Italy is observed to breed the most vertuous and most vicious men of any Nation these two having been long complained of at Rome in the name of the State of Venice and no satisfaction being given to the Venetians they seised their persons and committed them to prison The justice or injustice of such power then used by the Venetians had formerly had some calm debates betwixt the present Pope Clement the Eighth and that Republick for he did not excommunicate them considering as I conceive that in the late Council of Trent it was at last after many Politique disturbances and delayes and indeavours to preserve the Popes present power declar'd in order to a general reformation of those many Errours which were in time crept into the Church that though Discipline and especial Excommunication be one of the chief sinews of Church government and intended to keep men in obedience to it for which end it was declar'd to be very profitable yet it was also declar'd and advised to be used with great sobriety and care because experience had informed them that when it was pronounced unadvisedly or rashly it became more contemn'd then fear'd And though this was the advice of that Council at the Conclusion of it which was not many years before this quarrel with the Venetians yet this prudent patient Pope Clement dying Pope Paul the fiâ—t who succeeded him being a man of a much hotter temper brought this difference with the Venetians to a much higher Contention objecting those late acts of that State to be a diminution of his just power and limited a time for their revocation threatning if he were not obeyed to proceed to excommunication of the Republick who still offered to shew both reason and ancient custom to warrant their Actions But this Pope contrary to his Predecessors moderation required absolute obedience without disputes Thus it continued for about a year the Pope still threatning Excommunication and the Venetians still answering him with fair speeches and no performance till at last the Popes zeal to the Apostolick Sea did make him to excommunicate the Duke the whole Senate and all their Dominions and then shut up all their Churches charging the whole Clergy to forbear all sacred Offices to the Venetians till their Obedience should render them capable of Absolution But this act of the Popes did the more confirm the Venetians in their resolution not to obey him And to that end upon the hearing of his Interdict they presently published by sound of Trumpet a Proclamation to this effect That whosoever hath received from Rome any Copy of a Papal interdict publish'd there well against the Law of God as against the Honour of this Nation shall presently render it to the Councel of Ten upon pain of death Then was the Inquisition presently suspended by Order of the State and the Flood-gates being thus set open any pleasant or scoffing wit might safely vent it self against the Pope either by free speaking or in Print Matters thus heightned the State advised with Father Paul a holy and Learned Fryer the Authour of the History of the Council of Trent whose advice was Neither to Provoke the Pope nor lose their own Right he declaring publickly in Print in the name of the State That the Pope was trusted to keep two Keyes one of Prudence and the other of Power And that if they were not both used together Power alone is not effectual in an Excommunication And thus it continued till a report was blown abroad that the Venetians were all turned Protestants which was believed by many for that it was observ'd the English Ambassadour was so often in conference with the Senate aud his Chaplain Mr. Bedel more often with Father Paul And also for that the Republick of Venice was known to give Commisâ—â—on to Gregory Justiniano then their Ambassadour in England to make all these proceedings known to the King and to crave a Promise of his assistance if need should require and in the mean time the King's advice and judgment which was the same that he gave to Pope Clement at his first coming to the Crown of England that Pope then moving him to an Union with the Roman Church namely To endeavour the calling of a free Council for the settlement of peace in Christendom And that he doubed not but that the French King and divers other Princes would joyn to assist in so good a work and in the mean time the sin of this Breach both with his and the Venetians Dominions must of necessity lie at the Pope's door In this contention which lasted several years the Pope grew still higher and the Venetians more resolv'd and careless still acquainting King James with their proceedings which was done by the help of Sir Henry Wotton Mr. Bedel and Padre Paulo whom the Venetians did then call to be one of their Consultors of State and with his Pen to defend their Cause which was by him so performed that the Pope saw plainly he had weakned his Power by exceeding it and offered the Venetians Absolution upon very easie terms which the Venetians still slighting did at last obtain by that which was scarce so much as a shew of acknowledging it For they made an order that in that day in which they were absolv'd there should be no publick rejoycing nor any Bonefires that night lest the Common people might judg they were absolved for committing a fault These Contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo his knowledge and interest with King James for whose sake principally Padre Paul compiled that eminent History of the remarkable Council of Trent which History was as fast as it was written sent in several sheets in Letters by Sir Henry VVotton Mr Bedel and Mr. Bedel and others unto King James and the then Bishop of Canterbury in England and there first made publick both in English and in the universal Language For eight years after Sir Henry Wottons going into Italy he stood fair and highly valued in the Kings opinion but at last became much clouded by an accident which I shall proceed to relate At his first going Embassadour into Italy as he passed through Germany he stayed some dayes at Augusta where having been in his former Travels well known by many of the best note for Learning and Ingeniousness those that are esteemed the Virtuosi of that Nation with whom he passing an evening in merriments was requested by Christopher Flecamore to write some Sentence in his Albo a Book of white paper which for that purpose many of the German Gentry usually carry about then and Sir Henry Wotton consenting to the motion took an occasion from some accidental discourse of the present Company to write a pleasant definition of an Embassadour in these very words Legatus est vir bonus peregre mismissus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have been thus Englished An Ambassadour is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good
advis'd him to return presently to England and joy the King with his new and better Title and there wait upon Fortune for a better employment When King James came into England he found amongst other of the late Queens Officers the Lord Wotton Comptroller of the House of whom he demanded If he knew one Henry Wotton that had spent much time in forreign Travel The Lord replied he knew him well and that he was his Brother then the King asking where he then was was answered at Venice or Florence but by late Letters from thence he understood he would suddenly be at Paris Send for him said the King and when he shall come into England bid him repair to me The Lord Wotton after a little wonder asked the King If he knew him to which the King answered You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the Gentleman to me Not many Months after this Discourse the Lord Wotton brought his brother to attend the King who took him in His Arms and bade him welcome by the name of Octavio Baldi saying he was the most honest and therefore the best Dissembler that ever he met with And said Seeing I know you neither want Learning Travel nor Experience and that I have had so real a Testimony of your faithfulness and abilities to manage an Embassage I have sent for you to declare my purpose which is to make use of you in that kind hereafter And indeed the King did so most of those two and twenty years of his Raign but before he dismist Octavio Baldi from his present attendance upon him he restored him to his old name of Henry Wotton by which he then knighted him Not long after this the King having resolved according to his Motto Beati pacifici to have a friendship with his Neighbour Kingdoms of France and Spain and also for divers weighty reasons to enter into an Alliance with the State of Venice and to that end to send Ambassadors to those several places did propose the choice of these Employments to Sir Henry Wotton who considering the smallness of his own Estate which he never took care to augment and knowing the Courts of great Princes to be sumptuous and necessarily expensive inclined most to that of Venice as being a place of more retirement and best suiting with his Genius who did ever love to joyn with Business Study and a tryal of natural Experiments for both which fruitful Italy that Darling of Nature and Cherisher of all Arts is so justly framed in all parts of the Christian World Sir Henry having after some short time and consideration resolved upon Venice and a large allowance being appointed by the King for his voyage thither and a setled maintenance during his stay there he left England nobly accompanied through France to Venice by Gentlemen of the best families and breeding that this Nation afforded they were too many to name but these two for following reasons may not be omitted Sir Albertus Morton his Nephew who went his Secretary and William Bedel a man of choice Learning and sanctified Wisdom who went his Chaplain And though his dear friend Dr. Donne then a private Gentleman was not one of that Number that did personally accompany him in this Voyage yet the reading of this following Letter sent by him to Sir Henry Wotton the morning before he left England may testifie he wanted not his friends best wishes to attend him SIR AFter those reverend papers whose soul is Our good and great Kings lov'd hand and feard name By which to you he derives much of his And how he may makes you almost the same A Taper of his Torch a Copy writ From his Original and a fair Beam Of the same warm and dazling Sun though it Must in another Sphere his vertue stream After those Learned Papers which your hand Hath stor'd with notes of use and pleasure too From which rich treasury you may command Fit matter whether you will write or do After those loving Papers where Friends send With glad grief to your Sea-ward-steps farewel Which thicken on you now as prayers ascend To heaven on troops at a good mans passing-bell Admit this honest Paper and allow It such an audience as your self would ask What you would say at Venice this sayes now And has for nature what you have for task To swear much love nor to be chang'd before Honour alone will to your fortune fit Nor shall I then honour your fortune more Than I have done your honour-wanting-wit But 't is an easier load though both oppress To want than govern greatness for we are In that our own and onely business In this we must for others vices care 'T is therefore well your spirits now are plac'd ore-past In their last furnace in activity Which fits them Schools and Courts and Wars To touch and taste in any best degree For me if there be such a thing as I Fortune if there be such a thing as she Finds that I bear so well her tyrannie That she thinks nothing else so fit for me But though she part us to hear my oft prayers For your increase God is as near me here And to send you what I shall beg his stairs In length and ease are alike every where J. Donne SIR Henry Wotton was received by the State of Venice with much honour and gladness both for that he delivered his Embassage most elegantly in the Italian Language and came also in such a Juncture of time as his Masters friendship seem'd useful for that Republick the time of his coming thither was about the year 1604. Leonardo Donato being then Duke a wise and resolv'd man and to all purposes such Sir Henry VVotton would often say it as the State of Venice could not then have wanted there having been formerly in the time of Pope Clement the eighth some contests about the priviledges of Church-men and the power of the Civil Magistrate of which for the information of common Readers I shall say a little because it may give light to some passages that follow About the year 1603. the Republick of Venice made several Injunctions against Lay-persons giving Lands or Goods to the Church without Licence from the Civil-Magistrate and in that inhibition they exprest their reasons to be For that when it once came into the hands of the Ecclesiasticks it was not subject to alienation by reason whereof the lay people being at their death charitable even to excess the Clergy grew every day more numerous and pretending exemption from all publick service and taxes the burthen did grow too heavy to be born by the Laity Another occasion of difference was That about this time complaints were justly made by the Venetians against two Clergy-men the Abbot of Nervesa and a Canon of Vicenza for committing such sins as I think not fit to name nor are these mentioned with an Intent to fix a Scandal upon any Calling for holiness is not tyed to Ecclesiastical Orders and
most Gracious Majesty HAving been informed that certain persons have by the good wishes of the Archbishop of Armagh been directed hither with a most humble Petition unto Your Majesty that You will be pleased to make Mr. William Bedel now resident upon a small Benefice in Suffolk Governor of your Colledge at Dublin for the good of that Society and my self being required to render unto Your Majesty some testimony of the said William Bedel who was long my Chaplain at Venice in the time of my first imployment there I am bound in all Conscience and Truth so far as Your Majesty will vouchsafe to accept my poor judgement to affirm of him That I think hardly a fitter man for that Charge could have been propounded unto Your Majesty in Your whole Kingdom for singular Erudition and Piety Conformity to the Rites of the Church and Zeal to advance the Cause of God wherein his Travels abroad were not obscure in the time of the Excommunication of the Venetians For it may please Your Majesty to know that this is the man whom Padre Paulo took I may say into his very soul with whom he did communicate the inwardest thoughts of his heart from whom he professed to have received more knowledge in all Divinity both Scholastical and Positive than from any that he had ever practised in his dayes of which all the passages were well known to the King Your Father of most blessed memory And so with Your Majesties good favour I will end this needless Office for the general Fame of his Learning his Life and Christian temper and those Religious Labours which himself hath dedicated to your Majesty do better describe him than I am able Your MAJESTIES Most humble and faithful Servant H. WOTTON TO this Letter I shall add this That he was to the great joy of Sir Henry Wotton made Governor of the said Colledge and that after a fair discharge of his duty and trust there he was thence removed to be Bishop of Kilmore In both which places his life was so holy as seemed to equal the primitive Christians for as they so he kept all the Ember-weeks observed besides his private devotions the Canonical hours of Prayer very strictly and so he did all the Feasts and Fast-dayes of his Mother the Church of England his Patience and Charity were both such as shewed his affections were set upon things that are above for indeed his whole life brought forth the fruits of the Spirit there being in him such a remarkable meekness that as St. Paul advised his Timothy in the Election of a Bishop That he have a good report of those that be without so had he for those that were without even those that in point of Religion were of the Roman perswasion of which there were very many in his Diocess did yet ever look upon him with respect and reverence and testified it by a concealing and safe protecting him in the late horrid Rebellion in Ireland when the fury of the wild Irish knew no distinction of persons and yet there and then he was protected and cherished by those of a contrary perswasion and there and then he dyed though not by violence And with him was lost many of his learned Writings which were thought worthy of preservation and amongst the rest was lost the Bible which by many years labour and conference and study he had translated into the Irish Tongue with an intent to have printed it for publick use More might be said of Mr. Bedel who I told the Reader was Sir Henry Wottons first Chaplain and much of his second Chaplain Isaac Bargrave Doctor in Divinity and the late learned and hospitable Dean of Canterbury as also of the Merit of many others that had the happiness to attend Sir Henry in his forreign imployments But the Reader may think that in this digression I have already carried him too far from Eaton-Colledge and therefore I shall lead him back as gently and as ordeâ—ly as I may to that place for a further conference concerning Sir Henry Wotton Sir Henry Wotton had propos'd to himself before he entred into his Collegiate life to write the life of Martin Luther and in it the History of the Reformation as it was carried on in Germany For the doing of which he had many advantages by his several Embassies into those parts and his interest in the several Princes of the Empire by whose means he had access to the Records of all the Hans Towns and the knowledge of many secret passages that fell not under common view and in these he had made a happy progress as is well known to his worthy friend Dr. Duppa the late Reverend Bishop of Salisbury but in the midst of this design His late Majesty King Charles that knew the value of Sir Henry Wottons Pen did by a perswasive loving violence to which may be added a promise of 500 l. a year force him to lay Luther aside and betake himself to write the History of England in which he proceeded to write some short Characters of a few Kings as a foundation upon which he meant to build but for the present meant to be more large in the story of Henry the sixth the Founder of that Colledge in which he then enjoy'd all the worldly happiness of his present being but Sir Henry dyed in the midst of this undertaking and the footsteps of his labours are not recoverable by a more than common diligence This is some account both of his inclination and the employment of his time in the Colledge where he seemed to have his Youth renewed by a continual conversation with that Learned Society and a daily recourse of other Friends of choicest breeding and parts by which that great blessing of a chearful heart was still maintained he being alwayes free even to the last of his dayes from that peevishness which usually attends Age. And yet his mirth was sometimes damp'd by the remembrance of divers old Debts partly contracted in his forreign Employments for which his just Arrears due from the King would have made satisfaction but being still delayed with Couâ—t-promises and finding some decayes of health he did about two years before his death out of a Christian desire that none should be a loser by it make his last Will concerning which a doubt still remains whether it discovered more holy wit or conscionable policy But there is no doubt but that his chief design was a Christian endeavour that his Debts might be satisfied And that it may remain as such a Testimony and a Legacy to those that lov'd him I shall here impart it to the Reader as it was found writ with his own hand IN the Name of God Almighty and All-merciful I Henry Wotton Provost of His Majesties Colledge by Eaton being mindfâ—â—â— of mine own mortality which the sin of our first Paâ—â—ents did bring upon all flesh Do by this last Will and Testament thus dispose of my self and the poor things I
with her presence I leave to the most hopeful Prince the Picture of the elected and crowned Queen of Bohemia his Aunt of clear and resplendent vertues through the clouds of her Fortune To my Lords Grace of Canterbury now being I leave my Picture of Divine Love rarely copied from one in the Kings Galleries of my presentation to his Majesty beseeching him to receive it as a pledge of my humble reverence to his great Wisdom And to the most worthy Lord Bishop of London Lord high Treasurer of England in true admiration of his Christian simplicity and contempt of earthly pomp I leave a Picture of Heraclitus bewailing and Democritus laughing at the world Most humbly beseeching the said Lord Archbishop his Grace and the Lord Bishop of London of both whose favours I have tasted in my life time to intercede with our most gracious Soveraign after my death in the bowels of Jesus Christ That out of compassionate memory of my long Services wherein I more studied the publick Honour then mine own Utility some Order may be taken out of my Arrears due in the Exchequer for such satisfaction of my Creditors as those whom I have Ordained Supervisors of this my â—ast Will and Testament shall present unto their Lordships without their farther trouble Hoping likewise in his Majesties most indubitable Goodness that he will keep me from all prejudice which I may otherwise suffer by any defect of formality in the Demand of my said Arrears To for a poor addition to his Cabinet I leave as Emblems of his attractive Vertues and Obliging Nobleness my great Load-stone and a piece of Amber of both kindes naturally united and onely differing in degree of Concoction which is thought somewhat rare Item A piece of Christal Sexangular as they grow all grasping divers several things within it which I bought among the Rhâ—â—tian Alps in the very place where it grew recommending most humbly unto his Lordship the reputation of my poor Name in the point of my debts as I have done to the forenamed Spiritual Lords and am heartily sorry that I have no better token of my humble thankfulness to his honoured Person It ' I leave to Sir Francis Windebank one of his Majesties principall Secretaries of State whom I found my great friend in point of Necessity the four Seasons of old Bassano to hang near the Eye in his Parlour being in little form which I bought at Venice where I first entred into his most worthy Acquaintance To the above named Doctor Bargrave Dean of Canterbury I leave all my Italian Books not disposed in this Will I leave to him likewise my Viol de Gamba which hath been twice with me in Italy in which Country I first contracted with him an unremovable Affection To my other Supervisor Mr. Nicholas Pey I leave my Chest or Cabinet of Instruments and Engines of all kinds of uses in the lower box whereof are some fit to be bequeathed to none but so entire an honest man as he is I leave him likewise forty pound for his pains in the solicitation of my Arrears and am sorry that my ragged Estate can reach no further to one that hath taken such care for me in the same kind during all my forreign Imployments To the Library at Eaton Colledg I leave all my Manuscripts not before disposed and to each of the Fellows a plain Ring â—of Gold enameld black all save the verge with this Motto within Amor unit omnia This is my last Will and Testament save that shall be added by a Schedule thereunto annexed Written on the first of October in the present year of our Redemption 1637. And subscribed by my self with the Testimony of these Witnesses Nich. Oudert Geo. Lash H. Wotton ANd now because the mind of man is best satisfied by the knowledge of Events I think fit to declare that every one that was named in his Will did gladly receive their Legacies by which and his most just and passionate desires for the payment of his debts they joyned in assisting the Overseers of his Will and by their joynt endeavours to the King then whom none was more willing conscionable satisfaction was given for his just debts The next thing wherewith I shall acquaint the Reader is That he went usually once a year if not oftner to the beloved Bocton-hall where he would say he found both cure for all cares by the company which he called the living furniture of that place and a restorative of his strength by the Connaturalness of that which he called his genial aire He yearly went also to Oxford But the Summer before his death he changed that for a journey to Winchester Colledge to which School he was first removed from Bocton And as he returned from Winchester towards Eaton Colledge said to a friend his Companion in that Journey How usefull was that advice of a Holy Monk who perswaded his friend to perform his Customary devotions in a constant place because in that place we usually meet with those very thoughts which possessed us at our last being there And I find it thus far experimentally true that at my now being in that School and seeing that very place where I sate when I was a boy occasioned me to remember those very thoughts of my youth which then possessed me sweet thoughts indeed that promised my growing years numerous pleasures without mixtures of cares and those to be enjoyed when time which I therefore thought slow pac'd had changed my youth into manhood But age and experience have taught me that those were but empty hopes And though my dayes have been many and those mixt with more pleasures than the sons of men do usually enjoy yet I have alwâ—â—es found it true as my Saviour did fore-tell Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof Nevertheless I saw there a succession of boyes using the same recreations and questionless possessed with the same thoughts that then possessed me Thus one generation succeeds another both in their lives recreations hopes fears and dâ—aths Aâ—ter his return from Winchester which was about nine Moneths before his death he fell into a dangerous Fever which weakned him much he was then also much troubled with an Asthma or continual short spitting but that infirmity he seemed to overcome in a good degree by leaving Tobacco which he had taken somewhat immoderately And about two moneths before his death in October 1639. he again fell into a Fever which though he seem'd to recover yet these still left him so weak that those common infirmities which were wont like civil Friends to visit him and after some short time to depart came both oftner and at last took up their constant habitations with him still weakning his body of which he grew dayly more sensible retiring oftner into his Study and making many Papers that had past his Pen both in the dayes of his youth and business useless by fire These and several unusual expressions to his Friends seemed
holy numbers weave A Crown of Sacred Sonnets sit to adorn A dying Martyrs brow or to be worn On that blest head of Mary Magdalen After she wip'd Christs feet but not till then Did he fit for such Penitents as she And he to use leave us a Letanie Which all devout men love and doubtless shall As times grow better grow more Classicall Did he write Hymns for Piety and Wit Equal to those great grave Prudentius writ Spake he all Languages Knew he all Laws The grounds and use of Physick but because 'T was mercenary wav'd it went to see That happy place of Christs Nativity Did he return and preach him preach him so As since St. Paul none ever did they know Those happy souls that hear'd him know this truth Did he confirm thy ag'd convert thy youth Did he these wonders and is his dear loss Mourn'd by so few few for so great a Cross. But sure the silent are ambitious all To be close Mourners at his Funerall If not in common pity they forbear By Repititions to renew our care Or knowing grief conceiv'd and bid consumes Mans life insensibly as poyson fumes Corrupt the brain take silence for the way To'inlarge the soul from these walls mud and clay Materials of this body to remain With him in Heaven where no promiscuous pain Lessens those joyes we have for with him all Are satisfied with joyes essentiall Dwell on these joyes my thoughts oh do not call Grief back by thinking on his Funerall Forget he lov'd me waste not my swift years Which haste to Davids seventy fill'd with fears And sorrows for his death Forget his parts They find a living grave in good mens hearts And for my first is daily paid for sin Forget to pay my second sigh for him Forget his powerful preaching and forget I am his Convert Oh my frailty let My flesh be no more heard it will obtrude This Lethargy so shou'd my gratitude My vows of gratitude shou'd so be broke Which can no more be than his vertues spoke By any but himself for which cause I Write no Incomiums but this Elegy Which as a Free-will offering I here give Fame and the World and parting with it grieve I want abilities fit to set forth A Monument great as Donne's matchless worth April 7. 1631. Iz Wa. FINIS THE LIFE OF S r HENRY WOTTON SOMETIME Provost of Eaton Colledge There are them that have left a name behinde them so that their praise shall be spoken of Ecclus. 44. 8. LONDON Printed by Thomas Newcomb for Richard Marriot and sold by most Booksellers 1670. THE LIFE OF Sir HENRY WOTTON SIR Henry Wotton whose Life I now intend to write was born in the year of our Redemption 1568. in Bocton-hall commonly called Bocton or Bougton place in the Parish of Bocton Malherb in the fruitful Country of Kent Bocton-hall being an ancient and goodly structure beautifying and being beautified by the Parish Church of Bocton Malherb adjoyning unto it and both seated within a fair Park of the Wottons on the Brow of such a Hill as gives the advantage of a large Prospect and of equal pleasure to all Beholders But this House and Church are not remarkable for any thing so much as for that the memorable Family of the Wottons have so long inhabited the one and now lie buried in the other as appears by their many Monuments in that Church the Wottons being a Family that hath brought forth divers Persons eminent for Wisdom and Valour whose Heroick Acts and Noble Imployments both in England and in forraign parts have adorn'd themselves and this Nation which they have served abroad faithfully in the discharge of their great trust and prudently in their Negotiations with several Princes and also serv'd it at home with much Honour and Justice in their wise managing a great part of the publick affairs thereof in the various times both of War and Peace But lest I should be thought by any that may incline either to deny or doubt this Truth not to have observed Moderation in the commendation of this Family And also for that I believe the Merits and Memory of such persons ought to be thankfully recorded I shall offer to the consideration of every Reader out of the testimony of their Pedegree and our Chronicles a part and but a part of that just Commendation which might be from thence enlarged and shall then leave the indifferent Reader to judge whether my errour be an excess or defect of Commendations Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight was born in the year of Christ 1463. He living in the Reign of King Edward the fourth was by him trusted to be Lieutenant of Guisnes to be Knight Porter and Comptroller of Callais where he dyed and lies honourably buried Sir Edward Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight Son and Heir of the said Sir Robert was born in the year of Christ 1489. in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh He was made Treasurer of Callais and of Privie-Councel to King Henry the Eight who offered him to be Lord Chancellour of England but saith Hollinshed out of a virtuous modesty he refused it Thomas Wotton of Bocton Malherb Esquire Son and Heir of the said Sir Edward and the Father of our Sir Henry that occasions this relation was born in the year of Christ 1521. He was a Gentleman excellently educated and studious in all the Liberal Arts in the knowledg whereof he attained unto a great perfection who though he had besides those abilities a very Noble and plentiful estate and the ancient Interest of his Predecessors many invitations from Queen Elizabeth to change his Country Recreations and Retirement for a Court-Life offering him a Knight-hood she was then with him at his Bocton-hall and that to be but as an earnest of some more honorable and more profitable imployment under Her yet he humbly refused both being a man of great modesty of a most plain and single heart of an antient freedom and integrity of mind A commendation which Sir Henry Wotton took occasion often to remember with great gladness and thankfully to boast himself the Son of such a Father From whom indeed he derived that noble ingenuity that was alwayes practised by himself and which he ever both commended and cherish'd in others This Thomas was also remarkable for Hospitality a great Lover and much beloved of his Country to which may justly be added that he was a Cherisher of Learning as appears by that excellent Antiquary M. William Lambert in his perambulation of Kent This Thomas had four sons Sir Edward Sir James Sir John and Sir Henry Sir Edward was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and made Comptroller of Her Majesties Houshould He was saith Cambden a man remarkable for many and great Imployments in the State during her Reign and sent several times Ambassadour into Forraign Nations After her death he was by King James made Comptroller of his Houshold and called to be of his
year of his Age he proceeded Master of Arts and at that time read in Latine three Lectures â—e Oculo wherein he having described the Form the Motion the curious composure of the Eye and demonstrated how of those very many every humour and nerve performs its distinct Office so as the God of Order hath appointed without mixture or confusion and all this to the advantage of man to whom it is given not onely as the bodies guide but whereas all other of his senses require time to inform the Soul this in an instant apprehends and warns him of danger teaching him in the very eyes of others to discover wit folly love and hatred After these observations he fell to dispute this Optique question VVhether we see by the Emission of the Beams from within or Reception of the Species from without and after that and many other like learned disquisitions in the Conclusion of his Lectures he took a fair occasion to beautifie his discourse with a Commendation of the blessing and benefit of Seeing By which we do not only discover Natures Secrets but with a continued content for the eye is never weary of seeing behold the great Light of the VVorld and by it discover the Fabrick of the Heavens and both the Order and Motion of the Celestial Orbs nay that if the eye look but downward it may rejoyce to behold the bosome of the Earth our common Mother embroidered and adorned with numberless and various Flowers which man sees daily grow up to perfection and then silently moralize his own condition who in a short time like those very Flowers decayes withers and quickly returns again to that Earth from which both had thei first being These were so exactly debated and so Rhetorically heightned as among other admirers caused that learned Italian Albericus Gentilis then Professor of the Civil Law in Oxford to call him Henrice mi ocelle which dear expression of his was also used by divers of Sir Henry's dearest Friends and by many other persons of Note during his stay in the University But his stay there was not long at least not so long as his â—riends once intended for the year after Sir Henry proceeded Master of Arts his father whom Sir Henry did never mention without this or some like reverential expression as That good man my father or My father the best of men about that time this good man changed this for a better life leaving to Sir Henry as to his other younger sons a rent-charge of an hundred Mark a yearâ— to be paid for ever out of some one of his Mannors of a much greater value And here though this good man be dead yet I wish a Circumstance or two that concern him may not be buried without a Relation which I shall undertake to do for that I suppose they may so much concern the Reader to know that I may promise my self a pardon for a short Digression IN the year of our Redemption 1553. Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury whom I formerly mentioned being then Ambassador in France dream'd that his Nephew this Thomas Wotton was inclined to be a party in such a project as if he were not suddenly prevented would turn both to the loss of his life and ruine of his Family Doubtless the good Dean did well know that common Dreams are but a senseless paraphrase on our waking thoughts or of the business of the day past or are the result of our over ingaged affections when we betake our selves to rest and that the observation of them may turn to silly Superstitions as they too often do But though he might know this and might also believe that Prophesies are ceased yet doubtless he could not but consider that all Dreams are not to be neglected or cast away and did therefore rather lay this Dream aside than intend totally to lose it for that dreaming the same again the Night following when it became a double Dream like that of Pharaoh of which dreams the learned have made many observations and that it had no dependance â—n is waking thoughts much less on the desires of his heart then he did more seriously consider it and remembred that Almighty God was pleased in a Dream to reveal and to assure Monica the Mother of St. Austin that he her son for whom she wept so bitterly and prayed so much should at last become a Christian This the good Dean considered and considering also that Almighty God though the causes of Dreams be often unknown hath even in these latter times by a certain illumination of the soul in sleep discovered many things that humane wisdom could not foresee Upon these considerations he resolved to use so prudent a remedy by way of prevention as might introduce no great inconvenience to either party And to that end he wrote to the Queen 't was Queen Mary and besought her That she would cause his Nephew Thomas Wotton to be sent for out of Kent and that the Lords of her Council might interrogate him in some such feigned questions as might give a colour for his Commitment into a favourable Prison declaring that he would acquaint her Majesty with the true reason of his request when he should next become so happy as to see and speak to her Majesty 'T was done as the Dean desired and in Prison I must leave Mr. Wotton till I have told the Reader what followed At this time a Marriage was concluded betwixt our Queen Mary and Philip King of Spain And though this was concluded with the advice if not by the persuasion of her Privy Council as having many probabilities of advantage to this Nation yet divers persons of a contrary perswasion did not onely declare against it but also raised Forces to oppose it believing as they said it would be a means to bring England under subjection to Spain and make those of this Nation slaves to strangers And of this number Sir Thomas Wyat of Boxley-Abby in Kent betwixt whose Family and the Family of the Wottons there had been an ancient and intire friendship was the principal Actor who having perswaded many of the Nobility and Gentry especially of Kent to side with him and being defeated and taken Prisoner was legally arraigned condemned and lost his life So did the Duke of Suffolk and divers others especially many of the Gentry of Kent who were there in several places executed as Wyats assistants And of this number in all probability had Mr. Wotton been if he had not been confin'd for though he was not ignorant that another mans Treason makes it mine by concealing it yet he durst confess to his Uncle when he returned into England and came to visit him in Prison that he had more than an intimation of Wyats intentions and thought he had not continued actually innocent if his Uncle had not so happily dream'd him into a Prison out of which place when he was delivered by the same hand that caused his Commitment they both
considered the Dream more seriously and then both joyned in praising God for it That God who tyes himself to no Rules either in preventing of evil or in shewing of mercy to those whom of his good pleasure he hath chosen to love And this Dream was the more considerable because many of the Dreams of this Thomas Wotton did most usually prove ture both in foretelling things to come and discovering things past of which I will give the Reader but one particular more namely this This Thomas a little before his death dream'd that the University Treasury was robbed by Townsmen and poor Scholars and that the number was five And being that day to write to his Son Henry at Oxford he thought it worth so much pains as by a Postscript in his Letter to make a slight inquiry of it the Letter which was writ out of Kent and dated three dayes before came to his Sons hands the very morning after the night in which the Robbery was committed and when the City and University were both in a perplext Enquest of the Thieves then did Sir H. Wotton shew his fathers Letter and by it such light was given of this work of darkness that the five guilty persons were presently discovered and apprehended without putting the Univesity to so much trouble as the casting of a Figure And it may yet be more considerable that this Nicholas and Thomas Wotton should both being men of holy lives of even tempers and much given to fasting and prayer foresee and foretell the very dayes of their own death Nicholas did so being then Seventy years of age and in perfect health Thomas did the like in the 65 year of his age who being then in London where he dyed and foreseeing his death there gave direction that his Body should be carried to Bocton and though he thought his Uncle Nicholas worthy of that noble Monument which he built for him in the Cathedral Church of Canterbury yet this humble man gave direction concerning himself to be buried privately and especially without any pomp at his Funeral BUt it may now seem more then time that I return to Sir Henry Wotton at Oxford where after his optick Lecture he was taken into such a bosom friendship with the learned Albericus Gentilis whom I formerly named that if it had been possible Gentilis would have breathed all his excellent knowledge both of the Mathematicks and Law into the breast of his dear Harry for so Gentilis used to call him and though he was not able to do that yet there was in Sir Henry such a propenfity and connaturalness to the Italian Language and those Studies whereof Gentilis was a great Master that this friendship between them did daily increase and proved daily advantagious to Sir Henry for the improvement of him in several Sciences during his stay in the University From which place before I shall invite the Reader to follow him into a forreign Nation though I must omit to mention divers persons that were then in Oxford of memorable note for Learning and Friends to Sir Henry Wotton yet I must not omit the mention of a love that was there begun betwixt him and Dr. Donne sometimes Dean of St. Pauls a man of whose abilities I shall forbear to say any thing because he who is of this Nation that pretends to Learning or Ingenuity and is ignorant of Dr. Donne deserves not to know him The friendship of these two I must not omit to mention being such a friendship as was generously elemented And as it was begun in their Youth and in an University and there maintained by correspondent Inclinations and Studies so it lasted till Age and Death forced a Separation In Oxford he stayed till about two years after his fathers death at which time he was about the two and twentieth year of his Age and having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning and knowledge of the Arts he then laid aside his Books and betook himself to the useful Library of Travel and a more general Conversation with Mankind employing the remaining part of his Youth his industry and fortune to adorn his mind and to purchase the rich treasure of forreign knowledge of which both for the secrets of Nature the dispositions of many Nations their several Laws and Languages he was the possessor in a very large measure as I shall faithfully make to aâ—pear before I take my Pen from the following Narration of his Life In his Travels which was almost nine years before his return into England he stayed but one year in France and most of that in Geneva where he became acquainted with Theodor Bezâ— then very aged and with Isaac Causabon in whose fathers house if I be rightly informed Sir Henry Wotton was lodged and there contracted a most worthy friendship with him and his most learned Son Three of the remaining eight years were spent in Germany the other five in Italy the Stage on which God appointed he should act a great part of his life where both in Rome Venice and Florence he became acquainted with the most eminent men for Learning and all manner of Arts as Picture Sculpture Chymistry Architecture and divers other manual Arts even Arts of inferiour nature of all which he was a most dear Lover and a most excellent Judge He returned out of Italy into England about the Thirtieth year of his Age being then noted by many both for his person and comportment for indeed he was of a choice shape tall of stature and of a most perswasive behaviour which was so mixed with sweet Discourse and Civilities as gained him much love from all persons with whom he entred into an acquaintance And whereas he was noted in his Youth to have a sharp wit and apt to jest that by Time Travel and Conversation was sâ— polish'd and made so useful that his company seemed to be one of the delights of Mankind insomuch as Robert Earl of Essex then one of the darlings of fortune and in greatest favour with Queen Elizabeth invited him first into a friendship and after a knowledge of his great abilities to be one of his Secretaries the other being Mr. Henry Cuffe sometimes of Merton Colledge in Oxford and there also the acquaintance of Sir Henry Wotton in his Youth Mr. Cuffe being then a man of no common note in the University for his Learning nor after his removal from that place for the great abilities of his mind nor indeed for the fatalness of his end Sir Henry Wotton being now taken into a serviceable friendship with the Earl of Essex did personally attend his Counsels and Employments in two Voyages at Sea against the Spaniard and also in that which was the Earls last into Ireland that Voyage wherein he did so much provoke the Queen to anger then and worse at his return into England upon whose immovable favour he had built such sandy hopes as incouraged him to those undertakings which with the help
of a contrary Faction suddenly caused his Commitment to the Tower Sir Henry Wotton observing this though he was not of that Faction for the Earls followers were also divided into their several interests which incouraged the Earl to those undertakings which proved so fatal to him and divers of his Confederation yet knowing Treason to be so comprehensive as to take in even Circumstances and out of them to make such Conclusions as subtle States-men shall project either for their revenge or safety considering this he thought prevention by absence out of England a better security than to stay in it and plead his innocency in a Prison Therefore did he so soon as the Earl was apprehended very quickly and as privately glide through Kent to Dover without so much as looking toward his native and beloved Bocton and was by the help of favourable winds and liberal payment within Sixteen hours after his departure from London set upon the French shore where he heard shortly after that the Earl was Arraign'd Condemned and Beheaded that his Friend Mr. Cuffe was hang'd and divers other persons of Eminent Quality executed The Times did not look so favourably upon Sir Henry Wotton as to invite his return into England having therefore procured of his elder brother the Lord Wotton an assurance that his Annuity should be paid him in Italy thither he went happily renewing his intermitted friendship and interest and indeed his great content in a new conversation with his old acquaintance in that Nation and more particularly in Florence which City is not more eminent for the great Dukes Court then for the great recourse of men of choicest note for Learning and Arts in which number he there met with his old Friend Seignior Vietta a Gentleman of Venice and then taken to be Secretary to the Great Duke of Tâ—â—cany After some stay in Florence he went the 4th time to visit Rome where in the English Colledge he had very many Friends their humanity made them really so though they knew him to be a dissenter from many of their Principles of Religion and having enjoyed their company and satisfied himself concerning some Curiosities that did partly occasion his Journey thither he returned back to Florence where a most notable accident befell him an accident that did not onely find new employment for his choice Abilities but introduce him a knowledge and an interest with our King James then King of Scotland which I shall proceed to relate But first I am to tell the Reader That though Queen Elizabeth or she and her Council were never willing to declare her Successor yet James then King of the Scots was confidently believed by most to be the man upon whom the sweet trouble of Kingly Government would be imposed and the Queen declining very fast both by age and visible infirmities those that were of the Romish perswasion in point of Religion even Rome it self and those of this Nation knowing that the death of the Queen and the establishing of her Successor were taken to be critical dayes for destroying or establishing the Protestant Religion in this Nation did therefore improve all opportunities for preventing a Protestant Prince to succeed Her And as the Pope's Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth had both by the judgement and practice of the Jesuited Papist exposed Her to be warrantably destroyed so if we may believe an angry Adversary a secular Priest against a Jesuite you may believe that about that time there were many endeavours first to excommunicate and then to shorten the life of King James Immediately after Sir Henry Wotton's return from Rome to Florence which was about a year before the death of Queen Elizabeth Ferdinand the great Duke of Florence had intercepted certain Letters that discovered a design to take away the life of the then King of Scots The Duke abhorring the Fact and resolving to endeavour a prevention of it advised with his Secretary Vietta by what means a caution might be best given to that King and after consideration it was resolved to be done by Sir Henry Wotton whom Vietta first commended to the Duke and the Duke had noted and approved of above all the English that frequented his Court. Sir Henry was gladly called by his Friend Vietta to the Duke who after much profession of trust and friendship acquainted him with the secret and beâ—ng well instructed dispatched him into Scotland with Letters to the King and with those Letters such Italian Antidotes against poyson â—s the Scots till then had been strangers to Having partel from the Duke he took up the name and language of an Italian and thinking it best to avoâ—d the line of English intelligence and dangeâ— he posted into Norway and through that Câ—untry towards Scotland where he found the Kâ—ng at Sterling then he used means by Bernard Lindsey one of the Kings Bed-Chamber to procure him a speedy and private conference with His Majesty assuring him That the business which he was to negotiate was of such consequence as had caused the great Duke of Tuscany to enjoyn him suddenly â—o leave his Native Countrey of Italy to impart it to his King This being by Bernard Lindsey mâ—de known to the King the King after a little wonder mixt with jealousie to hear of an Italian Ambassador or Messenger required his name which was said to be Octavio Baldi and appointed him to be heard privately â—t a fixed hour that Evening When Octavio Baldi came to the Presenceâ— Chamber-door he was requested to lay aside his long Rapier which Italian-like he then wore and being entred the Chamber he found there with the King three or four Scotch Lords standing distant in several corrers of the Chamber At the sight of whom he made a stand which the King observing bâ—d him be bold and deliver his Message for he wouâ—d undertake for the secresie of all that were presenâ— Then did Octavio Baldi deliver his Letterâ—s and his Message to the King in Italian which â—hen the King had graciously â—eceived after a little pause Octavio Baldi steps to the Table anâ— whispers to the King in his own Language that he was an English man beseeching Him for a more private conference with His Majesty and that he might be concealed during hâ—s stay in that Nation which was promised and really performed by the King during all his abode there which was about three Months all which time was spent with much pleasantness to the King and with as much to Octavio Baldi himself as that Countrey could afford from which he departed as true an Italian as he came thither To the Duke at Florence he return'd with a fair and grateful account of his employment and within some few Months after his return there came certain News to Florence that Queen Elizabeth was dead and James King of the Scots proclaimed King of England The Duke knowing travel and business to be the best Schools of wisdom and that Sir Henry Wotton had been tutor'd in both
Merit and did therefore desire him to accept of that Jewel as a Testimony of his good opinion of him which was a Jewel of Diamonds of more value then a thousand pounds This was received with all Circumstances and terms of Honour by Sir Henry Wotton but the next morning at his departing from Vienna at his taking leave of the Countess of Sabrina an Italian Lady in whose House the Emperour had appointed him to be lodg'd and honourably entertained He acknowledged her Merits and besought her to accept of that Jewel as a testimony of his gratitude for her Civilities presenting her with the same that was given him by the Emperour which being suddenly discovered by the Emperour was by him taken for a high affront and Sir Henry Wotton told so To which he replyed That though he received it with thankfulness yet he found in himself an indisposition to be the better for any gift that came from an Enemy to his Royal Mistress the Queen of Bohemia for so she was pleased he should alwayes call her Many other of his services to his Prince and this Nation might be insisted upon as namely his procuration of Priviledges and courtesies with the German Princes and the Republick of Venice for the English Merchants and what he did by direction of King James with the Venetian State concerning the Bishop of Spalato's return to the Church of Rome But for the particulars of these and many more that I mean to make known I want a view of some papers that might inform me his late Majesties Letter-Office having suffered a strange alienation and indeed I want time too for the Printers Press-stayes so that I must haste to bring Sir Henry Wotton in an instant from Venice to London leaving the Reader to make up what is defective in this place by this small supplement of the inscription under his Armes which he left at all those houses where he rested or lodged when he returned from his last Embassie into England Henricus Wottonius Anglo-Cantianus Thomae optimi viri filius natu minimus a serenissimo Jacobo I. Mag. Britt Rege in equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemque ter ad Rempublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius semel ad confaederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi negotio Bis ad Carolum Emanuel Sabaudiae Ducem semel ad unitos superioris Gâ—rmaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunensi postremo ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates imperiales Argentinam Ulmamque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo To London he came that year in which King James dyed who having for the reward of his forreign service promised him the reversion of an Office which was fit to be turned into present money for a supply of his present necessities and also granted him the reversion of the Master of the Rolls place if he out-lived charitable Sir Julius Caesar who then possessed it and then grown so old that he was said to be kept alive beyond Natures Course by the prayers of those many poor which he daily relieved But these were but in hope and his condition required a present support For in the beginning of these imployments he sold to his elder brother the Lord Wotton the Rent-charge left by his good Father and which is worse was now at his return indebted to several persons whom he was not able to satisfie but by the Kings payment of his Arrears due for his forreign Imployments He had brought into England many servants of which some were German and Italian Artists this was part of his condition who had many times hardly sufficient to supply the occasions of the day For it may by no means be said of his providence as himself said of Sir Philip Sidney's wit That it was the very measure of congruity He being alwayes so careless of money as though our Saviours wores Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood But it pleased God that in this juncture of time the Provostship of His Majesties Colledge of Eaton became void by the death ofâ— Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerful Suiters to the King Sir Henry who had for many years like Siciphus rolled the restless stone of a State imployment and knowing experimentally that the great blessing of sweet content was not to be found in multitudes of men or business and that a Colledge was the fittest place to nourish holy thoughts and to afford rest both to his body and mind which his age being now almost threescore years seemed to require did therefore use his own and the interest of all his friends to procure it By which means and quitting the King of his promised reversionary Offices and a piece of honest policy which I have not time to relate he got a Grant of it from His Majesty And this was a fair settlement for his mind but money was wanting to furnish him with those necessaries which attend removes and a settlement in such a place and to procure that he wrote to his old friend Mr. Nicholas Pey for his assistance of which Nicholas Pey I shall here say a little for the clearing of something that I shall say hereafter He was in his youth a Clerk or in some such way a servant to the Lord Wotton Sir Henry's brother and by him when he was Comptroller of the Kings Houshold was made a great Officer in His Majesties house This and other favours being conferred upon Mr. Pey in whom was a radical honesty were alwayes thankfully acknowledged by him and his gratitude exprest by a willing and unwearied serviceableness to that Family even till his death To him Sir Henry Wotton wrote to use all his inâ—â—â—â— at Court to procure Five hundred pounds of his Arrears for less would not settle him â—â—â— Colledge and the want of it wrinkled â—â—â—â—â— with care 't was his own expression and thâ—r being procured he should the next day after find him in his Colledge and Invidiae remedium writ over his Study door This money being part of his Arrears was by his own and the help of honest Nicholas Pey's interest in Court quickly procured him and he as quickly in the Colledge the place where indeed his happiness then seemed to have its beginning the Colledge being to his mind as a quiet Harbor to a Sea-faring-man after a tempestuous voyage where by the bounty of the pious Founder his very Food and Rayment were plentifully provided for him in kind where he was freed from all corroding cares and seated on such a Rock as the waves of want could not probably shake where he might sit in a Calm and looking down behold the busie multitude turmoyl'd and tossed in a tempestuous Sea of dangers And as Sir William Davenant has happily exprest the like of another person Laugh at the graver business of the State Which speaks men rather wise than
many of high parts and piety have undertaken to clear the Controversie yet for the most part they have rather satisfied themselves than convinced the dissenting party And doubtless many middle-witted men which yet may mean well many Scholars that are not in the highest Form for Learning which yet may preach well men that shall never know till they come to Heaven where the questions stick betwixt Arminius and the Church of England will yet in this world be tampering with and thereby perplexing the Controversie and do therefore justly fall under the reproof of St. Jude for being Busie-bodies and for medling with things they understand not And here it offers it self I think not unfitly to tell the Reader that a friend of Sir Henry Woltons being designed for the imployment of an Ambassador came to Eaton and requested from him some experimental Rules for his prudent and safe carriage in his Negotiations to whom he smilingly gave this for an infallible Aphorism That to be in safety himself and serviceable to his Countrey he should alwayes and upon all occasions speak the truth it seems a State-Paradox for sayes Sir Henry Wotton you shall never be believed and by this means your truth will secure your self if you shall ever be called to any account and 't will also put your Adversaries who will still hunt counter to a loss in all their disquisitions and undertakings Many more of this nature might be observed but they must be laid aside for I shall here make a little stop and invite the Reader to look back with me whil'st according to my promise I shall say a little of Sir Albertus Morton and Mr. William Bedel whom I formerly mentioned I have told you that are the Readers that at Sir Henry Wottons first going Ambassador into Italy his Cosin Sir Albert Morton went his Secretary and am next to tell you that Sir Albertus dyed Secretary of State to our late King but cannot am not able to express the sorrow that possest Sir Henry Wotton at his first hearing the news that Sir Albertus was by death lost to him and this world and yet the Reader may partly guess by these following expressions The first in a Letter to his Nicholas Pey of which this that followeth is a part And My dear Nick When I had been here almost a fortnight in the midst of my great contentment I received notice of Sir Albertus Morton his departure out of this World who was dearer to me than mine own being in it what a wound it is to my heart you that knew him and knew me will easily believe but our Creators Will must be done and unrepiningly received by his own Creatures who is the Lord of all Nature and of all Fortune when he taketh to himself now one and then another till that expected day wherein it shall please him to dissolve the whole and wrap up even the Heaven it self as a Scrole of parchment This is the last Philosophy that we must study upon Earth let us therefore that yet remain here as our dayes and friends waste reinforce our love to each other which of all vertues both spiritual and moral hath the highest priviledge because death it self cannot end it And my good Nick c. This is a part of his sorrow thus exprest to his Nick Pey the other part is in this following Elogy of which the Reader may safely conclude 't was too hearty to be dissembled Tears wept at the Grave of Sir Albertus Morton by Henry Wotton SIlence in truth would speak my sorrow best For deepest wounds can least their feelings tell Yet let me borrow from mine own unrest A time to bid him whom I lov'd farewell Oh my unhappy Lines you that before Have serv'd my youth to vent some wanton cryes And now congeal'd with grief can scarce implore Strength to accent Here my Albertus lies This is that Sable stone this is the Cave And womb of earth that doth his Corps embrace While others sing his praise let me ingrave These bleeding numbers to adorn the place Here will I paint the Characters of woe Here will I pay my tribute to the dead And here my faithful tears in showres shall flow To humanize the flints on which I tread Where though I mourn my matchless loss alone And none between my weakness judge and me Yet even these pensive walls allow my moan Whose doleful Echoes to my plaints agree But is he gone and live I riming here As if some Muse would listen to my lay When all dis-tun'd sit waiting for their dear And bathe the Banks where he was wont to play Dwell then in endless bliss with happy souls Discharg'd from natures and from fortunes trust Whil'st on this fluid Globe my Hour-glass rowls And runs the rest of my remaining dust H. Wotton This concerning his Sir Albertus Morton And for what I shall say concerning Mr. William Bedel I must prepare the Reader by telling him That when King James sent Sir Henry Wotton Ambassador to the State of Venice he sent also an Ambassador to the King of France and another to the King of Spain with the Ambassador of France went Joseph Hall late Bishop of Norwich whose many and useful works speak his great merit with the Ambassador of Spain went Ja. Wadsworth and with Sir Henry Wotton went William Bedel These three Chaplains to these three Ambassadors were all bred in one University all of one Colledge all Benefic'd in one Diocess and all most dear and intâ—â—e Friends But in Spain Mr. Wadsworth met with temptations or reasons such as were so powerful as to perswade him who of the three was formerly observ'd to be the most averse to that Religion that calls itself Catholick to disclaim himself a Member of the Church of England and declare himself for the Church of Rome discharging himself of his attendance on the Ambassador and betaking himself to a Monasterial life in which he lived very regularly and so dyed When Dr. Hall the late Bishop of Norwich came into England he wrote to Mr. Wadsworth 't is the first Epistle in his printed Decads to perswade his return or the reason of his Apostasie the Letter seemed to have in it many sweet expressions of love and yet there was something in it that was so unpleasant to Mr. Wadsworth that he chose rather to acquaint his old friend Mr. Bedel with his motives by which means there past betwixt Mr. Bedel and Mr. Wadsworth very many Letters which be extant in Print and did well deserve it for in them there seems to be a controversie not of Religion on only but who should answer each other with most love and meekness which I mention the rather because it seldom falls out so in a Book-War There is yet a little more to be said of Mr. Bedel for the greatest part of which the Reader is referred to this following Letter of Sir Henry Wottons writ to our late King Charles May it please Your
his hand a Walking-staff with which he professed he had travelled through many parts of Germany and he said Richard I do not give but lend you my Horse be sure you be honest and bring my Horse back to me at your return this way to Oxford And I do now give you Ten Groats to bear your charges to Exeter and here is Ten Groats more which I charge you to deliver to your Mother and tell her I send her a Bishops Benediction with it and beg the continuance of her prayers for me And if you bring my Horse back to me I will give you Ten Groats more to carry you on foot to the Colledge and so God bless you good Richard And this you may believe was performed by both Parties But alas the next News that followed Mr. Hooker to Oxford was that his learned and charitable Patron had changed this for a better life Which may be believed for that as he lived so he dyed in devout meditation and prayer and in both so zealously that it became a religious question Whether his last Ejâ—culations or his Soul did first enter into Heaven And now Mr. Hooker became a man of sorrow and fear of sorrow for the loss of so dear and comfortable a Patron and of fear for his future subsistence But Dr. Cole raised his spirits from this dejection by bidding him go chearfully to his Studies and assuring him he should neither want food nor rayment which was the utmost of his hopes for he would become his Patron And so he was for about nine months and not longer for about that time this following accident did befall Mr. Hooker Edwin Sandys then Bishop of London and after Archbishop of York had also been in the dayes of Queen Mary forced by forsaking this to seek safety in another Nation where for some Years Bishop Jewell and he were Companions at Bed and Board in Germany and where in this their Exile they did often eat the bread of sorrow and by that means they there began such a friendship as lasted till the death of Bishop Jewell which was in September 1571. A little before which time the two Bishops meeting Jewell began a story of his Richard Hooker and in it gave such a Character of his Learning and Manners that though Bishop Sandys was educated in Cambridge where he had oblieged and had many Friends yet his resolution was that his Son Edwin should be sent to Corpus-Christi Colledge in Oxford and by all means be Pupil to Mr. Hooker though his Son Edwin was not then much yonger for the Bishop said I will have a Tutor for my Son that shall teach him Learning by Instruction and Vertue by Example and my greatest care shall be of the last and God willing this Richard Hooker shall be the Man into whose hands I will commit my Edwin And the Bishop did so about twelve moneths or not much longer after this resolution And doubtless as to these two a better choice could not be made for Mr. Hooker was now in the nineteenth year of his age had spent five in the University and had by a constant unwearied diligence attained unto a perfection in all the learned Languages by the help of which an excellent Tutor and his unintermitted Study he had made the subtilty of all the Arts easie and familiar to him and usefull for the discovery of such Learning as lay hid from common Searchers so that by these added to his great Reason and his Industry added to both He did not onely know more of Causes and effects but what he knew he knew better then other men And with this Knowledge he had a most blessed and clear Method of Demonstrating what he knew to the great advantage of all his Pupils which in time were many but especially to his two first his dear Edwin Sandys and his as dear George Cranmer of which there will be a fair Testimony in the ensuing Relation This for his Learning And for his Behaviour amongst other Testimonies this still remains of him That in four years he was but twice absent from the Chappel prayers and that his Behaviour there was such as shewed an awful reverence of that God which he then worshipped and prayed to giving all outward testimonies that his Affections were set on heavenly things This was his Behaviour towards God and for that to Man it is observable that he was never known to be angry or passionate or extream in any of his Desires never heard to repine or dispure with Providence but by a quiet gentle submission and resignation of his will to the Wisdome of his Creator bore the burthen of the day with patience never heard to utter an uncomly word and by this and a grave Behaviour which is a Divine Charm he begot an early Reverence unto his Person even from those that at other times and in other companies took a liberty to cast off that strictness of Behaviour and Discourse that is required in a Collegiate Life And when he took any liberty to be pleasant his Wit was never blemisht with Scoffing or the utterance of any Conceit that border'd upon or might beget a thought of Looseness in his hearers Thus milde thus innocent and exemplary was his Behaviour in his Colledge and thus this good man continued till his death still increasing in Learning in Patience and Piety In this nineteenth year of his age he was December 24. 1573 admitted to be one of the twenty Scholars of the Foundation being elected and so admitted as born in Devon or Hantshire out of which Countries a certain number are to be elected in Vacancies by the Founders Statutes And now as he was much encouraged so now he was perfectly in oâ—porated into this beloved Colledg which was then noted for an eminent Library strict students and remarkable â—cholars And indeed it may glory that it had Cardinal Poole Bishop Jewel Doctor John Reynolds and Doctor Thomas Jackson of that Foundation The First famous for his Learned Apology for the Church of England and his Defence of it against Harding The Second for the learned and wise Menage of a publique Dispute with John Hart of the Romish perswasion about the Head and Faith of the Church and then printed by consent of both parties And the Third for his most excellent Exposition of the Creed and other Treatises All such as have given greatest satisfaction to men of the greatest Learning Nor was this man more Note-worthy for his Learning than for his strict and and pious Life testified by his abundant love and charity to all men And in the year 1576. Febr. 23. Mr. Hookers Grace was given him for Inceptor of Arts Doctor Herbert Westphaling a man of note for Learning being then Vice-chancellour And the Act following he was compleated Master which was Anno 1577. his Patron Doctor Cole being Vice-chancellour that year and his dear friend Henry Savill of Merton Colledge being then one of the Proctors 'T was that