men wherein I must needs confess that there is a Disparagement for that these Men were not Noble by Birth and therefore not meet to Match with such Noble Women But for the Queens Majesty to Marry one of her Noblemen is no disparagement at all Neither is the Comparison like And in this case ye do make me to marvel at you and to doubt what you do think of the Nobility of this Realm of England as tho' they are not as Noble as the Nobility is of other Realms Is not a Duke of England an Earl a Baron and their Sons as much to be counted Noble as they be in other Realms That I think you cannot deny How then should the Queens Majesty be more disparaged Marrying here one of that Degree than there For mâ—thinks you do so speak that if her Highness Married a Duke or a Nobleman of another Realm then it were no Disparagement Which if you grant then either grant this also or shew the Diversity Ye will say because here they be all her Highness Subjects So surely they be But her Subjects be of divers Sorts and Dâ—grees Whereof the Nobility is as the Right Arm of the Prince the Glory and Beauty of the Realm the Root and Nursery of her Highness Stock and Family Off-springs of Kings and Queens of England and whom her Highness and all her Progenitors calleth always in her Letters and Writings and common Talk Cousins Which word Cousins betokeneth that in mingling of that Bloud there can be no disparagement And so much as you would seem in your Talk to embase that Order and Estate so much you must needs appear â—to abase and contemn the Queens Majesty's own Bloud to whom they be and always have been accounted Allied and as Cousins And is it a Disparagement for the Queen of England to Marry an Englâ—sh man Why more than to the King of England to Marry an English woman The Authority is all one And as well is the English woman a Subject to the Crown as the English man Do you think that King Henry VIII her Majesty's Father was disparaged when he Married her Highness Mother or Queen Iane or Queen Katharine Par And that he was always disparaged save once when he Married his Brothers Wife which was a Stranger And think you that all the rest of the Kings of England of whom a great number Married their own Subjects were Disparaged Methinks this is a strange and unnatural Opinion If it be an Honour to be a Kings Wife or a Queens Husband not only to the Person but also to the Region out of the which they come no Country may justlier crave that Honour nor to none the Prince doth more justly owe that Love than to her own Country where she was born and where she is Queen And if ye would be loth to suffer and would spâ—nd your Blood rather than this Realm should be Tributary or Subject to any other yea you would not gladly see that any foreign Prince should do so much here or be so much set by here and have so much Power as your Natural Prince and Queen And if you may justly call that a Dispâ—ragement when this Realm which is the Head of Nations round about is put under the Girdle of another Who maketh more Dispaâ—agement I pray you the foreign Prince to be the Queens Husband or the English Subject But you are of the Opinion as I perceive that Eraâ—mus speaketh of that thinketh it not comely for a Kings Daughter to be coupled but with a King or a Kings Son To whom he answereth as well as if he had studied this oâ—r Case This is private mens Affâ—ction saith he from which Princes ought to flee as fast as they may If the Marry saith he to one who is not of such Power as the or her Father what is that to the Purpose if that he be for the Realm more expâ—dient It is more â—onour to the Prince to neglect that foreign Dignity of the Marriage than to prefer her Womanly Affection to the Profit of the Realm So far is that great learned and wise man from your Opinion that he calleth the Marriage with Strangers Uneven Marriages and as a man would say Disparagements when he saith there lacketh both that Love and Dearness which the common Country Likeness of Body and Mind doth bring and that Natural and traâ— and uncounterfeit Affection which those Marriages have which are made between them that have all one Country He saith also as I have said before that hardly the Country acknowledge them that are born oâ— those uneven Marriages for their own or that those that are so born cannot with all their Hearts love their Country but as their Blouds be mingled out of divers Countries so their Love is but as it were half dealed and parted in twain And did noâ— this man think you as a Prophet declare that thing which we did see of late in Qâ—eâ—n Mary Did not her vehement Love towâ—rd Spain and Spaniards dâ—clare that she was bâ—â— half English as it were in Affection so thâ—â— mingled Bloud in her Nature could not â—idâ— it self And if the Case standeth so and 〈◊〉 be so much to be looâ—t unto as ye will have it better it were for her Highness and more honourable as it may appear evidâ—ntly to make one of her Noblemen by that means equal to a foreign Prince who shall alwayâ— be ready to obey and Honour her than to take a foreign Prince from abroad who shall look to command and be her Superior And because that Poetry is reckoned of a great learned man to be the eldest Philosoâ—â—y for long before the Philosophy of Thales and Socrates began most Ancient Writers called Poets by fained examples or else by Deeds done described like Fables did instruct men and cause the witty Reader in them to see the good success and happy Fortune of Well-doings and the evil Success and Inconveniences which follow of Evil-doings that so we might have as it were shewed before our Eyes what to follow and what to eschew â—â—t us weigh and consider what they write of this Matter and what Examples they make of those Heroical and Noble Women who forsaking their own Country men fell into the Love of Strangers How good how true how Loving I pray you were your Strangers to them Was not that lâ—sâ—y and valiant Warriour Iason soon gotten and most unkindly and uncourteously did forsake Mâ—dea of Colches who not onely saved his Life but for his Love lost her Country and to save her Lovers Life did abandon the Lives of her Father and Brother How long was Theseus of Athens kind to Arâ—adne King Mâ—nâ—s's Daughter who saved his Life else to have been destroyed in the Labyrinth How true was Dâ—mophon to Phillis of Thracia Hercules to Omphale of Lydia or Aâ—nâ—â—s to Dido of Carthâ—ge All these Queens or Queens Daughters who contemning the Noblemen of their own Country as unequal unto them chose
to the Substance of the Realm and Riches both publick and private it would be no less Pity to think than it is needless to tell unto you especially For first what Debt the Realm was left in to be paid beyond the Seas you heard it declared by Mr. Secretary in the first Parliament of the Queens Majesty and how much it did exceed the Debt of King Edward VI. What was owing also to the Subjects within the Realm It was marvellous to hear how the private Substance was diminished Part might be seen by the Subsidy Books And in the first Parliaments of King Philip and Queen Mary You heard a Burgess of London make plain Declaration and proof that the City of London alone was worse in Substance in those Five Years by 300000 l. than it was at the Death of the late King Edward And if you will say that King Philip being so occupied with continual Wars in which the Emperor his Father left him could not be rich but her Majesty may take one that shall bring in great Wealth and Treasure and whom his Friends have lâ—st very rich This may be done I do not deny altho' it be unlikely that any Prince would be so unnatural to Rob Spoil make bare poor and naked his own Country or Realm to enrich this But if he should do doth he not think you look to be a Gainer by it I think he doth not mean to cast his Money away but possibly he may look for the greater Usury the longer he tarrieth for it and do as some men do adventure a little to get a great Treasure But grant that he looketh for nothing Even for mere Love and Royalty he will bestow the Money here in the Realm he will enrich the Queen's Majesty he will frankly spend all What shall he do when all is spent We see the Treasure of King Henry VII All the Treasure which Maximilian lâ—ft to the Emperour Charles and which came to him out of the Indiâ—s and other Countries which I take to be as rich to his Coffers as the Indies had an end That which in long time is slowly gathâ—red is if Occasion so serve soon spâ—nt and consumed I pray God then this sudden Riches make not again a long Repentaâ—â—â— this sudden joy a long Rueing this spâ—â—dy â—â—riching a longer Taking Whereas if we were content with our own as we know thâ— Coming in so we measure the spending If we will say that Yearly there shall come in the Revenues of that Realm which shall supply again the empty Coffers First I will ask you if that Realm you do speak of is kept with nothing And where that Realm shall stand that hath no Enemies near it no Garrison on the Frontiers no Soldiers to be paid no Officers to be kept no Charge to go out I know few Regions but all that ever can come of them ordinarily can do no more but keep their own ordinary Charges For I see when they have any extraordinary thing as War or Marriage to be made the Princes are constrained to seek extraordinary means by Subjects Love and other Devices to bear them I see this in France in Italy in Spain The rich Indies be so rich to the King of Portugal for all that He is only the Merchant of Spices to all Europe Yet now almost every man doth see that he is scarcely with the Revenues of them able to bear their Charges As Milain and Nâ—ples so the Charges of keeping them is no doubt incrâ—dible to him that hath not marked nor known it And the Accounts â—ruly made I assure you small Gains King Philip hath of them And if the Prince being away from thence remaining the Enemies should invade the Realm you speak of should it not be necessary trow you to employ that Revenue and more upon it Or if the People seeing their Treasure so wasted and their Realm impoverished should repine at it as some Countries would do and refuse to pay any more or if any other in his Absence should take upon him to usurp the State and pretend some Titles as we see to Ambitious Heads there never lack Titles either of Kindred or Commonwealth to Claim to themselves the Soveraignty what Gain shall be looked for from thence Nay what Charges shall we be put to by it Either we must abandon that Realm which were the greatest Dishonour that could be or else employ all our Force and Treasure to the Recovery thereof Either of which if they should chance as few Realms be long without them then casting our Cards aright we shall find very small Advantage And for Proof of this which I say we will but examine your own Examples Mary the Scotch Queen was highly advanced you say to the Dolphin who afterwards was the French King called Francis the Second But what Ricâ—es came by that Match to the Realm of Scotland Ask the Scots who for the great Oppreâ—â—ion which they suffered by the French and the great impoverishing of the poor Realm were fain to demand aid of us their old Enemies and yet in their Distress their most sure Friends and faithful Neighbours And then what Aid had she of the French I pray you when for the Misgovernment of them the â—â—bjects of her purchased Reâ—â—m she had almost lost the Government of her own natural and as I would call it Patrimonial Râ—alm which came to her by Inheritance from her Auncestors We will come to the third Mâ—ry the Daughter and Heir of Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy because here you think to have your strongest Bulwark she Marrying Maximilian the Emperor's Son I cannot deny but her Posterity is now in divers places of Christendom the chief Rulers and Governors But I will deny that her Country of Burgundy is in so good an Estate as it was in her Fathers time For then it was Head and Chief but now it is Subject to the House of Austrich Then the Burgundians were reckoned the hardiest and most valiant Warriors now be the Spaniards Almains and Italians before them Their Riches were then a Terror to France a Marvel to all the World now it is but a little Patch to King Philip's Power And if they were not as well taxed and assessed in the Emperor Charles and this Mighty and Puissant King Philip's Time as ever they were the Burguudians were much to Blame to groan so fast Take Antwerp apart and a few small things by the Sea side which have had another Cause of Increase let us see if all the rest of the Cities be not greatly in Decay and in far worser State than they were when they had but a Duke to their Head As when one River falleth into another they do increase indeed and make larger Water but yet the lâ—ss River thereby loseth both his Name and strength And the biggest River that is falling into the Sea looseth his Force and Power and is salted as well as the rest be So a Kingdom swalloweth up
Smith in Principles of Religion and sound Knowledge While he was thus a Student here such Notice was taken of his Parts and Hopefulness that the Knowledge of him came to K. Henry who according to the Custom of the Princes of England in those Times chose him and Iohn Cheke of St. Iohn's College in the same University afterwards Tutor to Prince Edward his Son to be his Scholars and allotted them Salaries out of his Revenues for their Encouragement in their Studies whereby Smith became assisted to bear his Charges in the University but especially in his Travels abroad Cheke makes mention of this Honour done to them both in an Epistle to that King before his Edition of Chrysostom's two Homilies which he first published from a Manuscript and translated into Latin wherein he hath these words Coaptasti me Thomam Smithum Socium Aequalem meum in Scholasticos tuos i. e. Your Majesty chose me and Tho. Smith my Companion and Equal for your own Scholars And Smith also takes occasion to make a grateful mention of it to Bishop Gardiner in the Controversie about the right pronouncing of the Greek of which we shall hear by and by and thus describes himself and his said Fellow Quos par aetas conditio similis eadem ratio studiorum parilis in utrumque Regia Benignitas perpetua quaedam comparatio ingeniorum aemulatio quae solet inter caeteros invidiam dissensionem excitare conjunctissimè semper hactenus copulavit fraterno amore constrinxit i. e. That Equality of Age and Conditions the same Course of Studies and the Royal Bounty equally exhibited to us and the continual vying with one another and Emulation of our Parts and Wits which in others is wont to kindle Envy and Dissension hitherto hath united us closely and tied us both together in Love as Brothers But for this Royal distinguishing Favour they were envied by many in the University And this was thought to be a Reason that there was such an Opposition made to that new correct way of sounding Greek Words which they first brought in Which occasioned Smith to say Let it not offend any that we are the King's Scholars and are so called and that his Majesty doth not altogether despise us That we profess under the happy Auspice and Salary of the most Learned and Potent Prince These two proved afterwards an incomparable Pair of Christian Philosophers and as long as they were in Cambridge continuing their Fame for Learning Many Years after one that knew them well and that University I mean Dr. Haddon said of them That such they had been and still remained that none of that University could compare with them nor in his Judgment any Foreigners whatsoever And it must not be pass'd over what gave one of the first occasions to the Studies that improved them to such Degrees of Learning I. Redman D.D. and Master of Trinity College but formerly of St. Iohn's returning from beyond Seas where he studied in some Foreign Universities and chiefly at Paris brought home with him the Knowledge of the Latine and Greek Tongues and was well versed in Tully Smith and his Companion who were then very young for it was about the Year 1531. were stirred up with a kind of Impulse and Emulation of his Learning and the Honour that was on that account daily done unto him And being desirous to follow him and his Learning they threw aside their Barbarisms and applied themselves to the reading of Plato Demosthenes Aristotle and Cicero Smith's Diligence soon procured him to be preferred in the College where he was afterwards to make a great Figure and prove a most Eminent Ornament being made Fellow in the Year 1531. then but Nineteen Years of Age. Scarce had two Years passed but Smith had acquired such good Skill in Greek that he was called to read the Publick Greek Lectures when his Learned Fellow Cheke studied and read them more privately And from them we may date the Time that the Knowledge of Greek and the true florid Elocution of it commenced in this nay and all other Nations Custom had now prevailed in a very improper and false sounding of certain Greek Vowels and Diphthongs For Men now pronounced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This exceedingly disparaged the Pronunciation of that noble Language When the Reader had almost nothing else to speak but lamentable Sounds and that piteous Vowel I. as Smith himself complained Smith and Cheke began at last to confer together seriously about this matter it being now the Year 1535. They well perceiv'd how the vulgar sounding of the Greek was and concluded it evidently false that so many different Letters and Diphthongs should have but one and the same Sound And a difficult thing they found it to teach this Tongue well by reason of this great and absurd Confusion They proceeded to search Authors if perhaps thence any certainty might be taken up But the Modern Writers did but little avail them For Erasmus they had not yet seen who had in a Book found fault with the common reading of the Greek But tho' both saw these palpable Errors they could not agree among themselves but one thought one thing and another another especially concerning the Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They both dreaded the Effects of an unusual Sound which by reason of the Novelty would be hard and hateful A little after having gotten Erasmus and Terentianus an Author that wrote De Literis Syllabis they privately made many Corrections and meditated diligently within the Walls of their own Studies a more emendate manner of speaking but did not adventure yet to bring it into Light nor communicate it to any but those whose intimate Familiarity and Friendship made them Partakers of their Studies When this new Utterance of Greek was sufficiently conquered and inured to them by private use and did daily more and more please them by reason of that Fulness and Sweetness that they apprehended in it they thought good then to make Trial of it publickly It was agreed that Smith should begin He read at that time Aristotle de Republica in Greek as he had done some Years before And that the Roughness of a new Pronunciation might give the less Offence he used some Craft which was this That in his Reading he would let fall a Word only now and then uttered in the new correct Sound Which he did for this end That if his Auditors utterly refused his Words thus pronounced then he reckoned he ought to defer his purpose for some longer time and accordingly so he intended to do But if they received them with a good Will then he would the more speedily go on with his Innovation But behold the Issue At first no Notice was taken of it but when he did it oftner they began to observe and
Warrant can the French make now Seals and Words of Princes being Traps to catch Innocents and bring them to the Butchery If the Admiral and all those Martyred on that bloody Bartholomew Day were guilty why were they not apprehended imprisoned interrogated and judged but so much made of as might be within two Hours of the Assassination Is that the manner to handle Men either culpable or suspected So is the Journier slain by the Robber so is the Hen of the Fox so the Hind of the Lion so Abel of Cain so the Innocent of the Wicked so Abner of Ioab But grant they were guilty they dreamt Treason that night in their Sleep what did the Innocents Men Women and Children at Lions What did the Sucking Children and their Mothers at Roan deserve at Caen at Rochel What is done yet we have not heard but I think shortly we shall hear Will God think you still sleep Shall not their Blood ask Vengeance Shall not the Earth be accursed that hath sucked up the innocent Blood poured out like Water upon it I am most sorry for the King whom I love whom I esteem the most worthy the most faithful Prince of the World the most sincere Monarch now Living Ironically spoken no question by Smith because to him that King used to profess so much Integrity I am glad you shall come home and would wish you were at home out of that Country so contaminate with innocent Blood that the Sun cannot look upon it but to prognosticate the Wrath and Vengeance of God The Ruin and Desolation of Ierusalem could not come till all the Christians were either killed there or expelled from thence But whither do I run driven with just Passions and Heats And in another Letter All that be not Bloody and Antichistian must needs condole and lament the Misery and Inhumanity of this Time God make it short and send his Kingdom among us La Crocque was now in England Ambassador from France and notwithstanding this base bloody Action of France and the Jealousies that the Queen now justly conceived of that King yet she gave him a soft Answer to be returned to his Master being ready to go to his own Country Of which Ambassador's Negotiation and the Queen's Answer thus Secretary Smith spake His Negotiation was long in Words to make us believe better of that King than as yet we can and replied to on the English side liberally eenough Altho' to that Prince or Country who have so openly and injuriously done against Christ who is Truth Sincerity Faith Pity Mercy Love and Charity nothing can be too sharply and severely answered Yet Princes you know are acquainted with nothing but Doulceur so must be handled with Doulceur especially among and between Princes And therefore to temperate as you may perceive Not that they should think the Queen's Majesty and her Council such Fools as we know not what is to be done and yet that we should not appear so rude and barbarous as to provoke where no Profit is to any Man Upon the Preparations that were made in England against the feared Attempts of the French or other Roman Catholicks at this critical Time of the Murthers committed upon the Protestants in France the Secretary thus piously spake Truth it is that God disposeth all whatsoever a Man does purpose as Divines speak And it is his Gift if Wise Men do provide for Mischief to come And yet whatsoever they do devise the Event doth come of him only who is the God of Hope and Fear beyond Hope and Expectation This he spake in reference to the Scots who hearing of this Havock in France whereas the Lords there were in Civil Wars amongst themselves fomâ—nted by the French did now begin to come to Accord dreading these Doings and fearing some Danger near themselves For it was the Desire of the English to have Scotland in Peace and Union under the present Protestant King And now by a way not thought on they drew nearer and nearer to an Accord To which the Cruelty in France helped not a little and now continuing much more would Which he exprest in thâ—se Words The Scots our Neighbours he awakened by their Beacons in France And the Scots to shew their Resentment of these foul Doings there issued out a Proclamation to that purpose which the Secretary sent to Walsingham CHAP. XIV Secretary Smith at Windsor dispatching Business His Care of Flanders and Ireland Mass-mongers and Conjurers sent up to him out of the North. His Colony in Ireland IN the very beginning of November Secretary Smith was with the Queen at Windsor the Lord Treasurer Burghley and most of the Lords of the Council being gone to London to the Solemnization of some great Wedding at which the Secretary also should have been but he thought it not convenient to go to be present with the Queen whatsoever Chance might happen There were now in England Walwick an Agent from the Earls of East Freezeland who was very importune for an Answer to his Masters Requests and another Agent from the Town of Embden who came about Matters of Trade The Consideration of whose Business the Queen committed to Aldersay and some other Merchants of London who had objected against the Agents Proposals and were to give in their Reasons Smith who was ever for Dispatch of Business desired the Lord Burghley to call upon these Merchants to hasten and to forward the Dismission of both those Agents Irish Businesses also lying before the Queen at this Time were taken care of by him Signifying to the said Lord Treasurer how the Lord Deputy of Ireland wanted Comfort and Direction in Answer to his Letters And he desired the Treasurer to send him the Draught of the Answer from the Lords to the said Deputy which he would cause to be written fair and made ready to be Signed against his and the rest of the Lords Return to Windsor He further wrote to the Treasurer that he should have the Privy Seal sent him for 5200 l. for Corn and Money for the use of the Deputy He mentioned two Letters withal to be sent by the same Dispatch into Ireland for three Bishopricks void there to which the Lord Deputy had recommended certain Persons as able and fit Men for those Places And taking care of his Friend Walsingham Ambassador in France he obtained leave from the Queen for his Return home And when among several named to her Majesty to succeed him she had her thoughts upon Mr. Francis Carce as liking him most he enformed the Treasurer of it and prayed him to send for the said Carce and commune with him to put himself in a readiness Whereby as he said he should do Mr. Walsingham a great Pleasure These were some of the State Matters Smith's Hands were full of in the Month of November Sir Thomas Smith was nettled to see the proud Spaniard Domineering in Flanders and Holland and exercising their Cruelties there and
â—â—ve enough to spend And when they have spent somewhat to leave Now if any Injury should be offered to his Wife and Children who is so out of Patience as the Husband He chafes he sumes he prepareth himself immediately to revenge And if the Enemies come or the War be menaced first he provideth that his Wife and Children be conveyed into sasty Then he himself maketh him ready to meet his Enemy He offereth his Body to the Stroke his Blood to be poured out his Life to be taken from him rather than they shall have one Finger hurt And this so natural so common so don of all men that it is no News it is no Wonder No man mervaileth at it For it is seen every day Even the Wild Beasts wil do as much to defend their Mates Fight to the Death with the Hunter to keep him from the Den where his Female and his Whelps do ly And here you bring in Theodotus Husband to Amala Suenta from Rome Philip Viscount from Milain in Lumbardy Iaques de la Nardie Q. Ianes Husband from Naples They were Monsters of Mankind Examples of Unkindness Spectacles of Devilish Cruelty Of which yet not one of them escaped unrevenged And what wil ye make a general Rule of this So shal ye extinct and deface al natural Affection al Order of Love al Course of Kindnes So may you bring in Nere that killed his Mother because she seemed to mislike some of his Vices Selimus that killed his Father because he thought he â—ept the Kingdom of the Turks too long from him Asedeâ— that killed her own Children in despite of her Husband Caâ—â—line that killed his own Son because a rich Widow would not els marry him Baâ—â—ianus that killed his Brother Gâ—ta because he would rule alone And all the Rabblâ—ment of â—ather-â—illers and Mother-killers Son killers and Daughter-killers the Murtherers of their Brethren and Sillers their masters and their chief Friends And prove that there is no Love nor Trust in Father or Mother Son nor Daughter Brother nor Sister Kit nor Kin even Tymons Sect. And very much better did Christ reason with Siâ—â—â— the Pharisee He whom more is forgiven saith he more doth love As who would say he that hath more kindness shewâ—â— him as the Benefit is greater so is his Love more affectionate to him or her of whom he received it Which if it be true who then can â—â—â—e a more Affection a greater Love and earnâ—â—â—er Care and a fâ—rventer Dearness of mind towards the Queen than he whom she chuseth above all men whom she preferreth to al the rest to whom she giveth al that ever she hath and her self also Yea whom she maketh her self In that by this Knot they be both but one Body Can this man ever hate her Can he speak evil of her Or can he suffer that the least Tittle in the world should grieve her Mind Sooner will he abide any Pain any Grief any Torment himself For what can be a greater Grief or painful Disease to him than that she of whom he received so unspeakable a Benefit should perceive in him the least spot of Unkindness Except he be a wild Beast in a Man's Likeness a Devil and a Monster of Mankind as Nero was and these whom ye named of whom ye have found out three since the World began And I think you shal not tho von search never so neer find out so many more The Comfort the Ease of Mind the Pleasure the Contentation that her Majesty shal have of a loving husband is unable with Words to be declared and no Man or Woman can believe it til they have proved it Whereof what greater Argument can there be than this that of so many Thousand as be maried you shall not se among five Hundred one which once hath been maried Men or Women I say that when by misfortune one of the Couple dyeth wil abide sole without wedding again They think in the mean space their Houses naked their Table without Comfort their Bed without Joy themselves half maimed and to lack in al Purposes one of their Things most necessary and as Aristophanes saith in Plato indeed they feel that the one Half of themselves all the while is away This far to the first two Points of your Oration Now I come to the Third and last Point wherein ye disputed what were best for the Commonwealth and for the whole Realm And here methought you began to handle us very ungently Ye asked us what Fault we find with the Government now and wherein we do lack a man or Husband to the Queen To the First if we should answer ye would bring us in a Displeasure with the Council as tho we disliked their Doings To the Second if we should we might seem to note the Queens Majesty as insufficient to Rule her Realm Pretty Streights ye have devised to make us hold our Peace 〈◊〉 this will not make us agree to your Opinion What lack we say you Mary even that which you know your self For you were present and a Goer with them your self the whole Parlament lacked you know what wel enough What was their suite to her Majesty I pray you What required they by the Mouth of our Speaker Were they then of your Opinion or of mine touching that Matter Why did not you declare so much in the Parlament before they went to make their Petition to her Highnes as ye have done here ye might have stayed them peradventure that they should not with such humble and earnest Requests have moved her Majesty to have Compassion upon her poor Realm and to think upon Marriage wherein we might se some speedy Hope of Succession from her Highnes But you durst not you saw so many even al men bent to the contrary And you know wel enough you should not escape unanswered at the ful And possibly you were not of that Opinion at that time But now you be Wel if you be so now to all other Reasons I have answered to the rest this I have to say If in al such kind of Reasons whether a Thing is better to be don or no the Authority and Judgment of wife sober and discrete men ought to have greatest weight I can bring in the Authority of the greatest wisest sagest gravest best learned and expert men in th' affairs of the Realm and maintaining of the Common-wealth as you your self can witnes which were against your Opinion at that Time and on my side And if you like a Philosopher will not suffer me to use Authority I wil not fly your Reasons but as I began I wil answer stil as I have don And ye compare Q. Maries Time to this and make this Time so much better than the other as you lift your self wherin I wil not tâ—ive with you you shal find me so good a fellow yet as Craesus said to Cambyses who would needs be better esteemed than his Father the wife and great Conqueror Cyrus
yet had I rather overburthen my self than leave my Country undefended or to see my Country-men so much disgraced Our Question is Whether if it please the Queens Majesty to Marry it were better that her Majesty took an English man or a Stranger Here you come with your fine and logical Distinction and bring in the Causes Essential and Accidental of Marriage as tho' we were in a School of Dunsery and not in a Discourse of Pleasure where we would seek out the Truth without any Fraud or Circumvention I pray you either mince not the matter so finely or else go not so lightly away with every piece before it be either granted to you or else fully proved And first to the three Essentials which you make I will never grant that the English man and the Stranger be equal For even for the first I mean getting of Children if you ask mine Opinion altho' after Marriage by the Law of God whosoever the Father be the Prince or Child which is gotten shall be most rightful Heir of England and an English man yet it must needs be better an hundredfold that our Prince be a mere English man as well by the Father as by the Queen his Mother than half English which shall have any part of Strangers Bloud in him We laugh at this and you think that I speak now of the Honour and of the Affection which I have to our Country above other No I speak not of Affection but as great Causes move me For I would the Prince of this Realm should be wholly English and that no other Realm had any Duty to claim of him but that he should think this his whole and only Country and natural Soil So shall he never set by others Countries but by this So shall he not prefer sickle Strangers to his trusty Subjects So shall he ever covet to adorn magnifie and exalt this Realm and drive away no Part of his Love from it to another Whereas if he should have to his Father a Stranger it cannot be but he must have a natural Mind and Affection to this his Father's Country and his elder Country and either as much or more than to England Of which thing this Realm already hath had Proof enough The Danes enjoyed once this Realm too long Of which altho' some of them were born here yet so long as the Danes Blood was in them they could never but favour the poor and barren Realm of Denmark more than the rich Country of England The Normans after wan and possessed the Realm So long as ever the Memory of their Blood remained the first most and so less and less as by little and little they grew to be English What did they Keep down the English Nation Magnifie the Normans the rich Abbies and Priories they gave to their Normans the Chief Holds the Noble Seignories the best Bishopricks and all Yea they went so low as to the Parsonages and Vicarages if one were better to the Puâ—se than another that a Norman had Poor English men were glad to take their Leavings And so much was our Nation kept under that we were glad to dissemble our Tongue and learn theirs Whereupon came the Proverb Iack would be a Gentleman if he could speak French But as the Norman Bloud and Tongue â—anished away so by little and little Thanks be to God this Mischief began to cease and the Princes by Process of Time made mere English merely favoured this our Nation And is not this a good Cause think you why I should wish the Queens Highness Husband to be of our Country and the Prince her Majesty's Son to be a mere English man For as we have seen by these and other Proofs in Time past if the Prince should be a Frenchman he would favour the French if an Italian the Italians if a Dane or a Swedener he would also favour his Country and Country-men And is not the whole at least the greatest part of the Love which we English men should require of him to be derived thither And you may be assured as the People see the Prince part his Love so will they part theirs Which Love I would have and wish always to be whole intire and perfect in both That there should not arise a Seditious Person to say Non est nobis Pars in David nec Hareditas in filio Jesse Unusquisque ad Tentorium O Israel As for the second which is the Avoiding of Adultery and Fornication it lyeth more in the Gift of God and the Godliness of the Mind of the Married Person than in the Quality of his or her Make. But will not evil Examples think you do much And I pray you what Nation is there where Matrimony is so indifferently of each and so godly of both kept as in England The Italians be so jealous that almost every private man there doth not think himself sure of his Wife except he keep her close in a Mew as here in England men keep their Hawks Again he for his part taketh so much Liberty that to resort to Courtezans to describe his Loves and Pastimes with others besides his Wife so it be in fine Rhythme and wittily contrived Verse he taketh rather an Honour than a Dishonour Do you think her Majesty brought up in English Manner can like this suspicion against the Wife Or this Licentious Liberty of the Husband And yet if her Grace should take an Italian this is the Manner of his Country The French man in jealousie is not so much nor doth so streightly as in prison keep hiâ— Wife as doth the Italian Mary for his own Liberty he will give the Italian no place Their own French Books do shew no lessâ— and whoso is conversant with them 〈◊〉 understand the same And if her Majesty should Marry a French man think you he would not have some great piece of his Country Manners The Scots be in so natural League wiâ—â— France that he is no true Scot unless he speak and do French-like The Spaniard will rule and standeth all up on Honour For other Liberty of such Pastime he will give place to none but go afar as any yet he will do Penance peradventure in Lent or at Easter and whip himsâ—lâ— then in a Visor naked supposing to make God and his Wife amends by it as he thinketh and to salve his fond Conscience But for our English Manners I dare say we esteem iâ— mâ—re honourable and more Godly not with such Untroth to oâ—fend our Wives than first to take Liberty and then to make so mad Amends The Dutch men and the Dane and all such Countries as draw in Language and Conditions towards them with the great Love which they have to Drink do shadow the other Vice and either may so excuse them that they did it overcome with Drink or else indeed for two much pleasure in the one care less for the other But what excuse is that with Vice to elâ—de Vice Or else what
Pleasure shall it be to one brought up in English Manners to have an Husband which shall almost ever be Drinking or Sleeping Or if not ever yet too many times she must be sain thus to bear with him For it is the manner of his Country and so he was brought up Thesâ— bâ— the Faults of other Nations which tho' they seem strange to us yet among them 〈◊〉 â—ome Use Custom and the Multitudâ— of them that do so maketh it no Shame Reproach nor Rebuke Which if her Majesty do mislike as I am sure her Godly Wisdom must needs cause her not to like them thâ—n must our English man in this Case be preferred And this for the two Parts which ye passed so lightly and take as granted that in thâ—m there was no Difference between the English man and the Stranger For the Third that is the Comfort Pleasure and Joy which the one otherwise privately shall take of the other which is most necessary for Qâ—iâ—tness of Mind and Government of the House and Family I take that there is no Comparison For if Likeness of Tongue Behaviour Manners Education be those which make Love bring Fruit and cause Amity what can Diversity of all these do but bring Misliking Distrust and Hatred Which be very hansome Servants â—I assure you to go on message betwixt the Husband and the Wife And if men be so naturally affectioned to their own Country that they do not only prefer the Soil and Air thereof before other Countries altho' they be indeed much better as the Poets for Example to declare the Nature of mans Affection make Ulyâ—ses whom they describe as the wisest and most foreseeing of all the Greeks after manifold Torments of the Sea and Land yet to prefer the little barren and rocky Island 〈◊〉 which was his own natural Country to all other yea to the plâ—â—sant Country of Camâ—â—nia where Riches did dwell and to the rich and plenteous Country of the Phaeaces wherein one Grape doth ripen upon another and Figs upon Figs so that there is always plenty but also the Manners Conditions Affections Ordinances and Laws of his own Country every man doth think them better and more to be esteemed than thosâ— of any other as Herodetus doth also write who bringeth this thing for a great Argument that Cambyses was mad and out of his right Wits because he did not esteem the Manners and Conditions of his own Country And Alexander had much ado to keep the Love of his Soldiers and Princes of Macedony and was of them misliked as one drunken with Pride and half out of his right Wits because he began to wear the Apparel and to like the Manners and Behaviour of the Persians Insomuch that altho' he much desired it yet he was fain to remit that to his Macedonians that they should not kneel when they spoke to him Because they could not be brought unto it Forsomuch as it was not the Manner of their Country to do so to their Princes So Iulius Caâ—sar durst never call himself King nor would suffer any Man to name or write him Lord or King because he knew the Romans otherwise brought up could not abide it We see when Christian Religion began first how earnest the Iews were to bring in their Circumcision and Ceremonies and to lay their Customs and Manners upon our Backs And so much they esteemed them that they thought Christ scarcely able enough without them to save us and that he was no good man except he did as they did What shall I gather of this but that if the Queens Majesty should marry a Stranger she shall take one who shall not only love his own Natural Country better than England but also the Apparel Conditions Manners Pastime and Behaviour of his own Country better than those of England For as it is natural for an English man to love England and to like the Manners and Conditions of England so it is natural to Italians French men Germans Danes Men of Sweden each one to like theirs And if it be natural so to do than he is an unnatural man that doth not and as Herodotus thinketh a man to be counted rather mad and beside himself than otherwise Now whether think you better Master Lovealien for the Queen to take a Stranger which should be counted a wise natural and godly man to his Country or no If he be so then shall he set more by his own Country than England And if he be not then whom will you have the Queen to marry One who neither shall be counted wise nor natural to his Country And if he be to that his own Country unnatural and unkind do you think that her Highness shall find any natural Love in him in whom his Country as Mother who first brought him up his Subjects of whom he is Lord and Patron the Land that bred him the Tombs of all his Ancestors that Country where all his Friends and Kinsfolks dwell that Place which next unto God he oweth most Duty unto cannot find He thaâ— is unkind to his own seldom is found kind to another he that is most Loving to his kin hardly is to be thought for to be loving to strangers And again if he be to be counted a wise and discreâ—t man and a natural man to his own Country as it is most likely he will be then shall he covet to enrich that and to impoverish ours to honour and exalt that tho' it be with the oppressing of this to bring in the Manners and Conditions of that Country which he liketh best and to see if he can bring the Queens Highness to them And so to frame her Majesty as they call it to his Bow which he thinketh best not to apply to our Institutes Conditions and Manners which be best indeed Or be it in case they be not as for my Part I think they be yet our Queen and her People brought up in them must of Force and Nature think them best Now Sir as you say of Apparel Manners Customs Behaviour Pastimes Exercises Eating and Drinking so say I also of Laws for this Education containeth all what Contention hath been always betwixt us and Strangers because they like their Laws and Customs best and we ours They say we do wrong where we do not as they do And we again think their Laws unjust and unequal for us not only in Succeâ—â—â—on of Heritage but in many other Contracts And when they be here we make them follow our Laws and when we be there we must do as their Customs be Now this Contention is easily born for the one part of sine force must give place But if you bring this contention once into England the Queens Majesty shall like her own Realm Customs and Laws and her People will so desire Her Husband possibly as he shall think himself as great a Prince or greater shall like his Laws Customs and Ordinances better and shall by all means study to bring them