that Familiarity with them that he wisht Tâ—â—s ' with thâ—se in Paris his Converse was so much that he called them his Convictores But he added that he had his Convictrices too i. e. his She Companions and daily Guests which created him as much Sorrow and Anxiety as the others did pleasure And these were as he explained himself Solicitudes Cares Damage to his Domestick Concerns in England greater Charges than he could well bear doubtful Disputations various Emulations and Opinions While Smith was here he procured the Printing of the Answer to Osorius for the Vindication of the Queen and the Proceedings of the Realm in the Reformation of Religion as was mentioned before when the Reader was told of the Difficulty that Smith met with while he required that State 's Allowance for the publishing thereof But at last he got it into the Press at his own Charge Which made Dr. Haddon the Author after the publishing of the Book write to him Mulâ—um tibi Responsum debet Osorianum i. â— That the Answer to Osorius owed much to him And as for Smith's Judgment of this Answer it was this as he wrote to the said Haddon That he conflicted with an Adversary too unequal for him For Osorius brought nothing beside the bare Imitation of Cicâ—ro and the Ignorance of that he undertook to treat of Which Haddon pointed him to as it were with his Finger Yet with much Modesty and without sharpness of Words By April 1564. Smith had so compleated the printing of the Book that he sent over some Copies to the Secretary The aforesaid Dr. Haddâ—n Master of the Requests was the Queen's Ambassador at Bruges at the same time that our Smith was in the like Quality in France Between whom a friendly and learned Correspondâ—nce was maintained They both were Ambassadors abroad in the Years 1562 1564 1565 1566. Divers of the Letters written between them are printed in Haddon's Posthumous Pieces published by Hatcher of Cambridge An. 1567. Smith was a great Lover and Reader of Plato as Haddon was of Tully In relation to which thus did Haddon from Burges write to Smith in France Your Plato will not suffer you nor my Tully me to be our own who would have us serve our Country and as we at first received all that we have from it so to return all back to it again This he said to comfort Smith and himself under their present Distances from their Country their Pains and Expences in their Embassies for the Service of their Queen and Country The troubles whereof they were apt sometimes to lay to heart At another Time viz. in the Year 1562. Haddon appealed to Smith as a Judge in a Dispute between him and the French Ambassador at Bruges upon Cicero's Skill both in Law and Philosophy For Haddon happening to Sup once with that Ambassador upon some occasion Cicero was cited when the Ambassador did admit him to be the best Orator but he would not allow him at all to be skilled in Law and that he was but a mean Philosopher Haddon stood up for the Honour of his Master and affirmed that he was a very good Lawyer and a most excellent Philosopher Whereupon they fell into a very hot Argument that they could hardly make an end Concerning this he took occasion in his next Letter to write unto Smith telling him that he wished this Controversy might have had his Judgment Cui non minus uni tribuo quam Platoni Poeta nescio quis à reliquis destitutus i. e. To whom alone he attributed as much as a certain Poet did to Plato when he had none else of his side Smith on the next occasion in his to Haddon thus communicated his Judgment That if any doubted whether Cicero was a Lawyer it was not to be wondered at because Men for the most part are ignorant of Age and Times That Cicero was not of those in that Time that professed the Civil Law but yet he was Iureconsultissimus Admirably skilled in it Which not only many of his Pleadings and Orations demonstrate but his Topics to Trebatius And he esteemed himself so to have prosited herein that he openly declared one Day If they vexed him he would the third Day after profess the Civil Law But he never saw indeed Accursius nor Bartholus nor Baldus nor Iason nor the Digests nor Code of Iustinian A good Reason why because they were not in being in his Time But so thorowly had he learned the Laws of that Time that unless he had been an Orator he had been esteemed the Learnedest Civilian If he that is a Lawyer deny him to be a Philosopher that Answer will easily be given to him that Apelles gave the Shooe-maker Let him not give his Iudgment beyond his Slipper But for his Philosophy he betook them that denied it to his Book De Deo De Divinatione or what he treated of in his other Philosophical Dissertations In April 1564. Secretary Cecil writ our Ambassador the News of the Disturbance at Court occasioned by Iohn Hales's Book wrote in the last Parliament Which was the cause of his being cast into Prison and several others of the Court committed or banished the Court. Of this Haddon who was now at home had also acquainted him and called it Tempestas Halisiana i. e. The Storm raised by Hales This Hales was a passing good Scholar an hearty Protestant thorowly acquainted with the State of this Kingdom and a great Antipapist he had been a Courtier to King Edward and an Exile under Queen Mary and now under this Queen Clerk of the Hanaper And fearing the Succession of the Scotch Queen a Papist to the Crown if Queen Elizabeth should die unmarried and childless he by private Consultation with others resolved to take upon him to write a Discourse to discuss the Title to this Crown after the Queen And having in a Book confuted and rejected the Line of the Scotch Queen made the Line of the Lady Frances that had been Married to Grey Duke of Suffolk who was Daughter to the Younger Sister of King Henry VIII to be only next and lawful Heir She was Mother to the Lady Katharine Grey who had been privately Married to Edward Seimour Earl of Hertford And were now both in the Tower for that Marriage and under the Queen's Displeasure In April Hales was committed to the Fleet for this bold and presumptuous Act and afterwards to the Tower where he continued a great while Especially because he communicated these his Conceits to sundry Persons The Lord Iohn Grey Uncle to the Lady Katharine was in trouble about it and so was the Lord-Keeper Bacon And besides all this Hales had procured Sentences and Counsels of Lawyers from beyond Seas to be written in maintenance of the Earl of Hertford's Marriage which seemed to have been by their Consents only For which the Marriage had been declared invalid and null by the Archbishop of Canterbury But hereat
Roman Coins The Physicians tamper with him They leave him to Kitchin Physick Goes into the Country Dies Persons attending his Funerals Buried His Monument His Lady dies His Person described CHAP. XVI His last Will. Makes his Will For the finishing his House and Monument To his Lady For preserving good Housekeeping To his Brother His Library to Queen's College or Peter-House Books to his Friends A Cup to the Queen In case of Doubt arising in the Will His Executors The Date of his Will CHAP. XVII Observations upon Sir Thomas Smith His Learning A Platonick A Physician His Recipe for the Plague His Chymical Water sent to the Countess of Oxford His Matthiolus A Chymist A Mathematician An Arithmetician An Astronomer His Iudgment of the Star in Cassiopaeia A Politician A Linguist An Historian An Orator An Architect His Library Books by him written A great Iudge in Learning His Acquaintance The Vogue of his Learning Beneficial to Learning His Places His houses in Chanon-Row In London At Ankerwick Mounthaut His heir Sir William Smith CHAP. XVIII Sir Thomas Smith 's Vertuous Accomplishments His Religion His Principles by which he governed himself His Vertues Vices falsely charged on him His Spirit His Apparel Not oppressive Of an universal Charity His Apophthegms Leland's Copy of Verses to Smith Dr. Byng's Epitaph on him THE LIFE Of the Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH Kt. CHAP. I. Sir THOMAS SMITH's Birth Parentage and Education THE Learned Sir THOMAS SMITH sometimes Secretary of State to K. Edward VI. and afterward to Q. Elizabeth was born at Walden in the County of Essex distinguish'd by the Name of SAFFRON Walden the Lands of that Parish and the Parts adjacent being famous for the Growth of the useful Medicinal Plant whether first brought thither by this Knight's Industry being a great Planter I know not for it was first brought into England as we are told in the Reign of K. Edward III. According to Cambden who writes that Sir Thomas Smith died Anno 1577. in his Climacteric he must have been born in the Year 1514. According to Fox who in his Relation of an Evidence given by the said Knight in February Anno 1551 against Bishop Gardiner assigned his Age then to be Three and Thirty he must have been born in the Year 1518. But himself putteth his Age out of doubt in his Book of the English Commonwealth where he saith that March the 28th 1565 he was in the One and Fiftieth Year of his Age. By which Computation he must have come into the World in the Year 1512. a Year famous to England for building of a Ship the biggest that ever the Sea bore And by the Inscription on his Monument it appears he departed this Life in the 65th Year of his Age. So that Cambden made him Two Years younger than he was and Fox Five unless we should say the Figure 33 is mis-printed for 39 a Fault too common in his Books Our Knight's Father was Iohn Smith of Walden Gentleman a Person of good Rank Quality and Wealth Of which we may take some Measure from two Purchases he made of K. Edward in one Year viz. the Third of his Reign that is to say a Chauntry in the Church of Long Ashton in Somersetshire with other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Somerset and Glocester which cost him 293 l. 16. s. 8 d. His other Purchase was all the Guild or Fraternity in Great Walden lately dissolved with divers other Lands and Tenements in Essex and London For which he with another Joint-Purchaser paid 531 l. 14 s. 11 d. Of which Fraternity of Walden this by the way must be remembered for the Honour of it that in a Grant made to it by K. Henry VIII as he willed there That he might evermore be remembred in their perpetual Prayers so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a Brother thereof and his dear Wife Q. Katherine to be a Sister And divers others are expressed there to be desirous to be admitted to the same as the Right Worshipful Dr. Wolsey Almoner to the King Richard Nix Bishop of Norwich Henry Earl of Essex and his Lady Lord Brook Chief Justice of England Sir Iohn Cutts Sir Tho. Semer and divers other Gentlemen and Ladies This Iohn Smith if we look further back was in the 30th of King Henry VIII High Sheriff of the Counties of Essex and Hertford For in those Times one Sheriff served both Counties In the year 1545. and the 35th of K. Henry aforesaid his Coat of Arms was granted him by the principal King of Arms or rather confirmed For the said King's Parent specifies That he was descended of honest Lineage and his Ancestors had long continued in Nobility and bearing of Arms and that it was Mr. Smith's Desire that the King of Arms would ratifie unto him his former Coat and Register it in the Records of his Office The Coat therefore granted annexed and attributed unto him was Sables a Fesse Dauncy between three Lionceux regardant Argent Languid Gules pawing with their Left Paws upon as many Altars flaming and burning thereon for that these were Anvils as some have thought alluding to the Name of Smith is a Fancy Upon the Fesse Nine Billets of his Field The Crest an Eagle rising Sable holding in his Right Claw a Pen Argent Flames of Fire issuing thereout This Crest Sir Thomas changed upon a notable Reason as we shall relate in due place Of this Coat of Arms I have laid a Copy of the Original Patent in the Appendix which is in Parchment very well adorned round about with Pictures of Rosâ—â— and Flowers de Lys and the Lively Efsigies of Garter arrayed in his rich Coat standing with a white Wand in his Hand and a Crown on his Head and the Coat of Smith blazonâ—d on the right side of him and pointâ—d to by the said white Wand I have but one thing more to say of this Gentleman and that is That he was an old Favourer of the Religion Reformed in which he brought up his Son Thomas from his Youth He lies buried in the Church of Walden where his Monument is yet remaining that is so much of it as contains his Coat of Arms but the Brass that bore the inscription torn off This for Sir Thomas's Father His Parentagâ— on his Mother's side was also Genule being derived from the ancient Name of the Châ—â—â—ecks of Lancashire his Mother Agnes being a Daughter and Co-heir of that Family By this Gentlewoman Iohn Smith had Issue divers Children of both Sexes viz. Four Daughters Agnes and Margery Alice and Iane which two last were married and three Sons Thomas Iohn and George The Posterity of which last flourish to this Day in Wealth and Honour and possess the Seat and Inheritance of Thomas the Subject of our ensuing History with great Improvements of the Estate Tho' no more Sons are express'd in the Roll
generally afterwards received a late Learned Professor of that Language in Basil named Witstein made an Oration in that University lately Printed to confute it and to revive the old exploded Sounds And as he was thus useful to Learning in the University so he was also to Religion He was bred up in the Protestant Doctrine a pretty rare matter in those Times and he never flinched from it All his Kindred of his Father's side were neither Neutrals nor Papists as he wrote somewhere of himself all enclining to the Truth and Gospel Old and Young and so known and noted This he wrote to some because certain Backbiters in King Edward's Days had charged him to have been a Neutral The Reason whereof seemed to be because he did not run so fast in the Reformation under that King as some Hot-spurs would have him who knew not what the matter meant For he was publickly known to be a Protestant in the time of King Hâ—nry VIII living then in Cambridge and being there in place of Eminence when the Bishop of Winchester the Chancellor of that University was severe towards those that professed the Gospel and threatned Fire and Faggot-bearing Smith publickly defended them and opposed those rigorous Methods and staved off many And this he did before all Cambridge and all the Justices of Peace in the Shire and saved many and so continued He stood up and pleaded for the Professors and Profession of the Gospel publickly both in the University before all the Learned Men and not only so but in the Convocation before all the Bishops and in the Parliament-House before the Lords and Commons as he writ in Vindication of himself And being a Man of Reputation among them the University made use of him once as their Messenger and Advocate to the Court to address to Queen Katharine Par to whom he brought their Letters beseeching her Intercession to the King on their behalf being now as they apprehended in imminent Jeopardy For the Parliament in the 37th that is that last Year of that King's Reign had given him all the Colleges in the Kingdom whereat the University was sore afraid Dr. Smith repaired to that good Queen entreating her to prevail with his Majesty that not withstanding the late Act they might enjoy their Possessions as before And she did as she was a true Lover and Patroness of Learning and Religion effectually apply to the King and had her Request in that behalf granted and to that purport she wrote her Letters to the University of which Smith was also the Bringer wherein she called him their Discreet and Learned Advocate and having admonish them that she would have their University to be an University of Divine Philosophy as well as of Natural or Moral she let them understand that she had according to their Desire attempted her Lord the King's Majesty for the stay of their Possessions And That notwithstanding his Majesty's Property and Interest through the Consent of the High Court of Parliament his Highness was such a Patron of good Learning that he would rather add and erect new occasion therefore than confound those their Colleges So that Learning might hereafter ascribe her very Original whole Conservation and sure Stay to our Sovereign Lord as she expressed her self In his publick Academical Performances he acquitted himself with wonderful Applause and Admiration of all the Hearers And at a Commencement which happened as near as I can guess this Year being now the King's Professor both his Disputations and his Determinations were such that Haddon as good Judge in a Letter to Dr. Cox giving him some Account of that Commencement told him That had he been there he would have heard another Socrates and that he caught the forward Disputants as it were in a Net with his Questions and that he concluded the profound Causes of Philosophy with great Gravity and deep Knowledge Dr. Smith's Places and Preserments in Cambridge and elsewhere as they brought him in tolerably fair Incomes so they together with his Eminent Vertue and Learning reconciled him great Respect For he had the Lecture in the Civil Law bâ—ing the King's Professor in that Science for which he received 40 l. per Annum He was Chancellor to the Bishop of Ely which was worth to him 50 l. per Annum Besides he had a Benefice viz. of Leverington in Cambridgeshire which came to the Value of 36 l. per Annum So that his Preferments amounted to 120 l. a Year and upwards And such a good Husband he was that he made some Purchases before and some soon after his leaving the University as we shall hear by and by And this was the Port he lived in before his leaving of Cambridge He kept Three Servants and Three Guns and Three Winter Geldings And this stood him in 30 l. per Annum together with his own Board CHAP. IV. Smith is removed into the Protector 's Family His Preferments under King Edward Made Secretary Goes an Embassie Doctor Smith was often at King Henry's Court and taken notice of by that King and was growing so dear to him as to be received in Place and Office under him had he lived a little longer But soon after K. Henry's Death he was removed from Cambridge into the Duke of Somerset's Family where he was employed in Matters of State by that Great Man the Uncle and Governour of the King and Protector of his Realms Into whose Family were received many other very Learned and Pious Men. Long he had not been here but the University earnestly address'd to him to stand their Friend in some certain weighty Matter wherein not any single Cause of theirs was in hazard but themselves and their All. Which without Question was the Danger the University was in upon the Bill in Agitation in the Parliament-House for giving the King the Chauntries Hospitals Fraternities and Colleges which last Word took in the Societies of the Universities At which they look'd about them and made all the Friends they could at Court to save themselves And as they applied now to Cheke so to Smith also in this elegant Latin Epistle which was drawn up by the exquisite Pen of Ascham their Orator wherein may be observed what a general Opinion there went of his compleat Learning Si tu is es Clarissime SMITHE in quem Academia haec Cantabrigiensis universas vires suas universa Victatis jura enercuecrit si tiki uni omnia Doctrinae sâ—ae genera omnia Reipub. Ornamenta licentissimè contulerit si fructura gloriae suae in te uno jactaverit si spem Salutis suae in â—â—â—otissimùm reposuèrit Age ergo mente-ic cogitatione tua complectere quid tu vicisson illi debes quid illa quid Literae quid Respublica quid Deus ipse pro tantis Vietatis officiis quibus sic Dignitas tua efflorescit justissime requirit Academia nil debet tibi imo omnia sua
in te transfudit Et propterea abs te non simpliciter petit Benesicium sed meritò repetit Ossicium nec unam aliquam causam tibi proponit sed sua omnia seipsam tibi committit Nec sua necesse habet aparire tibi consilia quorum recessus diverticula nósti universa Age igitur quod scis velis quod potes persice quod debes Sic Literis Academiae Reipublicae Religioni sic Christo Principi rem debitam Expectatam efficies IESUS te diutissmè servet incolumem And this Address had the Success it desired For the Colleges of the Universities and the other Colleges of Learning in the Nation were spared by a Proviso tho' the aforesaid Bills pass'd into an Act which we must attribute in good measure to Smith and his Party stirring in the House to bring it to pass The Lord Protector had set up an Office in his House of a Master of Requests for the better care-taking of poor Mens Sutes and for the more effectual speeding them without the Delays and Charges of Law In this Office was Dr. Smith placed and seems to have been the second Master of Requests to the Protector as Cecil was the first While he was in the Service of this Great Duke he obtained divers other considerable Places As to be Steward of the Stannaries Smith being an excellent Metallist and Chymist Provost of Eaton College wherewith he was very well pleased where whether he were present or absent there was always good Hospitality kept Dean of the Cathedral Church of Carlisle being at least in Deacons Orders And at last Secretary of State to the King with a Knighthood By this time he had purchased two Houses one in Channon-Row Which he bought for Two hundred Mark of Sir Ralph Sadleir sometime Secretary of State to King Henry which he Let to Mr. Comptroller for 30 l. per Ann. And here he lived himself in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth And this was the House where the Commissioners met in the first Year of that Queen to consult for the Reformation of Religion and preparing the Book of Common-Prayer His other House was in Philpot-lane London where his younger Brother a Merchant lived It was a large and fair House He bought it of certain Executors but the Title being doubtful whether the King had not a Right in it he procured of his Lord the Duke to speak to the King in his behalf To this House also another pretended But the Contest between Sir Thomas and that other was referred And so in the End Sir Thomas enjoyed it He also purchased the Mannor of Yarlington in Somersetshire worth 30 l. per Ann. of the Marquis of Northampton it being given to him at the Coronation of Queen Katharine his Sister This Cost Smith 300 l. or thereabouts being Money that he had gotten at Cambridge before he came into the Protectors Service and lent to his Brother the Merchant Of the Commissioners for the Chauntries he also bought the College of Darby which went at 33 l. per Ann. which Cost him a Thousand Marks Which was the Portion he had with his Wife For while he lived in the Dukes Family he Married his first Wife named Elizabeth Daughter of William Karkek or Carkyke of London Gentleman Whose Sister Anne after Married to Sir Thomas Chamberlayn long Embassador Resident in Flanders and Spain Smith's Lady was a little Woman and one that affected not fine gaudy Cloths for which she was taxed by some And by this one might rather judge her to have been a Woman of Prudence and Religion and that affected Retirement rather than the splendor of a Court. For Dr. Smith allowed her what she pleased And she was his Cash-keeper However he used to wear goodly Apparel and went like a Courtier himself For which he said that some might seem to have cause rather to accuse him to go too sumptuously than her of going too meanly This Wife he buried having no Issue by her And Married a second named Philippa the Relict of Sir Iohn Hambden who out-lived him Whose Joynture was Hill-Hall Of this Wife it was that Secretary Cecil spake when in the Year 1565. Smith having been Ambassador in France and earnestly desiring to come home the said Secretary wrote him word that his Wife should either speak or send to the Earl of Leicester that he would dispatch Mr. Thomas Hoby whom the Queen had determined to send Ambassador in his Room but delayed it But we are yet to look upon Smith as one of the Protector 's Family where he fluorished in Places and Honours as we heard before Yet he had his Share of Trouble and Sorrow as the Anger of his haughty Mistriss the Dutchess of Somerset and many unjust Imputations that were raised against him whereto she gave too much Credit Which was the Cause of a large Letter which he address'd unto her Wherein he vindicated himself against many Slanders which were told the Dutchess whereof she had twitted him in the Teeth as Things the World took notice of in him Namely I. Haughtiness and a disregardful proud Temper II. That he was Oppressive and had by Extortion and Griping got a great deal of Money III. Covetousness IV. That he bought and sold Benefices or Spiritual Promotions Add to these That he was a Chopper and Changer of Lands That his Wife went not in so Courtly a Garb as was sitting That he kept no House And That he was a Neuter in Religion But these were mere Aspersions and malicious Insinuations his generous Mind ever abhorring any thing that was base and unjust or unworthy of a Man and a Christian Philosopher And these Calumnies he wiped off assoiling one Particular after another in his said Letter to the Dutchess Indeed she was an Imperious and Ill-natur'd Woman and had taken some Occasion to fall out with him and in her Passion it seems had cast out these Reports before him But Smith was a true and faithful Servant of the Duke and in his Troubles suffer'd with him For he was taken up with him and among those that were sent with the Duke to the Tower Sir Thomas was one Tho' afterwards his Innocency appearing he was delivered and escaped those severe Handlings that some of the Duke's Friends and Retainers underwent In the Year 1548 Dr. Smith was advanced to be the Secretary of State as in September the same Year William Cecil Esq was preferred to the like Office both having been Servants to the Protector Smith was made use of for the Reformation of Religion which was now going in hand with in good earnest as he was afterwards in all the steps of it In the Month of Iuly the same Year 1548 he with Mr. Chamberlain went Ambassador to Brussels to the Emperor's Council there Which was I think the first Embassy he underwent The Business of the State in sending him at this time was the
great Apprehensions from France who had possessed themselves of Scotland and so were a very formidable Enemy And the more so because they were so near But to provide against them as well as the King could he endeavoured to stop them from the Use of the Ports of the Low Countries which were most commodious for Scotland Then Smith obtained so much from the Emperors Counsellors of the said Low-Countries Tho' the Promise was not so well made good for in the latter end of this same Year both French and Scots came from Scotland and were landed and discharged at Dunkirke Which caused another Embassy in Ianuary by Sir Philip Hoby from the English Court to the Emperor complaining of this and shewing how the Emperor's Counsellors in the Low-Countries had declared to Mr. Secretary Smith at the Court there That the French's going into Scotland or returning thence should have no manner of Favour or Reception at any of the Emperor's Ports This was one of the Business of this Embassy but the chief Matter indeed and End thereof was for the Raising of Soldiers in those Parts which they did to the Number of 2000 and obtained the Emperor's Leave for Passing of them There is a Letter of Smith's remaining in the Cotton-Library to the Protector while he was now Ambassador at Brussels wherein may be perceived the Purport of his Embassy with other News of the Affairs of the World and was an ensueth And I the rather set it down to preserve what Monuments we can of this excellent Man Pleaseth it Your Grace to be advertised THat We received Your Grace's Letters the xijth of Iuly with the good News of the State of Our Things in Scotland For the which We most highly thank Almighty God and Your Grace And as We do not a little rejoice at them our Selves so We shall not fail to communicate them as Occasion shall occurr where it shall be convenient And surely they here have Espials in Scotland as well as We and be not ignorant of our Affairs there Nevertheless as they pretend at least they be very glad to hear them of us The Rumour runneth here still that Mr. Chamberlain and an Ambassador came hither to take up Men And hereupon hath some Offer been made unto us but such as We could not like Yesterday came to us certain Almain who brought to Yarmouth I suppose an Ensign of Foot-men in the King's Days that dead is He liked so well his Pay then as he saith He would gladly serve the King before any other Prince We said Winter was now very near Nevertheless if he would write his Offer We would advertise Your Grace and know further Your Pleasure He is one Groning in Frizeland What Your Grace's Pleasure shall be that We shall answer him and all such we require Your Grace to know so soon as conveniently You may This Man faith If his Request be too much he will be content Your Grace shall mitigate it as shall please You. He is of the Land of Conte de Bury and saith He hath communicated the Matter with Scepperius the Empâ—â—â—â— Admiral and he giveth him good 〈◊〉 that the Queen Regent of Flanders will give him License Two Merchants of Antwerp lately coming from August Augsburgh saith That there the Emperor compelleth every Man to this Interim and that some of the Cities grudging at it he hath referred the Answer to Nerenburgh But that it is not doubted there but that Norenburgh will do as the Emperor will have them They shewed further that the Emperor would have them build up their Monasteries again and Abbeys and all such things And all standeth upon that Answer of Norenburgh Further The Emperor hath already sent 4000 Horsemen to lie about Strasburgh and that he doth intend shortly to come thither and to assay the Switzers Nevertheless they said That at this Counsil was none of the Switzers but only of B. Berne or Basil. They shewed also that there was a Saying that the Emperor and the French King intended to part the Switzers between them of Agreement as they said But if that be it is more like to make Wars than to have any long Amity after that sort c. Thus having none other Thing worthy of Advertisement to write Your Grace I commit the same to Almighty God Your Grace's Most Bounden Orator and Servant T. Smith From Brussels July xixth Our Ambassador Smith came home again in September leaving Chamberlain Resident at that Court. About this Time or perhaps somewhat before Letters passed between some Counsellors touching the weighty Matter of Altering the Religion And in this Smith was concerned one of whose Lettere relating to this Affair yet remains in the Paper-House When Base Moneys as Testons coined in great Quantities under King Henry VIII and other Pieces were near this Time under Consultation to be redressed Smith also was made use of in this and wrote a Letter to the Lord Protector touching the Benefit arising by the Mint while such Moneys were coined to give the better Light unto this Work that was now going in hand with CHAP. V. Sir Thomas Smith in Commission Words between Bishop Boner and him His Fidelity to the Duke of Somerset If we trace Sir Thomas Smith in the ensuing Year viz. 1549 we shall find him employed in certain Commissions of Importance An Ecclesiastical Commission in the Beginning of this Year was issued out for the Examination of Anabaptists and Arians that began now to spring up apace and shew themselves more openly Sir Thomas was one of these Commissioners for he was much employed in the Matters of Religion jointly with the Archbishop of Canterbury Thirsby Bishop of Westminster Dr. Cox Dean of Westminster Dr. May Dean of St. Paul's and Dr. Cooke Dean of the Arches Who sat in Judgment upon divers of these Hereticks in that part of St. Paul's Church commonly called The Altar of our Lady A Visitation being instituted this Summer by the King for the University of Cambridge he was appointed one of the Visitors in conjuction with Ridley Bishop of Rochester May Dean of St. Paul's Sir Iohn Cheke and Dr. Wendy the King's Physician The Business of this Visitation was to abolish such Statutes and Ordinances as maintained Papistry Superstition Blindness and Ignorance and to establish and set forth such as might further God's Word and Food Learning Our Smith with the Dean Of St. Paul's a little before Easter acquaintâ—â— Bishop Ridley with it by sending him a Letter to Rochester and desiring him to make a Sermon at the Opening of the said Visitation Another Commission dated in September from the King was issued out to Sir Thomas Smith together with four more the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Rochester Sir William Petre and May Dean of St. Paul's to take Tryal and Examination of Boner Bishop of London for certain Incompliances and Disobediences to the King's proceedings in Religion Sir Thomas was
Highness to be his Gracious Sovereign Lord. Yea answered the Secretary you say well my Lord but I pray you what else have all these Rebels in Norfolk Devon and Cornwal done Have they not said thus We be the King 's true Subjects We acknowledge him for our King and we will obey his Laws and the like And yet when either Commandment Letter or Pardon was brought to them from his Majesty they believed it not but said it was forged under an Hedge and was Gentlemens Doings I perceive your meaning said the Bishop again as who should say the Bishop of London is a Rebel like them Yea by my Troth said the secretary Whereat the Standers by fell into a Laughter How this Bishop was afterwards deprived and committed and how he Protested and Appealed may be seen in other Historians In October the Duke of Somerset the Protector received a terrible Shock almost all the Privy Counsellors making a Defection from the Court and meeting in London combined together against him So that he at last was Imprisoned and lost all his Places Honours and Lands There were only Three then stuck to him in this Time of Adversing viz. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Sir William Paget and our Sir Thomas Smith Between whom and the Lords at London Letters past upon this affair carried by Sir Philip Hoby The Peril they ran was not a little For the Lords wrote to them that it seemed strange to them that they should either assist or suffer his Majesty's Royal Person to remain in the Guard of the Duke of Somerset's Men and that Strangers should be armed with the King 's own Armour and be nearest about his Person and those to whom the ordinary Charge was committed to be sequestred away And the Lords sent them word moreover that if any Evil came thereof they must expect it must be imputed to them And whereas the Archbishop Paget and Smith in their Letter to the Lords told them They knew more than they the Lords knew at those Words thay took this advantage as they returned them Answer That if the Matters that came to their knowledge and were hidden from them the Lords were of such weight as they pretended or if they touched or might touch his Majesty or his State they the Lords thought that they did not as they ought to do in not disclosing the same to them the whole Council In fine being over-powered Smith together with the Archbishop and the Comptroller Paget sent another Letter from Windsor where the King and they were that they would not fail to endeavour themselves according to the Contents of the Lord's Letters and that they would convene together when and where the Lords pleased this was a notable instance of Smith's Fidelity to the Duke his old Master who stuck to him as long as he durst and was then glad to comply as fairly as he could And if I mistake not now did some storm fall upon Sir Thomas And I believe he was deprived of his Place of secretary For at this Time it appears by the King's Journal that Dr. Wotton was made Secretary Tho' he seemed soon to be restored again In the Year 1550. Sir Thomas was summoned a Witness together with a great many other Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Court in the great Trial of Gardiner Bishop of Winton He was sworn against him in the Month of February being then 33 Years of Age as it is set down in his Deposition by an Error of the Printer for 39. By which it appeareth that in the Year before viz. 1549. Smith then Secretary was divers times sent by the Lord Protector to the said Bishop to travail with him to agree to the King's Proceedings and that he would promise to set them forth in a Sermon or otherwise And that he often did in the Company of Mr. Cecil repair to him for that purpose That Smith and the said Cecil by Command of the said Council drew up certain Articles to which the Bishop should shew his Consent and to Preach and set forth the same And that after several Attendances upon the Bishop to bring him to this and upon some hope of Conformity thereto the Lords of the Council sent for him to the Palace at Westminster After that was the Lord Wiltshire sent to him to whom he shewed some Conformity herein Soon after that Lord went again accompanied with Smith to know his final Resolution To whom he shewed great readiness to set forth the Articles aforesaid in his Sermon yet prayed not to be tied to the same Words In which the Council at length yielded to him And thus was Secretary Smith employed in that Affair In which he carried himself it seems with so much Discretion and Moderation towards that haughty Bishop that afterwards in his Prosperity under Queen Mary he was a Friend to him when he was such a bloody Enemy to all Protestants besides In this same Year 1550. He made a Purchase of the King of the whole Mannor of Overston alias Overston in the County of Northampton parcel of the Possessions called Richmond Lands and divers other Lands Tenements and Hereditaments in the Counties of Norfolk Suffolk Bucks Surry and Hertford For which he gave 414 l. 10. s. 4 d. and other Lands in Derby and Middlesex The Yearly value of this Purchase was 87 l. 17 s. 9 d. In the Year 1551. the 30th of April Sir Thomas Smith still under the Name of Secretary was appointed one of those that were to go in that great and splendid Embassy to France with a Commission of Treaty concerning a Match for the King with that King 's Eldest Daughter at the same time the Marquess of Northampton went the Order of the Garter to the said King With whom was joyned in Commission the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hoby Sir William Pickering and Sir Iohn Mason These two Leiger Embassadors there and two Lawyers whereof Smith was one CHAP. VI. The Condition of Sir Thomas Smith under Queen Mary His wife Advertisements SIR Thomas past the Reign of King Edward in great Reputation and Prosperity But upon the Access of Queen Mary to the Crown as many of the deceased King's Ministers of State especially such as favoured Religion were cast off so were the two Secretaries Sir William Cecil and Sir Thomas Smith And besides the loss of that honourable Station he was deprived also of what he held in the Church For he was a Spiritual Person also and so was invested by the late King with the Provostship of Eton and the Deanry of Carlisle And to spoil him of these and other places with the more Formality he was summoned to appear before certain Persons whom the Queen had Commissionated for these purposes together with Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury and Dr. May Dean of St. Paul's He fell easy for his Life was saved tho' he were a Protestant and had an 100 l. per Ann. allowe him for his
have taken up their Seat in him And thus we see Smith re-enstated again in that Place which four and twenty Years ago he enjoyed under King Edward Smith now being Secretary and Walsingham Resident in the French Court and the matter of the Match for Duke D'Alenson and the Queen transacted earnestly this Year the main of this Matter went through Smith's Hands And thus it stood The French King and Queen-Mother and the Duke and that Court were extreamly eager for it and so was the English Nation too supposing it the best way for the Security of her Majesty and her Crown But the Queen her self was but cold in the Matter And when an Interview was moved between her and the Duke she refused to yield to it upon some Scruples Whereat Secretary Smith to set it forward that it might not be suspended on such a Point devised that the Duke should come over hither without the Ceremony of an Invitation For as he wrote to Walsingham in August he was sorry so good a Matter should upon so nice a Point be deferred Adding That one might say that the Lover would do little if he would not take pains once to see his Love but she must first say Yea before he saw her or she him Twenty Ways said he might be devised why he might come over and be welcome and possibly do more in an Hour than he might in two Years otherwise Cupido ille qui vincit omnia in oculos insidet ex oculis ejaculatur in oculos utriusque videndo non solum ut ait Poeta Faemina virum sed Vir faeminam What Force I pray you can Hear-say and I think and I trust do in comparison of that cum Praesens praesentem tuctur alloquitur furore forsitan amoris ductus amplectitur And saith to himself and openly that she may hear Tenâ—ne te mea an etiamnum somno volunt Faeminae videri cogi ad id quod maximè cupiunt If we be cold it is our Part Besides the Person the Sex requires it Why are you cold Is it not a Young Man's part to be Bold Couragious and to adventure If he should have a Repulse he should have but Honorificam Repulsam The worst that can be said of him is but a Phaeton Quam si non tenuit magnis tamen excidit Ausis Adding that so far as he could perceive this was the only Anchor this the Dye to be cast for us Or else nothing was to be lookt for but still and continual Dalliance and Doubtfulness so far as he could see Thus in his Royal Mistresses and the Nations Behalf he could talk and direct like a Master of Love This Device and Counsel I suppose was hinted to the French Court And it was not long but Duke D'Alenson accordingly came over to make his Address to the Queen The Parisian Massacre happening in August so treacherous and so inhumane that all the World stood amazed at it Secretary Smith abhorred and wrote his Thoughts of it in this following Letter to Walsingham then Ambassador there Sir this Accident in France seemeth to us so strange and beyond all Expectation that we cannot tell what to say to it And the Excuse tam Exilis so slender or fraudulent namely That the Hugonots had intended to have made some dangerous Disturbances in the Kingdom and therefore the King was forced to do this for his own safety that we wot not what to think of it The Matter appears all manner of ways so lamentable the King so suddenly and in one Day to have dispoiled himself and his Realm of so many notable Captains so many brave Soldiers so wise and so valiant Men as if they were unguilty of that which is laid unto them it is most pitiful If they were guilty Cur Mandati Causa damnati sunt ac caesi In such sudden and extream Dealings Cito sed sera Poenitentia solet sequi If it were sudden and not of long Time premeditated before And if so the worse and more infamous Thus you see what privately any Man may think of this Fact I am glad yet that in these Tumults and bloody Proscriptions you did Escape and the young Gentlemen that be there with you and that the King had so great Care and Pity of our Nation so lately with strait Amity Confederate with him Yet we hear say that he that was sent by my Lord Chamberlain to be School-master to young Wharton bâ—ing come the Day before was then slain Alas he was acquainted with no body nor could be partaker of any evil Dâ—â—ling How fearful and careful the Mothers and Parents be here of such young Gentlemen as be there you may easily guess by my Lady Lane who prayeth very earnestly that her Son may be sâ—nt home with as much speed as may be And if my Lady your Wife with your Daughter and the rest with such as may be spared were sent away home until this Rage and Tempest were somewhat appeased you shall be the quieter and disburthened of much of your Care You would not think how much we are desirous to hear what End these Troubles will have whether it rangeth further into all France or die and will cease here at Paris Our Merchants be afraid now to go into France And who can blame them Who would where such Liberty is given to Soldiers and where Nec Pietas nec Iustitia doth refrain and keep back the unruly Malice and Sword of the raging Popular Monsieur La Mote is somewhat spoken to in this Matter And now the Vintage as you know is at hand but our Traffick into Roan and other Places in France is almost laid down with this new Fear It grieveth no Man in England so much as me And indeed I have in some respect the greatest Cause I suppose because he was the great maker of the League between that King and the Queen and did so assure the Qâ—een of the Ingrity Truth and Honour of the said King Fare you well From Woodstock the 12th of September 1572. Your always assured Tho. Smith POSTSCRIPT I Most heartily thank you for the Book of the past Troubles in France But alas who shall now write worthily of the Treasons and Cruelties more barbarous than over the Scythians used And in the same Month when upon some Treachery feared to be acted upon Walsingham he was sent for home for some Time and Tidings being brought of the Massacres upon the Protestants at Roan and other Places as well as at Paris thus did this good Man express his Detestation of these Practices The cruel Murthers of Roan are now long ago written unto us when we thought all had been done And by the same Letters was written unto us that Diep was kept close and the same Executions of the true Christians lookt for there but as then not executed Howbeit Sigoigne did warrant all our English Men to be out of danger and not to be afraid But what
well had Sir Thomas managed his Office and described the Affairs of France so fully that the Letters he wrote thereof to Secretary Cecil did much delight him And in an Answer he told him he had read over his Letters several times Heartily Thanking him for his large Letters which contented him so well as indeed he was delighted to read them twice or some thrice And such was Smith's wise and true English Behaviour and eloquent Utterance that he got himself great Credit and Reputation among the French-men Concerning which the Secretary in one of his Letters to him used these Words That he was glad to see his Credit so good to do good And indeed added he using Wisdom therewith courteous and gracious Speech which was one of Smith's Accomplishments doth much profit And as that Nation was crafty and fine in all their Negotiations with other States so our Ambassador used Art to be a Match for them for he made use of a certain subtil Spy in Orleans whose Letters he received and dispatched into England And by the Intelligence gathered by this means our Ambassador did excellent Service which occasioned the Secretary in a Letter to him speaking of Smith's last Letters and the Copy of others sent to the said Smith from Orleans to say That he saw his great Diligence and to speak in proper Terms that he dealt very cunningly meet for the place he held Advising him to cherish the Party that served his Turn and that he should be kept out of danger whereby his Service might last the longer This he wrote to the Ambassador in Cypher The Secretary added that he had notified him and his Service to the Queen's Majesty and so he bid the Ambassador let him know But notwithstanding the Ambassador could not do that Service he would for he complained that the Instructions from England came not to him and he was perplexed for lack of Intelligence from thence But the Secretary satisfied him in part concerning that Point in the Answer he next made him which was That he knew not what more Instructions he could require than what he already had which was to prosecute no other Ends but the Restitution of Calais And as to his dealing with the Prince of Conde and the Admiral of France whom the Secretary suspected to be about making Peace with the French without the English as they did indeed not long after he advertised him how he ought to urge to them their Promises and Compacts under their Hands and Seals And that if they should have no regard to these they might expect the Judgment of God upon them for their false Dealing The Contents of the Contract between the Queen and them were That She should pay them a great Summ of Money and send them six Thousand Men for their Defence And that they should deliver into Her hands for Caution Nâ—whaven which She should hold in her Hands till Calais should be restored The Letters that past from Sir Thomas in this Embassy this Year are still extant in the Paper-Office in two Bundles One whereof about a General Peace And therein Letters also from Middleton sent from Smith to the Admiral of France Our Ambassador abode still in France until the next Year 1563. Then Monsieur Briquemault came over to the Queen from the Prince of Conde Whose Business was to eadeavour to bring the Queen not to insist upon the Restitution of Calais but to be satisfied with some other Terms But in May when he departed She utterly denied that there was any other way of Satisfaction And the Queen then also wrote Letters to her Ambassador to deal very roundly with the Prince and the Admiral And so the Secretary thought they had deserved as he wrote to the Ambassador And yet as he added he doubted not but the Ambassador would have Consideration how to strike therein whether high or low In Letters our Ambassador Smith had lately sent to the Court he gave great content Wherein as he advertised the Lords of the Council plentifully of the Variety of News in France so he gave good plain Rules how the same Advertisements should be taken and judged And both the one and the other pleased them very well In his Negotiation with France this Year when things were well nigh accorded some Reports came out of France which so offended the Queen that she altered her Resolutions and among other things commanded Sir Thomas that whereas before he Negotiated in one Language which I suppose was the French he should now use no other Language but Latin Concerning which thus the Secretary wrote to him This alteration of your Speech into Latin I thought very strange but surely Her Majesty had occasion ministred by such Reports as now were brought to think the same were best And therefore using no more the vulgar tongue of the Nation but the Learned things for the future might be kept more private and therefore added he I know very well you can do this in the Latin as well as any Man and I nothing doubt but that ye will do it Sir Nicholas Throgmorton who returned into France Iuly 20th and was Ambassador there with Sir Thomas by means of secret practising at the Court was arrested by the French Kings's Order at Caudebee August 3. He was a Favourite of the Lord Robert Duddeley and by his means dispatched thither This Throgmorton was subtile and active and a man of Intrigue He and Sir Thomas a person of more Gravity and Discretion could not well comport together Throgmorton rather hindring than furthering the Queen's Business by his over-practising The Dissension between them came to the Court Throgmorton had a great Friend there namely the Lord Robert Duddeley so Sir Thomas's course was to sue to the Secretary for his good Word The Secretary wrote to him that as he had promised him his Friendship so he saw it well bestowed Smith also desired him to acquaint the Lord Robert with the difference between him and Sir Nicolas writing also the Case This Cecil accordingly caused to be shewn and procured Mr. Somers one who was employed backward and forward in this Treaty between England and France to report his knowledge which it seems made more for Sir Thomas than his own Writing did But the wise Secretary wished as he said such matters to be swallowed up in forgetfulness knowing how by these private Animosities between the Queen's Ambassadors publick Business was hindred Smith also now sent a Letter to the Lord Robert himself which was writ with so much freedom and honest plainness that it pleased the said Lord and set all right between the said Ambassador and him The Lord Robert shewed the Letter to Cecil and much commended his plainness of Writing to him and confessed it to be both wisely and friendly done For Smith was for Truth and Plainness as Throgmorton was for Doubling And the Secretary was of Smith's mind telling him in his
FrenchAmbassador Resident in England to whom he bore a great Malice And yet such was his Fineness and Dissimulation that at the latter end of that Year being at Liberty and here at home he grew very great with the same French Gentleman Cecil took notice of it and wrote to Smith that he thought it strange to see what great Amity now was between the French-Ambassador and Mr. Throgmorton considering the Hate he had before born him It was strange to Cecil a plain-dealing Man and of no Turnings and Windings tho' a great and wise Politician But Throgmorton could play the Courtier and pretend Friendship in colour for some private ends of his own when the same distempered Spirit lurked still within him that did before And happy was Smith in the Friendship of the foresaid Cecil who as he was a wise and good Man so most sincere and cordial in his Nature And yet once had our Ambassador taken something ill at his Hands according to an ill Office that some had done between them representing him as guilty of some Unkindness towards Sir Thomas Whereat he very plainly and freely in his next Letters dated in December told him of it This Freedom the Secretary took in good part and valued in Truth his Friendship the more for it telling him that He had much Cause to thank him for his Friendly Dealing with him and as much more cause to praise him for his open and plain Dealing Which I assure you on my Faith as he said I do allow more in you than any other part of your Friendship And hence he took occasion to give this good piece of Advice to him viz. wishing him to use all Integrity in his Transactions that he might have the Testimony of a good Conscience Notwithstanding which Counsel he reckoned that he needed not to give it him For added he piously and gravely when all the Glory and Wit when all the Wealth and Delight of this World is past we must come before the Judge that will exact this Rule of us to discern us from the Goats CHAP. X. Peace with France Smith continues Ambassador there His Book of the Common-wealth of England Returns A Review of his Embassy IN the Beginning of the Year 1564. by the Means and Labour of Sir Tho. Smith and Sir Nic. Throgmorton his Collegue Peace was concluded with France Which was to take place on the 23d of April It was proclaimed in London the 22d and on the 23d a notable good Sermon was made at St. Paul's with e Deum sung and all incident Solemnitiâ—s The same Day it was published at Windsor in the Queen's presence going to Church and having with her the French-Ambassador So as nothing wanted to shew Contentation The Queen also now sent over the Garter to be presented to that King by the Lord Hunsdon Sir Tho. Smith and Sir Gilb. Dethic King of Arms. After the Peace was concluded Sir Tho. Smith still resided in France And now one of his great Businesses was to get some good Answer for the Money due by the Prince of Conde to the Queen In September Sir Thomas desirous of returning solicited by the Secretary his sending for home But the Secretary could not attain of the Queen a Determination about it perceiving in her a Disposition rather to have him continue till that King should return back from those South Parts where he then was But this Care however she took for him that for avoiding of the Plague which then reigned in France she would have him forbear to follow the Court in dangerous Places Considering as she said the French Ambassador did forbear to follow her Court all her last Progress into the North taking his Ease at London altho' he was by some means moved to the contrary Wherewith her Majesty was somewhat offended Wherefore she admonished Smith in like manner according to his Convenience to forbear so diligent a â—aâ—lowing of that Court as hitherto he haâ— used In this Month of September the Rhinegrave being in France dealt with our Ambassador concerning a Match between the Archduke the Emperor's Son and Queen Elizabeth With which he acquainted the Secretary To which the Secretary replyed That it would be very seasonable if it were honourably propounded Sir Thomas afterwards wrote him that he should hear more of this another way In March the beginning of the Year 1565. did Sir Thomas finish his known Tract of the Common-wealth of England and the Manner of the Government thereof Consisting of three Books The first whereof was concerning the Diversities of Common-wealths or Governments And therein he treated of the Gentlemen of England Which he divided into the Great and Less Nobility and of the other Ranks of Men in this Country The Second Book was taken up in shewing particularly the Laws of the Realm The Third was concerning Appeals of the Courts of Star-Chamber Wards and Liveries c. This excellent Book he wrote at his leisure Hours while he was abroad in this his Embassy in France Occasioned as it seemeth by certain Discourses he had with some Learned Men there concerning the variety of Common-wealths Wherein some did endeavour to under-value the English Government in comparison with that in other Countries where the Civil Law took place His drift herein was as he tells us himself in the Conclusio◠〈◊〉 his Book to set before us the principal Points wherein the English Policy at that Time differed from that used in France Italy Spain Germany and all other Countries which followed the Civil Law of the Râ—mans compiled by Iustinian in his Pandects and Code And this Tract of his being as a Project or Table of a Common-wealth laid before the Reader he recommended to be compared with the Common-wealths which at that Day were in Eâ—â—e or with others which did remain described in true Histories Especially in such Points wherein the one differed from the other To see which had taken the more right truer and more commodious way to Govern the People as well in War as in Peace This he said would be no illiberal Occupation for him that was a Philosopher and had a delight in Disputing nor unprofitable for him that had to do with or had good will to serve the Prince and Common-wealth in giving Counsel for the better Administration thereof This was written in Latin as well as in English and many were the Copies taken of it till at last it was Printed tho' I think not before the Year 1621. when it came forth in English in the old Black Letter From the 5th of August to the 30th of October Smith's extraordinary Charges which he brought in to the Queen amounted to 103 l. 6 s. 8 d. And as a good part of which was for his Servants some sent into England and others to the French Court the King being then in his Progress and Smith not always following the Court so the greatest part was spent in gratifying Spies
that the Matter of Religion should be contained therein To which Smith replied That that could not be and that no general Words could contain it if the Party that was bound would say that it was against his Conscience or he meant it not To which the King said That he would write to the Queen his Sister with his own Hand what he meant as to that and that he would as well defend her even in that Cause as if it were exprest in Words and that which he said he would keep tho' he dyed for it But this King was a great Dissembler which our Ambassador probably knew well enough but gave him this discreet Answer That for him he thought no less and he was sure the Queen his Mistress took him to be a faithful Prince and constant to his Words as any was Living But when they spake of Treaties they were not made in Words nor in such Letters missive but after another Authentical sort Sworn and Sealed Without which he could not he said for his part take it substantially and orderly done And besides that the Treaty was not Personal but Perpetual for him and his Successors And when the Queen-Mother would have shuffled off this and some other Articles saying That when Mareshal Montmorancy should be sent over into England from the French King to the Queen and the Earl of Leicester should come to that Court from the said Queen to see the League sworn by each Prince then all things should be done as the Queen should desire Smith answered That he knew the Fashion of Leagues And that it must be agreed upon between the Commissioners that no Words be altered then Subscribed with the Hands of both the Parties the French Commissioners delivering the Part Signed with their Hands to those of England and the Commissioners of England next to them Then the Prince causeth it to be made under the Great Seal of the Realm and so to be delivered to each others Ambassador And that he that came to see it Sworn to might make a new League if the Princes would but to alter that that was made he could not For the Princes were bound to Ratify and Swear to that on which the Commissioners were agreed And that it were not Wisdom as he added to send such Personages as they spake of to an uncertain League And he might consider that Queen Elizabeth his Mistress would not do it This Conference happened March the 1st 1571. After much Pains this Article and another about the Scotch Queen was agreed and Queen Elizabeth was only to give her consent to finish this happy and advantageous League And to excite the Queen hereunto Sir Thomas with Halsingham did freely give her advice to this Tenor That it was for the Assurance of her Person and Crown as she was a Prince lawful and natural and had a Crown Imperial And that she did it so by her Laws as God's Laws and Hers willed it to be done That foreign Princes that were her Friends would and must take it well and that such as were not would rather laugh at her and be glad of it if she did it not and when they should see Time take occasion to endanger her Majesty thereby The Queen soon after signified her Consent And so in the Month of April ensuing at Blois the League was concluded and signed the 18th or 19th Day Which according as Smith and his Collegue did conceive should be with as great Assurance and Defence of the Queen as ever was or could be the two Realms being so near and ready to defend her if it were required And in case Spain should threaten or shew ill Offices as it had of late done against the Queen's Safety it would be afraid hereafter so to do seeing such a Wall adjoyned as Smith wrote Which he therefore hoped would be the best League that ever was made with France or any other Nation for her Majesty's Surety His good Conceit he had of this League did further appear by what he wrote in another Letter soon after to the Lord Burghley That now it could not be said That her Majesty was altogether alone having so good a Defence of so Noble Couragious and so faithful a Prince of his Word but herein our Ambassador was mistaken in his Man none being so false of his Word and treacherous as he all covered over with most artificial Dissimulation and so near a Neighbour provided for and bespoken beforehand against any need Partly that and partly the Trouble in Flanders which he trusted God had provided to deliver his poor Servants there from the Antichristian Tyranny should make her Highness enjoy more quietly both England and Ireland and a better Neighbour of Scotland When Monsieur De Foix came to him and his Collegue with the Draught of the whole League in French which before was in Latin and the Matters that past Pro and Con which he said was that the King might understand it and had made a new Preface Smith did not much stick at it And acquainting the Secretary Cecil now Lord Burghley with it he opened to him the Reason of it I am old said he I love not much Talk and would fain be dispatched honestly homeward So the Effect be there indeed and our Queen not deceived I care for no more that done Smith loved to do his Business well and soundly and yet to knit it up with Brevity and Expedition Thus again when the French Deputy urged much in this Treaty the Scotch Queen that she might be sent safe home to her Country a thing which the English Ambassadors had order not to deal in by no means he began to amplify upon that in a long Oration But at the Conclusion Smith told him in short For all your Reason you must pardon me I know you are a good Rhetorician and you have Rhetorical Ornaments at will to make and so have I on the contrary side if I would bestow my Time in that sort We are the Queen's Majesty's Servants and we have shewed our Reasons so good that no Man could deny that we should not agree unto it While Smith was in this Country he was forced to follow the Court from Place to Place but it being Winter pinched him sore At Tholouse it almost cost him his Life and had made an End of him had it not been for Strong Waters which he used for his Stomach Morning and Evening At Blois where he remained after Candlemas he endured the greatest Cold that ever he felt and most continual And notwithstanding the Cordial Waters he used he was scarce able to resist the extream Cold of the Weather there being for thirty Days together continual Frost and Snow Neither was there Wood plenty nor good Chimneys for Fire And in his Bed-chamber he could make no Fire at all In this Embassy the League being concluded the Queen-Mother one Day in March Anno exeunte in the King's Garden at Blois
brake her Desire of a Marriage between Queen Elizabeth and her second Son the Duke D'Alenson asking Smith the Ambassador whether he knew how the Queen would fancy the Marriage with her said Son Madam said he you know of old except I have a sure ground I dare affirm nothing to your Majesty When she said again That if the Queen were disposed to Marry she saw not where she might Marry so well That as for those she had heard named as the Emperor's Son or Don Iohn of Austria they were both less than her Son and of less Stature by a good deal And if she would Marry it were pity any more Time were lost Smith liking well enough the Motion replied to this That if it pleased God that the Queen were Married and had a Child all these Brags and all these Treasons he meant of the Queen of Scots and her Party would soon be appalled And on condition she had a Child by Monsieur D'Alenson for his part he cared not if they had the Queen of Scots in France which was an Article propounded by the French King in the fore-mentioned Treaty but by no means allowed by the English Ambassadors For then he said they would be as careful and as jealous over her for the Queen of England's Surety as the Queen's Subjects or she her self was The Queen-Mother then subjoined That it was true and without this Marriage if she should Marry in another Place she could not see how this League and Amity could be so strong as it was Our Ambassador answered It was true the Knot of Blood and Marriage was a stronger Seal than that which was printed in Wax and lasted longer if God gave good Success But yet all Leagues had not Marriage joined with them as this might if it pleased God To which she joined her Wish and added That if it should so happen she would her self make a Start over and see the Queen the which of all things she most desired To which again the Ambassador said That if he had at that present as ample Commission as he had at the first for Monsieur D'Anjou the Matter should soon by God's Grace be at an End The Queen wisht he had And asked him If he should have such an one when he went into England whether he would not come again to execute it Yes Madam said he most gladly on so good an Intent I would pass again the Seas tho' I were never so Sick for it Another Day in the same Month of March the Queen-Mother met Smith the Ambassador in the same Garden and having Discourse concerning other Matters as of the Queen of England's danger from the Queen of Scots who now applied her self to Spain she thus brought in the Talk again of Marriage Asking him whether his Mistress did not see that she should be always in danger until she Married And that once done and that in some good House who dared attempt any thing against her Then said he he thought if she were once Married all in England that had any Traiterous Hearts would be discouraged For one Tree alone as he ingeniously explained the Matter may soon be cut down but when there be two or three together it is longer a doing And one shall watch for the other But if she had a Child then all these bold and troublesome Titles of the Scotch Queen or others that make such Gaping for her Death would be clean choaked up The Queen cryed merrily she saw she might have Five or Six very well Would to God said the Ambassador she had one No said she still merrily two Boys lest the one should die and three or four Daughters to make Alliance with us again and other Princes to strengthen the Realm Why then said Smith as jocularly you think that Monsieur Le Due shall speed With that she laughed and said she desired it infinitely And then she would trust to see threâ— or four at the least of her Race which would make her indeed not to spare Sea and Land to see her Majesty and them And if she could have fansied my Son D'Anjou said she as you told me why not this of the same House Father and Mother and as vigorous and lusty as he or rather more and now he beginneth to have a Beard come forth And as to his Stature she told the Ambassador that the said Duke her Son was as tall as himself or very near For that Matter said he again that for his part he made little account if the Queen's Majesty could fansy him Adding this Story That Pipin the Short Married Bertha the King of Almain's Daughter who was so little to her that he was standing in Aix in a Church there she taking him by the Hand and his Head not reaching to her Girdle And yet he had by her Charlemain the great Emperor and King of France who was reported to be almost a Gyant in Stature To which the Ambassador added the mention of Oliver Glesquin the Britain Constable which the French made so much of and lay buried among the Kings at St. Denys if he were no bigger than he was there pourtrayed upon his Tomb was very short scarce four Foot long But yet he was valiant hardy and courageous above all in his Time and did the English Men most hurt Thus ingeniously did Smith hold the Conference with the Queen-Mother But as to his Opinion of the Queen's Marriage wherein he perceived she was but backward and a Marriage he and the best Statesmen in those Times reckon'd the only Means for the Peace and Safety of the Queen and Kingdom against the Disturbances and Pretences of the Scotch Queen and her Friends the Ambassador was full of sad and uneasy Thoughts For so at this time he opened his Mind to the Lord Burghley That all the World did see that they wished her Majesty's Surety and long Continuance and that Marriage and the Issue of her Highness's Body should be the most Assurance of her Highness and of the Wealth of the Realm The Place and the Person for his part he remitted to her Majesty But what she meant to maintain still her Danger and not to provide for her Surety he assured his Lordship he could see no reason And so prayed God to preserve Her long to Reign by some unlookt for Miracle For he could not see by natural Reason that she went about to provide for it And soon after when Smith had sent Messages two or three for the Resolution of the English Court about the Marriage which the French were so earnest for and in great hopes of and no Answer came He lamented to the aforesaid Lord that he and his Collegue Walsingham could say nothing of it when they were asked And that they were sorry in their Hearts to see such uncertain so negligent and irresolute Provision for the safety of the Queen's Person and of her Reign Praying God Almighty of his Almighty and Miraculous Power to
preserve her long to Reign over her People and that his Grace and Mercy would turn all to the best In the midst of these Cares of our Ambassador the Lord Burghley wrote to him of a Matter that put him and his Collegue into a great Consternation It was concerning the Queen's falling Sick of the Small-Pox and withal of her speedy Recovery again His careful Mind for this Matter he thus exprest in his next Letter to the said Lord That he and his Fellow read the News of the Queen's Illness together in a marvellous Agony but having his Medicine ready which was that her Majesty was within an Hour recovered it did in part heal them again But that as his Lordship wrote of himself that the Care did not cease in him so he might be assured it did as little cease in them Calling to their remembrance and laying before their Eyes the Trouble the Uncertainty the Disorder the Peril and Danger that had been like to follow if at that Time God had taken her from them whom he styled The Stay of the Common-wealth the Hope of their Repose and that Lanthorn of their Light next God Not knowing whom to follow nor certainly where to light another Candle Another great Solicitude of his at this Time was as the Queen's Sickness so her Slowness to resolve and the tedious Irresolutions at Court. Of which he spake in some Passion after this sort That if the Queen did still continue in Extremities to promise in Recoveries to forget what shall we say but as the Italians do Passato il pericolo gabbato il fango He told that Lord moreover That he should perceive by their Proceedings in their Embassy what justly might be required was easie to be done But if her Majesty deceived her self and with Irresolution made all Princes understand that there was no Certainty of her or her Council but dalliance and farding off of Time she should then first Discredit her Ministers which was not much but next and by them discredit her self that is to be counted uncertain irresolute unconstant and for no Prince to trust unto but as to a Courtier who had Words at will and true Deeds none These were Expressions proceeding somewhat as may be perceived from his Spleen and partly from his present Indisposition of Body Which he seemed to be sensible of For he begged his Lordship's Pardon for what he had said rendring his Reason That he had been kept there so long that he was then in an Ague both in Body and in Spirit And that as the Humours in his Body made an Ague there of which he wisht it would make an end so that irresolution at the Court he hoped would help to conclude that he might feel no more Miseries Which he feared those that came after should feel Because we will not see said he The Time of our Visitation Thus did Smith express his Discontents into the Bosom of his trusty Friend for the Mismanagement of publick Affairs as he conceived discovering as his Zeal and Affection to the Queen and the State so the Temper of his Mind somewhat enclined to Heat and Choler This he writ from Blois on Good-Friday While Sir Thomas Smith was here Ambassador the Treaty of Marriage was in effect concluded between the Prince of Navarre and the Lady Margaret the present French King's Sister Which lookt then very well toward the Cause of Religion and both that Ambassador and his Collegues Walsingham and Killigrew liked it well One Matter in Debate and the chief was about the manner of Solemnizing the Marriage Whereupon they sent to the Queen of Navarre a true Copy of the Treaty of the Marriage between King Edward the Sixth and the late Queen of Spain the French King's Sister Wherein it was agreed that she should be Married according to the Form of the Church of England Which stood the said Queen of Navarre in such good stead that she produced it to the Queen-Mother of France To which they took Exceptions and said it was no true Copy of the Treaty Whereupon she the Queen of Navarre sent to Sir Tho. Smith who happened to be at that very Treaty By her Messenger she signified that she sent to him to know because he was a Dealer in the same whether he would not justifie it to be a true Copy To whom Sir Thomas answered That knowing the great good Will his Mistress did bear her and how much she desired the good Success of that Marriage as a thing that tended to the Advancement of Religion and Repose of this Realm he could not but in Duty avow the same and be willing to do any good Office that might advance the said Marriage CHAP. XIII Made Chancellor of the Garter Comes home Becomes Secretary of State His Advice for forwarding the Queen's Match His Astonishment upon the Paris Massacre SIR Thomas being still abroad in France the Queen conferred upon him the Chancellorship of the Order of the Garter in the Month of April as some Reward of the League that he had taken so much pains in making For which he thanked her Majesty and said it must needs be to him many times the more welcome because that without his Suit and in his Absence her Highness of her gracious goodness did remember him About Iune 1572. he came home with the Earl of Lincoln Lord Admiral who was sent over to take the Oath of the French King for the Confirmation of the Treaty Which being done by the Queen's Command he was no longer to abide in France but to return at his best Convenience It was not long from this Time that the old Lord Treasurer Marquess of Winchester died and the Lord Burghley Secretary of State succeeded in his Place Then Smith was called to the Office of Secretary viz. Iune 24. having sometime before assisted the Lord Burghley in that Station And surely it was the Opinion of his great Learning as well as his long Experience and other Deserts that preferred him For his Learning had rendred him very famous in the Court A Poet in those Times writing an Heroick Poem to the Queen therein describing all her great Officers one after another thus depainted this her Secretary Inde tibi est altis SMYTHUS à gravibúsque Secretis Doctrinae Titulis Honoris fulgidus ut qui Pierius Vates prompto facundus ore Et cui solliciti exquisita Peritia Iuris Astronomus Physicusque Theologus insuper omni Eximiè multifaria tam structus in Arte Ut fedes in eo Musae fixisse putentur Wherein of all the Queen 's Wise and Noble Counsellors Smith her Secretary is made to be the deeply Learned Man about her as being an ingenious Poet an excellent Speaker of exquisite Skill in the Civil Law in Astronomy in natural Philosophy and Physick in Divinity and in a word so richly furnished in all the Arts and Sciences that the Muses themselves might be supposed to
Excuse than Accuse them who were worthy of Accusation and very doubtful he was whether they would hinder the Discovery of the Nest that would be broken As he broke his Mind to the Lord Treasurer who was of the same Judgment and so also the Lord Chamberlain shewed himself to be in Conference with the Secretary But the said Treasurer who was for doing all things with Doulceur and with as little opposition to others as could be judged that for this time the doings of these Justices should be tried to which Opinion the Secretary did shew himself to condescend and agree There came soon after to his hands more Indicia of these Conjurers which were taken and withall a foul knot of Papistical Justices of Peace discovered and of Massing Priests which made him signify his judgment to the Lord Treasurer that it would be well done some of them should be sent for out of hand and laid hold on if they could be found And accordingly Letters were dispatched into the North for that purpose About this time it was that Sir Thomas was earnest with the Queen to send aid to reduce the Rebels in Scotland who had fortified Edenburgh Castle against the King and Regent and for that purpose he let the Queen understand from Mr. Killigrew her Ambassador in Scotland how dangerously things stood there and therefore that it was his desire that the Peace-makers as he phrased it might shortly be transported thither to whom when the Queen asked who be they Marry said he Your Majesty's Cannons they must do it and make a final Conclusion Then said the Queen I warrant you and that shortly Whereupon Sir Thomas said he was glad for it was better to prevent than to be prevented such was his Facetious way sometimes of getting his designs and Council to the Queen to succeed For it is to be understood that the Queen for the securing of her Affairs with respect to Scotland had by her Interest there procured the Earl of Morton a Protestant to be Regent of Scotland But the Papists and Frenchified Party resisted and took Edenburgh Castle the reducing of which so expeditely before the French could come in to their assistance was owing to the Managery of the Lord Treasurer and the Secretary His part was to urge the Queen to send speedy supply thither and the Lord Treasurer would have Men Ammunition and other Necessaries and a Ship immediately ready at Newcastle to go for Scotland upon the Queen's Order So about the 11 th or 12 th of February the Secretary moved the Queen for aiding the said Regent to reduce that place into the young King's Hands But she considered the Expence and told Smith of a device she had to do it without any such charge that is by a Letter to be written it seems to them that held the Castle thinking to bring them to yielding by some good words and promises But this the Secretary shewed her the inconvenience of namely that it would be a protracting of time being the very thing which they desired that the French might have time to come to them with their Succours He shewed her moreover that now the French King being thorowly occupied was the best time to perform that enterprize that was to be done and in fine she consented to his opinion and shewed her self very well pleased with the Lord Treasures making Provision in this mean while to have Powder and a ship of Newcastle and other things necessary provided beforehand for the doing it as the Secretary had signified to Her And she told him that upon that Lords coming to Court which then was at Greenwich she would fully determine with him all those Matters to be set forward with speed About this time were two Scotch men coming from France stopt at Rye by the Mayor and sent up to the Secretary who examined them They related what confident Report went in France what the French would do in Scotland and with what a mighty hand they would bring their Desires to pass there in spight of the English and such like But this the Secretary saw was but such Talk as might appear to be common in France For that Nation he said was full of Babble and Words and all for magnifying of their doings and Threatning what they would do rather than what they could do These men who called themselves Merchants were searched at Rye and no Letters nor other things suspicious found about them Yet the Secretary advised that Mr. Randal the Queens Ambassadour in Scotland or some other who knew Scotch Manners and Matters better should somewhat consider of them and if there were no matters against them to dismiss them in his Mind were best This year Sir Thomas procured a Colony to be sent into a Land of his in Ireland called The Ardes It was a rich and pleasant Country on the Eastern Coast of Ulster and of considerable Extent lying well for Trade by Sea Bordering upon a Country where Sarleboy contained himself with his Party He was an Hebidian Scot the Hebrides bordering upon this Province a long time detained prisoner by Shan O Neal the chief Prince in Ulster This Country was called Clandeboy where these Scots lived but they were beaten out once by this Shan who called himself Earl of Tir Oen and had killed two of the Brethren of Mac Conel Of which Family was Sarleboy whom he then had taken Prisoner but afterwards in an Extremity gave him his liberty This Shan was afterwards in a revenge slain by Sarleboy and his Party A Prospect of these Parts this Map will give In this Patent his base and only son Thomas Smith was joyned with him And under his Conduct Sir Thomas this year sent thither the Colony beforesaid having this good Design therein that those half barbarous People might be taught some Civility And his hope was that the Place might easily be defended by Garrisons placed in a strait neck of Land by which it was joyned to the rest of the Island And there was a Reward of Land to every Footman and Horseman But this extensive Project took not its desired effect For the hopeful Gentleman his Son had not been long there but he was unhappily and treacherously slain It was pity it had no better Issue For Sir Thomas a great while had set his Thoughts upon it undertaking to people that North Part of the Island with Natives of this Nation But for his more regular and convenient Doing of it and Continuance thereof he invented divers Rules and Orders The Orders were of two kinds I. For the management of the Wars against the Rebels and the preserving the Colony continually from the Danger of them II. For the Civil Government To preserve their Homeâ—manners Laws and Customs that they degenerated not into the Rudeness and Barbarity of that Country He divided his Discourse into thâ—â—e Parts First to speak of Wars And therein of Military Officers to be used there
Friend of theirs should be lost And so there was a purpose to collect together his Epistles and to publish them And so they were afterwards by Hatcher of Cambridge This Ascham about the Year 1568. sent an Astronomical Figure to Smith drawn by some ingenious Astronomer of the said Ascham's Acquaintance Upon which he sent a Latin Letter from Mounthaut thanking Ascham for it and declaring how much he was pleased with it and that he would willingly be acquainted with the Person that described it He acknowledged he professed himself this Study And this Person seemed to him to write Ingeniously and Learnedly and not according to the vulgar manner of unlearned men who abused themselves and the opinion of their Learning for Gain Whose Friendship he declared he desired not and whose Familiarity he was averse to And the Diagram and Figure that Ascham sent he dispatched back to him with his own Judgment of the same as it was put or placed Sir Thomas Erected a Figure concerning the same Hour and Day according to the Ephemeris of Ioh. Stadius Of which he said the Diagram seemed a little a differ but the Judgment not so much Thus we see his Correspondence and withal his Disposition to that kind of Study of Judicial Astrology And in fine of the great Opinion that went of Sir Thomas Smith's Learning I shall mention this Passage When Dr. Wilson one of his Learned Friends Master of S. Katharine's and afterwards Secretary of State had for News wrote to Haddon then Ambassador at Bruges of the Queens going to Visit the University of Oxford Anno 1565. and of the Report of the great Learning in that Place and what learned Exercises were then expected to be performed there before her Majesty Haddon answered not to disparage that Noble University or the complete Scholars that were there but to take the Opportunity of commending one or two other Egregious men viz. That however magnificently it was talked of the learned men there Nec Smith ibi simile quicquam aut Checi occurret i.e. there would be nothing like to Smith or Cheke And as he was Learned himself so he was Beneficial to Learning which appeared in that most useful Act of Parliament which he procured for the Colleges of Students Which was that a third Part of the Rent upon Leases made by Colleges should be reserved in Corn the Tenant to pay it either in Kind or Money after the rate of the best Prizes in Oxford or Cambridge Markets the next Market days before Michaelmas or our Lady day The great Benefit whereof Scholars do find to this day and will so long as the Universities lâ—st To his own College of Queens he gave for ever 12 7 4. Being a Rent Charge out of the Manor of Overston in Northamptonshire Which he appointed to be thus disposed of according as the Reverend Doctor Iames the present worthy Master of the same College was pleased to impart to me that is to say Four pounds for a Lecture in Arithmetick Three pounds for a Lecture in Geometry Four pounds seven shillings and four pence for two Scholarships appointing his own Relations or the Scholars from Walden School â—â—teris parâ—bus to be made his Scholars before any others And the Twenty shillings remaining for a Yearly Commemoration And of Eâ—ton College where he was once Provost Cambdâ—n tells us he merited well but in what particular respects I cannot tell except in making his College Lâ—ases always with a Reserve of Rent-Corn divers Years before it became an Act for the Benefit of other Colleges And I find the Provost and College of S. Mary of Eaton purchased of King Edward VI. in the first of his Reign for the summ of 25 â— 3. and in performance of King Henry's last Will and in consideration of the Exchange of the Manor of Melbourn Beck Lutton and Ponyngton in the County of Dorsâ—t and diver other Lands and Tenements the Rectory of Great Compton in Warwickshire lately parcel of the Possession of Thâ— Cromwel Knight Earl of Essex Attainted of High Treason the Rectory of Bloxham in the County of Oxon lately parcel of the late Monastery of Godstow in the said County and divers other Lands and Tenements in the Counties of Oxford Bedford Lincoln Warwick to the value of 82 11 0. The Patent bare date the 30. Aug. 1547. In which whether Sir Tho. Smith was any ways serviceable to the College I know not but suppose he might be And this Learning of his raised him to Honour and Wealth Under King Edward VI. he was made Provost of Eaton where whether he were present or absent there was always a good House kept Dean of Carlile and Master of Requests in the Duke of Somerset's Family after Cicil had left that Place wherein he was most unjustly scandaliz'd by his enemies to have been a Bribe-taker For which he was fain to vindicate himself He became also Steward of the Stannaries Soon after his Abilities were so well known that he was advanced to be one of the Principal Secretaries of State and employed in great Commissions and matters of Trust. Under Queen Elizabeth he was divers times Ambassador in France and at last a Privy Councillor Chancellor of the Garter and Secretary of State His Wealth consisted in his Land and Houses He had the Manor of Yarlington in Somersetshire worth 30 l. per annum that he bought with the Money he had gotten at Cambridge before he came into the Lord Protectors Service And he purchased it at 300 l. or thereabouts of the Marquess of Northampton to whom it was given at the Coronation of Queen Katharine his Sister He purchased also the College of Dâ—rby whether a Religioâ—s House or a Fraternity I do not well know I find he had also these Houses to some of which were annexed Manors and large Demeans One was in Chanon Row in Westmâ—nster which he once let out to the Comptroller of King Edward's Household for 30 s. per annum but afterwards Lived in it himself when Secretary being a very fair House and there the Divines in the beginning of Q Elizabeth's Reign together with himself conferred about reforming of Religion He had another House in Philpot-lane in London which 〈◊〉 a large and fair Dwelling The Title whereof being dubious he had like to have lost his Money and Purchase too But he procured his Master and Friend the Duke of â—â—mâ—rset to obtain from the King the Confirmation of his Title The free dwelling in this House he gave to his younger Brother George a Merchant to whom he was very kind lending him also 300 l. for the carrying on of his Trade without Interest or Consideration Sir Thomas had another House in â—leet-Lane with several other Tenements which he held of the Clothworkers Company of London And here he would sometimes be as a Recesse from Court. In the Country he had Ankerwick his Country Retirement in King Edward's Reign
their Ensample others shuld the more perseverantly enforce themselves to use their Tyme in honourable Wirkes and vertuose Dedes to purchase and get the Renoume of auncient Noblesse not onely for themselves but also for ther Lynge and Posteritie of theym descended according to ther Demerits and valiaunt Actions to be taken furth and reputed among al Nobylls and Gentylls And albeyt Iohn Smythe of Walden in the Countie of Essex is descended of honest Lignage and all his Auncestors and Predecessours hath long continued in Nobylite and beryng Armes lawful and convenyent Yet nevertheless he beyng uncertayne thereof and not willyng to do any thing prejudicial to no manner of Person hath requyred and instantlie desyred me the foresaid Garter to ratifie and confirme unto him and also to Register in my Recorde the true Armes and Blazon of his seyd Auncestours And therefore I the foreseyd Garter by Vertue Power and Authorite of myne Office as Principal King of Armes granted annexed and attributed by the King our Soveraign Lord have appointed and confirmed unto the seyd Iohn Smythe thesse Armes and Crest with thappurtenances hereafter following Viz. Sables a Fece dauncye betwixt III Lyonceux Regardant Argent Langes Goules Pawsing with their lyft Pawes upon an Awlter Gold Flaming and Bourning thereon Upon the Fece IX Bellets of his Felde Upon his Crest an Eagle rysing Sables holding in his Right Cley a Pen Argent Issuing thereout Flames of Fyer Set upon a Wreath Argent and Azure Mantelles Goules Lined Argent Botoned Gold To have and to hold to the same Iohn Smythe and to his Posteryte with other due Difference therin to be revested to his Honour for ever In wytnes hereof I the â—oresevd Garter Principal King of Aâ—mes as aâ—oâ—â—seyd hath signed these Preseâ—◠〈◊〉 mine own Hand and thereunto hath 〈◊〉 the Seal of my Office and also the Seal of mine Armes â—even at London the xii day of March in the yere of our Lord God MV cXLV and in the XXXV yere of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Henry VIII by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defendour of the Faith and in Erthe of the Church of England and Ireland Supreme Head Cb. alias Gartier Num. III. Sir Thomas Smith's Orations for and against the Queens Marriage I. Agamus or Wedspite This Oration for the Queens single Life ALTHO' I know saith he that I speak now first at a great Disadvantage as to such as have their Tongues at Wil their Wits fresh and be good Confuters as I have known them by experience in the Parliament House that whatsoever I shall say they can with Words make that it shall appear quite overthrown and dashed in pieces Yet because I my self would gladly learn whether I be in a right Opinion or no and hear either my Opinion weakned or thother strengthned with good Reasons that I may by comparing th one with thother know my Error which I could never yet do I am content to speak first I pray you that do note my Opinion so strange a while suspend your Judgments of me until you have heard al my Reasons which moveth me to take this part First I say that in this Matter either we must have respect to God to the Prince her Self or to the Commonwealth or rather to al these For as for vain Talk of the People and the common Opinion of every Man in this our Disputation I think little regard to be had to them For neither I speak in Pulpit before all Rascalls that cometh nor I do reason with such as I must needs say as they say or else hold my Peace but with them who wil look to have no further Credit to be given to their Authority and Mind than just Reason doth require And therefore to Godwards yee must needs confes that Virginity is above Matrimony which Christ himself being our Head King and Master did follow And St. Paul allowing both th one and thother Marriage I mean and the Sole Life yet preferreth the sole Life far above Matrimony And I cannot see that he maketh any Distinction or Difference whether they be Men or Women Young or Old Princes or Subjects Rulers or private Persons but as in Bondage or Freedom whether it be of Men or Women Young or Old he preferreth Liberty not excluding Bondage from the Gospel So doth he rather allow and exhort unto and wish thaâ— Men would chuse and take hold of Virginity and sole Life rather than Marriage with such Elogium as would seem slanderous iâ— it were not of his speaking The Virgin saith he and single Man have care how they should â—lease God The married Woman hath chosen infinite ways the worse Person to be pleased and the sole Woman the better Wherefore as I did say at the beginning to define what is good and most for the Queen if we shall try it by the best truest and more sure Ballance that is to Godwards St. Paul seemeth to be with me and the example of Christ himself and his most happy Mother St. Iohn Baptist and other the Heads of our Christian Religion who ensued that kind of Life as best and most acceptable to Godwards You see I do not bring you Histories of certain Emperors and Empresses Kings and Queens married who notwithstanding their Marriage yet lived continently lest perhaps you should doubt of the Truth of the History Or if the History were true yet of the Perfection and Sincerities of the Persons Or whether therin they pleased God altho it liked them best Nor yet I bring in that infinite number of Names of Virgins and Widdows which at the very Beginning of Christs Religion professed and kept Chastity as a thing whereby they thought most to please God and made their choice of that as of the most godly Life Lest peradventure with the evil Example again of the Nonns Monks and Friars of our Days who likewise have as holily vowed and yet so lewdly have and do keep the same you should have occasion to derogate Faith from all the rest but sincerely and plainly and of Principles most certain I have proved that to God the best most commendable and most allowable Life of these two is to be sole and chast It is hard ve will say in that Liberty Ease and Plenty of all things which Monarchy and Princely State doth bring to keep moderation and much more to keep Chastity Mary the harder the better and as the Greek Proverb is that which is laudable is hard to attain Ye be al learned and know Hesiods Verse What is that that men may take up by Heaps and case me by And how streit and hard a Path is left to creep to Vertue Wherefore when we speak of the Goodness of a thing or compare which of the Two is better the Hardness is no Objection but rather a Proof of the Goodness thereof And because I am yet in that Part which is to God-ward Why shall I go any further
they thought they might amend when they would by Adoption either of their own Bastards or other Folks lawful Children with the Consent of their Parents For al these Three this our Question doth not vary For either the Stranger or the English-man seemeth indifferent therunto and I make no Difference in them Then there be other Causes which be incident and as I might cal them Accidental as Honor Power and Riches Having first God and those three Causes which I called Essential of Matrimony principally in our Eyes these Things ought in this Consultation to have the highest Place And because I take al you here to be no Children and in this which I have said to be in the same Opinion that I am I wil make no further Proeme but go to and confer these together in the two Persons which you have brought in to be weighed here as in a Pair of Ballances that is the Stranger and the English-man And I say if the Queens Majesty have respect to Advancement and Honor can that be in Mariage of any within the Realm who being but her Subjects be they never so high shal be under her highnes a great Distance So for that purpose it shal not be Advancement but Disparagement Wherin I must commend the late Q. Mary who having more regard to her Honor than to her Age to th'advauncement therof than to any other Plesure which she could long have took to her Husband K. Philip Charles th' Emperours Son the greatest Prince of Birth and Possessions in al Christendom Wherby she gat the Sovereignty over so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionates Earldoms Baronies Countries and so forth that it would be more than an Hours Work to reherse them and to be the greatest Estate of a Woman in al Christendom And if it be honorable to a Prince to Conquer one Kingdom with Dint of the Sword with making of War with Spoiling Burning Wasting Death Destruction Fire and Sword Man slaughter and Effusion of Christian Blood how much more honorable ought it to be accounted to obtain and get not one but a great fort of Kingdoms and Dominions not with Violence and Oppression but with Amity and Love and that most godly sweet and pleasant Knot of Mariage So Mary the Daughter and Heir of Charles the hardy Duke of Burgundy by Marying her self to Maximilian Son to Fredericus of Austriche then Emperor hath made her Progeny the House of Burgundy to enjoy so many Realms and Seignories in Boheme in Hungary in Spain in Sicily in Naples and Italy in the High and Low Country of Germany and neer it went to have enjoyed also England and Ireland So Mary the Scottish Queen that liveth now if the Enterprize had had Success and she had had by her Husband any Son She should have left a double King I mean in France a King as wel as of Scotland and 〈◊〉 them both the greater King by her Purchase than else he should have been by his Mothers Inheritance So Claudia the Daughter of the Duke of Britain by Mariage with the French King hath made her Sons and Off-Spring not only Dukes of Britain but Kings and Possessors of al France when her Auncesters heretofore had much ado always to keep their own being but only Dukes of Britain much less could conquer or adjoyne to their Dutchy any thing of the rest of the Realm of France Now if Honor is to be desired and if it be a Glory to be made from a Baroness a Countess and from a Countess a Marchioness or Dutchess and from a Dutchess a Queen why is it not also as wel to be from a Queen an Empress or from a Queen of one Kingdom a Queen of two or three and so the more Honorable and the more to be sought and desired To the Encrease of which Honor if Men do apply and study themselves sometimes by Sword and sometimes by Mariage to attain why should not a Queen desire to do as wel as they especially by the better more sure and more amiable way Which thing ye see can be don either by no ways or by no ways better than by Mariage And this I have to say of Honor. Now I come to Power or Strength Which standeth in two Things Either for a Prince to keep his own Realm quiet from Rebellion or to make that the foreign Prince being Ambitious or desirous of War neither may dare invade him or els if the Prince be so minded to conquer and recover such Things which of old by Titles and just Reasons remain to be claimed The which the Prince heretofore either for lack of Power or Mony for shortnes of Time Civil Dissension their own Sloth or any Cause whatsoever it be hath omitted or foreslowed For these remain stil as Causes unto Princes when they be weary of Ease or desirous of Honor or when other just Occasion is offered to exercise themselves and their Subjects For any of those if her Majesty mary within the Realm what hath She gained All her own Subjects were her own before all their Powers are Hers already Not one Man hath She for the Mariage more than She had before Wheras if She mary a foreign Prince if he be an Emperor al the Empire is hers to aid her and her Husband at al Events If she mary a King likewise al his Kingdom if she marry a Duke Earl or Prince al his Vassals Kinsfolks Allies and Friends are united to her Realm and be taken al for Brethren to allow Strength and Aid both Offensive and Defensive as Occasion and Necessity shal serve For who can offend the Wife but he must offend the Husband also So that her Majesties Power must needs be encreased by so much as the Power of her Husband doth extend either by Authority Title Blood Alliance Friendship or Affinity Then if Princes be glad whensoever they invade or be invaded to ally themselves with the Princes their Neighbours manytimes by costly Leagues and much Suite and Entreaty of Ambassadors if that may be don by one final Act as chusing such a puissant Prince to her Husband as we would most desire to be our Friend or Aid in Necessity either of Defence or Invasion why should not I think that it were better for the Queens Majesty to take such an one wherby she may be backed and strengthened and her Power as it were double and treble than to take one by whom she shal have no more Power Help Aid nor Succour brought unto her than she had before And it is to be feared that she shal rather have less For when Envy naturally kindleth amongst Equals if the Queen take one of her higher and stronger Nobility all the rest it wil be doubted wil envy his Felicity and tho in Words they speak him fair yet in Heart hardly wil they love him For they shal be as Rivals and Candidati for one Office where commonly he that hath obtained if of the inferior sort al the rest shal
Pleasure shall it be to one brought up in English Manners to have an Husband which shall almost ever be Drinking or Sleeping Or if not ever yet too many times she must be sain thus to bear with him For it is the manner of his Country and so he was brought up Thesâ— bâ— the Faults of other Nations which tho' they seem strange to us yet among them 〈◊〉 â—ome Use Custom and the Multitudâ— of them that do so maketh it no Shame Reproach nor Rebuke Which if her Majesty do mislike as I am sure her Godly Wisdom must needs cause her not to like them thâ—n must our English man in this Case be preferred And this for the two Parts which ye passed so lightly and take as granted that in thâ—m there was no Difference between the English man and the Stranger For the Third that is the Comfort Pleasure and Joy which the one otherwise privately shall take of the other which is most necessary for Qâ—iâ—tness of Mind and Government of the House and Family I take that there is no Comparison For if Likeness of Tongue Behaviour Manners Education be those which make Love bring Fruit and cause Amity what can Diversity of all these do but bring Misliking Distrust and Hatred Which be very hansome Servants â—I assure you to go on message betwixt the Husband and the Wife And if men be so naturally affectioned to their own Country that they do not only prefer the Soil and Air thereof before other Countries altho' they be indeed much better as the Poets for Example to declare the Nature of mans Affection make Ulyâ—ses whom they describe as the wisest and most foreseeing of all the Greeks after manifold Torments of the Sea and Land yet to prefer the little barren and rocky Island 〈◊〉 which was his own natural Country to all other yea to the plâ—â—sant Country of Camâ—â—nia where Riches did dwell and to the rich and plenteous Country of the Phaeaces wherein one Grape doth ripen upon another and Figs upon Figs so that there is always plenty but also the Manners Conditions Affections Ordinances and Laws of his own Country every man doth think them better and more to be esteemed than thosâ— of any other as Herodetus doth also write who bringeth this thing for a great Argument that Cambyses was mad and out of his right Wits because he did not esteem the Manners and Conditions of his own Country And Alexander had much ado to keep the Love of his Soldiers and Princes of Macedony and was of them misliked as one drunken with Pride and half out of his right Wits because he began to wear the Apparel and to like the Manners and Behaviour of the Persians Insomuch that altho' he much desired it yet he was fain to remit that to his Macedonians that they should not kneel when they spoke to him Because they could not be brought unto it Forsomuch as it was not the Manner of their Country to do so to their Princes So Iulius Caâ—sar durst never call himself King nor would suffer any Man to name or write him Lord or King because he knew the Romans otherwise brought up could not abide it We see when Christian Religion began first how earnest the Iews were to bring in their Circumcision and Ceremonies and to lay their Customs and Manners upon our Backs And so much they esteemed them that they thought Christ scarcely able enough without them to save us and that he was no good man except he did as they did What shall I gather of this but that if the Queens Majesty should marry a Stranger she shall take one who shall not only love his own Natural Country better than England but also the Apparel Conditions Manners Pastime and Behaviour of his own Country better than those of England For as it is natural for an English man to love England and to like the Manners and Conditions of England so it is natural to Italians French men Germans Danes Men of Sweden each one to like theirs And if it be natural so to do than he is an unnatural man that doth not and as Herodotus thinketh a man to be counted rather mad and beside himself than otherwise Now whether think you better Master Lovealien for the Queen to take a Stranger which should be counted a wise natural and godly man to his Country or no If he be so then shall he set more by his own Country than England And if he be not then whom will you have the Queen to marry One who neither shall be counted wise nor natural to his Country And if he be to that his own Country unnatural and unkind do you think that her Highness shall find any natural Love in him in whom his Country as Mother who first brought him up his Subjects of whom he is Lord and Patron the Land that bred him the Tombs of all his Ancestors that Country where all his Friends and Kinsfolks dwell that Place which next unto God he oweth most Duty unto cannot find He thaâ— is unkind to his own seldom is found kind to another he that is most Loving to his kin hardly is to be thought for to be loving to strangers And again if he be to be counted a wise and discreâ—t man and a natural man to his own Country as it is most likely he will be then shall he covet to enrich that and to impoverish ours to honour and exalt that tho' it be with the oppressing of this to bring in the Manners and Conditions of that Country which he liketh best and to see if he can bring the Queens Highness to them And so to frame her Majesty as they call it to his Bow which he thinketh best not to apply to our Institutes Conditions and Manners which be best indeed Or be it in case they be not as for my Part I think they be yet our Queen and her People brought up in them must of Force and Nature think them best Now Sir as you say of Apparel Manners Customs Behaviour Pastimes Exercises Eating and Drinking so say I also of Laws for this Education containeth all what Contention hath been always betwixt us and Strangers because they like their Laws and Customs best and we ours They say we do wrong where we do not as they do And we again think their Laws unjust and unequal for us not only in Succeâ—â—â—on of Heritage but in many other Contracts And when they be here we make them follow our Laws and when we be there we must do as their Customs be Now this Contention is easily born for the one part of sine force must give place But if you bring this contention once into England the Queens Majesty shall like her own Realm Customs and Laws and her People will so desire Her Husband possibly as he shall think himself as great a Prince or greater shall like his Laws Customs and Ordinances better and shall by all means study to bring them
these lusâ—y and couragious Knights Strangers Kings or Kings Sons to be their Husbands Men of another Countrey Language and Behaviour than theirs I would not wish her Majesty but her Highness's Enemies such Aid Help Honour Riches and Contentation of Mind as those Noble Women had of those Marriages by the Description of the Poets Therefore Sophonisba wife to Syphax was worthy Praise as a wise and stout Lady who was content to put her self into the hands of Masinissa For so much as he was a Numidian born in the same Country of Africa that she was But rather than she would come into the Power and Hand of the Romans being to her Strangers the chose with a Draught of Poison to rid her self both from her Life and from her Care Well I had rather in this Matter Bene ominari And therefore I will bring no more Examples out of Histories as ye know well enough I can of the Successes of such Marriages But well I wot our Country by all Likelihood rather desireth that her Highness had one of this Realm than a Stranger It is not long ago Once there was a Stir for that Matter that cost a good Sort of Gentlemâ—ns Lives Do I forget think you what argument of Authority you used against my Friend here Mr. Spitewedd Do you then remember the Motion of our Speaker and the â—equest of the Commons House what they did and could have moved then and how they ran all one way like the Hounds after the Hare High and Low Knights and Esquires Citizens and â—argesses â—eeâ— as were of the Privy Council and others far and near Whom preferred they I pray you then if they should have had their Wish The Stranger or the English man And think you they did not consider her Majesty's Honour as well as you Do you suppose that they knew not as well what was Disparagement as you Whose Judgments if you would have to be esteemed so much as appears in your Argument you would and as I think you will even now Subscribe unto this Matter is concluded and your Disparagement is gone And where you said that the Marriage within the Realm should bring in Envy Strife Contention and Debate and for to prove the same you shew forth the Marriage that King Edward IV. made with the Lady Katharine Grey wherein followed such Dissension Cruelty Murther and Destruction of the Young Prince and his Brother the sequel I grant Mary if you do consider the Matter well ye do alledge Non Causam tanquam Causam As for the Stomach and Grief of the Earl of Warwick against the King I think indeed that Marriage was the Cause Not because the Queen was an English Woman but because the King having sent the Earl as his Ambassadour to conclude a Marriage for him Which the King did afterward refuse to accomplish And this the Earl thought not only to touch the Kings Honour but also his and fought therefore the Revenging Which he would as well have done and he had the same Cause if he had concluded it in England and after the King refused it So that it was not the Place or Person but the breaking of the Promise and disavouching of his Ambassage and the touching of the Earls Honour herein that made the strife between the Earl and the King For the rest for the Beheading of the Earl Rivers and others the Marriage was not the Cause but the Devilish Ambition of the Duke of Glâ—cester and the Duke of Buckingham Which may appear by the sequel For the one rested not till he had the Crown nor the other till he lost his Head And I pray you what Kin was the Lord Hastings to the Queen And yet he lost his Head even then King Henry VI. Married in France And did not that Marriage make Dissension enough in England And for all that the Queen was a French Woman was not her Husband and her Son by the Desire of the Crown which the Duke of York had both bereaved of their Crown and Lives So that you see that neither Marriage within the Realm maketh these Mischiefs nor yet the Marriages without can let them but Wisdom Foresight and good Governance and chiefly the Aid and Grace of God But it is a great thing to be considered the Riches Power and Strength which shall be by Marriage of a Foreign Prince as well for the Establishment and well keeping of her Highness against Insurrections and Conspiracies which might chance here within the Realm and for Invasions War Battle to be made by or against Princes abroad and without the Realm And here you seem to triumph as tho' all were yours and as tho' it were a thing clear and without all Controversie But I pray you let us weigh this Matter Do you think so much Riches and so much strength gotten unto the Realm when she shall Marry a Foreign Prince Do you praise so much Queen Mary for Marrying King Philip Indeed he is a Prince as you say as great in Birth and Possession as any Christian Prince is at this day But what was England the better for his Marriage We kept Calais above Two Hundred and odd Years in the French Ground in despight of all the French Kings which have been since that Time in all the Civil Wars and the most pernicious Dissension that ever was either in King Henry IV. Henry VI. Richard III. or King Henry VII their times And in King Henry VIII his Time we wan also Boloign and Boloignois And did the Encrease of Strength in his Marriage make us to lose in this Time I do assure you for my Part I never saw nor I think if I should have lived this Five Hundred Years heretofore past I should not have seen at any time England weaker in Strength Men Money and Riches than it was in the Time when we wrote King Philip and Queen Mary King and Queen of so many Kingdoms Dukedoms Marchionats and Countries c. For all those jolly Titles our Hearts our Joy our Comfort was gone As much Affectionate as you note me to be to my Country and Countrymen I assure you I was then ashamed of both They went to the Musters with Kerchiefs on their Heads They went to the Wars hanging down their Looks They came from thence as men dismayed and forelorn They went about their Matters as men amazed that wist not where to begin or end And what marvel was it as my Friend Mr. Agamus saith Here was nothing but Fining Heading Hanging Quartering and Burning Taxing Levying and Pulling down of Bulwarks at home and beggering and loosing our Strong Holds abroad A few Priests men in White Rochets ruled all Who with setting up of Six foot Roods and rebuilding of Rood-lofts thought to make all Cock-sure And is this the surety we shall look for the Defence we shall find the Aid we shall hope of if the Queen's Majesty take a Foreign Prince to her Husband And what Decay came at that Time
that which was gotten by her Ancestors and had been kept by the English so long But because we shall better and more near at hand see the Advantage of heaping Realms together King Edward III. and the Black Prince goâ— almost all France His next Successor therefore must needs have his Power marvellously encreased So may it appear For tho' he were confessâ—d the riâ—ht Heir yet a Nobleman of this Realm of England bereaved him of both France and England King Henry V. again drove the Dâ—uphin to a very streight Room in France Wherefore by your Reason his Power must be marvellously augmented which he did leave to his Son Did not a Duke of his Realm dispossess him of his Crown for all the help that Queen Margaret his Wife and Daughter to Reigner Duke of Anjou and King of Sicily Naples and of Ierusalem could bring from her Father and all those four Realms to the Aid of her Husband or the Prince her Son So that for that Matter the Italian Proverb seemeth true â—hi troppe abbraccia poco stringe He that embraceth too much holdeth fast but a little Now for Encrease of Riches let us go as near Many would judge that the getting and keeping of Bulloâ—gn and Bullâ—â—gnâ—is in France now in the Time of King Henry VIII and the obtaining and holding of â—addingtâ—n and the Pâ—ethes and a great Part of the Lowdian in Scotland should have brought in great Riches to this Realm It was that almost bâ—ggered England For thereby our fine Gold was conveyed away our good Silver appâ—arâ—d not our Mâ—ssy and old Plate was mâ—â—lâ—d And every man seeth that not only our good â—â—n was wonderfully consumed but that which was leâ—t pitiously altered and mâ—dâ— worse The Gold much debased and at the lâ—â—t for Sterling Silver we had two 〈◊〉 oâ— Copper and scarce the Third part 〈◊〉 metal remaining in the Coin Which now without any such Revenues either out oâ— France or Scotland thanks be to God and the Queens Highness beginneth well to amend again Whether think you King Henrâ— IV. which had but England left his Kingdom richer to his Son King Henry V. than he with all his Conquests to his Son King Henry VI. who hâ—d nothing in France but Câ—lais Did not King Henâ—y VII leave more Riches in his Coâ—â—râ— to King Henry VIII who Conquered both in France and Scotland than he lâ—ft to King Edward VI. And do yoâ— not perceive that Qâ—eâ—n Mary who wrote that she was Queen of so many Kingdoms Dutchess of so many Dukedoms Marchioness and Countess of so many Marchionâ—s and Earldoms c. did not â—ave lâ—ss â—ichâ—s in her Coâ—â—â—rs and â—â—alth in the â—â—alm at the Time of her Death than ever any of her Pâ—oâ—â—nitoâ—â— did My Mastâ—â—â— say wâ—at you will and call me as it plâ—ase you â—ithâ—r Enemy to Sâ—ranâ—â—râ— the Pattern or â—dâ—a of an old English mâ—n Fam. friend or what you â—iâ— I say and see that it is ENGLAND alone that shall make her Highness strong ENGLAND and no other her true Patrimony Riches Power and Strength whereto she must trust ENGLAND her Highness native Country alone being well tilled and Governed shall be better to her Majesty in the End than all those Empires Kingdoms Dukedoms and Marchionates and other Rabblements of gay Titles which are but Wind and Shadows and Makers of Cares and Costs Which are no Profit but rather Hindrance and Loss as at last will be proved and as you may perceive by these Discourses her Predecessors have proved Now Mr. Philoxenus or Lewelyn or Lovealien for I thank my Godfather neither you nor I can lack Names I have sufficiently as methinketh answered you to your Six Parts Causes or Occasions which you make of Marriage You see that for Succession that Prince shall be to the Realm most loving most tender and most natural which hath both his Parents mere English And such an one hath England most cause to Love who is mere Hâ—rs of whom no other Region may claim any part You see that for Plâ—asure Comfort and Ioy which in Matrimony the one should have of the other the English man for Likeness of Manners for naturalness of Education yea and because he is most tryed and best known is most likely to be more kind loving and natural than the Stranger who is both different in Tongue and Manners rather stumbled on by Fortune than chosen by certainty You see how it is to the Realm most Honourable and to her Grace most allowable not to despise and contemn or to reckon inferiour to any other Country men those which her own Region and Country bringeth up Ye see that Strength which Foreign Princes bring is rather a Weakning than a Strengthening rather to be suspected than trusted Ye see also that the Stranger ever is like to have and also more like to impoverish than to enrich the Realm And that the Realm it self by good Government both is able enough to enrich the Princes thereof and hath enriched them when they have been contented alone with it rather than when they have sought and gotten great Augmentations of other Countries Which things if you will weigh in a just Pair of Ballances without being affected so much as you are to Strangers I do not doubt but ye will condescend now at the last to my Opinion and Judgment and think as ever I have thought that for all Purposes it were better for the Queens Majesty if it could stand with her Pleasure to Marry an English man than any other Stranger whatsoever he be NAY said he whom they called Mr. Godfather stammering after his manner speak to me Man that am indifferent never speak to him For ye are not so far in with England and English men as he is with Strangers or to this our Host here Let him give judgment For he hath been attentive enough I am sure he hath born away all that hath been spoken Come on quoth he to me what â—say you to the Matter Mary quoth I it were a Presumption indeed to speak before my Prince without Commission I trust her Highness shortly will give sentence her self and not with Words but with Deeds shew who took the better Part to the great Contentation of us all But yonder hath one stood a good while to call us to Supper I have caused him to stay whilst all were ended Why is it Supper time so soon quoth one of them it may be so by the Day but methought the Time was very short So it appeared to me quoth I But Supper tarrieth for you Well we must obey our Host said they and so walked in fair and softly jesting one with another at their new Names NUM IV. To the King 's most Excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of Thomas Smith Esquire Uncle and Heir of Edward Smith Esquire deâ—eased Son and Heir of Sir William Smith the Younger and Heir of Sir William Smith the Elder who was Nephew and Heir of Sir Thomas Smith Kt.
Able and Bold and one that sincerely wished well to a Reformation of corrupt Religion This Commissioner of all the rest Boner seemed most to regret and set himself in opposition against His first Quarrel against him was that because he sat not at the beginning when the Commission was first opened and read therefore he ought not to be a Commissioner at all For by the Law said Boner they that first began must comtinue the Commission But Smith told him that as cunning as he made himself in the Law for his part he had studied the Law too anf that these were but Quiddities and Quirks invented to delay Matters But the Commission was to procede summarily Et de plano and to cut off all frivolous Allegations And when at this same Session the Bishop demanded somewhat of the Commissioners upon pretence of Law that was not convenient to be granted Secretary Smith seeing that his Device was meerly to deferr and elude the main Business told him plainly he asked he knew not what and that the Bishop would have had them to humour him and to be lead according to his mind in these Quiddities whereas all was for no other intent but to delay Justice And that herein he did all one with Thieves Murtherers and Traitors that the Truth might not be known to prevent their Shame and Condemnation Which plain dealing did more and more provoke that proud Bishop And those Expressions of the Secretary he could never forgive but was continually pelting at him and declining him as none of his Judge The great intent of this Commission was to examine him concerning a Sermon which was appointed him by the Council to Preach touching the King's Authority in his tender Age to Administer the Government and make Laws In which the Bishop prevaricated not speaking home to that necessary Point to the satisfaction of the People but running out upon the Subject of the Real Prefence Concerning which when the Commissioners could not bring him to confess whether in that Sermon he omitted that Article or no shifting it off by his uncertain Speeches other Articles were drawn up for him to answer to by Oath Which Smith told him he must not dally with as he had done hitherto And that tho' he had made his Answers by writing after his wary and obscure way yet now he should be examined by them and make answer by Mouth to the same Article or do that which was worse namely go to the Tower I do not indeed added he discommend your Protestations and Terms of Law if it were in a young Proctor in the managing of his Clients Cause but in you it may not be suffered so to use the King's Commissioners When the Bishop was next to appear before the Commissioners he sent two of his Servants to excuse his not coming before them by reason of Sickness But the Secretary knowing well of his former ways of Delay and Baffling the Commissioners doubted of the Truth hereof And therefore told the Messengers roundly that because he should not deceive them as he had done they would send the Knight-Marshal unto him who should have Order if he were Sick indeed to let him alone for that he said was a reasonable Excuse but if he were not Sick to bring him forthwith for that he should not do as he had done nor would they take it at his Hands Mr. Iohnson added the Secretary he was one of the Bishop's Servants that brought his Message you do the part of a trusty Servant as becomes you but it is your part also to shew my Lord of his Stubborn Heart and Disobedience which doth him more harm than he is aware of What Doth he think to stand with the King in his own Realms Is this the part of a Subject Nay I ween we shall have a new Thomas Becket Let him take heed for if he play these parts he may fortune to he made shorter by the Head And whereas the Bishop was all for disowning these Commissioners and appealing from him the Secretary subjoyned he may Appeal if he think good But whither To the Bishop of Rome So he may help himself forwards I say he can appeal but to the same King who hath made us his Judges and to the Bench of his Council And how they will take this Matter when they hear of it I doubt not He would make Men believe that he were called before us for Preaching his Opinion of the Sacrament Wherein I assure you he did but falsely and naughtily yea and leudly and more than became him and more than he had in Commandment to do For he was not willed to speak of that Matter and perhaps he may hear more of that hereafter But at present that was not laid to his Charge Sir Thomas thus using to deal with him in many Sessions held for his Examination and not suffering him to dally out the Matter and sometime taking the liberty to reprove him the Bishop at last made a solemn large and formal Recusation of this Commissioners Judgment Exhibiting it in Writing at his next appearance which may be read at length in Mr. Fox's Acts and Monuments In which Recusation Boner shewed how the Secretary had charged him with dealing with the Commissioners as Thieves Murtherers and Traitors would have done But notwithstanding this Recusation the Secretary told him that he would proceed in his Commission and would be his Judge still until he were otherwise inhibited And where you say proceeded Smith in your Recusation that I said you did like Thieves Murtherers and Traitors indeed I said it and may well say so again since we perceive it by your Doings Whereto the Bishop in a great Rage replied Well Sir because you sit here by Vertue of the King's Commision and for that you be Secretary to his Majesty and also one of his Highness Council I must and do Honour and Reverence you but as you be Sir Thomas Smith and say as you have said I do like Thieves Murtherers and Traitors I say you lye upon me and in that Case I defy you in what you can do to me I fear you not And therefore Quod facis fae citius The Secretary told him He should know there was a King Yea said the Bishop and that is not you No Sir said the Secretary again but we will make you know who is And so in fine for carrying himself so irreverently towards the King's Commissioners and especially towards Sir Thomas Smith the King's Secretary the Knight-Marshal was called in and the Bishop committed to him And the Secretary commanded him to take and keep him that none might come at him For if he did he should set by him himself At another Session Secretary Smith did burthen him how disobediently and rebelliously he had always carried himself towards the King's Majesty and his Authority To which the Bishop replied That he was the King's lawful and true Subject and did acknowledge his