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
never granting them upon Caprice to shew her Absolute Power upon the Intercession of Favourites or the Letters of Great men to those that were mean and neither deserved nor could maintain the Grandeur of that Noble Title She set a high Value upon the most Noble Order of the Garter and took the utmost care to keep it as the sincerest Reward of an extraordinary Fidelity Industry and Nobility and therefore she would never suffer it to be in the least corrupted by any mixture of mean persons Tho the Lord Burleigh was her Principal Councellor and the First Mover in all her greater Affairs without whose advice she would rarely resolve upon any thing of moment and he had deserved so very well of her by his unparallel'd Care Labour and Vigilance yet because he was but a Gentleman born and a Peer of her own Creation only it was very long before she could persuade her self to take him into the Order of the Garter which has flourished now Three hundred years and more and has in all times been given to the Greatest and Best of the Nobility at Home for the best Services they could do for their Princes and Countrey or to Foreign Princes Abroad who were united to us by the most strict and indearing Bonds of Friendship and Interest She gave Governments Magistracies Court-Offices and other Places of Trust Reputation and Profit to those that deserved well of her that by the example of these Rewards she might provoke others to imitate their Fidelity and Industry She would never endure that any man she employed should raise to himself an odious or oppressive Gain either from the Power or Office she had given him If she observed a man to do nothing but for Money she would never trust him and as for any Offices or Governments she took care to keep them as much as was possible out of such men's hands Yet she was not too hard to or suspicious of her Servants she extended her Favour to all those she found good men and her Friendship and Kindness was lasting to all those she found honest thrifty sober men but then in Law-Suits she would not suffer any the least distinction to be made between her Servants and Favourites and the rest of her Subjects lest they being exalted by it above measure should any way endanger the common Liberty of her People or the Publick Peace and Safety She raised Sadler from nothing Mildmay and Fortescue from mean Fortunes to the Honour of Knighthood and made them Privy Councellors for their good Services and lest that Dignity should suffer by the meanness of their Estates she gave them a Competency by way of Addition to what they had before She would always remember to Reward those well that had served her faithfully as her Ambassadors in Foreign Courts And she raised many of her servants for their Fidelity and protected others of them from the Violence of Great Men She protected Sir Thomas Knevet from the Violence of the Earl of Oxford who to revenge a Wound he had received from Sir Thomas in a Duel was mustering up all his Friends and Servants to destroy him which the Queen prevented by giving him a Guard for some time She so effectually recommended the Cause of her Bishops to her people when they were attacked by the Clamours and Reproaches of the Puritans that nothing was more dear to the Multitude than their Bishops and no Name was more Popular or beloved than theirs so that all men stood up for their Dignity and Authority She curbed the Boldness Rage and Fury of these Pretenders to Godliness by Laws well and severely executed and she made it her business to preserve the Church to the utmost of her Power as well from the Disturbance of Seditious Preachers within as the Insults of Declared Enemies without Her Motto was Semper eadem Always the same and in this affair she took the greatest care to verify it never departing one tittle from what she had once setled or changing the Methods she had established but upon great reason She had a very great Love for Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary of State who was one of the Pillars of her Kingdom and so intent upon the Preservation of the Publick Safety and the Discovery of the Designs of her Enemies against her Person and Government that he took little care of his own private Family and made no provision for those he left behind him But then it was hardly well taken by the body of the Nation to see the most part of his Inheritance sold after his death to repay those Moneys to the Treasury which he had spent in the Queen's Service The Envy of which however fell heaviest upon the Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester who were none of his Friends whilst he lived and took this opportunity to revenge the Affronts they had received from him She had also a particular favour for Sir Nicholas Bacon the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal who was the Ornament of the Court and the great Luminary of Westminster-Hall She highly esteemed Egerton and Popham But above all her other Councellors and Ministers of State she valued Burleigh the Lord Treasurer and Howard the Lord Admiral of England the Ornament of his own Family and a strange Example of Modesty Civility and Liberality These men enjoyed her Favour to the last and were ever of great Authority with her She loved a Prudent and Moderate Habit in her private Apartment and conversation with her ownServants but when she appeared in Publick she was ever richly adorn'dwith the most valuable cloaths set off again with much gold and Jewels of inestimable Value and on such occasions she ever wore High Shooes that she might seem Taller than indeed she was The first day of the Parliament she would appear in a Robe Embroidered with Pearls the Royal Crown upon her Head the Golden Ball in her Left-hand and the Scepter in her Right and as she never failed then of the loud Acclamations of her People so she was ever pleased with it and went to the House in a kind of Triumph with all the Ensigns of Majesty There was at such times so great a Concourse of the People to see and salute the Queen that many were trodden down and some have been lamed The Royal Name was ever venerableâ—… to the English Nation but this Queeâ—… was more sacred than any of her Ancestors She alone was able to furnish her whole Sex with the Examples of Chastity Temperance and all other Vertues And she was very vigilant to keep her Family and Court in severe Discipline She persuaded all Married Women to pay a modest Respect to their Husbands as to their Superiors She kept a severer Guard upon her own desires than upon those of others that were about her so that by degrees she made them seem at least like her self because she ever laboured so to have them She banished from her Court all
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
the Queen was dead and that the Princess Elizabeth was the indisputed Heir to the Crown of whose Right and Title none could make any Question and therefore the Lords intended to Proclaim her Queen and desired their Concurrence which was joyfully entertained by them and they all cried God save Queen Elizabeth long and happily may she reign She being thus advanced to the Throne not only by her own undoubted Right and the Providence of God but by the Confent and with the Approbation of all the Three Estates then Assembled in Parliament which I think never before hapned to any of our Princes besides her she was received by the whole Nation with incredible Transports of Joy and Affection and the loudest Acclamations they could make men highly valuing the Innocence of her former Life and commiserating the hardships she had suffered in the former Reign to the hazard of her Life When God had thus brought this Queen to the Throne of her Ancestors of a sudden the course of things and the current of affairs took a new bias the heavy Tempests and Misfortunes that attended England weâ—e instantly blown over and a serene and prosperous course of things succeeded in their place Thus in a moment she was not only freed from the Miseries of an Imprisonment but adorned with the highest degree of Honour and Power and this Lady with a Masculine or rather Heroick Soul which was worthy to have governed the Empire of the World for almost Forty five years after managed the Royal Scepter of England and was the Arbitrator prescribing the Conditions of Peace and War to all the Princes of Christendom with a Greatness of Mind and a Wisdom that became so high a Station This Virtue which was almost Divine joined with so admirable a Prudence renders her worthy of the Applause and Honour of all mankind Thus one may see and admire the great force and power of Time and the wonderful Changes of Human Affairs and how useful it is to arrive at Prosperity by the Waves of Adversity Whilst she was in her private Station she was perpetually under the fear and danger of Death but by the Goodness of God she escaped all the Insults of Adverse Fortune her Innocence procured her Safety that made way for her Liberty so her Soveraignty was acknowledged and from her prudent Management of that Royal Station she gained an â—…ndless Glory and an Immortal Name Thus attaining the Possession of a Kingdom with Glory and the Publick Safety and the Good Will of her Subjects she on all occasions shewed the Greatness and Brightness of her Wit and Soul That she had well studied and digested the best Arts and had had an excellent Education and wise Instruction the good Effects of which were now made known by her wise promoting the Good and Safety of her People In the beginning of her Reign she found the Nation at home filled with Divisions and Heart-burnings by reason of the contrary methods used in the two preceding Reigns Abroad she had never an Ally she could trust to all was in War or an uncertain and unsteady Peace The Spanish Government was bâ—…come odious here and the English called their Assected Gravity Pride and Insolence The French had equally incensed us by the late Surprize of Calais The Tâ—…easury was at the lowest Ebb and our Bulwark which our ncestors had preserved Two hundred and ten years was taken from us in one weeks time in the beginning of January in this year The New Queen proposed to herself the common Safety and Welfare of her People and pursued it with the utmost Care and Asfection She was then Twenty five years of Age and something more when the Royal Diadem of England descended to her and she began the difficult work of raising the low and calamitous state of England and redressing those Grievances which the opposite Interests and Designs of the former times had brought upon this Nation She was not only ripe and sit for Government but she had by this time acquired a strange and unusual degree of Civil Prudence She knew the Publick or Royal Laws of England not only by reading them in Books but also by the great Reflection she had made on our History and on what had happened in her own times and by her Conversation with great men and the application she had ever made of her Mind to whatever was worth regarding The 14th of January after her Sister's Death 1558 9 she was Crowned with the Ancient and Usual Ceremonies when her People gave her fresh Instances of their Loyalty and Affection by crowding in unusual Numbers to see and partake in the Joy of this Solemnity And she having observed that her Sister by the sullenness of her Behaviour had much disobliged the People frequently looked on them with a chearful and pleasing Countenance and returned the Respects they paid her with great sweetness She took the Ancient and Usual Coronation-Oath That she would govern her Kingdom according to the Ancient and Laudable Laws and Customs of England which she observed more willingly than most of her Predecesfors had before her and this gained her both the Love and Reverence of her People At first she cherished in her Roman Catholick Subjects a belief she would Imbrace that Religion they prosessed She changed nothing in the Publick Service or the Administration of the Sacraments that she might not enrage her Papists and give them a pretence for Separation before she had well Established herself The Kingdom of England was then very unsetled and had received great Damages both at home and abroad the French had wrested from us the strong Town of Bologne in the Year 1546. before the death of Henry the VIII â—h and Calais in the beginning of this Year The Sea was full of Privateers and there was scarce any thing to be trusted to In this Disorder of Affairs she wisely thought That the only way to settle and preserve the Nation from Imminent Ruine was to chuse wise and upright Men to manage the Publick Affairs She declined the use of Rash and overbold Men who have commonly brought mischief on the States that have trusted to them Being weary of the Popish Ceremonies and their Conversation she retired for some time to one of her Country Houses as it were for Diversion and Pleasure but in truth that she might with the greater Leisure and Secrecy consider of the Methods she should take for the removing the Dangers which threatned her Kingdom for the Preservation of its Peace for the Abating the Power of the Popish Party and the setling that Religion here which she believed was most for the Glory of God as being most agreeable to the Sacred â—…criptures The Men that she most relied on in this great and difficult Work were William Lord Parre of Kendal Marquess of Northampton whom she had restored to his Honours Francis Russel Earl of Bedsord Sir Nicholas Bacon Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
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
the Crown which yet could not be proved by certain Evidence That the times were unjust and wicked and Malice was blinded with Prejudice and made no scruple to charge the most Innocent with horrid Crimes â—…hat however there was an All-seeing Justice which attended at the Throne of God which was the best Avenger of all secret Villanies It will appear by all this what Difficulties there were on all hands in this great Affair and that the Queen was not acted only by a spirit of Jealousie and Revenge for what was past or out of a Personal and Selfish Humour oppressed this Banished Queen without considering all things with great application of mind The Lord Herris who attended the Court for the Queen of Scots was not idle in the mean time but earnestly sollicited Queen Elizabeth That she would not rashly believe any Accusation which should be brought against a Sovereign Queen till she had been heard and that the Meeting of the States of Scotland should not be precipitated by the Earl of Murray the Prime Regent to the Prejudice of the Deposed Queen and the Ruin of all her Loyal and Good Subjects The Queen of England accordingly did interpose her Authority with Murray as to the lattter of these but the Regent went on for all that Assembled the States of Scotland and attainted several of those that had taken Arms for the Queen and seized their Estates and Houses The Queen of England being highly incensed upon this sent Sir Walter Mildmay to the Regent to tell him from her That she could not sit still and see the Sacred Power of Princes be brought into Contempt amongst their Subjects and be trodden under foot at the Will and Pleasure of Factious men That altho they had forgot all that Duty and Respect which they owed to their Queen yet she for her part could not forger the Affection and Compassion her Piety obliged her to shew to a Sister and a Neighbour Queen That therefore Murray should either come to her himself or send some able men who might answer the Complaints of the Queen of Scots against the Regent and his Partakers and shew the Causes for which they had Abdicated Deposed the Queen which if they did not forthwith do she would dismiss the Queen of Scots and lend her all her Forces in order to the resettling her in her Kingdom And at the same time she admonished them not to sell the Queen's Jewels and Wardrobe tho the States had given him leave to do it The Earl of Murray accordingly and some other of the Nobility came into England and the case of the Queen of Scots was heard at York by several of the Lords of the English Council but could be brought to no Issue by reason of the cross Interests and the mutual Fears on all sides Tho the Queen of England to the last declared That she detested the Insolence of the Scots in her soul who had presumed to Abdicate their Queen But then when the Duke of Norfolk thought it reasonable that Murray should be stayed in England and be prosecuted for the Death of the Lord Darnley which the Queen of Scots said she would prove against him tho this was approved by the Earls of Arundel Sussex Leicester and Clinton afterwards Earl of Lincoâ—…n yet the Queen was very angry at the Motion and openly said The Queen of Scots would never want an Advocate as long as the Duke of Norfolk lived So that upon the whole it is strongly probable she durst not dismiss or restore the Queen of Scots for fear it should involve both England and Scotland in Wars and Calamities which would have very much endangered the utter Ruin of both the Nations but then she was desirous as much as was possible to keep the Example from spreading to the Damage of other Princes and the Endangering other States in other Circumstances as much as it tended now to their Preservation Many have endeavoured to blacken this Act of the Queen's and others to defend and excuse it but for my part I think the Character God gave of King David may be applied to Queen Elizabeth here David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite And what if upon the whole the Queen of the Scots is to be excepted only in our Instance This Reflection will appear so much the more reasonable if we take into Consideration her Death too The Queen of Scots had been now a Prisoner in England almost XVIII Years when the Queen of England was prevailed upon by the earnest Solicitation of many of the Peers and Commons of England who fell down upon their Knees humbly requesting her Majesty as Melvil expresseth it to have Compassion upon their unsure Estate albeit she should slight her own Alledging That her Life was in hazard by the Practices of the Queen of Scotland and their Lives and Fortunes also Now as it was possible for the English to have kept all those ill men from her which might put the Queen of Scotland upon such Practices so it was utterly unreasonable that Queen Elizabeth should expect the Queen of Scots would desist from endeavouring by all the ways that were possible to recover her Liberty and her Kingdom tho with the Death of her Oppressor But by this time the King of Scotland her Son was become a man and he would have secured the Peace and Possession of that Kingdom and the Queen of Scots was now XLIV Years of Age and so not so likely if she had escaped to have been Courted or to have wrought her any great Mischief in the world as she might have done in her Younger years besides by this time the States of Holland had pretty well establishtd themselves to balance the Spaniards but then the House of Guise was then in its greatest Pride and the King of Spain was preparing his Invincible Armado which came two years after and these two may seem to have been the real Motives to it But whatever they were the thing cannot be justified neither ought it and Queen Elizabeth seems to own as much by her ruining Davison the Secretary to conceal her own fault tho in truth it made it much worse When the Queen of Scots was brought before the Lords that were to Try her for her Life she declined their Jurisdiction as well she might and alledged she was a Sovereign Queen to which the Chancellor the Lord Hatton replied You are accused but not condemned You say you are a Queen be it so if you are innocent you wrong your Reputation in avoiding Tryal You protest your self Innocent the Queen feareth the contrary not without grief and shame To examine your Innocence are these Honourable Prudent and upright Commissioners sent Glad will they be with all their hearts if they may return and
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
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
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