great Stassord fell and Canterbury who both in their Stations like this Noble Lord supported nothing more For the Rule is sure the Axiom infallible To defend the Kings Prerogative is the best way to secure the Peoples Liberties nay Lives But then such is the blind Zeal of Malice He must be impeach'd for Invading the Kings Prerogative the Honour and Maintenance whereof was dearer to him than his Life Nay themselves had just before made his advancing it too High his Crime Their own Surmises were the Bills of Accusation but the Splendor of his Integrity to the King and Government soon dispersed all these Clouds and set him in a higher Sphear as we shall hear presently I have read that Hippasus the Pythagorean being asked after his Advance what he had done made Answer I have done nothing yet for no man envies me They that do Great things as this our Lord did cannot escape the Tongues and Teeth of Envy but if Envy be the Accuser there is no defence for Innocence if Calumnies must pass for Evidence the bravest Heroes the best Men in the World shall always be the most reproached Persons Well! in despight of all they said and of all they did this Magnanimous Heroe remain'd firm in his Worth unblemished in his Honour and what I must speak to as my third General unshaken and therefore Great in his Loyalty Here I heartily wish that Speech he made To justisie the Succession of the Crown in its Lineal Descent when so many were made against it had passed the Press 〈…〉 it would loudly have proclaimed his Parts and Loyalty together His Loyalty which he brought into the World with him which he derived from his Ancestors Loyal Blood running in their Veins through all Successions This he improved in his Education it being to my knowledge the great Endeavour of his forementioned Schoolmaster even in the worst of Times to plant Loyalty in the Hearts of the Youth under his Tuition and Care where he found kind and apt Ground This his Loyalty I mean he consummated by his own Judgment and Approbation he thought of nothing he valued nothing that concern'd himself when the Kings Honour or Interest fell in his way His Father yet alive and his Domestick Circumstances very streight out of his Superfluities shall I say yea Necessities he supplied his Majesty with Money whilst in Exile Nay I had it from himself That he borrowed to give fearing his Soveraign might Want His Father being dead at his First Step into Publick Affairs when he entred the Honourable House of Commons and took his place as Burgess for Rising-Chase in this County the First Parliament after his Majesties most Happy Restauration he was the Member he the Person that moved and put to vote A Supply proportionable to His Majesties Great Necessities at that Time upon which that Parliament to their Eternal Honour be it spoken gave the King Two Millions and an Half of Money Sometime after this he entertained the King Queen and Duke and all their Nobles and Servants in Attendance a Night in Oxnead-House where was prepared a most Sumptuous Supper which cost him three times more than Earls Daughters had heretofore unto their Portions Provisions superabundantly Plentiful and all Accommodations answerable Thus as it is said Araunah did to David did he as a King give unto the King Nor can I omit to remark from his own Mouth that the King had no sooner put himself under his Roof but he told this Honourable Baronet That he was now Safe in the House of his Friend The Tables being spread and Sideboards richly adorned with Plate the King took Notice of some more Remarkable Pieces which gave occasion to Sr. Robert to tell him That his House was once better furnished and he could have welcomed his Majesty with greater Plenty of it had not a Blew Ribbon that attended on his Majesty with a White Staff plunder'd it from his Father by Trunks full Here the King diverted himself with a delightful View of the House and its Situation and what he found within Left many Gracious Acknowledgments of Kindness from his Host and next day took his Leave But not long after as an honorary Reward his Majesty by Letters Patents changed Sir Robert Paston into Viscount Yarmouth Baron of Paston the Ancient Seat of this Family and so he qualified him for what in a short space he put into his Hands his own Vicegerency and made him Lord Lieutenant in this County of Norfolk In the Conduct whereof his unusual Diligence and unexpected Zeal in Publick Affairs begat Wonder and Admiration in most and by his great Care and noble Designs for his Majestics Interest and Service he soon made himself great and dear to the King his Master I have often heard him tell with great Complacency The Free Access he had unto his Majesty upon all Occasions What a Kind Ear his Majesty gave unto all his Addresses Proud of nothing that ever I observed but that great Trust and Confidence his Majesty placed in him Proud And well he might for when all others frowned upon him the King smiled and Publickly Embraced him in the House of Lords more than once declaring He had found him Trusty and Faithful Nay some that hear me heard the King say That whatsoever Service and Respects they shewed the Lord Yarmouth their Lord Lieutenant in this City he took it done to himself or to that purpose In a word such was his Loyalty he valued not his Ease though his Body was unwieldy he spared not his Cost tho' his Pocket did not overflow he regarded not his Health though for many years it hath not been much when Publick Occasions called him forth to his Princes Service But whatever Wonder and Admiration all this had raised it soon passed into the natural Daughters of Envy Suspicion and Detraction into the Spirit of Obloquy and Slander and brought upon him great Vexation and many Troubles Envy that lâ—ke the Fire of Vetruvius broke out upon him and might with the very Ashes have buried another enclined and enspirited him with the more real and greater Vigour And now though his best Actions had an ill Name and an ill Sense put upon them by others yet his Majesty who sees as an Angel of God made better Constructions of them and as a further Testimony of his Royal Favour gave him another Title yet more Honourable and made him Earl of Yarmouth and so restored him to that Fame and Reputation in which his first Procedures had invested him And because both the Daughters of Envy have blown upon it I will be his Assertor That great was his Love to the Ancient Loyal and Honourable Corporation of Norwich because the Members of that Body generally speaking loved the King This one Qualification was enough to Entitle an Enemy to his Love But I am sure they found him their Friend and manger the blasts of Calumny the New Charter shall remain a Token of it
begin or how shall I make an End they seem alike difficult But to pursue my proposed Method I will begin with that from which he took his Beginning his Descent He was Great in his Descent His Descent At this Quintilian adviseth us to begin when we commend to Posterity the Memory of a Friend that 's dead And I can produce many Authors that say that St. Luke begins here when he speaks the Praise of St. John Baptist But this is the Work of an Herauld not a Preacher and the Escoucheons speak enough if I be silent They speak him a Branch of an Honourable Stock a Gentleman of an Ancient Race whose Family ever flourished in the First Rank of Norfolk Gentry and is now admitted into Alliance with the Blood Royal Whose Name came into England three Years after the Conquest Lord Cokes Collection of the Pedigree of the Paston Family Mss. The First of them was Wolstanus Paston who was Buried at Backton and after translated with William de Glanvill his Cousin to Bromhall-Abby Founded by the said William This Family was possessed of the Mannors of Paston and Edingthorp in the time of Richard the 2d In the Year 1314 there was a Grant to Clement Paston to have a Chaplain in his House a thing very rarely allowed by Authority and without it never In the 8th Year of Henry the 6th William Paston was made Judge of the Common Pleas to whom the King granted as a special Mark of Favour 100 l. and 10 Marks a Year with two Robes more than the ordinary Fee of the Judges This Judge married the Daughter and Heiress of Sir Edmond Berry by whom he had the Mannors of Oxnead and Marlingford and divers other Lands in Norfolk William Paston Kt. the 8th Son of the Judge married Anne the Daughter of the Duke of Somerset After this I find Sir John Paston by several Adventures there atchieved great Reputation in France and was chosen to be on the Kings Side in the Days of Edward the 4th at the great Turnament against the then Lord Chamberlain and others and was sent to conduct the Kings Sister when she was to be married to Charles Duke of Burgundy Why should I name another Sir John Paston who was appointed amongst others to receive the Princess Catherine from Spain afterwards married to King Henry the 8th From which King there is a Letter of Thanks to be produced to Sir William Paston for his Care in his Preservation of the Emperors Vice-Admiral and other Matters of Courage and Prowess I will but name Clement the Son of Sir John Paston who being Captain of a Ship in a War with France brought the French Admiral St. Blaukert home with him and kept him Prisoner at Castor till he ransomed himself with seven thousand Crowns He was Pentioner to four Kings and Queens and in his declining Years built Oxnead-House and lived in it till Fourscore years Old One of his Daughters was married to Thomas Earl of Rutland Kt. of the Garter This Clement was called by King Henry the 8th his Champion by the Protector in Edward the 6th's time his Souldier by Queen Mary her Seaman and by Queen Elizabeth her Father And what need of more This minds me of the Father of our deceased Lord who was a Kt. and Baronet whose Fame both at Home and Abroad was as great as his Original and who left in the Place he lived in a fresh Memory of his great Parts and Abilities and lasting Monuments of his Travels and Foreign Acquaintance His Mother was the Lady Catherine Bertue Daughter to the late Loyal Valiant and thrice Noble Earl of Lindsey whose Renown shall flowrish as long as our Chronicles shall remember us of Edg-hill Fight where he being General valiantly fought though with the loss of his Life the Battel of his Soveraign No wonder then our Lord was so great so eminent an Assertor of Majesty and of the Religion in the Church of England as established by the Law as a late Dedication justly stiles him when sprang from such Progenitors From two Families mixt with the Noble Blood of many others neither of which was ever sullied with Faction or Rebellion taunted with Error or Schism or blackned with Irreligion or Atheism and to a Mind inclined to Vertue it availeth much to be born well The Place in which he was born was Oxnead Lift up thy Head then Oh Happy Oxnead yea grow Proud and boast that it can be said This Good this Great and Noble Lord was born in thee More Reason hast thou for thy Ostentation in this than any of the seven Cities had which challenged and laid claim unto the Birth of Homer But bar thy Gates against Men of Levelling Principles who deny all Deference and Honour to such as this Lord in his Descent whose Veins were filled in succession of many Ages with Heroick and Generous Blood The glorious Deserts of Honourable Parents are no small Patrimony and ought to be had in Reverence and Esteem But as for me I must confess I have much more delight much more satisfaction in blazoning the Vertues of any Man than his Arms I hasten therefore to the Greatness of his Worth which shall be my second General upon this Occasion He was Great in his Worth His Worth And here oh for the Pencil of an Apelles that I might be able to promise a Draught something worthy the Original The only Commendation of his Picture would be its Likeness to him and this puts me in mind to say something of his Face which will be ever before me which God had adorned with an exact Symmetry and Pleasant Countenance so that every Look was a Prevailing Argument to beget Love and Admiration in the Beholders But the Cabinet is not so Beautiful as the Diamond that shines in its Bosom And it will please me and profit you most to speak of his Intellectual Worth whereof I might mention as many Branches almost as I have Minutes left for the Remainder of my Discourse To avoid Prolixity what I can I will reduce all to these His Friendship his Affability his Learning his Prudence his Magnanimity His Friendship towards Men was as general as his Acquaintance with them Friendship He was of a Nature so Kind so Sweet so Courting all of a Disposition so Prompt so ready so chearful in receiving all that he had no Enemies except such as deserved no Friends Where he placed Affection and allowed of Intimacy his Friendship let my Experience give its Grateful Testimony was as firm as immoveable as a Rock It was not all the starch'd Stratagems of Politick Heads nor crafty Artifices of pretending Admirers that could unsettle him to his Friend He was very unapt very uneasie to hear Ill of those of whom himself had conceived Well It was a Disease to him and made him Sick to have an Accusation brought against any whom he had set his Love on the Accuser in thi kind always lost
I must say he spared no Cost no Pains as themselves can witness to make the World believe that he loved them Most of the Tables in his House have been often spread together for their entertainment and all his Friends employed to bid them welcome Nay his very Sleep to my knowledge was often broke to find out ways how best to serve them And he commended the Care of the City with his last Breath to all his best Friends and the Blessing of God who takes care for their Reputations as for their Lives and by the Orders of his Providence confutes the Slanderer that the Actions of the Just may be had in Everlasting Remembrance Therefore the Mouths of Slanderers stopt the Memory of our Lord shall be Embalmed in Honour And so I am methodically almost at unawares brought to my last General his Piety He was great in the Favour of God great was he in his Piety Piety Such was his Piety that he always whatsoever Business happened opened and shut the Day with the same Key of Prayer in private unto God and seldom mist whatever Company he had Publick Service in his Chappel where without regard to his Ease of Body or greatness of Quality I never saw him otherwise than Kneeling at Prayers and Standing at Hymns well knowing that the first resembles our Fall with Adam and must be humble the other puts us in mind of our Rise with Christ and so must be a Posture of Praise and Thankfulness And what in this profane Age wherein Men generally neglect it or if not only take it to qualifie themselves for some Place or Preferment will hardly be believed yet can be proved by many Witnesses What great strictness he did use what holy Preparation he did make when Sacrament days came and to him they never came too often He always sequestred himself from all Business and Company a day before at the least And these were his own words That he feared that Act of Parliament which designed so much good would in time take away the Reverence due to that Holy Ordinance and make it a formal thing only to be done of Course But it was not so with him for as my instructions tell me he received this Holy Communion as his Viaticum just before his Passover not long before his death with as much Comfort as Devotion Had I not Been too long already I would branch his Piety into as many Particulars as I did his Worth But why should I mention the Parish Church at Oxnead where he lived which he adorned and beautified Why should I speak of the Chappel in the House which he built and consecrated to the Service of God Why should I mind you of that Rich and Noble Plate he furnished God's Altar with were I silent they should remain as Jacobs Pillars lasting Monuments of his Piety and to the Generations yet to come the Stones out of the Walls shall speak his Praise as the Noble Fabrick of the Free School in North-walsham plentifully endowed doth to this And the weekly Lecture maintained there by the Bounty of his Ancestors hath transmitted the Honour of their Piety down to us Let the Tongues of the Poor the Relief of the Widdow the Succour he gave the Fatherless the Clothing of the Naked speak his Charity Indeed he was made up of Pity and Tender-heartedness of Christian Kindness and Compassion As to that Charity which implies Forgiveness of Injuries he was most Eminent Injuries and Vnkindnesses at present made deep Impressions gave sudden wounds to his tender Heart where all things were so contrary but upon his recollecting of himself whether they were by mistake or out of Malice it was the same thing or the same nothing in his Account or Memory I told you how Tenacious his Memory was but if it were to lay up an ill turn it took no hold but let that slip into Forgetfulness After some as I intimated had set to work all their Engines and like the Roman Retiaries spread their Nets to entangle him whom otherwise they could not destroy He often protested to me Though he feared not their Contrivances yet he heartily forgave the Contrives And when I saw him last he repeated the Saving with this Addition So far he forgave them that he had forgot the Particulars And at his very Hour of Death it seems declared He was in perfect Peace and Love with all the World and so was ready to resign his Soul to God that gave it his Life to God who had preserved it with particular Marks of Favour and Providence None of the least whereof was that wonderful Rescue which was effected for him by no less than a Divine Hand when on the ninth day of August about eight years ago a knot of Villains beset him in the Night shot five Bullets through the Coach and one into his Body but proved not Mortal For which Deliverance he kept an Anniversary Thanksgiving upon that day unto his death and now keeps a Jubile with his Deliverer for evermore But you 'l ask Had this good Lord no Faults was he all Vertue all Sweetness all Goodness I answer He had Infirmities he was no Angel yet let not that Customary Sin contracted in his younger time of Swearing be his Reproach for he hath often bewailed it and with abundance of Tears in his Sickness about four years since lamented it in himself and ever since utterly abhorred it in all others I have seen him shake his Head sit Uneasie and at last withdraw when he hath heard some Young men extravagantly imbellish or rather imboss their Discourse like a Face with Carbunkles with wicked and unprofitable Oaths He did it more than once when last amongst us He had his Failings and indeed were it not for some Grains of allowance given in what Pieces could there be weight in none of Mortality surely but they are impure Flies that feed upon other Mens Sores and they have too much Corruption in themselves that love to hear of the Corruption of others His Faults Frailties Sins and Infirmities so much by him bewailed and through his True Repentance buried in the Grave of Christ in whom was his Strength and Hope his Faith and Salvation I doubt not but your Christian Charity will think fit to bury with him in a deeper Grave the Grave of Oblivion whilst his Vertues shall live and flourish and find a perpetual Monument in every one of your Hearts And here now I bespeak my Excuse for not insisting much upon the great Affections he bore unto all his Relations None understood Relations more non observed them better I left it to the last because my Instructions tell me after he commended his Soul to God in the Church her Prayers which during his whole Sickness he devoutly heard twice in his Chamber every day he gave Counsel and administred Comfort to them about him his dear Consort his beloved Children his respected Servants as if they had been the sick