Justification of Queen Elizabeth against the Reproaches of the Papists A plentiful Supply given to the Queen She dischargeth a part of it 158 A Digression concerning Parry 160 The Queen's Severity towards the Conspirators 163 The second Civil War in France 165 The third in which the Queen sends great Supplies of Men and Money 167 A Reflection concerning Passive Obedience 169 The King of France laboureth to divide the Protestants without success The true Causes of these Civil Wars 170 The Queen preserved the Protestants of France 171 The beginning of the Countrey-Wars 172 Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted and recalled 172 The King of Spain enraged at it 174 The Spaniards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitrary Government there 176 Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison 177 The rest of the Cities petition for a General Assembly of the States 178 The Designs of Spain discovered to the rest of the Nobility 179 Which at first only terrified and divided them 181 A Bloody Persecution against the Protestants in the Netherlands 182 The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Reformed The Character of the Duke of Alva He comes into Flanders The Council of Blood 185 Their Rules The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they seized and after them vast Numbers of meaner people 187 The Protestants of France and the Queen of England alarmed at these Proceedings 188 The Subjects of the Low Countries fly into England 189 The Conduct of King Philip considered The Reasons why Queen Elizabeth opposed the Spaniards 191 The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of England 193 The King of Spain complains of the Queen for harbouring the Netherland Pyrates 194 They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand The Queen of England undertakes the Protection of this oppressed People 197 The French Affairs during her time 201 A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants 203 The Duke of Guise made Head of this League against his Sovereign 204 An Account of the House of Guise 205 The Reasons why Henry III. was to be deposed and Henry IV. excluded 207 The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money 209 Spain invaded by the English 211 The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex 212 The Affairs of Ireland during her Reign 216 Ulster the first Province that rebelled 218 A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond 219 The Pope and King of Spain Interested in the Wars of Ireland 221 The Difficulty of administring Justice and Mercy seasonably 224 Sr. Jo. Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English 226 And they of the Deputy 227 William's Character 228 The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet for some time Part of the Spanish Armado Shipwrackt on the Coast of Ireland 229 The Rise of Hugh Oneale Earl of Tyrone 232 He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned that Rebellion 233 Sir William Russell Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom it began 234 Sir John Norris sent into Ireland 235 The Irish made very Expert in the use of Arms. Tho. Lord Burroughs made Deputy The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an Universal Rebellion of the whole Nation 241 Tyrone beats the English 243 He treats with Spain and England at the same time 244 The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy 246 No Irish pardoned but what merited the favour by some Signal Service 247 The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's Flesh 248 Religion causlesly made the Pretence of this Irish War Liberty of Conscience considered 249 The great Reputation of England in Queen Elizabeth's time 250 Sir Drake's Original and Story 253 The Story of John Oxenham 256 Drake's two Voyages into America 258 The Story of Mr. Tho. Cavendish 263 Philip King of Spam highly inc◅nsed against the English 265 The Invincible Armado Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it 273 The King of Spain bears his Loss with much patience and prudence 275 The English and Hollanders glorify God for the Victory over the Spaniards at Sea 277 The Queen declares a War against Spain 278 The English Expeditions against that Kingdom A rare Example of Martial Valour Complaints made of the Depredations of the English at Sea 285 The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English 287 The Trade of England prohibited in Germany 288 The Queen seizes the Still-yard 289 Poland continues a Trade with England 291 The Queen ends a War between the Russ and Swedes ibid. Her Laws for the enriching her Subjects Her Severity to those she imployed when found faulty 292 The Liberty of the Theatre restrained 297 The Calamities that happened in her times 298 Her kindness to her good Magistrates 299 Her tender care of the Church 300 Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments 301 She was concerned in her old Age for the decay of her Beauty She loved Flattery because it raised a good opinion of her in her Subjects but Crafty men made ill uses of it 303 She loved good Preachers 307 She loved Religion but hated Faction 308 Her Devotion in publick She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church 309 She humoured and caressed the body of the People 310 Parliaments frequently held 312 Her Maxims concerning Peace and War 314 She would never arm the meanest of the People All honours carefully and sparingly bestowed in her time 315 Her Justice and Severity towards Offenders which made her beloved 317 Her Justice in other Instances 322 She was sparing in her Personal Expences but magnificent in her Publick 323 She was too sparing in her Rewards She shewed a great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service 327 The Praises of Henry VII who was her Example 329 Her Bounty to some Great Men 330 The manner of her bestowing Honours 333 The choice of her Servants Officers and Ministers 335 Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men 337 Her Principal Favourites and Statesmen 338 Her Habit 339 Her Furniture 341 Her Dyet in publick and private 342 The Splendor and Divertisements of her Court 344 Her private way of living 346 Her Summer Progresses and her Carriage towards the People 348 She spent the Winter in London 350 Her Diet in Summer and Winter 352 Her Diversions and Private Conversation 353 She was subject to violent Anger 's 355 Her Sevērity to the Queen of Scots To Leicester 358 To Hatton 360 The Provocations she met with many and great 361 The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her 363 Her last Sickness 367 he spent the last moments of her life in Devotion 371 Her last Words and Death 373 The Sorrow for her Death at Home and Abroad 374 LICENS'D November 10. 1692. THE CHARACTER OF Queen ELIZABETH ELIZABETH Queen of England was born
They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand Which was the beginning of the United Provinces ☞ Q. Elizabeth undertakes the Protection of her oppressedNeighbours French Affairs A Private League between France and Spain against the Protestants Henry III. succeeds in France The D. of Guise designs against that Prince An Account of the House of Guise The Reasons why Hen. III. was to be Deposed and Henry IV. Excluded Henry III. slain The Queen Mother of France dieth of Grief Queen Elizabeth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money The Spaniards invade Britagne a Province of France Q. Elizabeth assists the French against these Spaniards Spain invaded by the English They take the Groyne Robert Earl of Essex stole away from the Court and served as a Volunteer in this Expedition The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex The second Expedition into Spain Cadiz taken by the English The loss the Spaniard sustained The Affairs of Ireland in her time Ulster the first Provencethat Rebelled against her A Quarrel between Ormond and Desmond The Pope and King of Spain interested in the Irish War Fitz-Morris and Sanders invade Ireland with Spaniards The Deputy for his good Service slandered in England The difficulty of Administring Justice and Mercy seasonably Sir John Perrot Lord Deputy of Ireland New Colonies of English sent into Munster The Irish complain of the English The English complain of the Lord Deputy Fitz-Williams Character The College of Dublin finished The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet a while Part of the Spanish Armada shipwracked on the Coast of Ireland Hugh Roe wrongfully murthered by the Deputy The Rise of Hugh O Neale Earl of Tyrone He aspires to be King of Ulster Tyrone made a County which occasioned Neal's Rebellion Sir William Russel made Lord Deputy of Ireland under whom O Neal broke into a Rebellion Sir John Norris sent into Ireland with 3000 men The Character of this Great Man The Irish become very expert in the use of Arms. Tyrone's Pretences to the Deputy The Deputy offended with Tyrone The Lord Burroughs made Deputy of Ireland The Council of Ireland represent the Irish War as an universal Rebellion of that whole Nation Tyrone beat the English And at the same time treats with England and Spain The Earl of Essex sent Deputy The Army under Essex 20000 men The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy The Methods by which he ruined the Irish and ended the War No Irish pardoned but what merited the Mercy by some signal Service The Spaniards land at Kingsale The Irish reduced to eat man's flesh Tyrone submits Religion causlesly made the pretence of the Irish Rebellion Liberty of Conscience considered The Greatness of the Reputation of the English Nation in Q. Elizabeth's time Her Carriage towards her Allies abroad Sir Drake's Original and Story The Story of John Oxenham Drake's second Voyage to America He takes St. Jago He sails for the Nolucca Islands The Story of Mr. Thomas Cavendish Hackluit records and publishes all the English Expeditions in these and former times Philip King of Spain highly incensed against the English Nation The Invincible Armado in 1588. prepared and sent to invade Enggland Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England The Condition of the Spanish Fleet when the English left it The King of Spain bears his Loss with much Patience and Prudence The English and Hollanders glorifie God for the Victory The Queen declares a War against the King of Spain The English Expeditions against that Kingdom The Earl of Cumberland put out a Fleet against Spain at his own Cost A rare Example of Martial Valour and Courage Complaints made to her of the Depredations of the English at Sea A Reflection concerning Proclamations The Hanse Towns very clamorous against the English The Trade of the English prohibited in Germany She takes away the Stillyard from the Easter lings or Germans Poland continues the Trade with the English The Embassy into Muscovy p. 213 She ends a War between the Russians and Swedes Her Laws for the Enriching of her Subjects at home The Purveyers reformed As also the Concealers Her Severity to her Judges and Governors Usury mitigated The Customs carefully looked after Monopoly suppress'd Informers and Promoters carefully inquired into She detested multitude of Suits Her Admonition to the Judges The licentious liberty of the Theatre restrained The Calamities and Misfortunes that hapned in her Times Her Care of and Kindness to her good Magistrates Her Care of the Poor Her affectionate and tender Care of the Church Her Stature and Personal Accomplishments In her Old Age she was offended at the Decay of her Beauty Adulation sometimes used to her The Flatteries of learned men noted She endeavoured at first to raise a good opinion of her self in her Subjects Which by degrees brought her to love Flattery Crafty men wrought upon this her Infirmity She understood Preacliing very well and loved Severe and Grave men But curbed the Fiery Turbulent Preachers She loved Religion but hated Factions Her Devotion in the Publick Service of God She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church She humoured and caressed the Body of the People Parliaments frequently held and for the most part well tempered Her Maxim concerning War and Peace She would never arm the meanest of the People The Honours belonging to the Peerage carefully given Her care in chusing good Councellors Bishops Judges and Ministers Her Justice and Veracity and Severity to Offenders Sir John Perrot an Instance of her Severity Her very Severity to Offenders made her the more beloved by the People Her Justice She was sparing in her personal Expences but magnificant in her publick Actions She was too sparing in her Rewards especially to the Sword-men Sir Philip Sidney much lamented She shewed great respect to the memory of the meanest Soldier that perished in her Service But was not liberal to the Great men which had an ill effect The Praises of Henry VII Her Bounty to the Earl of Oxford and some few others of the Nobility And her Severity towards Luxurious Spend-thrifts Her Favours to Anthony King of Portugal †This Anthony is by all confessed to have been a Bastard of the former King's Ursino Duke of Bracciano She never Knighted any but men of Virtue and good Estate The Peerage well and sparingly given The Noble Order of the Garter prudently given The Choice of her Servants Officers and Min isters Her kindness to the Bishops and Church-men She loved Sir F. Walsingham herSecretary Sir Nicholas Bacon Egerton Popham but above all the Lord Burleigh and Howard Her Habit in Publick and in Private Her Furniture Her Diet in Publick and in Private Aligophore The Splendor and Divertisements of the Court. Her private way ofliving Her Studies Her Summer Progress and catriage towards her People in it The Winter she spent in London Her Diet in Summer and Winter Her Diversions and private Conversation She was subject to be violently angry Her Severity and especially to the Queen of Scots Her Severity to Leicester and Hatton Hatton's Death The Provocations she met with were many and great The Character of Sanders and others who defamed her Dydimus Veridicus Florimond Remond a French Writer George Conc a Scot. Her last Sickness Her last Words to her Council She nominated her Successor She spent the last Moments of her Life wholly in Devotion Her last Words to the Archbishop And her Death The Sorrow for her Death
Plenty and was attacked by the Blandishments of Nature and a multitude of external pleasing Objects yet she persisted in the Resolution she had taken and with a constant and unmoveable Soul preferred her Maiden State to any Marriage Though she was almost every night tempted to change her Resolution by the Luxury Chearfulness and Wantonness of a Court which shewed it self in Interludes Banquets and Balls and was surrounded on all sides with the Enticements of Pleasures and the things which might provoke the most cool and languid Lust yet she preserved her self from being Conquered or broken by them For the Fear of God and a true Sense of Piety extinguished in her all Feminine Intemperance and Lust. Though she was the Sovereign and Mistress of all she did nothing that was insolent tho she haâ—… an abundance of Wealth at her Command she was not dissolute but she governed her self by the severest Rules of Chastity and Continence Yet her Juvenile Age for she was then about Twenty five years old and the Intemperance which will ever attend a Court gave occasion to some injurious Reports but then she as casily washed off that slanderous Infamy which was one of the most raging Crimes of the Age by the incredible Continence and Chastity of her whole Life her Modesty and Prudence over-ruling and controuling the Natural Inclination and Disposition Her Maids of Honour who waited on her took a wonderful pleasure in her Manners her Discourses and Conversation and wholly applied themselves to imitate her borrowing from her examples of Modesty and Chastity so that they would never suffer any young Nobleman to have any familiar Acquaintance with any of them if he had not recommended himself to them by some Generous Manly Action in the Wars Amongst those who in the several parts of her Life aspired to the Honour of her Bed Edward Courtney Earl of Devonshire and Marquess of Exeter was the first who courted her in her youngest years And after him Christian III. King of Denmark for his Son Frederick after this â—…erdinand the Emperor desired her for his Son Charles Philip II. King of Spain Erix King of Sweden and Adolph Duke of Holstein the Dukes of Anjou and Alenzon both Princes of the House of France desired to have Married her but all this was to no purpose for when she had by these Treaties deluded them and secured her self she ever after pretended That at her Coronation she had obliged her self not to Marry a Foreign Prince Yet there were some at home who after this deceived themselves with these deluding hopes amongst whom was James Earl of Arran a Scotch Nobleman who was recommended to the Queen for an Husband by the Protestants of that Kingdom as the best means of Uniting England and Scotland but though she commended this Gentleman yet she rejected the Proposal There was also one Sir William Pickering a Gentleman who had improved himself by Ambassies and the French Breeding who aspired to it tho it was so much above his Fortunes And Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel asterwards Duke of Norfolk one descended of one of the Noblest and Richest Families in the English Nation and a person of great Interest and Authority though he was advanced in years yet he would also very fain have married the Queen but when he perceived his Old Age was ridicul'd and despised he left the Court and went abroad and never came back again into England She persisted in this Resolution of Celebacy with a Constancy that was admired then and ever since and at last she would grow angry when any of her Subjects spake to her of Marriage which they as passionately desired as she declined it The reason of this was wonderfully exagitated in the thoughts of men and some were very unmannerly to speak the best of it in their Conjectures whilst others ascribed it with much more probability to an habit of Chastity which put a Curb upon all irregular Desires or the fears of changing her Fortune and diminishing her Authority it being but reasonable she should â—…spect that whosoever had Married her would have taken upon him the principal Administration and so have abated her Power and Reputation others ascribed it to the Counsel of her Friends who yet prevailed with her to suffer Treaties of Marriage to be carried on to render Foreign Princes more favourable to her Interests by the hopes of attaining her at last But whatever was the true Cause of it which can be certainly known to none but God had this Queen been of the Communion of the Church of Rome this single Virtue would have gone a great way to the Canonizing of her as it has of many others and she certainly would have much more deserved it than any of the best that have been Sainted on that account only The common people of England for a long time most firmly believed That Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and Lord Steward of the House to her Majesty would be the man that would marry the Queen He was youngest Son to John Dudley Duke of Northumberland who with his Eldâ—…r Sons â—…ohn call'd Larl of Warwick Sir Amâ—…rose Sir Guilford and Sir Henry Dudley had been found Guilty of High â—…reason and the Father anâ—… Sir Guilford a younger Son was beheadâ—…d in the fiâ—…st year of Queen Mary s Reign when this Roâ—…ert who was the youngest Son his â—…ather had then living was spared merely on the account of his youth and never Tried or Dishonoured This Gentleman in his younger years was a very goodly Person of a Bâ—…autiful and Lovely Complexion and Features but high foreheaded which yet was not then thought any diminution of his Beauty he was a very great Politician but no great Soldier and tho he was not over-righteous in his Actions yet in his Letters there was not known a Stile more Religious and fuller of the strcams of Devotion This Favourite was then in the Verdure and most Flowering Spring of his Youth of a Stately Carriage a Modest and Grave Look a great Flatterer of a pleasant and easie nature in outward shew or appearance and being endowed with all those Accomplishments the City or Court could teach him in which he had had his Education he had insinuated himself into the Favour and Familiarity of the Queen by his specious shews of Loyalty Industry and Vigilance in her â—…ervice and for a long time managed the greatest Station in the Court and was reputed the First Minister of State though his Counsels were not over-fortunate His Brother Ambrose was Heir to the Estate and he to the Wisdom of that Family for he had all the Arts of the Publiâ—…an Dudley his Grandfather and the Policies of Northumberland his Father He was the most reserved man of that Age that saw all and was invisible carrying a depth not to be fathomed but by the Searcher of Heâ—…rts He became in his latter times sullen to his Superiors haughty towards his
compassionating the Dangers of Scotland foreseeing also at the same time the great and almost unavoidable danger which was approaching her own Kingdom if the French were suffered by force or fraud to subdue that part of the Scots which were of the Protestant Religion she couragiously and prudently resolved to undertake the Defence and Protection of this Nation and broke with the French whose Friendship is at all times doubtful and uncertain Thereupon she sent Mr. William Winter the Master of her Naval Cannon with a Fleet into the Fryth of Edinburgh in the year 1560 which took the Island of Keth from the French and expelled their Garifoâ—… and relieved the Scots that were then in Arms. She made also the Duke of Norfolk a Peer of good Experience in Warlike 〈◊〉 President of the North. At the same time she sent the Lord Grey of WILTON who had been very unsuccessful in the Defence of GUINES a Fortress belonging to Calais in her Sister's Reign with an Army by Land into Scotland He entred Scotland with this Army which consisted in Six Thousand Foot and Two Thousand Horse in a peaceable and civil manner treating the Countries through which he passed as a Friend and an Ally that came to help them and sat down before Leith a Sea-Port which was then Garison'd by the French Martigues who was a young and a fiery Gentleman being spurr'd on by the over-warm desires of Glory would needs undertake with Twelve Companies of Foot to beat the English Army upon their first approach from the Hills on which they were posted tho the French were to charge up the Hill whereupon there was presently a sharp and bloody Fight for that Ground the French for a great while sustained with much Bravery the Charge of the English Army on their Front but the Scotch Horse Wheeling about and Charging them on the flank too they were at last beaten with great Loss from their ground and forced into the Town of Leith and very few of them had escaped if the English Horse had done their part as well as the Scotch did theirs The French however were not quiet tho thus beaten but making a Sally after this the 15th of April they surprized the Advanced Guards and cut them off broke into the Lines and Nailed up Three of the English Cannons and took Maurice Berkley one of the Commanders Prisoner But Robert Crofâ—…s and Cuthbert Vaghan two other English Officers fell on the French who pursued their point too far and forced them back into the Town In this Sally Arthur the Eldest Son of the Lord Grey who then commanded in the Trenches was wounded in the Shoulder by a Musket-Bullet whilst he valiantly opposed the French This Sally exasperated the English and they observingthat their Batteries had not any considerable effect on the Walls by reason of their distance they came nearer to the Town and erected new Batteries There was nothing wanting in the Town which was needful to enable the Garison to make a stout Defence the Walls and Bastions were full of men excellently Armed and they played furiously on the English wounding some and killing others and both by day and by night making furious Sallies besides which the English bore with so much Patience and Bravery that they surâ—…ounted all these difficulties The last day of April a Fire happened in the Town which bâ—…rned all that night and the English by turning their Cannon upon those parts that were burning terrified the Inhabitants and spread the Fire and the same night they passed the Dike and measured the heighth of the Walls The French within the Town were no less industrious than the English were without and at last they had the good fortune to put out the Fire and to prevent the English from turning the Terror of it to the best advantage After this the English burnt the Water-Mills upon the River Leith which here falls into the Fryth of Edinburgh and gives name to the Town and what they could not burn they demolished The 5th of May the English storm'd the Town with the Assistance of the Scots under the Command of one Vincer the French tho much terrified with the bold approaches of the English yet manfully defended the Walls and the Ladders proving too short and the Waters being restrained by the Garison were also found deeper than was expected to their great damage so that 160 of the English were slain and nothing gained The whole blame of this Misfortune was cast upon Crofts who stood stone still in the placâ—… he was appointed to act in and neither diverted the Enemy or sent any Assistance to them that were engaged and thereupon he was accused to the Queen by the Duke of Norfolk and thâ—… Lord Grey for which he afterwards being called beâ—…ore the Council was deprived of the Government of Berwick The Duke of Norfolk in the mean time took care to revive the droopiâ—…g Spirits of the English by a fresh Supply of 2000 men which he soon after senâ—… to reinforce the Camp and to curb the Insolence of the French which rose higher upon this Misfortune of the Besiegers so that they made more frequent Sallies after iâ—… than they had done before At the same tiâ—…e the Duke sent a Letter to the Lord Grey to coâ—…fort the Army for the late 〈◊〉 and to assure him that within a short time he would follow with all the Forces he had under his Command This Recruit blew off the Memory of their Loss and kindled in the minds of the Besiegers a strong desire to revenge the Baffle they had received and recover their former Reputation By this time the Besieged had tried all the ways their prudence could suggest to raise the Siege without any success and were now as much oppressed by Famine within as by the Enemy without and having no hopes of any Relief they at last began with the consent of the French King to Capitulate with the Queen for he scorned to Treat with the Scots who were his Subjects who to that end sent Sir William Cecil and Sir Nicholas Throgmorton to Edinburgh The Lord James a Scotch Peer proposed some things on the behalf of the Scots in this Treaty which Sir William Cecil told him did not become Subjects to ask or Princes to grant And the French on the other side offered the Queen that if she would withdraw her Forces out of Scotland he would restore Calais to the English to which she generously replied She did not value that Fisher-Town so much as to hazard for it the State of Britain so even did she hold the Balance between that King and his Subjects suffering neither of them to wrong the other At last it was agreed That the French should within Twenty days depart out of Scotland and the Fortifications of Leith and Dunbar should be slighted The 16th of July the French accordingly embarked on the English Fleet for France and the same day the Lord Grey began his
could get down and get into a Posture of Assisting them he saw all their Army dispersed and they forced to flee into Scotland whereupon he formed a Design to Murder the Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord scrope Warden of the West Marshes which when he saw he could not effect he recommended the Two Earls to the Scots and seized Greistoke and Caworth Castles as his own which belonged to the Family of the Dacres and he got together about 3000 Borderers with some others who were the Friends of that Ancient and Splendid Family The Lord Hunsdon hearing of this Insurrection drew out a part of the Garison of Berwick of which he was Governour and marched against this Incendiary who met Hunsdon and fought stoutly at the Head of his Party which was yet at last over-powered and broken the Lord Hunsdon having no great reason to be overjoyed at the Victory by reason of the Number of men he lost Dacres fled into Scotland and was with the two Earls Attainted in the next Parliament Both these Rebellions were caused by Pope Pius his Bull tho they broke out before the Bull was Published here in England which was one great reason that they spread no further The Delivery of the Queen of Scots who was then in the Custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury the Restoring the Popish Religion and the suppressing the Protestant was the last thing they aimed at and the King of Spain was the Fomenter of these Troubles and had sent them Assurances that he would send them Assistance from Flanders and had his Agent at Court to promote it But all these Projects being disappointed England soon returned to her former state of Peace and the rest of the Popish Party seeing their Weakness and the Severity of the Government against these Ring-leaders soon found how much it was their Interest to be quiet The secret Head of all these Motions was Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk who was the Richest most Noble and Wisest Peer then in England and of the greatest Authority with the Queen and no less beloved by the People This Great Man having appeared a little over-inclined to favour the Interest of the Captive Queen of the Scots in the XIth year of the Queen's Reign he drew upon himself both the Suspicion of the Queen and the Practices of his Enemies at Home and Abroad The Pope the King of Spain and many of the Nobility of England for different and very contrary ends promoting a Marriage between the Queen of Scots and this Duke which being by the means of these Rebellions discovered in part to the Council of England in the latter end of the year 1669 he was first Committed he left the Court in Discontent and resolved to Marry the Queen of Sâ—…ots without the Queen of England's Leave tho he had promised the Queen he would proceed no further in this business Whereupon he was committed Prisoner to the Tower in the year 1571 and the 16th of January 1572. he was found Guilty of High-Treason and Beheaded the 15th of June following The Greatness of his Fortunes and Soul and the wonderful Affection the People of England on all occasions shewed to this Noble Gentleman added to his Compassion for the Queen of Scots who was a Lady of great Wit and Beauty first stirred in him the thought of Marrying her upon her first coming into England which coming to the Queen's ears he was a little before the Rebellion of the North put under Confinement yet he found means to send Money to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland but so privately that after this he had his Liberty again By the procurement of one Robert Ridolf Agent for Pope Pius Quintus here in England under the pretence of Merchandize he was again drawn into a secret Practice for the Marrying that Captive Queen which being discovered to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh by the Duke's Secretary out of mere Treachery he was again Imprisoned Tried and Convicted by one whom he most trusted and leaft suspected of Designing against him Thus wonderfully did God appear for this Religious Queen turning all the Crafty Imaginations of her Enemies and all their intended Violences upon their own heads for the Preservation of this Church and Nation Saith Mr. Cambden The Love that the People of England bore to the Duke of Norfolk is incredible which he had acquired by a Courtesie and Goodness which was worthy of so great a Prince The Wiser part of the Nation were very differently affected towards him some being affrighted at the Danger which was threatned to the Nation from his Numerous Party whilst he lived to Head them And others very heartily commiserating this Noble Gentleman who was of an excellent Temper of great Beauty and of a Manly Aspect and would have been the Ornament and Securer of his Countrey if the fraudulent Arts of his Enemies had not turned him out of his former course and way of living by the deceivable hopes of greater things and the specious pretences and shews of promoting the Publick Welfare His End renewed the Memory of his Father's most unhappy Fate who Twenty Five Years before was Beheaded in the same place only because he wore the Scutcheon of Edward the Confessor in his Arms which were granted to the. Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolk from whom he was descended Lineally by King Richard the IId This Bull of Pope Pius V. and his Practises against England produced a shoal of Traytors to plague that Generation for they were ever after it restlefly plotting and conspiring against their Sovereign their Countrey and their Kindred with an invincible perfidy and obstinacy which the Executions of many could not extinguish But yet the Calamity did not end there for from the same Exuberant Fountain of Mischief issued those refractory and stabborn Recusants who separating from the Communion and Service of the Church of England which till then they had frequented without the least scruple or difference they set up Popish Conventicles and the Latin Mass and called over a swarm of Jesuits Priests and Monks to infest the Nation and incense those that entertained them against the Religion and Government that was established and so perpetuated our Quarrels and kept open the bloody wounds of this Kingdom This is the thing we have most reason to complain of because it has brought upon all the succeeding Times great miseries and distresses and the Wisdom of our Forefathers has not been able to cure this Disease The Queen seeing in the mean time the mischief this would bring upon her Kingdoms and being roused by the Rebellions in the North and the intimations she had that there were Designs on foot against her Person and Life took up a resolution to put a stop to it and to that end passed an Act in the next Parliament for the levying 20 l. the Month upon all that should refuse to go to Church and attend at the Service of God or to take the Oath
sixty Years the Right of it fell to Henry King of Navarre of the House of Bourbon but he was suspected by all his Popish Subjects stoutly resisted by all that were in the League against his Predecessor and Excommunicated by the Pope and sorely laid at by the King of Spain who dreaded nothing so much as the seeing France in the hand of a Valiant Wise Protestant Prince now his Invincible Armado was returned back srom England with Shame Ignominy and Contempt and such a Loss as Spain was never able since to recover The Queen-Mother of France who had been the principal Incendiary when she saw the Duke of Guise fall in the Assembly of Bloise and her only Son in the utmost danger of being Murdered or Deposed she died with the mere apprehension of the Calamities she had brought upon her own head and Family before her Son was slain And as for Henry the IVth the new King of France he saw things in that Disorder and Confusion that he was forced to raise his Camp and retreat from Paris into Normandy from whence he sent to Queen Elizabeth for Succors of Men Money and Ammunition The Queen presently sent Peregrine Lord Willoughby who had signalized his Valour in the Netherlands with Four thousand Men and Two and twenty thousand Pounds of English Money in Gold which was a Sum which Henry the IVth owned he had never before seen together in Gold at once Henry had beat the Leaguers before these men arrived contrary to the expectation of all the World and being thus reinforced from England he pursued his Victory to the Gates of Paris and was in a fair way to have taken the City but that he did not think it possible and he was besides unwilling to run the hazard of seeing the Capital City of France plundered by his own Army This tenderness of his at length brought him under the necessity of changing his Religion to gain the Crown of France In the year 1590. the King of Spain sent Forces to take possession of Bretagne a Province of France pretending a Title to it for himself and some of the English Courtiers advised Queen Elizabeth not to concern her self any farther in the Affairs of that Kingdom to her great impoverishing and no advantage telling her Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy used to say It would be better for all the Neighbour Nations to have France under Twenty Kings than One To which she as stoutly replied The Evening of the last Day the Crown of France should see would be fatal to England And the next year she sent a Fleet and Three thousand Land-men to secure that Province out of the hands of the Spaniards This small Number of men being commanded by Sir John Norris a person of great Experience and Conduct preserved that Province not only from the Dominion but in a good degree also from the Rapines and Cruelties of the Spaniards She spent in Three years in these French Affairs besides the Gold she sent to Henry the IVth into Normandy 226058 Crowns of French Money yet she did not burthen her Subjects to pay it but got it together by her Thrifty Management This Queen was wholly intent upon the humbling the Pride of Spain and at the same time she opposed his Greatness and curb'd his Ambitious Designs in France and the Netherlands she sent a potent Fleet and an Army into Spain in the year 1589 to revenge the Invasion of the preceeding year and to settle Anthony a Bastard in the Kingdom of Portugal which was then in the Possession of Philip the IId King of Spain The Army consisted of Eleven thousand Men and there went in the Fleet Fifteen hundred Sea-men The Army was commanded by Sir John Norris and the Fleet by Sir Francis Drake They first landed at the Groyne in Galicia without any Opposition and the next day they took the Lower-Town by Scalado but not without the loss of a great many men And here they found a vast Magazine of Gunpowder and Maritime Stores which was brought hither for another Expedition against England In this Expedition Robert Earl of Essex gave proofs of his Martial Inclinations for he stole away from Court without the Queen's Leave she being unwilling to venture any of her principal Nobility in so dangerous an Undertaking as this seemed then to be but this brisk young Gentleman on the contrary despising the soft Pleasures of a Court greedily embraced this opportunity of Revenging the Wrongs of his Countrey and set Sail after the Fleet in a single Ship and he had the good fortune to fall into the English Fleet after they had left the Groyne and were going to attack Lisbon wherein they had not the same success by reason their Forces were too small and the Fleet was kept at too great a distance to relieve the Army which was forced to march about Sixty Miles by Land but however they took the Towns of Paniche and Chascais and brought out of Spain One hundred Great Guns and about Sixty Ships sent by the Hanse Towns in Germany loaded with Corn which went round about Scotland and Ireland by the Vergivian Ocean to avoid being intercepted by the English the Queen having before warned those Cities That if they sent any Provisions or Ammunition into Spain she would treat them as Enemies Besides all these they brought back with them a very rich Prey in Housholdstuff Money and Plate which they gathered in that Kingdom but the most considerable advantage was the intercepting all the Stores which had been gathered for a second Expedition against England the Design of which was after this laid aside and the discovering the Weakness of the Spaniards when they were set upon at their own doors so that after this time the English despised this before so formidable Enemy they having with so small an Army marched so many Miles and taken so many places in two of the best peopled Provinces of that Kingdom In the year 1591. Robert Earl of Essex was sent into Normandy with Four thousand English to Assist Henry the IVth in the Reduction of Roan where before that City he lost his Brother Walter who was â—…ain by a Musquet This was so far from terrifying this Noble Earl that it was with wonder observed by the French that he exposed his own person the more freely that he might take all opportunities to revenge his Death After this in the year 1596. the Queen sent him her General again into Spain the Fleet which consisted of One hundred and fifty Ships being partly English and partly Dutch was commanded by Charles Lord Howard Admiral of England and the Land-Forces which were about Seven thousand and three hundred men were to be commanded by Essex and Howard as Joynt-Generals Essex having the Precedence on Shore and Howard at Sea They came before Cadiz the 20th of June but did not attempt to Land while the 22d and then they took
this had such effect upon Ireland that there was no quiet to be looked for in that Kingdom to the end of her days But yet by the year 1571. Sir John Perrot Governor of Munster brought that Province into Peace The King of Spain was slow in meddling with the Irish Affairs and sent them little or no Supplies till the year 1578. which was Ten years after they began to treat with him for his Assistance This year one Stukely an English-man was sent by Gregory XIII Pope of Rome and the King of Spain with Eight hundred Italian Soldiers but he went with Sebastian King of Portugal into Africa where he and his men perished with that King In 1578. Sir William Drury was sworn Lord Deputy of Ireland the 14th of September The same year James Fitz Morris after he had Sworn Allegiance to the Queen before Sir John Perrot went into France and failing of any Supplies from thence he went into Spain where he obtained a few Men and some Money and in July 1579. he landed Eighty Spaniards at Semerwick in Kerry where he built a Fort and Sanders the Pope's Legate Consecrated the ground but the English took the three Ships for all that and put the Spaniards into a wonderful fright The Desmonds joined with these Rebels and soon after a great many of the old English who persisted in the Roman-Catholick Religion which was in a great degree owing to the smalness of the English Forces in Ireland the Army being then but about Six hundred men Sir William Drury sickned and died and Sir William Pelham was chosen in his Place by the Council and Sworn the 11th of October 1579. who was succeeded by Arthur Lord Grey Baron of Wilton Sworn the 14th of September 1580. He took the Fort above-mentioned and put all the Spaniards to the Sword which much displeased the Queen tho the Deputy alledged That he could not keep them his Prisoners the Army was so small and the Numbers of his Enemies were so great The Deputy went on with small Forces and an Invincible Resolution and Industry defeating and reducing them so often and so strangely that at last they got him represented to the Queen as a Bloody man that regarded not the Lives of the Subjects any more than the lives of Dogs but had Tyrannized with that Barbarity that there was little left for the Queen to reign over but Carcasses and Ashes The Necessity of the Times had indeed made him severe but he had shewed much more Mercy to the Irish than either they deserved or was consistent with the Queen's Interest or the Safety of the English that were in Ireland however in the midst of his Victories he was re-called in August 1582. The next year the miserable Earl of Desmond was taken in a Cabin in a Wood and slain unknown by an Irish man and his Head sent over into England and set on London-Bridge His Name was Girald and he was the Fifteenth Earl of that Family and with his Life ended this Rebellion in Munster The Queen was however a Lady of that Generous Mercy and Compassion that she was heartily concerned for the Bloods of these miserable Wretches who sought hers and her Protestant Subjects Ruin with an Hellish and Implacable â—…ury The distributing Mercy and Justice with Prudence is the hardest Task a Prince has and in truth there is none but God that can pretend to do it always well because he alone knows both the truth of all mens actions the ends and designs of them and the tempers of the Agents as to the present and the future But Princes are often deceived in one or more of these and so spare or punish when they should not Besides they are subject to the same Passions other men are and by them they are mis-led when the thing is plain It is better generally speaking to be too Merciful than too severe But when it is known once that a man will be so it ruins more than it can save and too much exposeth the Innocent Mercy to Multitudes and mean people is always seasonable and the contrary destructive but to pardon Great men for two three or four Rebellions one after another is to proclaim a liberty of doing it impunedly She was never guilty of this in England but in Ireland it was frequently done and therefore it was her own fault that she met with so much trouble and all her Mercy almost was thrown away and proved Cruelty to the English Pardon a barbarous Enemy and you make him insolent and therefore inexorable Justice especially upon a relapse is absolutely necessary but then this is to be understood only of great Men and of great Crimes such as Murder and Rebellion In the year 1584. June 26. Sir John Perrot was made Lord Deputy of Ireland He was sent thither in unquiet and dangerous times and he managed Affairs with so much Industry and Courage that he saved Ireland tho he himself fell a Sacrifice to the Malice of Hatton the Lord Chancellor of England In his time the Queen gave to several Adventurers of the Lands forfeited by Desmond and his Accomplices 574628 Acres The Proprietors were to People the same and to pay the Queen over and besides 1976 l. 7 s. 5 d. the year Quit-Rent To this end she invited the younger Brothers of the English Nation to settle in Ireland promising them great Privileges and Land at reasonable Rents The Burks in Connaught hereupon rebelled but were overthrown Seven of Three thousand scaping Thus things were again reduced into a tolerable good order and the dispeopled Province of Munster was at once Peopled and Civilized by the English but the Deputy had no share in it but it was managed by a Committee for he was on ill terms with the Queen upon the account of some indiscreet passionate words he had dropped and which were by the Malice of his Enemies told the Queen with many invidious Additions The Queen had ordered That if any unforfeited Lands were intermixed with those that were forfeited that the Proprietor should be compounded with to his content and be bought out that so the Undertakers might have his Mannor intire But when this came to be put in practice there was great and loud Complaints brought to the Deputy That the Adventurers had unjustly outed many innocent men of their Inheritances out of covetousness to get their Estates Whereupon a Proclamation was issued out Commanding the Proprietors to restore what they had unjustly taken which with the favour the Deputy shewed to the Ejected Irish by the Queen's Order put a stop to the Wrong and the Complaints As he had had no hand in the distribution of these Lands so he soon made the Adventurers sensible they were to expect no favour from him which turned to the advantage of the Irish but occasioned bitter Complaints from the English against the Deputy as a Favourer of the Irish rather than of the English But
this Great Man who was of a Regal Spirit and is supposed to have been a Bastard Son of Henry the VIIIth despised too much the Complaints of his Countrey-men and forced the greatest of the English to fly before his Authority and as for the Irish he made them better than they would otherwise have been both by his Threats and Severity and by his good Advices and by the strength of his Reason he made them understand how much it was for their good to continue firm in their Allegiance to the Queen This was an hard Task considering the Capacity and Temper both of the People he was to deal with and of the Times in which he governed Ireland In the year 1588. Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Lord Deputy of Ireland and continued till the 11th of August 1594. He was a Covetous Unjust man and laid the Foundations of a great many Troubles to the English in after times but in all his Ireland was tolerably quiet till towards the latter end of his Government only the Irish took up an Aversion for the English Government and Sheriffs by his means and Tyrone having Six Companies allowed him under the Queen's Pay he changed his men so often that the whole Countrey became Disciplined men and he got great quantities of Lead into his Possession under pretence of building a fine House In the year 1593 the College of Dublin was finished at the Queen's Charges and Burleigh was the first Chancellor and Usher the first Scholar in it That which made Ireland so quiet under Fitz-Williams was the Justice Prudence and Valour of his Predecessor Sir John Perrot which had broken the Power of the Heads of the Irish Clans and so well Civilized and Planted that Kingdom with English Colonies and Garisons that during these Six years there was but Eight hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse maintained to keep the Natives in quiet The Irish were also so well setled in their Lands Estates and Cattel that it was no mans Interest to make any Disturbance And there was no Foreign Prince that could be brought to join with them or lend them any Assistance The Spanish Armada in the latter end of the year 1588. lost Seventeen of its Ships upon the Northern and Western Shores of this Kingdom and 5394 of the men in it perished and tho some of the Popish Natives sheltered some of them yet they all robbed them of their Freasures and got what they had for it And King James of Scotland looked upon himself as the Presumptive Heir of this Kingdom after the Queen and kept a fair Correspondence with the English and restrained the Scots and Islanders from joining with the Irish. There was a Rumor in England That there was a vast Treasure found in the Spanish Ships which perished in Connaught and Ulster And Fitz-Williams the Lord Deputy made a severe search after it commanding by a Proclamation all the Spanish Treasures to be brought into the Exchequer for the Queen's use and he imprisoned Sir Owen O Toole and Sir John O Dogherty two of the greatest men in the North in the Castle of Dublin on this pretence tho they were the best affected to the English of any of the Inhabitants but he could discover nothing tho he kept the first Two years in Restraint and the latter all his time who was discharged by his Successor and died soon after being much decayed by the Hardships of a long Imprisonment and Old Age. But all these ill things done under Fitz Williams made work for them that followed him Upon the Death of Mac Mahon who was one of the Heads of an Irish Clan and had not long before taken a Patent from the Queen for the County of Monaghan to him and his Heirs Male for ever Hugh Roe his Brother and Heir Petitioned the Deputy to be setled in his Inheritance according to the Queen's Patent and the Laws of the Kingdom and the Irish say it coft him Six hundred Cows to have a Promise of it And then the Deputy only said he would go in person to do it But as soon as he came to Monaghan he Imprisoned Tried and Condemned Hugh Roe by Military Law and without any Legal Trial pretending he had Levied Forces two years before to distrain for Rent he pretended was due to him in the Ferny Hereupon he was hanged and the County was divided between Sir Henry Bagnal Marshal Captain Henslow and four of the Mac Mahons under a Yearly Rent each of these giving the Deputy considerable Bribes as they said in their Complaint to the Council of England The Deputy denied all this but it was observed That from thenceforward the Irish loathed Sheriffs and the Neighbourhood of the English fearing the same fate might at one time or other attend them that had befallen Hugh Roe The Report of this Villany Spread it self all over Ulster and the Heads of the Clans were greatly terrified and incensed at it and had close Cabals wherein they severely taxed the ill Management Covetousness and Cruelty of the Deputy There was then in Ulster a Great Man called Hugh O Neal the Son of one Mathew a Smith a Cunning and a Crafty man who from his youth had served the Queen in the Wars In Desmond's Rebellion he had done the Queen good Service and got much Reputation both for his Courage and Industry The Queen on the other side protected this poor obscure Gentleman against the Malice of the O Neals who hated him as the Enemy to their Nation and she advanced him from an abject and mean Condition to great Honour and made him Earl of Tyrone for his Merits and Deserts He became intoxicated with his too good fortune and ungratefully and madly design'd to ruin her that had made him what he was and now nothing would serve him but he would needs be King of Ulster and to that end he assumed the Title of O Neale and cast off all Respect and Allegiance for the Queen He disciplined the rude and ignorant Kerns after the English manner under the pretence I have before recited and in the mean time under hand instilled into them an invincible hatred of the English Religion and Government calling the first Heresy and the latter a shameful Slavery and Servitude by which he disposed them so well to a Rebellion that almost the whole Nation revolted at once from the Queen In July 1591. Tyrone was made a County and divided into Eight Baronies Dungannon being appointed for the Shire-Town which with the Authority of Marshal Bagnal so fretted Tyrone that it 's believed it occasioned his Confederating this Summer underhand with the rest of the Irish to defend their pretended Rights and not to admit Sheriffs into their Counties The effects of this first appeared in the year 1593. when O Connor became troublesome in Connaught and O Donnel and Mac Guire chief of Fermanagh rose in Ulster against the Sheriffs and would have
few days above a hundred Leagues to the South and here one of the Ships being separated returned back again through these Streights into England After this Drake took St. Jago in Chili and plundered it and here he got a Prize with 400 pound of pure Gold Arriving at Turapassa he found 13 Bars of Massy Silver of the value of CCCCM Ducats which was left on the ground by some Spaniards who were asleep by it he took the Silver and never waked the Keepers of it From thence he pass'd to the Port of Arica in which he found three Ships without one man in them but there was 57 Wedges of Silver each of 20 pound weight and some other Merchandize which he took Arriving at Lima he found twelve Ships but all the Mariners were on shore and yet in them he had a great quantity of Silk and a Chest of Minted Silver which shews how secure from Pyrates this Coast had to this time been Nor in truth till this time had any other than the Spaniards ever sailed upon this Sea except Oxenham In his journey to Panama he took a Barque without any resistance that afforded him 80 pound weight of Gold The first of March he took a Ship called the Cacofoga which had on board 80 pound weight of Gold and 13 Chests of Minted Money and as much Silver as balasted his own Ship the Master of this Ship told him That his Ship Drake's should henceforth be call'd the Cacofoga and the Spanish Ship the Cacoplata Being thus wonderfully enriched and as he thought sufficiently avenged on the Spaniards for the Loss he had sustained in his first Attempt upon Vera Crnz he began to consider of his return and not thinking the passage by the Streights of Magellan safe as in truth it was beset by the Orders of Francis Duke of Toledo then Viceroy of Peru he directed his Course Northward to the height of 42 Degrees of North Latitude to seek a paslage but finding nothing but snow and defolate shores he returned to 38 degrees and Wintered there calling the Countrey New Albion and here the naked people chofe him for their King and by their ignorance shewed him plainly the Spaniards had never been so far that way In the Month of November he set sail for the Molucca Islands the 9th of January his Ship stuck 27 hours upon a Rock but by the blessing of God came off it by a side-wind which seem'd to be sent of purpose to save this Hero From thence he passed to the Jsland of Java in the East Indies and so to the Cape of Good Hope which had never been seen before by any English-man and Watering at the Rio Grande in Africa he arrived in England the 3d. of November 1580. having in this time gone round the Globe of the Earth The People of England received him with great Triumph and a Publick Joy and the Queen as a Reward of the good Service he had done her against the Spaniards Knighted him and caused the Ship he had sailed in to be laid up at Deptford Mr. Gage our Countrey-man who lived some years in the Spanish Territories in America assures us his Memory is preserved there by the Spaniards who to this day saith he admire this Expedition and teach their Children to fear even his Name After this the Queen often made him one of her Admirals and he being grown exceeding rich took diligent care to put out a greater Fleet and openly assaulted the Island of St. Jago and took St. Domingo and Carthagena and some others in the West Indies being sent by the Queen with 21 Ships and 2300 men in the year 1585. The Towns they took in this Expedition were either so poor that there was nothing of Silver or Gold to be found in them or they had had such previous notice of the coming of the English that they had sent a way all that was valuable yet St. Domingo and Carthagena were forced to redeem themselves from Fire by Money the first gave Twenty five thousand Ducats and the latter One hundred and ten thousand which was presently divided amongst the Mariners and Seamen The Spaniards more regretted the loss of their ships great numbers being burnt and this hastned the Invasion designed upon England which was undertaken in the year 1588. which miscarrying the Spanish Greatness dwindled into nothing and after the Queen's Death they were glad to send to King James the First her Successor to beg a Peace in the first year of his Reign so the Honour of Reducing Spain was hers and that of setling Peace after a War that had lasted so long his The Riches and Fame Sir Francis Drake had acquired in these Maritime Expeditions encouraged Mr. Thomas Cavendish a Gentleman of Trimely in the County of Suffolk to pursue the same methods for the raising his Fortunes and with them the Reputation and Glory of the English Nation The 21st of July 1586. he set out from Plimouth with three ships the biggest of which was but 120 Tuns and 123 Seamen with Provisions for two years With this small Fleet he passed the Streights of Magellan and sailed up to the Coast of New Spain in the Mar del Zur and took 19 of the Spanish Merchant ships and burnt two or three of their Towns and then sailing to the Philippine Islands the Molucca's and the Cape of Good Hope he staid some time in St. Helens and the 9th of September 1588. he returned to Plymouth he having been the second man of this Nation that went round the Globe of the Earth with no less Honour tho he returned with less Spoils than the first Adventurer The Queen entertained him at Greenwich and bestowed upon him many Marks of her Favour and gave him some considerable Rewards Sir Martin Forbisher or Frobisher Sir John Hawkins Davis Jackman Jenkenson and Sir Walter Rawleigh and many others of the English employed their time in searching out the remotest parts of the world at the same time to very good effect there having been great Trades driven ever since by the Dutch and English by the means of their Discoveries Mr. Richard Hackluit who lived in these times took a particular care to collect and publish the Journals of all these Voyages by which he desâ—…rved very well of this Nation and it is a great pity that his Works are become so scarce and so little known and that no man has since pursued the same method these Discourses being of great use for all Mariners and serving very much for the enlarging and clearing the Geography of the World Philip King of Spain being highly incensed by the ruin of so many of his Towns and the losses he had sustained by Drake's Expeditions gave Order that all the English Sea-men that should after this be taken in America should be treated like Pyrates and the Enemies of mankind And all the Merchant Ships that fell into his hands were seized and the Merchants imprisoned tho there
Queen went into the City of London in a Triumphant Chariot the Spanish Colours that were taken being born before her to St. Paul's Church where was a Sermon and a solemn Thanksgiving at which the Mayor and all the Companies were present and the same Piety was commanded at the same time in all the remoter parts of her Kingdom and it was observed by her Subjects with the highest Expressions of Joy and Gratitude towards God and of Loyalty and Affection towards her so that she was now in the height of all her Glory both at Home and Abroad beloved by her Friends and feared by her Enemies who were never after in a condition to assault her Kingdom the second time but found it difficult to defend their own against her and her brave Martial Commanders To revenge this Attempt upon her Kingdoms the Queen the same year put out a Declaration of War against Philip King of Spain which was sharply Penn'd and from thenceforward to the end of her days there was a perpetual and a sharp War carried on against the Spaniards which kept her Subjects quiet at home The very next year she sent Sir Francis Drake with a Fleet into Spain who took the Groyne as is said above by which Action she defeated the Designs of that King who was preparing there for a second Invasion and having abated his Pride and Rashness into a more tractable Modesty she thereby delivered her People from a signal Danger In this War the Earl of Essex signalized himself by taking Cadiz in 1596. and Burning all the ships he found in that Harbour George Earl of Cumberland and Thomas Lord Howard a younger Son of the Duke of Norfolk lay heavy upon the Spaniards and took many of their ships richly laden giving all but the tenth part which was reserved for the Queen to the Mariners and Soldiers as the Reward of their Valour In the year 1597. having heard the King of Spain was preparing a Fleet against Ireland she sent a Navy of 120 ships part English and part Hollanders under the Earl of Essex and in it a Land-Army of 6000 men but this Fleet went out and met with so severe a storm that it was forced to return and after that was detained by contrary Winds so that the Provisions being spent the greatest part of the Army and of the ships were dismissed the rest got to Sea the 17th of August This Fleet went to the Azores where Sir Walter Rawleigh took the Town of Fial and beat the Spaniards that endeavoured to hinder his passage to it After this they lost the opportunity of surprizing the Spanish Indian Fleet which they there waited for and returned into England without any signal Victory or what might help to bear the Charges of this Expedition which was owing in great part to the Emulations between the Chief Commanders who envied each other the Glory of doing well Tho the English did not get much by this Expedition yet the Spaniards were great Losers one of their biggest Caracks being forced ashore and burnt three ships were taken and many others of that Fleet being kept out too long perished by tempestuous weather whereas all the English Fleet returned in safety In the year 1597. George Clifford Earl of Cumberland at his own proper Costs and Charge put out a Fleet of Eleven ships to way-lay the Caracks that go every year from Lisbon to the East-Indies but they having notice of his being there sheltered themselves under the Fort of St. Juliana which had a Hundred great Guns to defend it and here he attended so long that there was no ships sent that year From thence he set sail to the Canary Islands and took that which is called Lancerata with the Town upon it which he pillaged Thence he passed to Boriquena in the Bay of Mexico in the West-Indies and took Porto Rico the principal Town in it and one of the Keys of America with the loss of less than 30 of his men though it was very strong and defended by 400 Spanish Soldiers besides the Towns-men The Earl considering the strength and importance of the Place resolved to keep it though the Spaniards offered him a vast price for the redemption of it but within a short time a Disentery with grievous Torments seized the English Garison so that in 40 days he buried 70 of his men and this forced him to return home with 60 great Guns but otherwise more exalted by the Victory than enriched However he did the Crown of Spain a vast damage for that Year there went no Fleet to the East-Indies and there came none home from America It is observed of this Great Man That his building so many great ships and some other less honourable Diversions wasted more of his Estate than any of his Ancestors had spent After this the Rebellion of Tyrone grew so formidable to the Queen and the English Nation that all the Money and Forces the Queen could space were imployed that way and spent in Ireland of which I have given an Account in its proper place So that from henceforth there was no considerable Expedition undertaken against the Spaniards There was one singular Instance of Personal Valour in the Course of this War which happened in the Year 1591. but was reserved to this Place that the Steps by which the Spanish Pride and Greatness were abated and pull'd down might appear the better by being laid together May this Magnanimity of this Virgin Queen be an encouragement and an Example to the Present Age for the humbling another Prince who in our times and by our means is become a terror to all his Neighbours on the score of his Naval Forces though infinitely inferior in that and the Point of Wealth too to Philip the IId King of Spain But to return Tho. Lord Howard Second Son of the Duke of Norfolk was sent this year with six Men of War and six Ships of Burthen to way-lay the American Flect in its return to Spain whilst he was waiting for it at the Azores where he lay six months his Soldiers and Sea-men being generally sick Alphonso Bassano the Spanish Admiral came upon him suddenly with 80 Ships so that the English could hardly gain the main Sea to make their defence One RICHARD GREENVILL Vice-Admiral being in a Ship called the REVENGE staying a little too long to take in some of his men who were on shoar and not hoisting his Sails neither in the mean time out of a contempt of the Spaniards by all these oversights happened to be shut in between the Spanish Fleet and the Island Attemping when it was too late to break through the Spanish Fleet which was divided into four Squadrons the Spanish Admiral called the St. Philip a Ship of vast bulk clapt in between him and the Wind to deprive him of it and three smaller Ships surrounded him and poured in their great and small Shot on all sides the Spaniards very often boarded him but
Dyet of that Kingdom That the Hanse Towns of Germany might still have enjoyed their Ancient Privileges in England if they would have been contented to use them as Favours granted by our Princes and not have pretended they were their Right That as there was reason for the granting them when they were given so there was all the reason in the world they should be suspended restrained or quite taken away when the Reason ceased upon which they were granted that this had been done in Denmark Sweden and England in the Reigns of Edward the VIth and Queen Mary That the Hanse Towns had been made so rich by the Favour of Princes that they had been heretofore terrible even to their Benefactors that it became the King of Poland rather to favour her who was a Prince than to patronize the insatiable Avarice of the Merchants who when they were become very rich were too apt insolently to lift up themselves against Princes That the Queen was contented they should carry Corn and all other Merchandize to Spain except Ammunition and Warlike Stores for Sea or Land though it was lawful and the Practice of all Nations to intercept all those Provsions that were sent to an Enemy She had better success here than in Germany and setled her Subjects Trade in the Baltick so effectually that the Hanse Towns were never after in a condition to dispute the Trade of the English Thus the Queen by her Authority and Prudence mastered the Obstinacy of the Hanse Towns and forced them to sue for their Goods in her Court of Admiralty and to trade with her Subjects upon equal terms in all places and she so divided and broke their Power that they were never since able to contest with any Prince much less with her or her Successors Notwithstanding which the Kings of England have always religiously continued the same Privileges to the Hanse Towns though the tide of the Trade be long since wholly turn'd the English now carrying all that Trade to their own doors and much more than ever they received from them And I my self saith the late Earl of Carlisle was present in Council when Charles the IId after his Happy Restauration ratified the said Privileges She also by her Authority in the Year 1595. composed a War which had depended many years between the King of Sweden and the Emperor of Russia who had a greater respect for her than for any other Prince in Christendom her Subjects having opened a way by the White Sea and the Bay of Arch-angel to trade by Sea with him in the Year 1554. which was then and has ever since been of vast advantage to that remote barbarous and poor Kingdom The Subjects of which have not only been enriched but civilized and learned many mechanick Arts which they did not unsterstand before of us and those people we and the Hollanders have sent thither Her whole care was not imployed in defending her People from the violence of her foreign Enemies and the Frauds and Arts of the Neighbour Traders by Sea but she took effectual care at the same time in her Parliaments to promote excellent and useful Laws for the Restraint of excessive Dvmestick Expences and the regulating the Lives of her Subjects as will appear by the Printed Statutes of her time To this end she necessitated the meaner of her Subjects by sharp Laws as sharply executed to a modest and frugal way of living both as to their Diet and Habits She curbed and discountenanced the Luxury and expensive folly of the English Youth and Nobility both by her private Advices and her publick Laws and she prescribed them Rules for their Furniture Families and Retinues She had observed the Purveyers for her Court were a rapacious sort of men and under the colour and pretence of Law made great depredations on the Husbandmen and the Farmers in her Kingdom and therefore she kept a strict hand upon them and by her Severity when ever any Complaint was brought against them she kept them in awe There was another Generation of men called commonly the CONCEALERS of mean Extraction and worse Disposition who had obtained Commissions to enquire into the Frauds and Concealments of those that had got any Lands belonging to the Royal Demeans or Crown of England and they had under that pretence wrested from many of her Subjects their Inheritances and Estates but when she understood their Crimes she not only punished them for their Wrongs but revoked their Commissions which she had formerly granted out And by a Proclamation she forbad any further inquiry should be made into the Titles of her Subjects as to those Lands they possessed on the behalf of the Crown by which she put a stop to that sort os Miscreants and secured the Estates of her People from further wrong Whencver she found that her People had been afflicted or ruined in their Fortunes by the Judges and Governors she had set over them in any part of her Dominions she consolated them upon the first opportunity Before her time the Usurers of England had taken what they could get from all for usury and she to prevent the Frauds and rapacious Encroachments of these men first passed a Law that they should not take above ten in the hundred for one years interest which by the plenty of Money sunk after to Six and of late without any Act to five in the Hundred To prevent enhansement of the Market she made a severe Law against Forestallers Ingrossers and Regattors repelling their insatiable Avarice by imprisoning whipping and Pillory She called her Customs the Nerves of the Nation as they were the best branch of her Revenues and she made it her business to study them and well understand the value of them and the ways of raising them When her Exchequer was at the lowest ebb she detested all Monopolies and bitter Exactions upon her People which she thought to be utterly unlawful and tending more to the loading her with the hatred of her Subjects than the enriching of her Coffers She was very severe against all Informers or Promoters who having been for many Ages encouraged by her Predecessors as the Enrichers and Improvers of the Royal Revenues had contracted a vast envy from the whole Nation but she was the first Prince that would suffer their Crimes to be inquired into and finding they had been guilty of many ill Actions she put a stop to them and punished them for what they had done that they might no longer impoverish the better and richer part of her Subjects Thus she delivered her People from the grievous Oppressions of Usurers Ingrossers and Promoters She was no less careful to protect them against the Avarice of her Judges and Presidents and when any of them came to wait on her she would upon occasion speak very severely against their aspiring to those places the multitude of Suits and the over great variety of Causes
had lived So that she kindled in the minds of all her Subjects by her bounty kindness and beneficence an ardent desire of Military Virtue and in this she exceeded the most of her Predecessors Burleigh though a man of great virtue and honour too stubbornly prosecuted the Cause of the Exchequer against the Commanders of those times and kept the Queen from shewing them that Favour and from giving them those Rewards they had by their Virtue and Industry so well deserved by which means he alienated from the Queen the hearts of many of the Nobility who were men of great knowledge valour industry and fidelity and had with the hazard of their Lives and Limbs procured hers and the Nation 's safety and after all in their old Age were left in poverty to struggle with the Debts and Diseases they had contracted in her Service To this man's sordid and sparing Humour was owing the failing of all Military Virtue in the following Reigns when men saw how rich he and the rest of the States men could leave their Families and Descendents whilst those of the greatest Generals and Commanders in the Wars were forced to be satisfied with the gilded glory of their Ancestors but ought in Reason and Justice to have been at least equally rewarded and I may say in point of Interest too Yet she was not over-liberal to the Gown-men and States-men in general nor did she take any extraordinary care of them or theirs She had learned this Lesson of her Grandfather Henry the VIIth Not to exhaust in any case the Fountain of her Bounty I mean the Exchequer which was again to be recruited by the Spoils of the People and unusual Taxes That Prince by his Virtue Labour Solicitude Thrifti ness and Provident Administration had re-established and improved the English Monarchy and the Revenues of the Crown and was for it much esteemed by the People of England of all degrees his Covetous Humour having been more beneficial to the Crown than damageable to the Body of the People because he gave few or none of the Crown-Lands to his Followers or Servants except when they were extorted from him by mere importunity or he was cheated with the pretence of an advantageous exchange but then he was also wont to give more freely the Estates of Convicted Criminals so that there are many Examples in the Rolls of his Times of men that rose by the Falls and grew rich by the Calamities and Ruins of others The small Gifts and inconsiderable Largesses this Prince gave when he was possessed of so much Wealth was a means that preserved England from Ruin after it had been so terribly exhausted by the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster The Earl of Oxford was one of the most Ancient Houses amongst the Nobility but by the excessive Bounty and Splendor of the former Earl was reduced to a very low and mean condition so that the Family was no longer able to maintain its Dignity and Grandeur And the Queen allowed that House One thousand Pound the year out of her Exchequer that one of the most Illustrious Houses in her Kingdom might not suffer that Want which was intolerable to those of meaner Extraction She also upheld Sir Edward Dyer an old Courtier who was become very poor and would not suffer him to want But as for those Spendthrifts and Wasters that had foolishly wasted their Patrimonies in Luxury and base Expences to gratifie their Intemperance and afterwards solicited her to bestow Pensions on them she sent some of them to her Privy Council who rejected their Petitions and gave those Reasons for it which the Queen was not willing to give her self and others who sought by way of Reward what they had never deserved she neglected That her Bounty might not encourage others to Luxury and imprudent Expences whilst they relied upon the Crown for the Repair of what they had wastfully consumed She for some time entertained and out of her Treasury supported An thony King of Portugal who was deprived of his Dominions by the Iniquity of Philip the IId King of Spain and fled to her with a few Servants for her Protection and Assistance She severely punished Sir Richard Bingham President of Connaught in Ireland tho he were an excellent Soldier because he was found guilty of a sordid and injurious Covetousness She entertained all Strangers that came to her Court with great Pleasantness Munificence and Decency and when they went from her she gave them Princely Presents Ursino Duke de Bracciano in Italy hearing of the Fame of this Queen came over into England to see her and he being a person of great Virtue and descended of one of the best Families in Italy the Queen gave him a splendid Reception and gave order he should be shewn her Fleets her Stores and Magazines her Veterane Soldiers and Garisons her Treasures and Wardrobes her Retinue and Princely Palaces and extorted from him a Confession That there was no where in the world a more Potent and Happy Prince than she She entertained several of the best and greatest Noblemen of Italy France Germany and Poland who all said of her That they never saw a more Magnificent Honourable Loving Courteous Prince than Queen Elizabeth and that her Virtue and Prudence was great and admirable above all the Examples they had ever seen read or heard In truth she was Mistress of all the Virtues that belonged to both Sexes and had none of the Faults belonging to her own but a little Unsteadiness in her Will Knighthood in her Times was rarely given and to none but men of Virtue and real Worth Soldiers and Gentlemen of good Families and Estates so that she scarce ever admitted any man into that degree of a mean Fortune or Extraction as was too frequently done in after times There were not many Enobled or raised from the lower degrees of Peerage to higher as Clinton and Howard her Admirals at Sea Lei cester and Warwick She made few Barons and amongst them Burleigh after he had served her many years with admirable Prudence Fidelity and Industry in many of the principal Offices at Court This lowest degree of Peerage was sparingly and with great Care and Consideration bestowed upon Worthy Men as a Reward of some signal Services and an Encouragement to others and not out of a Personal Affection or Respect It was not then sold by men that had easily obtained the Grant of a Blank Patent instead of ready Money and took no other care but who should give most for the Mercenary Creation which could only dishonour the person that gave it as well as he that bought it In her time none but the most Worthy the most Valiant the most Faithful to his Countrey and the most Loyal to his Prince could hope to obtain this Favour and raise his Name and Family Thus she charily and prudently kept the Rewards of Virtue and Industry