Sir Thomas Smith in Commission Words between Bishop Boner and him His Fidelity to the Duke of Somerset Smith in a Commission against Anabaptists One of the Visitors of Cambridge In Commission upon Bishop Boner who would have declined him Smith deals roundly wâ—th him His Word to Boner's Servants Boner enters a Recusation against Smith Who chargeth him wâ—th Disobedience Smith in trouble with the Protector Deposed against Bishop Gardiner Makes a Purchase Goes in Embassy to France CHAP. VI. The Condition of Sir Thomas Smith under Queen Mary His wise Advertisements He loses all his Places He hath an Indulgence from the Pope Bishop Gardiner his Friend Gains Gardiner's Favour upon his first Address to him from Cambridge Ascham favoured by Gardiner Even Bishop Boner pretends to be Smith's Friend Rob. Smith a Retainer of Sir Tho. Smith burnt His Grief at these Times Smith's wise Advertisements and Counsels CHAP. VII Smith called to Queen Elizabeth 's Court. Concerned in the Settlement of Religion His Judgement of the Queen's Marriage Employed in the Reformation and in one of the Committees for the State And in swearing the Officers of Walden His Service in the Commission of the Peace Subscription of the Iustices Smith's Dialogues concerning the Queen's Marriage CHAP. VIII Sir Thomas 's Embassies to France Why not restored to be Secretary Dispatched to France Stops at Calais and why Directions to him from the Council Smith a Peace-mover Confers with the Pope's Legate The Secretary Advice to the Ambassador The Queen's Orders to him Three Evils in France Smith's Behavior in his Embassy Entertains a subtil Spy His Complaint The Ambassador's Instructions concerning the Prince of Conde He sends Nâ—ws to the Council Ordered to speak only in Latin in his Negotiation Contention between Smith and Throgmorton Smith's Plainness pleaseth the Lord Robert Instructions for Smith's Dealing with the Protestants Smith treateth for Peace Doctor Haddon's Advice to Smith CHAP. IX Osorius his Letter to the Queen And Doctor Haddon 's Answer Difference between Smith and Throgmorton the Queen 's joint Ambassadors Smith and Cecyl Friends The Ambassador sends over Books to Cecyl To procure a Book to be Printed in France Osorius's Epistle to the Queen Answered by Haddon This Answer recommended to Smith to revise And publish A Licence for which he labours to obtain from the Chancellor Which â—e will not grant Smith presseth it Argues with the Chancellor of France about it The Progress of this Controversie Difference between the two Ambassadors Some Character of Throgmorton Cecyl's and Smith's Friendship CHAP. X. Peace with France Smith continues Ambassador there His Book of the Commonwealth of England Returns A Review of his Embassy Smith affects a Peace Sollicits the Queen's Debt The Queen Continues him Ambassador A Match for the Queen propounded to him Finisheth his Book of the Commonwealth His extraordinary Expence Smith's Son with him He labours to come home He returns He is Inquisitive how his Negotiation is accepted He follows the Court of France His Reflection upon his Hearing of the Queen's going to Cambridge He composeth his Book of the English Commonwealth at Tholouse He enquireth for Learned men in Paris He procures the Printing of the Answer to Osorius His Correspondence with Haddon Ambassador in Flanders Smith's Opinion of Tully's Philosophy and Law His Reflection on the Troubles occasioned by Hale's Book CHAP. XI Smith goes over Ambassador again to demand Calais His Employment at home Concerned in turning Iron into Copper Smith now at home sent again to demand Calais Take his Son with him The Manner of his demanding Calais Sues for the Place of Chancellor of the Dutchy Sir Thomas in the Country administring Iustice. Witches by him examined Master's wife Ann Vicars Sir Thomas admitted into the Council Labours about Transmuting Iron into Copper His Progress therein Some Lords come into the Project The Projectors formed into a Society The Patent for it signed The Business finds Delay The Chymist a Beggar CHAP. XII Smith waits upon the Queen at Audleyâ— End Goes on Embassy to France Concludes a League Concerned in Proposals of a Match for the Queen He examineth the Duke of Norfolk's Secretary Goes Ambassador â—gain to France to make firm Amity against Spain An Article debated by Smith His Argument with the French Queen Smith perswades the Queen She consents to the League He loved not many Words His hardship in France Communication between the Queen Mother and Smith concerning Queen Elizabeth's Marriage Further Discourse on the same Argument His Thoughts of the Queen's Marrying His Concern for her Sickness And the Irresolutions of the Court The Queen of Navarre sends to Sir Thomas CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre The Queen gives Smith the Chancellorship of the Order Comes home Made Secretary Famed in the Court for his Learning Smith's Device for a View between Monsieur and the Queen His Thoughts of the Massacre at Paris His Detestation of it His Reason of the Manner of answering the French Ambassador His Observation of the Prejudice the French did themselves in Scotland CHAP. XIV Secretary Smith at Windsor dispatching Business His Care of Flanders and Ireland Massmongers and Conjurers ent up to him out of the North. His Colony in Ireland The Secretary at Windsor Dispatching Agents and Irish Matters His Compassion for Flanders His Advice about the Earl of Desmond And the Quarrel between Clanricard and Fitton Mass-mongers and Conjurers sent up to the Secretary His Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury hereupon Perswades the Queen to send Aid unto Scotland Which upon his Motion she condescends to Two Scotch men by him examined Sir Thomas sends a Colony into Ardes His Patent for it Sir Thomas's Son leads the Colony His Rules and Orders for it Mr. Smith's Care in the Colony Draws up Instructions for his Son Families of English found in the Ardes Mr. Smith's good Service this Winter Mr. Smith slain The Ardes neglected upon Sir Thomas's Death How lost from the Family CHAP. XV. The Secretary Oppressed with Business His Discourse with the Queen about Ireland and the Earl of Essex His Act in the behalf of Colleges of Learning His Sickness and Death The Secretary uneasie at the Queen's Delays The Queen deliberates about Supplies for the Earl of Essex Her Backwardness thereunto troubles the Secretary Conference between the Queen and her Secretary about Ulster and the Earl of Essex His Advice to the Queen concerning him The Secretary with the Queen in Progress She speaks to the Secretary about dangerous Beggars He procures an Act for Schools of Learning The Act. His fatal Distemper seizes him It affected chiefly his Tongue and Throat The Orator now scarce can speak To divert his Sickness he looks over his former Writings His Book of
Roman Coins The Physicians tamper with him They leave him to Kitchin Physick Goes into the Country Dies Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady dies His Person described CHAP. XVI His last Will. Makes his Will For the finishing his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good Housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queen's College or Peter-House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith His Learning A Platonick A Physician His Recipe for the Plague His Chymical Water sent to the Countess of Oxford His Matthiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmetician An Astronomer His Iudgment of the Star in Cassiopaeia A Politician A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library Books by him written A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning His Places His houses in Chanon-Row In London At Ankerwick Mounthaut His heir Sir William Smith CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith 's Vertuous Accomplishments His Religion His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit His Apparel Not oppressive Of an universal Charity His Apophthegms Leland's Copy of Verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaph on him THE LIFE Of the Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. CHAP. I. Sir THOMAS SMITH's Birth Parentage and Education THE Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH sometimes Secretary of State to K. Edward VI. and afterward to Q. Elizabeth was born at Walden in the County of Essex distinguish'd by the Name of SAFFRON Walden the Lands of that Parish and the Parts adjacent being famous for the Growth of the useful Medicinal Plant whether first brought thither by this Knight's Industry being a great Planter I know not for it was first brought into England as we are told in the Reign of K. Edward III. According to Cambden who writes that Sir Thomas Smith died Anno 1577. in his Climacteric he must have been born in the Year 1514. According to Fox who in his Relation of an Evidence given by the said Knight in February Anno 1551 against Bishop Gardiner assigned his Age then to be Three and Thirty he must have been born in the Year 1518. But himself putteth his Age out of doubt in his Book of the English Commonwealth where he saith that March the 28th 1565 he was in the One and Fiftieth Year of his Age. By which Computation he must have come into the World in the Year 1512. a Year famous to England for building of a Ship the biggest that ever the Sea bore And by the Inscription on his Monument it appears he departed this Life in the 65th Year of his Age. So that Cambden made him Two Years younger than he was and Fox Five unless we should say the Figure 33 is mis-printed for 39 a Fault too common in his Books Our Knight's Father was Iohn Smith of Walden Gentleman a Person of good Rank Quality and Wealth Of which we may take some Measure from two Purchases he made of K. Edward in one Year viz. the Third of his Reign that is to say a Chauntry in the Church of Long Ashton in Somersetshire with other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Somerset and Glocester which cost him 293 l. 16. s. 8 d. His other Purchase was all the Guild or Fraternity in Great Walden lately dissolved with divers other Lands and Tenements in Essex and London For which he with another Joint-Purchaser paid 531 l. 14 s. 11 d. Of which Fraternity of Walden this by the way must be remembered for the Honour of it that in a Grant made to it by K. Henry VIII as he willed there That he might evermore be remembred in their perpetual Prayers so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a Brother thereof and his dear Wife Q. Katherine to be a Sister And divers others are expressed there to be desirous to be admitted to the same as the Right Worshipful Dr. Wolsey Almoner to the King Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich Henry Earl of Essex and his Lady Lord Brook Chief Justice of England Sir Iohn Cutts Sir Tho. Semer and divers other Gentlemen and Ladies This Iohn Smith if we look further back was in the 30th of King Henry VIII High Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hertford For in those Times one Sheriff served both Counties In the year 1545. and the 35th of K. Henry aforesaid his Coat of Arms was granted him by the principal King of Arms or rather confirmed For the said King's Parent specifies That he was descended of honest Lineage and his Ancestors had long continued in Nobility and bearing of Arms and that it was Mr. Smith's Desire that the King of Arms would ratifie unto him his former Coat and Register it in the Records of his Office The Coat therefore granted annexed and attributed unto him was Sables a Fesse Dauncy between three Lionceux regardant Argent Languid Gules pawing with their Left Paws upon as many Altars flaming and burning thereon for that these were Anvils as some have thought alluding to the Name of Smith is a Fancy Upon the Fesse Nine Billets of his Field The Crest an Eagle rising Sable holding in his Right Claw a Pen Argent Flames of Fire issuing thereout This Crest Sir Thomas changed upon a notable Reason as we shall relate in due place Of this Coat of Arms I have laid a Copy of the Original Patent in the Appendix which is in Parchment very well adorned round about with Pictures of Rosâ—â— and Flowers de Lys and the Lively Efsigies of Garter arrayed in his rich Coat standing with a white Wand in his Hand and a Crown on his Head and the Coat of Smith blazonâ—d on the right side of him and pointâ—d to by the said white Wand I have but one thing more to say of this Gentleman and that is That he was an old Favourer of the Religion Reformed in which he brought up his Son Thomas from his Youth He lies buried in the Church of Walden where his Monument is yet remaining that is so much of it as contains his Coat of Arms but the Brass that bore the inscription torn off This for Sir Thomas's Father His Parentagâ— on his Mother's side was also Genule being derived from the ancient Name of the Châ—â—â—ecks of Lancashire his Mother Agnes being a Daughter and Co-heir of that Family By this Gentlewoman Iohn Smith had Issue divers Children of both Sexes viz. Four Daughters Agnes and Margery Alice and Iane which two last were married and three Sons Thomas Iohn and George The Posterity of which last flourish to this Day in Wealth and Honour and possess the Seat and Inheritance of Thomas the Subject of our ensuing History with great Improvements of the Estate Tho' no more Sons are express'd in the Roll
of the Pedigree as it is preserved in the Office of Arms yet there seems to have been another Son an elder Brother to Thomas For I have seen sometime a Crescent for distinction in his Seal which he used for the Sealing of his Letters engraven with his Arms. His Brother Iohn was the chief Instrument and Procurer of the new Erection of the Corporation of the Town of Walden in the Third Year of King Edward VI. after the Dissolution of the ancient Fraternity of the Holy Trinity of the said Town by Vertue of an Act of Parliament in the first of the said King mentioned before The Corporation then founded by that King's Letters Patents bore the Name as the old Fraternity or Guild had done of Treasurer and two Chamberlains who were Justices of Peace and Four and Twenty Aldermen which now by a later Charter is changed into a Mayor and Twelve Aldermen In those Letters Patents the said Iohn Smith junior was nominated the first Treasurer of the said Corporation In the Chamber where the Town-Writings of Walden are kept there is a Book containing their By-Laws which bears the Title of Ordinances and Statutes for the Corporation of the Town of Walden upon the new Erection of the same From thence is extracted what is above-said Another piece of good Service done by the said Iohn to the Town was That when an ancient Alms-house founded Anno 1400. the Lands of which were swallowed up and lost being given to the King by Act of Parliament as an Appendent perhaps of the Guild the Parishioners made Suit to him in behalf thereof by this Iohn Smith who by means of his Brother our Sir Tho. Smith then Secretary of State obtained Letters Patents from the King dated Feb. 18. in the Third of his Reign That he the said Iohn Smith being then Teasurer and William Strachy the younger and Thomas Williamson then Chamberlains and their Successors might found erect c. an Alms-house with one Master and his Brother c. and that it should be called King Edward 's Alms-house I can give no Account of this Branch of the Family unless perhaps it was that Stock of the Smiths that lived long in Little Walden upon a moderate Living there which now is gone out of the Name and possessed at present by the Reverend Dr. E. Norton to whom I am beholden for communicating what is here written of this Brother of Sir Thomas with some other things relating to the Town of Walden His younger Brother George followed the Calling of a Merchant of London living in a House of his Brother Thomas's in Philpot-lane while he remained at Cambridge And as his Money came in there he used to send it to his said Brother to mend his Stock without taking a Penny or Half-penny Advantage in consideration of his Loan the better to assist him in carrying on his Traffick as Sir Thomas wrote somewhere to justifie himself from an Imputation of Covetousness charged upon him once by the Dutchess of Somerset when he lived in her Family Where our Youth 's tender Years were formed I cannot assign but I conclude it to be at the old School in his Native Town of Walden which afterward by his Interest at the Court he got advanced unto a Royal Foundation with good Endowment from the King his Master in the Third Year of his Reign when he granted to the School there two Mills viz. a Corn-mill near the Town and a Malt-mill in it together with all the Emoluments Tolls and Benefits accrewing and an Annuity of Twelve Pounds issuing out of the Mannor of Willingale Spane in Essex for the Maintenance and Support of the said School This seems to be but a Grafting upon the ancient School here For I have received from the Reverend Person above-mentioned the present Vicar of Walden and he from the Inspection of the Town-Writings That there was anciently a School in this place and a Master and Usher over it and that it was governed by divers excellent Orders for its Six Forms and that in the 14th Year of King Henry VIII one Dame Iane Bradbury for why should these old Memorials be lost settled 10. l. per Annum upon it That there was also a Tripartite Indenture for the said School dated Aug. 24. betwixt Dame Iane Bradbury Widow Sister to Iohn Leche late Vicar of Walden and the Treasurer and Chamberlains of the Guild of the Holy Trinity in the Parish Church of Walden and the Abbot and Convent of the Monastery of the same Town And that one William Cawson had behaved himself so well in singing Mass and in teaching the School that he was elected when it was made a Free School and he was obliged to teach Grammar after the Form of Winchester and Eaton and to teach freely the Children that were born in Walden Little Chesterford Newport and Widdington and the Children and Kinsfolk of the said Dame Iane. We are in Obscurity concerning the Towardliness of Smith's young Years and those Sparks of Aptness Ingenuity and Vertue that then appeared in him which yet we may take for granted from his early remove to the University of Cambridge For according to the nearest Computation I can make he was transplanted thither at the Age of 14 or 15 Years at the most And having brought him thus far to enter now upon our Remarks of him and to unveil who and what this Man was whom I have raised as it were from the Shades now after an Hundred Years and more to set him before this present Age as a Pattern of true Honour Vertue and Generosity We shall take a four-fold View of him I. At the University where his Learning made him famed II. Under King Edward when he became a Courtier III. Under Queen Mary when he concealed himself and lived in a private Capacity IV. Under Queen Elizabeth when after she had much employed him in her Service both in her own and Foreign Courts he piously concluded his useful Life CHAP. II. Sent to Queen's College in Cambridge Chosen a King's Scholar Reads the Greek Lecture And rectifies the Pronunciation University Orator His Applause He was admitted in Queen's College in the aforesaid University a College then reckoned in the Rank of those Houses that Savoured Erasmus and Luther and harboured such as consorted privately together to confer about Religion purged from the Abuses of the Schools and the Superstitions of Popery Of this House was Foreman who hid Luther's Books when Search was made in the College for them and Heyns an ancient Friend of the Gospel and Sufferer for it afterwards Master of the College and Dean of Exeter and one of those who in King Edward's Reign was chosen to assist at the compiling of the English Communion Book And perhaps Erasmus and his Writings were more particularly favoured here that most Learned Man having not long before resided in this House These might have been some Advantages to ground young
in te transfudit Et propterea abs te non simpliciter petit Benesicium sed meritò repetit Ossicium nec unam aliquam causam tibi proponit sed sua omnia seipsam tibi committit Nec sua necesse habet aparire tibi consilia quorum recessus diverticula nósti universa Age igitur quod scis velis quod potes persice quod debes Sic Literis Academiae Reipublicae Religioni sic Christo Principi rem debitam Expectatam efficies IESUS te diutissmè servet incolumem And this Address had the Success it desired For the Colleges of the Universities and the other Colleges of Learning in the Nation were spared by a Proviso tho' the aforesaid Bills pass'd into an Act which we must attribute in good measure to Smith and his Party stirring in the House to bring it to pass The Lord Protector had set up an Office in his House of a Master of Requests for the better care-taking of poor Mens Sutes and for the more effectual speeding them without the Delays and Charges of Law In this Office was Dr. Smith placed and seems to have been the second Master of Requests to the Protector as Cecil was the first While he was in the Service of this Great Duke he obtained divers other considerable Places As to be Steward of the Stannaries Smith being an excellent Metallist and Chymist Provost of Eaton College wherewith he was very well pleased where whether he were present or absent there was always good Hospitality kept Dean of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle being at least in Deacons Orders And at last Secretary of State to the King with a Knighthood By this time he had purchased two Houses one in Channon-Row Which he bought for Two hundred Mark of Sir Ralph Sadleir sometime Secretary of State to King Henry which he Let to Mr. Comptroller for 30 l. per Ann. And here he lived himself in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And this was the House where the Commissioners met in the first Year of that Queen to consult for the Reformation of Religion and preparing the Book of Common-Prayer His other House was in Philpot-lane London where his younger Brother a Merchant lived It was a large and fair House He bought it of certain Executors but the Title being doubtful whether the King had not a Right in it he procured of his Lord the Duke to speak to the King in his behalf To this House also another pretended But the Contest between Sir Thomas and that other was referred And so in the End Sir Thomas enjoyed it He also purchased the Mannor of Yarlington in Somersetshire worth 30 l. per Ann. of the Marquis of Northampton it being given to him at the Coronation of Queen Katharine his Sister This Cost Smith 300 l. or thereabouts being Money that he had gotten at Cambridge before he came into the Protectors Service and lent to his Brother the Merchant Of the Commissioners for the Chauntries he also bought the College of Darby which went at 33 l. per Ann. which Cost him a Thousand Marks Which was the Portion he had with his Wife For while he lived in the Dukes Family he Married his first Wife named Elizabeth Daughter of William Karkek or Carkyke of London Gentleman Whose Sister Anne after Married to Sir Thomas Chamberlayn long Embassador Resident in Flanders and Spain Smith's Lady was a little Woman and one that affected not fine gaudy Cloths for which she was taxed by some And by this one might rather judge her to have been a Woman of Prudence and Religion and that affected Retirement rather than the splendor of a Court. For Dr. Smith allowed her what she pleased And she was his Cash-keeper However he used to wear goodly Apparel and went like a Courtier himself For which he said that some might seem to have cause rather to accuse him to go too sumptuously than her of going too meanly This Wife he buried having no Issue by her And Married a second named Philippa the Relict of Sir Iohn Hambden who out-lived him Whose Joynture was Hill-Hall Of this Wife it was that Secretary Cecil spake when in the Year 1565. Smith having been Ambassador in France and earnestly desiring to come home the said Secretary wrote him word that his Wife should either speak or send to the Earl of Leicester that he would dispatch Mr. Thomas Hoby whom the Queen had determined to send Ambassador in his Room but delayed it But we are yet to look upon Smith as one of the Protector 's Family where he fluorished in Places and Honours as we heard before Yet he had his Share of Trouble and Sorrow as the Anger of his haughty Mistriss the Dutchess of Somerset and many unjust Imputations that were raised against him whereto she gave too much Credit Which was the Cause of a large Letter which he address'd unto her Wherein he vindicated himself against many Slanders which were told the Dutchess whereof she had twitted him in the Teeth as Things the World took notice of in him Namely I. Haughtiness and a disregardful proud Temper II. That he was Oppressive and had by Extortion and Griping got a great deal of Money III. Covetousness IV. That he bought and sold Benefices or Spiritual Promotions Add to these That he was a Chopper and Changer of Lands That his Wife went not in so Courtly a Garb as was sitting That he kept no House And That he was a Neuter in Religion But these were mere Aspersions and malicious Insinuations his generous Mind ever abhorring any thing that was base and unjust or unworthy of a Man and a Christian Philosopher And these Calumnies he wiped off assoiling one Particular after another in his said Letter to the Dutchess Indeed she was an Imperious and Ill-natur'd Woman and had taken some Occasion to fall out with him and in her Passion it seems had cast out these Reports before him But Smith was a true and faithful Servant of the Duke and in his Troubles suffer'd with him For he was taken up with him and among those that were sent with the Duke to the Tower Sir Thomas was one Tho' afterwards his Innocency appearing he was delivered and escaped those severe Handlings that some of the Duke's Friends and Retainers underwent In the Year 1548 Dr. Smith was advanced to be the Secretary of State as in September the same Year William Cecil Esq was preferred to the like Office both having been Servants to the Protector Smith was made use of for the Reformation of Religion which was now going in hand with in good earnest as he was afterwards in all the steps of it In the Month of Iuly the same Year 1548 he with Mr. Chamberlain went Ambassador to Brussels to the Emperor's Council there Which was I think the first Embassy he underwent The Business of the State in sending him at this time was the
Highness to be his Gracious Sovereign Lord. Yea answered the Secretary you say well my Lord but I pray you what else have all these Rebels in Norfolk Devon and Cornwal done Have they not said thus We be the King 's true Subjects We acknowledge him for our King and we will obey his Laws and the like And yet when either Commandment Letter or Pardon was brought to them from his Majesty they believed it not but said it was forged under an Hedge and was Gentlemens Doings I perceive your meaning said the Bishop again as who should say the Bishop of London is a Rebel like them Yea by my Troth said the secretary Whereat the Standers by fell into a Laughter How this Bishop was afterwards deprived and committed and how he Protested and Appealed may be seen in other Historians In October the Duke of Somerset the Protector received a terrible Shock almost all the Privy Counsellors making a Defection from the Court and meeting in London combined together against him So that he at last was Imprisoned and lost all his Places Honours and Lands There were only Three then stuck to him in this Time of Adversing viz. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Sir William Paget and our Sir Thomas Smith Between whom and the Lords at London Letters past upon this affair carried by Sir Philip Hoby The Peril they ran was not a little For the Lords wrote to them that it seemed strange to them that they should either assist or suffer his Majesty's Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke of Somerset's Men and that Strangers should be armed with the King 's own Armour and be nearest about his Person and those to whom the ordinary Charge was committed to be sequestred away And the Lords sent them word moreover that if any Evil came thereof they must expect it must be imputed to them And whereas the Archbishop Paget and Smith in their Letter to the Lords told them They knew more than they the Lords knew at those Words thay took this advantage as they returned them Answer That if the Matters that came to their knowledge and were hidden from them the Lords were of such weight as they pretended or if they touched or might touch his Majesty or his State they the Lords thought that they did not as they ought to do in not disclosing the same to them the whole Council In fine being over-powered Smith together with the Archbishop and the Comptroller Paget sent another Letter from Windsor where the King and they were that they would not fail to endeavour themselves according to the Contents of the Lord's Letters and that they would convene together when and where the Lords pleased this was a notable instance of Smith's Fidelity to the Duke his old Master who stuck to him as long as he durst and was then glad to comply as fairly as he could And if I mistake not now did some storm fall upon Sir Thomas And I believe he was deprived of his Place of secretary For at this Time it appears by the King's Journal that Dr. Wotton was made Secretary Tho' he seemed soon to be restored again In the Year 1550. Sir Thomas was summoned a Witness together with a great many other Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Court in the great Trial of Gardiner Bishop of Winton He was sworn against him in the Month of February being then 33 Years of Age as it is set down in his Deposition by an Error of the Printer for 39. By which it appeareth that in the Year before viz. 1549. Smith then Secretary was divers times sent by the Lord Protector to the said Bishop to travail with him to agree to the King's Proceedings and that he would promise to set them forth in a Sermon or otherwise And that he often did in the Company of Mr. Cecil repair to him for that purpose That Smith and the said Cecil by Command of the said Council drew up certain Articles to which the Bishop should shew his Consent and to Preach and set forth the same And that after several Attendances upon the Bishop to bring him to this and upon some hope of Conformity thereto the Lords of the Council sent for him to the Palace at Westminster After that was the Lord Wiltshire sent to him to whom he shewed some Conformity herein Soon after that Lord went again accompanied with Smith to know his final Resolution To whom he shewed great readiness to set forth the Articles aforesaid in his Sermon yet prayed not to be tied to the same Words In which the Council at length yielded to him And thus was Secretary Smith employed in that Affair In which he carried himself it seems with so much Discretion and Moderation towards that haughty Bishop that afterwards in his Prosperity under Queen Mary he was a Friend to him when he was such a bloody Enemy to all Protestants besides In this same Year 1550. He made a Purchase of the King of the whole Mannor of Overston alias Overston in the County of Northampton parcel of the Possessions called Richmond Lands and divers other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Bucks Surry and Hertford For which he gave 414 l. 10. s. 4 d. and other Lands in Derby and Middlesex The Yearly value of this Purchase was 87 l. 17 s. 9 d. In the Year 1551. the 30th of April Sir Thomas Smith still under the Name of Secretary was appointed one of those that were to go in that great and splendid Embassy to France with a Commission of Treaty concerning a Match for the King with that King 's Eldest Daughter at the same time the Marquess of Northampton went the Order of the Garter to the said King With whom was joyned in Commission the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hoby Sir William Pickering and Sir Iohn Mason These two Leiger Embassadors there and two Lawyers whereof Smith was one CHAP. VI. The Condition of Sir Thomas Smith under Queen Mary His wife Advertisements SIR Thomas past the Reign of King Edward in great Reputation and Prosperity But upon the Access of Queen Mary to the Crown as many of the deceased King's Ministers of State especially such as favoured Religion were cast off so were the two Secretaries Sir William Cecil and Sir Thomas Smith And besides the loss of that honourable Station he was deprived also of what he held in the Church For he was a Spiritual Person also and so was invested by the late King with the Provostship of Eton and the Deanry of Carlisle And to spoil him of these and other places with the more Formality he was summoned to appear before certain Persons whom the Queen had Commissionated for these purposes together with Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. May Dean of St. Paul's He fell easy for his Life was saved tho' he were a Protestant and had an 100 l. per Ann. allowe him for his
preserve her long to Reign over her People and that his Grace and Mercy would turn all to the best In the midst of these Cares of our Ambassador the Lord Burghley wrote to him of a Matter that put him and his Collegue into a great Consternation It was concerning the Queen's falling Sick of the Small-Pox and withal of her speedy Recovery again His careful Mind for this Matter he thus exprest in his next Letter to the said Lord That he and his Fellow read the News of the Queen's Illness together in a marvellous Agony but having his Medicine ready which was that her Majesty was within an Hour recovered it did in part heal them again But that as his Lordship wrote of himself that the Care did not cease in him so he might be assured it did as little cease in them Calling to their remembrance and laying before their Eyes the Trouble the Uncertainty the Disorder the Peril and Danger that had been like to follow if at that Time God had taken her from them whom he styled The Stay of the Common-wealth the Hope of their Repose and that Lanthorn of their Light next God Not knowing whom to follow nor certainly where to light another Candle Another great Solicitude of his at this Time was as the Queen's Sickness so her Slowness to resolve and the tedious Irresolutions at Court. Of which he spake in some Passion after this sort That if the Queen did still continue in Extremities to promise in Recoveries to forget what shall we say but as the Italians do Passato il pericolo gabbato il fango He told that Lord moreover That he should perceive by their Proceedings in their Embassy what justly might be required was easie to be done But if her Majesty deceived her self and with Irresolution made all Princes understand that there was no Certainty of her or her Council but dalliance and farding off of Time she should then first Discredit her Ministers which was not much but next and by them discredit her self that is to be counted uncertain irresolute unconstant and for no Prince to trust unto but as to a Courtier who had Words at will and true Deeds none These were Expressions proceeding somewhat as may be perceived from his Spleen and partly from his present Indisposition of Body Which he seemed to be sensible of For he begged his Lordship's Pardon for what he had said rendring his Reason That he had been kept there so long that he was then in an Ague both in Body and in Spirit And that as the Humours in his Body made an Ague there of which he wisht it would make an end so that irresolution at the Court he hoped would help to conclude that he might feel no more Miseries Which he feared those that came after should feel Because we will not see said he The Time of our Visitation Thus did Smith express his Discontents into the Bosom of his trusty Friend for the Mismanagement of publick Affairs as he conceived discovering as his Zeal and Affection to the Queen and the State so the Temper of his Mind somewhat enclined to Heat and Choler This he writ from Blois on Good-Friday While Sir Thomas Smith was here Ambassador the Treaty of Marriage was in effect concluded between the Prince of Navarre and the Lady Margaret the present French King's Sister Which lookt then very well toward the Cause of Religion and both that Ambassador and his Collegues Walsingham and Killigrew liked it well One Matter in Debate and the chief was about the manner of Solemnizing the Marriage Whereupon they sent to the Queen of Navarre a true Copy of the Treaty of the Marriage between King Edward the Sixth and the late Queen of Spain the French King's Sister Wherein it was agreed that she should be Married according to the Form of the Church of England Which stood the said Queen of Navarre in such good stead that she produced it to the Queen-Mother of France To which they took Exceptions and said it was no true Copy of the Treaty Whereupon she the Queen of Navarre sent to Sir Tho. Smith who happened to be at that very Treaty By her Messenger she signified that she sent to him to know because he was a Dealer in the same whether he would not justifie it to be a true Copy To whom Sir Thomas answered That knowing the great good Will his Mistress did bear her and how much she desired the good Success of that Marriage as a thing that tended to the Advancement of Religion and Repose of this Realm he could not but in Duty avow the same and be willing to do any good Office that might advance the said Marriage CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre SIR Thomas being still abroad in France the Queen conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter in the Month of April as some Reward of the League that he had taken so much pains in making For which he thanked her Majesty and said it must needs be to him many times the more welcome because that without his Suit and in his Absence her Highness of her gracious goodness did remember him About Iune 1572. he came home with the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral who was sent over to take the Oath of the French King for the Confirmation of the Treaty Which being done by the Queen's Command he was no longer to abide in France but to return at his best Convenience It was not long from this Time that the old Lord Treasurer Marquess of Winchester died and the Lord Burghley Secretary of State succeeded in his Place Then Smith was called to the Office of Secretary viz. Iune 24. having sometime before assisted the Lord Burghley in that Station And surely it was the Opinion of his great Learning as well as his long Experience and other Deserts that preferred him For his Learning had rendred him very famous in the Court A Poet in those Times writing an Heroick Poem to the Queen therein describing all her great Officers one after another thus depainted this her Secretary Inde tibi est altis SMYTHUS à gravibúsque Secretis Doctrinae Titulis Honoris fulgidus ut qui Pierius Vates prompto facundus ore Et cui solliciti exquisita Peritia Iuris Astronomus Physicusque Theologus insuper omni Eximiè multifaria tam structus in Arte Ut fedes in eo Musae fixisse putentur Wherein of all the Queen 's Wise and Noble Counsellors Smith her Secretary is made to be the deeply Learned Man about her as being an ingenious Poet an excellent Speaker of exquisite Skill in the Civil Law in Astronomy in natural Philosophy and Physick in Divinity and in a word so richly furnished in all the Arts and Sciences that the Muses themselves might be supposed to
This Seat now flourisheth in Plenty Reputation and Honour possessed by the Line of his Younger Brother Whereby Sir Thomas Smith's Name and Memory still Lives according to his Design and Intent in that Structure And tho' it wants nothing in the Inside as well as the Out to adorn and beautifie it yet the choicest Furniture is an excellent Original of the Builder hanging up in the Parlour with these two Verses written round the frame of the Picture Cernitur Essigies factis vera at Penicillus Corporis atque umbrae tâ—ntum simulacra râ—poâ— And underneath LOVE AND FEAR Aetat 〈◊〉 xxxiii Having no Child his Lady enjoyed this Manor of Mounthaut or Mounthal for her Life and then it descended to his Brothers Son Sir William Smith Son of George a brave Gentleman and Soldier in Ireland being a Colonel there Till having attained to Thirty Years of Age he returned into England and possest his Deceased Uncles Estate He married into the Family of Fleetwood of the Vache in Backs and had divers Issue And was of great Figure and Service in the County of Essex All which may be better known by the Inscription upon a Noble Monument for himself and his Lady set up on the Southside of the Chancel opposite to that of Sir Tho. Smith his Uncle Which was as follows To theâ—pious Memory of her Loved and Loving Husband Sir William Smith of Hilhal in the County of Essex Knight Who till he was Thirty Years old followed the Wars in Ireland with such Approbation that he was â—â—osen one of the Colonels of the Army But his Uncle Sir Thomas Chancellor of the Garter and Principal Secretary of State 〈◊〉 two Princes King Edward VI. and the late Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory dying he returned to a full and fair Inheritance And so bent himself to the Affairs of the Country that he grew alike famous in the Arts of Peace as War All Offices there sorted with a man of his Quality he right worshipfully performed and dyed one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the 〈◊〉 A Place of no small Trust and Credit Bridget his unfortunate Widow who during the time of Thirty Seven Years bare 〈◊〉 three Sons and four Daughters Daughter of Thomas Fleetwood of the Vache 〈◊〉 the County of Bucks Esquire and sometime time Master of the Mint to allay her Languer and Longing after so dear a Companion of her Life rather to express her Affection than his Office this Monument erected Destinating it to her self their Children and Posterity He lived Years Seventy Six Died the 12. of Decemb. 1626. CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith's Vertuous Accomplishments WE have seen Sir Thomas in his Secular Circumstances as his Learning Wealth and Honour made him lookt upon and admired in the Eye of the World But what doth all this Confer to the true Reputation of a man without inward vertuous Qualifications These were other and better things that added a Lustre and Glory to our Knight For his Learning was accompanied with Religion and his Honour became more illustrious by the excellent Accomplishments of his Mind He was brought up in the Profession of the Gospel from his tender years and ever after stuck to it and professed it and that openly and as he had Occasion delivered and rescued good men from the Persecutions and Dangers that Religion exposed them to tho' he thereby sometimes ran himself into no small hazzard He lost his Preferments upon the Change of Religion under Queen Mary when if he had been minded to have complyed he might have had what he pleased But he was of a stout and constant Mind When he was in Place and Office abroad or in the Court the Principles he governed himself by were Truth and Integrity an inviolable Love to Justice and righteous Dealing a most unchangeable Faithfulness and Zeal to the Concerns of his Queen and Country His Life and Manners were unreproveable of a grave and yet obliging Behaviour And sometimes he would take the Liberty to be ingeniously merry and cheerful among his Friends A perfect stranger he was to the Practices of some Courtiers namely to those of Fraud and Falsehood Flattery and Treachery Vice and Corrupt Manners Such a Description do the Muses in their ears give him Non Fraude Dâ—love Non ullo vicius Fuco Patriaeque suisque Regâ—nâ—quâ— suae fidus nâ—n perfidus ulli At fidus cunclis Cato viâ—â— mâ—ribus ore Sincerus sine Fraude bonus â—â—ne suspicione Neâ— lâ—vitate vacans sic gravitate severus Ut tamâ—n atque jocos admitteret atque lepores Innocuos nihilumque prius sibi duceret Aequo Atque Bono cui se suaque omnia vota sacravit And again the same Muses shewing the Reasons of his safety under the rigorous Times of Queen Mary notwithstanding he would not change nor dissemble his Faith nor comply with the Religion that was uppermost give us a Relation of his Vertues which shone so bright that with them he did as it were charm the Government to spare him Nec tamen interea parti assentarier ulli Nec simulare Fidem nec dissimulare solebat Mirifica Virtute omnes Gravitate colenda Moribus antiquis Charitum Aonidumque Favore Numine coelesti non Impietate nec Arte Illicita nec Perfidia neque Fraudibus ullis Vir bonus sapiens qualem vix repperit altrum Phaebus Apollo unquam sibi conciliabat amicos But as there is nothing so good but will find Accusers and Slanderers so it happened to him For his Excellences created him Envy and Enviers And some there were in King Edward's time that laid several gross Vices to his charge but most unjustly As tho' he were proud a Lover of Money and that for the sake of it he extorted and opprest that he was a Buyer and Seller of Spiritual Preferments and chopt and changed Lands Finally that in the Changes of Religion he was a Complier But these were all most false Calumniations but such as he was fain to write some Sheets of Paper to vindicate himself of whereby he was forced to set forth his own Vertues unwillingly His Spirit was brave and great being a Man of a resolute and Active Mind Faithful and Diligent when Ambassador and Secretary Somewhat hasty and impatient when public Matters went not as they ought being hindred by designing men for private Profit or secret Grudge And so I find him somewhere describing himself when Haughtiness was once laid to his Charge I cannot deny but I am of Nature hault of Courage and stomach to contemn all Perils and worldly things or Dangers to do my Master Service and likely more would be but that I am by such things he means Accusations and Slanders sometime plucked back and so again contented to rule my self being able I thank God to serve in the Body and Thilles as Carters call it as well as in the Room of a Forehorse His Apparel was usually good and like a Courtier For
deceased Sheweth THAT the said Sir Thomas Smith the Petitioner's Ancestor had the Honour to serve as Secretary of State to your Majesty's most Noble Progenitor Queen Elizabeth of happy Memory and served her in that Employment faithfully many Years And in the Thirteenth year of her Reign the said late Queen did make a Grant by Letters Patents under the great Seal to the said Sir Thomas Smith and Thomas his then Son and Heir Apparent of divers Mannors Castles and Lands thereto belonging in the County of Downe in the Realm of Ireland Which were then possest by divers Persons who were in actual Rebellion against her Highness with Command that the said Sir Thomas Smith should enter upon the Parts infested by the said Rebels and by Force of Arms obtain the same from them And the said Sir Thomas Smith did at his great Charge raise an Army and entred those Parts and gained them unto their due Obedience In which said Service the said Thomas his Son was slain And then the said Sir Thomas Smith Assigned the said Sir William Smith his Nephew to take the Charge of Prosecution of that War and came over to England to attend the further Service of her Majesty and to Solicite her Majesty that the Lands might be Surveyed and the Rents ascertained and his Grant and Title perfected And her Majesty taking Notice of such the great Service of the said Sir Thomas Smith was pleased several Times graciously to declare that her Royal Intentions to the said Sir Thomas Smith should be made good But by reason of the many great Troubles falling out in her Time the same was not done during all the time of her Reign And afterwards the said Sir William Smith the Elder was commanded by the said Queen upon Service into Spain And upon his departure out of England he desired Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n Kt. to prosecute his said Grant on the said Sir William's behalf and procure the same for him And the said Sir Iames Hamiltâ—n in the Time of your Noble Grandfather King Iames upon some undue prâ—tences contrary to the Trust in him reposed by the said Sir William Smith obtained the said Lands to be granted to himself upon Pretence of a Valuable Consideration paid which in truth was never paid But in truth according to the Intention of the late Queen the said Lands are the Right of your Petitioner That Sir William Smith died about Fourty years since and Sir William his Son and Heir since dyed and left his Son and Heir an Infant of two years old And until he came at Age nothing could be done And the troublesome times happening since his Death the Petitioner and his Ancestors have sit down by the Loss Yet your Petitioner hopeth that that long Discontinuance shall not be a Bar to his just Right But humbly prayeth your Majesty to cause an Examination of the Premisses to be made and Certified to your Majesty and then the Petitioner hopes that when the Truth of the Fact shall appear your Majesty will be graciously pleased to do therein for the Petitioners Relief what shall be agreable to Justice And your Petitioner shall c. At the Court at Whitehal 14 Nov. 1660. Edw. Nicholas His Majesty is pleased to refer this Petition to the Right Honourable Sir Maurice Eustace Lord Chancellor of Ireland Who having examined and considered the Contents and Allegations of this Petition is to certifie his Majesty how he findeth the same and what his Lordship conceiveth to be just and fit for his Majesty to do therein and then his Majesty will declare his further Pleasure Sir Maurice Eustace his Certificate It may please your Excellent Majesty I have according to your Majesty's gracious Reference considered the Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire And considering that the Petitioner doth ground his Title upon a Patent made 13. Elâ—z unto his Ancestors and that the said Title hath been very much controverted and the Possession gone for a long Time against the Petitioner and some Descents last I humbly conceive that it is neither sit nor convenient for your Majesty to determine this Cause upon a Paper petition But your Majesty in regard your Courts of Justice in Ireland will be soon open may be pleased to leave all Parties pretending Interest to the said Lands to your Majesty's Courts of Justice in that your Kingdom to be procâ—â—ded in as they shall be advised by their Counsel And the rather for that the Earl of Clanbrazil who is interested in the said Lands by Descent from his Father is a Minor and under Years and cannot be concluded by any Order which can be made against him during his Monority All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty's Judgment Maurice Eustace Canc. NUM V. Sir Thomas Smith's Tables of Mony And for the reducing the Roman Monies to the English Standard TABLE I. In the Pound Weight of Silver there is of current Monies  Shil Groats Current Pence At 20 d. 20 60 240 At 2 sh. 24 72 284 At 2 sh. 8 d. 32 96 384 At 2 sh. 9 d. q. Ounce    At â…“ of a q. Ounce 33 4 d. 100 4.00 At 3 sh. 36 108 432 At 3 sh. 4 d. 40 120 480 At 3 sh. 8 d. 44 132 528 At 4 sh. 48 144. 576 At 5 sh. 60 180 720 TABLE VIII The Mark containeth The Ounce at 20 d. Shill Groats Pence 13 4 40 160 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 16 48 192 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 2 sh. 8 d. 21 4 64 256 The Mark containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 24 72 288 The Mark containeth The Oounce at 3 sh. 4 d. 26 8 80 320 TABLE IX Twenty English Pence of the Standard make one Ounce Twelve Ounces make the English Pound Sterling at 11 Ounces Silver and one Ounce Allay The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 20. Shill Groats Pence 20 60 240 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 2 8 32 96 484 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 sh. 36 108 432 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 4 40 120 480 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 3 8 44 132 528 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 4 sh. 48 144 536 The Pound Containeth The Ounce at 5 sh. 60 180 720 Then Follows a Discourse for demonstrating the Reduction of the Roman Coins to our Money TO Esteem these by the Coins of England which I have I have an old Edward Groat whether the Third or Fourth I know not This Groat weigheth 8 d. ob of the Standard which is Current 1561. Viz. at 5 â— the Ounce Whereby it appeareth that then the Monies went at 2 s. 4 d. q. the Ounce The Pound then contained Shill Groats Pence 21 3 84¾ 339 I have also two Roman Denarii the one intitled Lucius Valerius Flaccus the other Marcus Herennius On the one side Aeneas is pictured carying his Father on the other side Pietas with the Face of Herennius But each of them be too
he lose the Favour of his Prince that followeth the Commandment of his Lusts and restraineth not them with the Bit of Reason 2. Beware you put not Fortune in trust with those Things that appertain to your Person Honour Substance or Conscience For the Nobleman which is wise will not hazard himself in hope to have relief at her hands as often as he shall need 3. Altho' all Men promise to help you if you had need yet nevertheless trust not too much thereto Many of them which now do offer to take Armour for your sake if occasion be offered will be the first to strike you to give you the Overthrow 4. In other Mens Cases meddle not too much nor in your own enforce not Time For governing you so you may remain in the good Estate you be or else may easily happen to utter what you were 5. The Danger of Noblemen is like to them that be in the top of high and sharp Mountains whence they cannot descend but fall Wherefore procure unto your selves such faithful Friends as will rather stay you from falling than such as will reach unto you their hands to help you up when you be down 6. Do good while you have power thereunto and never do hurt tho' you may For the Tears of the Offended and the Complaints of the Grieved may one Day have place in the sight of God to move him to Chastise you and also be occasion to make the Prince to hate you 7. Bestow your Benefits and Offices rather upon the Good than upon your Friends For among your Friends it is lawful to depart your Goods but not your Conscience 8. In that you Counsel be not affectionate in that you Discounsel be not passionate Whatsoever you do do advisedly For altho' in the Courts of Princes every Man beholdeth the Worthiness and Nobility of the Person Yet the more noble a Man is the more is he noted marked amd hated of others 9. If you will not err in your Counsels nor stumble in your Actions embrace them that tell you Truth and hate them that flatter you For much more ought you to love them that advise you than those that will seem to pity you when you are in Danger 10. Have always in memory the Benefits you have received of others and enforce your selves to forget such Injuries as others have done unto you 11. Esteem much that Little of your own and regard not the Abundance of others 12. Endeavour your self to do good to all Men and never speak evil of them that be absent 13. Jeopard not the Loss of many things for the Gain of one thing neither adventure the Loss of one thing certain for many things doubtful 14. Make much of your dearest Friends and do not procure any Enemies 15. Exalt not the rich Tyrant neither abhor the Poor which is rightous This hath a Line drawn through it by the Pen of Sir Thomas Smith Thimself as it seems fearing perhaps some misconstruction of his Words which might draw him into danger under this jealous Government of Queen Mary 16. Deny not Justice unto the Poor because he is poor neither pardon the Rich because he is rich 17. Do not good only for Love neither chastise only for Hatred 18. In evident Cases abide not the Counsel of others and indoubtful Cases determine not of your self 19. Suffer not Sin unpunished nor well-doing without Reward 20. Deny not Justice to him that asketh nor Mercy to him that deserveth it 21. Chastise not when thou art Angry neither promise any thing in thy Mirth 22. Do evil to no Man for malice neither commit any Vice for Covetousness 23. Open not thy Gate to Flatterers nor thy Ears to Backbiters 24. Become not proud in thy Prosperity nor desperate in thine Adversity 25. Study always to be loved of good Men and seek not to be hated of the Evil. 26. Be favourable unto the Poor which may be little if thou wilt be aided of God against them that be Mighty CHAP. VII Smith called for to Queen Elizabeth's Court. Concerned in the Settlement of Religion His Iugement of the Queen's Marriage WHEN Queen Elizabieth's Turn came to sway the Scepter Sir Tho. Smith was presently called to the Court and made use of And assisted in settling the publick Affairs both in Church and State The first thing he seemed to be employed in was in preparing a Reformed Office of Religion For when a Deliberation was soon had of changing the Religion set up under Queen Mary in a Device offered to Sir William Cecil who was now admitted Secretary of State for the doing of it it was advised that before an whole Alteration could be made which would require some longer time and study a Platform or Book of Divine Service should be framed to be shewn to the Queen and being by her approved to be put up in the Parliament-House For which purpose seven Men were Nominated Dr. Bill the Queen's Almoner and Master of Trinity-College in Cambridge and after Dean of Westminister Dr Parker late Dean of Lincoln soon after Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. May late Dean of St. Paul's and soon after Elect of York Dr. Cox late Dean of Westminster and Christ's-Church Oxon after Bishop of Ely Dr. Pilkington late Master of St. Iohn's-College Cambridge and after Bishop of Durham Grindal late Chaplain to Bishop Ridley and soon after Bishop of London and Whitehead a grave and elderly Divine highly esteemed by Archbishop Cranmer These four last having been Exiles in the last Reign And our Knight Sir Tho. Smith his Office was to call them together and to be among them And after Consulation with these other Men o Learning were to be drawn in being grave and apt Men to give their Assents And accordingly these Men met it being now Winter at Sir Thomas's House which then was in Chanon-Row Where was laid in a sufficient quality of Wood Coals and drink for their use And here was Sir Thomas Assistant with the rest in the reviewing of King Edward's Book of Common Prayer to be again received and established in the Church and in several other things to take place in the intended Reformation And when in the beginning of the Queen's Reign viz. Decemb. 23 the several publick important Affairs of the Kingdom were committed to the Cares of divers Noble Persons and Courtiers in five distinct Committees as I. The Cares of the North Parts II. The Survey of the Office of the Treasurer of the Chamber III. For Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight IV. For Enquiry into what Lands had been granted by the Late Queen Mary from the Crown V. For the Consideration of such Things as were necessary for the ensuing Parliament For this last Sir Tho. Smith was one of the Committee together with the Keeper of the Great Seal the Judges and some others In the first Year of the Queen he was also by her employed to give the Treasurer and Chamberlains of his
was not idle For he had a busy active Mind and a Philosophical Head And this put him among other Things upon a Project of Alchimy about the Year 1571. Hoping to transmute Iron into Copper Into this Chargeable but as was hoped gainful Business he brought the Secretary Cecil who had also a Philosophical Genius the Earl of Leicester Sir Humsrey Gilbert and others The first Occasion of this Business was by one Medley who had by Vitriol changed Iron into true Copper at Sir Thomas Smith's House at London and after at his House in Essex But this was too costly as Sir Thomas saw to make a Benefit by Therefore he propounded to find out here in England the Primum Eus Vitrioli and therewith to do the same Work at a cheaper Rate Upon which Sir Thomas Sir Humphrey Gilbert a Learned Kt. also and of a projecting Head and our Medley entred into a Company under Articles to sind this out That is to say That Medlâ—y should be employed in this Business at the Charge of the two other till by the Profit he should reap from the thing found out he might bear his Proportion The Place where this was to be attempted and laboured was in the Isle of Wight or at Poole or elsewhere But at Winchelsey he had made the first Tryal because of the Plenty and readiness of Wood. He received of Sir Thomas and Sir Humphrey an Hundred and One Pounds apiece for the buying of Vessels and Necessaries They removed to Poole thinking this Ens of Vitriol to be there and took a Lease of Land of the Lady Mountjoy of 300 l. per Annum For the Payment of which Sir Thomas with the other two entred into a Bond of 1000 l. While these Things were in this State Smith was sent Ambassador beyond Sea Which was in 1572. as we shall see in due place And a Quarrel then happening between Medley and Sir Humphrey and Medley gone to Ireland being reported to be run away the Business lay asleep for some time But Sir Thomas revived it at his Return Going down himself to Poole where he found Arrears of Rent due to the Lady Mountjoy and above 60 l. due to Workmen and no Copper nor any Crocus of Copper made The satisfying of which Debts and other Charges cost him 200 l. And after for clearing of things at Poole sending down at several times his Nephews William Smith and Iohn Wood thither And moveover Smith had perswaded the Lord Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester to enter into the Society This was now about December Anno 1574. leaving them to satisfie themselves by sending some able or knowing Person to Medley to see his Method and Ability and so accordingly to report it to them And if they were satisfied he could do it then to consider of the Terms Medley had propounded and if they thought good to yield unto them In sine these Lords were willing to come into the Society and they deposited each of them an 100 l. towards the carrying it on And it was to be ratifiâ—d by a Patent to be obtained from the Queen Medley was now removed to Anglesey where was Fuel Earth and Water proper for his Business being sufficient to do it for ever or at the least for a very long Time The Things which he undertook to do were these 1. To make of raw Iron good Copper and of the same Weight and Proportion abating one Part in Six As Six hundred Tun of Iron should by Boyling make Five hundred Tun of perfect Copper II. The Liquor wherein the Iron was boyled to make Coperas and Allom ready for the Merchant Which keeping the Price they then bore should of the Liquor of Five hundred Tun of Copper be worth 10000 l. that is for every Tun 2000 l. Sir Thomas was satisfied that true Copper was made of Iron but whether all the other incident Expences which would be considerable would countervail that was the Matter to be examined The Society had seen the Tryal of Crocus at London which might be satisfaction in part Smith for his own part made no doubt that Copper might be made that way and two or three other ways also as he told the Lords But of the whole Work which rested in many other Points as of the Proportion of Iron to the Crocus of the Crocus to the Copper of the Allom and Coperas that came of it with what time of Boyling what Expences of Fire and Men's Labour Carriage Buildings Vessels and all other things which be many this he said could not be done nor well esteemed nor judged upon at London but at the Place Whereupon he propounded to the two Lords to send down two Persons and he and Sir Humphrey Gilbert one or two others whom they might trust These together to viâ—w and see the Doings and one be Witness to the other and so all Parties to be fully satisfied by the Answer of these Viewers to every Part of their Instructions and Articles what they should find true according to Medley's Promise and what not and the Occasion thereof That so the Society might be broken if it were Deceit and Abuse or gone forward with if it were not so At length there arising so much Probability of Success in the Project he got the Patent of the Society Signed in Ianuary 1574. And therein it was Stilâ—d The Society of the new Art And the two Lords put into the Stock an 100 l. a piâ—ce more Now when the Patent was signed and the Great Seal obtained their next Work was to forward the Business with all speed that they might lie no longer at great Expence Smith excited the Lord Burghley that they might proceed to a perfect Beginning of the Work in the manner of a Society The Earl of Leicester was very forward offering Iron and Lead and Money also and making more Vessels Smith also put on the Lord Burghley to make Orders when and how it should begin and that one Man or two should be fixed upon as chief Overseers to take Care and Charge of the Works who should be answerable to the whole Society Making clear Books for one Day prefixed what the Daily Ordinary and Extraordinary Expences be and what the Comings in again Weekly of Copper Allom Coperas and other Things be and were like to be Then what common Seal for the whole Society And that Burghley also would out of other Statutes for other Societies cull out some good and wholsome Statutes and Orders for this Which without a Society he said could not well stand And the fewer Statutes and well kept the better And lastly he desired that all might be ready so as by the 10th or 15th of February the Work might be fully begun That so by the last of March a sure Guess might be made what were like to ensue thereof One Sir Iohn Hibbord was the Man agreed upon to have the chief Charge of the Provisions for all things necessary for
Warrant can the French make now Seals and Words of Princes being Traps to catch Innocents and bring them to the Butchery If the Admiral and all those Martyred on that bloody Bartholomew Day were guilty why were they not apprehended imprisoned interrogated and judged but so much made of as might be within two Hours of the Assassination Is that the manner to handle Men either culpable or suspected So is the Journier slain by the Robber so is the Hen of the Fox so the Hind of the Lion so Abel of Cain so the Innocent of the Wicked so Abner of Ioab But grant they were guilty they dreamt Treason that night in their Sleep what did the Innocents Men Women and Children at Lions What did the Sucking Children and their Mothers at Roan deserve at Caen at Rochel What is done yet we have not heard but I think shortly we shall hear Will God think you still sleep Shall not their Blood ask Vengeance Shall not the Earth be accursed that hath sucked up the innocent Blood poured out like Water upon it I am most sorry for the King whom I love whom I esteem the most worthy the most faithful Prince of the World the most sincere Monarch now Living Ironically spoken no question by Smith because to him that King used to profess so much Integrity I am glad you shall come home and would wish you were at home out of that Country so contaminate with innocent Blood that the Sun cannot look upon it but to prognosticate the Wrath and Vengeance of God The Ruin and Desolation of Ierusalem could not come till all the Christians were either killed there or expelled from thence But whither do I run driven with just Passions and Heats And in another Letter All that be not Bloody and Antichistian must needs condole and lament the Misery and Inhumanity of this Time God make it short and send his Kingdom among us La Crocque was now in England Ambassador from France and notwithstanding this base bloody Action of France and the Jealousies that the Queen now justly conceived of that King yet she gave him a soft Answer to be returned to his Master being ready to go to his own Country Of which Ambassador's Negotiation and the Queen's Answer thus Secretary Smith spake His Negotiation was long in Words to make us believe better of that King than as yet we can and replied to on the English side liberally eenough Altho' to that Prince or Country who have so openly and injuriously done against Christ who is Truth Sincerity Faith Pity Mercy Love and Charity nothing can be too sharply and severely answered Yet Princes you know are acquainted with nothing but Doulceur so must be handled with Doulceur especially among and between Princes And therefore to temperate as you may perceive Not that they should think the Queen's Majesty and her Council such Fools as we know not what is to be done and yet that we should not appear so rude and barbarous as to provoke where no Profit is to any Man Upon the Preparations that were made in England against the feared Attempts of the French or other Roman Catholicks at this critical Time of the Murthers committed upon the Protestants in France the Secretary thus piously spake Truth it is that God disposeth all whatsoever a Man does purpose as Divines speak And it is his Gift if Wise Men do provide for Mischief to come And yet whatsoever they do devise the Event doth come of him only who is the God of Hope and Fear beyond Hope and Expectation This he spake in reference to the Scots who hearing of this Havock in France whereas the Lords there were in Civil Wars amongst themselves fomâ—nted by the French did now begin to come to Accord dreading these Doings and fearing some Danger near themselves For it was the Desire of the English to have Scotland in Peace and Union under the present Protestant King And now by a way not thought on they drew nearer and nearer to an Accord To which the Cruelty in France helped not a little and now continuing much more would Which he exprest in thâ—se Words The Scots our Neighbours he awakened by their Beacons in France And the Scots to shew their Resentment of these foul Doings there issued out a Proclamation to that purpose which the Secretary sent to Walsingham CHAP. XIV Secretary Smith at Windsor dispatching Business His Care of Flanders and Ireland Mass-mongers and Conjurers sent up to him out of the North. His Colony in Ireland IN the very beginning of November Secretary Smith was with the Queen at Windsor the Lord Treasurer Burghley and most of the Lords of the Council being gone to London to the Solemnization of some great Wedding at which the Secretary also should have been but he thought it not convenient to go to be present with the Queen whatsoever Chance might happen There were now in England Walwick an Agent from the Earls of East Freezeland who was very importune for an Answer to his Masters Requests and another Agent from the Town of Embden who came about Matters of Trade The Consideration of whose Business the Queen committed to Aldersay and some other Merchants of London who had objected against the Agents Proposals and were to give in their Reasons Smith who was ever for Dispatch of Business desired the Lord Burghley to call upon these Merchants to hasten and to forward the Dismission of both those Agents Irish Businesses also lying before the Queen at this Time were taken care of by him Signifying to the said Lord Treasurer how the Lord Deputy of Ireland wanted Comfort and Direction in Answer to his Letters And he desired the Treasurer to send him the Draught of the Answer from the Lords to the said Deputy which he would cause to be written fair and made ready to be Signed against his and the rest of the Lords Return to Windsor He further wrote to the Treasurer that he should have the Privy Seal sent him for 5200 l. for Corn and Money for the use of the Deputy He mentioned two Letters withal to be sent by the same Dispatch into Ireland for three Bishopricks void there to which the Lord Deputy had recommended certain Persons as able and fit Men for those Places And taking care of his Friend Walsingham Ambassador in France he obtained leave from the Queen for his Return home And when among several named to her Majesty to succeed him she had her thoughts upon Mr. Francis Carce as liking him most he enformed the Treasurer of it and prayed him to send for the said Carce and commune with him to put himself in a readiness Whereby as he said he should do Mr. Walsingham a great Pleasure These were some of the State Matters Smith's Hands were full of in the Month of November Sir Thomas Smith was nettled to see the proud Spaniard Domineering in Flanders and Holland and exercising their Cruelties there and
see him burie in his Astronomy Nay if we may believe his Poet and that he did not take too much Poetical Liberty Smith was arrived to the very Top of the Astronomical Skill and might be a companion for Ptolomy Alphonsus and Zacutus if they were alive Nec Polus aut Tillus mâ—gâ—â— ulli cognâ—ta cuiquam Quorsum â—go dâ—ssâ—mulâ—m Fuit unus unicus ille Fâ—lâ—us Uraniâ— Ptolomâ— major utroque Et centum Alphonsis plusquam mille Zacutis And perhaps the Love and Study of the Stars might be one Reason that he delighted so much in his high Seat at Mounthaut where he might have a more spacious Prospect of the Skies In State-Policy he was a great Master Which by long Experience in State matters at home in the Reigns of four Princes and Embassies abroad he had acquired Walsingham that most compleat and happy Secretary of State improved himself much by making his Observations of Smith how quick and sharp his Apprehension of things how grave and sound his Counsels and with what Dexterity and admirable Parts he managed publick Affairs and yet with clean and just hands So he sung that made his Funeral Verses Sâ—cius tâ—nâ—orum insignis Honorum Qui vigilanti oculo SMITHI observasset Acumen Sensissâ—tque acres sensus animumque virilem Consiliumque grave pectus moresque colendos Virtutes etiam raras Dotesque stupendas He was also an excellent Linguist and a Master in the knowledge of the Latin Greek French Italian and English Tongues A great Historian especially in the Roman History An Orator equal to the best and a perfect Ciceronian A Notable Specimen of whose Oratory and History as well as of his Polities appears in his Discursive Orations about Queen Elizabeth's Marriage He had also a very good Genius in Architecture which that Noble Pile of Building at Hilhal doth sufficiently demonstrate And in the Art of Gardening he was very curious and exact Employing his own Hands sometimes for his diversion in grafting and planting At which work I find him when he was making an Orchard for his new House about the latter end of 1572. having made an Escape from the Court tho' the Winds then were very unkind to him Of which complaining to the Lord Treasurer he said he should soon be weary of Mounthaut because he could not graft nor transplant any Trees the Winds that then brought over the Earl of Worcester from France who had been lately sent to Christen that Kings Child being as he said the worst Enemy to all Cutting Paring or breaking of Trees here in England that could be or for setting of Herbs And as he was an universal and thorow-paced Scholar so he had a most compleat Library and kept a Learned Correspondence and was of a very accurate Judgment in matters of Learning His Library consisted of a thousand Books of various Learning and Arts as we are told by the Learned man his Friend that made his Parentalia Which noble Treasure he bestowed upon his own College where at least the Remainders of them are to this day besides some Italian and French Books which he gave to the Queens Library Libros Monumentaque mille Graeca Latina omnis generis nova prisca profana Religiosa dedit Italicos praeter quosdam Francosque libellos Elizabeteae pius Heros Bibliothecae A Catalogue of the Books which he had at Hilhal in the Year 1566. may be seen in the Appendix And as he was Owner of many Books so he composed not a few himself Three whereof are Printed I. His Commonwealth of England both in Latin and English II. Of the right and correct Writing of the English Tongue This I suppose is the same Book with that which Fuller in his History of Cambridge mentions Of his more compendious way of Printing which would defalcate a fifth part of the Cost in Paper and Ink besides as much of the Pains in Composing and Printing only by discharging many superflous Letters and accommodating the Sounds of long and short Vowels with distinct Characters III. Of the right and correct Pronouncing of the Greek Language Both these last mentioned were published by himself in Latin when he was Ambassador in Paris There is a Fourth Book lately Printed viz. 1685. which some make him the Author of namely Of the Authority Form and Manner of holding Parliaments Other Tracts there be of his that have lain hitherto unpublished As his Orations about the Queens Marriage His discourse of Money and his Tables for the reducing the Roman Coins to the just English Standard I have also seen another large Writing which by the hand seems to be his shewing certain ways and means for the taking care of and for the maintaining the Poor of the Nation And many more whereof as yet neither the sight nor the particular Subjects have come unto me To which I add several excellent Letters of his when Ambassador in France to the Lord Burghley and being Secretary of State to Sr. Francis Walsingham Ambassador in the same Court which are Printed in the Compleat Ambassador And a Bundle of other Letters writ to the Court when he was Ambassador with the French King Ann. 1562. the Earl of Warwick going then in the famous Expedition to New-haven which are yet reserved in the Kings Paper House He was a great Judge of Learning and Applications were often made to him for his Judgment in Matters of that Nature So Dr. Haddon appealed once to him in a sharp Controversie between the French Ambassador and himself Whether Tully were a good Lawyer Which that Ambassador had denied And how learnedly this was decided by Sir Thomas Smith may be seen in this History And both Cecil and the said Haddon would not allow the Answer to Osorius to come abroad till it had past his accurate Perusal and Correction His Acquaintance was with the Learned men of his Age. As Ramus and other Professors in Paris while he was there and with Cheke Cecil Haddon Wilson Ascham men of the finest Wits and purest Learning Of this last in a Letter to Haddon from France he enquired diligently after and complained that for two years and Six Months he had heard nothing from him and then added merrily That his Cocks for he was a great Cock Master ita illum excantâ—sse i.e. had so enchanted him that he had quite forgotten his Friends And I find the Correspondence between him and Ascham continued after for in 1â—68 Ascham requested of Smith to borrow a Book of his own Writing To which Smith answered by a Letter that he had sent it to Walden to be Transcribed least the first Copy and the whole Invention should perish together And Haddon being lately dead Smith in the same Letter told Ascham that his Epistles were found but not all and that his own Epistles to Haddon were more uncertain For they reckoned it pity any thing of that most Humane and Learned
Friend of theirs should be lost And so there was a purpose to collect together his Epistles and to publish them And so they were afterwards by Hatcher of Cambridge This Ascham about the Year 1568. sent an Astronomical Figure to Smith drawn by some ingenious Astronomer of the said Ascham's Acquaintance Upon which he sent a Latin Letter from Mounthaut thanking Ascham for it and declaring how much he was pleased with it and that he would willingly be acquainted with the Person that described it He acknowledged he professed himself this Study And this Person seemed to him to write Ingeniously and Learnedly and not according to the vulgar manner of unlearned men who abused themselves and the opinion of their Learning for Gain Whose Friendship he declared he desired not and whose Familiarity he was averse to And the Diagram and Figure that Ascham sent he dispatched back to him with his own Judgment of the same as it was put or placed Sir Thomas Erected a Figure concerning the same Hour and Day according to the Ephemeris of Ioh. Stadius Of which he said the Diagram seemed a little a differ but the Judgment not so much Thus we see his Correspondence and withal his Disposition to that kind of Study of Judicial Astrology And in fine of the great Opinion that went of Sir Thomas Smith's Learning I shall mention this Passage When Dr. Wilson one of his Learned Friends Master of S. Katharine's and afterwards Secretary of State had for News wrote to Haddon then Ambassador at Bruges of the Queens going to Visit the University of Oxford Anno 1565. and of the Report of the great Learning in that Place and what learned Exercises were then expected to be performed there before her Majesty Haddon answered not to disparage that Noble University or the complete Scholars that were there but to take the Opportunity of commending one or two other Egregious men viz. That however magnificently it was talked of the learned men there Nec Smith ibi simile quicquam aut Checi occurret i.e. there would be nothing like to Smith or Cheke And as he was Learned himself so he was Beneficial to Learning which appeared in that most useful Act of Parliament which he procured for the Colleges of Students Which was that a third Part of the Rent upon Leases made by Colleges should be reserved in Corn the Tenant to pay it either in Kind or Money after the rate of the best Prizes in Oxford or Cambridge Markets the next Market days before Michaelmas or our Lady day The great Benefit whereof Scholars do find to this day and will so long as the Universities lâ—st To his own College of Queens he gave for ever 12 7 4. Being a Rent Charge out of the Manor of Overston in Northamptonshire Which he appointed to be thus disposed of according as the Reverend Doctor Iames the present worthy Master of the same College was pleased to impart to me that is to say Four pounds for a Lecture in Arithmetick Three pounds for a Lecture in Geometry Four pounds seven shillings and four pence for two Scholarships appointing his own Relations or the Scholars from Walden School â—â—teris parâ—bus to be made his Scholars before any others And the Twenty shillings remaining for a Yearly Commemoration And of Eâ—ton College where he was once Provost Cambdâ—n tells us he merited well but in what particular respects I cannot tell except in making his College Lâ—ases always with a Reserve of Rent-Corn divers Years before it became an Act for the Benefit of other Colleges And I find the Provost and College of S. Mary of Eaton purchased of King Edward VI. in the first of his Reign for the summ of 25 â— 3. and in performance of King Henry's last Will and in consideration of the Exchange of the Manor of Melbourn Beck Lutton and Ponyngton in the County of Dorsâ—t and diver other Lands and Tenements the Rectory of Great Compton in Warwickshire lately parcel of the Possession of Thâ— Cromwel Knight Earl of Essex Attainted of High Treason the Rectory of Bloxham in the County of Oxon lately parcel of the late Monastery of Godstow in the said County and divers other Lands and Tenements in the Counties of Oxford Bedford Lincoln Warwick to the value of 82 11 0. The Patent bare date the 30. Aug. 1547. In which whether Sir Tho. Smith was any ways serviceable to the College I know not but suppose he might be And this Learning of his raised him to Honour and Wealth Under King Edward VI. he was made Provost of Eaton where whether he were present or absent there was always a good House kept Dean of Carlile and Master of Requests in the Duke of Somerset's Family after Cicil had left that Place wherein he was most unjustly scandaliz'd by his enemies to have been a Bribe-taker For which he was fain to vindicate himself He became also Steward of the Stannaries Soon after his Abilities were so well known that he was advanced to be one of the Principal Secretaries of State and employed in great Commissions and matters of Trust. Under Queen Elizabeth he was divers times Ambassador in France and at last a Privy Councillor Chancellor of the Garter and Secretary of State His Wealth consisted in his Land and Houses He had the Manor of Yarlington in Somersetshire worth 30 l. per annum that he bought with the Money he had gotten at Cambridge before he came into the Lord Protectors Service And he purchased it at 300 l. or thereabouts of the Marquess of Northampton to whom it was given at the Coronation of Queen Katharine his Sister He purchased also the College of Dâ—rby whether a Religioâ—s House or a Fraternity I do not well know I find he had also these Houses to some of which were annexed Manors and large Demeans One was in Chanon Row in Westmâ—nster which he once let out to the Comptroller of King Edward's Household for 30 s. per annum but afterwards Lived in it himself when Secretary being a very fair House and there the Divines in the beginning of Q Elizabeth's Reign together with himself conferred about reforming of Religion He had another House in Philpot-lane in London which 〈◊〉 a large and fair Dwelling The Title whereof being dubious he had like to have lost his Money and Purchase too But he procured his Master and Friend the Duke of â—â—mâ—rset to obtain from the King the Confirmation of his Title The free dwelling in this House he gave to his younger Brother George a Merchant to whom he was very kind lending him also 300 l. for the carrying on of his Trade without Interest or Consideration Sir Thomas had another House in â—leet-Lane with several other Tenements which he held of the Clothworkers Company of London And here he would sometimes be as a Recesse from Court. In the Country he had Ankerwick his Country Retirement in King Edward's Reign
Eliz. Smith employed in the Reformation And in one of the Committees for the State An. 1559 And in Swearing the Officers of Walden Sir Thomas This Service in the Commission of the Peace Subscription of the Iustices Ann. 1560. Smith's Dialogue concerning the Queen's Marriage 〈◊〉 III Aâ— 1562. Q. Eliz. 〈…〉 D. 〈◊〉 to France Stops at Calais and why Directions to him from the Council Smith 〈…〉 〈◊〉 with the Pope's Legate The Secretaries Aâ—viâ—e to the 〈…〉 The Queen's Orders to him Three Evils in France Smith's Behaviour in his Embassy Entertains a Subtil Spy His Complaint An. 1563. The Ambassadors Instructions concerning the Prince of Câ—nde The Ambassador sends News to the Council Ordered to speak only in Latin in his Negotiation Contention between Smith and Throgmorton Smith's Plainness pleaseth the Lord Robert Instruâ—â—â—ons â—â— Smith's â—â—inâ—ng with the Proâ—â—stanâ—â— Smith reateth for Peace Dr. Haddons Advice to Smith The Ambassador sâ—nds over Books to Cecil Smith o procure a Book to be Printed in France Osorius's Episâ—le to the Queen Answered by Haddon This Answer recommendâ—d to Smith o revise And Publâ—sh A Licence for which he labours to obtain from the Chancâ—â—lor Which he will not grant Smith presseâ—h it Argues with the Chancellor of France about it The Progress of this Controversy Difference between the two Ambassadors Some Character of Throgmorton Cecil's and Smith's Friendship An. 1564. Smith effects a Peace Solicits the Queen's Debt The Queen continues him Ambassador A Match for the Queen propounded to him An. 1565. Q. Eliz. Smith finisheth his Book of the Common-wealth His extraordinary Expenâ—es Smith 's Son with his Father He laâ—â—urâ— to come home He returns He is inquisitive how his Negotiation is accepted He follows the Court in France His Reflâ—ction upon his hearing of the Queen's going to Cambridge Hâ— composeth his Book of thâ— Common-wealth at Tholouse 〈…〉 〈…〉 He procures the printing of the Answer to Osorius His 〈…〉 Haddon 〈…〉 Plato e non siâ—it esse tuus nâ—â— meus me Cicero qui Patriae nos servire volunt illi read omnia unde universa pâ—ius accâ—pimus Smith's Opinion of Tullies Philosophy and Law His Reflection on the Troubles occasioned by Hales 's Book Ita homo sum vexari nolim quemquam quietus esse cuperem omnes mortales liberè Philosophari qui velint caeteros suam quemque rem agere Video periculosum esse in Rebus arcanis Principum Regnorum nimis velle sapere An. 1566. Smith now at home Tu patriam principem conjugem amicos otium praeclarissimam legationis laudem paeriter recuperavisti Mea singularis Infelicitas haec omnia mea â—itae solatia detraxit An. 1567. Sent again to demand Calais Cecil 's Letters to Sir Henry Norris Cabal p. 137. Takes his Son with him The manner of his demanding Calais Cam. Eliz. p. 98. c. An. 1568. Q. Eliz. Sues for the place of Chancellor of the Dutchy Ut inter glebas ille Ego inter mendicos consenescam An. 1570. Sir Thomas in the Country administring Iustice. Witches by him examined Malter 's Wife ' Anne Vicars ' Sir Thomas comitted into the Council An. 1571. Labours about transmuting Iron into Copper Hâ—s Progress thereâ—n Some Lords come into the Project The Projectâ—rs formed into a Society The Patent for it Signâ—d The Business finds Delays The Chymist a Bâ—ggar Smith examinâ—th the Duke of Norfolk's Secretary Goes Ambassador again to France To make a firm Amity against Spain An Article debated by Smith His Argument with the French Queen Smith perswades thâ— Queen She consents to the League He loved not many Words His Hardship in France Communication between the Queen-Mother and Smith concerning the Queen's Marriage Further Discourse on the same Argument His Thoughts of the Queen's Marrying His Concern for the Queen's Sickness And the Irresolutions of the Court. The Queen of Navarre sends to Sir Thomas The Queen gives him the Chancellorship of the Order Comes home Made Secretary Famed in the Court for his Learning Smith's Device for a View between Mounsieur and the Queen Hit Thoughts the Massâ—cre at Pâ—ris His Detestation of it His Reaâ—on of the manner of Anwering the Prench Ambassador His Observation of the Prejudice the French did themselve in Scotland The Secretary at Windsor 〈◊〉 Aâ—â—nts and Irish Matters His â—â—â—passion for Flanders Regem expertem otii laboris amantem cujus gens bellicosa jampridem assueta est caedibus tam exterioris quam vestri Sanguinis Quid faciemus Gens otiosa Pacis assueta quibus imperat Regina ipsa Pacis atque Quietis amantissima His Advice about the Earl of Desmond And the Quarrel between Clanrichard and Fitton Mass-mongers and Conjurers sent up to the Secretary His Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury hereupon Ex Offic. Armorum Perswades the Queen to send aid into Scotland Which upon his Motion she condescends to Two Scotch men by him examined Thomas sends a Colony into Ardes Sir Thomas's son leads the Colony His Rules and Orders for it Mr. Smiths care in the Colony Draws up Iâ—structins for his Son Families of English found in the Ardes Mr. Smiths good service this Winter Mr. Smith slain â— The Arde neglected upon Sir Thomas's Death How lost from the Family N. W. An. 1574. Q. Eliz. The Secretary uneasie At the Queens Delays The Queen deliberates about supplies for the Earl of Essex The Queens backwardness thereunto troubles the Secretary An. 1575. Conference between the Queon and her Secretary about Ulster And tho Earl of Essex His Advice vice to the Queen concerning him The Secretary with the Queen in Progress The Queen speaks to the Secretary about dangerous beggars He precures an Act for Schools of Learning Hist of Cambr. p. 144. The Act. An. 1576. Q. Eliz. that the next Year ended his Life Overprest with continual Watchings Sir Thomas 's fatal Dâ—stemper seizes him It affected 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 and Throat The Orator now scaâ—â—â— can speak To divert 〈◊〉 sickness he looks over his former Writings His book of Roman Câ—â—ns 〈…〉 The Physicians tamper with him Hi Physicâ—â—â—s leave 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Physick 〈◊〉 into th Country An. 1577. Q. Eliz. Dyes Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady diet His Person described Makes his Will For the finishing of his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queens College Or Peter House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will His Learning A Platonick A Physician Hâ—â— Recipe for the Plaguâ— His Câ—â—mâ—cal Water sâ—â—t to tâ—â— Câ—mâ—ss of Oxford â—â— Mâ—thiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmeticâ—an An Astronomer His judâ—â—ment of the Star â—n Cassiopâ—ia A Polâ—cian A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library N. VI. Books by him written Pa. 81. A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning Hâ—s Places His Wealth His House In Chanon Row In London Ankerwicâ— Mounthaut 〈…〉 〈◊〉 William Smith His Pâ—â— gâ—on His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit great His Apparel Not Opressive Of an Universal Charity His Apophthegms Lelaud's Copy of verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaphon him Ex Original Pat. penes D. Ed. Smith E. Mâ—S D. Richar. Gibbs Eque Aurat Et Rev. D. Johan Laughton a This Budaeus maketh the Roman Standard adding to it half an Oun. b This I take to be the Roman Stand. c The Standard 1568. Reg. Eliz. 9. a This is next to the Roman Supputation
listen more attentively And when Smith had often inculcated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as E and OI they who three Years before had heard him sound them frequently uncorrectly after the old way could not think it was a Lapse of his Tongue but suspected something else and laughed at the unusual Sounds He again as thoughâ— his Tongue had slipp'd would sometimes correct himself and say the Word over again after the old manner But when he did this daily and as appeared every day the corrected Sounds flowed from him more and more some of his Friends came to him and told him what they noted in his Lectures Smith now cared not to dissemble but owned that he had been thinking of something privately but that it was not yet enough digested and prepared for the Publick They on the other hand prayed him not to conceal it from them but to tell them without any grudging Whereupon he promised he would Upon this Rumor many came together and repaired to him whom he required only to hear his Reasons and to have Patience with him three or four Days at most until the Sounds by Use were made more trite to their Ears and the Prejudice of Novelty more worn off And so by little and little he explained to them the whole Reason of the Sounds Many went to Cheke and related to him Smith's Discourses and others resorted to others according as they esteemed them to be Men of Judgment in this matter These thought some one thing some another Cheke assented At this very time Smith read upon one of Homer's Odysses at home in the College There he began more plainly and openly to shew and determin the Difference of these Sounds Then many came that they might the more easily learn of him vivâ— vâ—ce to frame their Tongues and utter the true Sounds The same did Cheke in his College It is not to be express'd with what Greediness and Affection this was received among the Youth and how gladly they agreed to it The following Winter in St. Iohn's College was acted the Greek Play of Aristophanes called Plutus in this Pronunciation and one or two more of his Comedies when among those that professed Greek and were esteemed Learned Men it was observed there was not so much as one that signified any Dislike or shewed any Opposition Iohn Ponet a Learned and Ingenious young Man and Smith's Scholar afterwards Bishop of Winton seems to have succeeded his Tutor in this Place For he read Greek in the Schools in the Name of the University near this time and followed his Masters way of sounding Greek Words Next him came into this Place Ascham of St. Iohn's a Person of like Wit and Diligence who read Isocrates He in the beginning of his Lectures contended with Ponet about this way of pronouncing and refâ—sâ—â— to follow it But because of the Authority that Cheke and Smith had gained in the University he would not reprove it openly Yet was it not long after that he became a very eager Defender of this very thing and so remained Thus in a few Years had this correct way of reading Greek introduced by Smith prevailed all the University over And which was more remarkable it was consented to by Iohn Redman Publick Professor and Reader of Divinity of great Honour and Deference in the University for his Learning Integrity of Life and Gravity of Manners who when at any time in his Reading he allâ—dgâ—d a Text in Greek used to read it after the correct Pronunciation And thus by Smith's Pains and Endeavours never to be forgotten by Posterity was the Noble Greek â—ongâ—e restored to it self as it was spokâ—n in the Times when Greece flourished and brought forth Plato Dionysius Plutarchus Dâ—mosthenes Thucydides and others Out of whose Writings he had Cheke produced Authorities that they pronounced the Greek as he taught And by this revived Pronounciation was displayed the Flower and Plentifulness of that Language the Variety of Sounds the Grandure of Diphthongs the Majesty of long Letters and the Grace of distinct Speech And as the University laid that Honour upon him of making himself their Greek Reader so they gave him the Office of their Orator In his Greek Lectures among other good Authors as Aristotle and Homer he read Socrates and Euripides for Philosophy and Morality His Oratory and Learning intermixed was so admirable and beyond the common Strain that Queen's College carried away the Glory for Eloquence from all the Colleges in the University besides and was rendered so famous by this her Scholar that it had like to have changed her Name from Queen's to Smith's College Unius Eloquio sic jam Reginea tecta Florebant quasi quae vellent SMITHE A vocari Sic reliquos inter Socios Caput extulit unus As Gabriel Harvey Smith's Townsman and one that knew him well writes upon his Death Such was the Fame of his Lectures that not only his own private College but all the University Learned and less Learned Young and Old flocked to hear him So writes the same Author Pendebat ab ore Unius privata domus Schola publica docti Indocti Schola tota Virûm Schola tota Puellûm And the Learnedest and Gravest Men and his Seniors and the choicest Wits of the University would be present when he read and sit there as his Scholars As Redman Cox Cheke Cecil he that afterwards was Lord Treasurer Haddon Ascham Car Tonge Bill Wilson Goldwel Watson c. Men of great Name afterwards in Church and State Felix qui pâ—tuit Smitho auscultare loquenti Sive illi Graecè dicendum sive Latiné And happy he that might hear Smith speak whether it were in Greek or Latine Thus he continued divers Years in the University till he was succeeded in the Place of Orator by his Fellow and Friend Iohn Cheke and he by Roger Ascham another curiously Learned Man in the Year 1544. CHAP. III. He Travels His Conferences with Learned Men at Orleans and Paris Takes his Degree at Padua Returns Home His Usefulness at the University The Controversie there arisen about his way of pronouncing Greek SMITH having now arrived at some Maturity of Knowledge and Learning and in the Seven and Twentieth Year of his Age it being now the Year of our Lord 1539. went abroad to Travel for the further improvement of himself in polite Learning elegant Language Skill in the Modern Tongues and Experience of the Customs and Laws of other Countries A thing commonly practis'd by Scholars in these times to study sometime at Foreign Universities in France and Italy which used then to be replenished with very Learned Professors Being abroad he took notice of the different Ways of speaking Latin which although he did not like especially the French who sounded Latin very corruptly yet he conformed himself to their manner of Speech And when he came into Italy he followed them there in
Subsistence but was charged not to depart out of the Realm Which favourable handling no doubt was obtained for him by some great Friends ai this Court A sign of the great esteem they had of his worth Such was his good Fortune in those hard times when so many of his Friends and the fast Professors of Religion suffered most sharply Dr. Henry Cole afterwards Dean of St. Paul's succeeded him in the Provostship of Eton And Dr. Iohn Boxal in the place of Secretary of State As Sir Iohn Bourn succeeded Cecil the other Secretary And so he made a shift to pass through this dangerous Reign in safety following hls Studies and Contemplations in his native Country of Essex at his House of Hill-hall there And when many on all hands of him were most cruelly burnt alive for the Profession of that Religion which he held he escaped and was saved even in the midst of the Fire Which probably he might have an eye to in changing the Crest of his Coat of Arms which now was a salamander living in the midst of a Flame whereas before it was an Eagle holding a Writing Pen flaming in his Dexter Claw as may still be seen upon a Monument of his Ancestors in Walden Church and likewise in another Monument in the Church of Greensted in Essex set up to the Memory of his Sister who Married Wood of Brodlane in Kent But which is strange he acted his part so dextrously in these difficult Times that even his Enemy the Pope sheltered him under his Bull for many Transgressions of his own Laws For in the Year 1555. one William Smythwick of the Diocess of Bath Esq had obtained a very large Indulgence from Rome For which no question the said Gentleman was very liberal which caused that Court to shew her self so liberal again It was that he and any five of his Friends whom he should nominate excepting Regulars such as were Married and their Children of both Sexes should enjoy many extraordinary Indulgences upon his Petition to the Pope who then was Paul IV. Which Petition was graciously accorded to by that Pope and the Bull ran for Indulgence to Smythwick and his five Friends and their Children as was petitioned à Quibusvis Excommunicationis Supensionis Interdicti aliisque Ecclesiasticis Sententiis Censuris Paenis á jure vel ab homine quavis occasione vel Causis latis ac Votorum quorumcunque Ecclesiae Mandatorum Transgressionibus Perjuriorum Homicidii casualis vel mentalis Reatibus manuum violentarum in quasvis Personas Ecclesiasticas no tamen Praelatos de praeterito injectionibus Iejuniorum Horarum Canonicarum ac divinorum Officiorum Paenitentiarum injunctarum in toto vel in parte Omissionibus Nec non ab omnibus singulis eorum peccatis de quibus contriti fuerint Confessi etiamsi essent talia propter quae foret Sedes Apostolica consulenda That is From all Sentences of Excommunication Suspension and Interdict and other Censures Ecclesiastical upon whatever occassion or cause inflicted Transgressions of any Vows or Commands of the Church Guilt of Perjuries and of Homicide whether casual or mental Laying violent Hands upon an Ecclesiastical Persons excepting Prelates de praeterito Omissions in whole or in part of Fasts Canonical Hours Divine Offices Penances injoined Also from all and singular their Sins whereof they ar Contrite and Confessed altho' they were such for which the Apostolick See were to consulted Likewise many other Indulgences were by Vertue hereof granted as to have a Portatile Altar to receive the Sacrament privately that in Lent and in other Fasting times of the Year they might eat Eggs Butter Cheese and other Milk-meats and Flesh without scruple of Conscience Smythwick chose Sir Thomas Smith for one of his Five Friends specified in the Bull to be partaker of these Catholick Privileges And so it is express in an Instrument drawn out and attested by Thomas Willet publick Notary Which still remains in the possession of Sir Edward Smith of Hill-Hall Baronet Dict. Smythwick discretum praeclarum Virum Dominum Thom. Smith de Hill-Hall Lon. Diocaes Militem Dominam Phillippam Uxorem ejus eorumque Liberos nominavit Constituit Admisit acceptavit c. pro primis personis de quinque Personis ut praefertur per cum Nominand ad liber è licit èque utend gaudend omnibus singulis in ipsis literis sive Brevi apostolico concess indult c. This no question was a good Skreen for Sir Thomas in these Evil Days If any still should wonder how Sir Thomas escaped so well who had been so much employed in the former Reign in the proceedings of Religion and had so heartily set them forward and withal had assisted in a Commission wherein Boner Bishop of London was deposed a Man of such a wrathful Temper his safety was in a great measure owing to that Deference that that stern and cruel Bishop Gardiner now Lord Chancellor had to his exemptary Vertue and Learning He was struck with a king of Admiration of the Man pretending a great Love to him And would Swear that he among all the rest of the Hereticks deserved only to live and to be preferred for his deep Wisdom and Judgment and the Heroical Sentiments of his Mind This is elegantly described to us by the Poet that dedicated the Muses Tears to his Funerals Quique alios rabido laniavit dente sideles Subdolus Antistâ—â— Stephanus cognomine Vulpes Vnius ingenio Literis Gravitate virili Sic perculsus crat mentisque Heroica Sensa Sic venerabatur non solum ut parceret illi Sed magnum prae se Veterator ferret amorem Et solum Haereticos inter Vitaque Locoque Dignum aliquo propter summum juraret Acumen And I am apt to think that Smith gained the Point in Bishop Gardiner's Affection in the Year 154â— upon his first Address in that Year When being a Man of Eminency in Cambridge he waited upon him at HamptonCourt about the Difference as it seemed concerning the right pronouncing of the Greek When Tho. Smith had been the great Reformer of the old corrupt way of reading that Language and that Bishop of the Chancellor of the University utterly against introducing the new correct way Yet Smith carried himself with so much facility and obsequiousness to him in that regard that it took much with him And upon his Return back to Cambridge tho' he took the freedom to write a large Letter to the said Chancellor arguing against the Decree he had lately made to forbid the new way and to continue the old yet it was with extraordinary Complement to him of his high Worth Learning Prudence and Acuteness Beginning his Letter after this obliging manner Right Reverend and most Worthy Prelate GReat was the Pleasure I took in your Discourse with me when I was the other Day at Hampton-Court to wait upon you partly out of Duty and partly to consult with you
or Love-alien makes his Oration in Answer to Agamus for the Queen's Marriage Then the same Philoxenus enters into another Speech fortified with divers Arguments for the Queen 's Marrying with a Stranger Then spake Axenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Homefriend for the Queen 's Marrying an English-man In all these Discourses sir Thomas Smith layeth down what Reasons could be made use of in savour of the Argument insisted on adorned also with handsom Eloquence and furnished with proper Examples out of History ancient and modern In the last and chief Discourse of all Smith seems to intend himself the Speaker under the Name of Axenius I shall exemplifie these Orations for the Readers pleasure and satisfaction And the rather because they have many things relating to publick Affairs not long before happening in the Realm under the Reigns of King Henry King Edward and Queen Mary But if I should place them here it would too much interrupt the Course of the History therefore they are reserved for the Appendix where the Reader shall find them CHAP. VIII Sir Thomas's Embassies to France The Principle Queen Elizabeth went by at her first coming to the Crown was to displace as few as she might of the Old Ministers of State Whereby it came to pass that many of those that were her Sisters Servants remained so to her Therefore tho' she parted with Queen Mary's two Secretaries Bourn and Boxal strong Papists who came in the rooms of Cecil and Smith yet she kept Secretary Petre still and replaced Cecil And intending to retain only two Principal Secretaries for the future there was no room for our Smith But he was not to be laid aside His Abilities were too well known And therefore the Queen resolved to make use of him for a time in her Business with foreign Princes till the might prefer him in her own Court. Thus not to mention that he seemeth to be dispatched abroad into France in the Year 1559. together with 〈◊〉 Bishop of Ely the Lord Hâ—â—rard and Dr. Wolten when a Peace was concluded with that Crown and there resided in the Year 1502. he was thought a sâ—t Person to be employed in the Embassy to France Of whom Cambden in his History takes no notice tho' he doth of the Embassage He received his last Instructions in September and a Declaration written in French and Sir Tho. Gresham the Queen's Merchant gave him Credit The Matter of the Embassy was to urge the Restitution of Calais and to keep the Correspondence with the Protestant Prince of Conde that in case of a Breach with France he might be Assistant to the English against that Crown Sir Thomas made some stay at Calais waiting for the coming of Sir Nicolas Throgmortâ—â— the Queen's Ambassador then in France that they might repair to the French Court together But he mâ—de a Delay at Orleans upon some By â—nds to the Prejudice of the Queen's Affairs So â—ir Thomas at last set forward himself towards the Court where more good was to be done with his Presence than otherwise â—ut as for Thrâ—gmorton's Abode at Orleans done perhaps to discredit or impede the success of Smith's Embassy and so he seemed to take it as did others also Secretary Cecil wrote to Smith that he took it to be upon such reasonable Causes as he had alledged tho' other Folks were not so well perswaded And he wished him safe at home to answer his own Doings Where as that good Secretary wrote he should not lack his Friendship for divers Respects But this was the beginning of no good understanding between Thrâ—gmorton and Smith tho' both joint Ambassadors in France for the Queen The Queen's Council wrote their Letters to him in October wherein they shewed him what passed between the French-Ambassador and them and how a matter of Treason of the Poles practiced by the French and Spanish Ambassadors had been of late discovered Which altho' it were a Matter of no great Moment to be feared Yet thereby was made apparent how truly the Queen and her Council judged of the House of Gaise And that so he might as he saw Cause take advantage thereby to maintain the former Reasons published by her Majesty for justification of her Doings in sending Forces into France As the Secretary wrote to this Ambassador But to look a little back Smith's great Profession was when he came into France to be a Peace mover As soon as he had Audience of the King and Queen he wrote the Council a full Account therof to their great satisfaction And the Secretary wrote to him that they all allowed of his Zeal to procure Peace and of his Diligence in so ample a manner as by his Writing had appeared The Cardinal of Fâ—rrâ—â—ra the Pope's Legate being then at Court Smith had much conference with him But for this he had not escaped a Reprimand from the Court had not some of his good Friends interceded Of this Cecil gave him notice in these Words in the Month of November But to write plainly and friendly unto you as I would you should if our places were changed the most here have misliked that you have treated with the Legate and seem willing that you should have been reprimanded therefore But therein I and others unto your good meaning have so tempered the Cause as thereof you shall hear no otherwise except it be by me and some others your private good Friends For that as he added there were among them in England divers very scrupulous of dealing with the Popes Ministers And therefore he advised the Ambassador to forbear the Cardinal in these Affairs and to use other Courtesy to him as he should see cause for the State of Ferrara as the Ambassador had well made the Distinction to himself The Secretary also now advised him to beware of one Monsieur de Serre saying that he was very Fine and Nimble in all his Practiques In our Ambassadors last Dispatch he wrote to the Queen and therein took the Liberty to give her certain good Counsel which Letter she took in good part and ordered the Secretary to thank him for it and willed him also to warn the Ambassador of the Cardinal of Ferrara and likewise to let all the Favourers of the Prince of Conde manifestly understand that without his Consent the Ambassador would not enter into any Treaty with France Smith in this Embassy had but ill Entertainment in France for he went over in a Year wherein he met with three Evils Plague intestine War and Famine Whereof the next Year the Plague came over into England The intestine War was pretty well ceased but the Famine that is the Dearth of Provision remained and encreased there more and more February 1. Sir Nicholas Throgmorton JointAmbassador with Smith came over into England to the Queen leaving Smith alone in France and nine days after he sent over his Man to the Court with Letters And so
him divers Books which where not to be had at home Thus once he conveyed over Onuphrius and Polydore and certain French Books of Genealogy and Chronology for the Secretary There had been a dangerous Book wrote in Latin and lately printed abroad against the present State of Religion in England An Answer to which in the same Language the Secretary had procured and wanted nothing but to have it printed abroad as the other was In a Letter wrote to the Ambassador dated November 28th he wished he had a sight of it and that he would give his allowance thereof by some Commendatory Epistle to be added and if he could by some good means procure it to be well printed in France without peril of the Book he would send him the Copy Or if he could get it Printed at Strasburgh or Basil by some means from thence he would also send it him but if he could not he would send by some of his Men to Christopher Mount the Queen's Agent in Strasburgh for him to take care for the Publishing of it But to relate a few particulars of this Book which made no small stir in these Days Hieronymus Osorius a Portugal then a private Man afterwards Bishop of Arcoburge or Sylvane wrote an Epistle to Queen Elizabeth in an elegant Latin Stile being nothing in effect but an Admonition to Her to wheel about to Popery In this Epistle he imagined many monstrous Errors to be nurselled in our Church and with much reproachful Language depraved the Professors of the Gospel This Libel was soon after printed in France both in Latin and French as it was also printed in English at Antwerp Ann. 1565. Translated by one Richard Shacklock M. A. and Student of the Civil Law in Lovain and Intituled A Pearl for a Prince This the State thought necessary to have an Answer to because it reflected much upon the Justice and Wisdom of the Nation Dr. Walter Haddon one of the finest Learning and of the most Ciceronian stile in England was imployed to answer this Foreigners Book which he finished in this Year 1563. Beginning Legi Hieronyme tuam Epistolam c. It is extant in the said Haddon's Lucubrations Published by Hatcher of Cambridge In the Beginning Haddon shewed the Cause of his answering of Osorius and of his publishing the same namely that Osorius had indeed writ his Epistle separately to the Queen yet it seemed to be intended for all because it was published in Print and was open to the Eyes of all Men. He added that this Author had taken much upon him that he being a private Man and at a great distance both by Sea and Land unacquaintâ—d also with English Affairs should so considently take upon him to speak to the Queens Majesty that he diminished the Dignity of the Laws of England and that in general he madâ— the Nation guilty of a wicked and malicious kind of Novelty Haddon in his Answer studied Brevity and they were only some particular Points whereunto he thought good to Answer although not to the full neither Because he supposed as he wrote in his Apology that Osorius might be deluded by some malicious Reports of our Adversaries Haddon's Book being thus prepared the care was to get it published And because Osorius was printed in France both in Latin and French Cecil thought it convenient that Haddon's said Answer should be printed in the same Place and in both the same Languages Hereupon the said Cecil in Ianuary sent the Treatise to our Ambassador desiring him to procure the Printing of it and that with all Expedition And that he would add to it something by his own hand where and as he thought good and that he would procure it to speak French and to be published in that Language also And accordingly this Epistle Responsory of Dr. Haddon was so well considered over and weighed by Smith and had his Castigations that it might be reckoned to be Smith's Work as well as Haddon's For Haddon also had entreated him to ponder diligently his Answer that nothing might be in it but what was sit to be seen and read for the Vindication of the Queen and Realm Smith also spake to Robert Stephens the French King's Printer that he would take it in hand He desiring the Copy to see whether there were any thing in it which touched the State of that Kingdom as also to consider the Bulk of the Book and on Condition he had leave of the Queen undertook to do it But it received some stop by this means which probably enough might have been a thing plotted by Osorius's Friends or Queen Elizabeth's and the Nations Enemies One de Valla came to the English Ambassador and desired he might have the sight of this Epistle of Haddon's and whether he had the Ambassador's leave or no went to Stephens as from the Ambassador and took the Book from him to peruse it for a time But while it was in de Valla's Possession the Provost Marshal arrested the said de Valla upon pretence of some Crime and withal took this Book out of his hand and so it was brought to the Court and remained in the possession of the said Provost This created work for the Ambassador So he wrote to the Chancellor of France acquainting him with the whole matter relating to him how Osorius had in the Book traduced the Manners Lives and Religion of England not according to the truth of the thing as indeed it was but according to his Apprehension and as ignorant Men had out of Envy represented matters to him And that if he had kept his Book within its own Bounds and in the Shadow of his own Closet no matter would have been made of it But when he had made that publick Vaunt of his performance by setting it forth in Print and making a Boast of himself to the World in this new and unusual Argument what did he do but display to all not only how ignorant he was of the Institution Manners and Customs which we said he use at present in England but how little he knew of those Controversies and Questions which now exercised the whole Christian World and to the understanding whereof the minds of all were so intent Thus the Ambassador discoursed in his Letter Two things therefore in Conclusion he requested of the Chancellor one was that after he had read this Epistle of Dr. Haddon he would procure that the Copy might be restored to Stephens to Print it Cum Privilegio or if that were not allowed yet that he might not be hindred from printing it in Latin and French Or if yet that would not be granted at least to restore the Copy that it might be printed elsewhere This was written by Smith March 6th from Melum a place about twenty Miles from Paris To which the Chancellor gave this Answer That the French Queen was much offended with those Folks that presumed to print Osorius his Book in
Grave men and full of Experience and at home the Execution is to be done by young men Captains and Soldiers abroad And said he my Lord of Essex hath shewed great Wisdom Courage and Boldness hitherto and brought it to a very good Pass for a beginning And now having more Experience and Malby and other Captains with him of Courage it was to be hoped that he should bring it to a good End Yea said the Queen but who hath he with him but Malby Shall I trust so great a Matter to him and such a Mass of Money Who shall have the Charge of it and the laying out of it Madam answered the Secretary the Money is to be committed to the Treasurer there and upon his Accounts to be employed upon the Captains and Soldiers for their Wages and Victuals and upon Fortifications If he do keep his Plat then he followeth that which the Wisest Heads of the Counsellours in England think fit and best to be done Otherwise he deceiveth them and your Highness and most of all himself Which it is not likely that he should and I trust he will not do But the Queen still harped upon that string that there was lacking able Ministers and shewed her self notwithstanding at this Discourse desirous to consult with the Treasurer But tho' the Commission and Order for the Earl of Essex was by her signed at last still she was doubtful of the success of her Irish affairs thus committed to that Nobleman some about her Enemies to him lessening his Worth to the Queen Whereupon the Secretary entreated the Treasurer whose Opinion she greatly valued in Matters of State that he would perswade her to think no more of it till Michaelmas that is till half a year were past And by that Time he trusted she should see such good success that she should be glad and sorry only that it was not set upon before Thus earnestly did Sir Thomas solicite his Royal Mistress for the Good of Ireland and labour'd to release and satisfie her Mind anxious about her successes and loth to part with her Money without fair Probability of succeeding And perhaps he was the more earnest herein the safety and good Estate of his Lands in the Ardes depending upon this Expedition of that Noble Lord. The Secretary was this Year with the Queen in her Progress And in the Month of August he was with her at Charteley Whence she went to Stafford Castle and thence to one Mr. Giffords the Secretary attending her This being some part of her Progress It was now lately grown a common Practice to ride with Daggs or Pistols Whereby it came to pass that Thieves wearing weapons did more boldly rob true men travailing upon their Occasions And there were now also common Routs of roguing Beggars by the high way side naming themselves Soldiers of Ireland lately disbanded Of both these the Queen Decemb. 4. willed the Lords to write unto the Lord Treasurer for the Redress of them And she shewed the Secretary that some of them had said they were in Company 1500. which were fain now to go a begging The Secretary by a private Letter let the Lord Treasurer understand this and added that it was honourable and almost necessary that some good Order were taken for these two Disorders And for the Remedy hereof Sir Thomas drew out a Proclamation shewing how great and heinous Robberies and Murders had been committed both in the Highways and other Places in divers Parts of the Realm by such as did carry about with them Daggs or Pistols contrary to the good and wholesome Statutes of the Realm That the Queen therefore of a great Zeal and Care that she had to the Safety and Preservation of her Subjects and to the good Government of the Realm in all Peace and Surety calling to mind how unseemly a thing it was in so quiet and peaceable a Realm to have men go armed with such offensive Weapons as tho' it were in Time of Hostility and how prohibited by her Noble Progenitors did charge and command all her Subjects of what Estate or Degree soever they were that in no wise in their journeying going or riding they carried about them privily or openly any Dag or Pistol or any other Harquebuse Gun or such Weapon for Fire under the Lengths exprest by the Statute made by the Queens most Noble Father upon pain of Imprisonment or other Punishment And the Justices Mayors Bailiffs and Constables were to arrest such as should come to any Town with such Weapons And all Keepers of Inns Taverns c. should have care and regard that no man should bring into their Houses any such prohibited Weapons and if they did to seize upon the same and to bring the Persons to the Constable to be arrested But because for the multitude of those evil disposed Persons which carried about them such Weapons for mischievous and unlawful Intents some of her good Subjects had been compelled for their own Defence and to avoid the danger of such Thieves to provide them Daggs and Pistols and carry them openly she was contented for a certain time specified that all Noble men and such known Gentlemen which were without Spot or Doubt of evil Behaviour if they carried Daggs or Pistolets about them in their Journeys openly at their Saddle Bows and in no other close manner And such of their Servants as rid in their Company Sir Thomas Smith in a Parliament this Eighteenth year of the Queen procured an Act to pass for the Universities and the two Colleges of Eaton and Winchester for which his Memory will be always dear to Scholars which was that a third part of the Rent upon Leases made by Colleges should be reserved in Corn paying after the Rate of Six Shillings and Eight pence the Quarter or under for good Wheat and Five Shillings a Quarter or under for good Malt. This Corn the Tenants were yearly to deliver to the Colleges either in Kind or in Money as the Colleges pleased after the Rate of the best Wheat and Malt in the Markets of Cambridge and Oxford at the day prefixed for the Payment thereof Fuller in his History of Cambridge maketh this Remark here That Sir Thomas Smith was said by some to have surprised the House herein Where many could not conceive how this would be at all profitable to the Colleges but still the same on the Point whether they had it in Money or Wares But the Knight took the Advantage of the present cheapness knowing hereafter Grain would grow dearer Mankind daily multiplying and Licence being lately given for Transportation So that at this day much Emolument redouudeth to the Colleges in each University by the passing of this Act and tho' their Rents stand still their Revenues do encrease The Act ran For the bearer Maintenance of Learning and the better Relief of Scholars That no Master Provost President Warden Dean Governor Rector or chief Ruler of any
that which was gotten by her Ancestors and had been kept by the English so long But because we shall better and more near at hand see the Advantage of heaping Realms together King Edward III. and the Black Prince goâ— almost all France His next Successor therefore must needs have his Power marvellously encreased So may it appear For tho' he were confessâ—d the riâ—ht Heir yet a Nobleman of this Realm of England bereaved him of both France and England King Henry V. again drove the Dâ—uphin to a very streight Room in France Wherefore by your Reason his Power must be marvellously augmented which he did leave to his Son Did not a Duke of his Realm dispossess him of his Crown for all the help that Queen Margaret his Wife and Daughter to Reigner Duke of Anjou and King of Sicily Naples and of Ierusalem could bring from her Father and all those four Realms to the Aid of her Husband or the Prince her Son So that for that Matter the Italian Proverb seemeth true â—hi troppe abbraccia poco stringe He that embraceth too much holdeth fast but a little Now for Encrease of Riches let us go as near Many would judge that the getting and keeping of Bulloâ—gn and Bullâ—â—gnâ—is in France now in the Time of King Henry VIII and the obtaining and holding of â—addingtâ—n and the Pâ—ethes and a great Part of the Lowdian in Scotland should have brought in great Riches to this Realm It was that almost bâ—ggered England For thereby our fine Gold was conveyed away our good Silver appâ—arâ—d not our Mâ—ssy and old Plate was mâ—â—lâ—d And every man seeth that not only our good â—â—n was wonderfully consumed but that which was leâ—t pitiously altered and mâ—dâ— worse The Gold much debased and at the lâ—â—t for Sterling Silver we had two 〈◊〉 oâ— Copper and scarce the Third part 〈◊〉 metal remaining in the Coin Which now without any such Revenues either out oâ— France or Scotland thanks be to God and the Queens Highness beginneth well to amend again Whether think you King Henrâ— IV. which had but England left his Kingdom richer to his Son King Henry V. than he with all his Conquests to his Son King Henry VI. who hâ—d nothing in France but Câ—lais Did not King Henâ—y VII leave more Riches in his Coâ—â—râ— to King Henry VIII who Conquered both in France and Scotland than he lâ—ft to King Edward VI. And do yoâ— not perceive that Qâ—eâ—n Mary who wrote that she was Queen of so many Kingdoms Dutchess of so many Dukedoms Marchioness and Countess of so many Marchionâ—s and Earldoms c. did not â—ave lâ—ss â—ichâ—s in her Coâ—â—â—rs and â—â—alth in the â—â—alm at the Time of her Death than ever any of her Pâ—oâ—â—nitoâ—â— did My Mastâ—â—â— say wâ—at you will and call me as it plâ—ase you â—ithâ—r Enemy to Sâ—ranâ—â—râ— the Pattern or â—dâ—a of an old English mâ—n Fam. friend or what you â—iâ— I say and see that it is ENGLAND alone that shall make her Highness strong ENGLAND and no other her true Patrimony Riches Power and Strength whereto she must trust ENGLAND her Highness native Country alone being well tilled and Governed shall be better to her Majesty in the End than all those Empires Kingdoms Dukedoms and Marchionates and other Rabblements of gay Titles which are but Wind and Shadows and Makers of Cares and Costs Which are no Profit but rather Hindrance and Loss as at last will be proved and as you may perceive by these Discourses her Predecessors have proved Now Mr. Philoxenus or Lewelyn or Lovealien for I thank my Godfather neither you nor I can lack Names I have sufficiently as methinketh answered you to your Six Parts Causes or Occasions which you make of Marriage You see that for Succession that Prince shall be to the Realm most loving most tender and most natural which hath both his Parents mere English And such an one hath England most cause to Love who is mere Hâ—rs of whom no other Region may claim any part You see that for Plâ—asure Comfort and Ioy which in Matrimony the one should have of the other the English man for Likeness of Manners for naturalness of Education yea and because he is most tryed and best known is most likely to be more kind loving and natural than the Stranger who is both different in Tongue and Manners rather stumbled on by Fortune than chosen by certainty You see how it is to the Realm most Honourable and to her Grace most allowable not to despise and contemn or to reckon inferiour to any other Country men those which her own Region and Country bringeth up Ye see that Strength which Foreign Princes bring is rather a Weakning than a Strengthening rather to be suspected than trusted Ye see also that the Stranger ever is like to have and also more like to impoverish than to enrich the Realm And that the Realm it self by good Government both is able enough to enrich the Princes thereof and hath enriched them when they have been contented alone with it rather than when they have sought and gotten great Augmentations of other Countries Which things if you will weigh in a just Pair of Ballances without being affected so much as you are to Strangers I do not doubt but ye will condescend now at the last to my Opinion and Judgment and think as ever I have thought that for all Purposes it were better for the Queens Majesty if it could stand with her Pleasure to Marry an English man than any other Stranger whatsoever he be NAY said he whom they called Mr. Godfather stammering after his manner speak to me Man that am indifferent never speak to him For ye are not so far in with England and English men as he is with Strangers or to this our Host here Let him give judgment For he hath been attentive enough I am sure he hath born away all that hath been spoken Come on quoth he to me what â—say you to the Matter Mary quoth I it were a Presumption indeed to speak before my Prince without Commission I trust her Highness shortly will give sentence her self and not with Words but with Deeds shew who took the better Part to the great Contentation of us all But yonder hath one stood a good while to call us to Supper I have caused him to stay whilst all were ended Why is it Supper time so soon quoth one of them it may be so by the Day but methought the Time was very short So it appeared to me quoth I But Supper tarrieth for you Well we must obey our Host said they and so walked in fair and softly jesting one with another at their new Names NUM IV. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire Uncle and Heir of Edward Smith Esquire deâ—eased Son and Heir of Sir William Smith the Younger and Heir of Sir William Smith the Elder who was Nephew and Heir of Sir Thomas Smith Kt.