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
men wherein I must needs confess that there is a Disparagement for that these Men were not Noble by Birth and therefore not meet to Match with such Noble Women But for the Queens Majesty to Marry one of her Noblemen is no disparagement at all Neither is the Comparison like And in this case ye do make me to marvel at you and to doubt what you do think of the Nobility of this Realm of England as tho' they are not as Noble as the Nobility is of other Realms Is not a Duke of England an Earl a Baron and their Sons as much to be counted Noble as they be in other Realms That I think you cannot deny How then should the Queens Majesty be more disparaged Marrying here one of that Degree than there For mâ—thinks you do so speak that if her Highness Married a Duke or a Nobleman of another Realm then it were no Disparagement Which if you grant then either grant this also or shew the Diversity Ye will say because here they be all her Highness Subjects So surely they be But her Subjects be of divers Sorts and Dâ—grees Whereof the Nobility is as the Right Arm of the Prince the Glory and Beauty of the Realm the Root and Nursery of her Highness Stock and Family Off-springs of Kings and Queens of England and whom her Highness and all her Progenitors calleth always in her Letters and Writings and common Talk Cousins Which word Cousins betokeneth that in mingling of that Bloud there can be no disparagement And so much as you would seem in your Talk to embase that Order and Estate so much you must needs appear â—to abase and contemn the Queens Majesty's own Bloud to whom they be and always have been accounted Allied and as Cousins And is it a Disparagement for the Queen of England to Marry an Englâ—sh man Why more than to the King of England to Marry an English woman The Authority is all one And as well is the English woman a Subject to the Crown as the English man Do you think that King Henry VIII her Majesty's Father was disparaged when he Married her Highness Mother or Queen Iane or Queen Katharine Par And that he was always disparaged save once when he Married his Brothers Wife which was a Stranger And think you that all the rest of the Kings of England of whom a great number Married their own Subjects were Disparaged Methinks this is a strange and unnatural Opinion If it be an Honour to be a Kings Wife or a Queens Husband not only to the Person but also to the Region out of the which they come no Country may justlier crave that Honour nor to none the Prince doth more justly owe that Love than to her own Country where she was born and where she is Queen And if ye would be loth to suffer and would spâ—nd your Blood rather than this Realm should be Tributary or Subject to any other yea you would not gladly see that any foreign Prince should do so much here or be so much set by here and have so much Power as your Natural Prince and Queen And if you may justly call that a Dispâ—ragement when this Realm which is the Head of Nations round about is put under the Girdle of another Who maketh more Dispaâ—agement I pray you the foreign Prince to be the Queens Husband or the English Subject But you are of the Opinion as I perceive that Eraâ—mus speaketh of that thinketh it not comely for a Kings Daughter to be coupled but with a King or a Kings Son To whom he answereth as well as if he had studied this oâ—r Case This is private mens Affâ—ction saith he from which Princes ought to flee as fast as they may If the Marry saith he to one who is not of such Power as the or her Father what is that to the Purpose if that he be for the Realm more expâ—dient It is more â—onour to the Prince to neglect that foreign Dignity of the Marriage than to prefer her Womanly Affection to the Profit of the Realm So far is that great learned and wise man from your Opinion that he calleth the Marriage with Strangers Uneven Marriages and as a man would say Disparagements when he saith there lacketh both that Love and Dearness which the common Country Likeness of Body and Mind doth bring and that Natural and traâ— and uncounterfeit Affection which those Marriages have which are made between them that have all one Country He saith also as I have said before that hardly the Country acknowledge them that are born oâ— those uneven Marriages for their own or that those that are so born cannot with all their Hearts love their Country but as their Blouds be mingled out of divers Countries so their Love is but as it were half dealed and parted in twain And did noâ— this man think you as a Prophet declare that thing which we did see of late in Qâ—eâ—n Mary Did not her vehement Love towâ—rd Spain and Spaniards dâ—clare that she was bâ—â— half English as it were in Affection so thâ—â— mingled Bloud in her Nature could not â—idâ— it self And if the Case standeth so and 〈◊〉 be so much to be looâ—t unto as ye will have it better it were for her Highness and more honourable as it may appear evidâ—ntly to make one of her Noblemen by that means equal to a foreign Prince who shall alwayâ— be ready to obey and Honour her than to take a foreign Prince from abroad who shall look to command and be her Superior And because that Poetry is reckoned of a great learned man to be the eldest Philosoâ—â—y for long before the Philosophy of Thales and Socrates began most Ancient Writers called Poets by fained examples or else by Deeds done described like Fables did instruct men and cause the witty Reader in them to see the good success and happy Fortune of Well-doings and the evil Success and Inconveniences which follow of Evil-doings that so we might have as it were shewed before our Eyes what to follow and what to eschew â—â—t us weigh and consider what they write of this Matter and what Examples they make of those Heroical and Noble Women who forsaking their own Country men fell into the Love of Strangers How good how true how Loving I pray you were your Strangers to them Was not that lâ—sâ—y and valiant Warriour Iason soon gotten and most unkindly and uncourteously did forsake Mâ—dea of Colches who not onely saved his Life but for his Love lost her Country and to save her Lovers Life did abandon the Lives of her Father and Brother How long was Theseus of Athens kind to Arâ—adne King Mâ—nâ—s's Daughter who saved his Life else to have been destroyed in the Labyrinth How true was Dâ—mophon to Phillis of Thracia Hercules to Omphale of Lydia or Aâ—nâ—â—s to Dido of Carthâ—ge All these Queens or Queens Daughters who contemning the Noblemen of their own Country as unequal unto them chose
that Familiarity with them that he wisht Tâ—â—s ' with thâ—se in Paris his Converse was so much that he called them his Convictores But he added that he had his Convictrices too i. e. his She Companions and daily Guests which created him as much Sorrow and Anxiety as the others did pleasure And these were as he explained himself Solicitudes Cares Damage to his Domestick Concerns in England greater Charges than he could well bear doubtful Disputations various Emulations and Opinions While Smith was here he procured the Printing of the Answer to Osorius for the Vindication of the Queen and the Proceedings of the Realm in the Reformation of Religion as was mentioned before when the Reader was told of the Difficulty that Smith met with while he required that State 's Allowance for the publishing thereof But at last he got it into the Press at his own Charge Which made Dr. Haddon the Author after the publishing of the Book write to him Mulâ—um tibi Responsum debet Osorianum i. â— That the Answer to Osorius owed much to him And as for Smith's Judgment of this Answer it was this as he wrote to the said Haddon That he conflicted with an Adversary too unequal for him For Osorius brought nothing beside the bare Imitation of Cicâ—ro and the Ignorance of that he undertook to treat of Which Haddon pointed him to as it were with his Finger Yet with much Modesty and without sharpness of Words By April 1564. Smith had so compleated the printing of the Book that he sent over some Copies to the Secretary The aforesaid Dr. Haddâ—n Master of the Requests was the Queen's Ambassador at Bruges at the same time that our Smith was in the like Quality in France Between whom a friendly and learned Correspondâ—nce was maintained They both were Ambassadors abroad in the Years 1562 1564 1565 1566. Divers of the Letters written between them are printed in Haddon's Posthumous Pieces published by Hatcher of Cambridge An. 1567. Smith was a great Lover and Reader of Plato as Haddon was of Tully In relation to which thus did Haddon from Burges write to Smith in France Your Plato will not suffer you nor my Tully me to be our own who would have us serve our Country and as we at first received all that we have from it so to return all back to it again This he said to comfort Smith and himself under their present Distances from their Country their Pains and Expences in their Embassies for the Service of their Queen and Country The troubles whereof they were apt sometimes to lay to heart At another Time viz. in the Year 1562. Haddon appealed to Smith as a Judge in a Dispute between him and the French Ambassador at Bruges upon Cicero's Skill both in Law and Philosophy For Haddon happening to Sup once with that Ambassador upon some occasion Cicero was cited when the Ambassador did admit him to be the best Orator but he would not allow him at all to be skilled in Law and that he was but a mean Philosopher Haddon stood up for the Honour of his Master and affirmed that he was a very good Lawyer and a most excellent Philosopher Whereupon they fell into a very hot Argument that they could hardly make an end Concerning this he took occasion in his next Letter to write unto Smith telling him that he wished this Controversy might have had his Judgment Cui non minus uni tribuo quam Platoni Poeta nescio quis à reliquis destitutus i. e. To whom alone he attributed as much as a certain Poet did to Plato when he had none else of his side Smith on the next occasion in his to Haddon thus communicated his Judgment That if any doubted whether Cicero was a Lawyer it was not to be wondered at because Men for the most part are ignorant of Age and Times That Cicero was not of those in that Time that professed the Civil Law but yet he was Iureconsultissimus Admirably skilled in it Which not only many of his Pleadings and Orations demonstrate but his Topics to Trebatius And he esteemed himself so to have prosited herein that he openly declared one Day If they vexed him he would the third Day after profess the Civil Law But he never saw indeed Accursius nor Bartholus nor Baldus nor Iason nor the Digests nor Code of Iustinian A good Reason why because they were not in being in his Time But so thorowly had he learned the Laws of that Time that unless he had been an Orator he had been esteemed the Learnedest Civilian If he that is a Lawyer deny him to be a Philosopher that Answer will easily be given to him that Apelles gave the Shooe-maker Let him not give his Iudgment beyond his Slipper But for his Philosophy he betook them that denied it to his Book De Deo De Divinatione or what he treated of in his other Philosophical Dissertations In April 1564. Secretary Cecil writ our Ambassador the News of the Disturbance at Court occasioned by Iohn Hales's Book wrote in the last Parliament Which was the cause of his being cast into Prison and several others of the Court committed or banished the Court. Of this Haddon who was now at home had also acquainted him and called it Tempestas Halisiana i. e. The Storm raised by Hales This Hales was a passing good Scholar an hearty Protestant thorowly acquainted with the State of this Kingdom and a great Antipapist he had been a Courtier to King Edward and an Exile under Queen Mary and now under this Queen Clerk of the Hanaper And fearing the Succession of the Scotch Queen a Papist to the Crown if Queen Elizabeth should die unmarried and childless he by private Consultation with others resolved to take upon him to write a Discourse to discuss the Title to this Crown after the Queen And having in a Book confuted and rejected the Line of the Scotch Queen made the Line of the Lady Frances that had been Married to Grey Duke of Suffolk who was Daughter to the Younger Sister of King Henry VIII to be only next and lawful Heir She was Mother to the Lady Katharine Grey who had been privately Married to Edward Seimour Earl of Hertford And were now both in the Tower for that Marriage and under the Queen's Displeasure In April Hales was committed to the Fleet for this bold and presumptuous Act and afterwards to the Tower where he continued a great while Especially because he communicated these his Conceits to sundry Persons The Lord Iohn Grey Uncle to the Lady Katharine was in trouble about it and so was the Lord-Keeper Bacon And besides all this Hales had procured Sentences and Counsels of Lawyers from beyond Seas to be written in maintenance of the Earl of Hertford's Marriage which seemed to have been by their Consents only For which the Marriage had been declared invalid and null by the Archbishop of Canterbury But hereat
â—â—ve enough to spend And when they have spent somewhat to leave Now if any Injury should be offered to his Wife and Children who is so out of Patience as the Husband He chafes he sumes he prepareth himself immediately to revenge And if the Enemies come or the War be menaced first he provideth that his Wife and Children be conveyed into sasty Then he himself maketh him ready to meet his Enemy He offereth his Body to the Stroke his Blood to be poured out his Life to be taken from him rather than they shall have one Finger hurt And this so natural so common so don of all men that it is no News it is no Wonder No man mervaileth at it For it is seen every day Even the Wild Beasts wil do as much to defend their Mates Fight to the Death with the Hunter to keep him from the Den where his Female and his Whelps do ly And here you bring in Theodotus Husband to Amala Suenta from Rome Philip Viscount from Milain in Lumbardy Iaques de la Nardie Q. Ianes Husband from Naples They were Monsters of Mankind Examples of Unkindness Spectacles of Devilish Cruelty Of which yet not one of them escaped unrevenged And what wil ye make a general Rule of this So shal ye extinct and deface al natural Affection al Order of Love al Course of Kindnes So may you bring in Nere that killed his Mother because she seemed to mislike some of his Vices Selimus that killed his Father because he thought he â—ept the Kingdom of the Turks too long from him Asedeâ— that killed her own Children in despite of her Husband Caâ—â—line that killed his own Son because a rich Widow would not els marry him Baâ—â—ianus that killed his Brother Gâ—ta because he would rule alone And all the Rabblâ—ment of â—ather-â—illers and Mother-killers Son killers and Daughter-killers the Murtherers of their Brethren and Sillers their masters and their chief Friends And prove that there is no Love nor Trust in Father or Mother Son nor Daughter Brother nor Sister Kit nor Kin even Tymons Sect. And very much better did Christ reason with Siâ—â—â— the Pharisee He whom more is forgiven saith he more doth love As who would say he that hath more kindness shewâ—â— him as the Benefit is greater so is his Love more affectionate to him or her of whom he received it Which if it be true who then can â—â—â—e a more Affection a greater Love and earnâ—â—â—er Care and a fâ—rventer Dearness of mind towards the Queen than he whom she chuseth above all men whom she preferreth to al the rest to whom she giveth al that ever she hath and her self also Yea whom she maketh her self In that by this Knot they be both but one Body Can this man ever hate her Can he speak evil of her Or can he suffer that the least Tittle in the world should grieve her Mind Sooner will he abide any Pain any Grief any Torment himself For what can be a greater Grief or painful Disease to him than that she of whom he received so unspeakable a Benefit should perceive in him the least spot of Unkindness Except he be a wild Beast in a Man's Likeness a Devil and a Monster of Mankind as Nero was and these whom ye named of whom ye have found out three since the World began And I think you shal not tho von search never so neer find out so many more The Comfort the Ease of Mind the Pleasure the Contentation that her Majesty shal have of a loving husband is unable with Words to be declared and no Man or Woman can believe it til they have proved it Whereof what greater Argument can there be than this that of so many Thousand as be maried you shall not se among five Hundred one which once hath been maried Men or Women I say that when by misfortune one of the Couple dyeth wil abide sole without wedding again They think in the mean space their Houses naked their Table without Comfort their Bed without Joy themselves half maimed and to lack in al Purposes one of their Things most necessary and as Aristophanes saith in Plato indeed they feel that the one Half of themselves all the while is away This far to the first two Points of your Oration Now I come to the Third and last Point wherein ye disputed what were best for the Commonwealth and for the whole Realm And here methought you began to handle us very ungently Ye asked us what Fault we find with the Government now and wherein we do lack a man or Husband to the Queen To the First if we should answer ye would bring us in a Displeasure with the Council as tho we disliked their Doings To the Second if we should we might seem to note the Queens Majesty as insufficient to Rule her Realm Pretty Streights ye have devised to make us hold our Peace 〈◊〉 this will not make us agree to your Opinion What lack we say you Mary even that which you know your self For you were present and a Goer with them your self the whole Parlament lacked you know what wel enough What was their suite to her Majesty I pray you What required they by the Mouth of our Speaker Were they then of your Opinion or of mine touching that Matter Why did not you declare so much in the Parlament before they went to make their Petition to her Highnes as ye have done here ye might have stayed them peradventure that they should not with such humble and earnest Requests have moved her Majesty to have Compassion upon her poor Realm and to think upon Marriage wherein we might se some speedy Hope of Succession from her Highnes But you durst not you saw so many even al men bent to the contrary And you know wel enough you should not escape unanswered at the ful And possibly you were not of that Opinion at that time But now you be Wel if you be so now to all other Reasons I have answered to the rest this I have to say If in al such kind of Reasons whether a Thing is better to be don or no the Authority and Judgment of wife sober and discrete men ought to have greatest weight I can bring in the Authority of the greatest wisest sagest gravest best learned and expert men in th' affairs of the Realm and maintaining of the Common-wealth as you your self can witnes which were against your Opinion at that Time and on my side And if you like a Philosopher will not suffer me to use Authority I wil not fly your Reasons but as I began I wil answer stil as I have don And ye compare Q. Maries Time to this and make this Time so much better than the other as you lift your self wherin I wil not tâ—ive with you you shal find me so good a fellow yet as Craesus said to Cambyses who would needs be better esteemed than his Father the wife and great Conqueror Cyrus
He could not be so good as his Father was for so much as Cyrus had left such a Son to rule after him as Cambyses Servants told him he was and Cambyses thought himself to be But Cambyses himself had not yet gotten any Child This Fable of Crasus as Herodotus saith so tickled Cambyses that he escaped therby and told the Truth Why say you no more had Q. Mary and Child Mary Sir I do not compare the Queens Highness to Q. Mary but yet I wil say that Queen Mary did what lay in her more for that purpose than Q. Elizabeth doth And I would She would as wel in that as in al other Things pass Q. Mary It al be wel now as you say it is We have Peace we have Plenty We have Quiet at home Friendship abroad What should we desire more As we have great Cause to give Almighty God Thanks for it and to rejoyce and Congratulate with the Queens Highnes for that So have we the more Cause â—o fear the greater Occasion to foresee the â—â—ster Warning to provide that this Estate might continue Except we shal be no wiser than the Grashoppers to whom because they did not provide in Summer wherewithal to live but applied al their Time to Singing and Dauncing the Ants did say when Winter came and their Need appeared that they must weep and repent then without Remedy We al rejoyce in the Queens highnes and have great Cause God prospereth al things in her Highnes hands above al Expectation and almost more than we can desire Because the Weather is so fair shal we not look for a Storm Because this is a Summer shal we think that Winter wil never come If we do se only that is present if we have no regard what shal come after If we had no consideration as wel for our Prosperities as for our selves We are not worthy to be called Men but Beasts Who whether of Reason or no. I know not but certainly of a certain Instinct of Nature seem to have a care and hoard up store for the time to come Wherefore if we have cause to like in her Majesty those Princely and Heroical Gifts which Nature hath bestowed on her Highnes That goodly Personage and Stature resembling her Father so noble a Prince and so wel beloved to the Realm If her Beauty doth not only please us but bring al other in Admiration that se her If th'excellency of Wit the great Understanding that Knowledg of so many Tongues the Dexterity of Entertaining and the Gravity in Communication and al other the Princely and Heroical Vertues which be so clear and resplendent in her Majesty do ravish us in Admiration of her Highnes Except we should do as the Grashoppers do content our selves with the Time present and look no further what can we do but wish pray desire and long for the Propagation and Continuation of the same among us Like as we do with Flowers which we like with Apples and other Fruit which do please us above al others we desire to have more of the same kind set in our Garden and more of the same Fruit grafted in our Orchyard that our Posterity may take pleasure in them as wel as we This is so natural so goodly and so reasonable that methinks it was but a strange Question of you to ask What we lacked And if I could cal this Realm of Eâ—gâ—aâ—d to speak what it lacked and what Fault it found I dare say it would not only wish but expotulaâ—e and accuse her Highnes and say Did not I bring thee up O Queen Did not I nourish thee Hath not God in thy Youth saved thee from so many Dangers From Prison from Punishment from Death because thou mightest reign and rule my People in the Fear of God and the Knowledg of his Son And that thou mightest once again bring in the Light of the Gospel and cast off the Romish Yoke and keep the Race of the Mixed Rose which brought again the amiable Peace â—ong exiled from among my Children by the Striving of the two Roses And wilt thou now as much as lyeth in thee let it be extinct What if thy Noble Father had lived Sole as thou doest What if that good Lady thy Mother had don so Should I not have lacked thee in whom I have now such Joy and Comfort as I never had the like in any Prince Remember what is the Nature Property and Duty of that Sex and Kind of which thou art Is it not to bring forth young Babes to nourish them in their tender Age to have that Carefulnes Motherly-Love and Tendernes over them which no Man can have And why do I not se one in thy Armes whom thou mightest kiss and embrace and play withal of thine own Which after thee should rule and govern this Realm and be the Staff of thine old Age and mine This thou owest to the Noble King thy Father This to the Wife Prince thy Grandfather This to al thy Auncesters This thou doest to me And if this be the Property and th' end wherunto Women were first ordained to bring forth Children and to propagate the Name of their Stock and Family why wilt thou O Queen having so many high and excellent Vertues stain them al with this Wickednes degenerate from this Nature What meaneth St. Paul when he saith of Women That they shal be saved by the bearing of Children if they tary in the Faith And what wilt thou O Queen deny it always Why should the wife and couragious Prince thy Father put away the Superstitioâ—s Nuns if now his Daughter should take their Property and as it were their Order upon her Defer stil and stil And how long wil it be Time goeth away Age draweth on Youth flyeth Opportunity is spent And wilt thou not se the bringing up of thy Jewel of that Tresure of the Realm Wilt thou not se him trained up in such Vertue and Nourture as thy self was Shal I tary so long for it til Age shal drive thee away and so leave that thy Jewel and mine to be brought up by the wide World What I like in thee that do I desire to se in the Prince that should succeed thee And who can be better School-master Nurse Bringer-up of him than my ELIZABETH can be the Mother of my Infant And such a Mother as in a King of most Power no Realm can desire more Princely and Heroical Vertues And for the Pain thou shalt have again this most plesant Recompence that as thou shalt wax old so shalt thou se thy self wax as it were young again in him Now I am sure would England say Thou wouldest wish with al thy Heart for the Love that I know thou dost bear me thy Country not to leave after thee a Child to Govern me but either a man of perfect Age or at the least a young â—an very neâ—r such Time as Princes shoulâ— take the Government themselves And how is that possible it
thou do stil prolong Doubt and Defer as now thou dost Thus meâ—â—â—nks England might speak wel enough to her Majesty Whose Word I trust her Highneâ— wil both hear and weigh when it shal please God to put it in her Highnes mind But I wil return to your other Argaments Mr. Agamus You were something long in proving that the Queens Majesty may in Peace by her Council in War by her General govern and conduct al things as wel as tho She were there in Person her self Hardly wil I graunt that the one should be as wel as th' other I se in al other things that Oculus Domini non solum pascit Equum optime as he said but also Colit stercorat Agrum The Italians have a Proverb La â—â—ccia d'buomo saccia de Leone The Face of a man is the Face of a Lion Meaning that the Presence of a man himself to whom the thing doth appertain to Terror to Diligence to setting forward of that which is intended doth furmount and pass al other things As when our late Sovereign K. Henry VIII â—ay against Boloign and another Camp with right good Captains before Montrel the Courage of the Soldier the Provision of the Victuals the Effect of the Enterprize ye know was not like For th' one fought under the Princes Ey th' other as it were behind him th' one saw present Reward or Pain th' other had but trust of their Captains Report As touching the Romans where do you se or read in their Histories that the Leaâ—tes which we call Generals or Lieutenants did so wel as the Consuls or Proconsuls in any War Who altho they were but as other of the Senate yet for that Time they had a Kingly and Sovereign Authority especially abroad And yet the Romans thought not that enough but when any danger came they made Dictaâ—â—â—ent Who from the Time of his Dictatorship was a very King or Monarch as ye know well enough So much did they think that Legats and Generals could not do th'enterprize so wel as he that hath the Princely Fasces as they cal them and the Sceptre And who that readeth the Veuctian Histories shal se that altho their Captain or General hath one of their Senate called Proveditore with him By whose Counsil if he do he doth avoid the danger of judgment Yet for because he is not indeed Consul or Dictator ye see their Wars go but coldly forward And this you knowing which Thing I marked in your Tale you praise them for the keeping that which they get wherefore I peradventure could shew some Causes Indeed for good Warriors I never heard Man yet give them the Prize And if I should grant this that the Generals in War do as wel as the Prince in Person which thing you see I am very loth to do and if it had not been strange and a thing to be wondered at in Octavius Augustus Plutarch would not have noted it But if I should grant it yet as the Greeks say One City is before another and there is difference in Generals and Lieutenants not only in knowledge of the Feats of War and in the Hardines of Courage and Wisdom to atchieve them but also in Estimation of the Soldier And who can be more esteemed or go more nâ—er to do as much in the Wars and with Soldiers as the Queen her Self if She were a Warriour or there in Person should do as either he which is the King or the Queens Husband In K. Henry III. his Time I read of Prince Edward who was after called Long Shanks and in the Time of Edward III. of the Black Prince and Henry V. that they did as much as their Fathers and that their Soldiers would under their Banners sight as valiant and go as far as they would govern their Fathers being then Kings of England And no marvail They did not only look shortly to have them their Sovereign Masters but they knew in the mean time how dear those Persons were to their Fathers Which two things did work so much in their Hearts and Minds that there was smal Want of the Royal Presence So much think I it doth excel to the Encouragement of the Soldier to the Hope of the Capitain to the Terror of the Enemy to understand that the Husband of the Queen he whom her Highnes Loveth above al men and whom She trusteth most and who can commend their Doings at al Times to her Highnes to be in the Field over it is of any other Lieutenant or General whosoever he be At one thing I assure you you had almost made me to laugh when that you spoke so husbandly of Husbanding I perceive the Queens Majesty doth not wel that you are not one of the Green-cloth you would husband the Matter so wel and teach them al to save mony And for one thing ye might do wel there because I perceive ye love no Takers But if you were once of them I fear me you would love Takers better and bear with them as wel as al the rest do Oh! merciful God do you look to save mony and do not care to save your Head You do consider how a few Expences may be saved and do not se how your Posterity shal be spent and consumed Cal to remembrance I pray you what was spoken you wot Where and When a little before the Speaker of the Parlament went to move that Petition to her Highnes wherof I spake even now I would to God her Majesty might live ever I would she should not dye but now I know that being born of mortal Parents there is no Remedy She must once run this Race that al her Progenitors have don before and al mortal Men and Women shal follow When that is don what a Damp shal England be in What an Eclipse wil that be if God do not either send a Prince before of her Body or els incredible Aggrement of the Nobility and Commons We hear what the Daulphin did attempt by the Title of his Wife the Scottish Queen after the Death of Q. Mary Happy is the Queens Majesty by the great Consent of her Subjects and happy be her Subjects by the Life and Prosperity of her Highnes But if there come any Dissension for the Trials of Titles If there come Part-takings who should wear the Crown what a more miserable Realm should there be in the whole World than this of England I am afraid to speak and I tremble to think what Murthers and Slaughters what Robbing and Riâ—ling what Spoiling and Burning what Hanging and Heading what Wasting and Destroying Civil War should bring in if ever it should come From the Time that K. Richard II. was deposed in whom al the Issne of the Black Prince was extinct unto the Death of K. Richard III the unkind and cruel Brother of Edward IV. whose Daughter was Maried as ye know to K. Henry VII by reason of Titles this poor Realm had never long Rest. Noble men
they thought they might amend when they would by Adoption either of their own Bastards or other Folks lawful Children with the Consent of their Parents For al these Three this our Question doth not vary For either the Stranger or the English-man seemeth indifferent therunto and I make no Difference in them Then there be other Causes which be incident and as I might cal them Accidental as Honor Power and Riches Having first God and those three Causes which I called Essential of Matrimony principally in our Eyes these Things ought in this Consultation to have the highest Place And because I take al you here to be no Children and in this which I have said to be in the same Opinion that I am I wil make no further Proeme but go to and confer these together in the two Persons which you have brought in to be weighed here as in a Pair of Ballances that is the Stranger and the English-man And I say if the Queens Majesty have respect to Advancement and Honor can that be in Mariage of any within the Realm who being but her Subjects be they never so high shal be under her highnes a great Distance So for that purpose it shal not be Advancement but Disparagement Wherin I must commend the late Q. Mary who having more regard to her Honor than to her Age to th'advauncement therof than to any other Plesure which she could long have took to her Husband K. Philip Charles th' Emperours Son the greatest Prince of Birth and Possessions in al Christendom Wherby she gat the Sovereignty over so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionates Earldoms Baronies Countries and so forth that it would be more than an Hours Work to reherse them and to be the greatest Estate of a Woman in al Christendom And if it be honorable to a Prince to Conquer one Kingdom with Dint of the Sword with making of War with Spoiling Burning Wasting Death Destruction Fire and Sword Man slaughter and Effusion of Christian Blood how much more honorable ought it to be accounted to obtain and get not one but a great fort of Kingdoms and Dominions not with Violence and Oppression but with Amity and Love and that most godly sweet and pleasant Knot of Mariage So Mary the Daughter and Heir of Charles the hardy Duke of Burgundy by Marying her self to Maximilian Son to Fredericus of Austriche then Emperor hath made her Progeny the House of Burgundy to enjoy so many Realms and Seignories in Boheme in Hungary in Spain in Sicily in Naples and Italy in the High and Low Country of Germany and neer it went to have enjoyed also England and Ireland So Mary the Scottish Queen that liveth now if the Enterprize had had Success and she had had by her Husband any Son She should have left a double King I mean in France a King as wel as of Scotland and 〈◊〉 them both the greater King by her Purchase than else he should have been by his Mothers Inheritance So Claudia the Daughter of the Duke of Britain by Mariage with the French King hath made her Sons and Off-Spring not only Dukes of Britain but Kings and Possessors of al France when her Auncesters heretofore had much ado always to keep their own being but only Dukes of Britain much less could conquer or adjoyne to their Dutchy any thing of the rest of the Realm of France Now if Honor is to be desired and if it be a Glory to be made from a Baroness a Countess and from a Countess a Marchioness or Dutchess and from a Dutchess a Queen why is it not also as wel to be from a Queen an Empress or from a Queen of one Kingdom a Queen of two or three and so the more Honorable and the more to be sought and desired To the Encrease of which Honor if Men do apply and study themselves sometimes by Sword and sometimes by Mariage to attain why should not a Queen desire to do as wel as they especially by the better more sure and more amiable way Which thing ye see can be don either by no ways or by no ways better than by Mariage And this I have to say of Honor. Now I come to Power or Strength Which standeth in two Things Either for a Prince to keep his own Realm quiet from Rebellion or to make that the foreign Prince being Ambitious or desirous of War neither may dare invade him or els if the Prince be so minded to conquer and recover such Things which of old by Titles and just Reasons remain to be claimed The which the Prince heretofore either for lack of Power or Mony for shortnes of Time Civil Dissension their own Sloth or any Cause whatsoever it be hath omitted or foreslowed For these remain stil as Causes unto Princes when they be weary of Ease or desirous of Honor or when other just Occasion is offered to exercise themselves and their Subjects For any of those if her Majesty mary within the Realm what hath She gained All her own Subjects were her own before all their Powers are Hers already Not one Man hath She for the Mariage more than She had before Wheras if She mary a foreign Prince if he be an Emperor al the Empire is hers to aid her and her Husband at al Events If she mary a King likewise al his Kingdom if she marry a Duke Earl or Prince al his Vassals Kinsfolks Allies and Friends are united to her Realm and be taken al for Brethren to allow Strength and Aid both Offensive and Defensive as Occasion and Necessity shal serve For who can offend the Wife but he must offend the Husband also So that her Majesties Power must needs be encreased by so much as the Power of her Husband doth extend either by Authority Title Blood Alliance Friendship or Affinity Then if Princes be glad whensoever they invade or be invaded to ally themselves with the Princes their Neighbours manytimes by costly Leagues and much Suite and Entreaty of Ambassadors if that may be don by one final Act as chusing such a puissant Prince to her Husband as we would most desire to be our Friend or Aid in Necessity either of Defence or Invasion why should not I think that it were better for the Queens Majesty to take such an one wherby she may be backed and strengthened and her Power as it were double and treble than to take one by whom she shal have no more Power Help Aid nor Succour brought unto her than she had before And it is to be feared that she shal rather have less For when Envy naturally kindleth amongst Equals if the Queen take one of her higher and stronger Nobility all the rest it wil be doubted wil envy his Felicity and tho in Words they speak him fair yet in Heart hardly wil they love him For they shal be as Rivals and Candidati for one Office where commonly he that hath obtained if of the inferior sort al the rest shal
to the Substance of the Realm and Riches both publick and private it would be no less Pity to think than it is needless to tell unto you especially For first what Debt the Realm was left in to be paid beyond the Seas you heard it declared by Mr. Secretary in the first Parliament of the Queens Majesty and how much it did exceed the Debt of King Edward VI. What was owing also to the Subjects within the Realm It was marvellous to hear how the private Substance was diminished Part might be seen by the Subsidy Books And in the first Parliaments of King Philip and Queen Mary You heard a Burgess of London make plain Declaration and proof that the City of London alone was worse in Substance in those Five Years by 300000 l. than it was at the Death of the late King Edward And if you will say that King Philip being so occupied with continual Wars in which the Emperor his Father left him could not be rich but her Majesty may take one that shall bring in great Wealth and Treasure and whom his Friends have lâ—st very rich This may be done I do not deny altho' it be unlikely that any Prince would be so unnatural to Rob Spoil make bare poor and naked his own Country or Realm to enrich this But if he should do doth he not think you look to be a Gainer by it I think he doth not mean to cast his Money away but possibly he may look for the greater Usury the longer he tarrieth for it and do as some men do adventure a little to get a great Treasure But grant that he looketh for nothing Even for mere Love and Royalty he will bestow the Money here in the Realm he will enrich the Queen's Majesty he will frankly spend all What shall he do when all is spent We see the Treasure of King Henry VII All the Treasure which Maximilian lâ—ft to the Emperour Charles and which came to him out of the Indiâ—s and other Countries which I take to be as rich to his Coffers as the Indies had an end That which in long time is slowly gathâ—red is if Occasion so serve soon spâ—nt and consumed I pray God then this sudden Riches make not again a long Repentaâ—â—â— this sudden joy a long Rueing this spâ—â—dy â—â—riching a longer Taking Whereas if we were content with our own as we know thâ— Coming in so we measure the spending If we will say that Yearly there shall come in the Revenues of that Realm which shall supply again the empty Coffers First I will ask you if that Realm you do speak of is kept with nothing And where that Realm shall stand that hath no Enemies near it no Garrison on the Frontiers no Soldiers to be paid no Officers to be kept no Charge to go out I know few Regions but all that ever can come of them ordinarily can do no more but keep their own ordinary Charges For I see when they have any extraordinary thing as War or Marriage to be made the Princes are constrained to seek extraordinary means by Subjects Love and other Devices to bear them I see this in France in Italy in Spain The rich Indies be so rich to the King of Portugal for all that He is only the Merchant of Spices to all Europe Yet now almost every man doth see that he is scarcely with the Revenues of them able to bear their Charges As Milain and Nâ—ples so the Charges of keeping them is no doubt incrâ—dible to him that hath not marked nor known it And the Accounts â—ruly made I assure you small Gains King Philip hath of them And if the Prince being away from thence remaining the Enemies should invade the Realm you speak of should it not be necessary trow you to employ that Revenue and more upon it Or if the People seeing their Treasure so wasted and their Realm impoverished should repine at it as some Countries would do and refuse to pay any more or if any other in his Absence should take upon him to usurp the State and pretend some Titles as we see to Ambitious Heads there never lack Titles either of Kindred or Commonwealth to Claim to themselves the Soveraignty what Gain shall be looked for from thence Nay what Charges shall we be put to by it Either we must abandon that Realm which were the greatest Dishonour that could be or else employ all our Force and Treasure to the Recovery thereof Either of which if they should chance as few Realms be long without them then casting our Cards aright we shall find very small Advantage And for Proof of this which I say we will but examine your own Examples Mary the Scotch Queen was highly advanced you say to the Dolphin who afterwards was the French King called Francis the Second But what Ricâ—es came by that Match to the Realm of Scotland Ask the Scots who for the great Oppreâ—â—ion which they suffered by the French and the great impoverishing of the poor Realm were fain to demand aid of us their old Enemies and yet in their Distress their most sure Friends and faithful Neighbours And then what Aid had she of the French I pray you when for the Misgovernment of them the â—â—bjects of her purchased Reâ—â—m she had almost lost the Government of her own natural and as I would call it Patrimonial Râ—alm which came to her by Inheritance from her Auncestors We will come to the third Mâ—ry the Daughter and Heir of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy because here you think to have your strongest Bulwark she Marrying Maximilian the Emperor's Son I cannot deny but her Posterity is now in divers places of Christendom the chief Rulers and Governors But I will deny that her Country of Burgundy is in so good an Estate as it was in her Fathers time For then it was Head and Chief but now it is Subject to the House of Austrich Then the Burgundians were reckoned the hardiest and most valiant Warriors now be the Spaniards Almains and Italians before them Their Riches were then a Terror to France a Marvel to all the World now it is but a little Patch to King Philip's Power And if they were not as well taxed and assessed in the Emperor Charles and this Mighty and Puissant King Philip's Time as ever they were the Burguudians were much to Blame to groan so fast Take Antwerp apart and a few small things by the Sea side which have had another Cause of Increase let us see if all the rest of the Cities be not greatly in Decay and in far worser State than they were when they had but a Duke to their Head As when one River falleth into another they do increase indeed and make larger Water but yet the lâ—ss River thereby loseth both his Name and strength And the biggest River that is falling into the Sea looseth his Force and Power and is salted as well as the rest be So a Kingdom swalloweth up
Name you already For you love Aliens and Strangers so well and praise so well all Countrys and Countrymen save England and Englishmen that 't is pity you were not born somewhere else And I think you be or should be some VVelchman and Named Lewelyn as one would say Lovealien or in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Well said he and laughed you do not well thus to Nick-name and Provoke me to be angry with you when you pray me for to speak for you It is happy your Tongue serveth you no better and that God hath sent a shrewd Cow short Horns None of us should escape you if your Tongue were as good as your Heart But yet I would it would have served you now it should have eased me well in confuting his Tale whom you have now Christned Mr. Agamus or VVedspite Which Tale was after such a sort I must confess unto you as I looked not for But yet I trust it may be answer'd and thereto if you give me a while patient Ears I will endeavour my self with a good Will II. Philoxenus or Love alien This Oration for the Queens Marrying IT shall not be amiss to begin saith he now Mr. Agamiâ— for it is like to be your Name at this Time where you began Which as methought was pretty and Philosophical Yet must I repeat the Mâ—tter somewhat higher Two things being appointed to be had in Election if the one be honest th' other dishonest the Election is easy to him that preferreth Vertue and Honesty to all other things altho' the Dishonest be more profitable or more pleasant ten thousand fold For always that which is honest and godly is to be taken And yet possibly this Election would not be so taken of every Man as hath appeared in them that have made War to their Country Proscription of their Citizens and have exercised a thousand Tyrannies for Ambition Profit or Pleasures-sake preferring the Dishonest things because they were profitable or pleasant before Honesly But where the Things propounded be both equal for that Part there the Election standeth in their Degrees as if Things of themselves may be Honest and Godly and the Contraries thereof may also so be and the one and the other may be used there the Circumstances do alter the Matter As Peace and War Punishment and Forgiveness Eating and Abstinence Marriage and Sole Life both not only permitted but allowed of God And according to the Circumstance of Time and Place Person and Occasion sometime th' one better sometime th' other And herein I think we do not vary Altho' you seem in your Tale to make them both Vertues I mean Virginity and Marriage Which I think you did after the common manner of Speaking rather than the true manner of Understanding For a right Vertue cannot be abused Either of these may be abused and encrease Damnation But as things indifferent Eating and Drinking Reasoning and Disputing Ruling and Obeying Sleeping and Waking Earnest and Play so these take of their Circumstances as I said before of Place Time and Person Cause Occasion or Necessity to make them good or bad Wherefore this is not so simply to be granted unto you that Sole Life is the better No tho' it be the harder but according as the Circumstances be Who that should begin being a private Person to bring in a new Sect or Religion to reform all the State and Order of that which hath been taught before not with Power but Perswasion not with Sword but with Miracle not with Violence but with Patience not with War but with Fleeing when he is persecuted from one place to another To him it is necessary and to all them that shall follow that kind of Policy to be disburthened of Care for his Wife of Charge for his Children of the Negligence of Servants of harkening to Accounts of Saving of his Stock and of all such Things as Marriage necessarily doth bring to the private or publick Person whosoever he be that is not altogether without that Affection which is most natural the which they that lack are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then to Christ then to St. Paul then to all them who at the first Time as it were the Sowing Time of Christian Religion were the Till-men of the Gospel ye see it was most necessary yea in a manner it could not well otherwise be done but that they should be Sole and unmarried That which was in their Persons and at that time best whether it be now and in the Queens Person best may justly be a great Doubt I cannot see but that Abraham having the Seed promised him wherein all Nations should be blessed was as Holy in knowing Sarah as Elias who was ravished into Heaven in his Virginity if no other Difference were but that Nor why Manue Manoah to whom Sampson was promised who should be the Deliverer of Israel did not as well therein as Elizaeus in keeping himself Sole who the Prophet said should slay all them that Iehu left Now let th' one be simply better than th' other Virginity than Mariage which it seemeth can hardly be gathered of St. Paul for he praiseth Virginity as better not for it self nor in its self but for having less Lett and Trouble than hath Marriage So that if a Marriage have less Let and Trouble the Virginity more then he preferreth Mariage Wherein it may appear that it is not as I said so better as Vertue is better than Vice nor as Gold than Silver nor scarcely as the Fine than the Base But let it be as both in one kind of Nature but the one as fine Gold the more to be esteemed th' other as base the less Yet where the Baser weigheth Ten pound and the Finer but one Ounce there must needs the Base in kind be better indeed the Courser in Nature of such things be more excellent in Use and Necessity Peradventure to a Student a Priest a Man of War and a Merchant-Adventurer the first were best because Care of Houshold and Family should happily much disturb them of their Studies the other because they are always in danger and absent from home it were best for them to live a Sole Life But for a Prince upon whose quiet Succession a great part of the Common-wealth doth hang whose Family is the Root and Foundation of inward Peace within the Realm to live Sole is to be an Author of such Mischief as no Man can wish to a Realm a greater And who would say then That to a Prince it is simply better to live Sole than to marry To kill the Prince who is the King 's Eldest Son is worthily made High-Treason What is it then not to kill one but all yea and not that but the Hope of all And you Mr. Aganius open your Lips to praise Virginity or Sole Life in our Queen whose Daughter much more Son or a Prince if God should send one as I trust God if it shall please her Highness to
marry shortly would send a Prince if you should once wish dead all Men might justly abhor you to the Death VVhat could you wish more if Domitian or Nero if Maximine or C. Caligula did Reign over us than that which the Soldiers did say when they slew their Children Ex mah genere ne catulum quidem relinquendum And because you come with what is good to God-ward and you take your sure Rule that which pleaseth God is best I pray you what is the Promise that he maketh to David If thy Sons walk before me saith he in truth with all their hearts thou shalt not want one who shall come out of thy Loins to sit upon the Throne of Israel And to Iebu for the zelous Revenge of Ahab's Iniquity that his Sons should sit upon the Throne of Israel to the fourth Generation Again What threatneth he to Saul for his Rebellion other than that the Kingdom should be translated from him and his Sons should not Reign after him To Ieroboam to Baasa and Achab for their Idolatry and Wickedness but that he would not leave of their Posterity one to piss against the Wall So that it may appear a Blessing of God a token of Faith in God and good Favour of God towards Princes when he sendeth them of their own Seed to Reign after them As the Contrary of Disfavour and Discontentment of God toward them when he cutteth off their Generation and leaveth them without Posterity and Issue of their Bodies to Reign after them Then if it be a Blessing to Princes to have Children to Inherit after them which sheweth the Favour of God it is a Curse to have no Posterity or the Posterity cut off which sheweth the Disfavour of God as appeareth most manifestly by these Examples of Scripture And Sole Life bringeth the Curse and want of Posterity and no other thing can bring the Blessing of lawful Children but Matrimony Why then may not I conclude by this judgment of Scripture that Matrimony in a Prince is that Good to be allowed and that Sole Life is that Evil to be eschewed And what hath the Queens Majesty deserved at your hands I pray you that you had rather she had the Curse which fell upon Saul Hieroboam Baaza and Aehab than the Blessing which David had and Abraham Now the Second Part Mr. Agamus was so well handled and so sinely you entred into your Matter and so well you shadowed it with your Histories and Examples of such things as have been done before that I assure you if I had not taken a good Triacle before and tyed my self to my Mast as Vlysses did to pass by Syrenes I had been caught as a Fish with a Hook and ye had led me by the Ears whether you had would Now marking it well and not swallowing up the Bait I am able to unwind my self that same way I was brought in You put us first into a great Fear of the Queens Majesties Person Of which what good English Heart is there which will not have Care Then ye amplified great Dangers and Disquietness Exaggerated great Cares Thoughts and Griess of her Highness Mind From all which as well of Body and Soul you found but one onely Refuge and as it were a Sanctuary of Virginity and Sole-Life as my Friend here my Godfather saith This Fancy came out of the School of Monkery who when they did see the Dangers and infinite Occasions of Pleasure Displeasure Honour Ambition Contempt Riches Poverty and all other such things as did vex them when they remained abroad and in the Common-wealth which was able to bring them from the true trade of Vertue and to bring them unto Vice and peradventure had once or twice don so already wherby they knew themselves the better of what Mettal they were made And then saw nothing of Monks and Friars but their Holy Coat their Becks and their Ducks and their Religions Words they thought that there was none other way to Heaven but to run into their Cloisters Where they thought they were so sure and the Gates so well kept that there could no Vice get in And when they were there as fast locked in as th' other they found themselves so well eased as the Fish that leapt out of the Frying-Pan into the Burning Coals Or as they that be Sea-sick when they come out of the Great Ship into the little Cock-Boat I wis their Choler goeth with them and till they come a-land they sind small case in the Chaunge Ye make a Mervaillous Matter of Danger in Womens Bearing of Children which ye exaggerated so much that when I heard I began to tremble with my self as to take their leave of the Church to prepare for present Death to fight hand to hand with Death without a Custrel or any Esquire to be in more danger than in a Foughten Field where Trumpets blow the Clarions sound the Guns thunder the Noise of the stroaks the Clashing of Armour the Clattering of Harness the Braying of the Horses the Groaning of Men Dying and the Gasping of the Dead teacheth almost to Heaven I thought I had been at the Battel of Muskleborough or Agincourt But when I looked again and saw so many fair Ladies so goodly Gentlewomen so fine and so trim Maids pas these Pykes so wel not once only but twice thrice yea sometimes twenty times so easily so merrily so quietly in their sine Beds of Down their Chambers hanged with Arras their Curtains and Coverings of Silk their Pillows and Cushions Embroidered with Gold and Silver-work their Warming-Pans their Perfuming-Pans and al such things so trick and trim about them And they aâ—â—r it look so fair and ruddy and so beautiful that it would make any man in the World enamoured of them And when I marked further what hast they made to go to the Battel again I began to laugh at my self and thought that the Fear in which you put me was with a Vizor only which you had taken upon you and so made me afraid as Children be afraid of Bearbuggs and Bulbeggers Why Is not the Bearing of Children painful Is not that dangerous say you Ask not that of me but of them who be never wel til their Paniers be ful which they are sure they cannot empty til they come to this terrible Battel that ye speak of Le ts see Many of them wil leave and take Truce any longer than their Month or time of Churching cometh out Which Month some of them think it so long of four Weeks that they end it most commonly at three weeks because they might the sooner come to such another of these Conflicts So much they be afraid of it It was my Chance to be at Dinner with the Countes of Ormond with whom Sir Francis Brian maried At which time she being merrily disposed among other Communications that Ladies and Gentlewomen had of this matter she said she had now born as I remember Ten Children and she was brought