thy God reioyce in thee c. This is that blessing which hath beene so long prediuined and promised so that our auncestors in many fore-passed ages haue heartely longed to see the same but could not Let vs therefore which haue gotten this iewell highly rate and esteeme it and as we wish for the continuance of that peace which dependeth thereupon so let vs embrace and defend the same least the prouerbe bee verefied amongst vs with our calamitie That Enuie succeedeth our first glorie that we make not foes of our fellowes and fellowes of our foes Accord we therefore with ioyfull endeauours in vnanimitie because peace and friendship cannot possibly reigne together in people of diuerse and variable minds Let vs esteeme our selues all alike in libertiâ—… without ambicious crowding or thronging in for prioritie ascribing all earthly power and preheminence to the Soueraign of our nation and liuing togeher as men commorant in one familie Qui eodem igne fumo vtuntur c. Let vs like those auncient noble Romanes dilate and propagate our honours by sociable amitie rather than to repine at any iust and profitable equalitie to the pernicious confusion and ruine of our estates in generall Thus shall wee stirie vp our discontâ—…nted spirits if in vs any such wildâ—…e of ambition reigne to maintaine to protect and to glorifie those liberties which we possesse and by these meanes shall no forraine enemies dare to complain or repine against any thing in vs but of our greatnesse and amplitude By these meanes shall good fashions bee followed ciuill and martiall exercises embraced and practised concord and firme amitie shall be confirmed and encreased inuiolably both amongst our selues our old friends and new confederates This if we shall presently ponder and put in practise with the true vigour of our vertues then shall we not haue cause to curse our owne imaginations and foresights like foolish pilotes which when a tempest is apparant and alreadie begun lamentably threaten and as it were aftertell of the calamitie setting men to worke when all humane hopes are past or like to the imprudent gouernours of cities which when the first sedicious sparkes are kindled and breake forth to the ruine of their states which otherwise might haue beene antiuerted by their precaution spend the remnant of their time of succour in wayling and weeping But if my zeale carie mee too farre to make a question of that which many peraduenture wise do think needlesse and impertinent I craue pardon assuring my selfe that the diuell beeing confusion himselfe will bee very busie to make a disorder amongst the people of God that he might supplant the root of our true Christian glory Since therfore the blessed time of our vnion is accomplished and perfected we shall not need to doubt but that this our bride and bridegroome shal flourish like a garden inclosed and abound in precious vertue like a spring and fountain of happinesse which is sealed vp Neither is it to bee doubted or imagined which some friuolous opinions haue cast out that it cannot long and easily brooke your Maiesties absence as if according to the vulgar prouerb the chiefe person of maiestie being out of sight should be banished out of her loyall mind also for as I said they might know how the diuine spirit doth not call kings by the name of gods in vaine for so much as this royall vbiquitie disperseth their soueraigne power lawes and authoritie through all the parts of this world For we know that Fraunce which is much larger had not many ages past diuers great and free principalities contained within her bounders which by match and vnion as this of ours is and through the disobedience of some ambicious princes are now firme and annexed as parts and members of that crowne such as were Normandie little Brittaine Aquitaine Orleance and others and likewise in the kingdome of Spaine where at one time Aragon Castile Granada Corduba Gallicia Andelosia being all of theÌ„ little kingdomes were seuerally gouerned and Portugall also lately knit vnto king Philips Crowne All which principalities and prouinces are gouerned in peace by Presidents and Counsels established in them There seemeth then no reason to the contrary why Scotland should not containe it selfe and continue loyall shadowed vnder the royall curtaine of your gracious authoritie by that sapience which in your diuine policie is and shall be dispersed amongst them For they cannot be such impious barbarous and vnthankfull creatures as to forget their faith and allegeance vnto him that from his cradle was and is so dearely affied in them and which hath since the first spiracle of his reason expressed such mildnes and gouerned amongst them with such moderation benignitie Moreouer the nobles and gentlemen of that nation are in this age by the maruellous beneficence of God and Nature morethan euer ingenuous liberall honourable and for the most part vertuously affected desirous to learne knowledge good fashion which oftentimes I did obserue in the conditions of theÌ„ for the most part insomuch as it is a wonder that a region which was sometimes held and reported to bee rude and barbarous could affoord so many ciuile and gallant spirits which last good and honorable inclination is generally seene in the most of them being a speciall braunch of temperance drawne from modestie noted by the Philosophers and touched in the Morals of my first booke Shall any man then amongst the people of your Maiesties Nations bee so stubborne as to withstand this diuine ordinance or so proud amongst the seditious that dare appeale from this so charitable and peaceable decree For besides that royall Maiestie shall discountenance him the very Cannon of those ciuile lawes which are approued established throughout all Christendome vniuersally shall vtterly condemne them by that prerogatiue which is granted to your Highnesse in these words Rex Angliae est monarcha in suo regno à cuius sententia non appellatur quia praefectus multorum pralatorum est sui regni Much more priuiledge then is included in your Highnesse in whom is iustly planted the soueraigne right and inheritance of both these kingdomes now made one Nation Since therefore this head including your regall grace being prudently busied in continuall contemplation premeditation conference of things past present and to come which are noted to be the very faculties of prudence doth with a zealous and pastorall care tender vnto the heart being the iewell-house of vnderstanding and sapience the weale of this politicall body which it by mature deliberation disgesteth for the chiefe good thereof euen as the liuer with bloud the vocall organes and arme of iustice by pronounciation and distribution of the lawes and euery part in his particular function is ayding towards the preseruation hereof in health and tranquilitie so should this head with all these mentall faculties and that body with all his members conioyntly labour aboue all things to preserue the soule pure and blemishlesse
vulgar The first and chiefe place in all ciuile gouernment vnder princes and Commonweales according to Dion Cassius Francis Patricius Barthol Cassanaeus Hyppolito Furio Ceriolano with others which haue by their bookes opened the formes of counsels concerning the state of any kingdome remaineth to the Treasurers which by the Romanes were called Quaestores à quaerendo because they did seeke how to magnifie corroborate and amplifie the Commonwealth by lawfull and honourable meanes for the speciall weale of those states and princes vnder whom they did administer and also did faithfully conserue those riches to their trust committed Hence is it that Dion tearmeth Quaesturam primum gradumin Senatâ—… howbeit Iustus Lipsius not wholly suffragating to that opinion sayth Quòd inter magistratus fuere quaestores ordine primi dignitate vltimi Which office being auntiently deriued from the Greekes was first erected amongst the Romanes in the first bud of that Empire after it was growne to some height when the societies of those people louingly knit and assembled had in the citie by their policies valour and industrie gathered and got a great masse of treasure together wherein euery free citisen had equall share at what time they did first institute two generall Quaestores or Treasurers which were famous amongst them for their Iustice valour moderation and prudence that had the tuition thereof keeping their office in Aede Saturni This institution of Treasurers Tacitus would haue amongst the Romans when the Consular estate was first established Anno 23. after their kings were abolished some thinke they were first ordained Anno Vrb. conditae 269 But it is not so doubtfull as needlesse precisely to stand vpon that point onely this the place of Treasurers being first amongst the ciuile magistrates as at this day in Fraunce where Les generalx des finances les presedents des accomptes haue a prioritie not onely before both the Counsels strict and at large but also before the foure Primiers Presidents in that realme as our Lord high Treasurer of England hath also whose place with vs is highest next vnto the Lord Chancelour in ciuile reputation giueth me some cause to digest the same into my first booke of Offices being as I may tearme it notvnfitly that liuer wherein the blood which possesseth the mouing life of euery commonwealth is contained For euen as moneyes are fitly called the sinews of war so may we likewise properly tearme them the blood of peace and therefore that state or kingdome whose treasure is exhausted though it be most ample populous and puissant in other things may be called bloodlesse and languishing according to the saying of that learned Lawman Nobilitas sine diuitijs pené mortua est tanquam corpus exangue Riches therefore may bee properly tearmed the blood of peace that entering the veines or conduits of the liuer which may semblably be likened to the Treasurers office and reflowing thence benignely disperseth it selfe into the members of the whole bodie resembling analogically the Commonwealth for the generall sustentation and nurriture thereof It is the bone of that strong arme by which the kingdome is in time of peace strengthened against all hostile attempts It is the marrow by which that bone is seasoned soupled and confirmed or rather that arme which is strongly nourished enabled and knit with those sinewes veines blood bones and pith wherein remaineth a proportionable strength guiding the sacred sword of iustice in hand The charge of Treasurers consisteth in the receiuing keeping and disbursing of the prince his money consisting in the reuenewes of his Empire amplified by the tributes of his subiects supplied by the subsides fines and forfeitures of cities societies and malefactors relieued with the tallages and customes of marchants and aduenturers magnified in the prizes and presents ordinarily resulting from forraine princes and people either friends or enemies and as Titus Liuius writeth Munera Quaestoris sunt pecuniae publicae acceptio expensio signorum militarium ex auro vel argentoin aerario asserâ—…atio praedae venditio subhastatio legatorum exceptio deductio hospitij assignatio All which were most honourable attributes peculiarly permitted to the Treasurers and as Lipsius noteth it such was that auncient honour of those Quaestores that amongst the Romanes of old it was permitted vnto them to make lawes and decrees to subscribe vnto suites motions and petitions being both keepers and presedents of the Lawes and of Iustice which power is with vs and in France deuolued vnto the Lords Chancellors howbeit in that realme principally where the Lord Chancellor is highest in the kings counsels of whom in all causes appertaining the weale of that state the king taketh aduice as of some oracle so that when any rescripts edicts or decrees contrarie to law bee by the king either vpon misinformation or negligence graunted the Chancellour hath ex officio power to cancell or annullate them whereupon was first deuised the name Cancellarius which office in Venice hath the most secret particulars of that state in managing and yet is not so powerfull in his authoritie Likewise the French Generalx des finances vpon the like considerations and respects may cut off or curtall at their pleasures the kings gifts and bounties issuing out of his Treasuries Lands or Reuenewes if in their wisedomes it seeme expedient and therfore as I should thinke they might by the like reason also be called Cancellarij because they Tanquam Tutores limit the kings mind intra rationis moderationis caucellos This counsell of Treasurers conuerseth in the exportation of such commodities as euery Common-weale out of her friendship or abundance exchangeth or ministreth hauing equall respect vnto the induction or reinuection of such other marchandize as their people need and couet most Likewise in all treasures vnder ground as in mines and minerals of gold and siluer copper tinne lead and yron the richest commonly belonging to the prince of that soyle where such treasures are opened and others either bygraunt or otherwise according to legall tenure of Frank Charter or of other immunities royall in tenure of such subiects as accordingly make payment to the custome or imposition of the prince or countrey Wherefore it behooueth that such as be chosen into that place and authoritie bee men not of learning and temperance onely but of good yeares and much experience also howbeit the Romanes did make choice of their Quaestores at twentie fiue yeares according to Tacitus Which greene age could not amongst vs haue had that maturitie of iudgement and foresight in these times that is required in a worthie Treasurer although amongst those Romanes in that golden age of nature we may by circumstances find that young noble men were in all the parts of their life generally temperate and frugall with a certaine specious apparance of liberalitie yet did not in theÌ„ appeare that precocitie which is in many of our young heads of this age
the lawes customes of their realms which they may coÌ„mute antiquate and abrogate as they list vnlesse such as haue voluntarily restrained themselues in some particulars to the consent and suffragation of their Peeres and Commons for so much as kings are the ministers and deputies vnder God to and from whom they must yeeld account and receiue punishment according to their administration to them committed if they doe abuse the same or violate their oathes And all kings for the most part in causes concerning themselues will annihilate lawes or remit and mitigate them as our dread Soueraigne Lord hath done in pardoning traytors and nefarious enemies of the State being conuicted Which counsell he likewise hath giuen vnto that gracious young Prince his sonne of so great expectation and wonder as the world hath not seene his peere in towardnesse But iust Princes will not commonly commute annihilate or qualifie those lawes by which their people may be preiudiced for such Lawes and Statutes as concerne them are enacted by their owne consents not by royall prerogatiue onely The second good State dependeth vpon that gouernment which is referred to a competent number of the wiser noblemen as if any Prince being weake of himselfe should diuolue the whole administration of his State vnto the lords and fellowes of his counsell and this is called Aristocracie Which kind of state we reade in holy Scripture to haue continued vnder Iudges from Moyses vnto the dayes of Eli vnder whome the arke of Gods couenant was lost and the politicall glorie lamentably defaced But as it followeth my iudgement yeeldeth to the learneder opinions of others That there is not any state so laudable and diuine in earthly gouernment as vnder one according to that saying of Nestor in Homer Non multos regnare bonum rex vnicus esto Vnius imperium cui Iupiter aurea magnus Sceptra dedit iussitque suis dare iur a tuendis It is not good that many kings should rule at once ouer one people let there bee one king and one kingdome vnto whome the God of might hath deliuered the golden scepter commaunding him to make lawes for the preseruation and tuition of his people The third good estate of gouernment resteth in the discreet gubernation of the Commons which is named a Democracie such as gouerned Athens in times past and the like amongst the Cantons of Swizzerland at this day Those other three remaining and framed out of the excesse or outrage of these other three good states predefined consist in tyrannie by which the prince according to lust and beyond the limits of reason law or honestie cherisheth vicious persons and by them strengtheneth his owne arme against all good people which liue oppressed and tortured vnder his gouernment The life of such tyrants is a continuall perillous and inward warre because they cannot repute themselues safe either in front in reare or on the flankes they miserably torture themselues with euerlasting danger feare And those are commonly called Tyranni qui vi armis imperium arripiunt Which with force and in armes bereaue others of their Realms and Crownes Such was Cirus Agathocles and others infinite which maintained their spoyles and rapine by rauening and spoyling These are they which despise iustice lawes and equitie these which forsake the Commonwealth to multiâ—…lie their owne priuate estates these which vexe and oppresse their people with grieuous and insupportable tributes and exactions as vassales and slaues base and abject those of these conditions may not bee called kings but tyrants and nefarious oppressors for euen as rauenous wolues greedily rush vpon the flocke so doe they to dilaniate and deuour the people of God The court of a good king containeth the least part of his riches and his Commonwealth aboundeth and ioyeth in all wealth and worldly felicitie The tyrant hoordeth vp the peoples treasure or employeth it to his priuate vse impouerishing and excoriating the poore subiects A good king hath a good Angell ayding him in the administration of his estate a Tyrant is incensed and directed by a most malicious and wicked diuell A good king punisheth the wicked and preferreth the vertuous a Tyrant cutteth off the liues of good men and prolongeth the dayes of the wicked A good king thinketh himselfe most powerfull in riches when his people doth abound in wealth A tyrant then reputeth himselfe most rich when he hath robbed the Commonwealth of all their goods a good king by the Philosophers is called a shepheard a tyrant is tearmed a wolfe finally the good and true king esteemeth much more the life and weale of his people than his owne life The Tyrant doth not only thirst after the riches and treasure but euen after the bloud and liues of his subiects also The second euill part of gouernment is called Oligarchie which is when the Commonwealth or Vniuersalitie bee forceably yoaked vnder the violent lusts and empire of a few Nobles as at Rome in the gouernment of the Duumuirate and Triumuirate and in Anarchie when the people confusedly by libidinous instinct and auaritious desire make hauocke of all vnder their gouernment vsing all kinds of dishonest pleasures and purchase as a commendable and most needfull recreation and profite For the deuill which is author of confusion and disorder raigneth in their spirits Yea ruinous and most desolate is that Nation like to prooue whose lawes are made out of their owne lusts and perturbed appetites Multitudo namque malis artibus imbuta deinde in artes vitasque varias dispalata nullo modo inter se congruens parùm idonea videtur ad capessendam rempublicam For a multitude which is first disordered and euill affected and then dispersed into diuers professions and fashions of liuing discordant within themselues are not meete to take any charge or tuition of the Commonwealth For the vulgar are neither wise nor discreet but rash and violent in all their commotions and passions especially when they haue the reynes in their owne hands The violence of which misgouernment caused Demosthenes a most learned and euer-renowned citizen of Athens through the peruerse and vniust sentence of the barbarous Athenians being banished after the losse of his countrey liberties to crie forth in the bitternesse of his spirit O Pallas Pallas quae tribus infestissimis belluis delectaris noctua dracone populo O Pallas Pallas which takest pleasure in three most pernicious beasts in an Owle in a Dragon and in the people Which kind of gouernment is not vnproperly compared to the weltring and vnconstant billowes of the sea The Romane policie when their kings were abolished was by the Senate managed a long time After which the people retaining a Democraticall state being attempered with the moderation and authorities royall and with the Patricians as appeared in the Consular estate and in the Senators did carrie with them the fasces and preheminence vntill the reignes of Iulius and Augustus Caesars So that out of the Soueraigne
bee much violent for the time yet they continue but a little time and now the title of brethren is gone in respect of the body politicke for wee bee much neerer than before Hengist hath married with Scota euen as Henry your Maiesties royall father the sonne of L. Matthew Stuarte and of Ladie Margaret who married with your mother Mary daughter to king Iames the fourth and to the Dutchesse of Longueuille after the death of her first husband king Frauncis the second grandchild by the first ventre vnto that good prince of renowned memorie king Henry the seuenth as your Highnesses father was by the second ventre so that it may most fitly be said concerning that blessed coniunction of those two faire and peaceable planets Nuper ex atrocissimis bellorum ciuilium vulneribus paulispèr respirantem amplexi sunt libertatem huius insulae Iacobus quartus Margareta Scotorum coniugio sociati c. Out of the late most bitter wounds of ciuile warres Iames the fourth and Margaret being knit in wedlocke together haue embraced the liberties of this Island euen when it began to faint and draw a weake breath This happie marriage of those two beneuolent planets portendeth the weale of Christendome for in it by a double vnion twice vnited in bloud once by the sacred vnion of the two royall families of Yorke and Lancaster and after by that second vnion in marriage of a daughter and a sonne that a mother and this a father both of them out of the bodies of king Henry and Queene Elizabeth is this match made betwixt Hengyst and Scota more firme than euer at the first when Brutus raigned ouer them before their separation in the persons of Locryn and Albanact Iam non sunt duo sed caro vna Which sacred circumscription was figured and stamped in a peece of coyne of your late royall parents vpon their vnion figuratiuely presaging this vnion also Since therefore these nations thus coupled in one bodie be both of them knit vp in your Maiesties royall person and posteritie there is not any doubt but that they will liue loue and accord in sincere vnitie together perfecting and accomplishing that generall peace of conscience which was begun and yet continued from the first of your Maiesties late dearest sister her beginning in reigne euen to this instant of your gracious gouernment your Highnesse representing the person of this auncient Brittaine comprehending the new spouse Scotland within your princely bodie though your royall residence be kept with vs as in the bride-groomes chamber hath that vbiquitie by God graunted you touching the ciuile supremacie which his omnipotencie retaineth ouer all creatures For though your Grace being head doe not really touch certaine parts of your Commonwealths bodie yet that power and vertue which is contained in your heart liuer and lungs doth gouerne and moderate in those places by direction of that head which commaundeth and predominateth all the members insomuch as they neede not say that the bridegroome is taken from them and that they shall fast because they conuerse with him in power feasting with vs vnder his goodnesse for wee bee children of the bride-chamber all alike And it is not to bee doubted but that this new bride will declare her true loue and loyall demeanure towards her husband whatsoeuer sedicious or malecontented spirits mistrust or misconster for shee is from the first bud of her youth acquainted with her husband hauing a perfect and infallible notice by long tryall and hath sincerely plighted her faith What is he then worthie that would in the roote of all bitternesse seuer the barke from the tree by nefarious breach of this blessed vnion that I may speake vulgarly sowing the seede of dissention of intestine garboyle and burlyment amongst auncient brethren by making the peaceable members of one bodie to rebell against themselues and against the will of God Let them that haue scarcely sucked so much as of the vile dregs of nature iudge hereof For if two weake ones vnited make a competent strength then certainely two nations so combined and of such force beeing seuerall such as haue borne battaile and confounded the puissantest princes of Christendome may very well grow most mightie by their vnited force whereas if they should not now confirme themselues in vnfained amitie which God hath commaunded it must necessarily follow that it had beene a million fold better for them that they neuer had knit in that nuptiall band together for then will they both of them loose their owne forces in mutuall resistance opening their glories to the spoyle of base and despised enemies We now stand one in more need of another than euer we did before if wee consider it and onely because we haue incorporated our hearts lawes and obediences together vnder one God and one King which hath not beene of so many hundred yeeres past Nam vtrumque per se indigens alterum alterius auxilio indiget For both of them being single and standing in some neede of succour may stand one the other in steede with their owne succours This if wee ponder with franke and honourable accord and shall ioyfully rouse vp and vnite our noble spirits together with all heroycall obedience and true magnanimitie vnder our dread Soueraigne for him against his enemies as we haue alreadie done our kingdomes for if we will endeuour and accommodate our selues but to this our blessing of vnitie which euery vaine foole vnlesse the false tempter bewitch him will apprehend with all comfort profered from so sweete good and gracious hands of the Lord of our hoastes then Neque orbis terrarum neque cunctae gentes conglobatae mouere aut contundere queant hoc imperium Neither the whole world nor all the nations and people of this earth assembled in hostile troupes shall haue power to shiuer or batter down this our Empire Hereof let vs prudently consider being a matter of such high consequence for no mans imagination apprehension precaution or prouidence can bee so strong in this case as is requisite Nam de futuro nemo omnium satis callidus prudensque est Let vs therefore prudently consider and it shall appeare how both these kingdomes which were so long seuered heretofore haue beene from the first remembrance which is remayning of this Island since it was first inhabited by Brutus who shared it amongst his sonnes and after him long and many times made one bodie and how standeth then the present state of them in comparison Euen as one auncient tree lopped off from the bole wherein by processe of time diuers old Danish Saxon and French graffes haue beene planted which take their vertue from the roote of that ancient Brittaine stocke including England Scotland and Wales by times continuance reincorporate and flourishing out againe in one fruitfull tree So that in the persons of your Grace and of your sweete spouse in whome the fruits of all these nations now prosper these seuerall plants graciously sprout