a popular Orator is a good Courtier and leading Parts in Parliament or Convocation are great Merits In the black Parliament he was a Member by his own Interest and a Speaker by his Majesties Choice Sir Tho. More was to serve the Crown in the Lords House and Sir Tho. Audley was to succeed him in the House of Commons When Abbey-Lands were bestowed on the King in grofs and returned by him to the leading Lords and Commons in the Retayl most of that Parliament looked for shares Sir Thomas for the first cut to secure himself with the King He was always in favour with the Queens who had no less Interest in the Kings Heart then the Kingdom had in his Head The. Age was uncertain Interest nor so Sir Thomas was fixed on the One above the alterations of the Other understanding what was most convenient at a time when there was nothing lawful He was well seen in the flexures and windings of Affairs at the depth whereof other Heads not so steady turned giddy He had the Arts of a Statesman and the closeness of a Politicion Reserved he was but no Dissembler For if a man have that penetration of judgment as he can discern what things are to be laid open and what to be kept secret and what to be shewed with half sights and to whom and when which indeed are Arts of States and Arts of Life to him an Habit of Dissimulation is a hinderance and a poorness He as an able man was always frank and open but wary knowing how to stop and turn within the compass of Equity and Honesty He understood business well and men better and knew King Henry's Temper better then Himself whom he surprized always to his own bent never moving any of his suits to him but when in haste and most commonly amusing him with other matter until he passed his Request His Actions were managed for applause as well as service for when made Sergeant he was the first of eleven his Entertaining-Day was the last of six The King who paid for his Dinner was invited to it He watched the Circumstances of his Actions that they might be Taking as well as their Issue that they might be Useful and contrived that the least of his publick Actions should come off with Reputation He followed the most passable rather then the most able men living in a time when active men were more useful then the vertuous Sir Thomas at once gratified the present Humour of the King and the constant Temper of the People in six Bills against the Clergy 1. Against the Extortions of their Courts 2. The Exaction of their Corps and Morturies 3. Their worldly Occupations as Grazing Tanning c. 4 Merchandize 5. Their Non-Residencies 6. The Pluralities of the Ignorant and the mean Salaries of the Learned When in some Debates between the Lords and Commons Custome was urged Sir Thomas replied The usage hath ever been for Thieves to rob at Shooters Hill is it therefore lawful He brought the Clergy within a Praemunire to awe them and afterwards in their pardon he and other Members included their own which the knowing King would not pass when it was demanded as of Right yet afterwards granted it of his own accord when it was received as of Grace When Sir Thomas More could not act with the times Sir Thomas Audley could the One being weary of the Seal the other takes it being made Lord Keeper in Sir Thomas his life-time and Lord Chancellour after his death owning no Opinion against the Government of England nor any Design against its Interest The King might well trust him with his Conscience when he trusted the King with his owning no Doctrine but what was established ever judging the Church and State wiser then himself He was forced to take Q. Anne but he would not condemn her rather escaping then refusing unwelcome Employments wherein he must either displease his Master or himself He was tender but not wilful waving such services dexterously wherein he must oppose his Master dangerously Those Insurrections which others Rigor had raised his Moderation allayed breaking the Factions with Indulgence which might be strengthened with Opposition Cromwel pulled down Popery with his Power Audley kept it down with his Policy enjoyning the Preachers to detect the follies of that way which is reckoned the wisdom of this World He had a moderate way to secure the Priviledges of Parliament by freedom from Arrests and the good will of the Citizens by an Order about debts By these courses he died as much in the Kings Favour as he lived Patience can weather out the most turbulent Age and a solid Judgement the most intricate times The reserved and quiet man is the most secure Activity may raise a man Wariness keep him up If he had done nothing he had noâ— been seen if he had done much he had not been suffered Between two extreams Audley could do well Treasure of Arms and Arts in whom were set The Mace and Books the Court and Colledge met Yet both so wove that in that mingled throng They both comply and neither neither wrong But pois'd and temper'd each reserv'd its seat Nor did the Learning quench but guide the Heat The Courtier was not of the furious strain The hand that acts doth first consult the brain Hence grew commerce betwixt Advice and Might The Scholar did direct the Courtier right And as our Perfumes mixt do all conspire And twist their Curles above the hallowed fire Till in that Harmony of Sweets combin'd We can nor Musk nor single Amber finde But Gums meet Gums and their delights so crowd That they create one undistinguish'd cloud So to thy minde these rich Ingredients prest And were the Mould and Fabrick of thy brest Learning and Courage mixt and temper'd so The Stream could not decay nor overflow And in that equal Tide thou didst not bear From Courage Rashness nor from Learning Fear Observations on the Life of Sir Thomas Wiat. SIr Thomas Wiat was born at Allington-castle in the County of Kent which afterwards he repaired with beautiful Buildings He fell out of his Master King Henry the eighth his favour about the business of Queen Anna Bullen till his industry care discretion and innocence freed him Very ingenious he was or as his Anagram tells us he was A Wit in the abstract Cambden saith he was Eques auratus splendide doctus Holy he was and heavenly minded and that appears by his translation of David's Psalms into English Metre and Leland gives him this great Commendation Bella suum merito jactet Florentia Dantem Regia Petrarchae Carmina Roma probat His non inferior Patria Sermone Viatus Eloquii secum qui decui omne tulit This Knight being sent Ambassador by King Henry the eighth to Charles the fifth Emperour then residing in Spain before he took Shipping died of the Pestilence in the West-Country Anno 1541. Queen Anne's favour towards him raised this man and
jurisdiction in many particulars The fitter they are for the peace of the Kingdome the more heed ought to be taken in the choice of them 24. But negatively this I shall be bold to say that none should be put into either of those Commissions with an eye of favour to their persons to give them countenance or reputation in the places where they live but for the King's service sake nor any put out for the disfavour of any great man It hath been too often used and hath been no good service to the King 25. A word more if you please to give me leave for the true rules of the moderation of Justice on the Kings part The execution of justice is committed to his Judges which seemeth to be the severer part but the milder part which is mercy is wholly left in the King 's immediate hand And Justice and Mercy are the true supporters of his Royal Throne 26. If the King shall be wholly intent upon Justice it may appear with an over-rigid aspect but if he shall be over-remiss and easie it draweth upon him contempt Examples of Justice must be made sometimes for terrour to some Examples of Mercy sometimes for comfort to others the one procures fear and the other love A King must be both feared and loved else he is lost 27. The ordinary Courts of Justice I have spoken of and of their Judges and judicature I shall put you in minde of some things touching the High Court of Parliament in England which is superlative and therefore it will behove me to speak the more warily thereof 28. For the institution of it it is very antient in this Kingdom It consisteth of the two Houses of Peers and Commons as the Members and of the King's Majesty as the head of that great body By the King's authority alone and by his Writs they are assembled and by him alone they are prorogued and dissolved but each House may adjourn it self 29. They being thus Assembled are more properly a Council to the King the Councel of the Kingdome to advise his Majesty in those things of weight and difficulty which concern both the King and People then a Court. 30. No new Laws can be made nor old Laws abrogated or altered but by common consent in Parliament where Bills are prepared and presented to the two Houses and then delivered but nothing is concluded but by the King 's Royal assent They are but Embroys 't is he giveth life unto them 31. Yet the House of Peers hath a power of Judicature in some cases properly to examine and then to affirm or if there be cause to reverse the judgements which have been given in the Court of King's Bench which is the Court of highest jurisdiction in the Kingdome for ordinary Judicature but in these cases it must be done by Writ of Error in Parliamento And thus the rule of their proceedings is not absoluta potestas as in making new Laws in that conjuncture as before but limitata potest as according to the known Laws of the Land 32. But the House of Commons have only power to censure the Members of their own House in point of election or misdemeauors in or towards that House and have not nor ever had power so much as to administer an Oath to prepare a judgement 33. The true use of Parliaments in this Kingdome is very excellent and they would be often called as the affairs of the Kingdom shall require and continued so long as is necessary and no longer for then they be but burthens to the people by reason of the priviledges justly due to the Members of the two Houses and their Attendants which their just rights and priviledges are religiously to be observed and maintained but if they should be unjustly enlarged beyond their true bounds they might lessen the just power of the Crown it borders so near upon popularity 34. All this while I have spoken concerning the Common Laws of England generally and properly so called because it is most general and common to almost all cases and causes both civil and criminal But there is also another Law which is called the Civil or Ecclesiastical Law which is confined to some few heads and that is not to be neglected and although I am a professor of the Common-Law yet am I so much a lover of Truth and of Learning and of my native Countrey that I do heartily perswade that the professors of that Law called Civilians because the Civil Law is their guide should not be discountenanced nor discouraged else whensoever we shall have oâ—ght to do with any foreign King or State we shall be at a miserable losse for waâ—t of Learned men in that profession III. I come now to the consideration of those things which concern Councellors of State The Council Table and the great Offices and Officers of the Kingdome which are those who for the most part furnish out that honourable Board I. Of Councellors there are two sorts The first Consiliarii â—ati as I may term them such are the Prince of Wales and others of the King's Sons when he hath more of these I speak noâ— for they are naturally born to be Councellors to the KING to learn the art of Governing betimes 2. But the ordinary sort of Councellors are such as the King out of a due consideration of their worth and abilities and withal of their fidelities to his Person and to his Crown calleth to be of Councel with him in his ordinary Government And the Council-Table is so called from the place where they ordinarily assemble and sit together and their Oath is the onely ceremony used to make them such which is solemnly given unto them at their first admission These honourable persons are from thenceforth of that Board and Body They cannot come untill they be thus called and the King at his pleasure may spare their attendance and he may dispense with their presence there which at their own pleasure they may not do 3. This being the quality of their service you will easily judge what care the King should use in his choice of them It behoveth that they be persons of great trust and fidelity and also of wisdome and judgement who shall thus assist in bearing up the King's Throne and of known experience in publick affairs 4. Yet it may not be unfit to call some of young years to train them up in that Trade and so fit them for those weighty affairs against the time of greater maturity and some also for the honour of their persons But these two sorts not to be tyed to so strict attendance as the others from whom the present dispatch of business is expected 5. I could wish that their number might not be so over-great the persons of the Councellors would be the more venerable And I know that Queen Elizabeth in whose time I had the happinesse to be born and to live many years was not so much observed for having a numerous
returning thence rich in Languages Remarks and Experience waving all the dangers incident to him for his Religion by a wary profession that he came to learn and not to search Being first related to Sir Fulke Grevil Lord Brook who did all menâ— business but his own He was thence preferred to be Secretary of the Navy then Master of the Requests and at last Secretary of State for twenty years together Being a very zealous Protestant he did all good offices for the advancement of true Religion His Contemporaries character him a grave and a prudent man in gate apparel and speech one that had his Intellectuals very perfect in the dispatch of businesse till he was eighty years old when foreseeing those Intrigues that might be too hard for his years he with his Majesties good leave retyred as Moses did to dye when his eyes were not dim c. having kept himself strictly to the Law of the Land Insomuch that being sent to command Bishop Williams from Westminster and being asked by the stout Bishop by what authority he commanded a man out of his house and his free-hold he was so tender of the point that he never rested till he had his pardon for it Much ado he had to keep the King's favour for his compliance with the Faction witness his third submission and as much ado to retain the Factions good opinion for his service to the King witnesse his several Apologies in Parliament to this purpose That it was a hard thing that they who should have thanks for the good offices they did the People with the KING had now nothing but censures for the same offices they did the King with his People Never was any man more put to it to reconcile the two readings of that Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he could never have done but that his old rule safe-guarded him viz. That no man should let what is unjustifiable or dangerous appear under his hand to give Envy a steady aime at his place or person no mingle Interests with great men made desperate by debts or Court-injuries whose falls hath been ruinons to their wisest followers nor pry any further into secrecy than rather to secure than sheâ— himself nor impart that to a friend that may Impower him to be an enemy Besides that his yeaâ— excused in him that caution some obstinate meâ— want that are broken with vicissitudes because they consider not that the forwardest in turmoyls aâ—least regarded when things return to a calm He served the time out of Christian discretion in finding out the seasons of things commendably He complyed out of some infirmity in particular accommodations pardonably but neither of ignorance or design in pursuance of his own or any other mans plot unfaithfully Indeed he must have wrenched and sprained his grave soul with the short turnings in those dayes if it had been true that he should shuffle a Scots Paper instead of the genuine Articles of Pacification at York which the Earls of Holland Pembrook c. disavowed 〈◊〉 the Northern Commissioners faces my Lord 〈◊〉 Pembrook saying That indeed as he took Horse and his Friends being busie about him such a Paper was put into his hand but he opened it not untill he came to his Majestie and his Majestie burned in the face of both Kingdoms whereupon they say he was dismissed which I am not willing to believe onely I finde him hereafter bringing Propositions from the Parliament as they called it to the King as actively as formerly he had carried Messages from the King to the Parliament Indeed he had anâ— happy mixture of Discretion and Charity whereby he could allow to things and persons more than men of streighter apprehensions or narrower affections were able to do Indeed though as I told you otherwise wary he broke an Affair to a Partizan that kept him under all his days he that entertains a dangerous design puts his head into an â—â—alter and the halter into his hand to whom he first imparts it Sir Francis Windebanke and he fell into extreams which balanced might have supported the Government if they had directed their particular inclinations and indulgences by the measures of the general interest and temper Observations on the Life of the Earl of Danby ALl that I finde of this plain Noble-man is written on his Tomb-stone at Dantsey in Wiltshire Here lyeth the Body of Henry Danvers second son to Sir John Danvers Knight and Dame Elizabeth Daughter and Co-Heir to â—evil Lord Latimer He was born at Dantsey in the County of Wilts Anno Dom. 1573. being 〈…〉 ed up partly in the Low-Countrey Wars under Maurice Earl of Nassaw afterwards Prince of Orange and in many other Military actions of â—hose times both by Sea and by Land He was â—ade a Captain in the Military Wars of France and there Knighted for his good service under Henry the fourth the then French King He was employed as Lieutenant of the Horse and Serjeant-Major of his whole Army in Ireland under Robert Earl of Essex and Charles Baron of Mou 〈…〉 joy in the Reign of Queen Eliz. By King Jamâ—â— the first he was made Baron of Dantsey and Peeâ— of this Realm as also Lord President of Munster and Governour of Guernsey By King Charles the first he was created Earl of Danby made one of his Privy-Councel and Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter In his later time by reason of imperfect health confiderately declining more active Employments full of honours wounds and days he died Anno Dom. 1643. LAVS DEO For many years before St. George had not been more magnificently mounted I mean the solemnity of his Feast more sumptuously observed theâ— when this Earl with the Earl of Morton were installed Knights of the Garter One might have there beheld the abridgment of England and Scotland in their Attendance The Scotish Earl like Xeuxes his picture adorned with all Art and costlinesse whilest our English Earl like the plain sheeâ— of Apelles by the gravity of his Habit got the advantage of the gallantry of his Corrival with judicious beholders He died without Issue in the beginning of our Civil Wars and by his Will made 1639. setled his large Estate on his hopeful Nephew Henry D'Anvers snatch'd away before fully oâ— age to the great grief of all good men Observations on the Life of Sir Geo. Crook SIr George Crook son of Sir John Crook and Elizabeth Vnton his Wife was born at Chilton in Buckinghamshire in the second year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth bred first in Oxford then a double Reader in the Inner Temple Sergeant at Law and the King's Sergeant Justice first of the Common Bench 22 Jac. and then of the Upper Bench 4 Caroli His ability in his Profession is sufficiently attested by his own printed Reports Eight eminent Judges of the Law out of their knowledge of his great Wisdom Learning and Integrity approving
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 Epitomes wherethrough strangers look into Kingdomes should be Royally set off as with Utensils so with attendance that might possess all Comers with reverence there and fear elsewhere His Person graced his Imployment and therefore his Majesty honoured his Person with the Order of the Garter and the Title of Lord Russel and that his Preferment might keep pace with his Honour he is made Lord Privy Seal and his Nephew Sir John Gage Controller His Honour slacked 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 Buâ—oign to the relief of the first whereof he drew Mounsieur Bies that his Majejesty 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 intrusted 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 thaâ— 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 Counsellors 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 Counsellours 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 Subjects 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 Commons by their Interest who should carry along an indifferent House of Lords by their Resolution When he had served the Queen in Parliament for the settlement of her Kingdom at home he served the Kingdom in an Embassie to Scotland to set up its correspondence abroad The Earl of Leicester aimed at the Queen of England and the Earl of Bedford to divert him and secure Scotland design'd him for the Queen of Scots whom he watched for two things 1. That she should either match with an English Subject or 2. With a soft and weak Forreigner that either the Scots might be in league with us or have no peace at home His last service I finde is a complement when he was sent by the Queen as her Deputy with a font of massie Gold worth 1043 l. to hold King James at his Baptism with express command not to acknowledge my Lord Darley as King This his service was as lasting as his life which ended in old Age and Renown He conveyed his Vertue and Honour to the Excellent Francis as he did to the Right Honourable William Earl of Bedford now living Observations on the Life of Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester THe tuition of the Earl of Dorset's Children raised Wolsey travelling with the Duke of Norfolk's raised Gardiner Fox his service in the quality of Secretary made the first and his in the same quality made Gardiner There are three kindes of Understanding The one that is advised by its self the second that understandeth when it is informed by another the third that neither is advised by its self nor by the assistance of another If this Doctor failed in the first and his own invention he exceeded in the second of making use of others for he was one of them that never heard or read what was not his own His Profession was the Civil Law that guideth forreign Negotiations His Inclination was that general Policy that manageth them His Eminencies were three 1. His Reservedness Whereby he never did what he aimed at never aimed at what he intended never intended what he said and never said what he thought whereby he carried it so that others should do his business when they opposed it and he should undermine theirs when he seemed to promote it A man that was to be traced like the Fox and read like Hebrew backward If you would know what he did you must observe what he did not 2. His Boldness Authority sometimes meets with those impediments which neither power can overcome nor good fortune divert if Courage and Fortitude break not through and surmount them and the motions of the irascible faculties such as Hope Boldness and Choler being well ordered and
more where he and his old setters at Court discovered the grand Plot in the North as Hunsdon and his old Souldiers at Berwick defeated it and both harassed the Scotish Borders all things yeilding to those two grand Disposers of the World now predominant in England Wisedome and Cecil at home Arms and Hunsdon abroad and both with Sussex at home now for his approved Wisdome and Fidelity made Privy Counsellour and abroad alway Lord General Of many I pitch on this one Argument Of the greatness of his Minde that he scorned to trample the Prostrate that he had a just Passion but not an unworthy Malice for an Enemy whom he had a generous goodness to pity when unhappy as well as a brave spirit to contest with when injurious The lesser fry of adversaries railed against this great one pleaded for Leicester when his practices against Anjou's marriage with the Queen confined him to the Castle of Windsor and his Menaces had cast him to the Tower of London had not my Lord minding more the common Interest then his private resentments first moderated the Queens Passion with Reason and then overcame it with this Jest You must allow Lovers their jealousie Alter idem or other Observations on the Life of the Lord Hatton HHis first Preferment at Court was to be one of the fifty Pensioners whence his modest sweetness of Manners advanced him to the Privy Chamber where he had not been long but his face and tongue which most eloquent which most powerful was in those days a question made him Captain of the Guard his presence and service Vice-Chamberlain and his great improvement under my Lord Burleigh placed him in that grave Assembly the wisest Convention in Europe at that time the Privy-Council where he had not sate long when his enemies as well as his friends made him Chancellour and Knight of the Garter the one to raise him and the other by that rise to ruine him The Eagle-eyed men of those times carried up on high the Cockleshel they had a mind to crack A man of a pious Nature very charitable to the Poor very tender of dissenting Judgements saying That neither searing nor cutting was to be used in the cause of Religion very bountiful to Scholars who chose him Chancellour at Oxford very exact in his Place whence he went off though not with the applause of a great Lawyer to split Causes yet with the Conscience and comfort of a just man to do equity Take his Character from his own words those words that prevailed with the Queen of Scots to appear before the Commissioners at Fotheringaz when neither Queen Elizabeths Commission nor the Lord Chancellours Reason nor the Power of the Kingdome could perswade that good Lady to it The words are these You are accused but not condemned You say you are a Queen be it so if you are innocent you wrong your Reputation in avoiding tryal You protest your self innocent the Queen feareth the contrary not without grief and shame To examine your innocence are these honourable prudent and upright Commissioners sent glad will they be with all their hearts if they may return and report you guiltless Believe me the Queen her self will be much affected with joy who affirmed to me at my coming from her that never any thing befel her more grievous then that you were charged with such a crime Wherefore lay aside the bootless priviledge of Royal Dignity which here can be of no use to you appear in Judgement and shew your Innocence lest by avoiding tryal you draw upon your self suspicion and lay upon your Reputation an eternal blot and aspersion Four things I observe he did that deserve a Chronicle 1. That he delayed the Signing of Leicesters Patent for the Lieutenancy of England and Ireland the Preface to his Kingdome until that Earl was sick 2. That he reduced the Chancery and all other Courts to Rules 3. That he stood by the Church against the enemies of both sides Archbishop Whitgift when checked by others for his due severity writes to him thus I think my self bound to you for your friendly Message as long as I live It hath not a little comforted me having received unkinde speeches not long since c. And therefore after an expostulation about some States-mens Proceedings against the Law and State of the Realm and a Declaration of his own resolution saith he your Honour in offering that great courtesie offered unto me as great a pleasure as I can desire Her Majesty must be my Refuge and I beseech you that I may use you as a means when occasion shall serve whereof I assure my self and therein rest John Cant. 4. That he promoted the Proclamations for Plain Apparel for Free Trade for Pure Religion and the Laws against the Papists Observations on the Life of Sir John Puckering SIr John Puckering was born at Flamborough-head in Yorkshire He was second Son to his Father a Gentleman that left him neither a plenteous nor a penurious Estate His Breeding was more beneficial to him then his Portion gaining thereby such skill in the Common Law that he became the Queens Sergeant Speaker in the House of Commons and at last Lord Chancellour of England How he stood in his Judgement in the point of Church-Discipline plainly appeareth by his following Speech delivered in the House of Lords 1588. And especially you are commanded by Her Majesty to take heed that no ear be given nor time afforded to the wearisome Sollicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewithal the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importuned which sort of men whilst that in the giddiness of their spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that professeth the Truth And the same thing is already made good to the world by many of the Writings of godly and learned men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new-fangled Refiners And as the present case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuites do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do empoyson the hearts of Her Majesties Subjects under a pretext of Conscience to withdraw them from their Obedience due to Her Majesty yet do they the same but closely and in privy-corners But these men do both teach and publish in their printed Books and teach in all their Conventicles sundry Opinions not onely dangerous to a well-setled Estate and the Policy of the Realm by putting a Pike between the Clergy and the Layty but also much derogatery to her sacred Majesty and her Crown as well by the diminution of her ancient and lawful Revenues and by denying Her Highness Prerogative and Supremacy as by offering peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdome In all which things
entertainment and above all in his darling piece of love and self-love his Stile was an elegant perspicuity rich of phrase but seldome any bold Metaphors and so far from Tumor that it rather wanted a little Elevation The Dukes delivery of his mind I conceive not to be so sharpe as solid and grave not so solid and deep as pertinent and apposite to the times and occasions The Earl I account the more liberal and the Duke the more magnificent for I do not remember that my Lord of Essex in all his life-time did build or adorne any house the Queene perchance spending his time and himself his meanes or otherwise inclining to popular ways for we know the people are apter to applaud hous-keepers then hous-raisers They were both great cherishers of Scholars and Divines but it seems the Earl had obtained of himself one singular point that he could depart his affection between two extremes for though he bare always a kinde of filial reverence towards Dr Whitgift both before and after he was Archbishop yet on the other side he did not a little love and tender Master Cartwright though I think truly with large distinction between the persons and the Causes howsoever he was taxed with other ends in respecting that party They were both fair-spoken Gentlemem not prone and eager to detract openly from any man in this the Earl hath been most falsly blemished in our vulgar Story only against one man he had forsworn all patience namely Henry Lord Cobham and would call him per Excellentiam the Sycophant as if it had been an Emblem of his name even to the Queen her self though of no small insinuation with her and one Lady likewise that I may civilly spare to no â—inate for her sex sake whom he used to terme the Spyder of the Court yet generally in the sensitive part of their Natures the Earl was the worse Philosopher being a great Resenter and a weak Dissembler of the least disgrace And herein likewise as in the rest no Good Pupill to my Lord of Leicester who was wont to put all his passions in his pocket In the growth of their Fortunes the Duke was a little the swifter and much the greater for from a younger brothers meane estate he rose to the highest degree whereof a Subject was capable either in Title or Trust Therein I must confesse much more consortable to Charles Brandon under Henry the Eight who was equall to him in both For matter of Donative and addition of substance I do not believe that the Duke did much exceed him all considered under both Kings For that which the Earl of Essex had received from her Majesty besides the Fees of his Offices and the disposition of great Summes of money in her Armies was about the time of his Arraignment when faults use to be aggravated with precedent benefits valued at three hundred thousand pounds sterling in pure gift for his onely use to the Earl of Dorset then Lord Treasurer who was a wise man and a strict Computist and not ill affected towards him And yet it is worthy of note in the Margent of both Times that the one was prosecuted with silence and the other with murmur so undoing a measure is popular judgment I cannot here omit between them a great difference in establishing of both their Fortunes and Fames For the first the Duke had a care to introduce into neer place at the Court divers of his confident Servants and into high places very sound and grave Personages Whereas except a Pensioner or two we can scant name any one man advanced of the Earls breeding but Sir Thomas Smith having been his Secretary who yet came never further though married into a noble House then to the Clerk of the Councell and Register of the Parliament not that the Earl meant to stand alone like a Substantive for he was not so ill a Grammarian in Court but the Truth is in this point the Cecilians kept him back as very well knowing that upon every little absence or disassiduity he should be subject to take cold at his back For the Other in managing of their Fames I note between them a direct contrary wisdome For the Earl proceeded by way of Apology which he wrote and dispersed with his own hands at large though till his going to Ireland they were but aiery objections But of the Duke this I know that one having offered for his ease to do him that kinde of Service He refused it with a pretty kinde of thankfull scorn saying that he would trust his own good intentions which God knew and leave to him the pardoning of his Errours and that he saw no fruit of Apologies but the multiplying of discourse which surely was a well-setled Maxime And for my own particular though I am not obnoxious to his memory in the expression of Tacitus Neque injuria neque beneficia saving that he shewed me an ordinary good Countenance And if I were yet I would distinguish between Gratitude and Truth I must bear him this Testimony that in a Commission laid upon me by Soveraign Command to examine a Lady about a certain filthy accusation grounded upon nothing but a few single names taken up by a Footman in a kennel and straight baptized A list of such as the Duke had appointed to be poysoned at home himself being then in Spain I found it to be the most malicious and frantick surmise and the most contrary to his nature that I think had ever been brewed from the beginning of the World howsoever countenanced by a Libellous Pamphlet of a fugitive Physician even in Print and yet of this would not the Duke suffer any answer to be made on his behalf so constant he was to his own principles In their Military Services the Characters of the Earls imployments were these viz. His forwardest was that of Portugal before mentioned The saddest that of Roan where he lost his brave Brother His fortunatest peece I esteem the taking of Cadiz Malez and no less modest for there he wrote with his own hands a censure of his Omissions His jealousest imployment was to the relief of Calais besieged by the Cardinall Arch-duke about which there passed then between the Queen and the French King much Art His Voiage to the Azores was the best for the discovery of the Spanish weakness and otherwise almost a saving Voiage His blackest was that to Ireland ordained to be the Sepulchre of his Father and the Gulph of his own Fortunes But the first in 88 at Tilbury-camp was in my judgement the very poyson of all that followed for there whilest the Queen stood in some doubt of a Spanish Invasion though it proved but a Morrice-dance upon our Waves she made him in Field Commander of the Cavalry as he was before in Court and much graced him openly in view of the Souldiers and people even above my Lord of Leicester the truth is from thenceforth he fed too fast The Dukes employment abroad
turned his expectation to performance In the first of King James of Lord Keeper he was made Lord Chancellor which is also another name for the same Office and on Thursday the seventh of November 1616. of Lord Elismer he was created Viscount Brackley It is given to Courts whose Jurisdictions do border to fall out about their bounds and the contest betwixt them is the hotter the higher the spirits and parts of the respective Judges Great was the contention for many years together betwixt this Lord of Equity and Sir Edward Cooke the Oracle of Justice at Westminster-Hall I know not which of them got the better sure I am such another Contest would if this did not have undone the Conqueror He was attended on with servants of most able parts and was the sole Chancellor since the Reformation who had a Chaplain which though not immediately succeeded him in his place He gave over his Office which he held ful twenty years some few dayes before his death and by his own appointment his body was brought down and buried at Duddleston in Cheshire leaving a fair estate to his Son who was afterwards created Earl of Bridgewater as he did to his excellent Son now living When he saw King James his munificence to some Courtiers with the grave Fidelity of a States-man he sticked not often to tell him That as he held it necessary for his Majesty amply to remunerate all those his Countrey-men so he desired him carefully to prese ve his Crown-lands for his own support seeing he or his Successors might meet with Parliaments which would not supply his occasions but on such conditions as would not be very acceptable unto him It was an ordinary speech in his mouth to say Frost and Fraud both end in Foul. His plain but honest advice to my Lord of Essex was 1. Not to trust himself because they that stand by see more than they that play the game 2. To yield to Time and Fortune and not do that for his Enemies which they could never do for themselves 3. To have a careful eye upon those actions on which he knew there were many envious ones And for himself his supplication to King James was That since his conceit and sense was grown so heavy his Memory decay'd his Judgement weak his Hearing imperfect and his Voice faltering he might desinere potius quam deficere and retire from his Businesse to his Meditation as he did while living imparting many mysteries of the Chancery and when dying bequeathing as many choice Books and Directions to his then Chaplain and his after-Successor Doctor Williams Secretary Winwood having received the Seal and left this gracious Message with this good man that his Majesty would be his Under-keeper and not dispose of it while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor nor did any receive the Seal out of the Kings fight while he lived to bear the name of Chancellor A company of Citizens got a Cause passed by keeping a Witnesse away in this manner one of them gets him to the Tavern and there leaves him with a quart of Sack before him and the glass at his mouth and swears in open Court that he left him in a condition wherein if he continueth but two hours he is a dead man The other Party finde out the cheat and have their remedy in Chancery Sir Edward Cook brings the matter to the Star-Chamber and threatneth the Chancellor with a Premunire The business is debated and sentence passed for my Lord Chancellor with the comfort whereof and the Kings and Princes Letter to him upon his Death-bed he went to his Grave Observations on the Life of the Lord Chief-Justice Popham SIr John Popham in his youthful dayes was a stout and skilful man at Sword and Buckler as any in that Age and wilde enough in his Recreations But oh saith my Author if Quick-silver could be really fixed to what a treasure would it amount Such is wilde youth seriously reduced to gravity as by this young man did appear who applyed himself to a more profitable Fencing the study of the Lawes therein attaining to such eminency that he became the Queens Attorney afterwards Lord Chief-Justice of England Being sent Anno 1600. by the Queen with some others to the Earl of Essex to know the cause of the confluence of so many Military men unto his house the Soldiers therein detained him for a time which some made tantamount to an Imprisonment This his violent detention Sir John deposed upon his Oath at the Earl's Tryal which I note the rather for the rarity thereof that a Lord Chief-Justice should be produced as Witness in open Court In the beginning of the Reign of King James his justice was exemplary on Theeves and Robbers The Land then swarmed with people which had been Soldiers who had never gotten or else quite forgotten any other Vocation Hard it was for Peace to feed all the idle mouths which a former War did breed being too proud to beg too lazy to labour Those infested the High-wayes with their Fellonies some presuming on their multitudes as the Robber on the Northern Rode whose knot otherwise not to be untied Sir John cut asunder with the Sword of Justice He possessed King James how the frequent granting of Pardons was prejudicial to Justice rendring the Judges to the contempt of insolent Malefactors which made his Majesty more sparing afterwards in that kinde In a word the deserved death of some scores preserved the lives and livelihoocs of some thousands Travellers owing their safety to this Judges severity many years after his death Neither did he onely punish Malefactors but provide for them for observing that so many suffered and died for none other reason but because they could not live in England now grown too populous for it's self and breeding more Inhabitants toan it could keep he first set up the discovery of New-England to maintain and employ those that could not live honestly in the old being of opinion that banishment thither would be as well a more lawful as a more effectual remedy against those extravagancies the Authors whereof judge it more eligible to hang than to work to end their days in a moment than to continue them in pains onely a great Judgement observes it is a shameful and an unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men to be the people with whom to plant And not onely so but it spoyleth the Plantation for they will ever live like Rogues and not fall to work and do mischief and spend Victuals and be quickly weary and then certifie over to the Countrey to the disgrace of the Common-wealth Observations on the Life of Sir Robert Dudley SIr Robert Dudley son to Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester by Dougles Shefield whether his Mistriss or his Wife God knows was born at Sbene in Surrey and bred by his Mother out of his Fathers reach at Offington in Sussex where he became a most compleat Gentleman
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 behinde 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 bottome of that Countreys policy and the Intrigues of Europes Counsels and could come off in the Match with Spain to the King and Kingdoms minde dexterously when Sir Walter Aston and my Lord of Bristol were at a losse about it to both their displeasures weakely amidst the open entertainment and secret working of that place In his attendance on the King in Scotland as Counsellor of that Kingdome he carried himself with singular sweetnesse and temper as it behoved him being now in 〈◊〉 your and succeeding one of their own They that censure his sudden advancements and great prefements consider not that Certainly the hearts of great Princes if they be considered as it were in Abstract without the necessity of States and circumstances of time being besides their natural Extent moreover once opened and dilated with Affection can take no full and proportionable pleasure in the exercise of any narrow bounty And albeit at first they give onely upon choice and love of the Person yet within a while themselves likewise begin to love their givings and to foment their deeds no lesse than Parents do their children Besides that by so long and so private and so various consociation with a Prince of such excellent nature he had now gotten as it were two lives in his own Fortune and Greatnesse whereas otherwise the Estate of a Favourite is at the best but a Tenant at will and rarely transmitted And the more notable because it had been 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 of 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 Manuscripts exquistely written in Arabick and sought in the most remote parts by the diligence of Erpenius the most excellent Linguist These had been left to the Widow of the said Erpenius and were upon sale to the Jesuites of Antwerp liquorish Chapmen of such Ware Whereof the Duke getting knowledge by his worthy and learned Secretary Doctor Mason interverted the bargain and gave the poor Widow for them five hundred pounds a sum above their weight in silver and a mixed act both of bounty and charity the more laudable being much out of his natural Element These were they which after his death were as nobly presented as they had been bought to Cambridge by his Dutchess as soon as she understood by the foresaid Doctor her Lords intention to furnish the said University with other choice Collections from all parts at his own charge The Duke's Answers to his Appeachments in number thirteen I finde very diligently and civilly couched and though his heart was big yet they all savour of an humble spirit one way and an equitable consideration another which could not but possesse every vulgar conceit and somewhat allay the whole matter that in the bolting and fifting of near fourteen years of such power and favour all that came out could not be expected to be pure and white and fine Meal but must needs have withal among it a certain mixture of Padar and Bran in this lower age of humane fragility Howsoever this tempest did onely shake and not rent his Sails His defence against danger was noble but his contempt of it nobler for when Sir George Goring advised him onely to turn out of the ordinary road He resolved not to wave his way upon this reason perhaps more generous then provident That if as he said he should but once by such a diversion make his enemy believe he were afraid of danger he should never live without And when his young Nephew the Lord Viscount Fielding offered him another time to put on his Coat and blew Ribbon while they passed through a Town where they apprehended some design against the Duke He would not as he said accept of such an offer in that case from a Nephew whose life be tendered as much as himself But after some short direction to his company he rode on without perturbation of minde though a drunken fellow laid hold of his Bridle under pretence of begging to begin a tumult Neither for ought I can hear was there any further enquiry into that practice the Duke peradventure thinking it wisdome not to reserve discontentments too deep But in the middest of these little dangers his Grace was not unmindful of his civil course to cast an eye upon the ways to win unto him such as have been of principal credit in the lower house of Parliament applying lenitives or subducting from that part where he knew the Humours were sharpest amidst which thoughts he was surprized by a fatal stroke written in the black book of Necessity Whereof he was forewarned as well by his own as others apprehensions as appears by his last Addresses to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Earl of Holland and his sacred Majesty And certain it is that some good while before Sir Clement Throckmorton a Gentleman then living of grave judgement had in a private conference advised him to wear a privy Coat whose counsel the Duke received very kindly but gave him this answer That against any popular fury a shirt of male would be but a silly defence and as for any single mans assault he took himself to be in no danger So dark is Destiny Since he is dead he is charged 1. For advancing his Relations which yet was humanity in him and not a fault 2. For enriching himself though as it is said of that French Peer he was rich onely in Obligations his Estate being at the mercy of Suitors To his familiar Servants so open-handed he was though many of them so ungrateful as to deny relation unto him either about his person in ordinary attendance or about his affairs of State as his Secretaries or of Office as his Steward or of Law as that worthy Knight whom he long used to solicite his Causes He lest all both in good Fortune and which is more in good Fame Things very seldom consociated in the instruments of great Personages 3. He had many Offices but committed himself a most willing Pupil to the directions of such as were generally thought fit to manage affairs of that nature condescending to the meanest Arts to aâ—apt himself to his employments 4. He was not bookish
all the upper Church Quire and Chancel and enriched them with Marble structures and figures of the Apostles with carvings and guildings far exceeding their former beauty which cost above two thousand pounds the act of a good man said K. James who made him one of the great Farmers of the Customes in gratitude whereof Sir Paul besides his former expences took upon him to new build the South Isle which cost him above 17000 l. A Projector such necessary Evils then countenanced and he a Clergy-man too informed K. James how he might speedily advance his Revenue by bringing in Spiritual preferments now forsooth under-rated in the Kings books to a full value to the great encrease of first-Fruits and Tenths the King demands the Lord Treasurer Cranfield's judgement thereof he said Sir You are esteemed a great lover of Learning you know Clergy-mens Education is chargeable their prefermeut slow and small Let it not be said you gain by grinding them other ways lesse obnoxious to just censure will be found out to furnish your occasions The King commended the Treasurer as doing it onely for tryal adding moreover I should have accounted thee a very Knave if encouraging me herein But he sends for Sir Paul Pindar and tells him he must either raise the Customes or take this course who answereth him nobly That he would lay thirty thousand pounds at his feet the morrow rather than he should be put upon such poor projects as unsuitable to his honour as to his inclination Go thy way saith the King thou art a good man Observations on the Life of Sir Henry Vane Senior THree things Henry the fourth of France said would puzzle any man 1. Whether Qu Elizabeth was a Maid 2. Whether the Prince of Orange was valiant 3. What Religion he himself was of To which I may add a fourth viz. what Sir Henry Vane was whom I know not what to call but what Mr. Baxter calleth his son a bider the Fathers life being as mystical as the Sons faith men as little understanding the actions of the one as they did the writings of the other But the two powers that govern the world the best and the worst are both invisible All Northern men are reserved to others but this was too slie for his own Country-men neither Sir John Savile that brought him to Court nor Sir Thomas Wentworth that advanced him there understanding either his temper or his design He betrayed any Council he was present at and marred all the Actions he was employed in As 1. When he was sent to relate the Emperor's overture to the Queen of Bobemia of thirty thousand pounds per ann and a Marriage between her eldest Son and his Daughter he did it with those ackward circumstances that transported the good Lady to such unseasonable expressions as at that time blasted her cause and expectations And thence it 's thought he brought Sir Dudley's Rhapsody of Projects to disparage the King's government under pretence of supplying his necessities it was the way of the late Underminers to relieve their Masters present need upon future inconveniences hiding themselves under Proposals plausible for the present and fatall in the consequence which juggles of his were so long too little to be considered that at last they were too great to be remedied 2. He is said to have shuffled other Conditions into the Pacification at Yorke where he was a Commissioner than were avowed by the Lords Commissioners much insisted on by the Scots and burned by the common Hang-man as false and contrary to the true Articles 3. When sent to the House 1640. to demand 12 or 8 or six Subsidies he requireth without abatement twelve with design as it 's judged to aske so much as might enrage the Parliament to give nothing and so to be dissolved unhappily or continued unsuccessfully 4. He and his son together betray the Votes passed in the select Councel taken by him privately under his hat for the reducing of Scotland to the ruine of the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-Bishop of Carterbury The story is Sir Henry Vane was trusted with the Juncto where he took Notes of their several opinions these Notes he puts up in his Closet A while after he delivers to his son Sir H. Vane Junior a key to fetch some Papers out of a Cabinet in which he findes another key to an inward shutter which he opened and lighted upon this Paper and communicates it to Mr. Pym for the end aforesaid and upon this very Paper doest not tremble Reader at this Treason alone the House of Commons voted that brave Earl out o 〈…〉 his Life the same day that twenty two years after the same Sir Henry Vane Junior lost his head Absolvi numen Observations on the Life of Sir Richard Hutton SIr Richard Hutton was born at Perith of a worshipful Family his elder brother was a Knight and bred in Jesus-Colledge in Cambridge He intended his Studies for Divinity till disswaded by the importunity of his friends amongst whom George Earl of Cumberland was most eminent he became Barrister of Grayes-Inne But in expression of his former Affection to Divinity he seldome if ever took fee of a Clergy-man Afterwards being Recorder of Yorke he was Knighted and made Judge of the Common-Pleas In the case of Ship-money though he was against the King or rather for the Commons yet his Maiesty manifested not the least distaste continuing to call him the honest Judge This person so pious to God and charitable to the Poor was dissolved about the beginning of our National misery Thus God before he ploweth up a Land with the furrows of a Civil War first cutteth down his old crop and gathereth them like ripe sheaves into his Barn He died at Sergeant's Inne and was buried at his earnest desire with the Common-Prayer without any Funeral-Sermon save what his own Vertues preached to posterity at St. Dunstan's in the West on the 27 day of February Anno Dom. 1638. Here I learn how circumspect our counsels must be in reference to things and persons above us which implying an over-poyzing of our own judgement and a debating of others in all cases is obnoxious to jealousie but in these to danger under which there are no Qualifications to patience and moderation The vertues of this happy Judge if he had cast obstinacy over-board and let his wisdome tack about in things capable of expedience whereby he knew well both how to allay the asperities of a bad fortune and check the excesses of a good one packing up his fears and hopes in so narrow a compasse as made the last lesse tedious and the first more portable to which he added an unaffected plainnesse the argument of his worth and weight a weaknesse and emptinesse being as safely as usually concluded from too much affectation an over-much care of the out side being an argument of remisnesse in what is within it remaining saith one equally rare to finde a starched and formal man