villanies wil be freelie in euerie corner committed Oh therfore but once to think that this land is like to come to these woful calamities will teare anie godlie pitifull or natural English hart in peeces Beholde therefore most gracious Ladie your Nobles Commons yea euen all your people men weomen and children lye prostrate now before your feete most lamentably humblie beseeching you to saue them and to preserue them from these heapes of confusions and chaos of miseries and most instantlie with bitter teares beg at your handes that you leaue them not who are now most readie to lay downe their liues for you in this lamentable miserable case to lose their liues with all that they haue and all at the beck and pleasure of euerie furious peasant Remember that Moses tooke the people without a certaine knowne head and governour as sheepe without a sheep-herd and that your most noble father fore-saw that no better then the fore-rehearsed calamities would be the state of this land if hee had died before hee had made his heire knowne yea that hee imputed all the miseries that this land had abode through the contention betwixt the two houses of Yorke and Lancaster to this to wit that the order right of successiō had not bene in former time carefullie enough looked vnto made publikely knowne And so you may perceiue that herein we doe not forecast more perils then these wise and graue persons haue done in the like case Yet for further That calamities doth befal any nation where the Prince dieth without a knowne successor proued by the example of the Israelites The booke of Iudges ground of this our fore-casting of perils the whol book of the Iudges of Israel serueth most fitlie for through that book we see how that when soeuer they were left without a knowne gouernour as in those times they were often they fell into extream miseries were straight brought into slauerie vnder the hands of their enemies the Cananites the Moabites the Midianites the Amalekites Philistins in which state sometimes they continued 18. yeeres sometimes 40. yeeres sometimes more sometimes lesse Wee reade also that Alexander the great when hee Of Alexanders empire Arrianus Q. Curtius had made himself the greatest Emperor in the world yet dying not determining of his successor before hee died but leaving his noble Empire to them that could catche it and hold it that therevpon immediatly after his death there grew most hote fierce bloodie warres amongst his noble Dukes Captaines and so in the end his kingdome or Empire was rent and torne into as manie severall kingdomes as he had noble Dukes able to take them and keep them Wee Of Scotland after Alex. 3. read also in the Scottish Chronicles of Alexander the third king there who lived in the time of Edward the first King of England that hee dying leauing his heire and successor vnknowne it came to passe that vppon his death his kingdome was torne into two parts the one part following one Bayllioll studied to make him King and the other fauoring one Brussius sought to advance him But in the meane time whiles thus the title was in debating it appeareth in the storie that the whole kingdome was brought to extreame desolation But what need we in this case to peruse forrain stories O that your Maiestie would but remember And of England after Lucius and Gorbodug the miserable state of this land after King Lucius and after the death of King Gorbodug and his two sonnes Ferrex and Porrex for you shall in those hystories finde that the root and fountaine of all those lamentable miseries of 15. and 50. yeares civill dissension grewe of this that then the land was left without a certain known successor Yea infinite be the stories in all Chronicles that lay forth most doleful sequels alwaies of this And sure wee are such is your Maiesties wisdom that you must needs fore-see that if you should so leaue vs it wer neuer more likely that thervpō would follow the extreamest miseries that euer befell kingdome Wherfore once again most mercifull Lady cast your pitifull merciful eies vpon your noble Realme all your subiectes who with stretched out hands cry vnto you to shewe mercie vnto them in this point in delaying no longer to the hazard of the spilling of all their bloode and losing all their good to make knowne vnto them who of right is to succeede you O sweete Ladie let this long longed for and looked for most necessary drop of mercie drippe nowe at last downe from you to the chearing and comforting of all your true English subiects and so shal you establish your throne in mercie and purchase vnto your self the moste glorious title of a most mercifull Queene to the comfort of your owne conscience both before God and man and to your perpetuall good name and fame with all posteritie The 9. argument is from the safety honor and profit which will ensue the establishing of a successor both to her maiesty and to her subiectes But to prouoke you the more easilie to yeeld to shew this especial point of mercy cōsider yet further that so to do is not onlie verie necessarie both for you vs in respect of both our safeties and also that it is not onlie profitable to vs but also euen very profitable and honorable to you both in respect of God man That it is verie necessarie and profitable for vs the contemplation of the good that wee shall reape and quyetlie enioye by it and the viewe of the euill that directlie shall therby be turned from vs maketh it most euident And that it is necessary for you also yea profitable honourable as we haue said diuersly it may appeare for first it cannot be denyed that amongst all the meanes that otherwise Princes haue amongst men in this world to make them selues strong by and to sit safe in their throne this is a principall one That they alienate not the hearts of their subiectes from them by their vnkinde and mercielesse dealing towardes them For howe stronglie soever Salomon left his sonne Rehoboam established in his kingdome yet hee by listning rather to the counsell of young greene heades about him then Princes that woulde establishe their thrones must deale kindlie with their subiectes plant in their hearts lone and affection 1. King 1◠to the advise of the graue and auncient and so by his vnkinde and hard answere to his subiects alienating the heartes of them grew so weak that a mean man a servant of his Ieroboam by name rose vp against him and ten Tribes of twelue farre the greater part of his kingdom revolted from him did cleaue to Ieroboam and neither hee nor anie of his successors could euer recouer them againe And on the otherside there is no one thing in the foresaid respect more necessarie profitable and honorable to anie King Queene or Emperour
deserue so odious a name receiving the crowne no otherwise then at the hand of the parliament To shut vp this second reason vnles the right of succession were a thing impregnable by any Parliament by what reason or with what face could the Duke of Yorke or Edward the fourth so boldly confidentlie haue claimed the crown in the verie Parliament it selfe Or howe coulde the Realme of England haue adiudged it to them which by so many parliaments going before had bene confirmed to three severall Kings of the house of Lancaster My last reason which I pray God everie man whome it doeth concerne may take to heart and chieflie they who are set at the helme is brought from the lamentable and bloodie fruites which wee haue reaped by such bastard succession established by Parliaments These dolefull remembrances should now make vs wise least in the end we be taught by the mistresse of fooles Of al these that since the daies of the Conquerour haue wrongfullie attained to the crowne and haue had it confirmed by voice of Parliament who is almoste hee or shee that hath not beene forced to leaue it with an expiation of blood I doe heere referre mee to our Chronicles to the vsurpers their adhaerents and complices and to a migh tie number also of the guiltlesse and better side Yea who doth not know that this manner of wrongfull intrusion into the higher powers and places hath often times procured rightfull Kings vpon ielousie and suspicion to cut away such of their own blood as they did feare would take advantage of the like courses To conclude these my reasons concerning the limited power of the Parliaments I beseech God that they may rather seeke to maintaine their honorable power by dooing that which is conscionable and right then to bolster out wrong by the strength of their power seing there is no wisdome nor counsell nor any strength of man that can prevaile against him who doth over-rule all things by his omnipotent power It followeth next to examine the reasons for which some English-man may be thought fitter to be advanced to the government of the realme notwithstanding Inconvenience objected by Dolman in admitting the King of Scots to succeede refuted it be yeelded that the king of Scots hath the true right The first is this there be manie English competitors who will not indure a stranger to be preferred before them for that they shall never bee free from his ielousie which cannot bee without the hazarde of their liues the trouble of the realme and that to fortify himself against them he shall needes be constrained to bring in forraine forces To these points I do answere first that he is no stranger as is alreadie proved and if his right bee from God all the competitors though they were a thousand more then they are stand bound to receiue him vnlesse wilfullie against their conscience they wil seeme to become adversaries both to God and man Secondlie what if he do answere that hee will haue them to indure him to guide and to rule them and that he will be more vnwilling to for goe his right at their vniust opposition then they will to yeeld it to him at his iust demand Thirdly the more competitors they bee for them it is so much the worse for a kingdom devided against it selfe cannot long stand so as this obiection maketh more against themselves our Realme then against the Scottishe King for whosoever get the victorie wee are still overthrowne and this is the onlie meanes that will weaken them all Fourthlie if anie of them should wrongfullie attaine to it is it like that he would trust the rest of the Competitors or their familiars Nay as Salomon saith a guiltie conscience doth feare where there is no cause much more would he I trowe that should come by it wrongfullie be afrighted trubled dayly to behold such eie-sores who wer set for his kingdom life The regarde of their country kinred or acquaintance woulde but little perswade him or them to trust the one to the other for according to the old proverbe a crowne will know no kinred And it is probable that the rest of the competitors if they must needs go without it will forgoe it sooner to him that hath the right then to anie man else especiallie he beeing a king and of such favour force and affinity with our neighbour Princes But most of all for that they may well thinke if they do not cleaue to him yet there be manie others of their countrie that will Fiftlie I confesse there be more that are called Competitours then I wishe there were but I stand fullie assured that none but one can haue the true right therefore who soever hath it not if he can see it and be wise will follow him that hath it that he may satisfy his consciēce when his cause is good and prevent the ielousie and overthrow which now he doeth or hereafter may feare when the true successor shall come by his right Sixtlie though the competitours bee manie yet they are nothinge such as within these few yeeres they haue beene yea they and their favourers of whome there was manie valiant and wise are so removed by the will of God and taken out of his way as it may seeme that there is a mightie providence of God strongly working for him to defend him in his right Seventhlie the way for the Competitours to bee freed from ielousie is to preserue the publike peace of the countrie as is pretended and to avoid escape the forces and tirannie of strangers is not to refuse him his right but rather chearefullie before all others to further him to it for if they who should be his own do wrongfullie resist him who can iustlie blame him if he take the aide of strangers and if by such meanes the peace of the realm should be disturbed the cause of it is not in him that askes nothinge else but his owne but in them who against all equitie refuse to giue him the same Woulde to God we could weigh and consider this in reason that they are most worthie to dwell still in trouble who wittinglie and willinglie are readie to procure it Lastly seeing the troublers of their own houses shall inherite the winde the competitors if they haue a minde to enioy their livinges liberties and liues are rather to seeke instantlie that by a lawfull Parliament the title may be tryed given to whom of right it doeth belong for the throne is not established by iniquitie but hee shall best brooke it who shoulde haue it by right By this meanes the competitors shall be secured the seate of the Prince more fortified by his good title beeing acknowledged and confirmed in Parliament then ever it could bee by anie forraine forces all parties shall bee pleased and both these noble realmes which doe at this present enioy the light of the gospell shall be satisfied and setled in peace and
hearts most deerlie and therefore to backe you against all dangers most couragiouslie faithfullie No no there will be none of them if you take this course but they will evidentlie see thereby that you and your freends are grown so strong that for anie of them to burst out of due order were but even willinglie to bring vppon them-selves and their families vtter destruction Adonijah was vp in armes for the crown when his father David lay on his death bed and hee had gotten Ioab the mightiest captaine of Israell and Abiathar the high Priest on hisside and yet when David had according to the order of the governement setled established Salomon to succeed him though before Adonijah was grown to strength and so by possibilitie able to haue withstoode both his father David and Salomon yet when he heard thereof he and al his partakers were so dasht and crusht that everie one straight ranne home to his house and Adonijah himselfe tooke sanctuary and so this broile notwithstanding David continued out his time in peace and Salomon his sonne raigned manie yeares triumphantlie after him Howe much more if Queene Elizabeth yet in health and prosperity doe once by this orderlie meane establish the succession will all aspiring Adonijahs howe strong soever they haue made themselves before stay from beginning to doe as Adonijah did least they bee inforced with shame as he was to giue over straight againe Let this example encourage you most noble Queene not to bee afraide of the crossing and disappointing in this case of all the proud Adonijahs in the world for no doubt of it if you do herein seeke to please God and benefite all your subiects as he did God beeing the same nowe that hee was then you may confidentlie look for the same blessing at his hands that David had that is peace in your owne daies and for ever after wealth and prosperitie to all your dominions after you Now this obiection drawne from the difficultie of determining this matter thus answered let vs nowe proceede to the rest which are grounded vppon the perill heerby supposed to ensue to your noble person and dignitie And concerning The obiection grounded vppon perill of naming of the successor confirmed by 3. reasons your person first it is feared that the knowne successor partlie through his owne longing after the highest place partlie through the provocation of others will breede perill to your person And it is likelie that in this respect your feare is encreased by your owne experirience in your sisters time when it may be you were provoked by some to hasten your course Another feare may growe also by the sundrie examples of these Princes as namelie of Edward the second deposed by Edward the third King Richard the second by Henry the fourth Henrie the sixt by Edward the fourth And of Edward the fift murthered by Richard the third And as for your honour and dignitie perhaps you imagine your successor once knowne it will every day more and more decay in that as you know it to be a proverb that men honor the sunne rysing and withdrawe it from the sunne setting Even so you think subiects are given naturallie to prefer their new maister before their olde mistresse These haue bene the cheef causes reasons that hitherto haue staied you frō listning vnto this motion as we suppose and yet make you afraide to yeelde therevnto Before wee come to the answere to these obiections which in effect we do thinke are al that can be vsed in this case wee protest vnto your Maiestie that such is our tender loue and loyall affection towardes your Maiesties noble person and to the preservation thereof in long life and princely honor that vnlesse we were most fullie perswaded that the yeelding there-vnto notwithstanding these obiections woulde not at all proue perilous but rather very beneficiall and profitable to the safetie and securitie both of your person and honor albeit wee had given leaue vnto our selues some-what to haue thought of this motion yet would we never haue proceeded thus farre therin for we wish your dayes to be extended as far as Methushelahs in all princelie honour and felicitie and we covet not to liue one howre after you This truly faithfully protested to these obiections we answere Answered generallie 3. waies first generallie and then particularlie for generall answere vnto them we say first that the perill vpon these grounds supposed to arise either to your person or honor is but an imagined or supposed perill that also inferred but by probable arguments not by evident demonstratiō which being so doth not discharge you from doing so necessarie profitable and honorable a duty to God to your people as this is where-vnto you are nowe moved Secondlie we say suppose there were asmuch perill vnto your person as is pretended yet the peril of your worthy Realme beeing so great and palpable as it hath beene proved to be through the want of the establishment of a knowne successor it may not therefore be left vndone for never so evident a perill your wisdome knoweth freeth any from doing of that dutie that the Lord enioyned them to doe for obedience to his will is to be preferred before our owne honour Confirmed by the example of Esther and safetie Alwaies Queene Hester the wife of Ahashuerosh king of 127. provinces vnderstanding into what extreame perill her countrie people the Iewes wer brought by the meanes of Haman put her life and honour in evident perill wittinglie and willingly deserving death by law to prevent the danger towardes her naturall people For to the hazard of her life as appeareth in the storie she came into the Kings presence without leaue the which was death by the Lawe to make meanes for their safetie saying that if I perishe I perish therby carrying a resolute minde that though shee did perishe yet not to omit to doe what possiblie shee might for the safetie of her people In deede shee prepared her selfe to this action with long fasting and earnest praier and so wee woulde wishe all such weightie and necessarie services to God our countrie especially when there is feared some danger and difficultie in the accomplishing of them to bee taken in hand But this storie sheweth especially seing this is reported of her in the Canonicall Scripture to her commendation that heerein she did well that others may lawfullie and ought even though they bee Queenes to offer themselves to perill for the good safetie of their countrie when otherwise without their so doing it must needes come to some extreame miserie What doubt can there be of this seing we read that even the light of nature hath taught Codrus Athen Decij Rom. manie heathen Princes to offer themselves to extreame perill for the good of of their country And your Maiestie hath And of King Henry the 8. a Christian and domesticall example of your noble father hereof who
to haue beene aliue would not haue made some hinderance or stop at least some challenge at the time of his mariage with the Ladie Margaret Teuther So as this Ladie might more easilie and honourablie haue shrunke back from the mariage and avoided it before it was solemnized then to haue sought to dissolue it it being once accomplished and admit that this was the cause yet it can stand with no reason that she should deferre it whole foure yeeres and more and after all this while to seek then to be divorced from him when he had issue by her But they that are but meanlie acquainted with the Scottishe histories knowes that this is non causa pro causa and that the true cause was because the Erle fel in loue with a gentle woman of Douglas-dale whome hee kept as his concubine which his Ladie took so to heart as she would never be reeonciled to him after that by this act he had defiled her bed such was her Princelie minde And it is reported of king Iames the fift that hee was accustomed to aske such of his servants as were moste inwarde with him whither the said gentle-woman were fairer then his mother So this act of the Earle of Angus falling out about some fowre yeeres after the birth of the Ladie See Holins compare pag. 303. with 306. in the Scottish historie Margaret Douglas his daughter can no whit stain or embase her in blood being begot and borne in lawfull mariage But for further proofe of the legitimation she was alwaies by all men taken reputed as the sole and onlie heire to the Earle of Angus and served as they call it by the Scottish lawes to the said Earedome and had all the evidences writtings Pag. 335. of the same delivered to her as to whome of right they did appertaine But vpon the mariage of her sonne the Lord Darnlie with the late Queene of Scots she was content at the said Queenes instance to permit and yeeld the said Earledome to the disposing of the Queene according her best liking which honor and Earledome the said Queene of Scots did bestow vpon Archbald late Earle of Angus Fran. Thyne in his supplem to Holinshed all which you may see at large in the Scottish and English Chronicles And my Lord Dowglas who at this present hath his lodging in Lyme-street was the man as I take it that was sent from the said Queene to the Ladie Margaret beeing then prisoner in the Tower to treate of the resignation of the Earledom with this message It was a wel lost Earledome which brought home a kingdom These are sound proofes that the L. Margaret was no bastard and that this which is brought to impeach her legitimation beeing truelie delivered doth maynlie strengthen the same For mine own part I make no question if her Maiesty would be pleased but that my Lord Treasurer who hath sifted this matter more then anie man and who is esteemed of all men to bee warie and wise enough and not to bee any of the Scottishe Kings greatest friends would venture Sir Roberts young sonne though he be vnder yeeres vppon Ladie Arbella her title albeit it come by this onely branche of the Ladie Margaret Dowglas and come also even in it a degree after the king and his children And that you may the better belieue me I pray you be remembred what attempt my Lord made for one of Sir Thomas his sonnes To cōclude this point whatsoever right my L. doth giue by this branch to the said king collaterallie with Ladie Arbella I see no reasō why any other mā should seek to take it from him knowing that most men comes shorte of my Lord in the search and knowledge of this matter but verie few or none short of my L. in favour and affection towards him The obiection made against his mothers line is not so much the argument of any competitor or anie of their favourers or the doubt of anie of the skilfuller and better sorte as a scruple bred in the minds of the common people arising frō I know not what buzing reporte of an act of Association the truth of which is this During the custodie of the Scottishe Queene there were diuerse conspiracies practized by Iesuites and other Papists male-contentes against our Soveraigne Ladie not without the knowledge and privitie of the said Queene which course of conspiracies treasons when the LL. of her Maiesties moste honorable privie councell did discerne that they could by no meanes stop so long as the Scottish Queene lived and withall that the only remedie to prevent them was that the Law should take place for her triall Yet fearing that her execution if she should bee found guiltie might be the cause of great sturres troubles by reason of her great factions in the neighbour Realmes and of her favourers in this land it seemed good to them for withstanding and repressing of such commotions if anie shoulde ensue and for the better maintenance of the peace and tranquillitie which the state did enioy to make an act of Association the tenor whereof for your better satisfaction further instruction I haue thought good to set down at large as followeth AN INSTRVMENT OF ASsociation for the preservation of the Queenes Maiesties person made An. 1584. and confirmed by an act of Parliament Anno Reg. Eliz. 27. FOrasmuch as Almightie God hath ordained Kings Queenes and Princes to haue dominion and rule over their subiects and to preserue them in the profession and obseruation of the true Christian Religion according to his holie Word and commandement and in the like sort that all subiectes shoulde loue feare and obey their Soueraigne prince beeing king or Queene and to the vttermost of their povver at all times vvithstand pursue and suppresse all manner of persones that shall by any meanes entend and attempt any thing dangerous and hurtfull to the honours states and persons of their Soueraignes Therefore vvee vvhose names are or shall be subscribed to this vvryting being naturall borne subiects of this Realme of England and having so gracious a Ladie Elizabeth by the ordināce of God our most rightfull Queene raigning over vs these many yeeres vvith great felicitie to our inestimable comfort and finding of late by diuerse depositions confessions and sundrie aduertisements out of forraine parts from credible persons vvell knovvne to her Maiestie counsell and diuerse others for the furtherance and aduancement of some pretended titles to the crovvne of this Realme it hath beene manifest that the life of our most gracious Soueraigne Ladie hath bene most trait erouslie and diuelishlie sought and the same follovved most dangerouslie to the perill of her person if Almightie God her perpetuall defender of his mercie had not reuealed and vvithstood the same by vvhose life vve and all others her Maiesties true and loyall subiects doe enioy an inestimable benefite of peace in this land DOE FOR the reasons and causes before alleadged