all the French Forces should immediately depart out of Scotland except sixty men only to bâ— left in Dunbar and as many in the Fo 〈…〉 of Nachkeeth that they should be transported for their greater Security in English Bottoms that all matters of Religio 〈…〉 should be referred to the following Parliament that an Act of Oblivion should be passed for the Indemnity of all who ha 〈…〉 borne Arms on either side that a general Bond of Love and Amitâ— should bâ— made betwixt the Lords and their 〈…〉 râ—nts of both Religions And 〈…〉 amongst many other Particulars That n 〈…〉 ther the Queen of Scots nor the French King should from thence forward 〈…〉 the Titles and Arms of England 〈…〉 Articles being signed for both Kin 〈…〉 the French 〈…〉 Scotland 〈…〉 English Army being returned home was thereupon disbanded Shortly after which the Earls of Morton and Glencarn were sent by the Congregation to pay their most 〈…〉 mble Thanks and Acknowledgments to â—er Majesty for her ready and successful Assistance and to implore the Continuation of her Favour and Protection in case they should be invaded by the French or any other Enemies Whereof having received gracious Assurances and being 〈…〉 obly entertained and bountifully rewarded with Gifts and Presents they returned with such Joy and Satisfaction to â—he Congregation that for these Reasons and for the further engaging her Protection they obliged themselves by their Subscription to embrace the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which for a time remained the only Form of Worship retained in the Kirke of Scotland After which they caused a Parliament to be called in Pursuance of the Articles of the Pacification from which no Person w 〈…〉 ed who had any Right of Suff 〈…〉 ose Authority three Acts pa 〈…〉 g wholly to the promoting and establishing of the Reformation The first was for the abolishing the Pope's Jurisdiction and Authority within that Realm the second For the annulling all Statutes made in former Times for maintenance of Idolatry and Superstition and the third for the Punishments of the Sayers and Hearers of Mass. And now let us return to England where the Earl of Arrain being recommended by the Protestants of Scotland for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth by that means to have united the two Crowns this Match was handsomly rejected by her and with great Commendation of the Person The like Address was made by the King of Denmark in Favour of Adolph Duke of Holstein a Prince who had gained great Honours by the Wars and who came himself over for that purpose but was dismissed by the Queen with the Honour of the Garter and a yearly Pension whereby she bound him for ever to her Interests At home Sir William Pickering the Earl of Arundel and Robert Dudley the Duke of Northumberland's younger S 〈…〉 statter'd themselves with the hopes 〈…〉 taining unto the Honour of being her Husband In the mean time the Lord Vicount Montacute the Queens Ambassador in Spain represents to that King the Necessity of the Scotish War endeavours to free the Scots from all Aspersions of Rebellion proving though a zealous Catholick that the Religion that was now introduced into England was wholly consonant to the Sacred Scriptures and the four first General Councils and demanded that the League of Burgundy might be renewed Whereto that King replyed That the confirming of the League was in no wise necessary bemoaneth the Change of Religion in England is troubled at the Expedition into Scotland sendeth back the Order of the Garter and taketh unkindly some Repulses in things of small Moment and though he gave some necessary Cautions as to Clauses to be inserted in the Treaty of Edenborough and for a while opposed the French Practiâ—â— at Rome who endeavoured to proâ—â—â—rt Queen Elizabeth to be excommunicated yet his Ministers incensing him 〈…〉 more and more against the Engl 〈…〉 Affronts were offered to the Queens Ambassador at his Court and he is likewise said to have then endeavoured to perswade the new elected Pope to thunder out his Bulls of Excommunication against her Majesty But the Court of Rome being sensible how little she valued those empty Crackers instead of complying with the Spaniard sent to her the Abbot Vincentio Papalia with secret Instructions and fawning Letters whereof you have here an Abstract To our most dear Daughter Elizabeth Queen of England OUR most dear Daughter in Christ greeting and Apostolical Benediction How greatly We do desire according as our Pastoral Office requireth to take care of your Salvation and to provide as well for your Honour as the Establishment of your Kingdom both God the Searcher of our Hearts knoweth and you your self may understand by the Instructions which we have given to this Our beloved Son Vincentio Papalia Abbot of St. Saviour a man known unto you and of Us well approved to be by him imparted unto You. We do therefore most Dear Daughter exhort and admonish your Highness again That rejecting bad Councellors â—â—â— love not you but themselves and serve their own Deâ—â—â—s You would take the Fear of God to counsel and acknowledging the time of your Visitation oâ—ey Our Fatherly Admonitions and wholsome Advices and promise to your self all things concerning Us which you shall desire of Us not onely for the Salvation of your Soul but also for the establishing and confirming of your Royal Dignity according to the Authority Place and Function committed to Us by God who if you return into the Bosoâ— of the Church as We wish and hope you will are ready to receive you with the same Love Honour and Rejoycing wherewith that Father in the Gospel received his Son who returned unto him although our Joy shall be so much the greater than his in that he rejoyced for the Salvation of one onely Son but You drawing with you all the people of England shall not only by your own Salvation but also by the Salvation of the whole Nation replenish Us and all our Brethren in General whom God willing you should hear shortly to be congregated in an Oecumenical and General Council for abolishing of Heresies and the whole Church with joy and gladness Yea you shall also glad Heaven it self and purchase â—y somemorable a Fact admirable Glory to your Name and much more renowned than that Crown you wear But of this matter the same Vincentio shall treat with you more at large and shall declare unto you our Fatherly affection whom we pray your Highness that you will graciously receive diligently hear and give the same Credit to his Speech which you would do to Our Self Given at Rome at Saint Peters c. The 1.5 day of May 1560. In our first year Notwithstanding all this Cajoslery Queen Elizabeth kept firm to her Motto viz. Always the same insomuch that the Pope was deceived in his hopes The proposals that the Pope is said to have designed to have made by this Abbot were That he would
to the Invasion of England and the Queens Destruction by the confession of her Secretaries and the rest of the Traytors and which were confirmed by Letters of her own hand writing And having little to say in her own Defence the Commissioners pronounced Sentence against her in the Star Chamber And in a few days after the Parliament being convened at Westminster the Lords petitioned the Queen that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots might be published But the Queen made Answer That she could wish that that Sentence might deterr the Queen of Scots from such like Contrivances for the future and that some Expedient might be found out for the saving her Life and yet secure England and it's Queen from further Attempts and Dangers of that kind But both Houses replyed That neither her Majesty nor themselves were safe as long as the Queen of Scots was living and pressed her so hard that the Sentence might be put in Execution that Commissioners were appointed to admonish her to prepare for Death which News she received without any change of Countenance or shew of Passion And having that Night made her Will she with great Courage and Devotion prepared her self to dye the next day and was then accordingly beheaded in the six and fortieth of her Age and seventeenth year of her Imprisonment in England But what most perswaded Queen Elizabeth to suffer the Sentence to be put in Execution was the French and Scottish Ambassadors finding their Sollicitations in the behalf of the Queen of Scots to be to no purpose the French Ambassador had hired and excited some persons to kill Queen Elizabeth but being discovered both by the Confession of the Parties and the French Ambassadour himself and several Rumours spread abroad that the Spanish Fleet was already arrived at Milford Haven that the Scots were broken into England that the Duke of Guise was landed in Sussex with a strong Army that the Queen of Scots was escaped out of Prison and levyed an armed Power that the Northern men had raised a Rebellion that there was a new Conspiracy to kill the Queen and set the City of London on Fire nay and that the Queen was dead Insomuch that some Change being apprehended the Queen was after much Importunity prevailed with to sign the Sentence of Death And the Scots report that one of the principal Perswaders was Patrick Grey who was sent from the King of Scots to perswade the Queen from putting his Mother to Death Queen Elizabeth was so grieved when she received the News of her Death that she commanded her Counsellors from her Presence caused Davison to be cited in the Star-Chamber and fined ten thousand pounds She likewise sent one to pacifie the King of Scots assuring that it was done against her Meaning and Privity giving him reasons why he should not break out into the revenge he threatned and signed an instrument attested with the Great Seal and with the hands of all the Judges of England that the Sentence against the Queen of Scots could in no wise prejudice his Right to the Succession In the mean time the Queen had supplyed the King of Navarr and the Protestants of France with a great sum of Money And for a Diversion to the Spaniard she sent Sir Francis Drake to the Court of Spain with four Men of War where he chased six Galleys in the Port of Cales took sunk and burnt above a hundred ships set upon their Forts and compelled them to yield took a vast rich Carrack called the St. Philip. Thomas Cavendish with three ships ravaged the West Indies at the same time took and pillaged nineteen great ships burnt and plundred a great number of the Spanish Towns and then returned home after having been the third after Magellan that had sayled round the World During these successes of the English the Officers of the Earl of Leicester had employed having proved Treacherous in several instances the States accused the Earl to the Queen who thereupon called him home and he resigned the Government to the States Maurice of Nassaw Son to the Prince of Orange succeeding in his room at the Age of Twenty Years and the Lord Willoughby was made General of the English Forces in the Low Countries with orders from the Queen to reduce the English Factions into obedience of the States which he accordingly performed with the help of Prince Maurice and was in the Year 1588 which by the German Chronologers was presaged to be the Climacterical Year of the World and indeed the Rumours of War and the extraordinary preparations that the Spaniards were making for an Invasion of England by their Invincible Armado seemed to justify their Predictions At this time there was a Treaty of Peace held near Ostend between the English and Spanish Commissioners but designed by the Spaniards only to lull the English asleep till their Navy was arrived upon the Coast of England This Invincible Armado consisted of one hundred and thirty ships whereof Galleasses and Galleons seventy two in which were nineteen Thousand two hundred and ninety Souldiers eight Thousand and fifty Mariners two Thousand and eighty Gally Slaves and two Thousand six hundred and thirty Pieces of great Canon Twelve of their main ships being christned with the Names of the Twelve Apostles Alphorozo Perâ—z de Gusman being made principal Commander thereof Besides extraordinary Preparations were making in Flanders and the Prince of Parma had orders to joyn them with fifty Thousand Men. In the mean time Queen Elizabeth was preparing with all diligence as good a Fleet as she could making the Lord Howard of Effingham Admiral thereof and Sir Francis Drake Vice Admiral The Lord Henry Seymour second Son to the Duke of Somerset was appointed to lie upon the Coasts of the Low Countries with forty English and Dutch ships for the hind'ring the Prince of Parma's coming forth with his Forces At home along the Coasts were disposed twenty Tousand Men and besides two Armies of the choicest and expertest Men were raised the one under the Command of the Earl of Leicester consisting of a Thousand Horse and two and twenty Thousand Foot which encamped at Tilbury the Enemy being resolved to make their first Attack upon London the other under the Conduct of the Lord Hunsdon consisting of thirty four Thousand Foot and two Thousand Horse for the Guard of the Queens Person A Council of War was likewise established of prudent and experienced Officers All Sea Ports were likewise fortified and provided with all things necessary trusty and prudent Persons put into all Offices of Trust the most suspected Papists committed to custody the King of Scots perswaded to declare in favour of the Queen which he accordingly did with great Alacrity And now at length after several false Rumours and Alarums the two Fleets meet and engage and after several days Fight the Spaniards were utterly defeated Insomuch that of one hundred thirty four ships that set Sayl out of Lisbon only fifty three
Religion to be established in the Kingdom by authority of Parliament and those Acts to be repealed that had been made against the See of Rome in the time of Henry the 8th and Edward the sixth yet there being no Issue to be expected from the Queen seeing she was fourty Years old Weak and Infirm they stood in fear of the Lady Elizabeth who had gained the hearts of all the Nation by her Loyal and Prudent Conduct being the Admiration of her Age both for her Beauty and the Qualities of her Mind and was so indefatigable in Study that before she had attained to the Age of Seventeen Years she had acquired to Perfection both Greek Latin and other ancient Languages and French Italian and other Modern Tongues and had likewise gained all other Accomplishments that are necessary to the composing a Perfect Princess Thus being looked upon as a Miracle of Learning and Prudence as well by Foreigners as the English the Papists were sensible how much it was their Interest to remove out of the way a Princess who seemed threatning the Fall of their Superstitions here in England they used all their Arts to dispose Queen Mary to take away her Life which the Queen refused to do notwithstanding they would have perswaded her that she was obliged to do every thing though never so unjust that was requisite and necessary for the promoting and settling the Catholick Religion And Sir Thomas Wyat Sir Peter Carew and others having stirred up some Commotions the Papists most maliciously set Rumours on Foot that the Lady Elizabeth did countenance and was privy to those Tumults and that she was to be marryed to the Earl of Devonshire Hereupon they caused her to be put into Prison and notwithstanding they would have forced several of the Tumultuaries by Torture to have declared her Accessory to their Rising yet the Rack was not able to make them wrong her Innocence and such as had seemingly accused her in hopes of Advantage cleared her at the time of their Execution But the Papists having got that Princess into Prison they were so far from putting an End to their Persecutions notwithstanding her Innocence that they used her with all the Barbarity imaginable Insomuch that the French and Danish Kings thought it convenient to comfort her by making her great Offers Promises of doing all that lay in their Power in her Behalf But this did but the more inflame the Rage of her Popish Enemies who were resolved to take away her Life either by accusing her of High Treason or of Heresie Hereupon they forced her to hear Divine Service after their Superstitious manner and to go likewise to Confession yet Cardinal Pool Bonner and others of the Bishops were not satisfied with this severe and cruel Treatment but declared that it was requisite she should dye for the Security of the Catholick Religion insomuch that this harsh Usage moved the Spamard himself to pitty and King Philip Queen Mary's Husband interceeded in her Favour and admiring her extraordinary Virtues would have marryed her to his Son Charles or as others say designed her for himself maugre the different Principles of Religion And for this Reason he broke off the Proposals that were made for the marrying her to Emanuel Philibert Duke of Savoy However he was not able to gain her for his Son finding that the People of England would never permit that the next Heir of the Crown should be sent out of the Kingdom In the mean time Queen Mary's Hatred daily increasing against her Sister Elizabeth this Lady's Ruine must have been certain had not it pleased God to divert the thoughts of it by the War that Queen Mary declared against France in favour of her Husband Philip. During this War and the Scots Excursions into England Calice and several other considerable Places being lost and the Queen finding her self neglected laid all these things so to heart and having lain languishing under a Tympany and six Months Fever which then raged over all the Land she departed this Life on the 17th of November 1558. having reigned five Years and four Months During her Reign there are said to have perished by the Flames five Bishops twenty one Divines eight Gentlemen eighty four Artificers one hundred Husbandmen Servants and Labourers twenty six Wives twenty Widows nine Virgins two Boyes and two Infants the one springing out of the Mothers Womb as she was at the Stake and most inhumanely flung into the Fire in the very Birth Besides several others that were whippe◠to death perished in Prisons and others that were condemned for their Faith and lay ready for Execution if they had not been delivered by the seasonable Death of Queen Mary and the auspicious Entrance of Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth the onely Child then living of King Henry the Eighth succeeded her Sister in the Throne on the 17th of November 1558. And a Parliament having been convened some time before Queen Mary's Death after her Dissolution had been for some hours concealed the News thereof was carried to the Lords then sitting in the House of Peers who after a short Debate amongst themselves sent a Message to the Speaker of the House of Commons desiring him and all the Members of that House to come immediately to them And they being come Heath Arch-bishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England signified unto them that the Lord had been pleased to take to his Mercy the late Queen Mary that by Right of Succession the Crown did belong to the Princess Elizabeth and that therefore they were desired to concurr in the proclaiming the new Queen with all possible Expedition which being unanimously agreed to by the House of Commons she was incontinently proclaimed Queen of England France and Ireland Defendress of the Faith in the Palace-yard o◠Westminster in the presence of the Lords and Commons and presently after in Cheap-side in the presence of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Principal Citizens with great Acclamations and extraordinary joy of the People It was not long before some of the Lords brought her the News of her Sisters Death with the General acknowledgment of her just Title to the Crown Whereupon she prepared to remove from Hatfield where she had been under Consinement and set forward with a splen◠did and Royal Train for London being met all along upon the way by the Nobles Bishops and crowds of others to a◠whom she made so affable a Reception as confirmed the general Opinion of h◠benign Disposition The first-Publick Testimony she gave of her Discretion after her coming 〈…〉 the Crown being then twenty five 〈…〉 old was the Choice she made of a Council picking out such of Queen Mary's Council as were well known to be able men and such as were firm Pursuers of the True Interests of the Nation adding such others as might moderate and temper them for the Protestant Religion She likewise caused new Commissions and Instructions to be sent to the several Ambassadors as resided
in the Courts of the various Princes and States but more particularly her Minister at the Court of Spain was ordered to represent unto that King how sensible she was of the Humanities she had received from him in the time of her Persecution and Troubles Instructions were likewise dispatched to Sir Edw. Harne the English Agent at the Court of Rome to acquaint the Pope with Queen Mary's Death and her succeeding upon the Throne with a desire that they might mutually receive all good Offices from one another But the Pope's Answer was in the usual rigorous Stile of that Court That the Kingdom of England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she could not succed being illegitimate that he could not contradict the Declaration of Clement the Seventh and Paul the Third that it was a great Boldness to assume the Name and Government of it without him yet being desirous to shew a fatherly Affection if she will renounce her Pretensions and refer her self wholly to his free Dispositions he will do whatsoever may be done with the Honour of the Apostolick See But the Queen having made him this Complement did not think of having any Answer nor was she much concerned when she had In the mean time King Philip having had notice of Queen Mary his Wife's Death he caused his Ambassador the Count of Feria to propose a Match between Queen Elizabeth and himself promising to procure a Dispensation from the Court of Rome These offers put the Queen into great perplexity as thinking it but an ill return to reject a Prince who had done her such Kindnesses during her Troubles And the French King was no less concerned fearing lest this Kingdom being again united to the Spaniard his Dominions must at length have buckled under so great a Power Wherefore he used all his Endeavours to put a Stop to the Dispensation at the Court of Rome and to all the other Places that might be made towards this Match elsewhere But he might have spared himself these Troubles for Queen Elizabeth never designed to enter into any such Marriage well knowing she would thereby have acknowledged her self to have been born in unlawful Wedlock and likewise considering that the Marriage of a Woman with her deceased Sister's Husband is prohibited by Sacred Authority as well as the Marriage of a man with his Brother's Widow and therefore unlawful notwithstanding the Pope's Dispensation wherefore she putteth off King Philip by degrees and with all the Civility and Circumstance imaginable Now many who were imprisoned upon the Account of Religion were set at Liberty at which time a merry Gentleman of the Court petitioned her in Favour of the Evangelists who had been so long imprisoned in a Latin Translation that they might be set at Liberty and walk abroad as formerly in the English Tongue To whom she immediately replyed in this manner That he should first endeavour to know the Minds of the Prisoners who possibly desired no such Liberty as was demanded Now the Queen being extreamly desirous of promoting the Protestant Religion she consulted with her most trusty Counsellors how that Religion might be established and the Popish abolished causing all Dangers to be well poised that might arise on this occasion and the Means and Expedients that might be used for the preventing and avoiding them Hereupon she put into the Principal Courts of Judicature and Offices of Trust such Persons as were well known to be of the Protestant Religion or inclined to it and did the same in the Commission of the Peace in every County The Dangers that might be expected from abroad were either from the Bishop of Rome by his Excommunication and exposing the Kingdom to any Invasion or from the French King who in such a Juncture might have broke off the Treaty of Peace at Cambray and make War upon the English in Favour of the Queen of Scots not only as Enemies but likewise as they are pleased to call the Protestants as Hereticks and might have procured Scotland to have done the same being at that time at his Devotion or from the Irish a People extreamly bigotted to Popery and always very ready to break out into a Rebellion Now as for the Thunder-bolts of Rome they were looked upon as things not at all to be dreaded but was resolved that in case the French made any offers of a Peace they were to be accepted if they did not then offers were to be made to them by reason that such a Peace would also comprehend Scotland but however to stick close to and give all manner of Aid and Countenance to those of the Reformed Religion both in France and Scotland that the Garrisons in Ireland and upon the Borders of Scotland should be better manned and fortified and that the Treaties with the House of Burgundy should be confirmed and friendship continued with the Spaniard And now having provided against all Mischances that might happen from abroad she proceeded to do all that might conduce towards the advancement and setling of the Protestant Religion at home by ordering that none should be chosen into any Colledges of both Universities but Protestants and that all Roman Catholick Presidents Heads and Masters should be put out and removed both from thence and all other Schools of the Land and for the curbing the rash zeal of both Parties she caused two Proclamations to be published by one of which it was commanded That no man of what Perswasion soever he was in Points of Religion should be suffered from thence forward to preach in publick but only such as should be licensed by her Authority and that all such as were so licensed or appointed should forbear preaching upon any Point which was matter of Controversie and might conduce rather towards the exasperating than the calming of mens Passions Which Proclamation was observed with all the care and strictness imaginable By the other Proclamation it was ordered That no Man of what Quality or Degree soever should presume to alter any thing in the state of Religion or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging but that all such Rites and Ceremonies should be observed in all Parish Churches of the Kingdom as were then used and retained in her Majesties Chappel until â—ome further Order should be taken in it Only it was permitted and withal required That the Litany the Lords Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments should be said in the English Tongue and the Epistle and the Gospel at the time of the High Mass should be said in English which was accordingly performed in all the Churches of the Kingdom She likewise ordered the Divine who officiated in her Chappel not to make any Elevation of the Sacrament for the abolishing the Popish Superstitious manner of adoring it which she could not endure should be done in her Sight as being wholly contrary to her Judgment and Conscience And then she proceeded to the reviewing and correcting of the former Liturgy
thirtieth part of the Livings that were liable to the Benevolence and the twentieth part of those that were not By which means that Work was so hastned and furthered that in a short time it was compleated and finished In the mean time great Preparations were making for the opening and holding of the Council of Trent to which the Pope endeavoured to procure that Divines might be sent from England To which end he dispatched to the Queen a Nuncio who being come into the Low Countries stayed there in hopes of procuring leave to be admitted into England for that it was provided by an ancient Statute that the Pope's Nuncio should not come into this Realm without Leave first obtained But the Queen having absolutely refused to admit the Nuncio most of the Princes of Christendom endeavoured to perswade her by then Letters to refer her self in matters of Religion to the Occumenical Council of Trent Whereto she made Answer That she was very desirous of an Occumenical Council but she would not send Deputies to a Popish Council that she had nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome whose Authority was expelled England by Act of Parliament and that it did not belong to the Pope but to the Emperour to call Councils nor could nor would she acknowledge any greater Authority in him than in any other Bishop Much about this time the Queen of Scots being sollicited by the Popish Party to return into that Kingdom and being grown weary of France since the Death of the late King her Husband she caused Queen Elizabeth to be desired to grant her free passage thither pretending that she could not ratifie the Treaty of Edinborough without the Advice of the Nobility of Scotland But Queen Elizabeth suspecting that some dangerous Practises were contriving against England for the preventing them not only thought fit to deny her her Request but to send Sir Thomas Randolph into Scotland to exhort the Nobility to mutual Amity and to keep firm to the Promises he had made her and he found them and the Congregation so well resolved to adhere to her that she was under no Apprehensions from the Scottish Queen or her Party However it was judged safe to intercept her if possible in her passage thither To which end a Squadron of Men of War was fitted out though under other Pretexts yet the Queen of Scots her self by the favour of a great Fog escaped unperceived by the English and landed safe in Scotland though some of the Ships that attended her in that Voyage were taken and brought into England That Queen being now in Scotland sends an Envoy with Letters to Queen Elizabeth wherein she expressed a great deal of Love and Kindness to her as her dearest Friend and Sister and desired that all true and sincere Friendship and Correspondence might be maintained between them Queen Elizabeth receiving Letters at the same time to the same effect from most of the Nobility of that Kingdom But this was not the whole Errand of this Envoy for the Queen of Scots did likewise by him demand to be declared Heir Apparent to this Kingdom as being she said the surest way to continue Amity and Friendship between the two Crowns Whereto the Queen could not be prevailed with to make any other Answer than that she would do nothing to the Prejudice of her Cousin of Scotland's Title leaving the rest to be considered of at a Personal Conference that was to be held at York shortly after which Interview was however broken off by Popish Contrivances lest it might be a means towards the creating in the Queen of Scots an inclination to the Reformed Religion And now finding that tho' she had made all the fair offers imaginable to the Spaniard and treated the Guises with all possible Kindness and Honour yet her Ministers at the Courts of Spain and France instead of meeting with fair Returns and Civilities received affronts upon all Occasions wherefore though she had found her Treasure all exhausted yet she began to make all imaginable Warlike preparations for the security of her self and Subjects And amongst other her Provisions for that purpose having caused a many Pieces of great Ordnance of Iron and Brass to be cast God favouring all she undertook caused a most rich Vein of rich and Native Brass to be discovered at the same time as was likewise the Stone called Lapis Calaminaris first found out in England being very necessary for Brass Works Her Majesty caused likewise Gun-powder to be made here at home being the first that had been made in England the English before having been obliged to beg hard and pay dear for it to Foreigners She also caused the several Garisons belonging to the Kingdom to be better strengthened with new Works Men and Fortifications She likewise increased the Pay of the Souldiers and took Care to provide for those that had been maimed in the Service of the Land She added to and provided her Fleet with all manner of Necessaries making it the best Navy that ever belonged to Brittain insomuch that all Foreigners did truly term her The Restorer of the Glory of Shipping and the Queen of the North Sea She caused all manner of People to furnish themselves with Arms and to use Martial Discipline and Exercise She gave all manner of Encouragement to Husbandry and Tillage by permitting the Transportation of Grain And by a Proclamation she prohibited the Merchants from supplying the Emperour of Russia with Ammunition against the Polanderâ— and caused the Officers of her Exchequer to pay duely the Pensions to such Religious Men as had been cast out of Abbeys She revoked the Commissions of the Purveyors both for the Garrisons and Fleet and designed to have done the same with those of her Household She augmented the Stipends of the Judges And though she was extreamly liberal and bountiful to desert yet she took Care not to alienate the Domain In the mean time the Civil War broke forth in France the Faction and Family of the Guises aiming at that Crown they were sensible that they should never compass their Designs as long as the Hugonots were in Being wherefore they used all manner of means to extirpate those Protestants insomuch that they were forced to take Arms both in Defence of their Sovereign and themselves Now Queen Elizabeth well knowing the Practises of the House of Guise to advance the Interests and Pretensions of the Queen of Scots she supplyed the Protestants of that Kingdom with Money Corn and Ammunition for the Service of the French King and for the defending the Protestant Religion and hindring the Dukedom of Normandy from being possessed by the Guises who might from thence with more Ease have executed their Designs upon England She obliged her self to aid the Prince of Conde and his Associates who headed the Protestants with her Forces both by Land and Sea for the taking in of such Castles Towns and Ports as were possessed by the Faction of the House of Guise
thousand and being proclaimed Traytors the two Earls finding themselves unable to make head against such great Forces they fled with a small Company into Scotland from whence the Earl of Westmerland made his Escape into the Low Countries where he lived though poorly to a great Age. But Northumberland was betrayed by his Party to Murray The Heads of the Rebels being convicted of High Treason were proscribed and several of them executed Presently after which there broke forth a new Rebellion in Cumberland the number of the Rebels amounting to three thousand Men but were fought routed and dispersed by the Baron of Hunsdon There was likewise a Rebelliin Ireland but was quickly extinguished through the Queens prudent Conduct and the Orders she sent to the Deputy of that Kingdom But notwithstanding these Commotions both in England and Ireland she failed not to assist the French Protestants with Men Money and Ammunition But as the Queen assisted the French the French King out of Revenge designed to have done the same to the Scots had he not been prevented by Death During these Occurrences Murray Regent of Scotland when he had setled all things to his Desire and thought himself secure against all Attempts he was shot by one Hamilton in the Belly as he was riding along the Streets in Litchquo of which Wound he immediately dyed the Assassinate making his Escape into France Presently after his Death the Scots that were devoted to their Queen being joyned with the English Fugitives and Rebels made some Incursions into England but Forces being sent against them under the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Hunsdon they were defeated and the Borders of that Kingdom severely punished for their Folly After which Performances the English assisted their Friends in Scotland and by so doing removed from the King the Hamiltons and the rest who stood for the deposed Queen Whereupon the Lords of that Kingdom met together about choosing a new Regent and demanded Queen Elizabeth's Advice in the Business but she replied That she would not be concerned in it lest if any thing should be done to the prejudice of the Queen of Scots she might be suspected for it whereupon they created the Earl of Lenox Regent which was the more pleasing to Queen Elizabeth as hoping he would have a particular care of the young King being his Grand-child and live in good Intelligence with the English by Favours and Benefits he had received during his abode among them and be at her Devotion because she had his Wife in her Power Whilst Queen Elizabeth was thus assisting the Queen's Party in Scotland the Duke of Castle-Herault the Earls of Huntley and Argyle the Queen of Scots Lieutenants send an Envoy to the Duke of Alva to demand his Assistance and Offices in favour of their Queen which he readily granted promising to do all that lay in his Power to satisfie their Request and thereupon sent them Arms Powder Cannon and Money In the mean time the French and Spanish Ambassadours request Queen Elizabeth in the name of their Masters to set the Queen of Scots at Liberty to all which Importunities Queen Elizabeth returned Answer That as she would do all that lay in her Power to reconcile the Queen of Scots and her Subjects so she thought it was but Justice in her to provide for her own and her Subjects Safety And now the Pope seeing that these Princes could not procure that Queens Liberty he caused one Felton to fasten up in the Night-time his Bull Declaratory upon the Bishop of London's Palace wherein he absolved all Elizabeth's Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance or any other Duty and all who obey her accursed with Anathema Whereupon Felton being taken and confessing and justifying the Fact he was condemned and executed accordingly near the Place where he had fixed up the Bull. About this time were some Commotions and Suspicions of more amongst the rest a Conspiracy of some Norfolk Gentlemen to set the Duke of that Name at liberty but soon defeated and some of them executed The Duke of Norfolk was delivered out of the Tower the same day that Felton was Executed having Confessed and asked forgiveness of his Crime with a promise under his hand never to think of Marrying the Queen of Scots nor to do any thing more against the Queens Authority Shortly after which broke out a new Conspiracy in Darbyshire whereof the principal Ringleaders were two oâ— the Stanleys being the younger Sons of the Earl of Darby their Design was to have freed the Queen of Scots out of Prison But the Plot being revealed by one of the Conspiracy the Heads of it were taken and put into Prison Hereupon followed an Expedition into Scotland under the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Scroop who forced the Scots of the Queen of that Names Party to give it under their hands that they would abstain from War and forsake the English Rebels Queen Elizabeth being now full of Ombrage and Suspitions by reason of the several late Conspiracies and the Popes Bull she sent Sir William Cecyl and Sir Walter Mildmay to the Queen of Scots to Treat with her they found her bemoaning her Condition excusing Norfolk and referring her self wholly to the Queens Clemency they proposed that the Treaty of Edenborough should be confirmed that she should renounce her Title and Claim to England as long as Queen Elizabeth and the Children lawfully born of her Body should live that she should not renew or keep any League with any Foreign Prince against England that she should not receive any Foreign Souldiers into Scotland that she should have no intercourse of Counsels with the English or Irish without acquainting the Queen therewith that she should deliver up the English Fugitives or Rebels that she should recompence the dammages done to the English Borderers that she should enquire according to Law into the Murther as well of the Lord Darnly her Husband as of Murray that she should deliver her Son into England as an Hostage that she should Contract Marriage with no English Man but with the Advice of the Queen of England nor with any other against the Wills of the Estates of Scotland that the Scots should not cross over into Ireland but by Licence obtained out of England that for Confirmation of these things the Queen and the Delegates to be appointed should set to their Hands and Seals that the Hostages whom the Queen of England should name should be sent into England that if the Queen of Scots should attempt any thing by her self or any other against Queen Elizabeth she should ipso facto forfeit all her Right and Title she claimeth to England that Humes Castle and Fast Castle should be holden by the English for three Years that in like manner some strong Holds in Galloway or Cantyr should be delivered into the English mens Hands lest from thence the Scottish Irish might infest Ireland Lastly That the Estates of Scotland should confirm all these things by
England should be agreed upon and Delegates nominated to that purpose During these Transactions new Rebellions broke forth in Ireland the Mutineers calling into their aid the Hebridian Scots who together with the Irish were utterly defeated by the English above three thousand of them being all except fourscore killed upon the Place Which Victory was famous and advantageous both for the present and future times for hereby the name of the Mac-Williams in Connaught was utterly extinct and the insolent Attempts of the Scottish Islanders absolutely crushed About this time the States of the Low Countries being brought very low and unable to secure themselves any longer against the ruine that was threatned them by the vast power of the Spaniards they implored Queen Elizabeth's Protection and offered her the sovereignty of their Provinces which for the present after much debate in her Council she refused but was willing to supply them with four Thousand Souldiers in case the Town of Sluce with the Ordnance belonging to it were delivered to her for caution But afterwards upon their farther representations of the sad condition they were reduced to and commiserating the doleful estate of so great a Branch of the reformed Religion she at last resolves to take them into her Protection promising to supply them with five Thousand Foot and a Thousand Horse under a sufficient General and paying them during the War upon condition that they should by way of Pledge deliver to her Flushing the Fort of Ramekin and the Brill And her Majesty immediately caused to be put forth a large Declaration in justification of â—his her Conduct And thereupon that the War might not be brought to her own Doors by the King of Spain she sent Sir Francis Drake Admiral of her Fleet and Christopher Carlile General of her Land Forces into America with a Fleet of Twenty one ships wherein were two Thousand three Hundred Volunteers and Saylors for to make a Division thereby who after they had taken and plundered several places in those parts of the World and lost seven hundred of their men most of whom dyed of the Calenture they returned home with a Booty valued at six Thousand Pounds sterling and two hundred and forty of the Enemies great Brass and Iron Guns and with Tobacco being the first time it was brought into England During these Transactions in America John Davies with two ships set forth at the Charges of the Citizens of London first discovered and found a passage by the Northern parts of America to the East Indies About this time the Earl of Leicester was sent by the Queen as General of her Forces into Holland being accompanied by the Earl of Essex and several Persons of Quality with a choice Band of five hundred Gentlemen The Earl of Leicester's Reception was attended with all the Pomp and Magnificence imaginable And at his Arrival at the Hague the chief Government and absolute Authority over the confederated Provinces was committed to him by Instrument in Writing by the States General with the Title of Governour and Captain General of Holland Zeland the United and the confederated Provinces Which he accepted of and also the Title of excellency All which severely displeased the Queen and she made both him and the States sensible of her anger by her Letters to them desiring the latter to devest Leicester of that absolute Authority they had devolved upon him The States let the Queen know how much they were grieved for having incurred her displeasure by having devolved that Authority upon the Earl without her Previty and desire her to be pacifyed considering the necessity they were in so do Upon these Letters and those of Leicester's that were Written with all the Submission Respect and Repentance imaginable the Queen was reconciled and satisfyed But Leicester's Arbitrary way of Government imposing new Customes upon Merchandizes and introducing Martial Laws quickly raised an Aversion to him in the People His first Warlike Exploit was the undertaking to Relieve Grave a Town in Brabant then besieged by the Prince of Parma but notwithstanding all the great Efforts of the English the Town was at length taken through the Cowardice of the Governour who was thereupon executed After which the Prince of Parma laid Siege unto Venlo in Guelderland where one Roger Williams a Welchman performed great Service yet the Spaniards took that Town also while the Earl of Leicester was beating the Spaniard out of the Betou a River Island lying between the Rhine and the Waul and near the Tolhuis built a strong Sconce After which the Lord Willoughby Governour of Bergen-op-zoom cut off the Enemies Convoys and took away their Provisions And Sir Philip Sidney with Maurice the Prince of Orange's Son took in Axill a Town in Flanders and Doesburgh was likewise besieged and taken by the Earl of Leicester But in a Rencounter before Zutphen was the renowned Sir Philip Sidney slain being the greatest Ornament of the Age he lived in he was honoured with an Epitaph by the King of Scotland and both Universities celebrated his Memory with Elegies and his Funerals were solemniz'd with great Ceremony in St. Paul's Church in London The Earl of Leicester laid siege to Zutphen but the Winter Season being far advanced he was forced to quit the farther Prosecution of it leaving it only blocked up and returned to the Hague where the States entertained him with Complaints of his Conduct and the ill Circumstances he had thereby brought them into whereupon he took away the Jurisdiction of the States Council and Presidents of the Provinces and then returned into England About this time was concluded the League of strict Amity between the Queen of England and the King of Scotland being chiefly designed for the maintenance of the Reformed Religion Shortly after the Conclusion of which League was discovered a new dangerous Conspiracy against the Queen one John Savage having been perswaded by some Popish Priests that it was a meritorious Work to take away the Lives of excommunicated Princes Hereupon was a Combination made of English Catholicks and Correspondence held with the Queen of Scots the Pope the Guises the Spaniard and the other Enemies of the Queen and the Protestant Religion but was first discovered by one of the Plotters themselves and confessed by the rest both before and at their Executions whereupon long Debates and Consultations were held what was to be done with the Queen of Scots and at length those Voices prevailed that were for the bringing her to her Tryal insomuch that the Queen was perswaded to sign a Patent for the constituting the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the principal Officers of the Crown the chief Nobility of the Kingdom and the Privy Counsel her Commissioners to hear and try that Queens Cause But the Queen of Scots for some time refused to plead as being an absolute Princess and therefore exempted from any Jurisdiction But at length consenting she was charged with having been privy to all the fore-mentioned Conspiracies consenting