that the Matter of Religion should be contained therein To which Smith replied That that could not be and that no general Words could contain it if the Party that was bound would say that it was against his Conscience or he meant it not To which the King said That he would write to the Queen his Sister with his own Hand what he meant as to that and that he would as well defend her even in that Cause as if it were exprest in Words and that which he said he would keep tho' he dyed for it But this King was a great Dissembler which our Ambassador probably knew well enough but gave him this discreet Answer That for him he thought no less and he was sure the Queen his Mistress took him to be a faithful Prince and constant to his Words as any was Living But when they spake of Treaties they were not made in Words nor in such Letters missive but after another Authentical sort Sworn and Sealed Without which he could not he said for his part take it substantially and orderly done And besides that the Treaty was not Personal but Perpetual for him and his Successors And when the Queen-Mother would have shuffled off this and some other Articles saying That when Mareshal Montmorancy should be sent over into England from the French King to the Queen and the Earl of Leicester should come to that Court from the said Queen to see the League sworn by each Prince then all things should be done as the Queen should desire Smith answered That he knew the Fashion of Leagues And that it must be agreed upon between the Commissioners that no Words be altered then Subscribed with the Hands of both the Parties the French Commissioners delivering the Part Signed with their Hands to those of England and the Commissioners of England next to them Then the Prince causeth it to be made under the Great Seal of the Realm and so to be delivered to each others Ambassador And that he that came to see it Sworn to might make a new League if the Princes would but to alter that that was made he could not For the Princes were bound to Ratify and Swear to that on which the Commissioners were agreed And that it were not Wisdom as he added to send such Personages as they spake of to an uncertain League And he might consider that Queen Elizabeth his Mistress would not do it This Conference happened March the 1st 1571. After much Pains this Article and another about the Scotch Queen was agreed and Queen Elizabeth was only to give her consent to finish this happy and advantageous League And to excite the Queen hereunto Sir Thomas with Halsingham did freely give her advice to this Tenor That it was for the Assurance of her Person and Crown as she was a Prince lawful and natural and had a Crown Imperial And that she did it so by her Laws as God's Laws and Hers willed it to be done That foreign Princes that were her Friends would and must take it well and that such as were not would rather laugh at her and be glad of it if she did it not and when they should see Time take occasion to endanger her Majesty thereby The Queen soon after signified her Consent And so in the Month of April ensuing at Blois the League was concluded and signed the 18th or 19th Day Which according as Smith and his Collegue did conceive should be with as great Assurance and Defence of the Queen as ever was or could be the two Realms being so near and ready to defend her if it were required And in case Spain should threaten or shew ill Offices as it had of late done against the Queen's Safety it would be afraid hereafter so to do seeing such a Wall adjoyned as Smith wrote Which he therefore hoped would be the best League that ever was made with France or any other Nation for her Majesty's Surety His good Conceit he had of this League did further appear by what he wrote in another Letter soon after to the Lord Burghley That now it could not be said That her Majesty was altogether alone having so good a Defence of so Noble Couragious and so faithful a Prince of his Word but herein our Ambassador was mistaken in his Man none being so false of his Word and treacherous as he all covered over with most artificial Dissimulation and so near a Neighbour provided for and bespoken beforehand against any need Partly that and partly the Trouble in Flanders which he trusted God had provided to deliver his poor Servants there from the Antichristian Tyranny should make her Highness enjoy more quietly both England and Ireland and a better Neighbour of Scotland When Monsieur De Foix came to him and his Collegue with the Draught of the whole League in French which before was in Latin and the Matters that past Pro and Con which he said was that the King might understand it and had made a new Preface Smith did not much stick at it And acquainting the Secretary Cecil now Lord Burghley with it he opened to him the Reason of it I am old said he I love not much Talk and would fain be dispatched honestly homeward So the Effect be there indeed and our Queen not deceived I care for no more that done Smith loved to do his Business well and soundly and yet to knit it up with Brevity and Expedition Thus again when the French Deputy urged much in this Treaty the Scotch Queen that she might be sent safe home to her Country a thing which the English Ambassadors had order not to deal in by no means he began to amplify upon that in a long Oration But at the Conclusion Smith told him in short For all your Reason you must pardon me I know you are a good Rhetorician and you have Rhetorical Ornaments at will to make and so have I on the contrary side if I would bestow my Time in that sort We are the Queen's Majesty's Servants and we have shewed our Reasons so good that no Man could deny that we should not agree unto it While Smith was in this Country he was forced to follow the Court from Place to Place but it being Winter pinched him sore At Tholouse it almost cost him his Life and had made an End of him had it not been for Strong Waters which he used for his Stomach Morning and Evening At Blois where he remained after Candlemas he endured the greatest Cold that ever he felt and most continual And notwithstanding the Cordial Waters he used he was scarce able to resist the extream Cold of the Weather there being for thirty Days together continual Frost and Snow Neither was there Wood plenty nor good Chimneys for Fire And in his Bed-chamber he could make no Fire at all In this Embassy the League being concluded the Queen-Mother one Day in March Anno exeunte in the King's Garden at Blois
one of his Note-books under his own Hand for a Sickness in the Years 1558. and 1559. among the People Watercresses Scabious Pileworth Egremony Boyl these with Early of each a good handful saving Egrimony but a little Two Sticks of Liquorish bruised with an Hammer in running Water two Gallons till the one half be consumed Drink warm Morning and Evening half a Pint or thereabouts at a Draught and at other times of the Day cold If they sweat after it it is the better This purifieth the Bloud and taketh away that kind of Plague or Sickness But there is the Name of Mr. Gale set under this Recipe from whence perhaps therefore he had it Once more I find him playing the Physician with the Countess of Oxon the Lord Treasurers beloved Daughter when in the Month of December 157â— she lay under Sickness and far gone in it her Stomach gone and not able to digest any thing which made her refuse all Physic. Sir Thomas sent her a Water to take in a Spoon at once and so to use it from time to time Of his sending this Water to her he gave her Noble and disconsolate Father to understand and withall let him know the Properties of it and that if she took no other sustâ—â—â—nce in three days it would nourish hâ—r sufficiently And within 2â— hours he doubted not but his Lordship would see great Effects and pâ—radventure some Apâ— pitite to Meat to begin to come to her within that space Adding that there was never any one yet but felt good by it He was very conâ—ersant in the Commentâ—ries of Matthiolus upon Dâ—scorides and had interspersed his own Book of Matthâ—olus with many Notes and obsâ—rvâ—tions of his own It was a Book that was never wont to go from him But some Body it seems once had stollen it which grieved him not a little complaining to his Friends that he had rather have lost a far better thing Nor could another be bought any where in Londâ—n Therefore in the year 1572. Walsingham being Ambassador in France he prayed him to procure him the said Book there translated into French and to let it be bound with two or three sheets of Paper before and in the End to serve him for inserting his Notes This Book Walsingham accordingly bought and sent him over And Smith liked it well but yet as he told him if he could have recovered his own noted through with his own Hand he should have liked that far better By his conversing in these Books we may judge of his Learning that Way And as Câ—ymistry is but an Handmaid of Physic and usually accompanieth it so he was as well Skilled in that Art also And had Apartments in his House for his Stills and Laboratories Which were going to his great Cost But especially in Labouring to tranâ—mâ—te coarser Mâ—ttals into those of more Fineness and greater Value He was an excellent Mathematician and for his Recreation therein made a large Globe by his own Hand It was his Love and Practice of the Mathematicks that made him desire of Wâ—lsingham at the same time he sent to him to bâ—y him Matthiolus to procure him also a Case of Mathematical Instruments dirâ—cting him to the Place where they were sold that is at the Palace in Paris He meant that it should contain two Compasses or three a Square a Pâ—n of Metal and other things He had two already But he was minded to have another of the biggest size with the Case a foot long Walsingham accordingly in Ian. 1572. sent him a Case of Tools But such it seems as were extraordinary for Smith himself understood not them all nor lookt for so many nor of that sort But this was proper Employment for him and at his leisure he intended to find out the Property and Use of them What an Arithmetician he was appears by his Money Tables Nor was he a Smatterer in Astronomy The new Star which in the Year 1572. appeared in Cassiopeia exercised much his thoughts as it did the rest of the Learned men of the World And he could almost have been willing to believe it to be the Soul of that brave Admiral of France that had been a little before that time so basely murthered in the Parisiâ—n Massacre Smith was mighty desirous to know what foreign Learned Men judged of this new Star Therefore Decemb. 11 1572. he wrote to Walsingham thus of it That he was sure he had heard of it and he thought had seen the new fair Star or Comet but without Beard or Tayl which appeared in England these three Weeks on the backside of the Chair Cassiopeia and on the Edge of Via laâ—tâ—a The bigness was betwixt the bigness of Iupiter and Venus and kept there to his Appearance who hâ—d no Instrument then to observe it and because oâ— that cold weather also dared not observe the precise Order of the fixed Stars Such aâ— one he had never observed nor read of He therefore praâ—ed Walsingham to let him know what their Wise men of Paris did judg upon it He knew they would not think it that Admirals Soul as the Romans did of the Comet next appearing after the Murder of Iulius Caesar that it was his Soul It might be Astraea said he now peaking out afar in the North to see what Revenge shall be done upon so much innocent Bloud shed in France at a marriage Banquet and reer Suppers after it Yet that it would be acceptable to him to understand what their Astronomers and Heaven-gazers there did judge of it He added that if he were not so much occupied as he was he would turn over all his old Books but he would say something of it himself and guess by chance even as wisely as they tho' he would not publish it but to his Friends Walsingham in Answer to this of the Secretary sent him certain Notes and a new Book from France of this new Comet For which he thanked him but withal he observed to him that in the placing of it their Astronomers and these in England differed exceedingly Theirs placing it in the 29 of Pisces and ours in the 7th degr of aurus So they varied one whole Sign and Eight Degrees He observed moreover that the printed Book went upon it Suspensâ— pede and prayed the Ambassador that if any had writ upon it more boldly he might see it He added further that our Men did not deny that it arose in that Degree of Pisces or the first of aurus but that it was one thing to rise with the Degree of the Zodiack and to stand in a place after Section of the Zodiack and that our Men did find him far above the Moon and above the height of the Sphere of Venus And then it could not be a Temporary Comet Concluding Now things above the Moon do rise and die which was never believed afore but either a new Star madâ— or an old Star new seen Thus we
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