sir Henry Sir Lucius Sir Henry Cary Lords Viseounts Faulkland A Race of accomplished men the ornaments and supports of their Countrey which they served with no lesse faithfulness and prudence in their Negotiations abroad than honour and justice in their Places at home Of such a Stock of reputation as might kindle a generous emulation in Strangers and a noble ambition in thoâe of their own Family Henry Cary Viâcount Falkland in Scotland son to Sir Edward Cary was born at Aldnam in Herâfordshire being a most acplished Gentleman and a compleat Courtier By King Iames he was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland and well discharged his Trust therein But an unruly Colt will fuââ and chafe though neither switch nor spur meerly because back'd The Rebellious Irish will complain only because kept in subjection though with never so much lenity the occasion why some hard speeches were passed on his Government Some beginning to counterfeit his hand he used to incorporate the year of his age in a knot flourished beneath his name concealing the day of his birth to himself Thus by comparing the date of the month with his own Birth-day unknown to such Forgers he not
only discovered many false Writings which were past but also deterred dishonest Chearers from attempting the like for the future He made good use of Bishop Usher's Interest while he was there as appears by the excellent Speech that the Bishop made for the King's supply Being recalled into England he lived honourably in the County aforesaid until by a sad casualty he broke his Leg on a Stand in Theobald's Park and soon after dyed thereof He married the sole Daughter and Heir of Sir Lawrence Tanfield Chief Baron of the Exchequer by whom he had a fair Estate in Oxfordshire His death happened Anno Dom. 1620. being Father to the most accomplish-Statesman 2. Lucius Lord Falkland the wildness of whose youth was an argument of the quickness of his riper years He that hath a spirit to be unruly before the use of his reason hath mettle to be active afterwards Quick-silver if fixed is incomparable besides that the adventures contrivances secrets confidence trust compliance with opportunity and the other sallies of young Gallants prepare them more serious undertakings as they did this noble Lord great in his Gown greater in his Buffe able with his Sword abler with his Pen a knowing Statesman a learned Scholar and a stout man One instance of that excess in learning and other great perfections which portended ruine to this Nation in their opinion who write that all Extreams whether of Vertue or Vice are ominous especially that unquiet thing call'd Learning whose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth its own period and that of the Empire it flourisheth in a too universally dilated Learning being not faithful to the settlements either of Policy or Religion it being no less ready to discover blemishes in the one than Incongruities in the other Sophisters saith my smart Author like the Countrey of the Switz being as able upon the least advantage proposed to engage on the wrong side as on the right As to go no further this excellent Personage being among the Demagogues that had been for twelve years silenced and were now to play the prize in Parliament and shew their little twit-twat but tedious faculties of speaking makes the bitterest Invective against the Governours and government of the Church that ever was penned in English â which though designed by him it 's thought only to allay the fury of the Faction by some compliance with it carried things beyond the moderation and decency of that Assembly which he made too hot for himself retyring in cooler thoughts as many more that like Brutus could not lay the stormâ they had raised to Oxford where his Pen was more honourably imployed in deâecting the fundamental Error of Rome their infallibility and countermining the main props of Westminster their Hypocrisie this as Secretary the other as a Student in both laying open the little preâensions whereby poor people were insnared in their Civil and Religious Liberty Much was the gall always in his Ink and very sharp his Pen but even flowing and full his Style such as became him whose Learning was not an unsetled mass of reading that whirled up and down in his head but fixed Observations that tempered with solid prudence and experience were the steady Maxims of his Soul fitted for all times and occasions he having sate as some Noble-mens sons used to do formerly in the House of Lords behind the Chair of State from his very child-hood and owning a large heart capable of making that universal inspection into things that much becomes a Gentleman being a Master in any thing he discoursed of Insomuch that his general knowledge husbanded by his wit and set off by his Meine and Carriage attracted many to come as far to see him as he professed he would go to see Mr. Daillee which rendred him no less necessary than admirable at Court until his Curiosity engaging him at Newbery he was strangely slain there dying as he lived till then between his Friends and Enemies to the King 's great grief who valued him because he understood his parts and services in the Treaty at Oxford where he was eminent for two things the timing of Propositions and concealing of Inclinations though no man so passionate for his dedesign as never enduring that hope that holds resolution so long in suspence but ever allaying it with that fear that most commonly adviseth the best by supposing the worst His usual saying was I pity unlearned Gentlemen in a rainy day 3. He was Father first to Henry Lord Falkland whose quick and extraordinary parts and notable spirit performed much and promised more having a great command in the Countrey where he was Lord-Lieutenant a general respect in the house where he was Member a great esteem at Court with his Majesty and his Royal Highness the Duke of York where he was both wit and wisdom When there was the first opportunity offered to honest men to act he laid hold of it and got in spight of all opposition to a thing called a Parliament By same token that when some urged he had not sowed his wilde Oats he is said to reply If I have not I may sow them in the House where there are Geese enough to pick them up And when Sir F. N. should tell him he was a little too wilde for so grave a service he is reported to reply Alas I am wilde and my Father was so before me and I am no Bastard as c. In which Contention he out-did the most active Demagogues at their own weapon speaking When Major Huntington and his followers were for the long Parliament Sir F. N. L. S. c. were for the secluded Members My Lord carried all the County for an absolute free Parliament which he lived to see and act in so successfully that he was voted generally higher in trusts and services had he not been cut off in the prime of his years as much missed when dead as beloved when living A great instance of what a strict Education for no man was harder bred a general Converse and a noble Temper can arrive to and what an Orator can do in a Democracy where the Affections of many is to be wrought upon rather than the judgment of few to be convinced A golden tongue falling under a subtle head under such a constitution hath great influence upon the whole Nation Observations on the Life of Sir James Ley Earl of Marlborough SIr Iames Ley son of Henry Ley Esquire one of great Ancestry who saith my Author on his own cost with his men valiantly served King Henry the Eighth at the siege of Boloin being his Fathers sixth son and so in probability barred of his inheritance endeavoured to make himself an Heir by his Education applying his Book in Brazeâ-Nose-Colledge and afterwards studying the Laws of the Land in Lincolus-Inne wherein such his proficiency King Iames made him Lord Chief-Justice in Ireland Here he practised the charge King Iames gave him at his going over yea what his own tender Conscience gave
himself namely not to build his Estate upon the ruines of a miserable Nation but aiming by the unpartial execution of Justice not to enrich himself but civilize the People But the wise King would no longer loose him out of his own Land and therefore recalled him home about the time when his Fathers Inheritance by the death of his five elder brethren descended upon him It was not long before Offices and Honours flowed in fast upon him being made by King Iames 1. Attorney of the Court of Wards 2. Chief-Justice of the Upper Bench the 18 of his Reign Ian. 29. 3. Lord Treasurer of England in the 22 of his Reign Dec. 22. 4. Baron Ley of Ley in Devonshire the last of the same month King Charls 1. Earl of Marlborough in Wiltshire immediately after the King's Coronation 2. Lord President of the Council in which place he diedâ Anno Dom. 1629. He was a person of great Gravity Ability and Integrity And as the Caspian Sea is observed neither to ebbe nor flow so his mind did not rise or fall but continued the same constancy in all conditions a good temper enough for a Judge but not for a Statesman and foâ any Statesman but a Lord Treasurer and for any Lord Treasurer but in King CHARLES his active time who was put to it to find out such stirring men as might recover him from the hazard and defection he was fallen into in Purse and Power Observations on the Life of Sir John Cook SIr Iohn Cook younger Brother to Sir Francis Cook born at Trusley in the Hundred of Apple-tree in Derbyâshire of ancient and worshipful Parentage and allied to the best Family in that Countrey was bred Fellow of Trinity-Colledge in Cambridge where his wit being designed his Estate he was chosen Rhetorick-Lecturer in the University where he grew eminent for his ingenious and critical reading in that School where Rhetorick seemed to be not so much an Art as his Nature being not only the subject but the very frame of his Discourse Then travelled he beyond the Seas âor some years when his judgment was fitted for foreign Observations by domestick experience in the company of a Person of quality â returning thence rich in Languages Remarks and Experience waving all the dangers incident to him for his Religion by a wary Profesâion that he came to learn and not to search being first related to Sir Fulke Grevil Lord Brook who did âll mens business but his own âhe was thenceâ preferred to be Secretary to the Navy their Master of the Requests ââod at last Secretary of Stateâ for twenty years together Being a very zealous Protestant he did all good offices for the advancement of true Religion His Contemporaries character him a grave and a prudent man in gaâeâ apparel and speech one that hâd his Intellectâââs very perfect in the dispatch of business till he was eighty years old when foreseeing those Intrigues that might be too hard for his years he with his Majesties good leave retired as Moses did âo âie when his eyes were not dim c. having kept himself strictly to the Law of the Land Insomuch that being sent to command Biâhop Williams from Westminsterâ and being asked by the stout Bishop by what authority he commanded a man out of his house and his free-hold he was so tender of the point that he never rested till he had his pardon for it Muâiâââââo he had to keep the King's favour for his compliance with the Faction witness his third submission and as much ado to retain âhe Factions good opinion for his service to the King wâtness his several Apologies in Parliament to this purpose That it was a hard thing that they who should have thanks for the good offices they did the People with the KING had now nothing but censures for the same offices they did the King with his people Never was any man more put to it to reconcilâ the two readings of that Text ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which he could never have done but that his old rule safe-guarded him viz. That no man should let what is unjustifiable or dangerous appear under his hand to give Envy a steady aim at his place or person nor mingle Interests with great men made desperate by debts or Court-injuries whose falls hath been ruinous to their wisest followers nor pry any further into secrecy than rather to secure than shew himself nor impart that to a friend that may impower him to be an enemy Besides that his years excused in him that caution some obâtinate men want that are broken with vicissâudes because they consider not that the forwardest in turmoyls are least regarded when things return to a calm He served the time out of Christian discretion in finding out the seasons of things commendably He complyed out of some infirmity in particular accommodaâions pardonably but neither of ignorance or design iâ pursuance of his own or any other mans plot unfaithfully Indeed he must have wrenched and sprained his grave soul with the short turningâ in those dayes if it had been tâue that he should shuffle a Scots Paper instead of the genuine Articles of Pacificatâon at York which the Earls of Holland Pembrook c. disavowed to the Northern Commissioners faces my Lord of Pembrook saying That indeed as he took Horse and his Friends being busie about him such a Paper was put into his hand but he opened it not untill he came to his Majesty and his Majesty burned in the face of both Kingdoms whereby they say he was dismissed which I am not willing to believe only I find him hereafter bring Propositions from the Parliament as they called it to the King as actively as formerly he had carried Messages from the King to the Parliament Indeed he had an happy mixture of Disâretion and Charity whereby he could allow to things persons more than men of streighter apprehensions or narrower affections were able to do Indeed though as I told you otherwise wary he broke an Affair to a Partizan that kept him under all his days he that entertains a dangerous design puts his head into an halter and the halter into his hand to whom he first imparts it Sir Francis Winâebank and he fell into extreams which balanced might have fupported the Government if they had directed their particular inclinations and indulgences by the measures of the general interest and temper Observations on the Life of the Earl of Danby ALl that I find of this plain Noble-maâ is wâitten on his Tomb-stone at Dantsey in Wilâshire Here lyeth the Body of Henry Danvers second son to Sir Iohn Danvers Knight and Dame Eâizabeth Daughter and Co-Heir to Nevil Lord Latimââ He was born at Dantsey in the County of Wilts Anno Dom. 1573. being bred up partly in the Low-Countrey Wats under Maurice Eârl of Nassaw afterwards Prince of Orange and in many other Military actions of those âimes both by Sea and by Land He was made a
Captain in the Military Wars of France and there Knighted for his good service under Henry the fourth the then French King He was employed as Lieutenant of the Horse and Serjeant-Major of his whole Army in Ireland under Robert Earl of Essex and Charles Baron of Mountjoy in the Reign of Qâeen Eliz. By King Iames the firstâ he was made Baron of Dantsey and Peer of this Realm as also Lord President of Munster and Governour of Guernsey By King Charles the first he was created Earl of Danby made one of his Privy-Councel and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter In his later time by reason oâ impââfect health âoâsiderately declining more ââive Employments full of honours wounds and days he died Anno Domini 1643. LAVS DEO For many years before St. George had not been more magnificently mounted I mean the solemnity of his Feast more sumptuously observed than when this Earl with the Earl of Morton were installed Knights of the Garter One might have there beheld the abridgment of England and Scotland in their Attendance The Scotish Earl like Xeuxes his picture adorned with all Art and costliness whilst our English Earl like the plain sheet of Apelles by the gravity of his Habit got the advantage of the gallantry of his Cortival with judicious beholders He died without Issue in the beginning of our Civil Wars and by his Will made 1639. seâled his large Estate on his hopeful Nephew Henry D' Anvers snatch'd away beâore fully of age to the great grief of all good men Observations on the Life of Sir George Crook SIr George Crook son of Sir Iohn Crook and Elizabeth Unton his Wife was born at Chilton in Buckingham-shire in the second year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth bred first in Oxford then a double Reader in the Inner Temple Sergeant at Law and the King's Sergeant Justice first of the Common Bench 22. Iac. and then of the Upper Bench 4 Caroli His ability in his Profession is sufficiently attested by his own printed Reports Eight eminent Judges of the Law out of their knowledge of his great Wisdom Learning and Integrity approving and allowing them to be published for the common benefit His only defect was that he was against the ancient Naval-aid called Ship-money both publickly in Westminster-Hall and privately in his judgement demanded by the King even at that time when our Neighbours not only incroached upon our Trade but disputed our right in the Narrow-seas though concluded to subscribe according to the course of the Court by plurality of Voices The Country-mans wit levelled to his brain will not for many years be forgotten That Ship-money may be gotten by Hook and not by Crook though since they have paid Taxes Loyns to the little finger and Scorpions to the rod of Ship-money but whether by Hook or Crook let others enquire Hampden's share for which he went to Law being but eighteen shillings though it cost the Nation since eighteen millions Considering his declining and decaying age and desiring to examine his life and prepare an account to the supream Judge he petitioned King Charlâs for a Writ of Eâse which though in some sort denyed what wise Master would willingly part with a good Servant was in effect granted unto him For the good King exacting from his Subjects no services beyond their years and abilities and taking it better at his hands that he confessed his infirmities than if he had concealed them discharged him for the pains though he allowed him the fees and honour of Chief-Justice while he lived Wherefore in gratitude as well as conscience however he was misled in âhe foresaid matter of Syhip money he abhorâed the Faction heartily for he would say of Hampden He is a dangerous person take heed of him and loved the Church as heartily for we are told by a person of great worth and credit Thât having read over the Book of Canons 1640 when it first came out and was so much spoken against he lifted up his hands and gave hearty thanks to Almighty God that he had lived to see sâch good effects of a Convocation In a word he was no less in his Life than he is in his Epitaph now dead which runs thus Georgius Crook Eques Auratus unus justiciariorum de Banco Regis Iudicio Linceato animo presenti insignis vâritatis haeres quem nec mina nec bonos allexit Regis au horitatem populi libertatem aequâ lance Libravit Religione cordatus vitâ innocuus manu expansâ Corde humili pauperes irrogavit mundum vicit deseruit Anno AErat Lxxxii Annoque R. C. I. xvii Anno Domini MDCXLI Observations on the Life of Sir Rob. Armstroder HE was a great Soldier a skilful Antiquary and a good Fellow In the first capacity I finde him bringing off five hundred English for three miles together without the loss of a man from six thousand Spaniards along a plain Champion where the Enemy might have surrounded them at pleasure Well he could handle bright armour in the Field better he understood that more rusty in the Tower therefore in his second capacity we have him picking up old Coyn valuing more a Dollar which he might study than a pound he might spend Yet though his mind was taken with the Curiosities of former Times his inclination was very compliant with the mode of his own for he was excellent company in which capacity none more prevalent than he in Germany where they talk much none more acceptable in Denmark where they drink hard none more taking in Sweden where they droll smartly His humble propâsition and submission in behalf of the Elector was accepted by the Emperour 1630. He went to Denmark and the first night he arrived he pleased the King so well in drinking healths that his Majesty ordered that his business should be dispatch'd that very night and he shipped when asleep as he was to his own amazement when awaked and the amazement of all England when returned he being here before some thought he had been there Humour is the Misterss of the world Neither was he more intenâ upon the pleasing oâ Foreign Princes than careful in the honour of his own especially in his faith word and impregnable honesty for he knew a faithless Prince is beloved of none but suspected by his friends not trusted of his enemies and forsaken of all men in his greaâest necessities Yet he was not so taken with antique Medals abroad but he promoted a new invention at home for to him Sir H. Wotton we owe it that F. Klein the German a very eminent Artist in working Tapestry came over to serve K. Charls the first a Virtuoso judicious in all Liberal mechanical Arts and for 100 pounds per ann pension so improved that Manufacture at this time very compleat at Mortlack in a house built by Sir Franciâ Crane upon King Iames his motion who gave two thousand pounds towards it in that place General
nor the Courts-advancements of his Relations this Gentleman to sit still having both Livis's qualifications for an eminent man a great spirit and a gallant conduct for actions a sharp wit and a fluent tongue for advice Whence we meet with him Comptroller of the Kings Houshold at home and his Agent for Peace abroad equally fit for business of courage and resolution and for affairs of Councel and complement I think it was this Gentleman who foreseeing a Contest likely to ensue between the English and the Spanish Embassadors to the first whereof he belonged went to Rome privately and fetched a Certificate out of the book of Ceremonies which according to the Canon giveth the rule in such cases shewing that the King of England was to precede him of Castile a good argument because ad homines wise men having always thought fit to urge not what is most rational in its self but what all circumstances considered is most convincing Sirâ Thomas Edmonds used to puzzle the Catholicks about six Records 1. The original of Constantine's grant of Rome to the Pope 2. St. Mark 's grant of the Adriatique Gulph to Venice 3. The Salique Law in France 4. The Instrument whereby King Iohn pasâed away England to the Pope 5. The Letter of King Lucius And 6. The Ordinal of the Consecration at the Nags-head Neither did he perplex them with these Quaeries more than he angered the Faction with his principles Tertio Car. â 1. That the King was to be trusted 2. That the Revenue was to be setled 3. That the Protestant cause was to be maintained 4. That Jealousies were to be removed and things past were to be forgotten Observations on the Life of Sir Paul Pindar HE was first a Facâor then a Merchant next a Consul and at last an Embassador in Tuâkey Whence returning with a good purse and a wary Head-piece he cast about what he might do to gratifie K. Iames and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury most and finding them much pleased with acts of Charity and Piety he repaired the Entry Front and Porches of St. Paul's Cathedral to all the upper Church Quiâe and Chancel and enriched them with Marble structures and figures of the Apostles with carvings and guildings far exceeding their former beauty which cost above two thousand pounds the act of a good man said K. Iames who made him one of the great Farmers of the Customs in gratitude whereof Sir Paul besides his former expences took upon him to new build the South Isle which cost him above 17000 l. A Projector such necessary Evils then countenanced and be a Clergy-man too informed K. Iames how he might speedily advance his Revenue by bringing in Spiritual preferments now forsooth under-rated in the Kings books to a full value to the great encrease of first-Fruits and Tenths the King demands the Lord Treasurer Cranfield's judgement thereof he said Sir You are esteemeâ a great lovâr of Learning you know Clergy-mens Education is chargeable their preferment slow and small Let it not be said you gain by grinding them other ways less obnoxious to just censure will be found out to furnish your occasions The King commended the Treasurer as doing it only for tryal adding moreover I should have accounted thee a very Knave if encouraging me herein But he sends for Sir Paul Pindar and tells him he must either raise the Customs or take this course who answered him nobly That he would lay thirty thousand pounds at his feet the morrow rather than he should be put upon such poor projects as unsuitable to his honour as to his inclination Go thy way saith the King thou art a good man Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Vane Senior THree things Henry the fourth of France said would puzzle any man 1. Whether Queen Elizabeth was a Maid 2. Whether the Prince of Orange was valiant 3. What Religion he himself was of To which I may add a fourth viz. what Sir Henry Vane was whom I know not what to call but what Mr. Baxter calleth his son a hider the Fathers life being as mystical aâ the Sons faith men as little understanding the actions of the one as they did the writing of the other But the two powers that govern the world the best and the worst are both invisible All Northern men are reserved to others but this was too ââe for his own Countrey-men neither Sir Iohn Savile that brought him to Court nor Sir Thomas Wentworth that advanced him theâe understanding either his temper or his design He betrayed any Council he was present at and marred all the Actions he was employed in As 1. When he was sent to relate the Emperor's overture to thâ Queen of Bohemia of thirty thousand pounds per ann and a Marriage between her eldest Son and his Daughter he did it with those ackward ciâcumstances that transported the good Lady to such unseasonable expressions as at that time blasted her cause and expectations And thence it 's thought he brought Sir Robert Dudley's Rhapsody of Projects to disparage the King's government under pretence of supplying his necessiâies it waâ the way of the late Underminers to relieve their Masters present need upon future inconveniences hiding themselves under Proposals plausible for the present and fatal in the consequence which juggles of his were so long too little to be considered that at last they were too great to be remedied 2. He is said to have shuffled other Conditions into the Pacification at York where he was a Commissioner than were avowed by the Lords Commissioners much insisted on by the Scots and burned by the common Hang-man as false and contrary to the true Articles 3. When sent to the House 1640. to demand 12 or 8 or six Subsidies he requireth without abatement twelve with design as it 's judged to ask so much as might enrage the Parliament to give nothing and so to be dissolved unhappily or continued unsuccessfully 4. He and his son together betray the Votes passed in the select Council taken by him privately under his âat for the reducing of Scotland to the ruine of the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The story is Sir Henry Vane was trusted with the Junctoâ where he took Notes of their several opinions these Notes he puts up in his Closet A while after he delivers to his son Sir H. Vane Junior a key to fetch some papers out of a Cabinet in which he finds another key to an inward shutter which he opened and lighted upon this Paper and communicates it to Mr. Pym for the end aforesaid and upon this very Paper doest not tremble Reader at this Treason alone the House of Commons voted that brave Earl out of his Life the same day that twenty two years after the same Sir Henry Vane Junior lost his head Abselvi numen Observations on the Life of Sir Richard Hutton SIr Richard Hutton was born at Perith of a worshipful Family his elder brother was a
dissatisfied and bold in his followers irregular and pretending in the Law well seen in the Scripture very ready in the occurrences of his age very exact at Lectures most constant to the liberty of the Subject then the Diana of the age most faithful insomuch that he made a motion 1628. That they who stood for the Liberties forsooth then called the Lower-House Lords of the Upper-House not fifty might make their Protestation upon record and that the other party should with subscription of their names enter their reason upon Record that posterity might not be to seek good lack who they were that so ignobly betrayed the Liberty of our Nation And this being done they should resolve themselves to a Committee and proceed to vote Yet so well acquainted with the King's temper that he would take any occasion of his being pleased by the Parliament to insinuate himself into favour with all his Male-contents as Bishop Williams Earl of Lincoln Earl of Essex the Earl of Warwick c. As he wrought upon the peoples humour in that point of Liberty so he did upon the Nobilities temper in another of Ambition For in a Petition to King Iames against Foreign titles of Honour we finde him first in design though last in subscription teaching Essex Warwick St. Iohn for they joyned with him to tilt against their Soveraign's Prerogative with their Peâs as they did after with their Swords And when this failed the wise King awing the young Lords to renounce that asunder which they had subscribed together none so bold as the factions in company none so fearful apart the Champion of English honour and priviledge becomes the Patron of Propriety too for we read Ter. Hill Anno 14. Car. 1. in Banco Regis the Lord Say's Case Action for Crover and Conversion of thrée Oxen taken a great matter for thrée pounds five shillings by the Sheriff of Lincoln upon the Plaintiff towards the finding of a Ship A good reason for going to Law first and then to war with his Soveraign as he did afterwards when he had sent his son Nathaniel with Hampden and Lawrence 1639. to settle the League with their dear Brethren in Scotland while he formed the grand Design in England with so much success that when there were some Overtures made for saving the Earl of Strafford and securing the Kingdom by the Party upon condition of preferment as that Master Hampden should be Tutor to the Prince the Earl of Essex his Governour Mr. Pym Chancellor of the Exchequer the Earl of Warwick Vice-Admiral he was to be Master of the Court of Wards which he compassed when the rest mist of their expectation No more of him but that the King going to Scotland he refusing a Protestation against the Scots had these questions proposed to him 1. Whether he would go with the King at his own charge 2. Whether Rebellion was a just cause of War 3. Whether the taking of Castles Towns Magazines c. was not Rebellion To the first he answered That though as a Peer and Subject he could not be forced out of his Countrey but upon extraordinary occasion yet out of affection to his Majesty he would attend him referring the matter of charge to himself To the two last he said he understood not the Law of Scotland but that those proceedings were Treason in England Observations on the Life of the Earl of Lindsey HE and that whole Family I know not whether more pious or more valiant whether more renowned abroad as Confessors for their Religion or as Champions for their Country have been in this last Age an ornament and a defence to this Crown equally reverenced by the Subjects of it and honoured by the Soveraigns This Noble-man and the Earl of Essex did as Iugurtha and Manus learn in one School what they practised in two The one as a faithful Subject for that government that had obliged his Family the other as a discontented Rebel against that that had disobliged his Both Commanders for the Palatinate against the Emperor and for Rochel against the French When the Duke of Buckingham returned from the Isle of Rhee his Majesty told him The neglect of his relief must lâdge on his Friend and Confident Holland To which he acknowledged That indeed he had very affectionately intrusted him in ordinary Affairs but never in such an esteem as to second him in arms that place being more proper for my Lord of Lindsey whose judgement of that Expedition was That it was friendship in earnest and War in jest He it was that pursued twelve French Vessels in his own single one to their Haven heaâed at once with anger and shame he it was who when all men were amazed at the Duke's fall was assigned his successor Certainly saith one there present He was a person of no likely presence but of considerable experience by his former Expeditions and one that to the last of his life made good his faith with Gallantry and Courage notwithstanding his ill success the times fate rather than his fault 1. In scouring the narrow Seaâ where he was Admiral and the Earl of Essex Vice-Admiral 2. In presiding in several great Courts on many solemn occasions the Earl of Strafford's unparellel'd Tryal c. And 3. In leading the King's Army at Edge-Hill with a Pike in his hand Where what is observed of Cataline and his followers was true of this noble Earl and his Country-men the Loyal Gentry of Lincolnshire that they covered the same place with their Corps when dead where they stood in the fight whilst living Observations on the Life of Iudge Richardson IUdge Richardson was born at Mulbarton in Norfolk his Father being Minister thereof and he a friend to Ministers though a foe of the Church He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and became the King's Sergeant therein Afterwards on the 28 of November 1926. he was sworn Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas that Place having been void ten months before wherein he was humoursom but honest only unhappy in that he raised the Sabbatarian Controversie by his orders aginst Wakes in Somersetshire His Brass Monument on the South-side of Westminster-Abby thus entertaineth the Reader Deo om Thomââ Richardsoni Icaeni Equitis Aurati Humduum Dâpositum Ille Iuris Municip omnes gradus exantlavit Conventus tertii ordinis ann Jacobi Regis 21 22. Prolocutor exâitit Fori civilis communium Placitorum vocant Supremum Magistratum quinquennium gessit Ad summum tandem primarii per Angliam Iudicis Tribunal A Rege Carolo evectus expiravit Anno AEtatis 66. Salutis MDCXXXIV Tho. Richardson fil unicus Eques Aur. Baro Scotiae designatus Patri incomparabili posuit As one reason of his advancement you must know this Judge married for his second Wife the Lady Eliz. Beaumont the Sister as I take it of Mary Countess of Buckingham and the Relict of Ashburnham Knight She was by K. Charles created Baroness of Croumont in Scotland and
though Issuless by the Judge the Honour descended to his Grand-child He died an enemy to Bishop Williams over-ruling all his Pleas in his Chamber in a quarter of an hour and yet which was strange at that time no friend to Arch-Bishop Laud for he said The Lawn-sleeves had choaked him Observations on the Life of Sir Tho. Coventry A Competent Estate he had for his education and excellent Abilities for advancement his âortune was not wanting to his parts nor his parts to his fortune the one being as ready to support as the other was to raise him His staid soul was well prepared for general learning in the Schools University for his parâicular leaâning at the Iââs of Court his skill in the study of Law called him no sooner to the Bar than his prudence to Court Take we his character from his Honour Why was he creaâed Lord Coventry of Alisbury and Keeper of the great Sâal Why saith the Paâent for his eminent fidelity for his most worthy service for his exact circumspection for his deep prudence for his constant resolution for his skill and dexterity for his integrity and industry for his immoveableness and fidelity No man more appâehensive of the interest of England none more faithful to it His kindness to the Church and Clergy argued his piety his safe Counsels to his Majesty argued his moderation his dignity rather enjoyed him than he it A man he was that filled up his great capacities having digested a body of the most honest Law and a scheme of the most innocent policy that ever filled the head of an able Statesman or the heart of an upright Judge What belonged to him he knew and what he knew he practised He was as constant to his rule as he knew his rule was to him Reserved he was as the King's Councellor honest as his conscience We measure Pyramides by their shadows and this great Lord by his followers every one whereof was eminent in his way and all advanced Each Action of his though never so little yet great as himself so gravely did he manage it so solemnly did he perform it His orders were seldom reversed because mostly including the consent of Parties Few Attorney-Generals came off with less cânsure and few Lord Keepers with less guilt his Predecessors miscarriages being foils to set off his exactness Eminent as in most other Cafes so particularly in that of Pryn Bastwick and Burton against whom when after six weeks time given them to put in an effectual Answer they urged that their Adversaries the Bishops should not be their Judges He replyed smartly That by that Plea had they Libelled all the Magâstrates in the Lând none should pass Censure upon them because all were made parties He had fifteen years enjoyed his Place not more proper to say that Dignity had enjoyed him so long this latter age âffording not one every way of more apt Qualifications for the place His front and presence bespake a venerable regard not inâeriour to any of his Antecessors His train and suit of Followers was disposed agreeable to shun both Envy and Contempt Vain and ambitious he was not his port was state though others ostentation Of what concerned his place he knew enough and which is the main acted conformable to his knowledge For in the Administration of Justice he was so erect so incorrupt as captious malice stands mute in the blemish of his Fame A miracle the greater when we consider he was also a Privy-Councellor A trust wherein he served his Master the King most faithfully and the more faithfully because of allâ those Councels which did disserve his Majesty he was an earnest disswader and did much disaffect those sticklers who laboured to make the Prerogative rather tall than great as knowing that such men loved the King better than Charles Stuart So that although he was a Courtier and had had for his Master a Passion most intense yet had he always a passion reserved for the publick welfare an argument of a free noble and right-principled mind For what both Court and Country have always held as inconsistent is in truth erroneous And no man can be truly loyal who is not also a good Patriot nor any a good Patriot which is not truly loyal Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford SIr Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford oweth his birth to the best governed City London his breeding to the best modelled School York and a most exact Colledge St. Iohns in Cambridge his accomplishments to the best Tutors Travel and Experience and his prudence to the best School a Parliament whither he came in the most active and knowing times with a strong brain and a large heart his activity was eminent in his Country and his interest strong in Parliament where he observed much and pertinently spake little but home contrived effectually but closely carried his Designs successfully but reservedly He apprehended the publick temper as clearly and managed it to his purposes as orderly as any man He spoke least but last of all with the advantage of a clear view of others reasons the addition of his own He and his leading Confidânts moulded that in a private Conference which was to be managed in a publick Assembly He made himself so considerable a Patriot that he was bought over to be a Courtier So great his Abilities that he awed a Monarchy when dis-obliged and supported it when engaged the balance turning thither where this Lord stood The North was reduced by his prudence and Ireland by his interest He did more there in two years than was done in two hundred before 1. Extinguishing the very reliques of the War 2. Setting up a standing Army 3. Modelling the Revenue 4. Removing the very roots and occasions of new troubles 5. Planting and building 6. Setling Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts 7. Recovering the hearts of the people by able Pastors and Bishops by prudent and sober Magistrates by justice and protection by obligations and rewards 8. Recovering the Churches patrimony and discipline 9. Employing most able and faithful Ministers and Instruments 10. Taking an exact view of all former Precedents Rules and Proceedings 11. An exact correspondence with his Majesty and the Favourites of England None was more conversant in the Factions Intrigues and Designs than he when a Common-wealths-man none abler to meet with them than he when a Statesman he understood their methods kenned their wiles observed their designs looked into their combinations comprehenââd their interest And as King Charls understood best of any Monarch under heaven what he could do in point of Conscience so his Strafford apprehended best of any Counsellor under the Sun what he could do in point of power He and my Lord of Canterbury having the most particular account of the state of Great Britain and Ireland of any persons living Nature is often hidden sometimes overcome seldom extinguished yet Doctrine and Discourse had much allayed the severity
of this Earl's nature and Custom more None more austere to see to none more obliging to speak with He observed pauses in his discourse to attend the motion and draw out the humour of other men at once commanding his own thoughts and watching others Hâs passion was rather the vigour than the disorder of his well-weighed soul which could dispense its ânger with as much prudence as it managed any act of State He gave his Majesty safe counsel in the prosperity of his Affairs and resolute advice in Extreamity as a true servant of his interest rather âhan of his power So eminent was he and my Lord of Canterbury that Rebellion despaired of success as long as the fiâst lived and Schism of licentiousness as loâg as the second stood Take my Lord of Strafford as accused and you will find his Integrity and Ability that he managed his whole Government either by the Law or the Interest of his Countrey Take him as dying and you will see his parts and piety his resolution for himself his selâ-resignation for the Kingdoms good his devotion for the Church whose patrimony he forbad his son upon his blessing Take him as dead you will find him glorious and renowned in these three characters The first of the best King I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State for those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great Errors and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract great store while moving in so high a sphere and with so vâgorus a lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious exhalations which condensed by a popular Odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and integrity though I cannot in my judgment approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of Times and the temper of that People more than led by his own disposition to any heighth and rigour of Action c. The second of the best Historian He was a person of a generous spirit fitted for the noblest Exercises and the most difficult parts of Empire His Counsels were bold yet just and he had a vigour proper for the execution of them Of an eloquence next that of his Masters masculine and excellent He was no less affectionate to the Church than to the State and not contented while living to defend the government and patrimony of it he commended it also to his Son when he was about to dye and charged his abhorrency of sacriledge His enemies called the Majesty of his mâene in his Lieutenancy pride and the undaunted execution of his Office on the Contumacious the insolency of his fortune He was censured for that fatal error of following the King to London and to the Parliament after the Pacification at York And it was thought that if he had gone over to his Charge in Ireland he might have scoured both himself and that Kingdom for his Majesties service But some attribute this Counsel to a necessity of fate whose first stroke is at the Brain of those whom it designs to ruine and brought him to feel the effects of popular rage which himself in former Parliaments had used against Government and to finde the experience of his own devices upon the Duâe of Buckingham Providence teacheth us to abhor over fine Councels by the mischiefs they often bring upon their Authors The third of common fame A Gentleman he was of rare choice and singular Endowments I mean of such as modelled fashioned and accomplished him for State-conceraments of a searching and penetrating judgment nimble apprehension ready and fluent in all results of Councel Most happy in the vein of speech which was always round perspicuous and express much to the advantage of his sânse and so full stocked with reason that he might be rather said to demonstrate than to argue As these abilities raised him to State-administration so his Addressing his applying those abilities so faithfully in promotion of the Royal Interest soon rendered him a Favourite of the first admission So that never King had a more intelligent and withal a firmer servant than he was to his Master But these qualities which rendred him so aimiable to his Majesty represented him formidable to the Scots so that some who were not well perswaded of the justness of his sentence thought he suffered not so much for what he had done already as for what he was like to have done had he lived to the disservice of that Nation And that he was not sacrificed so much to the Scots revenge as to their fear And certainly his fall was the first so the most fatal wound the King's Interest ever received Hâs three Kingdoms hardly affording another Strafford that is one man his peer in parts and fidelity to his Majesty He had a singular passion for the Government and Patrimony of the Church both which he was studious to preserve safe and sound either opening them to be of sacred extraction or at least prudent constitution relating to holy performances And had he wanted these positive graces yet in so great a Person it may be commendable that he was eminent for privative and negative Excellencies being not taxable with any Vice those petty pleasures being beneath the satisfaction of a soul so large as his In short saith the ingenious Gentleman he was a man who might have passed under a better notion had he lived in better times This last period is a question since this great Statesman and his good Masters goodness was so over-shadowed with their greatness and their vertues so lost in their power as the Sun the aptest parallel of their lustre and benificence is hid in his own light that they owe their great but glorious fame to their misfortunes and their renown to their ruine that levelled their worth otherwise as much out of their reach as their place to vulgar apprehensions Eclipsed lustre like a veiled beauty is most looked on when most covered The setting Sun is more glorious than its self in its Meridian because more low and the lowest Planet seems biggest to a common eye So faithâul he was and the Arch-Bishop that in the Juncto consisting of them two and Duke Hamilton they voted a Parliament though they knew themselves the first sufferers by it and so confident of his integrity that when he had treason enough discovered at the late transactions in York touching the Scots conspiracy to charge his enemies with he waved the advantage and secure in his own innocence fell an instance of that Maxim That there is no danger small but what is thought so This was his great principle Vsurped Royalty was never laid down by perswasion from Royal clemency for in armis jus omne regni Observations on the Lives of Henry Earl of Holland and Robert Earl of Warwick HEnry
which Elphyston Borthrick Meldrum Uchiltry c. discovered one to another Qu. 4. What did Ramsey with the Pedigree of Hamilton derived from Iames I. King of Scots in Foreign parts Qu. 5. Why private Instructions had Meldrum to Scottish Officers in the Swedish Army Qu. 6. What was Meldrum Alexander Hamilton and other his Dependants so preferred in the Scots Army Qu. 7. Why were there such Fears and Jealousies whispered in Germany of the English Government Qu. 8. Why was not Ramsey able to give a positive Answer at the Tryal by combate And why did the Marquess take him off before the Controversie was decided Qu. 9. Why is Huntley put by and Hamilton made high Commâssioner Why is discontented Balcanquel employed to pen Declarations And why are the King's Papers Letters c. taken out of his pocket and betrayed to the Scots And why did the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury writing to the King wish him not to trust his own pockets with the Letter Qu. 10. Why doth his Mother ride with pistols at her Saddle-bow leading all her Kindred and Vassals for the Covenant Qu. 11. Why is that time spent in posting to and fro to patch up a base Pacification with the Rebels that might have been employed in suppressing them Q. 12. Why did the Bishops of Rosse and Breâen Sir Robert Spotswood Sir Iohn Hay the Earl of Sterling ride post to England to intreat the King not to trust the Marquess Qu. 13. Why was there so much granted to the Covenanters in Scotland yea and time given them to do their business Q. 14. Why did he forbear the Common-prayer at Dalkieth and neglect to protest the Kings gracious Declaration the justice and clemency whereof had without doubt allayed the commotions Q. 15. Why did he not set out the King 's last Declaration before the Covenanters Protestation was our against it Qu. 16. Why was there nothing done with the Ships sent upon the coasts of Scotland Qu. 17. Why did he so caress his covenanting Mother that the Scots could say The son of so geâd a Mother could do them no harm Qu. 18. Why had he a hand in most of the Monopolies and Projects of England Q. 19. Why did he refuse to contribute as others had done to the Scots Wars Q. 20. Why did he intercede for Lowndon's âelease notwithstanding the traitârous Letter to the French King was his hand Qu. 21. How comes Montross to be flighted by the gracious King at first And when he offered his service again how came his Letters into the Covenanters hands at Newcastle Qu. 22. Why did he and Argyle raise such Fears and Jealouâies in Scotland and England by withdrawing suddenly from the Court under preâence forsooth of danger to their persons Qu. 23. Why could not the King hear of the Scots design to invade England 1643. before Montross posted first to Oxford and then to Gloâcester to tell him of it though the Marquess was all the while in Scotland Qu. 24. And yet why was that noble person mistrusted till the Kings interest was lost in that Country Qu. 25. Why was he and his brother imprisoned at Oxford And why did the King say Nay if Hamilton leads them there is no good to be done for me Qu. 26. Why did the King say That he must dispose of the Master of the Horse place to the Earl of N. That my Lord Cottington was the fittest man for the Treasury and that Sir Edward Hyde was the onely man he could trust with the Secretaries affairs Being loth that D. H. should return to an oppoâtuâity of recozening them Questions these that shew After-ages can scan great mens lives with the same liberty that they live them Observations on the Life of Sir Ralph Hopton GEntile was this excellent person's extraction in the West of England and man-like his Education in the Low-Countreys that School of War where Sir William Waller and he learned in one Camp what they practised in two The one being no less eminent for his service under his late Majesty of blessed memory than the other was for his against him The one was the best Soldier the King had the other the most experienced that the pretended Parliament boasted of None fitter to balance Sir Ralph Hopton's success none likelier to understand his stratagems none abler to undermine his designs than his Fellow-soldier Sir William who understood his method as well as he was acquainted with his person Both were equally active both equally vigilant But what better character of this Heroe than that which his Master gave him in his Patent for Baron which is his history as well as his honour Carolus Dei Gratià Angliae c. Cum Nominis nostri Posteritatis interest ad clara Exempla propaganda utilissimè compertum palam fieri omnibus praemia apud nos virtuti sita nec perire fidelium subditorum officia sed memori benevolo pectore fixissimè insi dere His praesertim temporibus cum plurimâm quibus antehac nimium indulsimus temerata aât suspecta fides pretium aliorum constantiae addidit Cumque nobis certo const at Radulphum Hopton Militem de Balneo splendidis Antiquis Natalibus tum in câtera sua vita integritatis moriâ eximium tum in hac novissima tempestate fatalique Regni rebelâi motu rari animi fideique exemplum edidisse Regiae dignitatis in eaque publicae contra utriusque adversarios assertorem vindicâm acerrimum Quippe quia non solum nascenti huic Furori nec dum omnibus manifesto optimis consiliis fortis in câria Senator restiterit sed insinuante se latius veneno crescente ferocia domum ad suos reversus fortior Miles in Agro suo Somersetensi vicinis partibus omni ope manu iniquissimam causam oppugnaverit in Arce praesertim Sherborniana sub Auspiciis Marchionis Hertfordiae egregiam operam navaverit Mox ulterius progreââus pollenti in Devonia factionis Tyrannide munitissima civitate in foedus illecta jam undique bonis subditis perniciem minante ipse penè in illa Regione Hospes contracto è Cornubia Militeâ primoribus statim impetum âaruâ repressit jacentesque afflictas nostras partees mirifica virtute recreavit Et licet summis necessitatibus conflictanti exigua pars Negotii hostes erant tantum abâuit ut vel illis vel istis succumberet ut contra copiis auctiores bellico apparatu instructissimas saepius signis Collatis in acie dimicans semper superior excesserit Testis Launcestonia Saltash Bradock aliaque obscura olim nomina âoca nunc victoriis illius perduellium cladibus Nobilitatâ Vix etiam ab his respiraverit cum novus belli furor Lassas jam fere continuis praeliis laxatas vires Numerocissimo exècitu adortus uberiorem triumphandi dedit materiam Cum ille in campis Strattoâiae in difficillimas licet Augustias redactus inops militaris instrumenti
consumpio jam pulvere tormentario armatos inermis Vallo munito inter sola causa virtute animatus ita reâudit concidit castris exuit ut âtotum belli molem cum ipsis Authoribus profligavit Quicquid fugae illius residuum erat inter urbis unius Moenia eaquâ arcta obsidione astricta conclâso Qua quidem pugna memorabili praeter quod miserum popellum jugo intolerabili levaverat sedes suas expulsis Ecclesias Pastoribus pacem omnibus Firmamentum pacis obsequium pristinum restituerit Et jam sequenti armorum nostrorum fâelicitate qua partes Regni occidentales maturius ad officium verum Dominum redierunt viam apperuisse momentum ingens extitisse libentissimè profitemur In hac opera landabili cum praefatus Radulphus perstiterit adhuc in victo animo industria indefessa nullo ardâo quantumviâ labore periculo excusatus cumque mille argumentis testatum fecerit Honorem salutemque nostram sibi omni fortuna capite potiorens nos virum fortissimum optimeque affectum animum benigno studio prosequi amplius demereri volentes hunc praecânio merito ornandum propiori ad nos gradu extollendum censuimus Sciatis igitur nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu praefatum Radulphum Hopton ad statum gradum stylum Dignitatens Titulum and Honorem Baronis Hopton de Stratton in Comitatu nostro Cornubiae c. In cujus rei Testimonium has Literas Nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Oxon. quarto die Sepâembris Anno Regni Nostri Decimo nono His two great Actions the one at Liscard the other at Stratton cannot be better described than by an Eye-witness whose words are these as he saith out of a Manuscript corrected with Sir Ralph 's own hand communicated to him by his Secretary Mr. Tredus At Liscard a little before the Fight began the King's party took it into seasonable consideration that seeing by the Commission of the Lord Mohun brought from Oxford four persons viz. the said Lord Mohun Sir Ralph Hopton Sir Iohn Berkley and Colonel Ashburnham were equally impowered in the managing of all Military maâters And seeing such equality might prove inconvenient which hitherto had been prevented with the extraordinary moderation of all parties in ordering a Batâel it was fittest to fix the power in one chief and general consent setled it in Sir Ralph Hopton He first gave order that publick Prayers should be read in tâe head of every Squadron and it was done accordingly and the Enemy observing it did stile it saying of Mass as some of their Prisoners afterwards did confess Then he caused the Foât to be drawn up in the best order they could and placed a Foâlorn of Musquetiers in the little Iâclosures winging them with the few Hârse and Dragoons he had This done two small Mynion Drakes speedily and secretly fetched from the Lord Mohun's house were planted on a litâle Bârrough within random-shot of the Enemy yet so that they were covered out of their sight with small parties of Horse about them These concealed Mynions were twice discharged with such success that the Enemy quickly quitted their groundâ And all their Army being put into a rout the King's Forces had the exeâution of them which they performed very sparingly taking 1250 prisoners all their Cannon and Ammunition and most of their Câlours and Arms and after publick Thanks taking their repose at Liscard Stratton Fight succeeds on Tuesday the 16th of May 1643. The King's Army wants Ammunâtion and hath a steep hill to gain with all disadvantage and danger the Horse and Dragoons being not above five hundred and the Foot two thousand four hundred The Parl. Forces were well furnished and barricadoâd upon the top of the hill their Foot 3400. and their Horse not many indeed having dispatched 12â0 to surprize the Sheriff and Commissioners at Bodmin On the King's side order was given to force the passage to the top of the Hill by four several Avenues the ascent was steep and difficult resolutely did his Majesties Forces get up and obstinately did the Enemy keep them down The Fight continued doubtful with many countenances of various events from five in the Morning till three in the Afternoon amongst which most remarkable the smart charge made by M. G. Chudleigh with a stand of Pikes on Sir Bevil Greenvil who fell nobly himself and had lost his squadron had not Sir Iohn now Lord Berkley who âed up the Musquetiers on each side of Sir Bevil seasonably relieved it so resolutely reinforcing the Charge that Major-General Chudleigh was taken Prisonerâ Betwixt three and four of the Clock the Commanders of the King's Forces who embraced those four several ways of ascent met to their mutual joy almost at the top of the hill which the routed enemy confusedly forsook In this service though they were Assailants they lost very few men and no considerable Officer killing of the Enemy about three hundred and taking seventeen hundred prisoners all their Cannon being thirteen pieces of brass Ordnance and Ammunition seventy barrels of powder with a Magazine of Bisket and other provision proportionable For this victory publick Prayer and Thanksgiving was made on the hill then the Army was disposed of to improve their success to the best advantage Nothing had funk this great spirit but the fate of Kingdoms with whose ruine only he was contented to fall and disband his brave Soldiers upon honourable terms Five things made my Lord Hopton so eminently serviceable 1. His great insight into the designs and prudent foresight of the events of present Councels which when most doubted and wavered gave him that resolution that undertook great difficulties and bore up against greater 2. His experience of War in general and his acquaintance with that seat of it committed to him in particular 3. His renown all over the Kingdom for piety and moderation and within his own association for hospitality civility and charity 4. His name among the Enemies as considerable for his generousness and justice as for his valour and conduct 5. His Estate that set him above mercenariness and his care for money that set his Soldiers above need the occâsion of mutinying among themselves or of incivilities towards others Observations on the Life of the Earl of Carnarvan RObert Dormer Ar. was on the tenth of Iune 1615. made Baronet by King Iames and on the 30 day of the same month was by him created Baron Dormer of Wing in Buckinghamshire His Grand-child Robert Dormer was by K. Charles in the 4th of his Reign created Viscount Ascot Eaâl of Carnarvan He lost his life fighting for him who gave him his honour at the first Battel of Newbury Being sore wounded he was desired by a Lord to know of him what suit he would have to his Majesty in his behalf the said Lord promising to discharge his trust in presenting his request
hath more reason to do what he doth than you to ask why he doth it Nevertheless If you desire me in a gentle fashion I shall acquaint you further Whereupon Luynes bowing a little said Very well The Embassador answered That it was not on this occasion only that the King of Great Britain had desired the Peace and prosperity of France but upon all other occasions when ever any War was raised in that Countrey and this he said was his first reason The second was That when a Peace was setled there his Majesty of France might be better disposed to assist the Palaâinate in the affairs of Germany Luynes said We will have none of your advices The Ambassador replyed That he took that for an Answer and was sorry only that the affection and the good will of the King his Master was not sufficiently understood and that since it was rejected in that manner he could do no less than say That the King his Master knew well enough what he had to do Luynes answered We are not afraid of you The Embassador smiling a little replyed If you had said you had noâ loved us I should have believed you and made another answer In the mean time all that I will tell you more is That we know very well what we have to do Luynes hereupon rising from his Chair with a fashion and countenance a little discomposed said By God If you were not Monsieur the Embassador I know very well how I would use you Sir Edw. Herbert rising also from his Chair said That as he was his Majesty of Great-Britain's Embassador so he was also a Gentleman and that his Sword whereon he laid his hand should do him reason if he had taken any offence After which Luynes replying nothing the Embassador went on his way toward the door and Luynes seeming to accompany him he told him there was no occasion to uâe such Ceremony after such Language and so departed expecting to hear further from him But no Message being brought him from Luynes he had in pursuance of his Instructions a more civil Audience of the King at Coignaâ where the Marshal of St. Geran told him he had offended the Constable and he was not in a place of security here whereunto he answered That he held himself to be in a place of security wheresoever he had his Sword by him Luynes resenting the affront got Cadenet his brother Du. of Chaun with a ruffling train of Officers whereof there was not one as he told K. Iames but had killed his man as an Embassador extraordinary to mis-report their Traverses so much to the disparagement of Sir Edw. that the Earl of Carlisle sent to accommodate Le Mal Entendu that might arise between the 2 Crowns got him called home until the Gentleman behind the Curtains out of his duty to truth and honour related all circumstances so as that it appeared that though Luynes gave the first affront yet Sir Edward kept himself within the bounds of his Instructions and Honour very discreetly and worthily Insomuch that he fell on his knees to King Iames before the Duke of Buckingham to have a Trumpeter if not an Hârald sent to Monsieur Luynes to tell him that he had made a false Relation of the passages before-mentioned and that Sir Edward Herbert would demand reason of him with Sword in hand on that point The King answered he would take it into consideration But Luynes a little after died and Sir Edward was sent Embassador to France again and otherwise employed so that if it had not been for Fears and Jealousies the baâe of publick services he had been as great in his Actions as in his Writings and as great a Statesman as he is confessed a Scholar Observations on the Life of the Lord Capel HIs privacy before the War was passed with as much popularity in the Country as his more publick appearance in it was with valour and fidelity in the Field In our too happy time of Peace none more pious hospitable charitabâe and munificent In those more unhappy of our Differences none more reserved Loyal and active The people loved him so well that they chose him one of their Representatives and the King esteemed him so much that he sent for him as one of his Peers in that Parliament wherein the King and people agreed in no one thing save a just kindneâs for my Lord Capel who was one of those exceâlent Gentlemen whose gravity and discretion the King saith he hoped would allay and fix the Faction to a due temperament guiding some mens well-meaning Zeal by such rules of moderation as are best both to preserve and restore the health of all States and Kingdoms keeping to the dictates of his conscience rather than the importunities of the people to what was just that what was safe save only in the Earl of Strafford's case wherein he yielded to the publick Necessity with his Royal Master but repented with him too sealing his contrition for that miscarriage with his blood when he was more troubled for his forced consent to that brave person's death than for losing his own life which he ventured throughout the first War and lost by his Engagement in the second For after the surrender of Oxford he reâired to his own house but could noâ rest there until the King was brought home to his which all England endeavouring as one manâ my Lord adventured himself at Colchester to extremity yielding himself upon condition of Quarter which he urged by the Law of Arms that Law that as he said on the Scaffold governeth the world and against the Laws of God and Man they are his own words for keeping the fifth Commandment dying on the Scaffold at Westâânster with a courage that became a clear conscience and a resolution befitting a good Christian expressing that judicious piety in the Chamber of Meditation at his death that he did in his a Book of Meditation in his life a piety that as it appeared by his dismission of his Chaplain and the formalities of that time 's devotion before he came to the Scaffold was rather his inward frame and habit than outward ostentation or pomp from the noble Sântiments whereof as the Poet not unhappily alluding to his Arms A Lyon rampant in a Field Gules between three crosses expresseth it Our Lyon-like Capel undaunted stood Beset with Crosses in a Field of blood as one that affrighted death rather than was afrighted by it It being very observable that a learned Doctor of Physick present at the opening and embalming of this noble Lord and Duke Hamilton delivering at a publick Lecture that the Lord Capel's was the least heart and the Duke 's the greatest that ever he saw agreeable to the observation in Philosophy that the spirits contracted within the least compass are the cause of the greater courage Three things are considerable in this incomparable person 1. His uninterrupted Loyalty keeping pace with his Life for his last
breath was spent in proclaiming K. Charles the II. in the very face of his Enemies as known to him to be a vertuous noble gentle just and great Prince a Perfect Englishman in his inclination 2. His great merits and modesty whereof K. Charles I. writes thus to his excellent Queen There is one that doth not yet pretend that doth deserve as well as any I mean Capel Therefore I desire thy assistance to find out something for him before he ask 3. The blessing of God upon his noble but suffering Family who was a Husband to his excellent Widow and a Father to his hopeful Children whom not so much their birth beauty and portion though they were eminent for these as their Vertues married to the best Bloods and Estates in the Land even when they and the Cause they suffered for were at the lowest It 's the happiness of good men though themselves miserable that their seed shall be mighty and their Generation blessed Observations on the Life of Bishop Andrews I Have much a-do to prevail with my own hand to write this excellent Prelate a Statesman of England though he was Privy-Councellor in both Kingdoms For I remember that he would say when he came to the Council-Table Is there any thing to be done to day for the Church If they answered Yea then he said I will stay If No he said I will be gone Though yet this be an instance of as much prudence as any within the compass of our Observation So safe is every man within the circle of his own place and so great an argument of abilities hath it been always confessed to know as well what we ought as what we can especially in Clergy-men whose over-doing doth abate their reverence and increase their envy by laying open those defects and miscarriages which are otherwise hallowed or at least concealed in the mystick sacredness of their own function Not but that men of that gravity and exactness of that knowledge and experience of that stayedness and moderation of that sobriety and temperance of that observation and diligence as Bishops are presumed to be were in all Governments judged as fit to manage publick affairs as men of any other professions whatever without any prejudice to the Church which must be governed as well as taught and managed as well as a society dwelling in the world as under the notion of a peculiar people taken out of it His successful skill in deaâing with the Papists under my Lord of Huntington President of the North and with the Puritans under Doctor Cosin an Ecclesiastical Officer in the South recommended him to Sir Francis Walsingham's notice as a person too useful to be buried in a Country-Living who thereupon intended to set up his Learning in a Lecture at Cambridge to confute the Doctrine of Rome untiâ Queen Eliz. resolved to set up his prudence in other Employments at Court to countermine its policy where I know not whether the acuteness of his Sermons took most with the most Learned the devotion of them with the most pious or the prudence of them with the most Wise it hath been one thinâ always to Preach learnedly and another thing to preach wisely for to the Immensity of his Learning he added excellent Principles of politick prudence as a governour of the Church and a Councellor of State wherein he was conspicuous not for the crafty projects and practices of policy or for those finister ways of Artifice and subtlery or the admired depths of Hypocrisie called reason of State noâ the measures and rules of his Politicks and Prudentials were taken from the great experience he had gotten and many excellent observations he had made out of all Histories as well Humane as Divine though he always laid the greatest weight upon the grounds and instances of holy Scripture which gives the truest judgement of wisdom or folly considering the mixture of State-affairs with thoâe of the Church in Christian Common-wealths and the fitness of sober and discreet Clergy-men for those of the State in all It 's a wonder how Clergy-men come to be excluded publick Councils at any time but observing Bishop Andrews his insight into the Fundamental constitution of our State as appears from his Speech in the Countess of Shrewsbury's Case His distinct foresight oâ the consequences of Affairs evident in his speech against Thraske His circumspect care of the Publick visible in his Petition to King Iames then sick at New-Market that the Pâince then under Scotch Tutors be educated by well-principled men the occasion that King Iames took to bring him up himself so exactly in the Doctrine and Discipline of oâr Church that it 's a question whether he was more by his Pen or Sword his Scepter or his Style The Defender of the Faith His wondârful skill in the government of this Church discerned by âhe excellent King Charles in that he sent so many Bishops to consult with him 1625. what was to be done for the Church in that Parliament His caution and moderation in âhat he never unless upon greât considerations innovated in his Church bât left things in the same decency and order he âound them knowing that all alterations have âheir dangers I am astonished to think that Bâshops should be forbidden secular employment in our time Who hath more ampleness and compleatness saith Bishop Gauden for a good man a good Bishop a good Christian a good Scholar a good Preacher and a good Counsellor than Bishop Andrews a man of an astonishing excellency both at home and abroad Observations on the Life of Henry Mountague Earl of Manchester HEnry Earl of Manchester third son to Sir Edward Mountague Grand-childe to Sir Edward Mountague Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench in King Edward the sixth's time was born at Boughton in Northampton-shire One skilful in mysterious Arts beholding him when a School-boy foretold that by the pregnancy of his parts he would raise himself above the rest of his Family which came to pass accordingly He being bred first in Christs-Colledge in Cambridge then in the Middle Temple where he attained to great Learning in the Laws passed through many preferments as they are reckoned up viz. 1. Sergeant at Lâw. 2. Knighted by K. Iames Iuly 22. 1603. 3. Recorder of London 4. Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench Novemb. 18. 1616. 5. Lord Treasurer of England Decemb. 16. 1620. 6. Bâron of Kimbolton 7. Viscount Mandevile 8. President of the Council Sept. 29. 1631. 9. Eârl of Manchester 10. Lord Privy-Seal He wisely perceiving that Courtiers were but as Counters in the hands of Princes raised and depressed in valuation at pleasure was contented rather to be set for a smaller sum than to be quite put up into the box Thus in point of place and preferment being pleased to be what the King would have him according to his Motto Movendo non mutando me he became almost what he would be himself finally advanced to an Office of great Honour When Lord
Privy-Seal he brought the Court of Requests into such repute that what formerly was called the Alms-Basket of the Chancery had in his time well-nigh as much meat in and guests about it I mean Suits and Clients as the Chancery it self His Meditations of Life and Death called Manchester Almondo written in the time of his health may be presumed to have left good impressions on his own soul preparatory for his dissolution which happened 164 Tâe Office of Lord Treasurer was ever beheld as a place of great charge and profit My Lord being demanded what it might be worth per ann made this answer That it might be some thousands of pounds to him who after death would go instantly to heaven twice as much to him who would go to Purgatory and a Nemo scit to him who would adventure to a worse place But indeed he that will be a bad husband for himself in so advantagious a place will never bâ a good one for his Soveraign Observations on the Life of Sir Henry VVotton with some Account of his Relations SIr Henry Wotton first having reââ of his Ancestor Sir Robert Wotton the noble Lieutenant of Guisnes and Comptroller of Callais in King Edward the fourth's days His Grand-father Sir Edward Wotton that refused to be Chancellor of England in King Henry the Eighth's time 2. Having known his Father Sir Thomas Wotton one of the most Ingenuous modesty the most Ancient freedom plainness single-heartedness and integrity in Queen Elizabeths Reign His Brothers Sir Edward Wotton the famous Comptroller of Queen Eliz. and K. Iames his Court since Lord Wotton Baron Morley in Kent Sir Iames Wotton with R. Earl of Essex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro son of Antonio King of Portugal c. Knighted as an excellent Soldier at Cadiz Sir Iohn Wotton the âccomplished Traveller and Scholar for whom Qâeen Eliz. designed a special favour His Uncle Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury and York nine times Embassador âor the Crown of England âe that was one of King Henry's Execuâors King Edward's Secretary of State Queen Mary's right handâ aâd that refused the Arch-Bishoprick of Caâtârbury in Queen Eliz. days 3. Being bred 1. In Winchester that eminent School for Discipline and Order 2. In New-Colledge and Queens those famous Colledges for the method of Living by rule could promise no less than he did in his solidlâ seâtenticââ and discreetly humoured Play at Queens called Tancredo in his elegaât Lecture of the nobleness manner and use of Seeing at the Schools for which the learned Albericus Gentilis called him Henrice Mi Ocelle and communicated to him his Mathematiââ his Law and his Italian learning in his more particular converse with Doctor Donne and Sir Richard Baker in the University and his more general conversation with Man-kind in travels for one year to France and Geneva where he was acquainted with Theodore Beza and Isaac Casaâbon at whose Fathers he lodged for eight years in Germany for five in Italy whence returning balanced with Learning and Experience with the Arts of Rome Venice and Florence Picture Sculpture Chimistry Architecture the Sâcrets Langâages Dispositions Customs and Laws of most Nations set off with his choice shape obliging behaviour sweet discourse and shaâp wit he could perform no less âhan he did 1. In the unhappy relation he had to the Earl of Essex first of Friend and afterward of Secretary 2. In his more happy Interest by his Secâetary Vietta upon his flight out of England after the Earl's apprehension with the Duke of Tuscany then the greatest paâron of Learning and Arts in the world who having discovered a design to poyson King Iames as the known successor of Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Henry Wotton with notice of the ploâ and preservatives against the poyson by the way of Norway into Scotland under the borrowed name of Octavio Baldi where after some suspicion of the Italian message discovering himself to the King by David Lindsey's means he was treated with much honour complacency and secrecy for three months Afteââhich time he returned to Florence staying theâe till King Iames enquiring concerning him of my Loâd Wotton the Comptroller the great Duke advised his return to congratulate his Majesty as he did the King embracing him in his arms calling him the best because the honest est Dissembler that he met with and Knighting him by his own name Adding withal That since he knewâhe wanted neither Learning nor Experience neither Abâlities nor Faithfulness he would employ him to others as he was employed to him which accordingly he did to Venice the place he chose as most suitable to his retired Genius and narrow Estate where 1. Studying the dispositions of the several Dukes and Senators 2. Sorâing of fit Presents curious and not costly Entertainments sweetned with various and pleasant discourse particularly his elegant application of Stories He had such interest that he was never denyed any request whereby he did many services to the Protestant interest with his Chaplain Bishop Biddle and Padre Pauloe's assistance during the Controversie between the Pope and the Venetians especially in transmitting the History of the Councel of Trent sheet by sheet to the King and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as it was written And in his three Embassies thither gained many Priviledges for the English along all those Coasts In the second of which Embassies calling upon the Emperour he had brought Affairs to a Treaty had not the Emperours success interposed whereupon he took his leave wishing that Prince to use his Victory soberly an advice his carriage indeared to his Majesty together with his person so far that he gave him a Diamond worth above a thousand pounds which he bestowed on his Hostess saying He would not be the better by a man that was an open Enemy to his Mistress so the Queen of Bohemia waâ pleased he âshould call her Onely while abroad and writing in the Album that friends have this sentence Legat usest vir bonus peregre missus ad mentiendum reipublicae causa whereof Scioppius made a malicious use in his Books against King Iames. He loât himself a while for using more freedom abroad than became his Employment until his ingenuous clear and choicely eloquent Apologies recovered him to more respect and cautiousness until he writ Invidiae Remedium over his Lodgings at Eaton-Colledge the Provostship whereof he obtained in exchange for the reversion of the Mastership of the Rolls and other places promised him Where looking upon himself in his Surplice as Charles 5. or Philip 2. in Cloysters his Study was divine Meditations History and Characters His recreation Philosophical conclusions and Angling which he called his idle time not idly spent saying he would rather live five May moneths than forty Decembers His Table was exquisite where two youths attended upon whom he made the observations that were to furnish his designed discourse of Education His Histories and Observations remarkable his Apophthegms sage and quick 1.
Being in a Popish Chappel a merry Priest that knew him sent a Paper to him with this question Where was your Religion before Luther Under which he writ Where yours is not in the written word of God 2. Being asked whether a Papist could be saved He replyed You may be saved without knowing that look to your self 3. Hearing one âail against Arminius Popery he answered Sir he that understands amiss concludeth worse If you had studied Popery so much as I have and knew Arminius so well as I did how learned how strict and how rare a man he was you would not fall so foul on his person nor think that the further you go from the Church of Rome the nearer you are to God 4. One pitched upon for Embassador came to Eaton and requested from him some Experimental rule for his prudent and safe carriage in his Negotiation to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible Aphorism That to be in safety himself serviceable to his Country he should alwayes and upon all occasions speak the truth For said he you shall never be believed and by this means your truth will secure your self if you shall ever be called to any account and it will also put your Adversaries who will still hânt counter to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings 5. And when he made his Will two years before he died out of policy to let the King understand his Debts and Arrears to which end he bestowed in that Will on his Majesty Sir Nicholas Throgmorton's Papers of Negotiation in Queen Elizabeth's dayes on the Queen Dioscorides in Tuscany with the Herbs naturally coloured on the Prince the Queen of Bohemia's picture on my Lord of Canterbury the picture of Divine love to my Lord of London high Treasurer Heraclitus and Democritus and to Secretary Windebanke old Bastano's four Seasons he directed that this onely should be written on his plain Marble Hic jacet hujus sententiae primus auctor Disputandi Pruritus fit Ecclesiarum Scabies Nomen alias quaere 7. Going yearly to Bocton for the connaturalness of that Air and to Winchester or Oxford for Recreation he would say to his friends How useful was that advice of a holy Monk who perswaded his friend to perform his customary devotion in a constant place where his former thoughts might meet him for said he at my being at that School seeing the place where I sate when I was a boy occasioned me to remember my youthful thoughts sweet thoughts indeed that promised my growing years numerous pleasures without mixture of cares and those to be enjoyed when time which I thought slow-paced changed my youth to man-hood and now there are a succession of Boys using the same recreation questionless possessed with the same thoughts Thus one generation succeeds another both in their Lives Recreations Hopes Fears and Deaths 8. There are four things that recommend Sir Henry Wotton to posterity 1. That King Charles took great pleasure in corresponding with him in Letters 2. That my Lord Bacon took great pains in collecting his Apophthegmes 3. That Sir Richard Baker who submitted most of his Writings to his Censure said of him That the Kingdom yielded not a fitter man to match the Capriciousness of the Italian wits And 4. That his work of Architecture is translated into Latine printed with Vitruvius and this Elogy prefixed Henricus Wottonus Anglo-Cantianus Tho. optimi viri Filius Natu minimus a serenissimo Jacobo I. Magnae Britanniae c. Rege in Equestrem tituâum ascitus ejusdemque ter ad Remp. Venetam Logatus Ordinarius semel ad Confaederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Iuliensi Negotio bis ad Carolum Emanuelem Subaudiae ducem Semel ad unitos superioris Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbronnensi Postremo ad Archducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittenbergensem Civitates Imperiales Argentinam Vlmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum II. Legatus Extraordinaâius Tandem hoc Dedicit Animas sapientiores fieri quiescendo Observations on ââe Lives of the Lord Wilmot and Sir Tho. Roe THese honourable persons are united not so much in their own relation or character as in my unhappiness who was promised Observations on the life of the firstâ but never had them and had some on the life of the second but lost them 1. My Lord Wilmot I finde acting like a Statesman when Commissary in the expedition against the Scots and speaking like a Soldier when a Member of the Parliament that was for them in the first capacity speaking with my Lord Conway he saw the King would be overcome by the English at home if he overcame not the Scots abroad In the second whispering with some Army-Officers he said If the Scots Army were paid in the North the King's Army would be paid in the South A wise and brave speech that had almost rallied all the Army against the Parliament as soon as that Parliament had rallied their multitude against the King but that treachery got easily into the bosom of that brave Prince thât had nothing but honesty in his heart Yet since he could not awe the counsels of the faction in the City he went to suppress their Rebellion in the Field being voted a Traitor by the Rebels because he endeavoured they should not be so What he performed in the Wars all the Kingdom knows what he did at Oxford the King's Letters intimate what he negotiated in Germany acted in Scotland endeavoured at Worcester and other places for the King's Majesties escape and restauraââân posterity shall celebrate while he lives as renownedly in History as he doth nobly in his son the most hopeful Earl of Rochester 2. Sir Thomas Roe understood the dispositions of men so exactly could suit their humours so fitly observe opportunities and seasons of actions so punctually keep correspondence so warily wade through difficulties so handsomly wave the pinch of a business so dexterously contrive Interests so suitably that he was advised with concerning the most important Affairs of the Kingdoms he resided in abroad and admitted of the Privy-Council while he lived at home Where his speech against the debasing of the Coyn at the Council-Table will last as long as there is reason of State in the world His settlement of Trade as long as this is an Island and his Eastern MâS S. as long as there are Books to furnish Libraries or Libraries to preserve Books Three of the noblest English actions beyond Sea are these 1. That Sir Thomas Roe pardoned the Dutch Merchants thrice in Persia and Turkey at his mercy 2. That my Lord Wilmot when Embassador in Germany refused the assistance of the Popes Nuncio or Turkish Aga judging his great Master when at lowest above those suspected Auxiliaries 3. That my Lord Culpeper having offered him in Muscovy all the English goods there refused them declaring his Royal Master a Father of his Country though kept out of it by Traitors and a merciful Prince to his People
when cast off by the Rebels Observations on the Life of Arch-Bishop Juxon WIlliam âIuxon born at Chichester in Sussex was bred Fellow in St. Iohn's Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Batchelor of Law very young but very able for that Degree afterwards becoming Doctor in the same Faculty and President of the Colledge was one in whom Nature had not omitted but Grace had ordered the Teârarch of humours being admirably Maâter of his Pen and Passion For his Abilities he was successively preferred by King Charles the first Bishop of Hâreford and London and for some years Lord Treasurer of England wherein he had Religion to be honest and no self-interest to be corrupt A troublesom place in thoâe times being expected he should make much Brick though not altogether without yet with very little straw allowed unto him Large then the Expences low the Revenues of the Exchequer Yet those Coffers he found empty he left filling and had left full had Peace been preserved in the Land and he continued in his Place Such the mildness of his temper that Petitioners for money when it was not to be had departed well pleased with his Denials they were so civilly languaged It may justly seem a wonder that whereas few spake well of Bishops at that time and Lord Tââasuâers at all Times are liable to the complaints of discontented people though both Offices met in this man yet with Demetrius he was well reported of all men and of the truth it self He lived to see much shame and contempt undeservedly poured on his Function and all the while possessed his own soul in patience Nor was it the least part of this Prelate's honour that amongst the many worthy Bishops of our Land King Charles the first selected him for his Confessor at his Martyrdom when he honoured him with this testimony That good man He formerly had had experience in the case of the Earl of Strafford that this Bishop's Conscience was bottom'd on piety not policy âhe reason that from him âe received the Sacrament good comfort and counsel just before he was muâdered I say just before the Royal Martyr was murdered a Fact so foul that it alone may confuâe the Error of the Pelagians maintaining that all sin cometh by imitation the Universe not formerly affording such a Precedent as if those Regicides had purposely designed to disprove the observation of Solâmon that there is no new thing under the Sun King Charles the second preferred him Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 1660. He died in the year of our Lord 1663. and with great solemnity was buried in St. Iohn's Colledge in Oxford to which he was a great Benefactor though a greater to Pauls and Lambeth and greatest of all to the Church which his eminence adorned and his temper secured in those times wherein roughness enraged that humour which delay and moderation broke a discreet yielding to the multitude is the securest way of Conquest They that hold together by opposition languish and moulder away by indulgence In his duty this good man went along with Conscience in Government with Time and Law He had the happiness that K. Iames admired in a Statesman of his time to do all things suavibus modis He referred his Master in the Earl of Strafford's case as he did himselâ in all cases to his own Conscience for matter of fact and to the Judges for matter of Law who according to their Oath ought to carry themselvâs indifferently between the King and his Subjects The King was not more happy in this faiâhful servant than he was in his followers among whom there was no uncivil Austerity to disoblige the Subjects nor base Corruption to incense them They need not keep state they had so much real power nor extort they had so much allowed advantage His care was his servants and their care his business His preferments were his burthen rather than his honour advanced by him rather than advancing him and therefore he was more ready to lay them down than others to take them up Witness his Treasurers Place which when he parted with like those that scatter their Jewels in the way that they may debar the violence of greedy pursuers no less than four durst undertake when his single self sufficed for the two greatest troubles of this Nation the Treasureship of England and the Bishoprick of London Religion was the inclination and composure as well as care of his soul which he used not as the artifice of pretence or power but as the ornament and comfort of a private breast never affecting a pompous piety nor a magnificent vertue but approving himself in secret to that God who would reward him openly His devotion was as much obove other mens as his Calling his meditations equal with his cares and his thoughts even and free between his Affairs and his Contemplations which were his pleasures as well as his duty the uniform temper and pulse of his Christian soul. Neither was his Religion that of a man only but that of a Bishop too that made his Piety as universal as his Province by such assistances of power as brought carnel men if not to an obedience yet to such a degree of reverence that if they did not honour they might not despise it His justice was as his Religion clear and uniform First the ornament of his heart then the honour of his action Neither was Justice leavened with rigour or severity but sweetned with clemency and goodness that was never angry but for the pubâick and not then so much at the person as the offence So ambitious of that great glory of Moderation that he kept it up in spight of the times malignity wherein he saw all change without himself while he remained the self-same still within the Idea of sobriety and temperance vertues that he put off only with his life Neither was this a defect of spirit but the temper of it that though it never provoked troubles yet it never feared them His minde was always great though his fortune not so Great to suffer though not always able to act so good his temper and so admirable his humility that none ever went discontented from him Never courting but always winning people having a passage to their hearts through their brain and making them first admire and then love him He was slow not of speech as a defect but to speak out of discretion because when speaking he plentifully paid the Principal and Interest of his Auditors expectation In a word his government as a Bishop was gentle benigne and paternal His management of the Treasury was such that he served his Prince faithfully satisfied all his friends and silenced all his enemies of which he had enough as a Bishop Greatness is so invidious and suspected though none as a man goodness is so meek and inoffensive The most thought the worse of Dr. Iuxon for the Bishops sake the best thought the better of the Bishop for Dr. Iuxon's sake Observations on the
since his Name made such indelible impression on his house whereof he was not five years in possession Death hath this also That it openeth the Gate to good Fame and extinguisheth Envy Philip asked Demetrius if he did not fear to lose his head He answered No for if he did the Athenians would give him one immortal He should be statued in the Temple of Eternal Fame Nil non Mortale tenemus Pectoris exceptis ingeniique bonis En ego cum Patria caream vobisque demâque Raptaque sint adimi quae potuere mihi Virtute attamen ipse mea comitorque fruorque Caesar in hoc potuit juris habere nihil Quilibet hanc saevo vitam mihi finiat ense Me tamen extinâo fama perennis erit All that we hold will die But our brave Thoughts and Ingenuity Even I that want my Country House and Friend From whom is ravished all that Fate can rend Possess yet my own Genius and enjoy That which is more than Caesar can destroy Each Groom may kill me but whensoe'er I die My Fame shall live to mate eternity Braâe mân never die Worth begets in weaâând base minâs Envy in the Magnanimous Eââlationâ in Pâsterity Renown A Renown that is as the beams about the Sun or the glory abouâ an holy picture that shews it to be a Saint though it be no essential part it risetâ from the body of that Virtue which cannot chuse but shine and give a light through all the clouds of errour and distraction And âhough someâimes ãâã mists and vapours of âhe lower earth impede the light it gives yet there will be apparent Rays that shew there is Deseât unseen which yeilds those gleams of brightness to the whole Horizon that it moves and shines in which surâive to a glorious kind of immortality when the Good Man is dead and gone a Good Name being the embalming of the Virtuous to an eâernity of ââve and gratitude among posterity For my own Honour saith the Royal Martyr I am well assured that as mine Innocence is clear before God in point of any calumnies they object so my Reputation shall like the Sun after Owls and Bats have had their freedome in the night rise and recover âts self to such a degree of splendour as those feral birds shall be grieved to behold and unable to bear Observations on the Lives of the Pars. SIr William Par Uncle and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Katharine Par was by King Henry the Eigâth created Baron Par of Horton he left two Daughters onely married into the Famiâies of Tressam and Lane His Relation calâed him to Court but his Age forbid him the pleasureâ and his own Reservedness the freedom of that place before which he preferred the pious peaceable ând hospitable way of the Countrey wheâe Popularity affected him more than he affected it No man being more beloved by the vulgâr no man less in love with them It being his Observation rather than his Countrey-man Sir Edward Mountague's saying That if you do the common sort of people nineteen courtesies together yet you may lose their love if you go but oveâ the sâile before them Hâs Cousin Sir Willâam was brought by his Sister to Court and advanced by his Brother to Honour bâing for his Majesties sake as well as his own made Lord Par of Kendal Eaâl of Essex by King Henry âhe Eighth and Maâques of Noâthampton by King âdward Qâeen Mary deprived him of his Estate and Honour for siding with the Lady Iane and Qâeen Elizabeâh restored him to both for favouring the Protestant Religion His Delight was Musick and Poetry and his Exeâcise War being a happy composure of the hardest and softest Discipline equally made for Court and Camp for Delight or Honour But his skill in the Field answered not his industry nor his success his skill Yeâ King Edward called him His Honest Vncle and King Henry His Integrity The whole Family was made by a Marriage but died Issueless The common Rule of Favourites is to bring in all their Relations about them to adorn and suppoât them buâ this Marqâess would say A wall that hath a firm Bottom had need of no Buttress and that which wants it is often rather thrust down than upheld by it The Antiquaries crouch as though tâey upheld the Church when they are upheld by it Clients aâe more a burden than a strength and when the chief Favourite dares not displease his Soâeâeign because he is so near him they dare because he is between them and Majesty His Followeâs were not gaudy to render him suspicious nor discontented to bâeed ill blood and a misunderstanding nor too open to discover him but deserving to honour him aud hopeful to be advanced by him Active men were recommended by him to King Henry's busie Occasions and Virtuous to King Edward's pious Inclinations In his last years he found that there was little love in the World and least oâ all among Equals and that that which war is between Superiour and Inferiour whose fortune may comprehend the one the other To ease his minde therefore to satisfie his Judgement to observe his oversight he adopted Sir William Cholmley bringing him first to his House and then to his Heart to shew him that impartially which he could not discern in himselâ There is no such Flaâterer as a mans self and there is no such Remedy against Flattery of a mans self as the liberty of a Friend Counsel is of two sorts to go on in my Auâhors words the one concerning manners the other concerning business for the fiâst the best preservative to keep the mind in health is the faithful admonition of a âriend The calling oâ a mans self to a strict account is a medicine sometime âoo piercing and corroding reading good Books of Morality is a little flat and dead observing our âaults in oâhers is sometimes improper for our case but the best receipt best I say to work and beât to take is the Admonition of a Friend So much solid Worth he had that he had no use of Ambition so much Modesty that he made little use of his Worth Mean thoughts he entertained of himself and as mean thoughts did he by his down-cast though grave look his sparing though pertinent discourse and his submissâvâ though regardful carriageâ suggest of himself Bât a well-manag'd boldness is the Virtue of Monârchick Courts and a discreet submission that of a Republican no advantageous admission into the one without the first nor âaâety in the other without the second Here if you are bold you must look for an Ostracism there if you are modest for Neglect Yet a sober and moderate man mây be iâ fashion once in an Age. The Souldier and the Gentleman are the Warlike Princes Darlingâ Church-men the Religious Physicians the Sickly and Old Scholars the Learned Exchequerers the Poor Covetous or Prodigal Lawyers the Just and They of a Healing Sofâ and Pliable Temper King Iames his
Undertaking as to influence it with a Character peculiar to the Dignity of such a Constitution which carried that Commerce higher than others could raise their Imaginations as we see whose profit by it is as remarqueable in this Age as their zeal for it was in the last When Fear and Distrust those ignoble passions that disparage all great Undertakings which judged that Design a piece of extravagant Folly seeth it now an Act of profound Wisdom especially when it may be improved under CHARLES the Second and the Great a Prince who by admirable order of his conduct the just administration of his Revenue and by his fatherly goodness towards his people hath put himself into a condition to uâdertakâ without fear whatsoever may be put in execution with honour or Justice The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Mary THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of Queen Elizabeth Observations on the Life of Sir Nicholas Bacon Sir Nicholas Bacon a man full of wit and wisdomâ was a Gentleman and a man of Law and of great knowledge therein whereby together with his other parts of Learning and Dexterity he was prompted to be Keepeâ of the Great Seal and being kin to the Treasurer Burleigh was brought by his help into the Queens favour This Gentleman understood his Mistress well and the times better He could raise Factions to serve the one and allay them to suit the others He had the deepest reach into Affairs of any man that was at the Council-âable the knottiest Head to peirce into diâficulties the most comprehensive Judgement to surround the merit of a Cause the strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a Business to one View the greatest patience to debate and consider for it was he that first said Let us stay a little and we will have done the sooner and the clearest reason to urge any thing that came in his way in Court or Chancery His favour was eminent with his Mistress and his Alliance strong with her States-men No man served his Soveraign more faithfully none secured himself more wisely Leicester seemed wiser than he was Bacon was wiser than he seemed to be Hunsdon neither was nor seemed wise Much Learning my Lord Bacon gained in Bennets Colledge in Cambridge more Experience in Paris of France His Deâterity and Dispatch advanced him to the Court of Wards his deep Experience made him Lord Keeper Alliance was the policy of that time Bacon and Cecil married two Sisters Walsingham and Mildmay two more Knowles Essex and Leicester were linked the prudent Qâeen having all her Favourites Relations and Dependencies in her eye and disposing of them according to their several Interests Great was this States-mans Wit greater the Fame of it which as he would say being nothing made all things For Report though but Fancy begets Opinion and Opinion begets Substance He was the exactest man to draw up a Law in Council and the most discreet to execute it in Court When others urged the repeal of that Act whereby Queen Elizabeth was declared Illegiâimate he rather suppressed it chusing the closure of a festered Wound more prudent than the opening of it and judging it more wisdome to satisfie the world with the old Law That the Crown takes away all defects than to perplex it with new disputes Whether Queen Elizabeth were Legitimate State-miscarriages are rather to be privately connived at than publickly redressed the remedy it may be doing no more service than putting the people in minde of the mishap He neither affected nor attained to Greatness Mediocra firma was his Principle and his Practice When Queen Elizabeth asked him Why his House was so little he answered Madam my House is not too little for me but you have made me too big for my House Give me said he a good Estate rather than a great one He had a very Quaint saying saith Robert Naunton and he used it often to very good purpose That he loved the Jest well but not the loss of his Friend He would say That though unusquisque suae fortunae faber was a true and good Principle yet the most in number were those that marred themselves but I will never forgive that man that loseth himself to be rid of his Iest. The Excellency of his Parts was set off with the Gravity of his Person and the Queen would say My Lord Bacon's Soul lodgeth well His Account of England and all its Affaires was punctual his use of learned Artist was continual his correspondence with his fellow-Statesmen exact his apprehension of our Laws and Government clear his model of both methodical his faithfulness to the Church eminent his industrious invention for the State indefaâigable He was in a word a Father of his Country and of Sir Francis Bacon Sir Nicholas âacon was the moderate man that was appointed to preside at the Disputâtion between the Protestant and Popish Doctors in the first of Queen Elizabeth Hâ was that Judicious States-man to whom was trusted the management of that Parliament and Convocation The satisfaction of the People and Kingdome and those Delatory proceedings with France Spain and Rome that were at the bottom of the great work of Reformation and settlement at that time Observations on the Life of William Cecil Lord Burleigh WIlliam a Cecil was born with the advantage of being Richard Cecil's Son who was of the Robes to King Henry and Legatee in his Will and bred with that of being Commoner of St. Iohns in Cambridge and Student at the Innes of Court in London whence he was advanced by his Pregnancy to serve the Duke of Somerset in quality of Master of Requests as he was afterwards by his Master to attend King Edward the sixth in the capacity of Secretary of Statâ where he furnished all Acts and Orders with Reasons of State as he had them fitted by able Lawyers with Arguments of Law He loved always they say to wrap the Prerogatives in the Laws of the Land He was constant but not obstinate in his Advice As the Planets are whirled about dayly From East to West by the motion of the Primum Mobile yet have a contrary motion of their own from West to East which they slowly yet surely move at their leisures so our States-man though yielding in some things to Greatness of some Persons in an Age wherein it was present drowning not to swim against the stream Yet had he his counter-endeavours against the prevailing strain and privately advanced his rightful Intentions against otheâs wrongful Ambitions If dissenting from his Superiours he did it with all humility and mâderation yet chusing always rather to displease than betray He was in much favour with King Edward in some with Queen Mary in most with Qâeen Elizabeth who though sparing of her honours yet heaped on him the trust of Secretary of State the Profits of the Master of the Wards the
Robes and Ornaments thereof which were accordingly with great solemnity performed in the Cathedral of Studgard And this was the Lord that when the Earl of Bristol charged the Duke of Buckingham started up and demanded Is this all you have to say against the Duke The Earl replyed Yes my Lord and I am sorry it is so much Then quoth the Lord Spencer If this be all Ridiculus mus and so sate down again The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of King Iames. THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of King Charles I. Observations on the Life of the Duke of Buckingham NAture bestowed on him an exact comliness his Mother a noble education not so much to study as converse His Travels to France carriage and experience About which times he falls into intrinsecal society with Sir Ioh. Greham then one of the Gentlemen of his Majesties Privy-Chamber who I know not upon what Luminaries he espyed in his face disswaded him from Marriage and gave him rather encouragement to woe Fortune at Court than court it in the City Which advice sank well into his fancy for within some while the King had taken by certain glances whereof the first was at Apthorpe in a Progress such liking of his Person that he was resolved to make him a Master-piece and to mould him as it were Platonically to his own Idea Neither was his Majesty content onely to be the Architect of his Fortune without putting his gracious hand likewise to some part of the work it self insomuch that it pleased him to descend and to avale his goodness even to the giving of his foresaid friend Sir Iohn Greham secret directions how by what degrees he should bring him into favour His own parts and observation gained him prudence and discretion His Family and Ancestors in Leicester-shire gentility and repute so that there wanted nothing but Interest to set him up a Courtier Sir Thomas Compton who had married his Mother supplyed him with the one and the Earls of Bedford Pembrook and Hertford who would eclipse Somerset helped him to the other For those three Lords meeting one night at Baynards-Castle and commanding Somerset's picture should be abused in their way next day Sir Thomas Lake leads him into Court buying him the Cup-bearers place A while after the Countess of Bedford ushereth him to the Presence-Chamber entering him a Bed-chamber-man and the Earl of Pembrook supports him until he was a Favourite The Courtiers wished him well because he was an English-man the Nobility favoured him because a Gentleman the Ladies have a kindness for him because the exactest Courtier in Christendom the King observes him much for his compleat body more for his pregnant parts and the States-men now consulting Somerset's removal and finding King Iames his good nature loth to leave the bosom of one Minion until he had reposed himself in another made it their plot to advance him His carriage was free and debonair his passions even and smooth and one saith carried in his pocket his nature noble and open his temper industrious and inquisitive his intellectuals clear and capable his mind tractable and docible his spirit resolute and undaunted The first month he comes to Court he takes place above all his fellows and being removed with some affront by a creature of Somerset's gives him a box on the ear an action that gave him and his friends a seasonable occasion of a Contest with Somerset and him a clear conquest over him Somerset as Chamberlain would have cut off his hand and he as Favourite was like to have cut off his head This new Favourite riseth all are weary of Somerset the first Minion all welcom the second The King is first his Tutor and then his Patron instructing him before he employed him Three sorts of studies he engaged him in the first was for delights in private Retyrements the second for ornament in Discourse the third for ability in Business He had Princely apprehensions of the principles and Maximes of Government a distinct notion of all his Affairs an excellent way to make use of other mens Abilities and these incomparable Rules from my Lord Bacon which were transcribed in his Life Sir In the first place I shall be bold to put you in mind of the present condition you are in You are not onely a Courtier but a Bed-chamber-man and so are in the eye and ear of your Master but you are also a Favourite The Favourite of the time and so are in his bosom also The world hath so voted you and doth so esteem of you for Kings and great Princes even the wisest of them have had their Friends their Favourites their Privadoes in all ages for they have their affections as well as other men of these they make several uses sometimes to communicate and debate their thoughts with them and to ripen their judgments thereby sometimes to ease their cares by imparting them and sometimes to interpose them between themselves and the envy or malice of their People for Kings cannot erre that must be discharged upon the shoulders of their Ministers and they who are nearest unto them must be content to bear the greatest load Truly Sir I do not believe or suspect that you are chosen to this eminency out of the last of these considerations for you serve such a Master who by his wisdom and goodness is as free from the malice or envy of his Subjects as I think I may say truly ever any King was who hath sate upon his Throne before him But I am confident his Majesty hath cast his eyes upon you as finding you to be such as you should be or hoping to make you to be such as he would have you to be for this I may say without flattery your outside promiseth as much as can be expected from a Gentleman But be it in the one respect or other it belongeth to you to take care of your self and to know well what the name of a Favourite signifies If you be chosen upon the former respects you have reason to take care of your actions and deportment out of your gratitude for the King's sake but if out of the later you ought to take the greater care for your own sake You are as a new risen Star and the eyes of all men are upon you let not your own negligence make you fall like a Meteor The contemplation then of your present condition must necessarily prepare you for action what time can be well spar'd from your attendance on your Master will be taken up by suitors whom you cannot avoid nor decline without reproach for if you do not already you will soon find the throng of suitors attend you for no man almost who hath to do with the King will think himself safe unless you be his good Angel and guide him or or least that you be not a Malus Genius against him so that