CVLCOR ET CLAVDI W·Dolle·F Reliquiae Wottonianae OR A COLLECTION Of LIVES LETTERS POEMS WITH CHARACTERS OF Sundry PERSONAGES And other Incomparable PIECES of LANGUAGE and ART Also Additional Letters to several Persons not before Printed BY THE Curious Pencil of the Ever Memorable Sir HENRY WOTTON K t. Late Provost of Eaton Colledge The Third Edition with large Additions LONDON Printed by T. Roycroft for R. Marriott F. Tyton T. Collins and I. Ford 1672. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PHILIP EARL of Chesterfield Lord Stanhop of Shelford My Lord I HAVE conceived many Reasons why I ought in Iustice to Dedicate these Reliques of Your Great Uncle Sir Henry Wotton to Your Lordship some of which are that both Your Grand-mother and Mother had a double Right to them by a Dedication when first made Publick as also for their assisting me then and since with many Material Informations for the Writing his Life and for giving me many of the Letters that have fallen from his curious Pen so that they being now dead these Reliques descend to Youâ—… as Heir to â—…hem and the Inheritor of the mâ—…orable Bocton Palace the Place of his Birth where so many of the Ancient and Prudent and Valiant Family of the Wottons lie now-Barâ—…ed whose remarkable Monuments You have lately Beautified and to them added so many of so great Worth as hath made it appear that at the Erecting and Adâ—…ging them You were above the thought of Charge that they might if possible for 't was no casie undertaking boldsome proporâ—…â—…mith the Merits of Your Ancestors My Lord These are a part of many more Pensoâ—… that have inclin'd me to this Dedication and these with the Example of a Liberty that is not given but now too usually taken by many Scriblers to make trifling Dedications might have begot a boldness in some Men of as mean as my mean Abilities to have undertaken this But indeed my Lord though I was ambitious enough of undertaking it yet as Sir Henry Wotton hath said in a Piece of his own Character That he was condemn'd by Nature to a bashfulness in making Requests so I find my self pardon the Parallel so like him in this that if I had not had more Reasons then I have yet exprest these alone had not been powerful enough to have created a Confidence in me to have attempted it Two of my unexprest Reasons are give me leave to tell them to Your Lordship and the World that Sir Henry Wotton whose many Merits made him an Ornament even to Your Family was yet so humble as to acknowledge me to be his Friend and died in a belief that I was so since which time I have made him the best return of my Gratitude for his Condescention that I have been able to express or he capable of receiving and am pleased with my self for so doing My other Reason of this boldness is an incouragement very like a command from Your worthy Cousin and my Friend Mr. Charles Cotton who hath assared me that You are such a Lover of the Memory of Your Generous Unkle Sir Henry Wotton that if there were no other Reason then my endeavors to preserve it yet that that alone would secure this Dedication from being unacceptable I wish that nor he nor I be mistaken and that I were able to make You a more Worthy Present My Lord I am and will be Your Humble and most Affectionate Servant Iziak Walton Feb. 27. 1672. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER YOu may be pleas'd to take notice that in this last Relation of Sir Henry Wotton's Life 't is both inlarg'd and some small errors rectified so that I may now be confident there is no material mistakes in it There is in this Impression an Addition of many Letters in which the spirit with which they were writ will assure them to be Sir Henry Wotton's For his Merits they are above my expressions and for that reason the Reader is requested to take to what I have said of him in his Life these following Testimonies I. That his Work of Architecture is Translated into Latin Printed with the Great Vitruvius and this Elogy prefixed HENRICUS WOTTONIUS Anglo Cantianus Thomae Optimi Viri Filius natu minimus à Serenissimo Jacobo Io MAGNAE BRITTANIAE c. Rege in Equestreâ—… Titulum ascitus ejusdémque ter ad Remp. VENETAM Legatus Ordinarius semel ad Confoederatarum Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi negotio bis ad Carolum Emmanuelem Sabaudiae Ducem semel ad unitos Superioris Germaniae Principes in Conventu Heilbrunnensi postremò ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wirtenbergensem civitates Imperiales Argentinam Ulmámque ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum II. Legatus extraordinarius Tandem hoc didicit ANIMAS SAPIENTIORES FIERI QUIESCENDO II. The second testimony is that of the great Secretary of Nature the Lord Chancellor Bacon who thought it not beneath Him to collect some of the Apothegms and sayings of this Author III. Sir Richard Baker in his Chronicle of England sets to his Seal also in a passage thus speaking of men of Note in King Iames his time Sir Henry Wotton was sent Ambassador into Italy and indeed the Kingdome yielded not a fitter man to match the Capriciousness of the Italian wits A man of so able dexterity with his Pen that he hath done himself much wrong and the Kingdom a great deal more in leaving no more of his Writings behind him AN ACCOUNT Of the WORK NOw of the Work it self Thou shalt find in it many curious things about Architecture Fountains Picture Groves Sculpture Aviaries Landskip Conservatories of rare beasts Magnetical experiments  Gardens Fish-ponds And also many Observations of the Mysteries and Labyrinths in Courts and States delivered in Lives Letters to and Characters of sundry Personages As Observations and Characters which He took in his Imployments abroad of these Dukes of Venice Giovanni Bembo Nani Priuli Donato Giustiniano Ferdin Gr. Duke of Tuscany An Account of Foscarini Of the Arch-Duke Leopold Of Count Tampire Artists and Famous men mentioned Tyco-brahe Count Bevilacqua Kepler Leon Alberti Aldrovandus Philip D'Orme Albert Durer Anto. Labaca censured Palladio Michael Angelo B.  Sir Henry Fanshaw Observations at home of the Courts of Queen Elizabeth King Iames and King Charls with Lives and Characters of Earl of Essex Duke of Buckingham  Of K. Charles I. Characters and Observations of Queen Elizabeth Q. of Bohemia E. of Essex Father Duke of Buckingham E. of Leicester Spanish Journey E. of Essex Imployments L. Bacon Arch. B. Whitgift L. Treasurer Weston M. Anthony Bacon L. Treasurer Iuxton Sir Robert Cecil Bp. Bedel The Cecillians Isle of Rheez Walter Devereux Of the Dukes Ominous presages Sir Philip Sidney  Sir Walter Raleigh Countess of Denbigh Secretary Cuff. Arch. Bishop Of K. Iames. B. of Ely K. Charles Part of the Authors own Character Q Mary  Censures of Felton Stamford D. Egglesham Scioppius THE LIFE OF Sir HENRY WOTTON SIR
Henry Wotton whose Life I novv intend to vvrite vvas born in the Year of our Redemption 1568. in Bocton-hall commonly called Bocton or Bougton place or Palace 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 vvithin a fair Park of the Wottons on the Brovv 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 novv 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 vvhose Heroick Acts and Noble Employments both in England and in Foreign parts have adorned 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 served 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 error be an excess or defect of Commendations Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton Malherb Knight vvas born about the Year of Christ 1460 he living in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth vvas by him trusted to be Lieutenant of Guisnes to be Knight Porter and Comptroller of Callais where he died 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 the Privy Councel to King Henry the Eight who offered him to be Lord Chancellor 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 knowledge 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 Courtoffering him a Knight-hood she vvas then vvith him at his Boctonhall and that to be but as an earnest of some more honourable and more profitable employment under Her yet he humbly refused both being a man of great modesty of a most plain and single heart of an ancient 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 always practised by himself and which he ever both commended and cherished 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 Mr. 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 Houshold He was saith Cambden a man remarkable for many and great Employments in the State during Her Reign and sent several times Ambassador into Foreign Nations After Her death he was by King James made Comptroller of his Houshold and called to be of His Privy Councel and by him advanced to be Lord Wotton Baron of Merley in Kent and made Lord Lieutenant of that County Sir James the second Son may be numbred among the Martial Men of his Age who was in the 38 of Queen Elizabeths Reign with Robert Earl of Sussex Count Lodowick of Nassaw Don Christophoro Son of Antonio King of Portugal and divers other Gentlemen of Nobleness and Valour Knighted in the Field near Cadiz in Spain after they had gotten great Honour and Riches besides a notable retaliation of Injuries by taking that Town Sir John being a Gentleman excellently accomplished both by Learning and Travel was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth and by Her look'd upon with more then ordinary favour and with intentions of preferment but Death in his younger years put a period to his growing hopes Of Sir Henry my following discourse shall give an account The descent of these fore-named Wottons were all in a direct Line and most of them and their actions in the memory of those with whom we have conversed But if I had looked so far back as to Sir Nicholas Wotton who lived in the Reign of King Richard the Second or before him upon divers others of great note in their several Ages I might by some be thought tedious and yet others may more justly think me negligent if I omit to mention Nicholas Wotton the fourth Son of Sir Robert whom I first named This Nicholas Wotton was Doctor of Law and sometime Dean both of York and Canterbury a man vvhom God did not only bless vvith a long life but vvith great abilities of mind and an inclination to imploy them in the service of his Countrey as is testified by his severall Imployments having been sent nine times Ambassador unto forraign Princes and by his being a Privy Councellor to King Henry the eighth to Edward the sixth to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth vvho also after he had been during the Wars between England Scotland and France three several times and not unsuccessfully imployed in Committies for setling of peace betwixt this and those Kingdomes died saith learned Cambden full of Commendations for Wisdome and Piety He vvas also by the Will of King Henry the eighth made one of his Executors and chief Secretary of State to his Son that plous Prince Edward the sixth Concerning which Nicholas Wotton I shall say but this little more That he refused being offered it by Queen Elizabeth to be Arch bishop of Canterbury and that he died not rich though he lived in that time of the dissolution of Abbeys More might be added but by this it may appear
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 befel him an accident that did not only find new employment for his choice Abilities but introduce him a knowledg and an interest with our King Iames 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 Iames 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 days for destroying or establishing the Protestant Religion in this Nation did therefore improve all opportunities for preveting 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 Iesuit you may believe that about that time there were many indeavours first to excommunicate and then to shorten the life of King Iames. 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 Iames the then King of Scots The Duke abhorring the Fact and resolving to indeavor 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 being well instructed dispatched him into Scotland with Letters to the King and with those Letters such Italian Antidotes against poyson as the Scots till then had been strangers to Having parted from the Duke he took up the Name and Language of an Italian and thinking it best to avoid the line of English intelligence and danger he posted into Norway and through that Country towards Scotland where he found the King at Sterling being there he used means by Beâ—…ard 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 to leave his Native Country of Italy to impart it to his King This being by Bernard Lindsey made 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 at a fixed hour that Evening When Octavio Baldi came to the Presence-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 corners of the Chamber at the sight of whom he made a stand which the King observing bade him be bold and deliver his Message for he would undertake for the secresie of all that were present Then did Octavio Baldi deliver his Letters and his Message to the King in Italian which when the King had graciously received after a little pause Octavio Baldi steps to the Table and whispers to the King in his own Language that he was an English man beseeching Hini for a more private conference with His Majesty and that he might be concealed during his 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 vvith a fair and gratefull account of his imployment and vvithin some few Moneths after his return there came certain News to Florence that Queen Elizabeth vvas dead and Iames King of the Scots proclaimed King of England The Duke knowing travel and business to be the best Schools of vvisdom and that Sir Henry Wotton had been tutor'd in both advis'd him to return presently to England and there joy the King vvith his new and better Title and vvait there upon Fortune for a better imployment When King Iames came into England he found amongst other of the late Queens Officers Sir Edward vvho vvas after Lord Wotton Comptroller of the House of vvhom he demanded If he knew one Henry Wotton that had spent much time in forreign Travel The Lord replied he knew him vvell and that he vvas his Brother then the King asking vvhere he then vvas vvas answered at Venice or Florence but by late Letters from thence he understood he vvould suddenly be at Paris Send for him said the King and when he shall come into England bid him repair privately to me The Lord Wotton after a little vvonder asked the King If he knew him to vvhich the King answered You must rest unsatisfied of that till you bring the Gentleman to me Not many Moneths after this Discourse the Lord Wotton brought his Brother to attend the King vvho 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 Ambassage 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 vvhich he then Knighted him Not long after this the King having resolved according to his Motto Beati pacifici to have a friendship vvith his Neighbour-Kingdoms of France and Spain and also
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 complyance 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 that done to 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 but the more confirm the Venetians in their resolution not to obey him And to that end upon the hearing of the Popes 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 as 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 Duado their Ambassador call'd home from Rome and the Inquisition presently suspended by Order of the State and the Flood-gates being thus set open any man that had a pleasant or scoffing wit might safely vent it against the Pope either by free speaking or by Libels in Print and both became very pleasant to the people Matters thus heightned the State advised vvith Father Paul a Holy and Learned Frier the Author of the History of the Council of Trent vvhose advice vvas 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 Keys 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 these discontents and oppositions 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 and his Chaplain Mr. Bedel more often with Father Paul whom the People did not take to be his Friend And also for that the Republick of Venice was known to give Commission to Gregory Justiniano then their Ambassadour in England to make all these Proceedings known to the King of England and to crave a Promise of his assistance if need should require and in the mean time they required the King's advice and judgement 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 doubted 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 vvhich lasted almost two years the Pope grew still higher and the Venetians more and 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 Consulters of State and with his Pen to defend their just 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 Bonfires that night lest the Common People might judge that they desired an Absolution or were Absolved for committing a Fault These Contests were the occasion of Padre Paulo's knowledge and interest with King James for whose sake principally Padre Paulo 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 Wotton Mr. Bedel and others unto King James and the then Bishop of Canterbury into England and there first made publick both in English and in the universal Language For eight years after Sir Henry Wotton's 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 Ambassadour into Italy as he passed through Germany he stayed some days 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 them 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 Ambassadour in these very words Legatus est vir bonus peregrè missus ad mentiendum Reipublicae causâ Which Sir Henry Wotton could have been content should have been thus Englished An Embassadour is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his Country But the word for lye being the hinge upon which the Conceit was to turn was not so exprest in Latine as would admit in the hands of an Enemy especially so fair a construction as Sir Henry thought in English Yet as it was it slept quietly among other Sentences in this Albo almost eight years till by accident it fell into the hands of Iasper Scioppius a Romanist a man of a restless spirit and a malicious Pen who with Books against King Iames Prints this as a Principle of that Religion professed by the King and his Ambassadour Sir Henry Wotton then at Venice and in Venice it was presently after written in several Glass-windows and spitefully declared to be Sir Henry Wottons This coming to the knowledge of King Iames he apprehended it to be such an oversight such a vveakness or vvorse in Sir Henry Wotton as caused the King to express much vvrath against him and this caused Sir Henry Wotton to write two Apologies one to Velserus one of the Chiefs of Augusta in the universal Language vvhich he caused to be Printed and given and scattered in the most remarkable places both of Germany and Italy as an Antidote against the venomous Books of Scioppius and another Apology to King Iames vvhich vvere both so ingenious so clear and so choicely Eloquent that his Majesty vvho vvas
for divers vveighty reasons to enter into an Alliance vvith the State of Venice and to that end to send Ambassadors to those several places did propose the choice of these Imployments to Sir Henry Wotton vvho considering the smallness of his own Estate vvhich 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 vvith his Genius who did ever love to joyn with Business Study and a tryal of natural Experiments for both which fruitfull Italy that Darling of Nature and Cherisher of all Arts is so justly fam'd 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 name Our good and great Kings lov'd hand and fear'd 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 Sphear 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 which Friends send With glad grief to your Sea-ward-steps faerewel And 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 Then I have done your honour-wanting-wit But 't is an easier load though both oppress To want then govern greatness for we are In that our own and only business In this we must for others vices care 'T is therefore well your spirits now are plac'd In their last furnace in activity ore-pâ—… 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 tyranny That she thinks nothing else so fit for me But though she part us to hear my oft prayers For your encrease 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 oâ—… Venice with much honour and gladness botâ—… for that he delivered his Ambassage most elegantly in the Italian Language and came also in such a Juncture of time as his Masters friendship seem'd usefull 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 Wotton 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 any Goods or Land 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 pretended an exemption from all publick service and Taxes and from all secular Judgement so that the burden grew thereby 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 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 seized the persons of this Abbot and Canon and committed them to prison The justice or injustice of such or the like power then used by the Venetians had formerly had some calm debates betwixt the former Pope Clement the Eighth and that Republick I say calm 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 endeavours to preserve the Popes present power in order to a general reformation of those many Errors which were in time crept into the Church declar'd by that Counsel 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 fifth who succeeded him though not immediately yet in the same year 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 of twenty four dayes for their revocation threatning if he were not obeyed
procurations of Priviledges and Courtesies with the German Princes and the Republick of Venice for the English Merchants and vvhat he did by direction of King James vvith 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 meant to make known I vvant a vievv of some Papers that might inform me his late Majesties Letter Office having now suffered a strange alienation and indeed I want time too for the Printers Press stays for what is written 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 the small supplement of the Inscription under his Arms which he left at all those Houses where he rested or lodged when he return'd from his last Embassy into England Henricus Wottonius Anglo-Cantianus Thomae optimi viri 〈◊〉 minimus à serenissimo Jacobo Iâ—… Mag. Britâ—… Râ—…ge in equestrem titulum adscitus ejusdemqâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…ublicam Venetam Legatus Ordinarius â—…mel ad confoeder at 〈◊〉 Provinciarum Ordines in Juliacensi â—…tio Bis ad Carolum Emanuel Sabâ—…diae Dâ—… semel ad unitos superioris Germaniae Principes in Coâ—…ventu Heilbrunensi postremo ad Archiducem Leopoldum Ducem Wittembergensem Civitates imperialâ—…s Argentinam Ulmamqueâ—… ipsum Romanorum Imperatorem Ferdinandum secundum Legatus Extraordinarius tandem hoc didicit Animas fieri sapientiores quiescendo To London he came the year before King James died 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 which he wanted 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 words Care not for to morrow were to be literally understood But it pleased the God of providence that in this jucture of time the Provosthip of His Mayesties Colledge of Eaton became void by the death of Mr. Thomas Murray for which there were as the place deserv'd many earnest and powerfull Suiters to the King And Sir Henry who had for many years like Siciphas rolled the restless stone of a State-imployment 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 that place 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 satisfaction to 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 some passages that I shall mention 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 there was a radieal 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 Wottâ—… wrote to use all his interest at Court to procure Five hundred pounds of his Arrears for leâ—… would not settle him in the Colledge and the want of such a summe wrinckled his face with care 't was his own expression and that money 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 〈◊〉 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 and more money then enough 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 Caelm and looking down behold the busie multitude turmoyl'd and tossed in a tempestuous Sea of trouble and dangers And as Sir William Davenant has happily exprest the like of another person Laugh at the graver business of the State Which speaks wen rather wise then fortunate Being thus setled according to the desires of his heart his first study was the Statutes of the Colledge by which he conceiv'd himself bound to enter into Holy Orders which he did being made Deacon with all convenient speed shortly after which time as he came in his Surplice from the Church service an old Friend a person of Quality met him so attired and joyed him of his new habit to whom Sir Henry Wotton replied I thank God and the King by whose goodness I now am in this condition a condition which that Emperor Charles the Fifth seem'd to approve who after so many remarkable Victories when his glory was great in the eyes of all men freely gave up his Crown and the many cares that attended it to Philip his Son making a holy retreat to a Cloysteral life where he might by devout meditations consult with God which the rich or busie men seldome do and have leisure both to examine the errors of his life past and
Sir Richard Greham vvho vvould needs perswade them they vvere mistaken Which in truth is no very hard matter for the very strangeness of the thing it self and almost the impossibility to conceive so great a Prince and Favourite so suddenly Metamorphosed into Travellers vvith no greater train vvas enough to make any man living unbelieve his five senses And this I suppose next the assurance of their own vvell resolved Carriage against a new accident to have been their best Anchor in all such Incounters At Paris the Prince spent one vvhole day to give his mind some contentment in viewing of a famous City and Court vvhich vvas a Neighbour to his future Estates But for the better vailing of their Visages his Highness and the Marquess bought each of them a Perriwig somewhat to over-shadow their fore heads Of the King they got a sight after dinner in a Gallery vvhere he vvas solacing himself vvith familiar pleasures And of the Queen-Mother as she vvas at her own Table in neither place descryed no not by Monsieur Cadinet vvho saw them in both and had been lately Ambassadour in England Towards Evening by a meer chance in appearance though under-lined vvith a Providence they had a full sight of the Queen Infanta and of the Princess Henrietta Maria vvith other great Ladies at the practise of a Masquing Dance vvhich vvas then in preparation having over-heard two Gentlemen vvho vvere tending towards that sight after vvhom they pressed and vvere let in by the Duke De Mont Bason the Queens Lord Chamberlain out of humanity to strangers vvhen divers of the French vvent by Note here even vvith the point of a Diamond by vvhat oblique steps and inimaginable preparatives the high Disposer of Princes Affections doth sometimes contrive the secrets of his vvill For by this casual curiosity it fell out that vvhen afterwards the Marriage came in motion between our Soveraign Lord and the aforesaid most Amiable Princess it must needs be howsoever unknown no small spur to the Treaty that she hath not before been altogether a stranger to his Eye From the next day vvhen they departed at three of the Clock in the morning from Paris the 23. of February vvere spent six dayes to Bayon the last Town of France having before at Bourdeaux bought them five riding-Coats all of one colour and fashion in a kind of Noble simplicity Where Sir Francis Cottington was imployed in a fair manner to keep them from being entertained by the Duke De Espernon telling him they were Gentlemen of mean degree and formed yet to little Courtship who perchance might otherwise being himself no superficial man in the practices of the World have pierced somewhat deeper then their outside They were now entred into the deep time of Lent and could get no flesh in their Innes Whereupon fell out a pleasant passage if I may insert it by the way among more serious There was near Bayon an Herd of Goats with their young ones upon which sight the said Sir Richard Greham tells the Marquess he would snap one of the Kids and make some shift to carry him close to their lodging Which the Prince over-hearing Why Richard sayes he do you â—…nk you may practise here your old tricks again â—…on the borders Upon which words they â—…st gave the Goat Herd good contentment and then while the Marquess and his servant being both on foot were chasing the Kid about the stack the Prince from Horse back killed him in the Head with a Scottish Pistol Set this Fear for a Journal Parenthesis which yet may shew how his Highness even in such slight and sportful damage had a Noble sense of just dealing At Bayon the Count De Gramont Governour of that jealous Key took an exquisite notice of their persons and behaviour and opened himself to some of his train That he thought them to be Gentlemen of much more worth then their habits bewrayed yet he let them courteously pass And four dayes after they arrived at Madrid being Wednesday the fifth of March Thus have I briefly run over transcursions as if my Pen had been posting with them Which done I shall not need to relate the affluence of young Nobles and others from hence into Spain after the voice of our Prince his being there had been quickly noised and at length believed neither will I stay to consider the Arts of Rome where now all Engines were whetted though by the Divine blessing very vainly when they had gotten a Prince of Great Brittain upon Catholick ground as they use to call it This and the whole matter of Negotiation there the open entertainments the secret working the Apprehensions on both sides the appearance on neither And in summe all the circumstances and respect of Religion and State intermixed together in that commixture will better become a Royal History or a Councel-Table then a single Life Yet I cannot omit some things which intervened at the meeting of two Pleiades me thinks not unlike that which Astrologers call a Conjunction of Planets of no very benign Aspect the one to the other I mean the Marquess of Buckingham and the Conde d'Olivares They had some sharper and some milder differences which might easily happen in such an intervene of Grandees both vehement on the parts which they swayed But the most remarkable was upon a supposition of the Condes as fancies are cheap that the Marquess had intimated unto her some hopes of the Prince his Conversion which coming into debate the Marquess so roundly disavowed this guilded dream as Olivares alledged he had given him La-Mentida and thereupon forms a Complement to the Prince himself which Buckingham denying and yet Olivares persisting in the said Complement the Marquess though now in strange hands yet seeing both his Honour and the Truth at stake was not tender likewise to engage his life but replyed with some heat that the Condes asseveration would force him to do that which he had not done before for now he held himself tyed in terms of a Gentleman to maintain the contrary to his affirmative in any sort whatsoever This was the highest and the harshest point that occurred between them which that it went so far was not the Dukes fault nor his fault neither as it should seem that it went no further There was another memorable passage one day of gentler quality and yet eager enough The Conde d' Olivares tells the Marquess of a certain flying noise that the Prince did plot to be secretly gone To which the Marquess gave a well temper'd answer that though Love had made his Highness steal out of his own Countrey yet Fear would never make him run out of Spain in other manner then should become a Prince of his Royal and generous Vertues In Spain they stayed near eight entire moneths during all which times who but Buckingham lay at home under millions of maledictions Which yet at the Prince his safe arrival in the West did die and vanish here and there into
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 year 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 engaged affections when we betake our selves to rest and knew that the observation of them may turn to silly Superstitions as they too often do But though he might know all 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 without all consideration and did therefore rather lay this Dream aside then intend totally to lose it and dreaming the same again the Night following when it became a double Dream like that of Pharaoh of which double dreams the learned have made many observations and considering that it had no dependance on his vvaking thoughts much less on the desires of his heart then he did more seriously consider it and remembred that Almighty God vvas 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 I believe the good Dean considered and considering also that Almighty God though the causes of Dreams be often unknown hath even in these latter times also by a certain illumination of the Soul in sleep discovered many things that humane vvisdome could not foresee Upon these considerations he resolved to use so prudent a remedy by vvay of prevention as might introduce no great inconvenience either to himself or to his Nephew And to that end he vvrote 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 thâ—… true reason of his request when he should â—…xt become sâ—… 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 vvhat followed At this time a Marriage vvas concluded betwixt our Queen Mary and Philip King of Spain And though this vvas concluded vvith the advice if not by the perswasion of her Privy Council as having many probabilities of advantage to this Nation yet divers persons of a contrary perswasion did not only declare against it but also raised Forces to oppose it believing as they said it would be a means to bring England to be under a subjection to Spain and make those of this Nation slaves to Strangers And of this number Sir Thomas Wyat of Boxley-Abbey in Kent betwixt whose Family and the Family of the Wottons there had been an ancient and entire friendship was the principal Actor who having perswaded many of the Nobility and Gentry especially of Kent to side with him and he being defeated and taken Prisoner was legally arraigned and 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 Wyat's assistants And of this number in all probability had Mr. Wotton been if he had not been confin'd for though he could not be ignorant that another mans Treason makes it mine by concealing it yet he durst confess to his Uncle when he returned into England and then came to visit him in Prison that he â—…ad more then an intimation of Wyat's 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 good pleasure he hath chosen to love And this Dream was the more considerable because that God who in the dayes of old did use to speak to his people in visions did seem to speak to many of this Family in dreams of which I will also give the Reader one short particular of this Thomas Wotton whose dreams did usually prove true both in foretelling things to come and discovering things past And the particular is 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 enquiry 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 Henry 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 University 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 sixty fifth year of his age who being then in London where he dyed and foreseeing his death there gave direction in what manner 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 This is some account of this Family which seemed to be beloved of God BUt it may now seem more then time that I return to Sir Henry Wotton at Oxford vvhere after his optick Lecture he vvas taken into such a bosome friendship vvith the Learned Albericus Gentilis vvhom I formerly named that if it had been possible Gentilis vvould 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 vvas not able to do that yet there vvas in Sir Henry such a propensity and connaturalness to the Italian Language and those Studies vvhereof Gentilis vvas a great Master that this friendship between them did dayly increase and proved dayly advantagious to Sir Henry for the improvement of him in several Sciences during his stay in the University From vvhich place before I shall invite the Reader to follovv him into a foreign Nation though I must omit to mention divers Persons that vvere 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 vvas there begun betwixt him and Dr. Donne sometimes Dean of St. Pauls a man of vvhose abilities I shall forbear to say any thing because he vvho is of this Nation and pretends to Learning or Ingenuity and is ignorant of Dr. Donne deserves not to knovv him The friendship of these two I must not omit to mention being such a friendship as vvas generously elemented And as it vvas 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 vvhich time he vvas 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 vvith Mankind employing the remaining part of his Youth his industry and fortune to adorn his mind and to purchase the rich Treasure of Foreign knowledge of vvhich both for the secrets of Nature the dispositions of many Nations their several Laws and Languages he vvas the possessor in a very large measure as I shall faithfully make to appear before I take my Pen from the following Narration of his Life In his Travels vvhich vvas almost nine years before his return into England he stayed but one year in France and most of that in Geneva vvhere he became acquainted vvith Theodor Beza then very aged and vvith Isaac Causabon in vvhose house if I be rightly informed Sir Henry Wotton vvas lodged and there contracted a most worthy friendship vvith that man of rare Learning and Ingenuity Three of the remaining eight years vvere spent in Germany the other five in Italy the Stage on vvhich God appointed he should act a great part of his life where both in Rome Venice and Florence he became acquainted vvith the most eminent men for Learning and all manner of Arts as Picture Sculpture Chymistry Architecture and 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 vvas of a choice shape tall of stature and of a most perswasive behaviour vvhich vvas so mixed vvith sweet Discourse and Civilities as gained him much love from all Persons vvith whom he entred into an acquaintance And vvhereas he vvas noted in his Youth to have a sharp Wit and apt to jest that by Time Travel and Conversation vvas so 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 vvith 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 then did so much provoke the Queen to anger and worse at his return into England upon whose immovable favour the Earl 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 vvhich 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 positive 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 then to stay in it and there 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 of the Mariners 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 and 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 Sir Edward Wotton his elder Brother 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 Signior Vietta a Gentleman of Venice and then taken to be Secretary to the Great Duke of Tuscany After some stay in Florence he went the fourth time to visit
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 then 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 to which I may add that 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 whereof the Roman perswasion of which there were very many in his Diocess did yet such is the power of visible Piety ever look upon him with respect and reverence and testified it by a concealing and safe protecting him from death 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 not by violence or misusage but by grief in a quiet Prisonâ—… 1629. 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 Meriâ—… 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 orderly 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 paâ—…ts and his interest in the several Princes of the Empire by whose means he had access to the Records of all the Haâ—… Toâ—…s and the knowledge of many secret passages that â—…ll not under common viewâ—… and in these he had made a happy progress as it well known to his worthy friend Dr. Dâ—…a the â—…te Reverend Bishop of Saliâ—…bury but in the midst of this design His late Majesty King Charles the first that knew the value of Sir Henry Wottons 〈◊〉 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 both 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 Friend of choicest breeding and parts by which that great blessing of a chearfull heart vvas still maintained he being alwayes free even to the last of his day from that peevishness which usually attends Age. And yet his mirth was sometimes damp'd by the remembrance of divers old Debts pâ—…ly contracted in his forreign Imployments for which his juâ—… Arrears due from the King would have made satisfaction but being still delayed with Coâ—…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 lose by it make his last Will concerning which a doubt till remains whether it discovered more hâ—…y wit or conscionable policy But there is no doubt but that his chief design vvas 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 vvas found vvrit vvith his own hand IN the name of God Almighty and All-meroifâ—…l I Henry Wotton Provost of his Majesties Colledge by Eaton being mindful of mine own mortality which the sin of our first Parents did bring upon all flesh Do by this last Will and Testament thus dispose of my self and the poor things I shall leave in this World My Soul I bequeath to the Immortal God my Maker Father of our Lord Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer and Mediator through his all-sole sufficient satisfaction for the sins of the whole World and efficient for his Elect in the number of whom I am one by his meer grace and thereof in oft unremoveably affâ—…d by his holy Spirit the true 〈◊〉 Comforter My body I bequeath to the Earth if I shall end my transitory dayes at or near Eaton to be â—…ed in the Chappel of the said Colledge as the Fellows shall dispose thereof with whom I have liv'd my God knows in all loving affection or If I shall dye near Bocton
Philosophy his servant Cuffe whose observations were sharp enough whatever Stoicismes raved in his nature well discerned when he said Amorem odium semper in fronte gessit nec celare novit And I shall not impute it to his want of will though that would be but an ill argument for his Courtship nor of power for he did many greater things but only of skil to contrive conveniences of honours and preferments at Court for such friends as might have been good out-works to have fortifi'd and secur'd his own condition except all his dependants were of another complexion then could have lived in that Air. And indeed I do not find that the Earl much inclined to or desired the reputation of a Courtier besides the preservation of himself and the Queens affection which yet he endeavoured rather to master then to win but he seemed though he had such places of honour and attendance as be the most significant badges of a Courtier but in pace belli gerere negotium and retired only from the War to prevent Peace Then if we visit his correspondencies abroad which he rather maintained out of state then contrived out of skil we shall see they were alwayes with an eye upon actions and his Intelligences had ever some hint of Tumult and Commotion as if the King of Spain was loud or frantick at his devotions as when he vowed at Mass that he would be reveng'd of England though he sold all those Candlesticks upon the Altar This Information was given by the Earl But it was observed then that if there were ought intended against the Life or Person of the Queen though it were in the Court of Spain where the Earl had especially his Leigiers the first notice came over by my Lord Cecil for whom indeed it seemed as necessary there should be treasons as for the State that they should be prevented Insomuch as it was then how unjustly soever conceived that though he created none yet he fomented some conspiracies that he might give frequent evidences of his loyalty having no other advantage as the Earl and others had in person to justifie him in an ordinary estimation but by eminent services And those he knew must be best relished that concerned her own preservation and therefore in the least vacations from Treasons he was ever busie to set on foot some vigilant and tender Law as there was scarce any Parliament without some such that had a peculiar eye to the Queens safety Which however they are by such as cannot apprehend the danger of those times looked upon without much reverence could not but make singular impression in the Queens heart of his fidelity The Incumbrances that the Earl had to wrestle withal for I shall only look over his life without particular enquiry into his actions which had all glorious ends or glorious intentions were fewer then ever any great man ever met withal and his advantages more in number and in weight 'T is true he was rivall'd by a strong and subtile faction which cared and consulted for his ruine as a foundation they must build upon and were intent to betray him abroad and mis-interpret him at home yet the danger was thus allay'd that they were all his publique and professed enemies and so known unto the Queen that they durst never impertinently urge ought against him since they were sure their malice was concluded when the reason of their objection happily might not be considered And indeed that trick of countenancing and protecting factions as that Queen almost her whole Reign did with singular and equal demonstration of grace look upon several persons of most distinct wishes one towards another was not the least ground of much of her quiet and success And she never doubted but that men that were never so opposite in their good will each to others nor never so dishonest in their projectments for each others confusion might yet be reconciled into their Allegiance towards her Insomuch that during her whole Reign she never endeavoured to reconcile any personal differences in the Court though the unlawful emulations of persons of nearest trust about her were even like to overthrow some of her chiefest designs A Policy seldome entertained by Princes especially if they have issues to survive them Among the advantages the Earl had and he had many that will distinguish him from any man that hath or is likely to succeed him I shall rank the nature and the spirit of that time in the first place For I shall not mention his Interest in the Queens favour till the last which shall appear greatest by the circumstances that lost it 'T was an ingenuous un-inquisitive time when all the passions and affections of the people were lapped up in such an innocent and humble obedience that there was never the least contestations nor capitulations with the Queen nor though she very frequently consulted with her Subjects any further reasons urged of her actions then her own will When there were any grievances they but reverently conveyed them to her notice and left the time and order of the rest to her Princely discretion Once they were more importunate and formal in pursuing the complaints of the Purveyers for provision which without question was a crying and an heavy oppression The Queen sent them worâ—… they all thought themselves wise enough to reform the misdemeanours of their own families and wish't that they had so good opinion of her as to trust her with her servants too I do not find that the Secretary who delivered this Message received any reproach or check or that they proceeded any further in their inquisition In this excellent time the Queens remarkable Grace indeared the Earl to the regard of the people which he quickly improved to a more tender estimation neither was this affection of theirs ever an objection against him till himself took too much notice of it for the Queen had ever loved her people without the least scruple of jealousie nor was ever offended if he was the darling of their eyes till she suspected he inclined to be the darling of their hearts In his Friendships he was so fortunate that though he contracted with ancient enemies and such as he had undeserved by some unkindness as grievous as injurious it is not known that ever he was betrayed in his trust or had ever his secrets derived unhandsomly to any ears that they were not intended to and this if he had not planted himself upon such whose zeal to his service was more remarkable then their other abilities would have preserved him from so prodigious a fate Lastly he had so strong an harbour in the Queens brest that notwithstanding these dangerous indiscretions of committing himself in his recreations and shooting-matches to the publique view of so many thousand Citizens which usually flocked to see him and made within the reach of his own ears large acclamations in his praise notwithstanding his receiving into his troop of attendance and
part of another mans Story All which notwithstanding for I omit things intervenient there is conveyed to Mr. Villiers an intimation of the Kings pleasure to wait and to be sworn his servant And shortly after his Cup-bearer at large And the Summer following he was admitted in Ordinary After which time Favours came thick upon him liker main Showers then sprinkling Drops or Dews for the next St. Georges-day he was Knighted and made Gentleman of the Kings Bed Chamber and the very same day had an annual Pension given him for his better support of one thousand pounds out of the Court of Wards At New-years-tide following the King chose him Master of the Horse After this he was installed of the most Noble Order And in the next August he created him Baron of Whaddon and Viscount Villiers In January of the same year he was advanced Earl of Buckingham and sworn here of his Majesties Privy-Counsel as if a Favourite vvere not so before The March ensuing he attended the King into Scotland and vvas likewise sworn a Counsellor in that Kingdome vvhere as I have been instructed by unpassionate men he did carry himself vvith singular sweetness and temper vvhich I held very credible for it behoved him being new in favour and succeeding one of their own to study a moderate style among those generous Spirits About New-years-tide after his return from thence for those beginnings of years vvere very propitious unto him as if Kings did chuse remarkable dayes to inaugurate their Favours that they may appear acts as vvell of the Times as of the Will he vvas Created Marquess of Buckingham and made Lord Admiral of England Chief Justice in Eyre of all the Parks and Forrests on the South-side of Trent Master of the Kings-Bench Office none of the unprofitable pieces Head-Steward of Westminster and Constable of Windsor-Castle Here I must breath a vvhile to satisfie some that perhaps might otherwise vvonder at such an Accumulation of Benefits like a kind of Embroidering or listing of one Favour upon another Certainly the hearts of great Princes if they be considered as it vvere in abstract vvithout the necessity of States and Circumstances of time being besides their natural extent moreover once opened and dilated vvith affection can take no full and proportionate pleasure in the exercise of any narrow Bounty And albeit at first they give only upon choice and love of the person yet vvithin a vvhile themselves likewise begin to love their givings and to foment their deeds no less then Parents do their Children But let us go on For these Offices and Dignities already rehearsed and these of the like nature vvhich I shall after set down in their place vvere as I am ready to say but the facings or fringes of his Greatness in comparison of that trust vvhich his most Gracious Master did cast upon him in the one and twentieth year of his Reign vvhen he made him the chief Concomitant of his Heir apparent and only Son our dear Soveraign now being in a journey of much Adventure and vvhich to shew the strength of his privacy had been before not communicated vvith any other of his Majesties most reserved Counsellors at home being carried vvith great closeness liker a business of Love then State as it vvas in the first intendment Now because the vvhole Kingdome stood in a zealous trepidation of the absence of such a Prince I have been the more desirous to research vvith some diligence the several passages of the said Journey and the particular Accidents of any moment in their vvay They began their motion in the year 1623 on Tuesday the 18th of February from the Marquess his house of late purchase at Newhall in Essex setting out vvith disguised Beards and vvith borrowed Names of Thomas and Iohn Smith And then attended vvith none but Sir Richard Greham Master of the Horse to the Marquess and of inward trust about him When they passed the River against Gravesend for lack of silver they vvere fain to give the Ferry-man a piece of two and twenty shillings vvhich struck the poor fellow into such a melting tenderness that so good Gentlemen should be going for so he suspected about some quarrel beyond Sea as he could not forbear to acquaint the Officers of the Town vvith vvhat had befallen him vvho sent presently Post for their stay at Rochester through vvhich they vvere passed before any intelligence could arrive On the brow of the Hill beyond that City they vvere somewhat perplexed by espying the French Embassador vvith the Kings Coach and other attending him vvhich made them baulk the beaten Road and teach Posthackneys to leap Hedges At Canterbury vvhither some voice as it should seem vvas run on before the Mayor of the Town came himself to seize on them as they vvere taking fresh Horses in a blunt manner alledging first a Warrant to stop them from the Councel next from Sir Lewis Lewkver Master of the Ceremonies and lastly from Sir Henry Manwaring then Lieutenant of Dover-Castle At all vvhich confused fiction the Marquess had no leasure to laugh but thought best to dismask his Beard and so told him that he vvas going covertly vvith such slight company to take a secret view being Admiral of the forwardness of his Majesties Fleet vvhich vvas then in preparation on the Narrow Seas This vvith much ado did somewhat handsomely heal the disguisement On the vvay afterwards the Baggage Post-Boy vvho had been at Court got I know not how a glimmering vvho they vvere but his mouth vvas easily shut To Dover through bad Horses and those pretty impediments they came not before six at night vvhere they found Sir Francis Cottington then Secretary to the Prince now Baron of Hanworth and Mr. Endymion Porter vvho had been sent before to provide a Vessel for their Transportation The foresaid Knight vvas conjoyn'd for the nearness of his place on the Princes affairs and for his long Residence in the Court of Spain vvhere he had gotten singular credit even vvith that cautious Nation by the temper of his Carriage Mr. Porter vvas taken in not only as a Bed-chamber servant of Confidence to his Highness but likewise as a necessary and useful Instrument for his natural skil in the Spanish Tongue And these five vvere at the first the vvhole Parada of this Journey The next morning for the night vvas tempestuous on the 19th of the foresaid Moneth taking ship at Dover about six of the Clock they landed the same day at Bullâ—…yn in France near two hours after Noon reaching Monstruell that night like men of dispatch and Paris the second day after being Friday the one and twentieth But some three Posts before they had met vvith two German Gentlemen that came newly from England vvhere they had seen at New-market the Prince and the Marquess taking Coach together vvith the King and retaining such a strong impression of them both that they now bewrayed some knowledge of their persons but vvere out-faced by
now more then a moneth since the day of our Election was proclaimed on our Colledge and Church-gates the World is nimble in the anticipating of Voices and for my particular according to my improvidence in all things else I am in this likewise no reserver of my good will till the last I must therefore heartily beseech you as I have delivered my self at your disposal so to dispose of me when I am my self which I am not now And so I rest Unquiet till I shall some way serve you H. WOTTON To Doctor C. Worthy Sir IT is one of the wonders of the World unto me how your Letters come so slowly which if either themselves or their Bearers knew how welcome they are would flie I speak this both by some other before and by your last or the 19. of December which was almost nine days on the way and I hope the Scene of Scotland much changed in the mean while to the better But to let go exotick matter if that may be so termed I must congratulate with you your actual possession of the Place of the For although your own Merit was before you had it in their judgements that understand you a kind of present investure yet I learned long since of our old Master at Oxford That Actus is better then Potentia which yet I hope will not divert you from your Philosophical Profession wherein I know no man of sweeter or sounder ability And so Sir I rest Very truly and affectionately at your Command H. WOTTON Honourable Sir FOr this time I pray you accept in good part from me a Bottle made of a Serpentine Stone which hath the quality to give any Wine or Water that shall be infused therein for four and twenty hours the taste and operation of the Spanwater and is very medicinable for the Cure of the Spleen and the Gravel as I am informed But sure I am that Sir Walter Raloigh put a value upon it he having obtained it amongst the Spoils of the Governour of St. Omy in his last fatal Expedition and by his Page understood the vertues thereof and that his Captain highly esteemed it And surely some good Cures it hath wrought since it came into my hands for those two infirmities c. Etracted from a Letter of the Earl of Cork written to Sir Henry Wotton Decemb. 22. 1636. SIR FIrst I must thank you for the fruition of your L. at life here though it was too short Next for your Pictures whereof I return one by this first Boat and retain the other longer by your courtesie Thirdly and most of all for a promise which I receive from you by my Servant or at least a hope that you will send me some of your own rural Poesie That will be a nearer image of your inward self especially when you were retired into your self I do therefore expect it greedily by this for I well remember to have seen some lines that flowed from you vvith much strength and grace When you have any great piece of news I pray now and then Candidus Imperti to Your professed Servant H. WOTTON SIR ALthough I am novv a retired and cloystered man yet there do still hang upon me I know not how some reliques of an harkening humour The easiest vvay for you to quench this appetite in your poor Friend is to empty your self into my Servant vvhom I send to salute you and to knovv two things First vvhether you be of the Parliament your self Next vvhether I should be sorry that I am not of it You can by this time resolve me of both We are here only fed vvith certain Airs of good Hope Camelions food More I will not say novv and you see by this little hovv tender I am to usurp upon your time Yet before I end let me ask a third question Have you no playing and breathing days If you be of the House might you not start hither for a night or two The interposing of a little Philosophical diet may perchance lighten a mans spirits surcharged vvith publick thoughts and prevent a surfeit of State Howsoever hold me fast in your love and Gods mercy be vvhere you are Your poor Friend and Servant Alla suiscerata H. WOTTON To Dr. C. 1638. Worthy Sir I Find in the bowels of your last which I received yesternight shall I say by your or by my Nicholas much harsh and stiff matter from Scotland and I believe insusceptible of any farther Concoction unless it be with much time quod concoquit omnia But let me lay all publick thoughts aside for the present having now with you a bosome-business which may perhaps fall out to concern us more here Our Nicholas for I account him at least halfed between us tells me that you have good means to know when will be in Town About whom you may perhaps have heard of certain as I think for my part well conceived wishes though but yet in the Air touching a vertuous conjunction between him and so dear unto me both in my affection and judgement and in all respects that if our nearness in blood did not make me more tender to violate mine own modesty then I need to be with such a Friend as you are I would boldly say that there are few better Matches in this Kingdome for the indowments of her Person and Fortune nor in the whole World for the sweetness and goodness of her Mind And on the other side albeit I have no acquaintance with the Gentleman yet I hear likewise so much good of him as makes me wish I had more interest in his familiarity I write this from whence I wrote my last unto you being on my wings towards Canterbury whence I shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 return hither again within six or seven dayes And this Bearer my domestick Friend a German Gentleman of value will from London meet me at Canterbury by whom I shall be glad to hear from you about what time the foresaid is expected of return to the City and any thing else that you shall think fit to be told me But I pray let this privacy which I have passed with you sleep between us As I rest in your Love H. WOTTON To Sir C. C. SIR LEt me first thank you much for that Rural Communication with your own Thoughts the best of all Companions I was first taken with the Virginity as I may say of the inscription in our Vulgar Next with a natural suavity in the Elocution which though it be Lyrical yet it shews you can put on the Buskin when you list And when you are tempted again to solicite your own spirits I would fain have you venture upon some Tragical Subject though you borrow it out of Arabia For I am glad our England cannot yield it I hear for matter of Novelty That Sir Thomas Roe a well-chosen Instrument is to take his leave on Sunday next at Court being designed to be one of the great Synod of Protestant Ambassadors that
hard to get any thing out of the Counsel-Chamber as out of the Exchequer Sir Henry Vane is suddenly sent Extraordinary Ambassador to the Hague vvith the more vvonder because Sir Robert Carr is yet there omni par negotio The others having been Cofferer breeds some conjecture that the business is pecuniary Nothing is yet done about the Rolls and those other places in sequence And my Lord of Bristow's re entry into the Court vvho the last vveek carried the Sword before the King filleth us vvith new discourse as if he should be restored to the Vice-Chamberlainship vvhich yet lyeth amortized in your Noble Friend Mine own businesses stand as they did And the best is they are rather stationary then retrograde I pray remember my hearty affection to your vvorthy Brother and give him the best hope of his Anthony And so languishing for you again I commit you all to Gods dear love March 11. 1628. Your faithfullest poor Friend HENRY WOTTON To the same My sweet and dear Jack Dinely I Am come newly from those Ladies vvho think themselves more lovely then before and perhaps then they are ever since I shewed them your Character of their beauties in your Letter from the Gally-Gravesend Never vvas a Town better Epithited They all remember themselves extream kindly unto you While I vvas there I should have vvritten Letters provisionally to go vvith Mr. Griffith But my Brains are even yet in some distraction among good Ideas vvhereby I am put now to vvrite these and other that go vvith them in hast For my said Friend hath given me vvarning that he shall be gone to morrow morning from London I have vvritten to our Royal Mistress upon a touch in your last vvhich found me at Bocton that I had now sent her my Niece Stanhop's Picture in little if an express Messenger sent for it the very night before I cam away by my Lord of Chesterfield to vvhom it vvas promised had not ravished it out of my Pocket But I shall have it in a greater form at my return thither immediately after our Election vvhich vvill begin to morrow seven-night And the Friday morning following Sir George Kevet's Son is in the head of our List For Lentum est to say he shall be after your late refreshment of the Queens Commands Sir Edmund Bacon vvas likewise vvith me at Bocton vvhen your Letter so over-joyed him that he called in the very instant for some Paper to send for the spiritous Frank Bacon from Redgrave And Sene viene volando as fast as he can trick him up for the Souldier Of vvhom I vvill vvrite more by himself For to discharge the thanks that are due for him is no sudden business To return to Mr. Griffith No man living ever took a kinder impression then he hath done of his obligations towards you And it is indeed a piece of his Character to take the least kindness to heart He knows all news You have him now in your hands And God be between you both Your poor Friend suisceratissimamente H. WOTTON To my most worthy dear Friend Mr. John Dinely Attendant on the young Prince at Leyden From the Colledge the 16. of August 1629. My sweet Jack Dinely WE have newly concluded our Anniversary business which hath been the most distracted Election that I verily believe had ever before been seen since this Nurse first gave Milk through no less then four recommendatory and one mandatory Letter from the King himself besides intercessions and messengers from divers great Personages for Boys both in and out enough to make us think our selves shortly Electors of the Empire if it hold on Among which confusions I did not forget as I have written to our Royal Mistress to put Sir G. Kevets Son in the head of our List. After this which I have truly told you you cannot well expect many lines from me for as the Seas require some time to settle even when the winds are ceased so need our brains after such an agitation yet somewhat I must say by thâ—… Bearer You have gotten a great interest in the whole Family and in all that touch upon it by the pains which you have taken and yet they reserve themselves not to be more beholden to you for the introduction then they hope to be for youâ—… direction of him there though he comes I can tell you with severe advice from his Uncle that if ever he be an inch from the eye of the Prince unless with the Queen either in time of security or danger Actum est between them We leave him now to your moulding as if he were as he is indeed to be melt in a new fornace there is spirit enough to work upon though perchance overshadowed with some rural modesty but that among Camps and Courts is now and then too soon divested I shall be glad to hear how he appeareth di prima vista as likewise of little Griffith after whom I hearken with no less affection Dum verser in hac materia I could wish you at some times to quicken your Anthony here with a line or two which in Persius phrase Patrnum sapiant Not truly that I perceive any slackness in him but you know what our Italian Horsemen say Un Caval del Reguo vuol anche gli sproni We are divided by sundry reports from you between hopes and fears both great your next will ease us which will find me in Kent whether I am turning my head again for a while that I may be present at my Niece Stanhops good time My Niece Hester is absolutely reclaimed from those foolish impressions which she had taken Gods Name be ever blessed for it and it is none of the least ends of my going to rivet that business I hope at the next Term to do some wonders for my self so I call them and so they must be if I do them for among Courtiers I am a wonder as Owls are among gay Birds Now farewel for the present let us still love one another and our dear God love us both Your truest poor Friend H. W. I had made it a resolution to my self never to write to the Queen without somewhat likewise to the King but understanding that they are now separated I have this time forborn to trouble him in so noble an action To my most dear and worthy Friend Mr. John Dinely Secretary to the Queen of Bohemia My dear J. Dinely FOr I am loth to lose the possession of our familiarity you left me here your Letters and your Love in deposito and I have since received other from you somewhat of a sad complexion touching the affairs of Germany as then they stood But more newly we hear that Barhard of Weinmar doth miracles upon the Danuby the River sometimes of our merry passage We vvish in this House where you have placed me vvith much contentment that every Mole-hill that he takes vvere a Province and that the Duke of Bavaria vvere not only fled to
be at Mr. Alkinds House in the Strand or otherwise peradventure vvith your Friend in Lombard-street vvhereof you shall have notice in time I am yours every where H. WOTTON From the Colledge April 21. 1639. SIR I should be sorry for your departure towards our Royal Mistress before some short meeting at least between us for I have much discourse to unlade in your honest brest and I can tell you vve had need lay up discourse safely vvhich I hope you vvill take for some excuse of my seldome vvriting unto you for I suspect a certain natural frâ—…edom in mine own Pen. In the Scottish Affairs it is one mystery that we know not what to believe Only this we can say That there is nothing to be praised in it on their part and I could wish there were as little to be feared on ours Deus operatur omnia suaviter And to his Power and Mercy vve must leave our selves Your ever faithful poor Friend H. WOTTON From the Colledge April 17. 1639. Sir My Coach-man is yet crasie from a late great sickness but if it please you to specifie the time of your conveniency my Geldin shall vvait upon you at Branford A poinct nommé SIR I long novv to hear of nothing more then a little Deynleiolus and if it prove of another Gender in Grammer then let Philosophy comfort you that says It is Natures method to begin ab Imperfectiori But by my contemplation of your own and your Wives complexion and of her late sicknâ—…ss I should imagine that Fortior pars trahet sexum We are sorry to hear that the Scottish Gentlemen vvho have been lately sent to that King found as they say but a brusk vvelcome vvhich makes all fear that there may be a rebullition in that business We have a nevv strange voice flying here that the Prince Palatine is towards a Marriage I apprehend much the event of your new Ambassage from the States being carried by a man who hath had his vvhole fortune out of France but the vvisdom of the Instrument may mollifie all I should be glad to knovv vvhether his Son-in-law Constantinus Hugeinus be in his company Lastly I should be glad to hear that you are un tantino promoved in your own ends for vvhen the first vvay is plained all will go smoothly Let us howsoever love one another and God love us both Your poor Friend H. WOTTON A TABLE OF THE Several Tracts contained in this Book 1. THe Elements of Architecture 2. A Survey of Education 3. Aphorisms of Education 4. Characters of some Kings of England 5. Vita Henrici Sexti 6. Ad Regem è Scotia reducem H. W. Plausus Vota 7. A Panegyrick to King Charles 8. The Parallel 9. The Disparity 10. The Life of the Duke of Buckingham 11. The Great Action between Pompey and Caesar. 12. A Character of Ferdinand Grand Duke of Tuscany 13. The Election of the New Duke of Venice with other Papers concerning that State 14. A Meditation on Gen. 22. 15. A Meditation on Christmass day 16. Letters to several Persons 17. Poems 18. Letters to Sir Edmund Bacon 19. Additional Letters to several Persons Never before Printed FINIS * In his Chronicle * Cambden in his Britannia * Hollinshed * Sir Edward Bish Clarentieux King of Arms M. Charls Cotton and Mr. Nick Oudert sometime Sir Hen. Wotton's Servant * St. Austin's Confession * Watson in his Quodlibets * Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge * August 1627. * Sept. 3. 1629. * 1 Tim. 3. 7. * * Juven * * In it were Italian locks picklocks screws to force open doors and many things of worth and rarity that he had gathered in his forreign Travel * Lege vulgata de vita parentibus Scioppii p. 127. * Ibidem p. 132. * Ecclesiasticus Scioppii p. 371. * 8. April Sess. 4. * See what is published of the Life and Parents of Scioppius pag. 127. * April 8. Ses. 4. Memorandum That this Recantation was to my knowledg never Printed at Rome or elsewhere through more haste belike to his death or otherwise upon further consideration that things extorted with fear carry no credit even by the Praetors Edict Quod metus causa Tacit. lib. 1. Annal. * Aristot. 2. l. Polit c. 6. * Ioannes Heurnius Instit. Medicin lib. 7. cap. 2. Opidum quidem aedificatum eleganter sed imprudenter positum Under-digging or Hollowing of the Earth Our Artizans call them Teeth and Cartouzes * By the first Theor. * Which is the sole Prerogative of perpendicular Lines and right Angles Lumen est diffusivum sui alieni * A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Epig. The Italians call it una stanza dannata as when a Buttery is cast under a Stair-case or the like * Arist. lib. 1. cap. 5. de part Anim. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De nugis Curial c. * Capâ—… Aristotle in Rhetoricis * Averhoes * La Promissiâ—…ne Ducalâ—… Mar. 6. 1635. JAME'S 27. Styl nov a 1. The Style of the Emperours Chancery when he treateth with Kings is not Majestas which he reserveth for himself but either Serenitas or Regia Dignitas This made him angry when he heard that the French Ambassadours styled Bethlem Gabor Serenissimum who on the other side gave them leave to entitle him how they would adding this Reason That they were not Ambassadours which could make or unmake Kings b 2. Of these words he taketh advantage which were in your Majesties Credentiall Letter delivered by me c 3. I wonder he should touch this point wherein I had cleared both the Arch-duke Leopoldus and the Emperour himself namely that the first subsidiary Troops sent towards the Palatinate were-meerly Voluntaries without Your Majesties Contribution and defensively intended before any noise of the Invasion d 4. In declaring Your Majesties Will and determination from the beginning touching the Palatinates if they should be assailed I told the Emperour that though in the single Business of Bohemia You had suspended Your judgement till more liquid proofs yet You found Your Self tyed both by Nature and Reason not to suffer the Patrimonial Inheritance of Your Own Descendents in the hands of an Alien Usurper e 5. At this Audience I told the Emperour that Your Majesty would hardly be perswaded without his own affirmation that Spinola had invaded the Palatinate by his express Order And much less believe that he would lend any approbation thereunto ex post facto by way of Ban or otherwise Which action of Spinola the Emperour doth here assume But whether such was his meaning from the beginning or that his success in Bohemia hath bred this resolution may be somewhat questionable Alwayes sure it is that he affirmed unto the French Ambassadors long since that the Marquess Spinola was to come into Bohemia f 6. Of this term of 40 dayes and the following restriction not to treat touching any Province that in the mean time shall be reduced to his obedience I have written the true cause in my Letter to Your Majesty g 7. In Letters from M. Secretary Naunton of the 23. of Sept. which came so late unto my hands that the Emperors Ban was already formally touched and ready to be put to the Print h 8. This I think was added out of meer conjecture For wee have heard nothing of the Electors Actions since his retiring into Silesia i 9. So as upon my Intercession the Emperor hath granted some suspence of the Banne Which I required for two principal Reasons 1 Because the King my Masters moderation in the Bohemian Business not Cause Who was so much interessed in the Persons did justly merit from the Emperor an exchange of temperate proceeding 2. Because such an Imperial Proscription would but more and more inflame the minds of all Princes interessed by reason of Bloud or State in the subsistence of the Palatine and would be the cause of a perpetual War in the bowels of the Empire contrary to the Christian endeavours and wishes of Your Majesty Whose good intentions were now so manifested to the World by sundry Ambassages that You were satisfied in Your Own Conscience and justified before God and man whatsoever should ensue I told him besides that I thought Your Majesty would take it kindly if at Your request this Proscription were forborn When I had first enquired out her Lodging Authoris Incerti
so being in truth in no very chearfull disposition at the present but newly come out of two or three fits of an Ague I vvill trouble neither of us both any further ever resting From London ready to return to my Coll. at Eton this 13. of Nov. 1628. Your poor professed Friend HENRY WOTTON If the Queen have not heard the Epitaph of Albertus Morton and his Lady it is vvorth her hearing for the passionate plainness He first deceas'd She for a little tryed To live vvithout him Lik'd it not and died POSTSCRIPT In a Letter under this date to her Majesty I conclude vvith a supplication that She vvill be pleased to receive a Page at the joynt suit of the House of Bacons A Boy of singular spirits vvithout aggravation of her charge for he shall vvant no means to maintain himself in good fashion about so Royal a Mistress I pray heartily further this motion and be in it your self Nuncius laetitiarum Part of a Letter to the Lord Treasurer Earl of Portland ut videtur THis is the reckoning of my unpleasant time whereby your Lordship sees that my silence hath been a symptome as I may term it of my infirmity from all outward respects and duties contracting my thoughts about my self But can that serve my turn No in troth my good Lord For I should while my self was in contemplation have remembred that I was bound to congratulate with your Lordship even for mine own sake especially when I found by the long use of two or three Physicians the exhaustion of my Purse as great as other evacuations It would breed wrinckles in my face if I should stay any longer upon this point I will chear my self that your Lordship did love me even before I was so worthy of your compassion I have tasted the benefit of your discourse I have enjoyed your hospitality I have been by your favour one of your familiar guests I have had leave to interchange some good tales and stories in your company and to exercise my natural freedom Besides we have been conjoyned in a serious business wherein I do even yet hope for some good by your means So as I have had in your Lordship the interests both of earnest and of pleasant conversation which gives me the boldness to assure my self that I am still not only within your Lordships remembrance but likewise within your loving care But I dig in a Rock of Diamonds To the KING 1628. May it please Your most Sacred Majesty IT is more to be bound to Your Majesties judgement then to be bound to Your favour Therefore I do not only joy but glory though still with humble acknowledgement and feeling what my self am that You have been pleased as I understand from my Lord of Dorchester to apply my Pen to so noble an end being confident that the very care not to disgrace Your Majesties good pleasure and indulgent choice of me will invigorate my weakness But before I enter into the description of others actions and fortunes which require a free spirit I must present at Your Royal feet and even claim from Your natural equity and goodness such compensation as it shall please You in that which followeth I served the King Your Father of most blessed memory from the time he sent for me at the beginning of his Raign out of France retaining then some gracious remembrance of my service with him in Scotland twenty years that is almost now a third part of my life in ordinary and extraordinary imployments abroad I had many comfortable Letters of his contentment or at least of his gracious toleration of my poor endeavours And I had under his own Royal hand two hopes in reversion The first a moiety of a six Clerks place in Chancery The next of the Office of the Rolls it self The first of these I was forced to yield to Sir William Beecher upon the late Duke of Buckingham's former engagement unto him by promise even after Your Majesty had been pleased to intercede for me with Your said ever blessed Father And that was as much in value as my Provostship were worth at a Market The other of the Reversion of the Rolls I surrendred to the said Duke in the Gallery at Wallingford-House upon his own very instant motion the said Duke then intending it upon the now Attorney Sir Robert Heath though with serious promise upon his honour that he would procure me some equivalent recompence before any other should be setled in the place The truth of my humble claim and of his sincere intentions towards me I present herewith unto Your Majesty in a Letter all under his own hand I could likewise remember unto Your Majesty the losses I have sustained abroad by taking up moneys for my urgent use at more then twenty in the hundred by casualty of fire to the damage of near four hundred pounds in my particular by the raising of moneys in Germany whereby my small allowance when I was sent to the Emperors Court fell short five hundred pounds as Seignor Burlamachi too well knoweth and other wayes Now for all this that I may not press Your Majesty with immoderate desires I most humbly beg from Your Royal equity and I may say from Your very compassion but two things First That Your Majesty will be pleased in disposing of the Rolls to which I was assigned to reserve for me some small proportion towards the discharge of such debts as I contracted in publick service yet remaining upon interest Next That You will be likewise pleased to promise me the next good Deanry that shall be vacant by death or remove whereof I also had a promise from Your blessed Father then at Newmarket and am now more capable thereof in my present condition And thus shall Your Majesty restore me both to the freedom of my thoughts and of my life otherwise so intricated that I know not how to unfold it And so with my continual prayers to the Almighty for his dearest and largest blessings upon Your Royal Person I ever rest Whitehall Feb. 12. Styl vet 1628. Your Majesties most faithfull poor Subject and Servant HENRY WOTTON To my most worthy Friend Mr. John Dinely Esq at Boston in Lincolnshire My dear Jack Dinely YOu see I keep my familiarity though you be the governor of Princes And I see by your Letter that I am every where in your remembrance even where so many natural pledges divide you The Parliament is since your going dissolved by the King upon such reason as in good faith all sober minds must approve even while they wish it otherwise Never was there such a morning as that which occasioned the dissolution since Phacton did guide his Fathers Chariot We are now cheared with some forraign news but I am still sorry that we must fetch our comfort from abroad and from the discords of Italy instead of the harmony of England Our Lords sit often and vvere never more close insomuch as it is as