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A48794 State-worthies, or, The states-men and favourites of England since the reformation their prudence and policies, successes and miscarriages, advancements and falls, during the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, King Charles I. Lloyd, David, 1635-1692. 1670 (1670) Wing L2646; ESTC R21786 462,324 909

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Undertaking as to influence it with a Character peculiar to the Dignity of such a Constitution which carried that Commerce higher than others could raise their Imaginations as we see whose profit by it is as remarqueable in this Age as their zeal for it was in the last When Fear and Distrust those ignoble passions that disparage all great Undertakings which judged that Design a piece of extravagant Folly seeth it now an Act of profound Wisdom especially when it may be improved under CHARLES the Second and the Great a Prince who by admirable order of his conduct the just administration of his Revenue and by his fatherly goodness towards his people hath put himself into a condition to u●dertak● without fear whatsoever may be put in execution with honour or Justice The End of the Observations upon the Lives of the Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Mary THE STATES-MEN and FAVOURITES OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of Queen Elizabeth Observations on the Life of Sir Nicholas Bacon Sir Nicholas Bacon a man full of wit and wisdom● was a Gentleman and a man of Law and of great knowledge therein whereby together with his other parts of Learning and Dexterity he was prompted to be Keepe● of the Great Seal and being kin to the Treasurer Burleigh was brought by his help into the Queens favour This Gentleman understood his Mistress well and the times better He could raise Factions to serve the one and allay them to suit the others He had the deepest reach into Affairs of any man that was at the Council-●able the knottiest Head to peirce into di●ficulties the most comprehensive Judgement to surround the merit of a Cause the strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a Business to one View the greatest patience to debate and consider for it was he that first said Let us stay a little and we will have done the sooner and the clearest reason to urge any thing that came in his way in Court or Chancery His favour was eminent with his Mistress and his Alliance strong with her States-men No man served his Soveraign more faithfully none secured himself more wisely Leicester seemed wiser than he was Bacon was wiser than he seemed to be Hunsdon neither was nor seemed wise Much Learning my Lord Bacon gained in Bennets Colledge in Cambridge more Experience in Paris of France His De●terity and Dispatch advanced him to the Court of Wards his deep Experience made him Lord Keeper Alliance was the policy of that time Bacon and Cecil married two Sisters Walsingham and Mildmay two more Knowles Essex and Leicester were linked the prudent Q●een having all her Favourites Relations and Dependencies in her eye and disposing of them according to their several Interests Great was this States-mans Wit greater the Fame of it which as he would say being nothing made all things For Report though but Fancy begets Opinion and Opinion begets Substance He was the exactest man to draw up a Law in Council and the most discreet to execute it in Court When others urged the repeal of that Act whereby Queen Elizabeth was declared Illegi●imate he rather suppressed it chusing the closure of a festered Wound more prudent than the opening of it and judging it more wisdome to satisfie the world with the old Law That the Crown takes away all defects than to perplex it with new disputes Whether Queen Elizabeth were Legitimate State-miscarriages are rather to be privately connived at than publickly redressed the remedy it may be doing no more service than putting the people in minde of the mishap He neither affected nor attained to Greatness Mediocra firma was his Principle and his Practice When Queen Elizabeth asked him Why his House was so little he answered Madam my House is not too little for me but you have made me too big for my House Give me said he a good Estate rather than a great one He had a very Quaint saying saith Robert Naunton and he used it often to very good purpose That he loved the Jest well but not the loss of his Friend He would say That though unusquisque suae fortunae faber was a true and good Principle yet the most in number were those that marred themselves but I will never forgive that man that loseth himself to be rid of his Iest. The Excellency of his Parts was set off with the Gravity of his Person and the Queen would say My Lord Bacon's Soul lodgeth well His Account of England and all its Affaires was punctual his use of learned Artist was continual his correspondence with his fellow-Statesmen exact his apprehension of our Laws and Government clear his model of both methodical his faithfulness to the Church eminent his industrious invention for the State indefa●igable He was in a word a Father of his Country and of Sir Francis Bacon Sir Nicholas ●acon was the moderate man that was appointed to preside at the Disput●tion between the Protestant and Popish Doctors in the first of Queen Elizabeth H● was that Judicious States-man to whom was trusted the management of that Parliament and Convocation The satisfaction of the People and Kingdome and those Delatory proceedings with France Spain and Rome that were at the bottom of the great work of Reformation and settlement at that time Observations on the Life of William Cecil Lord Burleigh WIlliam a Cecil was born with the advantage of being Richard Cecil's Son who was of the Robes to King Henry and Legatee in his Will and bred with that of being Commoner of St. Iohns in Cambridge and Student at the Innes of Court in London whence he was advanced by his Pregnancy to serve the Duke of Somerset in quality of Master of Requests as he was afterwards by his Master to attend King Edward the sixth in the capacity of Secretary of Stat● where he furnished all Acts and Orders with Reasons of State as he had them fitted by able Lawyers with Arguments of Law He loved always they say to wrap the Prerogatives in the Laws of the Land He was constant but not obstinate in his Advice As the Planets are whirled about dayly From East to West by the motion of the Primum Mobile yet have a contrary motion of their own from West to East which they slowly yet surely move at their leisures so our States-man though yielding in some things to Greatness of some Persons in an Age wherein it was present drowning not to swim against the stream Yet had he his counter-endeavours against the prevailing strain and privately advanced his rightful Intentions against othe●s wrongful Ambitions If dissenting from his Superiours he did it with all humility and m●deration yet chusing always rather to displease than betray He was in much favour with King Edward in some with Queen Mary in most with Q●een Elizabeth who though sparing of her honours yet heaped on him the trust of Secretary of State the Profits of the Master of the Wards the
had no time to transcribe Intelligence but what he borrowed from his sleep nor money to buy it but what he saved out of his allowance yet he understood more than any one Prince of Europe and was more consulted than any one Statesman His Judgment was much valued his Integrity more ever offering what was solidly safe rather than what was superficially plausible as one who was a stranger to the wisdome of the latter Age as Sir Francis Bacon describes it which is rather fine Deliveries and shifts from Inconveniences than solid and grounded courses for advantage His foresight was large and his spirit larger he considered all Circumstances that occurred to him judged what he considered and spoke what he judged with that resolution as to his opinion that argued he understood the matter in question with that modesty as to his Superiours that shewed he understood himself He would say that he that could not with the Cameleon change colour with the Aire he live● in must with the Cameleon live only upon Aire Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Poynings SIr Edward Poynings was the third of eighteen Counsellours bequeathed by Henry the VII to his Son with his Kingdom a Privy Council wherein there was not one Lawyer and a Cabal that never condescended for advice to any below themselves or for performance of any of their Degrees to any be●ides themselves being a compleat Body of active and knowing men in their own Orb. Who more prudent than Surrey who more resolved than Poynings whose Vigilancy made him Master of the Cinque Ports as his Valour advanced him General of the Low-Country Forces whom he led on to several services with such success and brought off with the loss of not above an hundred men with Honour from the Lady Margaret and Applause from the whole Country No less happy was he in his Government of Tournay until the Council at home now 〈◊〉 thin by the secession of Warham Fox 〈◊〉 Norfolk had more need of him than Garisons a●road Vainly is that spirit penned within a City that was equal to a Kingdom It is the unhappiness of other Monarchies that they have not Men answerable to their Employments it was the unhappiness of this that it had not Employment suitable to its Men. He liv'd and di'd in Arms Bulloign saw him fi●st a Souldier and Bulloign saw him last the best Camp-Master in all Christendom always observing three things 1. The Situation of his Camp to secure his Army 2. The Accommodation of it to supply it 3. His Retreat to draw off the Avenues to be guarded with Souldiers and strengthened with Re-doubts which he made Triangular that more men might engage the Enemy at once during erection whe●eof the Army was pallisado'd in the Front with stakes headed with iron on both ends five foot long stuck slope-wise into the ground to keep off both Horse and Foot the Foot-Sentinels were without the Redoubts the Horse-Guards beyond them at distance enough to descry the Enemy and not too much to retire to their works A serious and plodding brow bespoke this Noble Knights deep Prudence and a smart look his resolved Valour who was a man vastly different in his publick capacity from what he was in his priv●te employment Quemquam posse putas mores narrare futuros Dic mihi si fias tu leo qualis eris Observations on the Life of Sir Charles Somerset SIr Charles Somerset afterward Lord Herbert of Gower c. endeared himself to King H. as much for his Maxime That Reason of State was Reason of Law as for his Advice That the King should never suck at Law in case of Publique Good and yet that all ●is Acts for publique Good should come as near as possible to the Law So Popular was this Gentleman that he received all the Petitions against Empson and Dudley yet so loyal that he advised his Master neither to spare those Leeches lest any should p●esume to alienate his Peoples affections from him by Extortions for the future nor yet too severely to punish them lest any should be discouraged to serve the Crown for the present for indeed Empson and Dudley suffered for that which others were advanced for the Parliament punished them for putting their Laws in execution and the King deserted them for improving his Exchequer to a Treasury Two things this Lord advised his Master to before he put the Crown upon his head 1. To redress the Peoples Grievances under his Father 2. To marry not in France where he had a Title A Kingdom so near us that by reason of mutual jelousies we may have peace with it sometimes but Friendships never In the Houshold he was Lord Chamberlain so discreet his Carriage In the French Expedition Anno 1513. he was General so Noble his conduct His Assi●stants were the Earls of Northumberland Shrewsbury Kent and Wiltshire his Followers the Lord Audley De la Ware Carew and Curson c. Therovene he besiegeth in good Order and with Wolsey's advice who had lived long in that Town understands all the Avenues of it a●d with Sir Oughtred Sir Henry Guilford Sir Edward Poynings Sir Charles Brandon and Sir Alexander Baynam's assistance sprung several Mines repulsed the French Relief and the City-Assailants so that the Town was yielded August 22. 1513. and upon Mazimilian's Intreaty razed as he did Tournay September 22. Herbert was for razing this place as farther from us than Therovene but Wolsey for the Bishopricks sake is for the garisoning of it as a Trophy The King recollecting his former occasions Febr. 3. 1514. thought he could not do a more just or a more prudent Act than recompence his Noble Servants but the cheapest way I mean that of Honour as he did old Somerset with the Earldome of Worcester With this Honour at home is joyned another abroad viz. That of Embassie to Maximilian where he reached that Germans depth● and clearly demonstrated that those fond and impossible Offers of the Empire were but Artifices rather than Kindnesses to drain the Kings Treasure rather than enlarg his Dominions Advising him or raise a Citadel at Tournay and an Army in Normandy He finished the Espousals between the Princess Mary and the Dolphin and delivered Tournay by the ●ame token that he would not let the Mareschal de Castilion to enter with Banner displayed but rolled up it being as he said who when Lord Herbert was at the taking of it voluntarily yielded up and not gotten by Conquest and then bestowed himself with Sir Richard Wingfield for the great enterview between King Francis and King Henry an interview I know not whether more solemn or more dangerous Kings cannot meet without great state and they seldom part without much envy who never are further asunder than when they meet His most eminent Action here was the Device of that Motto Cui adhareo praee●t a Motto that speaks the Honour of England and the Interest of Europe The Arbitrators commanding both
of this Earl's nature and Custom more None more austere to see to none more obliging to speak with He observed pauses in his discourse to attend the motion and draw out the humour of other men at once commanding his own thoughts and watching others H●s passion was rather the vigour than the disorder of his well-weighed soul which could dispense its ●nger with as much prudence as it managed any act of State He gave his Majesty safe counsel in the prosperity of his Affairs and resolute advice in Extreamity as a true servant of his interest rather ●han of his power So eminent was he and my Lord of Canterbury that Rebellion despaired of success as long as the fi●st lived and Schism of licentiousness as lo●g as the second stood Take my Lord of Strafford as accused and you will find his Integrity and Ability that he managed his whole Government either by the Law or the Interest of his Countrey Take him as dying and you will see his parts and piety his resolution for himself his sel●-resignation for the Kingdoms good his devotion for the Church whose patrimony he forbad his son upon his blessing Take him as dead you will find him glorious and renowned in these three characters The first of the best King I looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest Affairs of State for those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great Errors and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract great store while moving in so high a sphere and with so v●gorus a lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious exhalations which condensed by a popular Odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and integrity though I cannot in my judgment approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of Times and the temper of that People more than led by his own disposition to any heighth and rigour of Action c. The second of the best Historian He was a person of a generous spirit fitted for the noblest Exercises and the most difficult parts of Empire His Counsels were bold yet just and he had a vigour proper for the execution of them Of an eloquence next that of his Masters masculine and excellent He was no less affectionate to the Church than to the State and not contented while living to defend the government and patrimony of it he commended it also to his Son when he was about to dye and charged his abhorrency of sacriledge His enemies called the Majesty of his m●ene in his Lieutenancy pride and the undaunted execution of his Office on the Contumacious the insolency of his fortune He was censured for that fatal error of following the King to London and to the Parliament after the Pacification at York And it was thought that if he had gone over to his Charge in Ireland he might have scoured both himself and that Kingdom for his Majesties service But some attribute this Counsel to a necessity of fate whose first stroke is at the Brain of those whom it designs to ruine and brought him to feel the effects of popular rage which himself in former Parliaments had used against Government and to finde the experience of his own devices upon the Du●e of Buckingham Providence teacheth us to abhor over fine Councels by the mischiefs they often bring upon their Authors The third of common fame A Gentleman he was of rare choice and singular Endowments I mean of such as modelled fashioned and accomplished him for State-conceraments of a searching and penetrating judgment nimble apprehension ready and fluent in all results of Councel Most happy in the vein of speech which was always round perspicuous and express much to the advantage of his s●nse and so full stocked with reason that he might be rather said to demonstrate than to argue As these abilities raised him to State-administration so his Addressing his applying those abilities so faithfully in promotion of the Royal Interest soon rendered him a Favourite of the first admission So that never King had a more intelligent and withal a firmer servant than he was to his Master But these qualities which rendred him so aimiable to his Majesty represented him formidable to the Scots so that some who were not well perswaded of the justness of his sentence thought he suffered not so much for what he had done already as for what he was like to have done had he lived to the disservice of that Nation And that he was not sacrificed so much to the Scots revenge as to their fear And certainly his fall was the first so the most fatal wound the King's Interest ever received H●s three Kingdoms hardly affording another Strafford that is one man his peer in parts and fidelity to his Majesty He had a singular passion for the Government and Patrimony of the Church both which he was studious to preserve safe and sound either opening them to be of sacred extraction or at least prudent constitution relating to holy performances And had he wanted these positive graces yet in so great a Person it may be commendable that he was eminent for privative and negative Excellencies being not taxable with any Vice those petty pleasures being beneath the satisfaction of a soul so large as his In short saith the ingenious Gentleman he was a man who might have passed under a better notion had he lived in better times This last period is a question since this great Statesman and his good Masters goodness was so over-shadowed with their greatness and their vertues so lost in their power as the Sun the aptest parallel of their lustre and benificence is hid in his own light that they owe their great but glorious fame to their misfortunes and their renown to their ruine that levelled their worth otherwise as much out of their reach as their place to vulgar apprehensions Eclipsed lustre like a veiled beauty is most looked on when most covered The setting Sun is more glorious than its self in its Meridian because more low and the lowest Planet seems biggest to a common eye So faith●ul he was and the Arch-Bishop that in the Juncto consisting of them two and Duke Hamilton they voted a Parliament though they knew themselves the first sufferers by it and so confident of his integrity that when he had treason enough discovered at the late transactions in York touching the Scots conspiracy to charge his enemies with he waved the advantage and secure in his own innocence fell an instance of that Maxim That there is no danger small but what is thought so This was his great principle Vsurped Royalty was never laid down by perswasion from Royal clemency for in armis jus omne regni Observations on the Lives of Henry Earl of Holland and Robert Earl of Warwick HEnry
consumpio jam pulvere tormentario armatos inermis Vallo munito inter sola causa virtute animatus ita re●udit concidit castris exuit ut ●totum belli molem cum ipsis Authoribus profligavit Quicquid fugae illius residuum erat inter urbis unius Moenia eaqu● arcta obsidione astricta concl●so Qua quidem pugna memorabili praeter quod miserum popellum jugo intolerabili levaverat sedes suas expulsis Ecclesias Pastoribus pacem omnibus Firmamentum pacis obsequium pristinum restituerit Et jam sequenti armorum nostrorum f●elicitate qua partes Regni occidentales maturius ad officium verum Dominum redierunt viam apperuisse momentum ingens extitisse libentissimè profitemur In hac opera landabili cum praefatus Radulphus perstiterit adhuc in victo animo industria indefessa nullo ard●o quantumvi● labore periculo excusatus cumque mille argumentis testatum fecerit Honorem salutemque nostram sibi omni fortuna capite potiorens nos virum fortissimum optimeque affectum animum benigno studio prosequi amplius demereri volentes hunc praec●nio merito ornandum propiori ad nos gradu extollendum censuimus Sciatis igitur nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia mero motu praefatum Radulphum Hopton ad statum gradum stylum Dignitatens Titulum and Honorem Baronis Hopton de Stratton in Comitatu nostro Cornubiae c. In cujus rei Testimonium has Literas Nostras fieri fecimus Patentes Teste meipso apud Oxon. quarto die Sep●embris Anno Regni Nostri Decimo nono His two great Actions the one at Liscard the other at Stratton cannot be better described than by an Eye-witness whose words are these as he saith out of a Manuscript corrected with Sir Ralph 's own hand communicated to him by his Secretary Mr. Tredus At Liscard a little before the Fight began the King's party took it into seasonable consideration that seeing by the Commission of the Lord Mohun brought from Oxford four persons viz. the said Lord Mohun Sir Ralph Hopton Sir Iohn Berkley and Colonel Ashburnham were equally impowered in the managing of all Military ma●ters And seeing such equality might prove inconvenient which hitherto had been prevented with the extraordinary moderation of all parties in ordering a Bat●el it was fittest to fix the power in one chief and general consent setled it in Sir Ralph Hopton He first gave order that publick Prayers should be read in t●e head of every Squadron and it was done accordingly and the Enemy observing it did stile it saying of Mass as some of their Prisoners afterwards did confess Then he caused the Fo●t to be drawn up in the best order they could and placed a Fo●lorn of Musquetiers in the little I●closures winging them with the few H●rse and Dragoons he had This done two small Mynion Drakes speedily and secretly fetched from the Lord Mohun's house were planted on a lit●le B●rrough within random-shot of the Enemy yet so that they were covered out of their sight with small parties of Horse about them These concealed Mynions were twice discharged with such success that the Enemy quickly quitted their ground● And all their Army being put into a rout the King's Forces had the exe●ution of them which they performed very sparingly taking 1250 prisoners all their Cannon and Ammunition and most of their C●lours and Arms and after publick Thanks taking their repose at Liscard Stratton Fight succeeds on Tuesday the 16th of May 1643. The King's Army wants Ammun●tion and hath a steep hill to gain with all disadvantage and danger the Horse and Dragoons being not above five hundred and the Foot two thousand four hundred The Parl. Forces were well furnished and barricado●d upon the top of the hill their Foot 3400. and their Horse not many indeed having dispatched 12●0 to surprize the Sheriff and Commissioners at Bodmin On the King's side order was given to force the passage to the top of the Hill by four several Avenues the ascent was steep and difficult resolutely did his Majesties Forces get up and obstinately did the Enemy keep them down The Fight continued doubtful with many countenances of various events from five in the Morning till three in the Afternoon amongst which most remarkable the smart charge made by M. G. Chudleigh with a stand of Pikes on Sir Bevil Greenvil who fell nobly himself and had lost his squadron had not Sir Iohn now Lord Berkley who ●ed up the Musquetiers on each side of Sir Bevil seasonably relieved it so resolutely reinforcing the Charge that Major-General Chudleigh was taken Prisoner● Betwixt three and four of the Clock the Commanders of the King's Forces who embraced those four several ways of ascent met to their mutual joy almost at the top of the hill which the routed enemy confusedly forsook In this service though they were Assailants they lost very few men and no considerable Officer killing of the Enemy about three hundred and taking seventeen hundred prisoners all their Cannon being thirteen pieces of brass Ordnance and Ammunition seventy barrels of powder with a Magazine of Bisket and other provision proportionable For this victory publick Prayer and Thanksgiving was made on the hill then the Army was disposed of to improve their success to the best advantage Nothing had funk this great spirit but the fate of Kingdoms with whose ruine only he was contented to fall and disband his brave Soldiers upon honourable terms Five things made my Lord Hopton so eminently serviceable 1. His great insight into the designs and prudent foresight of the events of present Councels which when most doubted and wavered gave him that resolution that undertook great difficulties and bore up against greater 2. His experience of War in general and his acquaintance with that seat of it committed to him in particular 3. His renown all over the Kingdom for piety and moderation and within his own association for hospitality civility and charity 4. His name among the Enemies as considerable for his generousness and justice as for his valour and conduct 5. His Estate that set him above mercenariness and his care for money that set his Soldiers above need the occ●sion of mutinying among themselves or of incivilities towards others Observations on the Life of the Earl of Carnarvan RObert Dormer Ar. was on the tenth of Iune 1615. made Baronet by King Iames and on the 30 day of the same month was by him created Baron Dormer of Wing in Buckinghamshire His Grand-child Robert Dormer was by K. Charles in the 4th of his Reign created Viscount Ascot Ea●l of Carnarvan He lost his life fighting for him who gave him his honour at the first Battel of Newbury Being sore wounded he was desired by a Lord to know of him what suit he would have to his Majesty in his behalf the said Lord promising to discharge his trust in presenting his request
affecting as one said well free-will in thinking as well as in acting and at the new discoursing wits that were as unsettled though not so rational as the old Scepticks until he considered the difficulty of discerning truth the hardship of confining the Quick-silver thoughts within the limits it prescribeth or submitting them to the burden it imposeth One of the latter Schools of the Grecians examineth the matter it is the Lord Verulams observation and is at a stand to think what should be in it that men should love lies where neither they make for pleasure as with Poets nor for advantage as with the Merchant but for the lies sake But I cannot tell why this same truth is a naked and open day-light that doeth not shew the Masques and Mummeries and triumphs of the present world halfe so stately and daintily as Candlelights Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl that sheweth best by day but it will not rise to the p●ice of a Diamond or Carbuncle that sheweth best in varied lights a mixture of lies doth ever add pleasure Doth any man doubt th●t if there were taken out of mens minds vain opinions flattering hopes false valuations imaginations as one would and the like vinum daemonum as a Father calls Poetry but it would leave the minds of a number of men poor shrunken things full of melancholy and indisposition and unpleasing to themselves Clear and round dealing this Noble mans temper is the honour of mans nature and that mixture of falsehood is like allay in coyn of gold and silver which may make the metal work the better but embaseth it For there winding and crooked Courts are the goings of the Serpent which goeth basely upon the belly and not upon the foot There is nothing of so ill consequence to the publick a falsehood or speech being the currant coyn o● converse the putting false money upon the world or of so much prejudice to a mans own interest as perfidiousness which weakeneth his great security which stands by him when his estate and friend● cannot or so dark a blot as dissembling which as Mountaign saith prettily is only to be Brave towards God and a Coward towards man For a Lye faceth God and shrinketh from man His hearr was too stout and his head too clear to use those Arts of closeness and dissimulation which those need who have not judgment and wit enough to discern all the circumstances of an affair so as to know when to tell a truth nor courage and valour enough to look in the face of all the cons●quences of a business so as to own it A man better made for the open Arts and generous policy of H. 8. than the suspicious closeness and the wary reservedness of H. 7. His Father lost his life in completing the union of Roses I mean York and Lancaster and he in beginning the union of Kingdoms viz. England and Scotland by treaty and England and France by War he being the first that durst fasten the Royal Standard in the sides of Bulleign and the last that advanced the St. George in the middle of it both taking and governing it The greatest thing that ever that age saw was if we believe Sleidan the delivery of the Keys of Bulleign by ● French Governour to the Duke of Suffolks hand and the greatest thing King H. 8. saw he saith was the delivery of those keys by the Duke into his hand insomuch that despairing of greater the one died that year the other the next Queen Elizabeth being to employ a famous Ambassage into France made choice of two of the Noblest Peers of her Realm equal in Rank equal in Virtue but the one excused it by a defect in his hearing and the other by an ignorance and want of the French Language To which the Queen smilingly replied that it was a miserable estate when her speaking Peers were deaf and her hearing Peers were dumb Our Duke used to complain ●hat two of the most eminent m●n in the Council in his time had two different but unhappy qualities the one a well-spoken man had such a humour that he pretended he understood hardly any body the other a person of an excellent judgment but speaking so darkly that hardly any body understood him He avoided two things first Catching too soon at an offence Secondly Yeilding too easie a way to anger the one shewing a weak judgment the other a perverse nature which rendereth great men as ridiculous as it did the Ambassadors of Spain and Venice who drew blood from one another in the most August Assembly at the Coronation of R. H. 4th Queen in France because one of them used the word excellency instead of the word Seigniory But in these cases he observed the Roman Discipline nec sequi nec fugere to be more prudent than to catch at such trifling Cavils and more courageous than to shun if they were offered to him being very cautious also in mentioning the name of God in small matters Nec deus Intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus Inciderit and more willing to build his resolution on the experience of former ages than his own thought being very unwilling to be of the number of those people who like the Chinois think they have two eyes their friends as those think of the Europaeans one and other men as they think of the rest blind Being vexed with the delays at Rome and the delusions at Bridewel where the Cardinals proceeded according to their instructions at Rome one day he knocks on the Table in the presence of the two Cardinals and binds it with an Oath That it was never well in England since Cardinals had any thing to do therein and from that time forward as an active Instrument he endeavoured the abolishing of the Popes power in England against whom he was not more active in the Parliament 1534 than he was vigilant in the Committee 1535 in the one cutting off the head in the other weakening the members of that Church He m●de provident yet moderate use of his Masters favours thereby obliging others and securing himself being above Mercenary inclinations as much in his thoughts as in his ●ortune he was neither too near the King lest he were weary of him nor too far off lest he forgot him or thought himself neglected by him His intermissions of attendance gave others no advantage but rendred him more gracious he neither engrossed nor confined his Masters affection It was easie for him to rise being descended of Noble Blood which is never envied for its advancement and as easie to keep high being well studied in his Princes disposition whose inclination when found is half fitted ever pleasing his Masters Natural humour never his Vicious Having attained a competent height he chose rather to grow stronger by relation than higher by advancement Some Favourites whose heels have been tripped up by their adversaries have with their hands held on their Allies till they could recover
refused a Treaty but upon condition that Ashe their Leader was pledged advised an engagement with them out of hand saying No English-man should be undervalued so far as to be an Hostage for a Villain and adding further so good was his Intelligence That if they were not defeated speedily the Scots and Germans would discover that they had but too much hand in this plot For which his services his Master raised him to the Admiralship of England and the Earldom of Southampton in which Qu●lity he was one of the three Noblemen that managed the Business of Divorce between the King and Anne of Cleve with that applause that made him Lord Privy-Seal Nov. 14. Anno 1541. and the grand Examinant of the particulars in the Lady Katharin Howard's Case a matter of great trust and secrecy w●ich he performed with a searching and deep Judgment beyond that Ladies fear and the King's expectation as appears from the exact Account given under Sir Tho. Audley and his own hands touching that matter Having provided for the Kings Safety at Home he is One of Four that treat for his Intrest abroad I mean upon the Borders of Scotland where our excellent Persons dexterity was observed in gaining that time by various Proposals ●or Peace that served his Master to provide against the War in the beginning whereof the brave Lord died at York so much esteemed that for the Honour of his Memory his Standard was born in the Fore-ward all this Expedition A Person in whom prudence was even with activity resolution with prudence Success with Resolution Moderation with Success Honour and Favour with All. Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Darcy SIr Thomas Darcy was one of King Henry the Eighth'● first Counsellours so advanced a● most of his Fellows not for Affection but Interest owing his Promotion to his own sufficiency rather than his Masters favour His Counsel was weighty at Home his Assistance necessary Abroad where in behalf of Pope Iulius the second and the Emperour he did more with 1500 Archers in ● year for the balancing of Europe than had been done before in an Age. No Employment so dangerous at that time as that of the Warden of the West Marches of Scotland none so noble for that Employment as my Lord who was equally knowing and stout and at once most feared and most loved The Earl of Shrewsbury made some Inroads into Scotland the Lord Darcy seconds him But being surprized by the Duke of Albany's preparations he had as much Wit to make Peace as he had Resolution to carry on the War None knew better when to yield none better when to conquer so great ● command had he over himself so great over th● Enemy that he brought them to request his Wish aud offer what was his Interest With the Duke of Surrey's assistance by Land and Fitz-William● his by Sea he reduced that Nation to a good Intelligence with Us that year and a Peace the next a Peace as he observed that would ●e no longer kept than we had a Sword in our Hands and an Army on their Borders For Con●cience guided other parts of the World he said and Fear Scotland Whence he invaded them duely once a year Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Howard SIr Edward's Brother in Worth as well as Blood His Fathers Interest set him up and his own Industry kept him so All the Children were brought up for Sea-Services this Gentleman for Sea Commands He immediatly succeeds his younger Brother in the Admiralty and wisely considering the advantage of the French Gallies in a calm the number of their ships the danger of their winds for us if they blew South-west desired of the King so many Souldiers as might man the ships and make good the landing wherewith he scoured the seas and secured the Kings passage with so much Honour that he was able to assist his Father at Court as much as Wolsey did Fox his Gallantry being no less pleasing to his Master than the other young Favou●ites Compliance and both these young men had no less Art to govern his Prince than he had to govern his Kingdom These Arts which all other Favourites use being Hopes and Fears which as Doors Passages to the heart a●e so guarded by their vigilancy that they c●n both let themselves in and keep all others out the two Ends upon which the Thread of Government depends His Father is made Duke of Norfolk and he Earl of Surrey both are an eye-sore to the Cardinal who●e Fortune h●d no Superior in the Ki●gs Favour whose Ambition would endure no Equal The Old Mans years and cares are fitted with a Retirement in the Country the Young Mans ambition and activity with a Government in I●eland which he reduced as speedily to obedience notwithstanding Desmond's Rebellion as he had to civility had it not been for Wolsey's Underminings who endured no publick service but what he did himself and would chuse rather that the Kingdom should perish by a Traytor then be saved by a Nobleman Beloved he was by that Country where he left a Peace and a Parliament Anno 1521. so that they were loth to part with him Wanted he was by the King to scour the narrow seas for the French War so that he must have him The King hath made him formerly His Admiral the Emperour upon his return from England makes him his and with both their Commissions he lands in Normandy wastes the adjacent Countries sparing only Religious Houses takes and sacks Morlais in Bretaign which he entered under the smoak burns their ships commands the sea and sets the Emperour safe in Spain advising his Majesty from thence to make a general Muster of his Subjects for his own satisfaction and others terrour March 27 1522. The troubles in Scotland required an able Head and a stout Heart two Endowments that no man was more Master of than the Earl of Surrey now Duke of Norfolk upon his beloved Fathers decease whose Prudence toyled the Scots to deliver up their King as his Prowess frighted them to yeild up themselves as they did in that most exquisi●e Treaty where the Earl of Worcester beat the Bush saith my noble Author and our Duke catched the Hare A while after he is Earl Marshal and Embassador to King ●rancis about t●ose two grand poin●s 1. That the French King should set up a Patriarch 2. That he should stop up all the payments made to Rome wi●h fair promises of that supply of men and money he then most wanted When the Pope stuck to Queen Katherine three things he advised the King to 1. To teach the people that a general Council was above the Pope and proclaim that he did appeal to it 2. To fix upon every Church-Door the Dowagers Appeal to Rome and the late Statute against it 3. To confederate with the Kings of Hunga●y and Poland the Estates of the Empire and the Hanse Towns Three things that would settle his People at home and
the main Battle of 6000 foot and 600 men at Arms and 1000 light-horse led by the Protector and the Rear of half so many led by the Lord Dacres the Artillery of 16 Pieces of Ordnance making one Wing the men at Arms and Demilances the other For the Avant-guard and half of the Battel ●iding about two flight-shot from their side the other half of the Battel and the whole Flank of the Rear was closed by the Carriages being 12000 Carts and Waggons the rest of the men at A●ms and D●mi●ances marching behind A f●w ski● mishes and stratagems passed when a Trumpeter is sent by Huntley to challenge the Protector to whom the Protector replying like a wi●e man That it was not for a person of his trust to duel it with a private man The Earl of Warwick said Trumpeter bring me word that thy Master will perform the Combat with me and I 'll give thee 100 Crowns Nay rather said our Duke bring me word that he will give us Battle and I will give thee 1000 l. But in 25 days he gains a greater Battle over-runs the Country with the loss of no more then 65 men to that of 25000 Scots 3. His third Exploit was Dispensing Honours so nobly that they were due encouragements to Virtue though yet so warily that they should not be either a burden or a danger to the Crown 4. He gave the Commonalty great content in pulling down Enclosures by Proclamations and the Nobility no less by setting up Land-improvements by Rule 5. He engaged both by a good bargain of Church-lands confirmed by this Parliament 6. He weakneth the Papists 1. By conniving at them until they broke out to such outrages as made them lyable 2. By dividing them when engaged with hope of mercy on the one hand and fear of his Army on the other 7 The French taking the advantage of our seditious to break off their Treaty and proclaim a War he con●i●ca●es their Estates and secures the persons of a● many of them as lived in England But Greatness is fatal and his Brother that should have suppo●ted this great man ruines himself and him He had married a Lady high in spirit his Brother the Queen-Dowager higher in place the Ladies quar●el first and then as it must needs follow the Lords Thomas the Admiral is questioned for aiming at the Crown 1. By marrying the Lady Elizabeth and then by seizing the King-person and the Government so honest this Protector a plain man and of no over-deep insight into practices that he gave way to his Tryal saying though somewhat ominous as it happened I 'll do and suffer Iustice so Uxorious that he sealed his death And now he stands alone wanting his Brothers cunning to reach Warwick or his resolution to check Norfolk The people are troubled at that one weak and unjustifiable Act of his The pulling down of so many of Gods ●hu●che● in the City to build one Somerset-house in the Strand The Earl takes notice of their discontent and asse●bleth eighteen discontented Counsellours who arm themselves and their followers calling the City and the Kingdome to their assistance by a Proclamation The Protector fleeth with the King and a Guard to Hampton-Court the City sometimes resolved to assist the Lords out of malice to the Protector sometimes to forbear out of such consideration of its many misfortunes in opposing Kings set forth not with more Integrity by George Stadlow then Eloquence and Life by Iohn Ayliffe They delay Sir Anthony Wingfield Captain of the Guard perswades the King of the Lords moderation and Loyalty the Duke is to answer for himself the Lawyers charge him with removing Westminster-Hall to Somerset-House where he kept a Court of Request and determined Title of Lands the Souldiers with the detaining of their pay and betraying our French Garisons the States-men with the engrossing of all Authority The Earl of Warwick vigilantly but closely manageth all discon●e●●s of his designe with this great advantage that we was subtle close and implacable while the other was free-spirited open-hearted humble hard to distrust easie to forgive His friend the Lord Russel is absent he is first tryed and acquitted but with the loss of his Protectorship Treasure●s●ip Marshalship and 2000 l. of Land more But Warwick's designe for the Crown ripening and Somerset being the most eminent obstruction in his way having weakned before he ruines him now he chargeth him with Treason to make a noise and with Felony to do execution the Council is packed he looseth his life for a small crime and that on a nice point subtilly devised and packed by his Enemies forgetting to ask the benefit of the Clergy that had saved it This person as one charactereth him was religious himself a lover of all such as were so and a great promoter of the Reformation Valiant and successful generally beloved by Souldiers envied by Statesmen though the most conscientious of them all doing nothing irregularly but in complyance with the necessities of Government open to dangers as one that could not be jealous better to act than designe to perform than plot When he was discharged of Treason there was so loud a shout in Westminster-Hall as was heard to Long-Acre when condemned of Felony there was a ●ilence and amazement for three hours It is observed of some that they have despised the benefit of their Clergy while they lived and by a just pro●idence of God could not make use of it when ●hey were to dye It was pitty that this Noble person should forget to crave that benefit of the Clergy which might have saved him when he was so unwi●●ing to enjoy any ●enefit of the Clergy which might Incommode them The controversie between him and the Earl of Warwick is like that between Demades and Phocion Demades threatned Phocion that the Athenians would destroy him when they fell into their mad fits and thee Demades saith Phocion when they return to their right minds it appearing afterwards that what he was charged to have design'd against others he did only in his own defence cum moderamine Inculpatae cautelae in whose behalf Cicero had pleaded thus Si vita nos●ra in aliquas Insidias si in vim in tela aut latronum● aut in imicorum incidisset omnis honesta ratio esset expediendae salutis hoc ratio doctis necessitas barbaris mos gentibus feris natura ipsa praescrips●t ut omnem semper vim quâcunque ope possint a corpore a capite a vitâ suâ propulsare-nitantur Beheaded he was on Tower-Hill with no less p●aise for his piety and patience than pit●y and grief of the spectators His Death was at●ended with many signes and wonders and his Name with an indelible character his house being cal●ed Somerset-house to this day though solemnly proclaimed by King of Iames Denmark-house because inhabited by the King o● Denmark and his Sister Surely saith my Author this Duke was well belo●ed
character and commendation of my Lord Bacon the Settling and the Peaceable such as Edward the VI in whose Reign he was adva●ced and Queen Elizabeth in whose Reign he was restored It was in pursuance of King Henry's Statute that he clo●ed with King Edward's Will For this Clause he p●oduced for himself Provided That if the Lady Mary do not keep nor perform such Conditions which shall be limited and appointed as aforesaid that then and from thenceforth for lack of Heirs of the Kings Body and the said Lord Prince lawfully begotten the said Imperi●l Crown and other the Premisses shall be come and remain to suc● Person and Persons and of such Estate and Estates as the Kings Highness by his Letters Patents sealed under His Great Seal or by His last Will in Writing signed with His Hand shall limi● and appoint Isocrates was a man of an excellent Wit but finding himself destitute of countenance gesture and confidence he never durst speak in publick contenting himself to teach even to his decrepit days and commonly saying He taught Rhetorique for a thousand Ryals but would give more t●an ten thousand to him that would teach him confidence T●is Marq●e●s brought up many a Courtier yet had not the face to be One himself until Queen Elizabeth who balanced her Council in point of Religion in the beginning of her Reign a● she did her Court in point of Interest throughout threatned him to the C●uncil-Board first and then to her Cabinet where none more secret to keep counsel none more faithful to g●ve it and more modest to submit A sincere plain direct man no● crafty nor involved Observations on the Life of Sir John Cheek SIr Iohn Cheek born over against the Market-Cross in Cambridge became Tu●or to King Edward the Sixth and Secretary of State Not ●o mean●y descended as Sir Iohn Heyward pretends who writes him The Son of his own Deserts being a B●anch of the Cheeks of Moston in the Isle of Wight where their Estate was ●hree hundred pound a year three hundred years ago and no more within this thi●ty years happy in his Father Mr. Peter Cheek whose first tui●ion seasoned him happier in his good Mother that grave Matron whose good counsel Christian charge when he was going to Court set●led him and happiest of all in the place of his birth where he fell from his Mothers VVomb to the Muses Lap and learned as soon as he lived being a Scholar sooner than he was a man A German had the care of his younger studies and a Frenchman of his carriage his par●s being too large to be confined to the narrowness of English Rules and too sprightly to attend the ●edio●sness and creep by the compass of an English method The same day was he and Mr. Ascham admitted to St. Iohns and the same week to Court the one to the Tuition o● Edward the sixth the other of Queen Elizabeth there they were both happy in their Master Doctor Metcalf who though he could not as Themistocles said fiddle yet he could make a li●tle Col●edge a great one and breed Scholars th●ugh he was none His advice deterred them from the rough Learning of the Modern Schoolmen and their own Genius led them to the more polite studies of the antient Orators and Historians wherein they profi●ed so well that the one was the copious Orator the other the Greek Professor of that University A contest began now between the Introducers of the New and the Defenders of the Old Pronunciation of the Greek the former endeavoured to give each Le●ter Vowel and Diphthong its full sound whilst Doctor Caius and others of the Old stamp cried out against his Project and the Promoters of it taxing It ●or novelty and Them for want of experience and affirming Greek it self to be barbarous so clownishly ut●ered and that neither France Germany nor Italy owned any such Pronunciation Iohn Cheek and Thomas Smith maintained that this was no Innovation but the antient utterance of Greek most clear and most full Chancellour Gardiner then interposed against the Pronunciation and the Authors of it But custom hath since prevailed for the use of the one and the due commendation of the other Sir Iohn Cheek's Authors were Isocrates and Thucydides his Auditors the youngest that came thither for Language and the oldest that heard him for his Discourse and Policy The one preferred him to the ample Provostship of Kings the other to the great t●ust of Secretary of State Prince Edward studied not his Book more sedulously than he studied him that his Rules might comply with his Inclination his Lectures with his temper Lectures that were rather Discourses instilled to him Majestically as a Prince than Lessons beaten into him pedantiquely as a School-boy The wise Man would not be debasing his Royal Pupils mind with the nauseated and low crumbs of a Pedant but ennobling it with the free and high Maximes of a States-man sugaring the more austere parts of Learning with the pleasures of Poetry Discourse Apologues and so deceiving the Royal Youth to an improvement before his own years and others comprehension His very Recreations were useful and his Series of lighter exercises for he observed a method in them too a constant study his Table his School his Meat his Discipline the industrious Tutor filling up each space of his time with its suitable instruction it being his Maxime That Time and Observation were the best Masters and Exercise the b●st Tutor While others doated over their Rules his Pupils practised them no day passing without his Letters to the King as that Literae meae unum semper habet Argumentum Rex Nobilissime Pater Illustrissime hoc est in omnibus Epistolis ago t●bi gra●ias c. or to the Queen as that Quod non ad te jamdiu scriberoni in causa fuit non negligentia sed studium non ●nim hoc feci ut nunquam omnino scriberem sed accuratius scriberem c. I have two Tutors said King Edward to Cardan Diligence and Moderation Sir Jo. Cheeke and Doctor Coxe So exact an account he gave Prince Edward of his Fathers Kingdome and its Interest that King Henry designed him for Secretary and King Edward made him one Three years he had that place and in that three years did England more service so great his Parts Learning and Religion more kindness such his eminency in both and gave the People more satisfaction such his Integrity and Dexterity than all that went before him and most that came after him He was the first that brought in the use of a Diary and his Pupil the next that practised it His Aphorism it was That a dark and imperfect reflexion upon Affairs floating in the memory was like words dispersed and insignificant whereas a compleat view of them in a Book was like the same words pointed in a period and made significant Much did the Kingdome value him but more the King for being once
at Court often to encourage them for the other getting his Commanders always power and authority enough to do their Masters business but never enough to do their own There being always a contest between the Populacy and the Souldiers whom nothing reconciles but downright force and necessity it was death to his Followers to be irregular because one of their miscarriages exasperates a million and distastes a Kingdom so necessary is a strict Discipline in the Camp and an impartial Justice in the Countrey Outward occasions help Fortune a Man 's own temper makes it when there be as my Lord Bacon writes no stops or restiveness in a Man's mind but that the wheels of that keeps even with those of fortune Sir Clement and Cato Major were both of a make both having tantum robur corporis animi ut quocunque loco nati essent fortunam sibi facturi viderentur Observations on the Life of the Lord Rich. HE must needs be preferred who was so richly descended and nobly allied as to shew at Court upon his first appearance sixty Noblemen and Knights of his Relation and a hundred and fifty thousand Pound a Year Revenue among his Friends He was more beholding to the Temple for his Law than to the Universities for his Learning His severe and active Nature aspiring above the pedantiqueness of a Scholar to the usefulness of a States-man I could never endure saith he those Studies that furnish me only with unactive thoughts and useless discourse that teach me only to think and speak His staid and solid parts commended Him to Cromwel and Cromwel recommended him to King Henry the Eighth He was Solicitor-General to His Majesty and Steward to his Master Cromwel was the M●wl and Rich the Hammer of Abbeys He laid open to the Monks their faults and his Master made use of it to force them to a surrendry For as he said when those Religious Societies saw they had faults enough discovered to take away their Lands they had wit enough to give them up His Counsels overthrew Popery and his Deposition cut off Sir Thomas More for being sent to Sir Thomas after much discourse with him he asked him this subtle Question Whether he would acknowledge the King Supream Head if it were enjoyned by an Act of Parliament Sir Thomas asked him again If the Parliament enacted that God should not be Lord whether he should consent to it And those words undid him He saw that the Protestant Religion was the Interest of England as well as the Doctrine of Scripture and therefore he carried it on in point of policy as Archbishop Cranmer did in point of conscience King Henry the eighth admired his distinct reasoning and stayed judgment and Queen Anne Bullen was taken with his graceful eloquence and ingenious discourses In the morning his plyant soul that could answer all the turnings and windings of business was as reserved and solid as that of a demure States-man in the evening as chearful and merry as that of a Debonair Courtier He was the wisdome of the Court in the Presence and its wit in the Closet its Oracle there and its pleasure here King Henry the eighth made him one of his Legators and King Edward the sixth one of his Council Under him he carried on the Protestant Religion in point of conscience which others managed in point of interest He designed the degrees of the Reformation and he set out its method than whom none more zealous in things necessary none more moderate in things indifferent Active he was but wary stirring but cautious To him the Reformers resorted in point of Law as to Cranmer and Ridley in point of Religion Such his Prudence that the Protector made him his Friend such his Integrity that the King made him Chancellour where his Decrees were just his Dispatches quick his Judgments speedy his Sums of Debates ●ull and satisfactory his Sentences irreversible his Assistants in the Rolls an● other Courts able and honest None more complyant to Reason none more stiff in things agains● Reason He would do any thing for King Edward the sixth's interest nothing for Duke Dudley's ambition therefore he observing the course of Affairs would rather resign his Place than his Integrity when he could not with a safe conscience keep it he with a contented mind parted with it being honoured with the Barony of Leez and enriched with the Western Abbies it being the Prudence of that time to interest the Nobility in the Papal Revenues that so they might be engaged against the Authority R. Rich Lord Chancellour saith my Author then living in Great St. Bartholomews though outwardly concurring with the rest began now secretly to favour the Duke of Somerset and sent him a Letter therein acquainting him with all passages at the Council-board subscribing the same either out of hast or familiarity with no other Direction save To the Duke enjoyning his servant a new Attendant as newly entred into his Family safely to deliver it The Man made more hast than good speed and his Lord wondring at his quick return demanded of him where the Duke was when he delivered him the Letter In the Charter-house said the servant on the same token that he read it at the Window and smiled thereat But the Lord Rich smiled not at the Relation as sadly sensible of the mistake and delivery of the Letter to the Duke of Norfolk no great friend of his and an utter enemy to the Duke of Somerset Wonder not if this Lord rose early up the next morning who may be presumed not to have slept all Night He hieth to the Court and having gotten admittance into the Bed-chamber before the King was up fell down on his Knees and desired that his Old Age might be eased of this burthensome Office pleading that there ought to be some preparatory intervals in States-men between their temporal business and their death in order to which he desired to retire to Essex there to attend his own Devotions Nor would he rise from the ground till the King had granted his Request And thus he saved himself from being stripped by others by first pulling off his own Cloaths who otherwise had lost his Chancellours place for revealing the secrets of the Council-board There are few places so impregnable but Nature hath left in them some place or other by which they may be taken none being armed at all points so well but there is some way left whereby he may be surprized He is the strongest that hath fewest accesses He was a wise Man that said Delay hath undone many for the other World Hast hath undone more for this Time well managed saves all in both But there is a Wheel in things which undoeth all those that have not a Wheel that answereth it in their Souls I mean a great capacity to comply and close with those grand Vicissitudes that with small and unobserved circumstances turn round the World which this great Man was Master of who
England since the Reformation their Rise and Growths Prudence and Policies Miscarriages and Falls during the Reigns of Henry the eighth King Edward the sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth King Iames and King Charles the first in Octav. by D. Lloyd A. M. The Precedency of Kings in Folio by Iames Howel Esquire The Description of Tangier with an account of the Life of Gayland Usurper of the Kingdom of Fez in Quarto The Golden Coast or a Description of Guiney in Quarto An Abridgement of the three Volumns of Sir George Crookes Reports in Octavo An Abridgement of the Reports of Sir Francis More in Octavo The Compleat Lawyer by William Noy of Lincolns-Inne in Octavo The Tenants Law a Treatise of great use for Tenants and Farmers of all kinds and all other persons whatsoever Wherein the several Natures Differences and kinds of Tenures and Tenants are discussed and several Cases in Law touching Leases Rents Distresses Replevins and other accidents between Landlord and Tenants and Tenant and Tenant between themselves and others especially such who have suffered by the late conflagration in the City of London by R. T. Gent. in Twelves Memories of the Lives Actions Sufferings and Deaths of those Noble Reverend and excellent Personages that suffered by Death Sequestration Decimation or otherwise for the Protestant Religion and the great Principle thereof Allegiance to their Sovereign in our late intestine Wars in Folio by D. Lloyd A. M. Arithmetical Recreations by W. Leybourne in Twelves The Reports of Sir Henry Hobart in F. The Compleat Copy-holder by the Lord Cooke in Octavo Machiavels Discourses and Prince in Twelves The Roman History of Lucius Florus in English in Octavo The City and Country Purchaser and Builder with directions for purchasing building and improving of Lands and Houses in any part of England in Octavo by Stephen Primate Gent. A brief Chronicle of the late intestine War in the three Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland from the years of our Lord 1637. to the year 1663. in Fol. by Iames Heath Gent. The new Academy of Complements erected for Ladies and Gentlemen containing variety of Complements and Letters fitted to the occasions of all persons of both Sexes with an exact Collection of the newest and choicest Songs a la mode both Amorous and Jovial in Twelves Systema Agriculturae being the whole Mystery of Husbandry made known by I. W. Gent. in Folio The Kings Primmer containing easie and pleasant directions for the reading of English in Thirty two Kings Psalter stored with observable varieties fit either for the School or for the Closet all which are profitable plain and pleasant in Octavo The Life and Death of that matchless Mirrour of Heroick Vertues Henrietta Maria de Bourbon late Queen to King Charles the first and Mother to the most Magnificent Prince King Charles the second in Twelves An Advertisement To all Gentlemen Booksellers or others WHereas Samuel Speed Bookseller hath lately disposed himself to a whole-Sale trade for Books not making any appearance of that imployment as ●ormerly he did These are to Certifie That those persons that please to apply themselves to him for Books shall be as well used as by any person whatsoever and whosoever hath any Study or Library of Books or Copies either in Manuscript or such as have been already Printed to dispose of shall receive from him the full value thereof to the said Parties ample satisfaction FINIS THE States-Men Favourites OF ENGLAND IN The Reign of Q. MARY Observations on the Life of Sir William Cordel SIR William Cordel where ever he was born had a fair Estate at Long-Melford in Suffal● and lieth buried in that fair Church under a decent Monument We will tran●late his Epitaph which will perfectly acquaint us with the great Offices he had and good Offices he did to Posterity Hic Gulielmus habet requiem Cordelliae avito Stemmate q●i elanus cla●i●r inge●io Hi● Studiis primos consumpsit fo●titer dunos Mox causarum stren●●● actor erat● Tanta illi doctrina inerat facundia tanta V● Parlamento publica linguaforet Postea factus Eques Reginae arcana Maria Con●ilia Patriae grande subibat opus Factus est Custos Rotulorum urgente senecta In Christo moriens cepit ad astra viam Pauperibus largus victum vestemque ministrans Insuper Hospitii condidit ille domum Here William Cordel doth in rest remain Great by his Birth but greater by his Brain Plying his studies hard his youth throughout Of Causes he became a Pleader stout His Learning deep such Eloquence did vent He was chose Speaker to the Parliament Afterwards Knight Queen Mary did him make And Counsellour State-Work to undertake And Master of the Rolls Well-worn with Age Dying in Christ Heaven was his utmost Stage Diet and Clothes to poor he gave at large And a fair Alms-House founded on his charge He was made Master of the Rolls November the fifth in the fifth of Queen Mary continuing therein till the day of his death the 23 of Queen Elizabeth Eight weeks and upwards passed between the Proclaiming of Queen Mary and the first Parliament by her assembled du●ing which time two Religions were together set on foot Protestantism and Popery the former hoping to be continued the latter labouring to be restored And as the Jews Children after the Captivity spake a middle Language betwixt Hebrew and Ashd●d so during the foresaid Interim the Churches and Chappels in England had a mixt celebration of their Divine Service between Reformation and Superstition The ●ame day there was a Mass sung for Edward the Sixth's soul in the Tower and the English Service for his Burial in Westminster No small justling was there between the zealous Promoters of these contrary Perswasions The Protestants had the Law on their side and the Papists the Prerogative These the Queens Opinion the other her Promise Besides seeing by the Fidelity of the Suffolk and Norfolk Protestant Gentry the Queen was much advantaged for the Recovery of her Right they conceived it but reason that as she by them regained the Crown so they under her should enjoy their Consciences Thus it is in the Evening Twilight wherein Light and Darkness at first may seem very equally marched but the later in a little time doth wholly prevai● The Catholick canvass for the next Parliament upon the Queens credit and authority● the Reformed upon the Nations Inclination The Body of the Kingdom meets and chuseth our Knight for Speaker whose temper was a Representative of the Parliament as that is of the Kingdom A temper made up of an equal mixture of Loyalty and Piety that could at once stand to their Religion and submit to their Soveraign Render to Caesar what was Caesars and to God what was Gods Long did he expect that the Queen would comply with the Parliament and as long did she stay for their compliance with her Unite they could not unanimously among themselves dissolved they are therefore peaceably
Soul raised him to this was one That he durst not entertain a Gift which as he said conquers both the foolish and the wise which in publick places i● is a Vice to accept and not a Vertue to offer It being a snare rather than a favour His next was Diligence Neglect wastes a man as insensibly as Industry improves him We need no more but sit still and Diseases will arise onely for want of exercise Man 's a Watch that must be looked to and wound up every day the least incuriousness steals to improficiency or offence which degreeingly weighs us down to ex●remity Diligence alone is a fair Fortune and Industry a good Estate There are five mens Activities that raise to Estates 1. The Divine to a small but an honest one 2. The Physit●an to a competency but uncertain 3. The Courtier to a great one and an honorable 4. The Citizen to a large one but not lasting And 5. The Lawyer to one large and firm too Seldom doth his Family fa●l who is sure to tye his Estate to his Child by an Entail and his Child to his Estate by an Education and an Employment When we observe the several alterations in Gentry we find four principal Actors on the Theatres of great Families the Beginner the Advancer the Continuer and the Ruiner 1. The Beginner who by his vertues refineth himself from the dross of the vulgar and layeth the foundation of his house 2. The Advancer who improveth it 3. The Continuer who conveyeth it to his Posterity as he received it from h●s Ancestors 4. The Ruine● that degenerates from his Fathers Our Judge began not but advanced that excellent Family whose original I cannot find so ancient it is and whose end I hope none will see it is so noble Observations on the Life of William Howard WIlliam Howard son to Thomas Howard second of that Surname Duke of Norfolk was by Queen Mary created Baron of Essi●gham in Surrey and by her made Lord Admiral of England which place he discharg●d with credit He was one of the first Favourers and Furtherers with his Purse and Countenance of the strange and wonderful discovery of Ru●●a He died anno Dom. 1554. This Noble Person had his plainness from his Father his ingenuity from his Mother his experience by Travel and Navigation his Blood endeared him to his Soveraign and his Abilities advanced him to her service H● promised no less to his Mistress t●an his F●ther and Vncle had performed to her Father The Ancestors merit is security for Posterie●ies who will hardly forfeit that favour with one act of their own unworthiness that was ganed by so many of their Predecessors service Like a well-drawn picture this Lord had his eye on all round on his Queen to be faithfull on his Country to be publick-spirited on his Family to be honourable on the present Age to be activ● and on the future to be renowned The Old Lord Burleigh sometime Treasurer of England coming to Cambridge with Queen Elizabeth when he was led into the publick Schools and had much commended their convenience beauty and greatness together with their Founder Humphrey the good Duke of Glocester Yea marry said he but I find one School wanting in our Universities and that is the School of Discre●ion When private Tutors had initiated publick Schools had seasoned and the University had improved this Gentlemans sprightly and noble parts vet did his Father observe one great defect in his Education and that is Discretion Discretion in Carriage for which he sent him to Cou●t Discretion in Business for which he sent him to travel and fight Not long had he been abroad to furnish himself with experience but he is called home to ennoble himself with action The Alve● of Spain were for four Generations together Commanders by Land and the Howards of England for as many Admirals at Sea None ever had more power none used less than he The more Authority he had allowed him over others the more Command he obtained over himself Twice did he mortgage his Estate for his followers pay many times did he venture his life for their encou●agement None directed more ●kilfully and yet none acted more resolutely Equally did he divide the profit equally share the honor with his follower● who under him never dared and never feared a danger Manners make a man saith the Courtier● Money makes a man saith the Citizen Learning makes a man saith the Scholar but Conduct makes a man saith the Souldier This Lords spirit never put hi● on so forwardly but his wariness to●k care how to come off as safely He that fights should despair but he that commands should hope The Souldier among the Persians is drawn with his eyes before him and the General with his behind him Young men in the manage of Affairs embrace more than they can hold stir more than they can q●iet flee to the end without consideration of the means and degrees pursue some few principles and extreme remedies they have chanced upon rashly which they will neither confess nor reform Old men object too much consult too long adventure too little repent too soon and seldome pursue things home to their full period My Lord was an happy composition of both himself and had of either about him that the coldness and wariness of Age might correct the heat of Youth and the activity of younger might be directed by the experience of riper ones The one gave Authority and the other Life to his Actions He himself was better to invent than to judge fitter for Action than Counsel and readier for new Projects than for settled business The Lord Clinton's prudence served him in old and usual matters but in new things abused him My Lord Howard's was quick for present Emergencies but not comprehensive of ordinary transactions Of the three Admirals of those times we may say as they did of the three Kingdoms Lisle was wise before the Action my Lord Howard in it● my Lord Clinton after it England without a freedom of commerce was but a larger Prison others opened the Trade to the Indies to Asia and other parts of the world but we wanted the Hemp the Flax the Pitch the Firr and the other usual Commodities of Russia serviceable to our selves and more to our Ships His purse in this case did much his direction more his servant Ie●kinson most of all who made curious observations of Russia set forth a Geogra●h●cal description of it and was the first of the English that sailed through the Caspian Sea With his assistance the Muscovia Company was set up in Queen Maries days and with his servants it obtained the Priviledge of sole Traffick into the Northern Parts of Russia in Elizabeth's Nihil habet fortuna magna majus nec natura bona melius quam ut velit bene-facere quam plurimis Observations on the Life of Sir Edward Mountague EDward Mountague Son of Thomas Mountague born at Brigstock in Northampton-shire was bred
not my pardon but my favour too He is the man for a Princes service whose minde is present and prudence is ready to meet with suddain occasions and accommodate unexpected emergencies The first effect of that favour was his Nomination for one of the sixteen that answered the French challenge at the Lady Mary's Marriage at Pa●●s November 7 1513. which shewed his manhood and how valiant he was The second was that he was one of the Forty five that were to be about his Majesty at the instant of his Interview with the King of France at Guisnes ● which was an Argument of his presence● and how goodly a man he was The third was that he was one of the Twenty two that with the Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral and Sir William Fitz-Williams Vice-Admiral proposed that secret and therefore successful D●signe upon Britain under pretence of Scowring the Narrow Seas for now he is as good in the Sea as he had been in the Field for which he and eight more of his fellow-Captains Sir Ioh. Cornwallis c. are Knighted by the aforesaid Lord Admiral which speaks him a Sea-man and indeed one of a general capacity The fourth was the great Trust his Majesty reposed in him when he was sent in disguise to widen the difference that was newly broken out between the Duke of Bourbon the high Constable of France and the French King which he managed so well that the discontented Duke declares for the Emperour and the King of England to the great encouragement of the English the satisfaction of his Majesty and the success of his Designe upon Anchor Boungard Bray and o●her places where Sir Iohn shewed himself as active now as he was before cunning as much surpassing the French Spirit in action as he had over-reached their Prudence in Negotiation But in vain was it to serve that King unless a man obliged the Cardinal he that Courts the Virgin Mary must not neglect her little Saints him he attended in his second Journey to France first to honour and then to serve him And now after his decease when King Henry had done the work of mercy which was most proper for himself as being most popular upon the Lincolnshire Rebels he deputed the Duke of Suffolk Sir Francis Brians and Sir Iohn Russel to perform that of Justice which is most distastful wherein yet he behaves himself with that exactness that the Country was very well pleased and the King as well satisfied insomuch that we finde our Knight now called from a Commander in in the Field to be Controller at Court where he managed his Masters Expences thriftily reduced his Family discreetly reformed his followers effectually and filled up his place with the awe of his presence and the influence of his Authority that he was at once its support and its glory Indeed Courts being those Epitoms wher●through strangers look into Kingdomes should be Royally set of as with Utensils so with attendance● that might possess all Comers with reverence there and fear elsewhere Hir Person graced his Imployment and therefore his Majesty honoured his Person with the Order of the Garter and the Title of Lord R●ssel and that his Preferment might keep pace with his Honour he is made Lord Privy Seal and his Nephew Sir Iohn Cage Controller His Honour flacked not his Activity but improved it neither was his Vertue onely violent in Ambition and dull in Authority Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring therefore my Lord to his Staff added his Sword and to his Court-honour his Field service as Lieutenant-General before Muttrel and Marshal before Bulloign to the relief of the first whereof he drew Mounsieur Bies that his Majesty might take the second In the Camp he drew up the Designes in the Field he managed the Treasure and in Action to him was intr●sted the Conduct and manage In the Kings last Will and Testament he was the fifth person and in his Sons Council the fifth to whom he discovered a French Plot the first year of his Raign and for whom he broke the Devonshire Rebels what with delays what with stratagems to divide them according to their several Inclinations the second for which service he was made Earl of Bedford The third in the Faction at home between the Seymours and the Dudleys he was Neuter in the Treaties abroad between the French King and his Majesty of England he was Principal where he observed three Rules 1. That there should be a general Muster at home while this Treaty went on abroad 2. That there should be a blow given the Scots before there was a Peace made with the French 3. That we should first know the French Overtures before we made our own But while he was here he discovered a Plot that the Emperour had to transport the Lady Mary over to his Dominions and thereby bring her Brother to his terms whereupon he with 200 men watcheth one Port the Duke of Somerset with 200 more a second and Master St. Leiger with 400 men a third while the Lady was fetched by my Lord Chancellor to the King But while he was serving his Master the King abroad his Friend the Protector wanted his advice and assistance at home he being of purpose sent out of the way while that unfortunate Duke is first betrayed by his own folly and then ruined by his Enemies power I finde his hand among the rest of the Councellors in a Letter to Queen Mary but not in Arms against her● He was concluded by the major Vote to a Commission for Peace but not to Action for conscience sake Faithful he is therefore to her in Council and serviceable in Spain and France from the first of which places he brought her a Husband and from the second a Treasure He understood her Right and disputed not her Religion regarding not so much her Opinion as his own Duty not what she was but what he should be And thus he behaved himself until his dear Mistress Elizabeth took him for one of her Protestant Councellours to balance her Popish ones and not onely of her Council but of her Cabinet for as every man must have his Friend to ease his heart so Princes have their Favourites to partake of their cares and the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford and Sir William Cecil were the onely Persons to whom the Queen communicated her designe of Reformation and correcting the Common-prayer and they ordered affairs so that the Protestants should be in hope and yet the Papists should not be out of hope King Philip had a quarrel with the Queen for rejecting his suit the King of Sweden for slighting his Son the King of France in his Wives Right the Queen of Scots in her Own and the Pope for excluding his Supremacie her Subiects were as unsettled in their Loyalty as in their Religion What remained but that my Lord of Bedford and Sir William Cecil should make up a well-tempered House of
Marriage with Queen Anne and his Designe to marry him to the Dutches of Alanzon A Designe that because it seemed to over-reach his M●jesty in cunning and really did cross his Inclination in malice that incensed his Majesty to a passion which could be appeased with no less a sacrifice than the Cardinals fall in order to which the next service of this Knight is as Lieutenant of the Tower to take him to custody which he did at Leicester with a Noble resolution considering that mans greatness with a due reverence regarding his calling and with a tender compassion respecting his condition perswading him gently of the Kings Favour at that very time when he was come to be an Instrument of his Iustice. And what he did to a Cardinal now he did to Queens afterwa●ds never Prince commanded higher services than King Henry nor subjects discharging them more undauntedly than Sir William because therefore he was so severe a Lieutenant in ●he Tower he is made a P●ovost-Marshal in the Field in which capacity after the Devonshire-Rebels defeat we have these two remarkable stories of him 1. One Bowyer Mayor of Bodmin in Cornwal had been amongst the Rebels not willingly but enforced to him the Provost sent word he would come and dine with him for whom the Mayor made great Provision A little before Dinner the Provost took the Mayor aside and whispered him in the Ear that an Execution must that day be done in the Town and therefore he must set up two Gallows The Mayor did so After Dinner Sir William Kingston thanks him for his Entertainment and then desires him to bring him to the Gallows where when they were come Sir William asked him Whether they were strong enough I I 'll warrant thee saith the Mayor Then saith Sir William get you up upon them I hope saith the Mayor you do not mean as you speak Nay Sir saith he you must die for you have been a busie Rebel And so without any more ado hanged him 2. A Miller that had been very active in the late Rebellion fled and left another to take his Name upon him Sir William Kingston calls for the Miller His Servant tells him that he was the Man Then saith he you must be hanged Oh Sir saith he I am not the Miller If you are not the Miller you are a lying Knave if you are the Miller you are a trayterous one and however you must dye And so he did Punish the Multitude severely once and you oblige them ever for they love that man onely for his Good Nature whom they fear for his Resolution Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Cheyney THree things advised men in King Henry the Eighth's days 1. Their Extraction 2. Their Wit 3. Their Comeliness and Strength For the first his Name was up since Battle-Abel-Roll as to the second it was enough that he traveiled with Wolsey and touching the third there need be no other instance than that at Paris where upon the Daulphin's Proclamation of solemn Justs the Duke of Suff●lke the Marquess of Dorset Sir Edward Nevil and He answered the Challenge as not long after he encountered King Henry himself at Greenwich where he had the great Honour of a strong and valiant Knight and a greater of being overthrown by his Majesty Having engaged his Majesties Person at home he had the Honour to represent it abroad where his Commission was to complement the French King about his Liberty but his Business to observe the state of that place Where he saw that a Kingdom governed by a Prince who hath under him other independent Lords as that of France is no longer safe than those Lords are either in Humour or in Purse being always in danger either from their discontent or corruption 2. That Faction is always eager while Duty is modest and temperate This Occasion ennobled his Vertue and his Vertue improved the Occasion so well that I finde him so eminent a Parliament-man the 22th of King Henry that as Sir Brian Tuge had the Honour to open the several Boxes sent from the respective Universities with their opinions about the Kings Divorce● so Sir Thomas had the happiness in a set Speech to insist upon them all in general and every one in particular And at Queen Anne's Coronation my Lord Vaux Sir Iohn Mordant Sir Thomas and ten more are made Knights of the Bath Having acquitted himself Nobly in Court and Council he attends the Earl of Hertford against the Scots as Commissary and Sir Iohn Wallop with Sir Iohn Rainsford as Marshal for his Services in both which capacities he is made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in England and with the Comptroller Sir Iohn Gage made Field-marshal and Treasurer of the Army before Bulloign And not long after Treasurer of the Houshold and one of the Assistants for the Over-seeing of King Henry's Will When some were joyning others with the Protector others for limiting him Sir Thomas would say That as Machiavel saith No Laws so No good could be done by a Governour that was not absolute without either a Restraint or a Competitor Upon the Reformation he would say That the disesteem of Religious Ceremonies argued the decay of the Civil Government good Princes have first kept their People Religious and thereby Vertuous and united both old and new Rome stand by this In a word what makes all men made him A generous industry of Minde and a well-set hardiness of Body which were attended while he lived with Honour and Success and since he is dead with Repu●e and Renowe Where eminent and well-born Persons out of a habit of sloath and laz●ness neglect at once the Noblest way of employing their times and the fairest occasions of advancing their fortunes that State though never so flourishing and glorious wants something of being compleatly happy As soon as ever therefore the Kingdom is settled sedate times are the best to improve a Common wealth as his quiet hours are the best to improve a man he and Sir William Howard addressed themselves as vigorously to the opening of Commerce and Traffick for the enriching of this Nation as they had before to the exercise of Arms to secure it Pursuing the Design with Resolution and keeping the frame of it in order with Industry their constant Spirit surmounting all Difficulties that stood in the way of their own Glory or their Countrey 's ●appiness working so well upon the Russians that they not onely obtained their Desire but gained so far upon the Affections of that people that they obtained the greatest priviledges any Tradesmen ever enjoyed in Muscovy which the Russians were not easi●r in the promise of than just in the execution of that promise So that the Trade is advanced not onely beyond our hopes but our very pretences too by those three particulars that never fail of success 1. Union 2. Conduct 3. Courage in enterprizes vigorously begun and watchfully pursued Until Queen ELIZABETH concerned her self so far in the
experience and acquaintance with the situation of any place the humour or interest of any People the weaknesses and strengths of any Enemy the advantages or disadvantages of any Undertaking ●ipen circumstances towards success but he is called off to a new and unacq●a●nted scene of action where he shall lose his Ar●y be●o●e he knoweth how to employ it His friends at Court grew few and cold his foes many and active his affronts continual to disorder him by passion or sink him in despair His Commission was but short before but is none now onely three hundred men stick to him his Money failing his Noble Followers withdrawing his Common Souldiers mutiny and he is recalled And happy had he been could he have been quiet but nothing would compleat some mens Designes but his Ruine and nothing could ruine him but Honour that at once pleased his humour and wasted his Estate Earl-Marshal of Ireland he is made and thither he goeth in great state to die anno 1576 and the 36 of his Age a year fatal to that Family which none of them exceeded but the last who had been happy if he had died sooner or lived longer than he did Although Sir Walter Devereux had not that success over others which his Valour deserved yet he had that conquest of himself that Vertue onely gives shewing himself as good at the Buckler as at the Sword at suffering as well as acting All his changes from without he bore with none within his even and solid minde that fashioned its own fate enjoying its constant calm amidst all the tempests of malice and ambition Those ignoble courses were not greater Arguments of his Enemies narrowness and degeneracy than his resolved Patience was of his largeness and generousness of spirit he being as much above those smaller tricks as they were below his Adversaries We make our selves more Injuries than are offered us and the apprehension of wrong doth more har● than the smartest part of the wrong it self It 's the Wise-mans glory and the States-mans prudence to pass by Offences A Fool struck Cato in the Bath and when he was sorry for it Cato had forgot it for saith Seneca Melius putavit non agnoscere quam ignoscere Light Injuries are made none by a not-regarding which with a pursuing Revenge grow both to heighth and burden and live to mischief us when they might die to secure us It 's Princely saith one to disdain a Wrong who when Embassadours have offered Undecences use not to chide but deny them audience as if silence were the way Royal to revenge a Wrong The upper Region is most composed The wisest rage the least knowing that Observation and Resentment do but pro●oke and encourage that Malice which neglect and silence deads and dissipates And it was Sir Walter 's Fathers Maxime That Discontent was the greatest weakness of a generous Soul which is always so intent upon its unhappiness that it forgets its remedies This Lord was a great instance of that Maxime That it 's an equal mischief to distrust all as to believe all although of the two the safest is to distrust for Fear had secured this Noble Person while Confidence ruined him it being a Vertue onely when men were innocent but ever since the bane of those that own it Three things undid this Earl 1. That he could not imagine he was to be ruined by his Advancement 2. That he never mistrusted an Oath 3. That he never considered that as Princes so Favourites have many eyes and long hands He that is so open as to reserve nothing from friends is renowned for Charity but he that is so to lie at the mercy of all is marked for ruine No sooner unde●stood my Lord of Leicester Essex his Disposition but the bitter Fool Pace could tell his Fortune begging of my Lord at his departure the making of his mourning and adding You and I have done for this world Walter E●rl of Essex had been happy if he had not lived in my Lord of Leicester's time his son Robert renowned had he not been Sir Robert Cecil's Contemporary and his Grandchilde an Heroe had he not known my Lord Say and Mr. Hampden Observations on the Life of Thomas Rat●lif Earl of Sussex THomas Ratclif Earl of Sussex was of a very Noble and Ancient Lineage honoured through many Descen●s by the Title of Viscounts Fitz-Walters He was a goodly Gentleman and of a brave noble-Nature true and constant to his friends and servants noted for honesty a very excellent Souldier being one of the Queens martialists who did very good service in Ireland at her first accession til● she recalled him to the Court where she made hi● Lord Chamberlain and though he was no● endowed with the cunningness and dexterity as others were yet upon his Deat●-h●d he gave his f●iends a caveat whom they should beware His words saith Sir Robert Naunton are these I am now passing into another World and must leave you to your Fortunes and to the Quee●s Graces but beware of the Gyp●ie for he will be too hard for you all you know not the beast so well as I do His Prowess and integ●ity drew the Souldiers after him Leicester's Cour●ship and Cunning the Courtiers Cecil's Prudence and service the States-men This Thomas Ratclif Lord Fitz-Walter second Earl of Sussex of that surname was twice Lord Deputy of Ireland by his prudence he prevented the breaking out of an actual Rebellion in that Kingdome and no wonder if in his time it rained not War there seeing his diligence dispersed the Clouds before they could gather together Thus he who cures a disease may be skilfullest but he that prevents it is the best Physitian Being called home by the Queen to be Lord Chamberlain a constant Court faction was maintained between him and Robert Earl of Leicester these two parties dividing the Court whilst the Cecilians as Neuters did look upon them Sussex had a great Estate left by his Ancestors Leicester as great given or restored him by the Queen Sussex was the honester man and greater Souldier Leicester the more facete Courtier and deep Pollitician not for the general good but his own particular profit Great was the animosity betwix● them and what in vain the Queen endeavoured Dea●h performed taking this Earl away and so ●he competition ended New-hall in Essex was the place if not of his birth of his principal habitation he lyeth buried in the Church of St. Olives Hartstreet London The first of Queen Elizabeth found this brave Earl commanding Ireland in peace and plenty with three hundred and twenty Horse and eight hundred and sixty foot prudently garrison'd and well payd a●d the second employed him thither again with instructions that he should beware above all things lest the Irish being an uncivil people and therefore the more superstitious should by the cunning practices of the French be excited to Rebellion under the pretext of Religion 2. That he should fortify Ophale with Castles and Forts 3. That
they answered or were silent This Spanish Proverb was familiar with him Tell a Lye and find a Truth and this Speak no more than you may safely retreat from without danger or fairly go through with without opposition Some are good onely at some affairs in their own acquaintance Walsingham was ready every where and could make a party in Rome as well as England He waited on mens souls with his eye discerning their secret hearts through their transparent faces He served him●elf of the Factions as his Mistress did neither advancing the one nor depressing the other Familiar with Cecil allied to Leicester and an Oracle to Sussex He could overthrow any matter by undertaking it and move it so as it must fall He never broke any business yet carried many He could discourse any matter wi●h them that most opposed so that they in opposing it promoted it His fetches and compass to his designed speech were things of great patience and use Twice did he deceive the French as Agent once did he settle the Netherlands as Commissioner and twice did he alter the Government of Scotland as Embassadour Once did France desire he might be recalled because he was too hard for the Counsel for the Hugonots and once did Scotland request his remand because he would have overturned their Constitution 53 Agents did he maintain in Forreign Courts and 18 Spies for two Pistols an Order he had all the private Papers of Europe few Letters escaped his hands whose Contents he could read and not touch the Seal● Bellarmine read his Lectures at Rome one moneth and Reynolds had● them confute that next So patient was this wise man Chiselhurst never saw him angry Cambridge n●ver passionate and the Court never discomposed Religion was the interest of his Countrey in his judgement and of his Soul therefore he maintained it as sincerely as he lived it it had his head his purse and his heart He laid the great founda●ion of the Protestant Constitution as to its policy● and the main plot against the Polish as to its ruine ●e would cherish a plot some years together admitting the Conspirators to his own and the Queens ●●e●ence familiarly but dogging them out watch●●●●y his Spi●s waited on some men every hour for ●●●ee yea●s and le●t they could not keep counsel 〈◊〉 dispatched them to forraign parts taking in new S●●vants● H●s train●ng Parry of who d●signed 〈…〉 of Queen Elizabeth the admitting of hi● under the p●etence of discovering a Plot to the Q●eens presence and then letting him go where he would onely on the security of a Dark Sentinel set over him was ● piece of reach and ha●ard beyond common apprehension But Kingdomes were acted by him as well as private persons It is a likely report saith one that they father on him at his return ●●om France when the Queen expressed her 〈◊〉 of the ●panish designe on that Kingdome with 〈◊〉 ●●cernment Madam saith he be content not 〈…〉 the Spaniard hath a great appetite and an 〈…〉 digestion but I have fitted him with a bone for this twenty years that your Majesty shall have no cause to doubt him Pr●vided that if the fire chance to slack which I have kindled you will be ruled by me and now and then cast in some English fuel which may revive the flame H●●irst observed the g●eat Bishop of Winchester fit to serve the Church upon the unlikely Youths first Sermon at S●● Alhallows Barking He brought my Lord Cooke first to the Church upon some private discourse with him at his Table The Queen of Scots Letters were all carried to him by her own Servant whom she trusted and decyphered to him by one Philips as they were sealed again by one Gregory so that neither that Queen or her correspondents ever perceived either the Seal defaced or the Letters delayed to her dying day Video Taceo was his saying before it was his Mistresses Motto H● could as well ●it King Iames his humour with sayings out of Xenophon Thucydides Plutarch Tacitus as he could King Henry's with Rablais's conceits and the Hollander with mechanick Discourses In a word Sir Francis Walsingham was a studious and temperate man so publick-spirited that he spent his Estate to serve the Kingdome so faithful that ●e bestowed his years on his Queen so learned that he provided a Library for Kings Colledge of his own Books which was the best for Policy as Cecil's was for History Arundels for Heraldry Cottons for Antiquity and Vshers for Divinity finally he ●qualled all the Statesmen former ages discourse of and hardly hath been equalled by any in following Age● Observations on the Life of the Earl of Leicester THe Lord Leicester was the youngest son then living of Dudley Duke of Northumberland he was also one of the first to whom Queen Elizabeth gave that honour to be master of the horse He was a very goodly person and singular well featured and all his youth well favoured and of a sweet aspect but high foreheaded which was taken to be of no discommendation but towards his latter end grew high-coloured and red-faced The Queen made him Earl of Leicester for the sufferings of his Ancestors sake both in her Fathers and Sisters Reigns The Earl of Essex his death in Ireland and the marriage of his Lady yet living deeply stains his commendation But in the Observations of his Letters and Writings there was not known a Stile or Phrase more religious and fuller of the streams of Devotion He was sent Governour by the Queen to the United States of Holland where we read not of his wonders for they say Mercury not Mars in him had the predominancy To the Policy he had from Northumberland his Father and the Publican Dudley his Grandfather he added it is said Magick and Astrology and to his converse with Wise men his familiarity with Wizards Indeed he would say A States-man should be ignorant of nothing but should have all notices either within his own or his Confidents command His Brother Ambrose was the heir to the Estate and he to the Wisdome of that Family He was the most reserved man of that Age that saw all and was invisible carrying a depth not to be fa●homed but by the Searcher of Hearts Many fell in his time who saw not the hand that pulled them down and as many died that knew not their own Disease He trusted not his Familiars above a twelve-month together but either transported them for Forreign services or wafted them to another world His Ambition was of a large extent and his head-piece of a larger Great was his Influence on England greater on Scotland and greatest of all on Ireland and the Netherlands where this close Genius acted invisibly beyond the reach of friends or the apprehension of enemies Declining an immediate opposition in Court-factions the wary Sir raised always young Favourites to outshine the old ones so balancing all others that he might be Paramount himself The modern policy and practices were
dainty● that cost him less and contented his guests more His Table constant and even where all were welcome and none invited 3. His Hall was full most commonly his Gates always the one with the honest Gentry and Yeomen who were his Retainers in love and observance bringing good stomacks to his Table and resolved hearts for his service the holding up of his hand in the Northern business being as affectual as the displaying of a Banner The other with the 1. Aged 2. Maimed 3. Industrious Poor whose craving was prevented with doles and expectation with bounty the first being provided with meat the second with money and the third with employment In a word Mr. Cambden observes That Hospitality lieth buried since 1572 in this Earls Grave whence may that Divine Power raise it that shall raise him but before the last Resurr●ction when there will be plenty to bestow in one part of the world and no poor to be relieved poverty in the other and no bounty to relieve Neither was he munificent upon other mens charge for once a moneth he looked into his Income● and once a weak to his Disbursements that none should wrong him or be wronged by him The Earl of Derby he would say shall keep his own House wherefore it 's an Observation of him and the second Duke of Norfolk That when they were buried not a Trades-man could demand the payment of a Groat that they owed him nor a Neighbour the restitution of a peny they had wronged him They say The Grass groweth not where the Grand Seigniors Horse treads nor doth the People thrive where the Noble-men inhabit● But here every Tenant was a Gentleman and every Gentleman my Lords Companion such his Civility cowards the one and great penny worths to the other Noblemen in those days esteemed the love of their Neighbours more than their fear and the service and fealty of their Tenants more than their money Now the Landlord hath the sweat of the Tenants brow in his Coffers then he had the best blood in his Veins at his command That grand word On mine Honour was security enough for a Kingdome and the onely Asseveration he used It was his priviledge that he need not swear for a testimony and his renown that he would not for his honour Great was this Families esteem with the people and eminent their favour with their Soveraigns as which ever bestowed it self in obliging their Liege-people improving their interest and supporting their Throne for though they were a long time great Kings of Man and Hearts yet were they as long faithfull subjects to England Observations on the Life of Sir William Fi●z-Williams A Childe of Fortune from his Cradle made u● of confidence and reputation never unwarily shewing his Vertue or Worth to the world with any disadvantage When Britain had as little sleepiness and sloath as night when it was all day and all activity He as all young Sparks of that Age trailed a Pike in the Netherlands the Seminary of the English Soldiery and the School of Europes Discipline as a Souldier and travelled as a Gentleman until that place graced him civilly with a Command which he had honoured eminently with his service His friends checked him for undertaking an Employment so boysterous and he replyed upon them That it was as necessary as it seemed irregular for if some were not Souldiers all must be so He said He never durst venture on War with men till he had made his Peace with God A good Conscience breeds great Resolutions and the innocent Soul is impregnable None more fearful of doing evil none more resolved to suffer there being no hardship that he would avoid no undecency that he would allow Strict he was to his Commission and yet observant of his advantage never tempting a danger never flying it careful of his first life and himself but more of his other and his name When the methods of Obedience advanced him to the honour of commanding six things he was Chronicled for 1. Never making the Aged the Young or the Weak the Objects of his Rage which could not be so of his Fear 2. That he never basely killed in cold blood them that had nobly escaped his Sword in hot 3. That he never led the Souldiers without p●y or quartered in the Country without money 4. That though he was second to none that acted in War such his Valour yet he was the first that spake for Peace such his sweet Disposition 5. That he would never suffer that a Clergy-man should be abused a Church violated or the Dead be unburied 6. That he would never force an Enemy to a necessity always saying Let us disarm them of their best Weapons Despair nor fight an Enemy before he had skirmished him nor undertake a designe before he consulted his God his Council his Friends his Map and his History His own Abilities commended and his alliance with Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy whose Sister he married promoted him to the government of Ireland Once did the Queen send him thither for his Brothers sake four times more for his own sake a sufficient evidence saith my Friend of his Ability and Integrity since Princes never trust twice where they are once deceived in a Minister of State He kept up his Mistress●s Interest and she his Authority enjoying the Earl of Essex so much above him in honour to truckle under him in Commission when Governour of vlster and he Lord Deputy of Ireland Defend me said Luther to the Duke of Saxony with your Sword and I will defend you with my Pen. Maintain my Power saith the Minister of State to his Soveraign and I will support your Majesty Two things he did for the settlement of that Kingdome 1. He raised a Composition in Munster 2. He established the Possessions of the Lords and Tenants in Monahan Severe he was always against the Spanish Faction but very vigilant in 88 when the dispersed Armado did look but durst not land in Ireland except driven by Tempest and then finding the shore worse than the Sea But Leicester dieth and he fails when his Sun was set it was presently night with him Yra la soga con el Calderon where goeth the Bucket there goeth the Rope where the Principal miscarrieth all the Dependants fall with him as our r●nowned Knight who died where he was born there is a Circulation of all things to their Original at Milton in Northamptonshire 1594. Observations on the Life of the Earl of Pembroke AN excellent man and one that fashioned his own Fortune His Disposition got favour and his Prudence wealth the first to grace the second and the second to support the first under King Henry the eighth whose Brother-in-law he was by his wife and Chamberlain by his place When others were distracted with Factions in King Edwards Reign he was intent upon his Interest leaning as he said on both sides the stairs to get up for his service being promoted to the master
leave from the Pope and so would disparage the●r Cause yet they could not say but they might dispute for the Queen and so satisfie the People and is one of the ●ive Councellours to whom the D●signe of the Reformation is opened and one of the eight to whom the management of it was intrusted There you might see him a Leading man among the States-men here most eminent among Divines at once the most knowing and pious man of that Age. As his Industry was taken up with the establishment of our Affairs at home so his Watchfulness upon Sir Edward Carnees deposition of his Embassie was intent upon the plot of France and Rome abroad in the first of which places he made a Secretary his own and in the second a Cup-bearer At the Treaty of Cambray my Lord Howard of Effingham the Lord Chamberlain and he brought the King of Spain to the English side in the business of Calice 1. That France might be weakened 2. That his Netherlands might be secured 3. That the Queen his Sweet-heart might be obliged until he discovered Queen Elizabeths averseness to the marriage whereupon had it not been for the Viscount Mountacute who was not so much a Papist as to forget that he was an ●nglish-man and Sir Thomas the Spaniard had stoln over Catharine Grey Queen Elizabeths Neece for a pretence to the Crown as the French had the Queen of Scots her Cozen. After which he and Sir William Cecil advised her Majesty to that private Treaty apart without the Spaniard which was concluded 1559● as much to the honour of England now no longer to truckle under Spain as its interest no longer in danger from France Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was the metal in these Treaties and Sir Thomas Smith the Allay the ones mildness being to mitigate that animosity which the others harshness had begot and the others spirit to recover those advantages which this mans easiness had yielded Yet he shewed himself as much a man in demanding as Sir William Cheyney in gaining Calice replying smartly upon Chancellour Hospitals Discourse of ancient Right the late Treaty and upon Montmorency's Harangue of Fears Conscience Pitying the neglected state of Ireland he obtained a Colony to be planted under his base Son in the East-Coast of Vlster called Ardes at once to civilize and secure that place So eminent was this Gentleman for his Learning that he was at once Steward of the Stannaries Dean of Carlisle and Provost of Eaton in King Edward's time and had a Pens●on on condition he went not beyond Sea so considerable he was in Queen Mary's Well he deserved of the Commonwealth of Learning by his Books 1. Of the commonwealth of England 2. Of the Orthography of the English Tongue and o● the Pronunciation of Greek and 3. an exact Commentary of matters saith Mr. Cambden worthy to be published Observations on the Lives of Doctor Dale the Lord North Sir Thomas Randolph I Put these Gentlemen together in my Observations because I finde them so in their Employments the one Agent the other Leiger and the third extraordinary Embassador in France the first was to manage our Intelligence in those dark times the second to urge our Interest in those troublesome days and the third to represent our Grandeur No man understood the French correspondence with the Scots better than Sir Thomas Randolph who spent his active life between those Kingdomes none knew better our Concerns in France and Spain than Valentine Dale who had now seen six Treaties in the first three whereof he had been Secretary and in the last a Commissioner None fitter to represent our state than my Lord North who had b●en two years in Walsinghams house four in L●●cesters ●e●v●ce had seen six Courts twenty Bat●les nine Treaties and four solemn Justs whereof he was no mean part as a reserved man a valiant Souldier and a Courtly Person So ●ly wa● Dale that he had a servant always attending the Q●een-mother of France the Queen of Scots and the King of Navarre so watch●ul Sir Thomas Randolph that the same day he sent our Agent in Scotland notice of a d●signe to carry over the young King and depose the Regent he advised our Queen of a match between the King of Scot's Uncle and the Countess of Shrewsbury's Daughter and gave the Earl of Huntington then President of the North t●ose secret instructions touching that matter that as my Lord Burleigh would often acknowledge secured that Coast. My L. North watched the successes of France Dr. Dale their Leagues and both took care that the P●ince of Orange did not throw himself upon the Protection of France always a dangerous Neighbour but with that accession a dreadful one Sir Iohn Horsey in Holland proposed much but did nothing Sir Thomas Randolph in France performed much and said nothing yet both with Dr. Dales assistance made France and Spain the scales in the balance of Europe and England the tongue or holder of the balance while they held the Spaniard in play in the Netherlands watched the French Borders and kept constant Agents with Orange and Don Iohn Neither was Sir Thomas ●ess in Scotland than in France where he betakes himself first to resolution in his Protestation and then to cunning in his Negotiations encouraging M●rton on the one hand and amusing Lenox on the other ●eeping fair weather with the young King and yet practising with Marre and Anguse Nothing plausible indeed saith Cambden was he with the wi●e though youthful King Iames yet very dexterous in Scotish humours and very prudent in the northern Affairs very well seen in those interests and as successful in those negotiations witness the first and advantageous League 1586. Video rideo is Gods Motto upon Affronts Video Taceo was Queen Elizabeths Video nec vident was Sir Thomas Randolphs These three men treated with the Spaniard near Ostend for peace while the Spaniard prepared himself on our Coast for Wa● So much did Sir Iames Crofts his affection for peace exceed his judgement of his Instruction that he would needs steal over to Brussels to make it with no less commendation for the prudent Articles he proposed t●a● censure for the hazard he incurred in the Proposal So equal and even did old Dale carry himself that the Duke of Parma saw in his Answers is the English spirit and therefore saith my Author durst not try that Valour in a nation which he was so afraid of in a single person That he had no more to say to the old Gentleman than onel● thi● These things are in the hand of the Almighty None mo●e inward with other men than Sir Francis Walsingham none more inward with him than Sir Thomas Randolph well studied he was in Iustinians Code better in Machiavels Discourses both when a ●earned student of Christ-church and a worthy P●incipal of Broadgates three therefore was he an Embassadour to the Lords of Scotland in a commotion thrice to Queen Mary
white flag with Misericordia Misericordia 3. For his prudence 1. T●at he saved the Commanders to oblige the Spaniard 2. That he plundered the Country to enrich his Souldiers 3. That he decimated the Souldiery to terrifie Invaders and hanged all the Irish to amaze the Traytors Henry Fitz-ala● Earl of Arundel when Steward at King Edward's Coronation or Constable at Queen Mary's was the first that rid in a Coach in England my Lord Gray was the first that brought a Coach hither one of a working Brain and a great Mechanist himself and no less a Patron to the Ingenious that were so That there was an emulation between him and Sussex was no wonder but that the instance wherein he thought to disgrace him should be his severity to the English Traytor and the Forreign Invadors would seem strange to any but those that con●ider 1. That Princes of late would seem as they look on the end and not the means so they hug a cruelty and frown on the Instrument of it who while he honestly sacrificeth some irr●gular particulars to the interest of Soveraignty may be made himself a sacrifice to the passion of populacy And ●● which is the case here that a●piring Princes may employ severer Natures but setled ones use the more moderate Love keeps up the Empire which Power hath set up Observations on the Life of Thomas Lord Burge THomas Lord Burge or Borough was born in his Fathers noble house at Gainsborough in the County of Lincoln He was sent Embassadour into Scotland in 1593 to excuse Bothwel his lurking in England to advise the speedy suppression of the Spanish Faction to advance the Pr●testants in that Kingdome for their Kings defence and to instruct that King about his Council which was done accordingly He was made Lord-Deputy of Ireland anno 1597 in the room of Sir William Russel Mr Cambden saith thus of him Vir acer animi plenus sed nullis ferè Castrorum rudimentis As soon as the Truce with Tyrone was expired he st●aightly be●ieged the Fort of Black-water the onely receptacle of the Rebels in those parts besides their Woods and Bogs Having taken this Fort by force presently followed a bloody Battle wherein the English lost many wo●thy men He was struck with untimely death before he had continued a whole year in his place it being wittily observed of the short Lives of many worthy men Fatuos ● morte defendit ipsa ins●lsitas si cui plu● caeteris aliquantulum salis insit quod miremini statim putrescit Things rare destroy themselves t●ose two things being incompa●ible in our nature Perfection and Lasli●●ness His Educa●ion was not to any particular Profession yet his parts able to manage all A large soul and a great spirit apart from all advantages can do wonders His Master-piece was Embassi where his brave Estate set him above respect● and compliance and his comely person above contempt His Geography and history led to the Interest of other princes and his Experience to that of his own His skill in most Languages helped him to understand others and his resolu●ion to use onely his own to be reserved himself In two things he was very scrupulous 1. In his Commission 2. In his servants whom he always he said found honest enough but seldome quick and reserved And in two things very careful viz. 1. The time and humour of his Addresses 2. The Interest Inclinations and Dependencies of Favourites A grave and steady man observing every thing but affected with nothing keeping as great distance between his looks and his heart as between his words and his thoughts Very exact for his priviledges very cold and indifferent in his motions which were always guided by the emergencies in that Country and by his intelligence from home Good he was in pursuing his limited instruction excellent where he was free and his business was not his obedience onely but his discretion too that never failed but in his last enterprize which he undertook without any apparent advantage and attempted without intelligence An Enterprize well worthy his invincible Courage but not his accustomed prudence which should never expose the person of a General to the danger of a common Souldier Observations on the Life of William Lord Pawlet WIlliam Pawlet where-ever born had his la●gest estate and highest Honour Baron of Basing and Marquess of Winch●ster in Hantshire ● He was descended from a younger house of the Pawlets in Hinton St. George in Somersetshire as by the Crescent in his Arms is acknowledged One telleth us That he being a younger Brother and having wasted all that was left him came to court on trust where upon the stock of his Wit he trafficked so wisely and prospered so well that he got spent and left more than any subject since the Conquest Indeed he lived at the time of the dissolution of Abbeys which was the Harvest of Estates and it argued idlene●s if any Courtier had his Barns empty He was servant to King Henry the seventh and for thirty years together Treasu●er to King Henry the eight● Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth the latter in some sort owed their Crowns to his Counsel his policy being the principal Defeater of D●ke Dudley's Designe to dis-inherit them I behold this Lord Pawlet like to aged Adoram so often mentioned in Scriptures being over the Tribute in the days of King David all the Reign of King Solomon until the first year of Rehoboam And though our Lord Pawlet enjoyed his place not so many years yet did he serve more Soveraigns in more mutable times being as he said of himself No Oak but an Osier Herein the parallel holds not the hoary hairs of Adoram were sent to the Grave by a violent death slain by the people in a Tumult this Lord had the rare happiness of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 setting in his full splendour having lived 97 years and seen 103 out of his body He died anno Domini 1572. Thus far Mr. Fuller This Gentleman had two Rules as useful for mankind as they seem opposite to one another 1. That in our Considerations and Debates we should not dwell in deceitful Generals but look into clear Particulars 2. That in our Resolutions and Conclusions we should not rest on various Particulars but rise to uniform Generals A Man he was that reverenced himself that could be vertuous when alone and good when onely his own Theatre his own applause though excellent before the world his vertue improving by fame and glory as an heat which is doubled by re●lexion Observations on the Life of Sir James Dier JAmes Dier Knight younger Son to Richard Dier Esquire was born at Round-hill in Somersetshire as may appear to any by the Heralds Visitation thereof He was bred in the study of our Municipal Law and wa● made Lord Chief Iustice of the Common Pleas primo Eliz. continuing therein twenty four years When Thomas Duke of Norfolk was
him that anno 1580 that Kingdome was delivered to my Lord Gray after his one years Government in a better condition than it had been for threescore years before the Populacy being encouraged the Nobility trusted F●●ds laid down Revenue setled the Sea-towns secured the S●ul●iery disciplined and the Magizines furnished Whence he returned to overlook others setling England against the Spaniards as he had done Ireland himself being an active Commi●●oner in England in 88 and an eminent Agent in Scotland in 89. Observations on the Life of Sir William Waad A Scholar himself and a Patron to such that were so being never well but when employing the Industrious pensioning the Hopeful and preferring the Deserving To his Directions we owe Riders Dictionary to his Encouragement Hooker's Policy to his Charge Gruter's Inscriptions As none more knowing so none more civil No man more grave in his Life and Manners no man more pleasant in his Carriage and Complexion yet no man more resolved in his Business for being sent by Queen Elizabeth to Philip King of Spain he would not be turned over to the Spanish Privy-Council whose greatest Grandees are Dwarfs in honour to his Mistress but would either have audience of the King himself or return without it though none knew better how and when to make his close and underhand Addresses to such potent Favourites as strike the stroke in the State it often happening in a Commonwealth saith my Author that the Masters Mate steers the Ship better than the Master himself A man of a constant toyl and industry busie and quick equally an enemy to the idle and slow undertakings judging it a great weakness to stand staring in the face of business in that time which might serve to do it In his own practice he never considered longer than till he could discern whether the thing proposed was fit or not when that was seen he immediately set to work when he had finished one business he could not endure to have his thoughts lie fallow but was presently consulting what next to undertake Two things this Gentleman professed kept him up to that eminence 1. Fame that great inci●ement to Excellency 2. A Friend whom he had not onely to observe those grossnesses which Enemies might take notice of but to discover his prudential failings indecencies and even suspitious and barely doubtful passages Friendship saith my Lord Bacon easeth the heart and cleareth the understanding making clear day in both partly by giving the purest councel apart from our interest and prepossessions and partly by allowing opportunity to discourse and by that discourse to clear the mind to recollect the thoughts to see how they look in words whereby men attain that highest wisdome which Dionysius the Areopagite saith is the Daughter of Reflexion Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Sidney SIr Henry Sidney eminent for his son Sir Philip and famous for his own Actions was born well and bred better His Learning was equal to his Carriage his Carriage to his Good Nature his Good Nature to his Prudence his Prudence to his Resolution A little he learned at School more at the University most at Court His Reading was assiduous his Converse exact his O●servations close His Reason was strong and his Discourse flowing Much he owed to his Studiousness at home more to his Experience abroad where Travel enlarged and consolidated his Soul His own Worth fitted him for Advancement and his Alliance to my Lord of Leicester raised him to it Merit must capacitate a man for Interest and Interest must set up merit His person and his Ancestry invested him Knight of the Garter his Moderation and Wisdome President of Wales His Resolution and Model of Government made him Lord Deputy of Ireland a people whom he first studied and then ruled being first master of their humour and then of their Government Four things he said would reduce that Country A Navy well furnished to cut off their correspondence with Spain An Army well paid to keep up Garrisons Laws well executed to alter their Constitutions and Tenures A Ministry well setled to civilize and instruct them and an unwearied Industry to go through all Nine things he did there to eternize his Memory 1. Connaught He divided to six Shires 2. Captainships something answering to Knighthood here He abolished 3. A Surrendry of all Irish Holdings He contrived and the Irish Estates He setled on English T●nures and Services 4. That the ablest five of each Sept should undertake for all their Relations He ordered 5. One Free-School at least in every Diocess He maintained 6. Two Presidents Courts in Munster and Connaught He erected 7. Their Customes He reduced to the Civility and their Exchequer to the Exactness of England 8. Their Purveyance He turned to Composition 9. Their Statutes He printed and a constant correspondence He kept especially with the English Embassadour in Spain and King Iames in Scotland Fitz●Williams was mild Essex heady Perrot stout but this Lieutenant or Deputy was a stayed and resolved man that Royally heard ill and did well that bore up against the clamours of the people with the peace of his conscience His Interest he had devoted to his Soveraign● and his Estate to the publick saying as Cato That he had the least share of himself From the Irish he took nothing but a Liberty to undo themselves from Court he desired nothing but service from Wales he had nothing but a Good Name I●'s observed of him that He had open Vertues for Honour and private ones for Success which he said was the daughter of reservedness there being not saith my Lord V●rulam two more fortunate properties than to have a little of the fool and not too much of the honest man The Crown was obliged by his services the Nobility engaged to him by Alliances the People enamoured with his Integrity and himself satisfied with a good Conscience Much good counsel he gave at Court more at home in Shropshire where his Dexterity in composing the private Quarrels of the Country was as eminent as his Prudence in setling the Affairs of Ireland He had that Majesty in his Countenance that he awed and Affability in his Speech that he obliged the Country His Counsel would be smart and solid his Reproof grave and affectionate his Jests quick and taking doing more with a quick Droll towards the peace of the Country than others did with longer Harangues Secretary Bourns Son kept a Gentlemans Wife in Shropshire when he was weary of her he caused her Husband to be dealt with to take her home and offered him 500 l. for reparation The Gentleman went to Sir Henry Sidney to take his advice telling him That his Wife promised now a new life and to say the truth five hundred pounds would be very seasonable at that time By my troth said Sir Henry take her home and the Money then whereas other Cuckolds wear their Horns plain you may wear yours gilt His great word after a
of Count Arundel's without the Assignation of any proper Place unto him King Iames had heard s● much of the Father that he did not care for the Son who might have been near his Person had not his Ancestors been so near ●his Predecessors no other Considerations being likely to keep so extraordinary parts at this distance from a King that valued them so highly or a Kingdom that needed them so much That Prince being as jealous an observer of Original sin in Policy as he was an Orthodox Assertor of it in Religion would trust no tainted blo●d He writ an excellent discourse of Religion as the blind Senator in Juvenal made a large Encomium of the goodly Turbet which lay before Caesar but as ill luck would have it turned himself quite the contrary way at illi d●xtra j●c●bat bellua a man right of Chrysippus his temper who sometimes wanted Opinions but never Arguments which he managed all ways with contempt of and opposition to the School-way which going the distinctest way to state● went the nearest way to end controversies but was slighted by him as unintelligible because it had been passed by him as unstudied as the old Woman in Seneca complained that the Room was dark when only her Eyes were so and his new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he made his private and crazy judgment the Standard and Seal of common truth took a little with mens first thoughts but lost themselves with their wiser and second like the Log in the Fable which terrified the poor Frogs with the noise it made at the first falling of it into the waters but afterwards they insulted over it and took their turns to leap upon it When I consider Metiochus his cariage in Plutarc and Sir Robert's Character in Florence haec a se non multum abludit imago Metiochus is Captain Metiochus is Surveyor Metiochus bakes the Bread Metiochus grinds the Corn Metiochus doth all right one of AEsop's fellows that could say and do all things so that others need say and do nothing a very happy man if while living he had deserved the Character idle Vaccia had when dead Hîc situs est Vaccia here lyeth Vaccia Observations on the Life of Arch-Bishop Bancroft DOctor Richard Bancroft whom his Adversaries character a better States-man than Divine a better Divine than Preacher though upon good occasion he shewed he was all these was bred in Iesus Colledge in Cambridge where his parts in discovering the bottom of Presbytery and his sufficiency when his Patron Hatton's Examiner commended him to Queen Eliz. to be Bishop of London and to King Iames to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Indeed he was in effect Arch-Bishop while Bishop to whom Doctor Whitgift in his decrepit age remitted the managing of matters so that he was the soul of the High-Commission A great States-man he was and grand Champion of Church-discipline having well hardned the hands of his Soul which was no more than needed for him who was to meddle with Nettles and Bryars and met with much opposition No wonder if those who were silenced by him in the Church were loud against him in other places David speaketh of poyson under mens lips This Bishop tasted plentifully thereof from the mouths of his Enemies till at last as Mithridates he was so habited to poisons that they became food unto him Once a Gentleman coming to visit him presented him a Libel which he found pasted on his door who being nothing moved thereat said Cast it to an hundred more which lye here on a h●ap in my Chamber Many a Libel Lye because false Bell because loud was made upon him The aspersion of covetousness though cast doth not stick on his memory being confuted by the Estate which he left small in proportion to his great preferment being but 6000 l. after being above twelve years in London and Canterbury He cancelled his first Will wherein he had bequeathed much to the Church suspecting an impression of popular violence on Cathedrals and fearing an Alienation of what was bequeathed unto them he thought fit to cancel his own to prevent others cancelling his Testament This partly appears by his second Will wherein he gave the Library at Lambeth the result of his own and three Predecessors collections to the University of Cambridge which now they possess in case the Arch-Episcopal See should be extinct How came such a jealousie into his mind what fear of a storm when the Sun shined the Sky clear no appearance of Clouds Surely his skill was more than ordinary in the complexion of the Common-wealth who did foresee what afterward for a time came to pass This clause providentially inserted secured this Library in Cambridge during the vacancy of the Archi-Episcopal see and so prevented the embezelling at the least the dismembring thereof in our late civil distempers They that accuse this excellent Prelate of cruelty never read this story A Ministe● privately protested to him that it went against his conscience to conform Which way said the good Arch-Bishop observing the mans ingenuity will you live if you be put out of your Benefice The other answered He had no other way but to g● a begging Not so said the Arch-bishop that you shall not need to do but come to me and I will take order for your maintenance They that exclaimed against his unserviceableness never observed this passage A company of young Courtiers appeared extraordinary gallant at a Tilting far above their Fortunes and Estates giving for their Motto Solvat Ecclesia Bishop Bancroft then of London hearing of it finds on enquiry that the Queen was passing a considerable parcel of Church-lands to them and stops the business with his own and his friends Interest leaving these Gallants to pay the shot of their pride and prodigality out of their own purses And this that a prevalent Courtier had swallowed up the whole Bishoprick of Durham had not this Arch-Bishop seasonably interposed his power with King Iames ready enough to admit such Intercessions and dashed the design They that traduce him for a Papist forget that he fomented the difference between the Seculars and Regulars to the weakning and promoted the foundation of Chelsey-Colledge to the ruining of that cause But they that perform great actions reserving as it is fit the reason of them in their own bosomes may sufficiently satisfie their Consciences towards God though they can hardly avoid the censures of men I shall add no more concerning this excellent Prelate but that it was observed as the Historian writes That at Hampton-Court-Conference Arch-Bishop Whitgift spake most gravely Bishop Bilson most learnedly but Bishop Bancroft when out of passi●n most politickly Observations on the Life of the Lord Grandison SIr Oliver Saint-Iohn Lord Grandison c. descended of an ancient and honourable Family whose prime Seat was at Lediard-Tregoze in Wiltshire though their first settlement was in South-Wales He was bred in the Wars from his youth and at last by King Iames
prospect of his Life past having noted therein most Remarkables His most learned and laborious Works on the Laws will last to be admired by the Judicious Posterity whilest Fame hath a Trumpet left her and any breath to blow therein His judgement lately passed for an Oracle in Law and since the credit thereof hath causelesly been questioned the wonder is not great If the Prophet himself living in an incredulous Age found cause to complain Who hath believed our report it need not seem strange that our licentious Times have afforded some to shake the Authenticalness of the Reports of any earthly Judge He constantly had Prayers said in his own house and charitably relieved the Poor with his constant Almes The Foundation of Sutton's Hospital when indeed but a Foundation had been ruined before it was raised and crush'd by some Courtiers in the hatching thereof had not his great care preserved the same The Free-School at The●ford was supported in its being by his assistance and he founded a School on his cost at Godrick in Norfolk It must not be forgotten that Doctor Whitgift afterward Arch-Bishop of Canterbury sent unto his Pupil when the Queen's Attorney a fair new Testament with this Message He had long enough studied Common Law now let him study the Law of God When he was under a cloud at Court and outed of his Judges place the lands belonging to the Church of Norwich which formerly he had so industriously recovered and setled thereon were again called into question being begged by a Peer Sir Edward desired him to desist telling him that otherwise he would put on his Gown and Cap and come into Westminster-Hall once again and plead there in any Court in justification of what he had done He died at Stoke-Poges in Buckingham-shire on Wednesday the third of September being the 83 of age whose last words were these Thy Kingdom c●me thy Will be done The infirmities of this Judge as my Lord BACON recited them in a Letter to him were these 1. That he delighted to speak more than hear 2. That he would run out of his Profession and as he observed of Divines so it was observed of him none erred worse out of his element 3. That he conversed with Books rather than Men and onely with such men that he spake to as Scholars rather than treated as friends 4. That he obtruded those things as Novelties that were stale 5. That he would jest on men in place and insult on men in misery 6. That he made the Law lean too much to his opinion 7. That his Tenants in Norfolk were hardly used and that though he had ten thousand pounds per an he relieved not the poor 8. That in his last proceedings against Somerset he was too open and dilatory giving too much advantage and breaking out to some unadvised expressions 9. That he stood out against Power for which and other failures he was dismissed the Council-board with this expression from King Iames That he was the fittest instrument to serve a Tyrant Indeed he had some projects for the Revenue and looked for the Treasury when he was absolutely cast off though he made such shift that throw him where you would as King Iames said he fell upon his legs Observations on the Life of Sir Ralph Winwood SIr Ralph Winwood was a Gentleman well seen in most Affairs but most expert in matters of Trade and War for he was first a Soldier and then an Agent in the Netherlands where he remonstrated against Vorstius learnedly and resolutely representing as well his Masters parts as his power It was the very guize of that time to be learned the wits of it were so excellent the helps and assistants of it were so great Printing was so common the world by Navigation so open great experiments so disclosed the leisure of men so much the age was so peaceable and his Majesty after whom all writ so knowing When the Earl of Somerset was made Chamberlain by his Majesty in his Fathers place Sir Ralph Winwood was by the Queen made Secretary in his succeeding him in his Office but exceeding him in his success Fortune may begin any mans greatness but Vertue must continue it for this Favourite taking upon him to over-rule Winwood Winwood makes it his business to overthrow him to which purpose his Agents discover some secrets abroad you may understand more of England at Amsterdam than at London and he useth his Arts at home for Mr. Vil●iexs being now brought to Court when others were for raising him by interest Sir Ralph was for advancing him with Compliance a Compliance as he said that must either supple or break his Adversaries and either way ruine them Accordingly Sir George is directed to offer his service to the Earl of Somerset that Earl fatally tells him He would have none of his service but would break his Design These words coming so cross to the Kings inclination and the Court's plot provoked all persons to look further into Sir Ralph Winwood's Intelligence concerning Sir Tho. Overbury's death Now mens weaknesses and faults are best known by their enemies their vertues and abilities from their friends their customes and times from their servants their conceits and opinions from their familiars to whom they are least masked To all these he applyeth himself until he had discovered as much of the practices concerning Overbury as might humble the Earl and as much corruption in the conveyance of publick money to the building of Audley-End as might displace his Father An Apothecaries boy gives the first and a servant that carried the money the second both whom he surprized with the Spanish proverb Di mentura y sacaras verdad Tell a lye and find a truth Indeed the natures and dispositions the conditions and necessities the factions and combinations the animosities and discontents the ends and designs of most people were clear and transparent to this watchful man's intelligence and observation who could do more with King Iames by working on his fear than others by gratifying his pleasure When I observe how close and silent he was at the Council-Table it puts me in mind of the man that gave this reason why he was silent in a Treaty and Conference Because said he the Enemy might know that as there are many here that can speak so here is one that can hold his peace Observations on the Life of Sir Francis Bacon SIr Francis was born where we are made men bred where we are made States-men being equally happy in the quickness of the City and politeness of the Court He had a large mind from his Father and great abilities from his Mother his parts improved more than his years his great fixed and methodical memory his solid judgement his quick fancy his ready expression gave high assurance of that profound and universal knowledge and comprehension of things which then rendered him the observation of great and wise men and afterwards the wonder of all The great Queen
instruments of their preferment 8. Besides the Romish Catholicks there is a generation of Sectaries the Anabaptists Brownists and others of their kinds they have been several times very busie in this Kingdom under the colour of zeal for reformation of Religion The King your Mr. knows their disposition very well a small touch will put him in mind of them he had experience of them in Scotland I hope he will beware of them in England a little countenance or connivance sets them on fire 9. Order and decent ceremonies in the Church are not only comely but commendable but there must be great care not to introduce Innovations they will quickly prove scandalous men are naturally over-prone to suspition the true Protestant Religion is seated in the golden mean the enemies unto her are the extreams on either hand 10. The persons of Church-men are to be had in due respect for their words sake and protected from scorn but if a Clergy-man be loose and scandalous he must not be patroniz'd nor wink 't at the example of a few such corrupt many 11. Great care must be taken that the patrimony of the Church be not sacrilegiously diverted to lay-uses His Majesty in his time hath religiously stopped a leak that did much harm and would else have done more Be sure as much as in you lyes stop the like upon all occasions 12. Colledges and Schools of Learning are to be cherished and encouraged there to breed up a new stock to furnish the Church and Common-wealth when the old store are transplanted This Kingdom hath in later ages be●n famous for good literature and if preferment shall attend the deservers there will not want supplies Next to Religion let your care be to promote Justice By justice and mercy is the Kings throne established 1. Let the rule of Justice be the Laws of the Land an impartial arbiter between the King and hi● people and between one Subject and another I shall not speak superlatively of them lest I be suspected of p●●t●a●ity in regard of my own pro●●ssion but this I may truly say they are second to none in the Christian world 2. And as far as it may lye in you let no Arbitrary power be intruded the people of this Kingdom love the Laws thereof and nothing will oblige them more than a confidence of the free enjoying of them What the Nobles upon an occasion once said in Parliament Nolumus leges Angliae mutari is imprinted in the hearts of all the people 3. But because the life of the Laws lies in the due execution and administration of them let your eye be in the first place upon the choice of good Judges These properties had they need to be furnished with To be learned in their profession patient in hearing prudent in governing powerful in their elocution to perswade and satisfie both the parties and hearers just in their judgment and to sum up all they must have these three Attributes They must be men of courage fearing God and hating covet●●sness An ignorant man cannot a Coward dares not be a good Judge 4. By no means be you perswaded to interpose your self either by word or letter in any cause depending or like to be depending in any Court of Justice nor suffer any other great man to do it where you can hinder it and by all means disswade the King himself from it upon the importunity of any for themselves or their friends If it should prevail it perverts Justice but if the Judge be so just and of so good courage as he ought to be as not to be enclined thereby yet it always leaves a taint of suspition behind it Judges must be as chaste as Caesar's Wife neither to be nor to be suspected to be unjust and Sir the honour of the Judges in their judicature is the Kings honour whom they represent 5. There is great use of the service of the Judges in their Circuits which are twice in the year held throughout the Ki●gdom the tryal of a few causes between party and party or delivering of the Gaols in several Counties are of great use for the expedition of justice yet they are of much more use for the government of the Counties through which they pass if that were well thought upon 6. For if they had instr●ctions to that purpose they might be the best intelligencers to the King of the true state of his whole Kingdom of the disposition of the people of their inclinations of their intentions and mo●●●n● which are necessary to be truly understood 7. To this end I could wish that against every Circuit all the Judges should sometimes by the K. himself and sometimes by the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper in the King's name receive a charge of those things which the present times did much require and at their return should deliver a faithful account thereof and how they found and left the Counties through which they passed and in which they kept their Assizes 8. And that shey might the better perform th●s work which might be of great importance it will not be am●ss that sometimes this charge be publick as it useth to be in the Star-Chamber at the end of the Terms next before the Circuit begins where the K●ng's care of j●stice and the good of his people may be published and that sometimes also ●t may be private to communicate to the Judges some thi●gs not so fit to be publickly delivered 9. I could wish also that the Judges were directed to make a little longer stay in a place than usually they do a day more in a County would be a very good addition although their wages for their Circuits were increased in proportion it would stand better with the gravity of their employment whereas now they are sometimes enforced to rise over-early and to sit over-late for the dispatch of their business to the extraordinary trouble of themselves and of the people their times indeed not being horae juridicae And which is the main they would have the more leisure to inform themselves quasi aliud agentes of the true estate of the Country 10. The attendance of the Sheriffs of the Counties accompanied with the principal Gentlemen in a comely not a costly equipage upon the Judges of Assize at their coming to the place of their sitting and at their going out is not onely a civility but of use also It raiseth a reverence to the persons and places of the Judges who coming from the King himself on so great an errand should not be neglected 11. If any sue to be made a Judge for my own part I should suspect him but if either directly or indirectly he should bargain for a place of judicature let him be rejected with shame vendere jure potest emerat ille prius 12. When the place of a chief Judge of a Court becomes vacant a puisne Judge of that Court or of another Court who hath approved himself fit and deserving would be sometimes preferred
should be farmed out or bestowed upon any so much as by promise● befo●e judgement given it would neither be profitable nor h●nourable 10. Besides matters of serious consideration in the C●urts of Princes there must be times for pastimes and d●sports When there is a Queen● and Ladies of Hon●ur attending her there must sometimes be Masques and Revels and Enterludes and when there is no Q●een or Princess as now yet at Festivals for entertainment of Strangers or upon such occasions they may be fit also Yet care would be taken that in such cases they be set ●●f more with wit and activity than with costly and wasteful expence● 11. But for the King and Prince and the Lords and Chivalry of the Court I rather commend in their tu●ns and seas●ns t●e riding of the great Horse the Tilts Barriers Tennis and Hunting which are more for the health and strength of those who exersi●e them than in an effeminate way to please themselves and others And now the Prince grow●th up fast to be a man and is of a sweet and excellent disposition it would be an irreparable stain and dishonour upon you having that access unto him if you should mis-lead him or suffer him to be mis-led by any flattering Parasites The whole Kingdom hath a deep interest in his virtuous education and if you keeping that distance which is most fit do humbly interpose your self in such a case he will one day give you thanks for it 12. Yet Dice and Cards may sometimes be used for recreation when field-sports cannot be had but not to use it as a mean to spend the time much less to mis-spend the thrift of the Gamesters SIR I shall trouble you no longer I have run over these things as I first propounded them please you to make use of them or any of them as you shall see occasion or to lay them by as you think best and to add to them as you daily may out of your experience I must be bold again to put you in minde of your present condition you are in the quality of a Sentinel if you sleep and neglect your charge you are an undone man and you may fa●l faster than you have risen I have but one thing more to mind you of which neerly concerns your self you serve a great and gracious Master and there is a most hopeful young Prince whom you must not desert it behoves you to carry your self wisely and evenly between them both adore not so the rising Son that you forget the Father who raised you to this height nor be you so obsequious to the Father that you give just cause to the Son to suspect that you neglect him But carry your self with that judgement as if it be possible may please and content them both which truly I believe will be no hard matter for you to do so may you live long beloved of both which is the hearty prayer of Your most obliged and devoted servant THese were his Rules and this his practice My Lord of Nottingham he bought nobly from the Admiralty his Assistant Vice-Admiral Maunsel he entertained civilly and procured that place for life which he had only during pleasure The Warden of the Cinque-ports resigned his place seasonably ●he Master of the Horse gave up his preferment and his life opportunely He advanced his Relations prudently gratifying them and fortifying himself He made an excellent choice of Servan●s and Confederates entertained the ablest and most faithful Assistants Doctor Williams and Dr. Laud were of his Council for the Church Sir Francis Bacon for the State From the fi●st he received frequent Schedules of Persons and Doctrines from the other constant Transcripts of Rules and Intelligence Never any man more constant to his approved friend never any more fatal to his known Enemies He was the instrument of all the Subjects services to his Soveraign and of his Sovereign's favours to his Subjects no place was bestowed without his knowledge no action passed without his approbation not an eminent man but depended on him and was subordinate to him His dispatches were many and pregnant testimonies that he was a great Master of his Time and a greater of his Method and Affairs Great he was indeed and humble too not raised by his present fortune above the sense of his former envied he was not hated applauded in the same Parliament for his services declaimed against for his preferments ever studious of the peoples Interest which is the care of few Favourites never happy in their love which is the fa●e of all He approved himself both to the declining Monarch and the rising as having won himself not so much to their affections which were alterable as to their judgements which were lasting and made his preferment rather a matter of Interest which is real than of favour which is personal Looking on Somerset laid at his feet Bristol and Williams brought on their knees Carlisle and Pembrook beneath him and Holland behind him and every man that would not owe his preferment to his favour must owe his ruine to his frown He was intrusted with the greatest service and secret in Spain when he dived to the bottom of that Countreys policy and the Intrigues of Europes Counsels and could come off in the Match wi●h Spain to the King and Kingdoms mind dex●erously when Sir Walter Aston and my Lord of Bristol were at a loss about it to both their displeasures weakly amidst the open entertainment and secret working of that place In his attendance on the King in Scotland as Counsell or of th●t Kingdom he carried himself with singular sweetness and temper as it behoved him being now in f●vour and succeeding one of their own They th●● censure his sudden advancements and great preferments consider not that Certainly the hearts of great Princes if the● be considered as it were in Abstract without th● necessities of States circumstances of time being besides their natural Extent moreover onc● opened and dilated with affection can take n● full and proportionable pleasure in the exerc●s● of any narrow bounty And albeit at first the● give only upon choice and love of the Person● yet within a while themselves likewise begin t● love their givings and to foment their deeds n● less than Parents do their children Besides that by so long and so private an● so various conso●iation with a Prince of such excellent nature he had now gotten as it wer● two lives in his own Fortune and Greatness● whereas otherwise the Estate of a Favourite is a● the best but a Tenant at will and rarely transmitted And the mo●e notable because it had bee● without any visible Eclipse or Wane in himself● amidst divers variations in others How general his care appears in that amidst his more important Negotiations he condescended to this noble act o● charity to a Scholar and to Learning which I must for my part celebrate above all his Expences There was a collection of certain rare Manuscrip●s