their Judges giving to Copyholders a Tenure by custom as they grew altogether deaf at the call of their Landlords And so it was found by this our Edward and others who would have used their Tenants for service of the Crown in foreign wars under Henry the 8th This was some inconvenience to the Prince but little in comparison of that which hath shewed it self in these latter times wherein the Commonalty or third Estate hath assumed a power not only to subject their Sovereign to a jurisdiction established by the said Commons but to abolish the Regal power it self and as a consequent thereunto to bring the ancient Peerage to a level with themselves And this may be very much attributed to the former extirpation of power in great persons who stood as a wall of defence between Prince and People The other part of the ordinary Militia consisted in the arraying of all persons fit for War defensive and this was first managed by Commissioners of Array authorised from time to time by the Kings themselves which made them to countenance it much more than the other But in process of time this power residing in many who are more subject to find out dilatory scruples than a single person gave occasion to the Princes more to affect the placing of it in some one for one may more easily be commanded and is more subject to an account upon miscarriage But on the other side this gave more offence to the Commons in Parliament who bear the Purse for supply of their Princes extraordinary occasions which perhaps might be the cause of Queen Elizabeth's laying it down for that time though she resumed it afterwards After this it appeareth not that Edward Lord North ever desired other than an exemption from publick employments with a quiet enjoyment of himself and of the fruits of his past labours and in this it pleased God to bless him very far for he had little publick molestation yet was he not free from disquiet at home by reason of some apprehensions arising within his own family by the prodigality of his eldest Son for whom as is exprest in his Will he was constrained at the last to pay a great debt besides much of the same nature formerly In those days the sum which he paid was esteemed very great yet was not the debt so considerable in his thoughts as a disposition in his Son easily discernible as he esteemed to proceed in the same way of expence He feared that this would make the young man to exceed all bounds when he should become master of his Estate which made the impression so deep with him as he failed not to admonish his Son in the said Will with very great reflexions upon him as to his prudence and perhaps it wrought great effects after the Father's death And here may be noted that the ablest persons make their judgments as to the future with great incertainty for Roger Lord North proved a most industrious and provident man and a person of great honour for he was Ambassadour extraordinary from Queen Elizabeth to Charles the 9th of France and bare many other publick employments abroad and at home till at the last he became Treasurer of the houshold to the Queen and one of her Privy-Council dying with that Character upon him in which he exceeded his Father Neither had Edward Lord North any greater hopes of Sir Thomas North his other Son who though a man of courage a man learned as appears by divers translations of his and indued with very good parts otherwise yet never had a steadiness comparable to his Brother which made the Father to settle his Estate by way of Entail as strongly to prevent Alienations as the Law of those times would bear with a remainder to his Kindred of Walkeringam as hath been already touched And in the year 1563 he made the Will before-mentioned and constituted Sir William Cordall and Sir James Dyer Executors of the same both of them persons very eminent in those times Sir William being Master of the Rolls and Sir James Dyer Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In the year succeeding having crowned his wisedom by a discreet settlement of his private fortune he paid his last debt to Nature ending his life with the Julian year on the last day of December and so changed this for a better being then about the 68th year of his age as near as we can gather by conjecture Thus terminated the life of this noble and worthy person who hid not the talent wherewith his Maker entrusted him but improved it for the advantage of his Nation and Family which ought to be an eternal honour to him His marriages were two whereof the first was to Alice Squier Daughter to a Gentleman estated in Hamp-shire she then being Widow of Edward Myrfyn Son to an Alderman of London so named and having also had a former Husband called Brigantine or Brickenden and by each of these Husbands one Son By this Wife he had four Children whereof Roger Lord North and Sir Thomas North have already been named and in some sort Characterized herein The other two were Daughters whereof Christian the elder was married to William Earl of Worcester and Mary the younger to Henry Lord Scroope of Bolton Of every one of these four there is Posterity left and now grown so numerous in the whole and it is become so far an honour to their common Progenitor as I my self who am the Grandchild of his Grandchild may in the year of our Lord 1658 affirm that I know not any of the Race that have as yet applied themselves to courses dishonest or dishonourable This Lady Alice as she brought him a considerable estate in Marriage so she was a great and constant assistant to him in the improvement of his fortunes always shewing her self a discreet and provident person in the government of his domestique affairs and she continued so till the time of her death which hapned some four or five years before that of her husband who failed not to yield a fair mention of her goodness in his Testament desiring also to be buried with her at Kirtling His second and last Wife was the Lady Margaret Widow to Sir David Brooke and surely she was a person worthy of his choice for he shewed much care of her in his last settlement by Will which is all that I shall need to say of her By his Picture whereof there is yet a copy remaining with us he appears to have been a person of moderate stature somewhat inclining to corpulency and of a reddish hair As for his inward abilities it were extravagant to question them in a man so versed in affairs of State as a Privy-Counsellour and that sate at the Stern so many years in an eminent place of Judicature Such persons seldom want elocution sufficient but if we may judge of his Oratory by his Letters he seemed rather to have affected the delivery of a full and clear sense
such points of belief as had small relation to that competition for power But to return to our business the person whose Life we endeavour to describe soon found a difference between his old Master King Henry who already had gratified most of those which had shewed themselves active in his service and the Duke of Somerset newly made Protector of the King's person for this man that he may advance to places of honour and power those persons who have their dependance upon him must either find or force a way for the effecting of it with them who are in possession of those dignities And King Edward had not reigned two years before Richard Sackvill Esq had the Chancellourship of the Augmentations in his eye and with all so great an interest in the Protector as to engage him strongly in the pursuit For the Protector soon caused the business to be proposed to the person whom it chiefly concerned and he finding himself too weak to wrestle with a man that did little less than govern the whole Kingdom in those days thought fit so far to give way as to bring the matter to a treaty wherein he carried himself so like his arts Master though the Protector in person was witness to most of it as he parted with the place upon terms very considerable for honour security and profit and yet ordered the business in such a manner as the Protector could not but take himself to be obliged in it as may appear by the articles of agreement between Sackvill and him and by other writings under Seal belonging to that business where the expressions seem to lay all the weight upon the Lord Protector who is therein styled Mr. Sackvill's good Lord. Thus by his wisedom he not only prevented a mischief which might have befallen him in the opposition and preserved himself in the dignity of a Privy Counsellor but gained a fresh interest in the Duke of Somerset that might have made him great returns But it pleased God to dispose of matters otherwise for the Protector soon lost not only his power but his life being supplanted by the subtile practices of John afterwards Duke of Northumberland who though he assumed not the other's title of Protector yet bare no less sway in the government and demeaned himself with much greater insolence than Somerset About this time Sir Edward North finding way made upon him concerning his great office thought good to strengthen himself by alliance matching his eldest Son with the Lady Winifride Daughter to Richard Lord Rich then Lord Chancellor of England and Widow to Henry Dudley eldest Son to the said Duke of Northumberland but neither that alliance nor any of his other dependencies gave him encouragement to seek farther advancement during the reign of King Edward so as then he endeavoured as it seems only to make good his former station waiting for better opportunity In the mean time as appears by an account of his houshold expences he shewed himself worthy of greater honour by living in a way of more eminency than hath been usual with persons of his condition in those and the following times and then also his wisedom prompted him to have an eye to the Princess Mary next in succession to the Crown for he forgot not to put her in mind of him by presents This had been worthy of commendation if he had done it only as a testimony of gratitude to her Father but he may well be thought to have carried on a farther design in it for we find not any such thing done in relation to the Princess Elizabeth the other Sister and whether or no he did then discern some declination in the health of King Edward who is said to have died of a Consumption it is not easie to unfold Yet such was the iniquity of those times as his great foresight could not prevent his being involved together with the rest of the Privy-Council all the great officers and most of the eminent persons in and near the Court and City of London in a danger even by way of opposition to the said Princess Mary which in probability would have swallowed up any small number of them if they had been severed For the Duke of Northumberland foreseeing the certainty of the King's death had so wrought upon his tender age and weakness as to make him as far as in him lay to disinherit both his Sisters and to establish the Succession in the Lady Jane Grey his near kinswoman then joined in Matrimony to the Lord Guilford Dudley one of the Duke's Sons This was done by Testament and because there was an Act of Parliament to the contrary the Duke thought it not of sufficient validity without the concurrence and confirmation of all those who were then in power wherefore he caused a Subscription to be tendered to every one of them and so apprehensive were they of his displeasure with the consequences of it as there is no refusal recorded but that of Sergeant Hales one of the puney Judges for it seems that all the rest subscribed This action of his may seem to question both the Integrity and wisedom of our Progenitor and to vindicate him in it will require a digression of some length To plead infirmity as a defence is not worthy of a person so eminent for wisedom though Metus qui potest cadere in virum fortem doth very much excuse and though it may very well become a Statesman to prevent a present danger with the hazard of a much greater in the future for as the Italians say Chi ha tempo ha vita He who hath time hath life which consideration made the then chief Justice of the King's Bench upon this very occasion when his Brother of the Common Pleas told him that they might both of them be hanged twenty years after if they should subscribe the Testament to return this Answer That it was most true but yet as true that if they subscribed it not the Duke of Northumberland might chance to hang them presently But in my opinion it is not much to be doubted but Sir Edward North had for his security a better reserve which is this a knowing that the Princess Mary had received assurances from him to be faithfull to her and to her interests in the way of allegiance next to her Brother's person and Posterity if any should be which made her notwithstanding this Subscription not only to continue him in his former dignity but to advance him a degree higher in the very first year of her reign And this course of his to hold himself in power with an intention to serve his lawfull Sovereign who knew that intention could not but be very serviceable to her and being so how could it give any great offence in a thing so generally done And as for his own concernments it cannot well be doubted but they would prompt him to his then compliance self preservation at that very time being conceived necessary by so many persons
year of our Lord 1496 as near as we can conjecture and during the reign of King Henry the 7th This Roger was of the Family of the Norths of Walkeringam in the County of Nottingham which Norths had preserved a small Fortune in that County and place for many Generations without any considerable encrease or diminution living always in the quality of private Gentlemen untill the days of the said Edward Lord North and many years after till the chief of that Race by a Shreivalty cast upon him with many chargeable suits in Law and by the prodigality of his eldest Son who unhappily had taken upon him the honour of Knighthood was enforced to part with so much Land as it caused his Heirs to fall out with the Mansion house and sell it to the Perpoints who at this time are owners of it The affection of Edward Lord North to his Kindred of Walkeringam was always very great and so was his care of them in their prime concernments and especially of Edward North their Chief in that age for in settling the greatest part of his estate by way of Entail he preferred this Edward and his Posterity before the House of Worcester and all other Descendents of his own Daughters whose Issue was sufficiently numerous This Roger as hath been intimated being a Citizen of London never attained to any eminency of Estate yet was he not so straitned in his fortune but that he could and did afford to his Son a costly way of breeding training him up at the Inns of Court in the study of the Law Like a good and wise Parent discerning in his Child a capacity too large to exercise it self in his own narrow course of Mercery he found out for him though not without some inconvenience to himself a way of greater extent and activity which it pleased God very highly to bless as shall appear in the sequel of this narration From the little that is known of what he did in the prime of his years we may conclude and not unfitly that being of an industrious nature he spent his time at first about the laying of a foundation in the way of his profession by Study and that afterwards having gained abilities he sought to render himself and his parts known by applying himself to a fair and moderate practice of the Law in a plausible way in which he made so fair a progress as it appears that he came to be of Council for the City of London and had a yearly Fee for that service though it be not known at what time of his age he came to be so The first publick employment of his that we have evidence for is this his having the Clerkship of Parliament by grant from King Henry the 8th in the year 1530 which it seems in those days was an office of much more respect than now it is for he had it first by Patent jointly with Sir Bryan Tuke and then wholly to himself and it was afterwards enjoyed by Sir William Pagett then Secretary of State and so it came to Sir John Mason and others But had the place been of meaner condition he had wisedom sufficient to instruct him that it is better for those who have their fortunes to make to play at small game than to sit out About this time as by all other fair ways so in that of Marriage he sought his advancement and espoused himself to his first Wife who being a Widow and having had two Husbands brought him such an increase as not long after he purchased his Manor of Kirtling This was about the 33d year of his age which sheweth that he was not hasty in parting with his liberty for he well knew the want of that to be one of the chief remoras to young men as to their applications in the way of preferment otherwise and therefore when he came to sell himself he suffered not his affections to over-rule his judgment but made such a choice as to be sure in some measure that the advantages of his Wifes estate should not be overballanced by any natural indispositions or ill dispositions adhering to or inherent in her person And not many years after this his Sun began to ascend very fast towards its Zenith for the King having taken a resolution to shake off the Papal yoke he drew to his service from all parts the most able and active spirits and among others this worthy person so as in the year 1536 he became one of the King's Sergeants at Law for so we find him styled by the King himself in a grant then made to him And now the dissolution of Monasteries being enacted by Parliament and the Court of Augmentations being erected for the ordering of that new accession to the Crown it pleased the King about the year 1540 to confer upon him the office of Treasurership of that Court which he enjoyed about four years and during that time in the year 1542 by the name of Sir Edward North for he had received the honour of Knighthood he was High Sheriff of the Counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon and also elected to serve in Parliament as Knight of the Shire for Cambridge-shire which two employments did rarely concur in one and the same person And afterwards in the year 1544 he first became Chancellour of the Augmentations joyntly with Sir Richard Rich afterwards Lord Rich and Chancellour of England and within a few months following sole Chancellour of that Court by resignation of the said Sir Richard Rich unto him and so he enjoyed that great office alone about four years in which time as we suppose he might well have raised his fortunes double to the proportion he left to his Family if he had not been a person of very great integrity But though his particular actions in the managing of that great trust were sincere and so not much obnoxious to detraction yet his acting in an affair so highly offensive to the Roman Catholick party exposed him to the censure of some of his own posterity of that profession for upon some declinations in the house which he had raised they have not forborn to impute the diminutions to that only cause as a crime that had been the destruction of many Families so raised and would be the Catastrophe of his I conceive this to savour too much of temerity if it be not injurious but I intend not to undertake the vindication of this and other States in their power of setting out at the first or giving continuance to a fit proportion for the maintenance of those either single persons or Fraternities which are set apart for external service in the way of Religion which power was not a thing altogether new in those times as may appear by the Statute of Mortmayne whereby dedications in the way of Piety were much prevented and why may not a State finding the excess very prejudicial to the whole Nation who may challenge a higher charity than any part whatsoever as