who served in their own Arms. The present Practice of imploying mean people arose upon the multiplying the Train Arms and the overcharging men which indeed has made them more numerous but not so safe considerable or governable as they were before to the damage both of the Crown and People She never advanced any to the degree of a Peer but those that were men of worth and whose virtue and industry had rendered them fit for it and yet after all these Cautions the number she created was very small She rarely created any man a Peer upon the solicitation or recommendation of others or for her own fancy or humour but when any person stood Candidate for that Honour there was an exact and careful confideration had of the Nobility of his Ancestors the Greatness of the Family the Endowments of his Mind and the briskness of his Parts of his Probity Wisdom and Prudence and of the strength and vigour of his Body which might enable him to perform some good service to the Nation It was the rare felicity of these Times That men were advanced to Honours without their seeking it and sometimes against their wills being promoted for their Virtues not Fortunes She chose her Counsellors Bishops Judges Ministers and Court-Officers and her inferior Magistrates on the single score of their Fidelity Experience Piety Justice Modesty Prudence and Wisdom That they being thus advanced might exercise their Offices the more honourably and sincerely She would often tell those she entrusted That they might rest assured she would reward their Integrity Industry and Equity and if she found them guilty of any Injustice and Oppression she would as certainly punish them for it She would never entertain in her Service any Ignorant Covetous Dishonest or Light Person She always loved Sir Walter Rawleigh for his great Ingenuity and Loyalty yet he was never admitted into the Privy Council When Burleigh the Lord Treasurer had a long time solicited her to advance his Son Robert a Person of great Parts to be Secretary of State she a great while denied it only because he was little of stature and hunch-backed and she thought it a dishonour to that Board to have a deformed Person sit amongst so many Eminent and Noble Persons and when afterwards he attained this Honour upon the solicitation of his Father and his other Friends the Nobility were highly offended at it And when after that he was upon the death of the Lord Buckhurst made his Father's Assistant in the Treasury it so far provoked the Military men that it proved the Ruine of the Earl of Essex and it was well it ended here The Queen being thus provided with a Wise and Noble Council with great care and prudence and which were highly esteemed by her People too as well as her self for their virtue she chose the most learned and uprightest of the Councellors or Lawyers to be her Judges only Hatton excepted She was an exact Observer of Justice which is the most resplendent of all the Moral Virtues and of veracity or constancy to her Word which is the foundation of Justice She was extremely severe against all that broke her Laws and punished sometimes small Offences with great severity Though the Earl of Essex was a Person of great Fame her particular Favourite and had done her and the Nation good Services and was the best Soldier her times bred which were well stored with excellent Military men yet when by the fraud of his Enemies and Flatterers rather than his own Inclinations he was so far transported as to attempt to arm her Subjects against his envious Rivals who treacherously sought his ruine That which he expected would have turned to his advantage failing the Queen delivered him into the hands of the common Executioner who mangled his Body to that degree that it enraged the people that saw it against the Hangman and they stoned and cursed him for it and drove him out of the City Soon after God took a severe account of those that had been the Procurers of this Noble Person 's death Cobham Gray and Rawleigh with their whole Families were ruined within the space of a few years Sir Robert Cecil the principal Agent in it lived longer but at last perished too by a long Disease attended with Ulcers and other painful and loathsome Circumstances and as the Story goes under an Hedge in the open Fields as he was travelling on the Road. Sir John Perrot a Welsh Gentleman of great Spirit and of much fame for his Military Exploits and his Integrity in the management of the Wars in Ireland was yet of something too fierce a temper which gave his Enemies too many opportunities to traduce and injure him The Lord Chancellor Hatton was one of those who imployed Spies upon him and they catching some Expressions that fell from him in a passion and much improving them to his disadvantage accused him to the Queen as one that was not well affected to Her Majesty and that had used some Expressions which tended to her dishonour for which and his over-stiff Contumacy he was put upon his Trial and being found guilty he was condemned and was imprisoned to the day of his death suffering want and nastiness of a common Goal and the uneasiness of an afflicted and delected mind to see himself thus in his old Age abandon'd to the malice of his Enemies by his Mistress whom he had served with much fidelity and courage in her Wars His Estate also which he had received from his Ancestors which was considerable and what he had gained himself was all taken from him The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was also suspected to have had a great share in the Contrivance of this Gentleman's Ruine Her Severity which she exerted in punishing the Disorders and Offences of her Servants was so far from being invidious that it made her more popular and the better thought of by all good men She had the utmost aversion for all contrived and malicious Murthers so that she thought such Miscreants could never be treated too ill and when she got them into her power she would rarely shew them any mercy Of this I will only give two Instances of a multitude that happened in her times which will shorten my Work and serve to illustrate her Justice and Severity There were two Brothers of the Family of Davers who were of the degree of Knights and men of good Estates and Reputations and they had a quarrel with another Gentleman of equal Birth and Estate whose name was Long a man of Valour too thereupon they resolved to murther him and taking the advantage as he was going to set down to Dinner they shot him in the breast The Queen hearing of this Fact was strangely enraged at it and resolved to revenge the Villany to the utmost degree as she ever detected all premeditated Assassinations and she accordingly ordered the Law to pass against the two Daverses and cited them to
keep her Promise And at other times she would say She promised them a Liberty to Preach but she never meant they should Marry Bury Baptize Administer the Lord's Supper and hold Consistories and the like When the Regent saw her Forces at hand she wrote to the City of Valentiennes to receive a Garison in the year 1566 because that City was more inclined to embrace the Reformed Religion than any of the rest in the Low-Countries and had rescued some that were condemned to be burnt for Heresie heretofore and also because it was nearâ—…r to France and so more suspected They refused to comply with this Command alledging many Reasons and Privileges to the contrary and were thereupon proclaimed Rebels the 14th of December After this all means good and bad were used to prevent the exercise of the Protestant Religion which had its effect in all places but Amsterdam Antwerp Sherlogen-bosk Maestricht Utrecht and Ghent for these Cities still upheld it These Proceedings alarm'd the Cities of Flanders and Antwerp sent a Committee of the principal Inhabitants to consult with the Deputies of the Cities in Brabant who all joined in a Petition to the Regent That there might be a General Assembly of the States to take present order concerning the business of Religion by provision That then new Orders might be therein made for the preserving the true Christian Religion the Authority and Majesty of their King and for the promoting the Prosperity of these Provinces That in the mean time assurance should be given to those of the Reformed Religion That they should not be molested or disquieted during this Suspension That after the said States have resolved with the King how they will settle these things those that were not satisfied with their Orders might have some Months time given them to retire in whither they pleased and those that would submit should have a general Pardon granted them This reasonable Request was very little debated because they of the Council knew the King's mind but was altogether rejected The principal Nobility of these Countries thereupon met at Dermondâ—… And here was read the Letter written by the Lord Montigni giving an account how much the King of Spain resented the present state of Affairs in the Low·Countries And there was also read a Letter written by Francis Davala the Spanish Ambassador in the Court of France to the Regent of Flanders the 29th of Auâ—…ust 1566. which was intercepted wherein he endeavoured to confirm her Highness in her opinion That all the Calamities of the Netherlands sprang from the Triumvirate meaning the Prince of Orange and the Counts of Egmont and Hoorne That it was fit nevertheless to shew these all the respect that was possible and to tell them that the King owned the preserving those Countries to have been the effect of their Loyalty and good Service But yet when time served he would punish them And also the two Lords that were now in Spain who should be kept there still to that purpose with Counsellor Rennert and that the King had sworn at Madrid That he saw well that what had happened in the Netherlands was not only prejudicial to his Honour but also to the Service of God which touched him so near that he would run the hazard of losing all the Dominions he had rather than not chastise this Rebellion exemplarily in the sight of all Christendom and that he would go thither in Person and send to the Emperor and the Pope for Assistance That his Majesty would certainly reap great Advantages from the ill things that had been done and expected to see those Countries brought under his Absolute Command and to settle after this both the Religion and the Civil Government as he thought fit which the King could never have done if these things had not hapned That the King had desired this a long time and they had now given him means to bring them under as to the Civil State and to quiet them as to the matters of Religion as he thought fit Thus the Crafty Spaniard made up his reckoning without his host and in the end found himself deceived The Nobility were never able howevâ—…r to come to any Resolve because Count Egmont was resolved to throw himself upon the King's Mercy and the Prince of Orange durst not undertake to Head the Leaguers against so Potent and Implacable a Prince as Philip the IId was then So this Discovery terrified and divided instead of uniting them And the City of Valenciens in the mean time defended it self very resolutely from the 14th of December to the 24th of March and then was forced to submit to Mercy Norcarmes the General for the King of Spain thereupon hanged up their Ministers and about Two hundred of the best of the Inhabitants whereupon the Regent forced or perswaded a great part of the Nobility to take an Oath to maintain the Roman-Catholick Religion but yet the Prince of Orange and some few others refused it and retired After this she fell to shut up all the Protestant Meeting-Houses and opened the Popish Churches furnishing them splendidly with new Images and other such-like Necessaries and they hanged up the contrary Party by whole-sale fifty or an hundred in a place some for pulling down their Images and others for bearing Arms against the Government And in some of the greater Cities they hanged up two three or four hundred men making Gallows of the Timber of their Meeting Houses Upon this many thousands of the Inhabitants of these Countries retired some into England and others into Germany so that by the beginning of May 1567. the Regent was intirely Mistress of all the Seventeen Provinces and there was not the least opposition any where made to whatsoever she was pleased to order Yet the King was never the more appeased but so soon as he heard the Inhabitants were mastered and brought under he put John Marquess of Bergen ap Zoom and the Marquess Van Montigni two Flandrian Noblemen both of the Roman Catholick Religion who went into Spain to inform him of the state of Affairs and to induce him to shew pity to his good Subjects into Prison where they both perished by what means was not known and besides he seized both their Estates In truth after long consultation it was resolved That the first Lâ—…gal Pretence that should be offered should be taken to bridle these provinces that they might so be brought into the new form of Conquered Kingdoms and be put under other Laws They pretended also that it was impossible without this to keep these Countries in the Roman-Catholick Religion because they were on all sides surrounded with Heretick Countries and relied very much upon their Civil Privileges and Liberties and this reason was very much pressed upon the King's Conscience by the Fathers of the Inquisition So that these Countries were doom'd to Slavery and Oppression as the only means to preserve Popery which can never thrive in a
there were those in Ireland who had conferred with the Rebels and had sent into England the Rebels Defamations against him and others of her Governors By which passage the Deputy slily taxed Sir John Norris as one that had done nothing worthy of his former Military Reputation but thought to work upon the good nature of the Ulster Clowns by his Courtship and Flattery which tended rather to the making them more insolent This carriage of the General 's was the occasion of fierce Contests and Quarrels between him and the Deputy and the effect of it was that not only the Heads of the Clans in Ulster but those also in Connanght and Leinster took Arms and revolted from the Crown of England The Deputy seeing things by their Divisions brought to so desperate an estate resolved to get rid of the Government and by his Letters humbly besought the Queen a good General might be sent in his place In this doubtful time Sir John Norris as earnestly desired to be Deputy and that his Brother who was fitter for the Labours of the War might be made President of Munster But he obtained neither of his Requests The Council of England was divided for some time between the Lord Burroughs and the Earl of Essex but the latter joining with the former it was carried for him and he had both the Supreme Civil and Military Power put into his hands The 15th of May 1597. Thomas Lord Burroughs arrived at Dublin with a Commission to be Lord Deputy of Ireland With the Supreme Authority he presently commanded Norris to his Presidency of Munster which with the disappointment of the Deputy's Place broke his heart Johnstonius saith The reason of this was because Norris was a person of more Experience in the War and of greater Fame than Burroughs So that when he came to Dublin Norris was no way pleased with the change for that he dreaded the fiery Temper of that Lord with whom he had formerly had some quarrels which he would now have willingly sacrificed to the Welfare of his Countrey But the Deputy was of an Implacable Temper and commanded him into Munster upon the peril of his life not permitting Norris to see him This Great and Stout Man could not bear the Affront but he that had run through so many Perils in the Field in the Netherlands France and Portugal he that had despised the Rages of the Duke d' Alva in Holland and put a stop to the Victories of the Duke of Parma fell under this and expired in the Arms of his Brother Thus he became a wonderful Instance of humane frailty as well as of Martial Courage being rather pitied than approved because his Management in Ireland was much inferior to what he had done elsewhere and short of what was expected from him The Lord Lieutenant died in November following yet in that short time he beat the Irish in Ulster and recovered the Fort of Blackwater and Garison'd it with English Sir Thomas Norris was nominated for his Successor but he was melancholy and would not accept it his Brother the General being just then dead also Thereupon the Archbishop of Dublin and Sir Robert Gardiner Lord Chief Justice were sworn the 15th of November when the Council concluded their Account of the State of the Kingdom That it was an universal Irish Rebellion to shake off all English Government In August this year Tyrone had the good fortune to rout Marshal Bagnal his mortal Enemy in a Wood half a mile beyond Armagh where the Marshal 13 Captains and 1500 English Soldiers were slain The Irish by this Defeat got Arms Victual Ammunition and Reputation and the Fort of Blackwater so that the English were reduced from an Offensive to a Defensive War This nettled the Queen and she sent to Ormond who was Lieutenant-General to clear the Army of all the Irish and she sent 2000 Foot and 100 Horse to recruit the Army Tyrone sent after this 4000 Kerns into Munster and the President not being able to resist them by reason his Forces were small that whole Province rebelled also in October 1598. and began to Kill Rob and Ravage the English without Measure or Mercy Thus the Rebellion grew to that height that it became terrible to the Queen Tyrone in the mean time sent submissive Letters to the Earl of Ormond and promised the Spaniards that he would accept no Conditions from the English magnifying his Victories beyond all reason and truth So that now the Courtiers in England began to consider as Mr. Cambden observes That by long use it was grown to a destructive custom in Ireland That Rebels and Traytors might with the Money they had gotten from the spoiled English by Pillage and Villany procure for themselves Protection and Pardon The Queen was well inclined to have sent the Lord Montjoy into Ireland but the Earl of Essex pretended to it and he was chosen Others say the Council put him upon it that he might put an end to the Troubles of Ireland which had been encreased by the Contentions between the Commanders that were employed before and also by the deaths of Sir John Norris and that of the Lord Deputy as well as by the Defeat of Marshal Bagnal That the Lords cried up the Valour of the Earl of Essex to the skies and affirmed that there was not in England any General who could undertake the Reduction of so far-spread a Rebellion with that Prudence Diligence and Courage they might expect from him Thus he was sent thither by the perfidious Commendations of his Enemies against the opinion of his real and true Friends that they that put him upon it might when he was there find an opportunity to ruin him The Earl on the other side was anxious and unresolved what to do for as he feared the Fate of his Father who perished in that Kingdom so he could not tell how to oppose his own Destiny and accepted of an Employment which no other durst pretend to purely to comply with the good opinion of the whole Privy Council which loaded him with Praises on this occasion tho in his heart he misdoubted the Event The Queen also sent him away thither with great Testimonies of her Affection to him commending him excessively for preferring her Service before his own Safety but then this was the last good day that unfortunate Earl ever saw He landed there the 15th of April 1599. with 13000 Horse and 16000 Foot which were made up 20000. there being more than that number in Arms against the Queen But with all these Forces he did nothing worthy of his former Reputation or of his Army And that Winter he went out of Ireland in a Discontent without the Queen's Leave and returned unexpectedly to the Court which proved his Ruin Tyrone grew insolent hereupon and profess'd publickly he would recover the Liberty of Religion and his Countrey Charles Lord Montjoy was thereupon sent Lord Deputy who landed the
Drunkenness Filthiness Immodesty and the very fame and saspicion of Wantonness Whoredoms Rapes Adulteries and Incests were Crimes she detested and if she found any of her Retinue how great soever they were guilty of them they must never more come before her She banished Burgess one of her Maids of Honour because she had entred into an Intriegue with the Earl of Essex who loved her very passionately because the Queen suspected she had had an hand in his Ruin And the Lady Fitton another of these Maids was sent away too for yielding to the Inticements of a young Gentleman of Noble Birth The Noblemen found no more favour than the Ladies if once they were found guilty in the same kind She sent the Earl of Oxford to the Tower for attempting to Ravish one of her Maids of Honour that was a Tall and Lovely Lady If she knew any of her Nobility given to frequent Houses of ill fame she treated them with as little Respect as she did meaner men To conclude she shewed her self the Irreconcilable Enemy of all that had been found guilty of any base or immodest and unchaste Action She would frequently admonish her Servants and Attendants That they should take heed not to do any thing that might be dishonourable to her destructive to themselves and of ill Example to the Publick That they should take care not to bring an Ill Report upon the Chaste a Blot upon the Upright or an Infamy and Dishonour upon the Good In the Furniture of her Royal Palaces she ever affected Magnificence and an extraordinary Splendor she adorned the Galeties with excellent Pictures done by the best Artists the Walls she covered with Rich Tapistries She was a true Lover of Jewels and Pearls all sorts of Precious Stones Plate plain Bossed of Gold and Silver and Gilt Rich Beds Fine Coaches and Chariots Persian and Indian Carpets Statues Medals c. which she would purchase at great Prices The Specimen of her Rich Furniture was to be seen a long time after her Death at Hampton Court which was Moveabled above any of the other Royal Houses in her Times and here she had caused her Naval Victories obtained against the Spaniards to be represented in excellent Tapistries and laid up amongst the Richest Pieces of her Wardrobe These things did not only please the eyes of the Spectators and renew the Memory of the great things atchieved in her Times but they helped to raise in the minds of her Subjects and of Strangers too a Venerable Idea of the Majesty Wisdom Riches and Power of this Heroick Lady In her Meat Drink and other Nourishments and Refreshments she was very Temperate in private especially She was not subject to the love of Sleep or any of the other Pleasures of Human Life She eat very little but then she chose what was pleasant and easie of digestion and in her declining Age she became more Temperate than before but then she eat whensoever she was hungry She seldom drank above Three times at a Meal and that was common Beer and she very rarely drank again till Supper She would seldom drink any Wine for fear it should cloud her Faculties She loved Alicant Wine above any other She always Religiously observed the Fasting-Days When she made any Publick Feast or Dinners for her Honour or her Pleasure she would then order her Table to be served with all the Magnificence that was possible and many Side-Tables to be adorned with all sorts of Plate She had many of the Nobility which waited upon her at the Table at those times and served her with great Care and Attention In these things she took the greatest Pride to shew her Royal Treasures and made her greatest Feasts when Foreign Ambassadors were present who were highly pleased with these Shews At these times she would also have all sorts of Musick Vocal and Instrumental and after Dinner Dancing and she took care thus to entertain the most Illustrious Persons of other Nations that came into England Nor was she less careful that her great Ministers of State should keep up the Tables she allowed them and she would order her Nobility to keep good Hospitable Houses according to their Qualities and Degrees All which tended more to her Honour and the Reputation of the Nation than the Courses were afterwards taken up with a greater Expence The Splendor and Magnificence of the Publick Feasts in her times and the Ceremonies that were used when the several Courses were serv'd up to the Table would be troublesome to relate and perhaps a little ridiculous now they are antiquated The Cup-bearer never presented the Cup to the Queen but with much ceremony and kneeled always when he gave or took it and during the whole Refreshment Musick and Songs were heard and the Queen her self would frequently dance to humour the younger Persons in her Court for all these Solemnities were in her Royal Palace and were designed to adorn and sweeten her Government The coming of the Duke of Alenzon into England opened a way to a more free way of living and relaxed very much the old severe form of Discipline The Queen danced often then and omitted no sort of Recreation pleasant Conversation or variety of Delights for his satisfaction At the same time the plenty of good Dishes pleasant Wines fragrant Ointments and Perfumes Dances Masques and variety of rich Attires were all taken up and used to shew him how much he was honoured There were then acted Comedies and Tragedies with much cost and splendor From whence proceeded in after-times an unrestrainable desire of frequenting these Divertisements so that there was afterwards a greater concourse at the Theatre than at the Sermon When these things had once been entertained the Courtiers were never more to be reclaimed from them and they could not be satiated or wearied with them But when Alenzon was once dismissed and gone the Queen her self left off these Divertisements and betook her self as before to the care of her Kingdom And by her own Example and severe Corrections she as heartily endeavoured to reduce her Nobility to their old severe way of living and the former provident way of cloathing In her private way of living she always preferr'd her necessary Affairs and the dispatch of what concerned the Government before and above any Pleasures Recreations and Conversation and serious things before what was pleasing In the morning she spent the first fruits of her time in her Closet at her Devotions and then she betook her self to the dispatch of her Civil Affairs and to the reading of Letters and the ordering what Answers should be returned then she considered what was fit to be brought before the Lords of the Council she ever kept a vigilant eye upon the Motions of Philip II. King of Spain who was all her days plotting and contriving the Conquest of Europe and the reducing all his Neighbours and the free-Free-States and Cities of it under his obedience
Confinement could thus comfort his drooping Spirits with the prospect of that Honour would be paid him in his Grave when his Name should be imbalmed in the grateful memory of his Subjects It is a wonder there is no more care taken by the Living to render this grateful Acknowledgment to their Ancestors for all that they have left them But if we are unmindsul of the Dead if their cold Bones can merit no corner in our Hearts or thoughts why are we so regardless of the Living a Prince can scarce deserve better of his Subjects instruct direct reform or amend them more effectually by any other method than by Good Histories The Precepts that are so delivered slide insensibly and pleasantly into the minds of the Reader and make lasting Impressions on his Memory Nor is this Benefit confined to the Subject and meaner Persons even Princes themselves do borrow from History those Counsels and Assistances they shall hardly gain from Courtiers and Ministers sometimes they will not sometimes they dare not Admonish their Master whilst a good History shews them by others what will be the effect of ill-concerted Designs and Counsels and at the same time is an Awe upon them suggesting this Thought frequently to them How will this look in History Thus Augustus Queen Elizabeth and Henry the Fourth of France became Famous to Posterity by observing carefully in History what Fate had attended the Princes that preceded them Posterity too are to be taken care of if the present Age is not such as a Good or a Wise Man would wish it let us try if we can make the next Generation better by shewing the Chain of Calamities have followed at the heels of the Vices of the last and of this Age. At her Death the Thrift the Probity the Piety and the Hospitality of the English Nation was much abated The Luxury that attended the Peaceable Reign of James the First and the Beginning of Charles the First brought on a War that threatned our Ruin What has hapned since the Restitution to the time in which Their Majesties began Their Reign is now fresh in Memory but will be lost if not written And I am persuaded nothing can possibly be invented to make us Wiser than we now are sooner or more easily than a good History of this Period of Time but then our Princes and Great Men must encourage it and skreen the Writer or it will never be done The Expence is too great for a Private Man and the Materials are most of them locked up from the view of all those who have not the Royal Authority consenting to their Inspection and the Royal Purse to support the Charge of Transcribing them Methinks every Prince that resolveth to do things worthy to be written should take care to have one good Historian about him to preserve the Memory of his Actions Those that live ill will find what they fear above all things a man to paint out those things to the Life which they would gladly have concealed Story will go on with or without their care but to their Damage if not discreetly encouraged But why do I write thus in all the Misfortunes that have so lately befallen me My Character has been written with the Poison of Asps instead of Ink so that one single Word in another man's Work otherwise interpreted than either he or I meant it as is plain by the words that follow and explain it has been enough to sink me after my Reputation had been sufficiently pierced by the Arrows of Envy and Detraction But all that I shall say in my own Defence is That I hate what I am supposed to be guilty of as much as any man in the Nation and never suffered said or thought the thing in all my Life THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK THE Birth and Parentage of Queen Elizabeth Page 1 Her Education 3 Her Tutors in the Greek and Latin Tongues and her Observations in Reading 4 5 Her Tutor in Theology 8 She spoke French and Italian and understood many other European Tongues 9 The Untimely Death of her beloved Brother Edward VI. 12 And the Succession of Q. Mary 13 She was a sorrowful Spectator of the Popish Cruelty 15 She was hated by the Popish Bishops for her Religion 16 Her Life was saved by King Philip 18 The Death of Queen Mary 19 The Nation then divided into Factions 22 Calais newly lost 23 She at first dissembled her Religion 24 Her Prime Counsellors 26 She dissembled with the K. of Spain 27 She makes a Peace with France and resolves on a War with Spain 29 The Treaty of Cambray 30 The French Plea against the Restitution of Calais 31 She resolves to reform the Religion of England 32 The contending Religions equally balanced 33 Her first Parliament The Complaints of the Popish Bishops 39 The Reformation established 40 The Miseries of Scotland in the Reformation 43 The Happiness of England 44 Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergy-men 45 And to curb the immoderate Liberty of the Protestant Dissenters 47 The Behaviour of Pope Pius IV. 50 The Council of Trent restored The Plea of the Protestants against it The Popish Party inclined to Rebel 53 The Setâ—…lement of the Civil State considered 55 The Means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom 59 Laws and Orders made for the Publick Good 60 The Bishops and Commons favoured as a Balance to the Nobility 61 She favoured her Kindred and advanced them 62 Her Care to abolish the evil Customs and bad Laws of former times 64 The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry 67 Her Answer Her Temperanee and Chastity 71 The Princes and Great Men that courted her 73 The Character of the Earl of Leicester 75 Of Robert Earl of Essex 85 Of Thomas Earl of Sussex 89 Of Sir William Cecil afterward created Lord Burleigh 90 Of the Lord Willoughby 94 Of Sir Francis Walsingham Of Mary Queen of Scotland 97 And of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton 98 The French desirous of a War with England 99 They design to improve their Interest in Scotland to the Ruin of England 101 The Scots send to England for Assistance against the French The Scotch War The First Civil War in France 110 The Death of Francis II. The Beginnings of the Misfortunes of Mary Queen of Scotland The deplorable condition of Princes 113 118 Murray comes into England Queen Elizabeth durst not restore the Queen of the Scots to her Throne 124 The Trial of the Queen of the Scots 125 Foreign Princes and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Queen of the Scots Rebellions in England Northumberland taken in Scotland Westmorland fled into Flanders A second Rebellion The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of them His Character 141 143 They are fâ—…llowed by many Treasous and Conspiracies 145 Which occasion Acts of Parliament against the Recusants 146 Colleges built for the English Papists beyond the Seas 147 Parry's Conspiracy Babington's 151 A
of England and Sir William Cecil Prime Secretary of State all of them men of great Prudence and Courage who had with much difficulty escaped the Marian Tempest These were the Chief Managers of her Secret Councels and acquainted with her most private Thoughts and Designs for the good and safety of her People and were all of them Protestants The Popish Nobility and great Men were either contented with a Vote in the Privy Council in which many of them still sat and others of them refusing however to be any otherwise concerned or foreseeing the Change that was intended had withdrawn themselves altogether and deserted their former Stations Of these she relied mostly on the Council of Cecil and Bacon who were closely united each to other and both equally in her Favour and were besides men of great Judgment They were also her Chief Ministers and most trusted by her for their Integrity and Industry Having throughly consider'd the state of the Nation she resolved at first to promote a Peace abroad and that she might gain her point in this with the greater case she used some Dissimulation Philip the II d King of Spain had lost the possession of England by the death of Queen Mary and to recover it had begun a Treaty of Marriage with Queen Elizabeth which she declined with much civility and modesty so that he still insisted upon it for some time and she was not willing wholly to undeceive him till she saw an end of the Treaty of Cambray Francis the Eldest Son of Henry the II d King of France having married Mary Steward Queen of the Scots and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England the French were forming a Design against her and made a kind of Claim of the Crown for the Dauphiness The Queen feared the King of Spain the moâ—…t of the two as being a Prince of deep Designs and formidable to all his Neighbours on the score of his vast Dominions and was resolved as time and opportunity should serve to abate his Power and cross his Designs She was as much offended with the King of France for the ravishing Calais from us and for assuming the Arms of England to hers and the Nation 's Dishonour yet she resolved to make a Peace with him as soon as she could Thus this Heroick Lady which had tried both Adverse and Prosperous Fortune being by Nature endowed with a strange Sagacity and Prudence which is very rarely to be found in that Sex and which she had also much improved by the Afflictons she had suffered by her wise Counsels soon brought this almost Shipwrack'd Vessel to a sase Port and governed it all her days with much ease and Peace by which she gave the World a noble Specimen of her Virtue Justice and Prudence She discovered all the Inclinations Forces Leagues and Counsels of her Neighbouring States She laid aside all her Feminine Indignation and would not suffer her most intimate Affections to have any place or consideration with her when she was to consult the Peace and secure the safety of her People Of which this may serve for a clear Proof From the beginning of her Reign she had established this as a Maxim That the King of Spain was the most formidable Enemy the English then had but then because that Nation was strong rich and powerful she seemingly paid for some time a great respect to the King of Spain that he and the French King might not join against her and she also sent an Ambassador to renew the Amity between her and the House of Austria Yet considering that it was necessary that she should in a short time have a War with Spain and that part of his Dominions lay near her and that others were more remote and very rich and fruitful so that they would well pay her Subjects for the pains and danger of attacking them She upon the whole concluded That it was her Interest to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the King of France and accordingly she kindly received his Ambassadors who were sent hither to renew the Peace She put out a Proclamation to forbid all her Subjects the offering any violence or wrong to the French that were then in England that she might prevent their enraging the Foreign Nations against her or her Subjects And in the Castle of Cambray she by her Ambassadors concluded a League with France upon Condition That the Town of Calais and all that belonged to it should after eight years be restored to the English and if the same was not done that the French King should pay to her at the exâ—…iration of the said Term 50000 Crowns and give Hostages of the Children of Noble Families for the persormance of the said Condition in the mean time and the assurance of an Oath that they would punctually and truly keep the said Agreement When this Peace came to be discovered by a Proclamation in London and all the Sea-port Towns almost all the good men of England were inwardly offended at it and they whispered their Discontents in all places Yet I cannot but think the Queen in this League how much soever it was spoken against did rather consult her own Honour and Reputation and the safety and welfare of her People than trust to the Faith of the King of Francâ—… as to the restitution of Calais The Hostages indeed fled away and the French broke their Faith as it was to be thought they would when they were to restore Calais but then the Advantages which England then gained by that seasonable Peace abundantly overbalanced the Damages sustained by the disappointment When the time was expired for the restitution of Caâ—…ais the English Ambassadors in the Court of France endeavoured to make that Nation appear odious and detestable to all Mankind because they had fraudulently departed from the Terms of the League so solemnly made at Cambray and afterwards sworn to by that King But Monsieur de l'Hospital Sieur de Vitry Chancellor of France a Learned and a Cunning Lawyer replied That Calais was lost by a War and regained by another That the Promise of restoring it was a Necessity imposed upon the French by the Iniquity of the Times which had enforced tâ—…em to yield so far to the English for the safety of their State but that in truth the English had as much right to Paris as they had to Calais and might with as good justice demand the first as the last Yet after all this Wise man never endeavoured to clear his Nation from the Guilt and Infamy of Fraud and Perjury which was a Task above his strength In all Revolutions and Changes the Queen always in the first place took care to secure the True Worship of God and the safety of all her Subjects When therefore she had thus secured her Peace abroad or at least had gained a Cessation of War till she might take breath and recover her strength and was now
and Parliaments honoured and reverenced In short all those Perfections which separately have made so many Great Men admired met in this one Lady viz. Civil Prudence for the Government of a State the knowledge of Equity and Laws and an exact Skill of managing a Kingdom and the Publick Affairs of it Her Goverment was not like that of most other Women turbulent and insolent but was grateful to her Subjects pleasing to the People acceptable to the Nobility and Gentry equal and just to her Allies and admired by the Neighbour Nations She has been celebrated not only in her own times but in all that have since followed and will be to the end of the world on the account of these Divine Virtues and Deserts For she was truly accounted the Parent of her â—…eople a Prince by her Nobles and the Patroness of true Piety and Religion by the Protestant Nations about her Nor was there ever any Prince that was equally esteemed and loved by the Nobility and Commonalty too of his own Kingdom as Queen ELIZABETH was by hers If she happened at any time to be sick or ever so little disordered in her health her Nobility would be so alarmed at it that they would willingly never stir from her to eat or drink or take any care of themselves and all degrees of people would fly in vast Numbers to the Churches and with Tears and the most devout Prayers beg her Life and Health and the Continuance of her Government over them till God heard their Petitions and restored her to her Health Nor was this an enjoined and formal Devotion but it was as hearty and as earnest as that which is made for the nearest and dearest Relations And when they had obtained their desire the Joy and the Gratitude they expressed shewed they took her Preservation and Life for a Publick and an Universal Blessing When in the beginning of her Reign she had first taken care to reform and settle Religion and after that to redress and restore the Civil State or Government of England which had been brought by the Calamities of the foregoing Reigns not only into a deplorable but almost into a desperate condition but now were by her Authority Prudence and Moderation with the Assistance of her Council brought to the state of Tranquility Order and Equity she designed the Fears of England which before oppress'd the Nation in relation to Foreign Dangers as well as Domestick expired When her first Parliament had setled the Succession and Religion their next care was for the Marriage of the Queen and the providing for future times and accordingly the Commons by common consent resolved to Address to the Queen fearing though without just cause That she should Marry a Foreign Prince and thereby bring the English Liberties and the Protestant Religion into the same dangers they had been exposed to in the former Reign They therefore represented the Affections of the Nation to her and said If they could hope she might be Immortal they would rest satisfied but that being a vain Imagination they earnestly besought her to chuse such an Husband as might make her self and the Nation happy and by the Blessing of God bring such Issue as might Reign after her Death which they prayed God might be very late To this she replied That tho the Subject they came about was not acceptable to her yet it was a great satisfaction to her to see how zealous they and her other Subjects were for her Welfare and that she bâ—…lieved they desired it for her's and the Nation 's Good And as to the changing my present state said she and Marrying which you so earnestly desire I would do I have long since peâ—…suaded my self That I was brought into the world by the special Providence of God that I might in the first place think and do what tended most to his Glory Therefore I have chosen that state of Life which is the freest from human cares that so I might be at leisure only to attend the Service of God And if it had been possible for the Marriage of a Potent Prince to have allured me or the Fears of Death to have affrighted me from this Resolution I might have been long since engaged in the Honourable State of Matrimony and these were my thoughts when I was â—…et a Subject But now when all the Cares which attend the Governing of a Kingdom are come upon me it would appear a very inconsiderate and imprudent thing in me to add to them the Cares of a Married State In truth said she I am already married if 〈◊〉 else will satisfie you to the Kingdom of ENGLAND See what I wonder you could forget the Pledge of my Marriage and betrothing to the Nation And stretching out her hand she shewed them on one of the Fingers of her Right Hand the Gold Ring had been put upon it according to the Custom at her Coronation And after a short pause she thus went on And I desire you would not look upon me as Childless and on that account weak and defenceless for you and all other English-men are my Children and Kinsmen and if God doth not deprive me of you as I hope he will not there can be no reason why I should be thought Childless Yet I cannot but commend you for this That you have not prescribed or appointed who should be my Husband for this would have been a very great Affront to a Sovereign Prince as I am and very misbecoming you who are my Subjects born But if ever it should please the Divine Majesty to incline me to change my Condition I promise you I will never do any thing that shall tend to the Damage of the State but will to the utmost of my power take such an Husband as shall take as much Care of the Kingdom as I do But then if I should continue in my present State of Life I do not doubt but that God will so direct mine and your Counsels that there shall be no doubt of my Successor who may be more beneficial to the Kingdom than one born of me for it is often observed That the Children of the Best Princes do degenerate from the Virtues of their Parents And as for me it will be the best Memorial and the greatest Honour I can wish to leave behind me to have this Inscription after my Death upon my Tomb HERE LIES A QUEEN THAT REIGNED SO LONG AND LIVED AND DIED A VIRGIN And she concluded That she took their Address in good part and desired them to carry back her Thanks for the Care the Commons had of her By this means it came to pass that many Noblemen of great Estate and Power especially such as enjoyed the Blessings of Nature and Fortune Beauty and Wealth united together conceived an almost certain hopes that they should win their Maiden Queen and were by her Arts carried on in that expectation But on the contrary tho she lived in a Royal
was perpetually Plotting how to ruin them or force them to preserve themselves by War The King of Spain pushed on rhe Incendiaries of France under pretence of securing the Catholick Religion but with a Design at the bottom to weaken that Kingdom by their intestine Wars and at last to subdue it Queen Elizabeth observed all this and saw whither it tended and by her seasonable Supplies upheld the Protestant Party which was the weaker till she forced the Court of France to see its Error and lay aside or rather change their destructive Methods for others that were more infamous and as ineffectual In the mean time the noble Kingdom of France was desolated by Fire and Sword their Populous Towns destroyed their Rich Churches and Monasteries plunder'd their Nobility and Gentry slain on both sides and by their own Swords their Matrons Ravished and the Children Murdered in the Arms of their Parents and France was more wasted by this War in her bowels than by all the Foreign Wars she had been engaged in from the time the English were expelled to that time Was ever Church-Treasures better spent At the same time that France was thus miserably harass'd by an intestine War the Spaniards were as busie in the Low-Countries to extirpate Heresie as they pretended but in truth to deprive those Provinces under that pretence of their Ancient Liberties and Civil Privileges and to submit them to the Servitude of the Insolent Spaniards that so they might from thence pass on to the Conquest of England and France and so erect an Universal Monarchy in Europe which Design they had Vanity enough to discover To this end in the year 1564. they erected Seven new bishopricks to curb that people In the year 1565. he commanded the Council of Trent to be Revived together with the Inquisition and a strict observation of the Edicts concerning Religion Upon this the Nobility of those Countries as well those that persisted in the Roman-Catholick Religion as those that were well inclined to the Reformation seeing the Liberty and Riches Trade and Commerce of their Countrey must be ruined if these courses were taken they interceded with Margaret the King's Sister their Regent that the King's Letter might not be put in execution but she went on however and they on the other hand stood upon their guard and as much as was possible hindred it The next year the Quarrel grew higher and the multitude rose in many places with an irresistible fury and destroyed all the Images in the Churches of many of the great Cities the Torrent ran so high and was so impetuous that the Regent was forced to publish an Edict of Liberty of Conscience to appease the people the Spaniards being not able by any other means to secure the Possession of these Countries but so soon as the people were quieted the Edict was recalled which they owned was granted only to gain time to send for Men and Moneys to force the Inhabitants of the Netherlands to submit to the King's Will and to punish them for their disobedience Yet however in the mean time whilst this Edict was observed all places returned to the former state of Peace and Trade went on successfully so that if the King of Spain could have perswaded himself to have complied with his Interest in this Affair he and his Posterity had continued in the Peaceable Possession of these Provinces which would have been worth the owning Rich Populous and Potent and able to defend themselves against the French But by pursuing contrary Methods he brought a War upon himself which wasted Spain ruined his Treasures erected a part of these Provinces into an Independent Commonwealth and so depopulated and impoverished the rest that they are not able to defend themselves against the French So that the breaking this Edict proved the Ruin of all the Spanish Greatness This Liberty of Conscience which was extorted from the Regent by pure Force and Fear being sent into Spain to be confirmed by the King he was highly displeased at it and ordered some of his Council to let the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont know That if they or either of them had opposed these Insurrections with that Bravery they had shewed on other occasions and as they were bound in Duty to have done things could never have been brought by the Populace into the state they were now in That if yet they would do their Duty without mincing or dissembling absolutely they might reduce things into the former state or at least keep them as they were till the King could come thither himself to settle them That it was the Duty of a good Subject when he once knew his Prince's Pleasure to set himself roundly without considering what should be the event to himself or others to put the same in execution and that willingly readily and effectually tho he himself were of a contrary opinion for that it did not become them to think themselves wiser than their Prince since they were his Subjects and Vassals They had Advices at the same time from Spain That the King was fixedly resolved to oppose these Grants of his Sister the Regent both to prevent the Example as to his other Provinces and also preserve the Popish Religion in these And they were informed also that under the pretence of preserving the Catholick Religion in the Netherlands there was a Design formed to advance the King's Power and that they were not displeased ai Court that they had this occasion given them to bring the whole under and settle in them a new and more Absolute Form of Government because they concluded in Spain That all the Obstinacy the people had shewn proceeded from their Reliance upon their great Freedoms and Privileges But then this was to be concealed with the utmost care from them and the King and the Regent to delude and deceive them wrote the kindest Letters and spoke the sweetest Words to the Confederate Lords and especially to the Prince of Orange that the Wit of man could invent But in the mean time the Regent Levied Two Regiments in Flanders under the Earls of Arenbergh and Mâ—…em and Two more in Germany undeâ—… Count Philip of Overstein and Three of Walloons and a German Regiment of Horse under Count Mansfield These Forces were Levied in distant places and upon different pretences and brought into or near the Provinces and then the Regent began to throw off her Mask by degrees And she ordered the Protestant Meetings and Sermons in many places to be disturbed pretending they were not kept just in the same place that they were at first allowed And after she went on and seized on and imprisoned some of the Preachers on the same pretence and she hanged one of them near AELEST And when complaint was made of these Proceedings to the Regent she would sometimes say Her Consent was not free but extorted from her by fear and therefore she was not bound to
free enlightned Countrey And their case was perfectly like ours for we too of late were to be Conquered and our Laws changed for the same end It was observed with great wonder on all sides That when they took so many and punished so severely those that had pull'd down and destroy'd the Images there was not one of them to be found that would confess that they had been put upon this or persuaded to it by those of the Reformed Religion but they all said it proceeded from an Impulse upon thâ—…ir minds of which they could give no account But however in Spain it was resolved to take the opportunity of these Troubles to bring under and subdue all these Provinces and to deprive them by way of Punishment of all their Privileges and Liberties and altho all was quiet in the beginning of the year 1567 yet they were not satisfied with the Punishment of the particular persons that had offended but resolved to extend their Revenge to all the Provinces and to those of their own Religion as well as to their Opposers And to fulfil this Bloody Tyrannical Resolution the Duke d' Alva was chosen a man of great Experience in Warlike Affairs and well acquainted with these Countries and of a merciless violent Temper The Inquisition and Clergy of Spain opened their Treasures and furnished the King liberally with Money also for they looked upon this as an Holy War and hoped to make it the dawning to a general Destruction of the Protestants This Duke arrived at Brussels the 22d of August 1567. with 8678 Spanish and Italian Foot and 1600 Horse and 12000 German Horse and Foot tho all was quiet and no opposition to be feared if they he brought with him did not cause it He concealed a great part of his Commission yet what he produced of it went very much beyond that which had been given to the Regent that now was recalled and discharged of the Government The Duke usurped presently an Absolute and Uncontroulable Authority and having appointed a Council of Twelve Bloody Men he disposed of the Lives and Fortunes of the Subjects of the Low-Countries of all States and Conditions contrary to their Laws without any Appeal Reformation or Revision of his Sentence He proceeded to that height of Cruelty and Tyranny that Nine of the Twelve left the Council out of pure shame and went home For he had obtained from the King before he came thither a Full Absolute Sovereign Authority which was not bounded by any Lâ—…ws or Instructions and was not to be contradicted by any body Which was contrary to all the Laws of that people and to the King's Oath and Promise but he relied upon his Forces and was not at all concerned what men thought or said of him Amongst the Eighteen Rules which the Council of Blood prescribed to themselves to judge by these were some 1. All Petitions made by the States Cities or Nobility of the Land against the New Bishops and the Inquisition or to have any of the Placaets made by the King or Council moderated were Conspiracies against God and the King 2. That all the Lords Nobility and Governors that had not appeared against the Petitions Preachings and breaking down of Images are guilty of the same Crime tho they appeared discontented at them and ashamed 3. And all those that took the Proceedings of this Court for Tyrannical Unjust or Illegal The First this Council began with was Count Egmont the Count Van Hoorne and Anthony Van Straten Burgomaster of Antwerp who were treacherously summoned to a great Council and there Arrested by the Order of the Duke d' Alvâ—… the 9th of September 1567. which put the Countrey into such an affright that all degrees of men fled into all the Neighbour Countries but however they went on and filled the Prisons with the remainder and such as they hapned to take and it was observed that they had before-hand taken good care to Repair Strengthen and enlarge these places yet in some places they were broken up and the Prisoners discharged by Force Having spent the rest of this year in Ruining and Attainting the Nobility they in the year 1568. began to Persecute the meaner sort of people citing Thirty Forty or Fifty at a time out of every City in the Provinces to appear before this Council and upon their not appearing as none but the Imprisoned durst they seized upon their Estates and confiscated their Goods to the King's use Thus they dealt with the Rich but as for the poorer people they took them up and hang'd them without any more Ceremony They pretended by this Violence to enrich the King and to establish the Romish Religion but they frighted away the people alienated their hearts from him and drove many Roman Catholicks into Protestant Countries where they embraced that Religion they had only a moderate opinion of before To remedy a part of these Inconveniencies they published an Order That whosoever harboured or assisted any person that was fled or held any Correspondence by Letters or otherwise should be thought guilty of the same Crime and that any Ship that carried off any of their Goods or any Wagon or Boat that furthered their Escape or conveyed away their Goods should be forfeited The noise of these Proceedings alarmed all the Protestants in France and was the principal Cause of the renewing the War there of which I have already given a short account Queen Elizabeth was a sorrowful Observer of all these Tyranical Encroachments on the Lives Liberties and Fortunes of her Neighbours and such as fled into England from the bloody and outragious treatment of the Duke of Alva and the Spaniards found here in England a secure Sanctuary and had her leave to settle at Norwich Colchester Sandwich Maidstone and Hampton to the great Advantage of the English Nation and the great Impoverishing of the King of Spain's Territories by setting up here the making of SAYES BAYES and STUFFS which the English before fetched out of France and Flanders The King of Spain would have no Hereticks as he call'd them and none of his Subjects should have any Civil Liberties to secure them against his Will or Humour But then he might have soreseen he should have lost his Subjects his Trade his Wealth and he had reason to fear he should lose his Countrey too but he trusted in Force and it deceived him but no Force could secure the other Three Men are not like Beasts of Burthen they must be well treated or they will flye or not work or be poor or fail and the Land become desolate and not be able to defend it self How happy had Philip II. and Lewis XIV been if they had but understood this The ignorance of this has ruined many flourishing Empires I might say all and this is that first Cause of the Ruin of the Ottoman Empire which has sapped its Foundations and brought a Consumption
She ever consulted first with her wisest and best experienced Ministers and Statesmen of whose Fidelity Industry and Ability she had formerly made good proof and she commanded them to speak freely and plainly what was best to be done and when she had heard the Advices of all she chose what she thought was best When she had thus wearied her self and oppressed her Spirits she sought for rest and peace and would either walk in a shady Garden or pleasant Gallery without any other Attendance than that of a few Learned Men. Then she took her Coach and passed in the sight of her People to the Neighbouring Groves and Fields and sometimes would hunt or hawk spending in her Youth all her time in this change of Labour or innocent Divertisement Nor was she less careful to exercise her mind in Learning than her body by Labour but by a wise distribution of her time she consulted the good and welfare both of Body and Soul There was scarce a day in her life but she imployed a part of it in reading and study sometimes before she entered upon her State-affairs and sometimes after them so that by this means she gained a part of every day for her self and the improvement of her own Faculties In her Studies she mixed pleasing and serious things one with another In the Summer she for the most part lived in the Countrey then she took her Royal Progresses into the several Counties of England and she would amuse her self with considering and commending the pleasantness and goodness of her Countrey and the greatness and variety of the Fruits England produced she would also admire the Wisdom and Goodness of God in diversifying the face of the Earth by the mixture of Fields Meadows Pastures and Woods and she would as occasion offered hunt too In all this she was intent upon that which was her main business the government of her People the management of her Family and of her Revenues and the observing the state and condition the carriage and designs of the Neighbour States and Princes which way soever she went she was sure to draw upon her the eyes of her People Innumerable crowds of them met her in all places with loud hearty Acclamations with Countenances full of joy and hearts equally filled with love and admiration and this ever attended her in publick and in private for what sight in this World can possibly please Mortals like that of a just beneficent and kind Prince So that those Places were accounted the most happy in which for the goodness of the Air or the pleasantness of the Fields she was pleased to stay the longest In her Progress she was the most easie to be approached Private Persons and Magistrates Men and Women Countrey people and Children came joyfully and without any fear to wait upon her and see her Her ears were then open to the Complaints of the afflicted and of those that had been any way injured She would not suffer the meanest of her People to be shut out from the places where she resided but the greatest and the least were then in a manner levelled She took with her own hand and read with the greatest goodness the Petitions of the meanest Rusticks And she would frequently assure them that she would take a particular care of their Affairs and she would ever be as good as her word She by her Royal Authority protected those that were injured and oppressed She punished the Fraudulent False Perfidious and Wicked In all this variety of Affairs she was able to keep her temper and appear with an equal and uninterrupted serenity and humanity to all that came nigh her She was never seen angry with the most unseasonable or uncourtly Approach She was never offended with the most impudent or importunate Petitioner There was no commotion to be seen in her mind no Re-proaches no Reprehensions came from her Nor was there any thing in the whole course of her Reign that more won the hearts of the People than this her wonderful facility condescention and the strange sweetness and pleasantness with which she entertained all that came to her Thus for the most part she spent her Summer She spent her Winter in London in the procuring the safety of her People and that of her Allies and Confederates Before day every morning she heard the Petitions of those that had any business with her and calling her Secretaries of State and Masters of Requests she caused the Orders of Council Proclamations Patents and all other Papers relating to the Publick to be read which were then depending and gave such order in each Affair as she thought fit which was set down in short Notes either by her self or her Secretaries As often as any thing happened that was difficult she called her great and wise men to her and proposing the diversity of Opinions she very attentively considered and weighed on which side the strongest reason lay ever preferring that way which seemed most to promote the publick safety and welfare When she was thus wearied with her morning work she would take a walk if the Sun shined into her Garden or otherwise in her Galleries especially in windy or rainy Weather She would then cause Stanhop or Sir Henry Savill or some other very learned Man to be called to walk with her and entertain her with some learned Subject the rest of the day she spent in private reading History or some other Learning with great care and attention not out of ostentation and a vain ambition of being always learning something but out of a diligent care to enable her self thereby to live the better and to avoid sin and she would commonly have some Learned Man with her or near her to assist her whose Labour and Industry she would well reward Thus she spent her Winter In the Summer time when she was hungry she would eat something that was of light and easie digestion in her Chamber with the Windows open to admit the gentle breezes of wind from the Gardens or pleasant Hills Sometimes she would do this alone but more commonly she would have her Friends with her then When she had thus satisfied her hunger and thirst with a very moderate repast she would rest awhile upon an Indian Couch curiously and richly covered In the Winter-time she observed the same Order but she omitted her Noon-sleep When her day was thus spent she went late to Supper which was ever sparing and very moderate At Supper she would divert her self with her Friends and Attendance and if they made her no anfwer she would put them upon mirth and pleasant discourse with great civility She would then also admit Tarleton a famousComedian and a pleasant Talker and other such like men to divert her with Stories of the Town and the common Jests or Accidents but so that they kept within the bounds of modesty and chastity In the Winter-time after Supper she would some time hear a Song or
and sets down without any Truth the Imprisonments Tortures Punishments and Ignominies of the Papists He impudently writes That the Publick Places and Streets were washed with their Innocent Blood that the Priests were tormented the Matrons slain the Layicks hurried away to Death and Tortures forgetting or dissembling that in the short Five years Reign of Queen Mary there were more innocent Protestants burnt alive without Mercy than suffered in all the Forty four Years of that of Queen Elizabeth tho convicted of the greatest Crimes and executed upon the most Just and Legal Prosecutions viz. For disturbing the Peace of the Nation by Insurrections Tumults and Rebellions for entring into Conspiracies joining with Foreign Enemies or abetting and concealing Domestick Treasons and Traitors or for endeavouring to Murder the Queen The Moderation and Justice of the Queen has covered these passionate and false Scriblers with Infamy and Contempt and it were lost labour to endeavour to refute them Nor ought George Cone a Scot to be passed over in silence who in his History of the Life of Mary Queen of the Scots has persecuted the Memory of Queen Elizabeth with a rapid Fury He faith impudently That she was born in an Incestuous Marriage and got the Possession of England by Force which Expressions were the effects of a Flattering Affection to the Interest of the Popish Party and of Aversion for that of the Protestants These Treatments induced the Queen to be very severe against all Libels and Verses penned to the end to blacken the Reputation of any man which she forbad any to read or divulge and she ordered them to be burnt And she extended this her Severity to all Rumors and Reports that were spread abroad underhand for fear her People should by these means be excited to Rebellions or Seditions Whilst her Forces in Ireland under the Command of the Lord Montjoy were struggling hard with Tyrone for the Reduction of Ulster and Tyrone was reduced to a necessity of submitting himself to her which would have ended in the quieting of that Kingdom the Queen was involved in an uncurable and grievous Disease arising from the Greatness of her Age She spent many Nights sadly and restlesly without any sleep in much Anxiety and troublesome Cares her Stomach being wholly weakned and decayed loathed all sorts of Diet till at last the Anguish of her Troubled and Afflicted mind made her despair of a Recovery so that she despised the Counsels of her Physicians and became exasperated and stubbornly resolved against all Medecines The most powerful and considerable of her Friends who waited upon her night and day and did all they could to consolate and please her when they saw the muttering Discontents of her Physicians and considered seriously the uncertainty of the Event which might follow this Sickness of Body and Mind and the Imbecility of human Nature they became anxious and most earnestly besought her That she would curb this Disturbance and Grief of her mind that she would for the present not fill her mind with the Arguments of Learned men against the Fears of Death tho they had the shew of Wisdom that she would consult her own Reason and endeavour the Preservation of her Life and the Recovery of her former Health That she would not encrease her Danger by Despondency or her Distemper by her Obstinacy against all Medicines but that she would be pleased to yield to the Perswasions of her Physicians and follow their Advices Eat and endeavour to overcome her inward grief with Patience Lastly That she would be pleased to value and endeavour to preserve her own Life and deliver her Loyal and Faithful Servants Nobility and Subjects from that Anxiety and Sorrow that now oppressed them She made no other Answer to all this Wise and Loyal Advice but That she was full satiated with this present Life and now desired nothing more than to be translated to a state of Immortality and to make her escape out of this dark and disordered state of human Affairs That Death which many so much abhorred was only the payment of a Debt due to Nature and that our Spirits were of right to be restored to God from whom they came Thus her Body by slow degrees consumed away and she became very Lean Weak and Faint Yet after all her Mind was more afflicted than her Body She was night and day troubled with a sorrowful Remembrance of the late executed Earl of Essex The Grief of her Mind was encreased by the Necessity of her Affairs which compell'd her to yield to Tyrone not only his Life and Liberty and the Pardon of his Rebellions and Perfidy but a great part of his Estate which she esteemed a kind of rewarding him for his Treasons and Perjuries Her Sorrows were every day increased and made more insupportable by the Melancholy Humour which then abounded in her Blood and the restlessness of her Mind so that all her Strength being exhausted and her Mind which was filled with Indignation contributing more and more to the Disease she seemed to decline apace by the Weakness which augmented every day yet she bore this her last Sickness with a wonderful Constancy and Patience which alone deserved very great Commendation When some of the principal Nobility of England the Lord Admiral the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and one of the Secretaries of State in the Name and by the Order of the Privy Council told her Majesty That it was their humble Request That she would if not for her own sake yet for the good of her People throw off that load of Grief which oppressed her and lay aside the Resolution of dying That if she should happen to dye by the course of Nature in the present Circumstances of Affairs it would bring Ruin upon England That they had no hopes of any Prosperity after her Death unless the Certainty of the Succession were fixed by her If she should leave this to be determined after her Death in that flagrant desire men had of obtaining the Sovereignty there might many ill things be done and suffered which would augment the Sorrows of her People for the loss of so good a Prince Therefore they most earnestly and with one Voice and united Tears and Sighs intreated her That in her present Circumstances she would take care of the Common Safety of her People after her Death and that she would be pleased to remember That so many of the Lives of her Subjects would be exposed to the utmost hazard if she died without Naming her Successor To which she lovingly and modestly replied That if she died of this sickness the Kingdom would not want a Defender but would be in the same state of quiet Nottingham the Lord Admiral replied Whom do your Majesty mean She looking thereupon steadily on all that were then present said I mean James King Of Scotland my Dearest Kinsman and the Right Heir to Henry the VIIth This cheared all that were
not remember that I have read elsewhere this Order for burning the Popish Books The Complaints of the Popish Bishops The Reformation estabâ—ished The Miseries of Scotland in the Reformâ—…tion The Happinesâ—… of England Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergymen And to curb the immoderate liberty of the Protestant Dissenters Anabaptists discovered Two of which were burnt The 〈◊〉 Conventicles suppressed The Behaviour of Pope Pius IV. The Council of Trent recalled The Plea of the Protestant Princes against it Martiningo sent Nuncio into England And rejected by theQueen The Popish Party well disposed to rebel The Settlement of the Civil State taken into consideration The Money reduced to the old Standard The Security of the Nation providently taken care for Magaâ—…ines and Naval Stores provided LargeShips of War built The means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom Laws and Orders made for the publick good of her people The Bishops and Commons favoured as a Balance to the Nobility She fâ—…oured her Kindred and advanced them Her advice to the Nobility Her care to change or abolish evil Customs and Laws of former times 1559. The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry Which she refused and in a set Speech told them she resolved to live in Celebacy Her wonderful Temperance and Chastity The Princes and Great men that Couâ—…ted her * In 1560. * In 1560. †In 1568. ⸫ In 1574. By degrees she became more averse to Marriage than the seemed at first to be The character of the the Earl of Leicester She Prefer'd him in Title and estate and advanced his Brother The ill effects of Luxury His designs in debauching the Nobility Anno 1583. Leicester recommends Robert Earl of Essex to the Queen The Actions of that Earl in Holland His Character The Queen very much oppressed by the Infâ—…my and Villanies of Leicester The Character of Thomas Ratcliff Earl of Sussex The Character of Sir William Cecil afterward Lord Burleigh The Earl of Sussex sent Ambassador to the Emperor The Ruin of Leicester HisDeath and Dishonour The Character of the Lord Willoughby The Character of Sir Francis Walsingham Burleigh made Lord Treasurer for his Virtue The Character and Story of Mary Queen of Scotland The Character of Sir N. Throgmorton The French desirous of a War with England Tâ—…rogmorton kindles the Civil Wars in France The French design to improve their Interest in Scotland to the Ruin of England The Scotch complain and arm against them The French retire to Leith The Scots send into England for assistance A Fleet sent into Scotland And an Army which besieged Leith Leith dismantled The first Civil War in France The Death of Francis II King of France Mary Queen of the Scoâ—…s Marrieth James 1. borr The beginniâ—…g of the Miâ—…ortunes of Mary Qu. of Scotland Her Impriâ—…onment at Carlâ—… The Queen of Scots Letter to Q. Elizabeth upon her first Landing in England The Thiâ—…d Letter The deploâ—…ble state of the Princes of the earth The Difficulties attending the keeping or dismissing the Queen os the Scots A Resolution taken to detain her as a Prisoner of War The Queen of England not acted by a spirit of Jealousie and Revenge Mildmay sent into Scotland to threaten the Regent Murray upon Q. Elizabeth's threats comes into England Q Elizabeth durst not restore the Qu. of the Scots to her Throne The Queen prevailed upon to put the Queen of Scots upon her Trial. The Trial of the Q. of the Scots Hatton's wheedling Speech The Speech censured Foreign Princes and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Q. of the Scots Pins V Excommunicates the Qu and absolves all her Subjects Thereupon followed Rebellions and Insurrections in England The E. of Northumberland leads the way And is followed by the E. of Westmorland Northumberland taken in Scotland Westmorland fled into Flanders The Causes of the Miscarriage of this Insurrection The Calamities of the Earl of Northumberland The Earl of Sussex prosecutes the Rebels with great Severity Another Rebellion springeth out of this The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of these Rebellions The Character of the D. of Norfâ—… After these Rebellions followed a shoal of Treasons and Conspiracies Which occasioned the Acts of P. against the Recusants The Colleges of the Jesuits opene lin Eanders c. And called Seminaries Parson and Campian the two first Seminary Priests sent into England Parry's Conspiracy against the Queen Babington's Conspiracy His Character Savage sent to assassinate the Qâ—…en The Persons in Babington's Conspiracy Babington the great Actor in it This Conspiracy proved fatal to the Queen of the Scots A Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists The Queen has a plentiful Supply given her in Parliament She dischargeth a Part of what was granted by her Proclamation The Spaniards send Lopez and two others to murther the Queen Cullin York and Williams sent from Flanders on the same Errand And executed in 1595. She spared none of those who fell into her hands A Digression concerning William Parry Parry's Confession His Design discovered by one Nevil The Queen's Severity to these Conspirators made her terrible to the English Papists But it was God that preserved her There has been but one Protestant Prince Murthered since the Reformation by them The second Civil War in France The third Civil War of France She sends 100000 Crowns and great Stores of Arms and Ammunition into 〈◊〉 to the Protestants A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without Success The true Causes of this and the other Civil Wars of France The Queen of England preserv'd the Protestants of France The beginning of the Low-Countrey War Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and re-called The King of Spaâ—…n enraged at the Edict for Liberty of Conscience The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government in the Nâ—…therlands The Regent grows severe against the Protestants on various pretences Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison The rest of the 〈◊〉 petition for a General Assembly of the States The Designâ—… of Spain discovered to the Nobility of the Netherlands The Discovery at the first only terrified and divided them Valenciens besieged A bloody Persecution against the Pâ—…otestants of the Netherlands The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The use Spain designed to make of this Disorder The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flandâ—…rs The Council of Blood setled Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized And after them vast numbtrs of the meaner Inhabitants These Proceedings alarm all the Protestants in France and Queen Elizabeth They fly into England and set up many Manufactures The Conduct of this Prince considered The reasons which mov'd the Queen of England to oppose the Spaniards The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of Q. Elizabeth He com-plains to Q. Elizabeth of her Harbouring the Netherland Pyrates
to take the Stamp of her Royal Authority or otherwise not to pass for current Money in her Kingdom which had a strange effect and enriched both her and her People She invited all sorts of Artificers into England and by proposing to them good terms and great Privileges she repeopled the almost-desolate City of NORWICH and the Towns of COLCHESTER and MAIDSTON She encreased the Inhabitants of many of her other Ancient Towns and she by her Laws reduced the Inhabitants of the Countrey-Villages from Laziness and Beggary to Labour and Husbandry so that there was no part of her Kingdom but was cultivated and improved to the best advantage When she was to settle any thing relating to her Revenues her Treasury or the Administration of justice she admitted none to advise her but men of good Knowledge and Experience in those Affairs If she considered of any Military Concerns she always call'd to her Assistance the old Experienc'd Commanders which had spent much time in Camps She was as careful to give a good and a prudent Dispatch of Publick Transactions and the great Affairs of private men Ambassies the Petitions of her Subjects the Requests of her Allies and Confederates and all matters concerning Commerce and Trade with Foreigners She took the opportunity of the times and her Subjects Affections to her to curb the Luxury of Youth all immoderate Expences and waste in Cloathes and other Furniture and by severe Laws carefully put in Execution She reduced her People to the Ancient Thrift when they were declining towards Effeminacy and over-great Expences which are ever the fore-runners of Poverty and the Causes of great Calamities and Revolutions in all those States they have prevailed in She went on to consider and provide whatever was recommended to her as useful to any part of her State carefully viewing the Conveniencies and the Inconveniencies that were annexed to every Change And whatever was at last found useful and profitable to the Body of her People was setled by the Authority of her Council or Parliament as the case required She procured the Repeal of all those Laws which were either unprofitable or unjust and she brought others which were out of use into esteem again and amended the defects that were found in them It was a Maxim with her That Equitable Laws and Equal Justice are the two sure and lasting Foundations of a State She was as much reverenced and feared on the account of her Justice Tâ—…mperance and Continence as on that of her Royal Authority and Majesty She favoured the Protestant Bishops and the Commons of England as a means to curb the Insolence of the Nobility She would never gratifie any great Ambitious man with the grant of any thing which might inflame his Avarice or make him arrogant She had a true value and a good esteem for all men of illustrious Parts and of good Learning and she preferr'd such men to all Employments and rewarded their Virtue with Honours When the meaner people at any time crowded about her Coach with great desire to see and salute her with loud Shouts and fervent Prayers for her Prosperity and long and happy Reign over them she would ever return their Loyal Zeal with much Courtship and Civility so that some said she was too Theatrical in her Carriage towards them but as by her Meekness Clemency Lenity Justice and the setling good Laws and exact Justice she had won their hearts so by this Condescention and Flattery she fixed their Affections so that they would have willingly sacrificed all they had to her Service and Safety She exercised a moral Friendship and Familiarity with many private persons and ever reserved in her sole disposal all the Rewards of Virtue and good Service She would never suffer any Immunities or Privileges Benefices Church-Livings Governments or the Rights of her Kingdom to be openly sold. She advanced her Friends Kinsmen and Relations with great Kindness and Affection and no less Moderation and Prudence She made Sir Henry Cary Lord Hâ—…nsdon who was her Cousin-German and she gave him Riches Employments and Attendance suitable to that Station She advanced William Lord Howard of Effingham on the score of his being related to her and of his good Deserts to be Lord Chamberlain of England of her own free motion without any solicitation from themselves or others She preserved the Family of Seymour which was ruin'd by the Attainder of Edward Seymour Duke of Somerset Uncle and Lord Protector of King Edward VI in the year 1552. and in the first year of her Reign she restored Edward his Son to the degree of Earl of Hertford She restored also several of the Nobility whose Families had been ruined by her Sister and put them into the same condition they were before She Attainted no man in all her Reign by Act of Parliament No man ever could perceive that the least remainders of any Offence were left in her mind but when she could most easily have revenged her self she always chose rather to forget the Injury so that every man presently promised himself a better Fortune for the future If there was any Quarrel between any of the great Nobility she presently made it her business to reconcile them each to other and she would on such occasions exhort them not to suffer any Enmity to settle between their Families that they should not involve their Children and educate them in the Dissentions of their Families and a desire of Revenge That they should cut off those Feuds that had descended to them from the Contests of their Ancestors and with an invincible Courage repress the Foreign Fury of their Enemies abroad but with one heart and one mouth provide for the Safety and Security of their Native Countrey at home As she took this care to put an end to the Dissentions of her Nobilty so she was no less careful to root up those evil Customs which had crept into the Nation in the former Reigns and tended apparently to the Ruin of it some of these she corrected and others she totally abolished She rescinded all Sales that were made for the cheating Creditors she dealt very severely with all those that were found guilty of any Frauds or Cheats in the Management of the Publick Revenues or the purveyance for her Court which she was wont to call Harpies which fouled and ravaged all they could come at and she discouraged as much as was possible all the tricks and corruptions of the Courts of Justice She encreased the Wages and Salaries of the Judges and that they might the better be enabled and encouraged to go their Circuits and administer Justice to her people she allowed them Travelling-Money and Purveyance The effect of this prudent Administration was the enriching her and her Subjects attended with great Glory and a willing obedience from those under her happy Government The Countrey was rarely well Tilled and improved The Subject quiet and rich and her Councils