a Dukedom adjoyning and the bigger Kingdom the less And if they fall both into the Lap of a Mighty great Monarch as the Emperor of Rome of the Turks or of the Persians security they may have but their Honour and Liberty is clean lost whether Conquest giveth it them or Marriage Howbeit of these the Empire of the Romans doth least oppress and leaveth most Liberty Which is not for fault of Will but of Strength What intended Charles the last Emperor to do to the Almains What attempted his Predecessors against the â—wissers What hath he brought to pass at Naples and Milan And what did King Francis to Piedmont These may be Mirors and Examples to us to consider and see what Advancement it would be to us to fall into the Hands and Power of a Prince that is a Stranger and Stronger than We be Now if you will say there may be Covenants made Bonds taken and for the more surely by the Parliaments of both Realms the Conditions of Matrimony may be enacted and such Assurances devised as there may be no doubt of any Inconveniences to follow Indeed this is a Device but I pray you let me tell you of a Question that not long ago a Baron of England moved in the Parliament to this Purpose And if you can assoil it you shall move me much If the Bands be broken between the Husband and the Wife either of them being Princes and Soveraigns in their own Country who shall sue the Bands Who shall take the Forfeit Who shall be their Judge And what shall be the Advantage If you will not Answer I will tell you Discord Dissension War Bloodshed and either extream Enmity or else the one Part must at length break and yield If you will say Tush He will not do against his Promise he will not break his Accord and Agreement he will so much consider his Honour and Love that what he hath once said he will always stand to Well granting that I pray you what needs any Bonds Whereupon cometh this Mistrusting but upon Fear So long as Love lasteth and he standeth in that Mind in which â—e was when he made the Bonds I my self do not doubt but he will keep them because he so mindeth And then the Bonds be superfluous But if his Mind fortune to alter or change and so he misliketh the Conditions whereto he hath agreed and will not keep the Covenants what shall these Bonds avail To which you have neither Place of Iudgment Persons of Plaintiff or Defendant and least of all a competent Judge to compel the wrong Doer to abide right And if it were done what pleasure shall the Compelled Party have of the Compeller Or what Trust can the Compeller have of the Compelled Nay Bonds Covenants Indentures and Conditions be far from the free Love Sincerity and hearty Doings of Love when the Hearts Minds and Bodies be united Can there be a surer Bond than that which maketh them all one And if they be not so then they be two and what two Marry Princes which know to Rule and not to be Ruled and who may not abide to be compelled or enforced Nor is it so meet that otherwise they should but only by Perswasion nor indeed cannot without Battle or Bloodshed I think an Article comprized in the Conditions by Act of Parliament with King Philip was that we should not for his Cause enter into War with France But yet I trow we did to our no small Loss And you heard rehearsed by Agamus how well Iaques de la Nardâ— kept his Bonds to Queen Iane of Naples But let us leave all this and have respect only to our Gain and that the Queens Majesty shall have her Honour and Power marvellously advanced and her Dominion enlarged into I cannot tell how many Miles This is the fair shew Look what followeth The greater Monarchy the larger Frontiers â—he more Garrisons the more intricate Titles the more ready occasions for War Which must needs be the Consuming of Money of disquieting her Subjects of emptying the Realm of able men We had two Emperors of Rome came out of the Isle when it was Britain Constant and Constantine This you will say was a great Honour to the Realm that a Nobleman of England should hold the Crown of the Empire Not now when it is in manner but little but then when to be Emperor of Rome was to rule all the World And so would I say too if I did not consider as well the sequel thereof as the first fair shew For in taking the Power from hence they took so many of the good Warriors expert Captains tall and likely men that they left the Britains so weak that the Scots and Princes over them overcame them in every Place They were sain to ask Aid of the Saxons And of them who came for their Aid they and their Posterity for ever were driven down out of the whole Country of England into the barren Mountains of Wâ—les King Edward III a Prince most valiant and Victorious with those Victories in France and continual carrying over of men to people such Towns Cities and Fortresses as he had won there did make the People here at home so thin and those that were left so desirous rather to spoil than to labour that from the Twentieth of his Reign to the 26 th or 27 th he and all the Council of the Realm were most troubled and occupied how to cause the Fields of England to be Tilled as may appear by the Acts of Parliament made in that space And if this Disadvantage be in Victory what shall be in the Loss If it be thus in Conquering what shall it be in being Overcome As for such Wars as we have for our own to do I have not seen it neither read but with our own Nation we have been able to man them well enough and have not used or have not much been helped with the Power of other Princes allied Which thing also Nicâ—lao Michiavelli hath Noted And read you the Histories and you shall see that when we had most help of them then lâ—ast was done And first of France at Agincourt at Cressy and at Poitiers wherein the greatest Battails were foughten and the most noble Victories obtained there was but our own Nation and the King of England's Subjects King Edward I in so often conquering all Scotland used but his own Subjects And hitherto sith the Time of William the Conqueror we have thanks be to God been able to defend our selves against the French and the Scots always allied together without the Help of Forâ—ign Aid So that we have at the end saved our Realm and rather gotten of them than lost And King Henry VIII Marrying at home did not only save but also got both in France and Scotland and kept also that which he had gotten Qâ—eâ—n Mary having by Marriage all these Helps which you so greatly praise so far she was from getting now that she lost
thou do stil prolong Doubt and Defer as now thou dost Thus meâ—â—â—nks England might speak wel enough to her Majesty Whose Word I trust her Highneâ— wil both hear and weigh when it shal please God to put it in her Highnes mind But I wil return to your other Argaments Mr. Agamus You were something long in proving that the Queens Majesty may in Peace by her Council in War by her General govern and conduct al things as wel as tho She were there in Person her self Hardly wil I graunt that the one should be as wel as th' other I se in al other things that Oculus Domini non solum pascit Equum optime as he said but also Colit stercorat Agrum The Italians have a Proverb La â—â—ccia d'buomo saccia de Leone The Face of a man is the Face of a Lion Meaning that the Presence of a man himself to whom the thing doth appertain to Terror to Diligence to setting forward of that which is intended doth furmount and pass al other things As when our late Sovereign K. Henry VIII â—ay against Boloign and another Camp with right good Captains before Montrel the Courage of the Soldier the Provision of the Victuals the Effect of the Enterprize ye know was not like For th' one fought under the Princes Ey th' other as it were behind him th' one saw present Reward or Pain th' other had but trust of their Captains Report As touching the Romans where do you se or read in their Histories that the Leaâ—tes which we call Generals or Lieutenants did so wel as the Consuls or Proconsuls in any War Who altho they were but as other of the Senate yet for that Time they had a Kingly and Sovereign Authority especially abroad And yet the Romans thought not that enough but when any danger came they made Dictaâ—â—â—ent Who from the Time of his Dictatorship was a very King or Monarch as ye know well enough So much did they think that Legats and Generals could not do th'enterprize so wel as he that hath the Princely Fasces as they cal them and the Sceptre And who that readeth the Veuctian Histories shal se that altho their Captain or General hath one of their Senate called Proveditore with him By whose Counsil if he do he doth avoid the danger of judgment Yet for because he is not indeed Consul or Dictator ye see their Wars go but coldly forward And this you knowing which Thing I marked in your Tale you praise them for the keeping that which they get wherefore I peradventure could shew some Causes Indeed for good Warriors I never heard Man yet give them the Prize And if I should grant this that the Generals in War do as wel as the Prince in Person which thing you see I am very loth to do and if it had not been strange and a thing to be wondered at in Octavius Augustus Plutarch would not have noted it But if I should grant it yet as the Greeks say One City is before another and there is difference in Generals and Lieutenants not only in knowledge of the Feats of War and in the Hardines of Courage and Wisdom to atchieve them but also in Estimation of the Soldier And who can be more esteemed or go more nâ—er to do as much in the Wars and with Soldiers as the Queen her Self if She were a Warriour or there in Person should do as either he which is the King or the Queens Husband In K. Henry III. his Time I read of Prince Edward who was after called Long Shanks and in the Time of Edward III. of the Black Prince and Henry V. that they did as much as their Fathers and that their Soldiers would under their Banners sight as valiant and go as far as they would govern their Fathers being then Kings of England And no marvail They did not only look shortly to have them their Sovereign Masters but they knew in the mean time how dear those Persons were to their Fathers Which two things did work so much in their Hearts and Minds that there was smal Want of the Royal Presence So much think I it doth excel to the Encouragement of the Soldier to the Hope of the Capitain to the Terror of the Enemy to understand that the Husband of the Queen he whom her Highnes Loveth above al men and whom She trusteth most and who can commend their Doings at al Times to her Highnes to be in the Field over it is of any other Lieutenant or General whosoever he be At one thing I assure you you had almost made me to laugh when that you spoke so husbandly of Husbanding I perceive the Queens Majesty doth not wel that you are not one of the Green-cloth you would husband the Matter so wel and teach them al to save mony And for one thing ye might do wel there because I perceive ye love no Takers But if you were once of them I fear me you would love Takers better and bear with them as wel as al the rest do Oh! merciful God do you look to save mony and do not care to save your Head You do consider how a few Expences may be saved and do not se how your Posterity shal be spent and consumed Cal to remembrance I pray you what was spoken you wot Where and When a little before the Speaker of the Parlament went to move that Petition to her Highnes wherof I spake even now I would to God her Majesty might live ever I would she should not dye but now I know that being born of mortal Parents there is no Remedy She must once run this Race that al her Progenitors have don before and al mortal Men and Women shal follow When that is don what a Damp shal England be in What an Eclipse wil that be if God do not either send a Prince before of her Body or els incredible Aggrement of the Nobility and Commons We hear what the Daulphin did attempt by the Title of his Wife the Scottish Queen after the Death of Q. Mary Happy is the Queens Majesty by the great Consent of her Subjects and happy be her Subjects by the Life and Prosperity of her Highnes But if there come any Dissension for the Trials of Titles If there come Part-takings who should wear the Crown what a more miserable Realm should there be in the whole World than this of England I am afraid to speak and I tremble to think what Murthers and Slaughters what Robbing and Riâ—ling what Spoiling and Burning what Hanging and Heading what Wasting and Destroying Civil War should bring in if ever it should come From the Time that K. Richard II. was deposed in whom al the Issne of the Black Prince was extinct unto the Death of K. Richard III the unkind and cruel Brother of Edward IV. whose Daughter was Maried as ye know to K. Henry VII by reason of Titles this poor Realm had never long Rest. Noble men
these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time
Excuse than Accuse them who were worthy of Accusation and very doubtful he was whether they would hinder the Discovery of the Nest that would be broken As he broke his Mind to the Lord Treasurer who was of the same Judgment and so also the Lord Chamberlain shewed himself to be in Conference with the Secretary But the said Treasurer who was for doing all things with Doulceur and with as little opposition to others as could be judged that for this time the doings of these Justices should be tried to which Opinion the Secretary did shew himself to condescend and agree There came soon after to his hands more Indicia of these Conjurers which were taken and withall a foul knot of Papistical Justices of Peace discovered and of Massing Priests which made him signify his judgment to the Lord Treasurer that it would be well done some of them should be sent for out of hand and laid hold on if they could be found And accordingly Letters were dispatched into the North for that purpose About this time it was that Sir Thomas was earnest with the Queen to send aid to reduce the Rebels in Scotland who had fortified Edenburgh Castle against the King and Regent and for that purpose he let the Queen understand from Mr. Killigrew her Ambassador in Scotland how dangerously things stood there and therefore that it was his desire that the Peace-makers as he phrased it might shortly be transported thither to whom when the Queen asked who be they Marry said he Your Majesty's Cannons they must do it and make a final Conclusion Then said the Queen I warrant you and that shortly Whereupon Sir Thomas said he was glad for it was better to prevent than to be prevented such was his Facetious way sometimes of getting his designs and Council to the Queen to succeed For it is to be understood that the Queen for the securing of her Affairs with respect to Scotland had by her Interest there procured the Earl of Morton a Protestant to be Regent of Scotland But the Papists and Frenchified Party resisted and took Edenburgh Castle the reducing of which so expeditely before the French could come in to their assistance was owing to the Managery of the Lord Treasurer and the Secretary His part was to urge the Queen to send speedy supply thither and the Lord Treasurer would have Men Ammunition and other Necessaries and a Ship immediately ready at Newcastle to go for Scotland upon the Queen's Order So about the 11 th or 12 th of February the Secretary moved the Queen for aiding the said Regent to reduce that place into the young King's Hands But she considered the Expence and told Smith of a device she had to do it without any such charge that is by a Letter to be written it seems to them that held the Castle thinking to bring them to yielding by some good words and promises But this the Secretary shewed her the inconvenience of namely that it would be a protracting of time being the very thing which they desired that the French might have time to come to them with their Succours He shewed her moreover that now the French King being thorowly occupied was the best time to perform that enterprize that was to be done and in fine she consented to his opinion and shewed her self very well pleased with the Lord Treasures making Provision in this mean while to have Powder and a ship of Newcastle and other things necessary provided beforehand for the doing it as the Secretary had signified to Her And she told him that upon that Lords coming to Court which then was at Greenwich she would fully determine with him all those Matters to be set forward with speed About this time were two Scotch men coming from France stopt at Rye by the Mayor and sent up to the Secretary who examined them They related what confident Report went in France what the French would do in Scotland and with what a mighty hand they would bring their Desires to pass there in spight of the English and such like But this the Secretary saw was but such Talk as might appear to be common in France For that Nation he said was full of Babble and Words and all for magnifying of their doings and Threatning what they would do rather than what they could do These men who called themselves Merchants were searched at Rye and no Letters nor other things suspicious found about them Yet the Secretary advised that Mr. Randal the Queens Ambassadour in Scotland or some other who knew Scotch Manners and Matters better should somewhat consider of them and if there were no matters against them to dismiss them in his Mind were best This year Sir Thomas procured a Colony to be sent into a Land of his in Ireland called The Ardes It was a rich and pleasant Country on the Eastern Coast of Ulster and of considerable Extent lying well for Trade by Sea Bordering upon a Country where Sarleboy contained himself with his Party He was an Hebidian Scot the Hebrides bordering upon this Province a long time detained prisoner by Shan O Neal the chief Prince in Ulster This Country was called Clandeboy where these Scots lived but they were beaten out once by this Shan who called himself Earl of Tir Oen and had killed two of the Brethren of Mac Conel Of which Family was Sarleboy whom he then had taken Prisoner but afterwards in an Extremity gave him his liberty This Shan was afterwards in a revenge slain by Sarleboy and his Party A Prospect of these Parts this Map will give In this Patent his base and only son Thomas Smith was joyned with him And under his Conduct Sir Thomas this year sent thither the Colony beforesaid having this good Design therein that those half barbarous People might be taught some Civility And his hope was that the Place might easily be defended by Garrisons placed in a strait neck of Land by which it was joyned to the rest of the Island And there was a Reward of Land to every Footman and Horseman But this extensive Project took not its desired effect For the hopeful Gentleman his Son had not been long there but he was unhappily and treacherously slain It was pity it had no better Issue For Sir Thomas a great while had set his Thoughts upon it undertaking to people that North Part of the Island with Natives of this Nation But for his more regular and convenient Doing of it and Continuance thereof he invented divers Rules and Orders The Orders were of two kinds I. For the management of the Wars against the Rebels and the preserving the Colony continually from the Danger of them II. For the Civil Government To preserve their Homeâ—manners Laws and Customs that they degenerated not into the Rudeness and Barbarity of that Country He divided his Discourse into thâ—â—e Parts First to speak of Wars And therein of Military Officers to be used there
Serpens oppresserit Ignem Qua tamen erumpendi sit data Copia lucet Under his Coat this Motto Quapote lucet The Inscription was as followeth Thomas SMITHUS Eques Auratus Hujus Manerii Dominus cum Regis EDWARDI Sexti tum ELIZABETH Ae Reginae Consiliarius ac primi Nominis Secretarius Eorundemque Principum ad maximos Reges Legatus Nobiliss Ordinis Garterii Cancellarius Ardae Australisque Claneboy in Hibernia Colonellus Iuris Civilis supremo Titulo etiamnum Adolescens insignitus Orator Mathematicus Philosophus excellentissimus Linguarum Latinae Graecae Hebraicae Gallicae etiam Italicae Callentissimus Proborum Ingeniosorum Hominum Fautor eximius Plurimis commodaus Nemini noceus Ab injuriis ulciscendis alienissimus Denique Sapientia Pietate Integritate insignis Et in omni Vita seu aeger seu valens â—ntrepidus mori Cum Aetatis suae 65 annum complevisset in Aedibus suis Montaulensibus 12 die Aug. Anno salutis 1577 piè suaviter in Domino obdormivit Next under the Essigies is this grave Sentence Gloria vitae auteactae Celebrem facit in Terrae Viseeribus sepultum Under that this Distich Innocuus vixi si me post Funera laedas Caelesti Domino facta Sceleste lues He left behind him his second Wife Philippa who dyed the Year after him that is the 20th day of Iune 1578. and was there buried by him as is exprest in the Base of the aforesaid Monument Sir Thomas Smith was of a fair Sanguin Complexion His Beard which was large and somewhat forked at the Age of Thirty three years was toward a yellow Colour He had a calm ingenious Countenance As appears by the Picture of him hanging up in the Parlour of Hilball done as they say by Hans Holben where he is represented with a round Cap on his Head and in a Gown as a Civilian A great Ruby Ring upon his fore Finger with a curious Seal Which Ring is still preseved in the Family and in the Possession of Sir Edward Smith laying one of his Hands upon a Globe that of his own making as you may suppose Underneath the Picture is written Love and Fear the two great Principles of Actions wherewith God and Princes are to be served CHAP. XVI His last Will. HE began to frame his Will in the first Threatnings of his last Sickness that is about Apr. 2. 1576. Wherein he piously bequeathed his Soul to God his Creator and Redeemer By whose Mercy he trusted to be one of his Elect I use the Words of his said Will And his Body to be buried at Theydon Mount or else where it should please his Executors and with such Ceremony as should please them and they should think convenient having rather regard to the Relief of the Poor than to any extream manner of Mourning not becoming Christians Knowing that as he trusted he should dye to a better Life and go to his God and his Hope which he had so longed for And whereas he was then in Building of his House and Sepulchral Monument for himself and his Lady by a Platform of his own for the perfecting them as also for mending of the Ways he left his ready Money and Debts owing him after his Funerals and Legacies discharged and all his Chains of Gold which seem to have been given him in his Embassies and a 1000 Ounces of Gilt Plate and more if need were together with all the Materials of Timber and other Stuff prepared and laid in for that Purpose To his Lady for her House keeping sutable to her and his Quality he gave all his Kine Oxen Sheep Plow Carthorses and all his Cattel at Theydon at Mount called his Stock which was a little before by the least Account valued at 430 l. or thereabouts and brought at that Time to 300 l. and odd by the Expences of Christmass so that his last Christmas keeping cost him it seems near 130 l. Besides Swine and the Corn sown upon the Ground and all his Wheat Malt and bargain of Malt Wine Hops and other such like Provision To help her to keep House But upon Condition she maintained until his Buildings were fully finished and the Ways about his House mended so many Teams as were then to be occupied about Carriages And upon Condition also that what should remain of the said Stock at the Time of her Decease and the Corn sown by her upon the Grounds should remain to his Brother George or such as by Sir Thomas's Device should succeed in Mounthal To his Wife he also gave all her Apparel Jewels Chains of Gold and all such Bedsteds and Bedding all Goblets Bowls and other Plate which she brought with her from Hampden to dispose at her Will and Pleasure And more to the Furniture of her House she might chuse out 700 Ounces of such of his Plate gilt or ungilt as she should think best to serve her Turn Which 700 Ounces of Plate he gave after her Death to his Brother George or who should succeed at his Manor of Theydon at Mount and all the Bedsteds Beds and Furniture there as were in his new Building and other Brass Pewter and Implements as well bought as made at his Charge These not to be sold nor alienated away but atleast two third Parts thereof to remain to him that should succeed his Brother George in Theydon at Mount Giving security to his Nephew Iohn Wood and his Heirs and so each Successor to his Successor And all this Caution Sir Thomas used for the better securing good Housekeeping at that which had been his Seat for times to come And because his Wife might take away and dispose of several Things then at his House which had been brought from Hampden to supply such Defects he gave his Brother George all his Household Linin Beds and Hangings that belonged to Ankerwic another House of his in Barkshire That so his House at Hilhal might not be disfurnished Nay and such care did he take for creditable Housekeeping there that if any Person to whom he had Willed the Premisses were suspected not to perform this Condition to his Successor it should be Lawful for him to whom it should descend after the Death of the suspected to require Sureties for the Performance of the Condition Which if it were refused then the two third parts left to the suspected should be immediately delivered to his Possession who should succeed him as his own given from Sir Thomas to him He gave his Brother George a Thousand Ounces of Plate for the furnishing of his Stock But upon Condition that he left three fourth Parts of that to him that should succeed him in Theydon Mount and his Successor to the next and his Successor again to the next and so each to other And all this was still for preserving and keeping up of the House at Hillhall Many Legacies besides he gave to his Relations Friends and Dependents And because he saw none of
than Christs saying who willed us to enter in at the streight Gate where few go in and to leave the easy way where there be many gon and going before which bringeth eternal Destruction But I think this Part enough proved till I hear the contrary of you The next that I promised you to take in hand was that to the Prince her self this is the best First either all the Women in the World do wonderfully dissemble or els bringing forth of Children besides the often Irksomeness Loathsomeness of Meats Appetite of strange Meats Morfew and other such Troubles that they have al the Time from the Conception to the Childbirth they be in such Danger of Death as at no time Men be more For we se by common Order they are wont to take the Communion to take their leave of the Church and prepare themselves even to it as Persons that were neither Alive nor Dead but betwixt both And al I am sure do not dissemble For I pray you what number of Women every houre even in their Travail or shortly after be dispatched and sent from their Childbed to their Burial Not only poor Folks Wives in whom Negligence or Poverty might have some excuse but Countesses Dutchesses Empresses and Queens Farther Examples we need not seek than the Mother of our late K. Edward Q. Iane and of the Q. Dowager Katharin Parr I can compare the danger of Childbed to nothing more aptly than to a foughten Battail save that there is this Difference that in foughten Battails the Prince by thold Examples as one saith of Pyrrhus provide for themselves out of the Foreward and most Danger But in this whatsoever Estate they be Queen or Empress she must fight with Death Hand to Hand There is no Champion to stand betwixt or to bestride them when they are down or to take the Stroke into their Bodies to defend them as hath been done before this by faithful Esquires to the safety of their Prince And if the faithful Friends of David after he was at one time by chance in great Hazzard in a certain foughten Battail would not suffer him in Person to come no more into Battail lest peradventure as they said the Light of Israel should be quenched How should I think that I should have so much regard to the Queens Persons as they had to Davids if I should not also with and desire yea and counsil too that her Grace should never enter into that Danger and Battail wherein she her self hand to hand and without Aid must Fight with Death himself a more perillous Fight than is any set Battail And if her Majesly be fruitful as there is no Cause to think the contrary then if she escape one she must within one year or a little more prepare for the next and so still be within the Danger of that Extremity which I do tremble to think upon Wel may I think as a great learned Man altho merrily writeth that unless God had given a certain notable Quantity of Foolishness and Forgetfulness to al Women after once they had assayed the Pains and Travails and Danger of Childbirth they would never company with Men again For altho Souldiers who put their Life to sale for mony do not fear to continue war and skirmishes and will adventure at the Capitains Commandment hardily upon the Spear-point to win or loose And altho some Warlike Princes as Alexander and Iulius Caesar thought themselves never so wel as when they had sowen one War upon another and were courageously in the Field themselves yet can it not be denyed but it had been more safty to their Persons to have lived quietly and justly at home with their own and made Peace with their Neighbours Nor tho they dyed at home amongst their Friends th one by Surfeit thother by Conspiracy yet can it not be understanded by the common Intendment but that they were in more Danger in the Battail and so the Success we must leave to Destyny and Gods Judgments What is by the common Course of Causes thereof we may conclude as far as natural Reason and Mans wisdom will go Wherefore in my Mind the Queens Highness Person by course of Nature being subject as al Mortal Mens and Womens â—e to Feavers Plurisies to Pestilence to the Sweat and infinite other sorts of Sicknesses and Diseases which the Physicians can descâ—ibe from the which whensoever it pleaseth God to send them as I pray God long to keep her from them no mans Power can rescue her methinks willingly and wittingly to bring in one other which shall be as dangerous as any one or al those it is not the part of him that professeth a Care of her Highness Person Hitherto I have spoken of her Person but as touching the Body nevertheles by her Person I mean all such Things as touch her privatly and altho it is now hard to make a separation of this but that which toucheth her Person should also touch al the whole Realm yet because I speak amongst you whom I know to be both Learned and Wise ye will I dare say take what I mean by the Order of my Talk Let us grant that her Majesty doth Marry if he be a Subject then she should seem to disparage her self For what shall she do other than that which is found fault with in certain Dutchesses and Countesses which have married with those which were their Servants If she marry a Stranger then must he needs by Gods Laws be her Head and where she was highest before now she hath made one higher than her self If she study to please him then is she in Subjection of him If she mind not to please him why should she then marry him And this is the best But if there should arise any Dissension betwixt her Majesty and her Husband and Part-takings who should rule as there hath been ere this in other Countreys what a Misery shall her Majesty bring her self unto from so great a Felicity To what a Disquietnes from so great a Quietness Now al dependeth upon her only Wil and Pleasure She only commandeth and it is done She saith the Word and every one obeyeth Then is no Grace to be looked for but at her Husbands hands only Then there shall be two to sue unto tho not equal yet such as each of other would not like well to have a Nay So that their Requests one of another shall be as it were Commandments of th one to thother So that if the good and loving Wife loth to displease her Husband and the loving Husband his Wife when one of them shall ask and require of the other that which thother would not gladly do if it be not done who is displeased ye perceive And if it be done who is aggrieved ye se. And so much the more as th one desireth in his or her mind to have it don thother in his or her mind that it should not be done so much the more Grief the Granting
were beheaded poor men were spoiled both one and th' other stain in battel or murthered at home Now this King prevailed now th' other No man sure of his Prince no man of his Goods no man of his Life A King to day to morrow a Prisoner Now hold the Sceptre and shortly after fly privily the Realm And when this fel upon the Head how sped the Body think you Those two Blades of Lyonel and Iohn of Gaunt never rested pursuing th' one th' other til the Red Rose was almost razed out and the White made al bloudy And as it were Eteocles and â—â—lyâ—ices they ceased not til they had filled their Country ful of bloudy Streams They set the Father against the Son the Brother against the Brother the Unkle flew the Nephew and was slain himself So Bloud pursued and ensued Bloud til al the Realm was brought to great Confusion It is no marvail tho' they lost France when they could not keep England And England in the latter end of K. Henry VI. was almost a very Chaos Parishes decayed Churches fel down Townes were desolate plowed Fields waxed Groves Pastures were made Woods Almost half England by Civil War slain and they which remained not sure but in Moates and Castles or lying in Routs and Heaps together When those two Roses by the Reliques and last store of the Whole were joyned in the amiable Knot of Mariage then the Strife ended and England began as it were to be inhabited again Men left Moates and Castles and builded abroad pleasant Houses And thus it hath continued from K. Henry VII hitherto Save that in this Time a few Broyls of the Stirred Sea which could not so soon be calmed by Martin Swarte Perkin Warbeck and Simond out of Ireland were somewhat renewed but they were Trifles to the rest Sith which Time not containing yet fourscore years you se how England is repeopled the Pastures clothed the Desarts inhabited the Rents of Lands encreased the Houses replenished the Woods so wasted that now we begin to complain for want of them and our Encrease is tedious to our selves which find fault with the Fruits of Peace because we know not the Cause of the Success nor the Commodities therof But as if al the World should return to the old Chaos it were the greatest mischief that Heart could invent Tongue speak Pen express or Wit indite So if this should come to our Country of England we for our parts shal feel this I speak of and as it were the particular Judgment of the Day of Doom And it standeth but on a tickle and frail Ground if God wil so plague our Country whether the Red and White Rose shal strive again together or whether the branches of the mixed Rose shal cleave asunder and strive within themselves which is neerer the Root Oh! Lord God let me not live to se that day And you my Friend do you in this Company speak of Saving of Mony to let the saving of this Trouble from the Realm of England With this he held his peace and seemed indeed very much troubled And no man said a word even a good pretty space 〈◊〉 at the last the Stammerer that I told you of whom they called after al that night Mr. Godfather stutting after this maner said this in effect By the Lord I believe you have told as good a Tale as ever I heard I am now glad I have an Excuse by my Tongue for I should not have don it so wel For both in Peace and War and al times you have proved that it is best for her Grace and most to her Comfort and Quiet to have an Husband Mary I thought long for this Last Part of the Necessity of a Prince of her Highnes Body And because you pass it over so with Silence I had thought to have put you in mind of that thing but now I wil not say more of it For I se it troubleth you as it doth us al. Now Sir you have said so much for me as I would wish and I thank you For the rest as I said I am indifferent If you have any thing to speak for an Alien who be so tender unto you and whom you do always prefer before us English Men speak on a Gods Name and let this Gentleman provide wel to aunswer you For I perceive ye wil do wel enough both III. Philoxenius or Love-alien his second Oration for the Queens Marying with a Stranger IN good Faith quoth Love-alien now I have spoken for you so long I am in a maner weary when I should speak for my self And yet this was not out of the Way for me so to do but in maner necessary For it standeth not with order of Disputation as to my remembrance Aristotle writeth that I should go about to prove Quale sit before I have proved Quod sit Therfore it had been superfluous for me to describe what maner of Husband I thought most meet for the Queens Highnes if it were not first proved by reason that it were convenient that her Majesty should have one For if her Grace be fully determined and perswaded by Mr. Agamus Spiteweds Reasons then to reason whether a Stranger or an English-man were more to be wished is clean superfluous For it is cut off by this one stroke Her Majesty wil have none Wel here among this Company for Disputation sake I wil stand so wel in my own Conceit that I take Mr Agamus his Opinion thorowly confuted And let us put the Case that is aggreed upon That best it were for her Majesty to Mary then standeth it in Consultation farther of the maner and Condition of her Husband Wherin may be made many Questions as whether a Young Man or a more elderly whether a Batchelor or a Widower an English-man or a Stranger a great Prince or a King or a mean Personage as in al such where divers be offered of sundry Qualities wherof the Choise and Election is to be taken and because both I am weary and there hath yet but one of these Questions been moved amongst us I shal speak but of that Branch only Whether an English-man or a Stranger is to be perferred Wherin because I have already declared my Opinion which Part I mind to take it resteth that I should also declare the Reasons which moved me to think as I have said and here I intend to begin The very true godly and essential Causes of Matrimony if I may use that Term be three The getting of Children without the Offence of God The natural Remedy to resist the Temptation of the Devil moving us to Fornication or Adultery And the Comfort Pleasure and Help which th' one hath of th' other in al private Affairs and in Governing the House and Family This last the Philosophers which knew not the right Law of God make the first the chief and the whole Cause For as for the Second I mean Fornication they esteemed it not And the first
disdain at him Which Disdain wil bring Grudge and Grudge never bringeth good Wil. So that by this Mariage her Highnes shal seem not to encrease her Strength but to weaken it not to unite it but to dislolve it Examples be too neer to be found K. Edward IV. maried the Lady Katherine Gray a goodly Lady and his Enemies Wife Did not that Mariage as all Histories make mention fil in maner al the rest of the Nobility that thought themselves somewhat with Malice Envy Grudg and Displesure against al her Blood And her Blood by most Liklihood did not greatly come behind them This Mischief was the Destruction both of th' one and th' other and not that only but of the Two goodly Young Gentlemen K. Edwards Sons the Prince and his Brother Had it not been better he had married there where the Earl of Warwick was his Spokes-man Wherby he should have gotten Strength abroad and his Nobility at home not so to have been dissevered Thus far of Power and Strength The same I do think also of Riches For the which altho it doth most become poor men to travail yet I do not se but that Princes both do and have as much need to look and study for to get it Especially now in our Times when War is made as much by Mony as by Sword and he that may longest pay his Soldiers goeth Victor away And if they be both disposed to cock it throughly yet when they both be made Bankrupts then they must needs conclude a Peace But if her Highnes do look to enrich her self and her Realms as both Reason would and I am sure it is no little Part of her Graces Study so to do Which thing may appear by many evident Tokens seing that which in England and Ireland is to be accounted her own as no man doubteth there can of the gathering together of that no Advancement be accounted But if to that which her own Kingdom hath her Highnes doth adjoyn the Riches of another Region which is none of hers then must we needs judge the true Encrease to be made Which Thing you know the Mariage of the Lord of the Country doth without further Cost or Danger bring to pass And this ye may be sure that her Highnes can take to Husband no foreign Prince nor Nobleman of another Country but some Riches he will bring with him more than shal bear his Costs And contrariwise if her Majesty take one at home both her own Crown must be spoiled of Lands and her Coffers of Mony to furnish him according to his Estate For what private man of what Condition Riches or Power soever he be is able of his own Lands or Coffers to bear or maintain the State of her Highnes Husband And of this matter I think I have said enough For where there be but six Causes or Occasions of Mariage as I have declared whereof the Three first be indifferent that neither the Stranger is excluded nor the English-man reckoned to have any Advantage in them Which Three do appertain chiefly to the Conscience and the godly Motives towards Matrimony and the Three other which rule and lead almost al the World after them be al upon the Strangers side as you se whether way I should lean if my Judgment were asked it is apparent enough If th'advauncemont to Honor wherto al Princes as ye know have a special regard and Ey If the Encrease of Power and Strength which is the thing that a wife Prince and Governor doth chiefly covet if th'augmentation of Riches and Wealth which is not the least Care that a King or a Queen ought to have if not one I say but al these stand on his Side So that the Mariage of a stranger doth appear not only more Honorable but also more Safe and I more Profitable to the Queens Majesty I must needs be in this Opinion that it is better for her Highnes to take to Husband a Stranger than any Subject of Hers within the Realm of England or Ireland After he had ended al the rest held their Peace til my Friend the Stammerer began whom they al the night after as I say called Mr. Godfather because he was so ready to Nickname the rest So that as he misnamed others and yet not misnamed for according to their Opinions and Doings he gave them Names but as he did so likewise was he upon his Doings called of them Mr. Godfather because that he as tho he had been at a Christening named them al of new Which Names they seemed to me not much to refuse nor to be angry with them nor he with his And therfore I wil hereafter so name them al. Wel faith he for your Part Mr. Lovealien or Lewelyn for my Tongue loveth to speak short you have played it wel and now I am content to be on your Side Mary I cannot tel what I shal be when my Friend here hath spoken what shal I cal him what other than Homefriend or if ye would be Christned in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For in good Faith he is nothing but English I think he be the Patron and very Idea of an old English-man which thought no Country so good so plentiful so rich so happy as England is nor no men so fair so wel made so bold so hardy so good Warriors so wise and so discrete as we English-men be And even now he is so enamoured of his Country that he taketh I dare say as the Proverb is the Smoak in England to be warmer and better than the Fire in France or Italy And as for the Stoves in Germany he cannot abide them Wel said Mr. Homefriend and laughed I am glad I have my Name yet before I shal begin And I do not fear but when you have heard me you wil be of my side and so we shal be at the least two to one altho Mr. Spitewed tary stil in his Opinion of Nunnery and sole Life And after a little space thus he began IV. Axenius or Home-friend This Oration for the Queens Majesty's Marrying with an English Nobleman rather than any Foreign Prince OF one Part of my Oration Master Lovealien saith he I take my self to be well eased For you have so much proved the Necessity and Commodity of her highness Marriage and so well refuted Agamus his Oration that it were superfluous for me therein to make any Words And if you had been disposed to have stretched the Vein of your excellent Wit as well in the behalf of our Countrymen as ye were of the Strangers who neither are so near unto you and shall never do you nor your Country so much good I know you would have done it much better and I had been eased of my Labour who had rather a great deal be a Hearer than a Talker But now seeing that through your unnaturalness this Burthen lighteth on my Back altho' I know that I am very weak