the Prince of Conde and his Party being bound not to come to any Terms of Peace with their Enemies without the Privity and Approbation of the Queen and that for the Security of the Moneys and Forces that her Majesty should supply them with they should put into her hands the Town and Port of New Haven or Havre de Grace to be garrisoned by English Souldiers and commanded by any Person of Quality her Majesty should authorize Presently after the Conclusion of this Agreement she caused a Manifest to be published in which she declared how that having preferred the Peace of Christendom before her particular Interests she had relinquished her Claim to the Town of Calais for the term of eight years when as all other Princes were restored to their lost Estates by that Treaty that for the same Reasons she had preserved the Scots from being made Vassals to the French without retaining any part of that Kingdom in her own Possession after the Service was performed that with the like sence of Commiseration she had taken notice how much the Queen Mother of France and the young King were awed and shackled by the Guisian Faction who in their Name and under the Pretext of their Authority endeavoured to extirpate the Professors of the Reformed Religion In pursuance of which Design those bloody minded Papists had in less than five Months time caused above an hundred thousand French Hugonots to be massacred and butchered that with the like Injustice and Violence they treated such of her Majesties Subjects as traded into the Ports of that Kingdom causing their Goods and Merchandize to be seized themselves imprisoned and barbarously murdered and for no other Crime than that they were Protestants and therefore in consideration of what 's aforesaid Her Majesty thought her self obliged to endeavour the rescuing the French King and his Mother out of the hands of so dangerous a Faction by aiding such of the French Subjects as preferred the Service of their Sovereign and the good of their Countrey before all other respects whatsoever for preserving the Reformed Religion from an Universal Destruction and the maintaining her own Subjects and Dominions in Peace and Safety She not only published this Manifesto to acquaint the whole World with the reasons of her taking up Arms on this Occasion but she also commanded her Ambassadour to give a more particular Account of it to the King of Spain whom she looked upon as the Principal Patron of the Guisian League She likewise caused her Ministers and Agents with the Princes of Germany to sollicit them to aid and assist their Brother Protestants And then she her self fell to supplying the Hugonots with all things necessary to a War sending them Ships Arms and Men both for the scowring the Seas and securing the Land The Forces she sent amounting to 6000 Men under the Command of the Lord Ambrose Dudley the Eldest Son then living of the late Duke of Northunberland The Papists apprehending that the Queen by these Courses would lay the axe to the Root of their Religion laid a Conspiracy against her Life for which the Countess of Lenox Grand daughter to Henry the Seventh by his eldest daughter Margaret Queen of Scotland was confined with the Earl her Husband to her House and Arthur Pole Grand-child of Margaret Countess of Salisbury by Geofry her third Son the younger Brother unto Reginald Pole the late Cardinal Legate was Apprehended and Arraigned as also his Brother in Law Geofry Fortescue and were condemned to die but confessing the Conspiracy and being of the Blood Royal they were reprieved by the Queen The Lady Katherine Grey Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk and Grand Daughter to another Sister of King Henry the Eighth was sent to the Tower with her Husband the Earl of Hertford for marrying without the Queens Consent and were detained there several Years and their Marriage declared by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be an undue and unlawful Carnal Copulation with her and that for such their Excess both he and she to be punished About the same time was Published an Elegant and Acute Discourse called The Apology of the Church of England written Originally in Latin by the truly Learned Bishop Jewel and Translated immediately into English Dutch Italian Spanish French and Greek and was highly approved of by all Pious Learned and Judicious Men. Now the Practices of the Papists and the danger the Queen and State were in by their means obliged the Queen to call a Parliament which being Assembled at Westminster the first Act that passed was for assurance of the Queens Royal Power over all Estates and Subjects within our Dominions And Enacted that the Oath of Supremacy should be Administred unto all Persons for the better discovery of such as were Popishly affected several of that Party having lately busy'd themselves by inquiring into the length and shortness of her Majesties Life by Conjurations and other Diabolical Arts and thereupon had caused some dark and doubtful Prophecies to be spread abroad for which reason there passed two other Statutes for suppressing the like dangerous Practices by which her Majesties Person might be endangered the People stirred up to Rebellion or the Peace disturbed By which and other Acts for the strengthning of the Navy and the continual breeding of a Seminary of expert Mariners the Queen was so well provided and secured against the Machinations and Conspiracies of the Pope and his Adherents as to lie under no apprehensions of their bloody rage and malice During this Session of Parliament it was declared by the Bishops and Clergy then Assembled in their Convocation To be a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayer in the Church or to Administer the Sacraments in a Tongue not understood by the People To confirm which Declaration it was Enacted That the Bishops of Hereford St. Davids Bangor Llandaff and St. Asaph should take care amongst them for Translating the whole Bible with the Common Prayer Book into the Welch or Brittish Tongue on pain of forfeiting Forty Pound apiece in default thereof And to encourage them thereunto it was ordered that one Book of either sort being so Translated and Imprinted should be provided and brought to euery Cathedral or Parish Church as also for all Parish Churches and Chappels of ease where the said Tongue is commonly used the Minister to pay one half the Price and the Parishioners the other Care was likewise taken for the Translating the Book of Homilies being looked upon as a necessary part of the publick Liturgy by reason of the Rubrick at the end of the Nicene Creed This Parliament likewise congratulated her Majesty for the happiness of the Times for Religion Reformed Peace restored England with Scotland freed from the Foreign Enemy Mony refined the Navy strengthned Warlike Ammunition provided both for Sea and Land and for the Laudable Enterprize in France for the securing of England and
Authority of Parliament To which Propositions the Queen of Scots replyed with a Proviso referring the fuller Answer to the Bishop of Ross her Ambassadour in England and to some other Delegates who afterwards granting some of the Propositions and rejecting others the Treaty came to nothing and things remained in the same state as they were in before Onely Queen Elizabeth as Head of all Britain by her Authority prorogued the Parliament of Scotland Whilst things were in this posture the Pope supplied the English Rebells and Fugitives with Monies and Philip of Spain contracted a Marriage with Anne of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian his own Neece by his Sister and she being to go by Sea from Zealand into Spain Queen Elizabeth to shew the Love and Respect she had for the House of Austria sent Sir Charles Howard with the Navy Royal to Convoy her through the British Sea And now Queen Elizabeth having compleated the Twelfth year of her Reign which some Wizzards had flattered the Papists that it would be her last the People out of their great Affection and Loyalty to her Majesty celebrated the 17th of November with all the Pomp Joy and Thanksgiving imaginable which was not only continued upon that day during her Life but even to this very day In Ireland a new Rebellion was contrived by the Earl of Thoumond and his Adherents which was disappointed when it was just ready to break out merely by the Earl's Suspicions of his being discovered whereupon he fled into France and confessing his Crimes and showing himself very penitent to the Queen's Ambassador there this Minister procured him his pardon and the Restitution of his Estate Soon after which Queen Elizabeth made a very magnificent Entry into the City of London for to go see the new Burse which Sir Thomas Gresham had newly built and in a solemn manner nam'd it the Royal Exchange with Sound of Trumpets and by the Voice of an Herald Shortly after which she created Sir William Cecyl Baron of Burghley There was at this time in England Delegates from the King of Scots of whom Queen Elizabeth having demanded that they should explain the Reasons they had for deposing their Queen whereupon they exhibited so insolent a Writing that the Queen could not read it without Indignation and told them That she did not see that they had any just Cause to treat their Queen after that manner and therefore desired they would immediately think of some means to allay the Dissentions of that Kingdom Hereupon several Propositions were again made them for the setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty which being rejected by the Scottish Delegates and Norfolk beginning a new his Practices in favour of that Queen and she her self corresponding and caballing with the Enemies of the Crown of England whereto they were both excited by Ridolpho the Pope's Agent that Queen had many of her Servants taken from her and she her self put under a stricter Confinement and a watching Eye was kept over the Duke to whom the Pope had promised great Assistance both of Money and Men in case he would raise a Rebellion assuring him That the King of Spain would aid him with four thousand Horse and six thousand Foot and that he had already deposited a hundred thousand Crowns and that he would be at all the Charge of the War But whilst these things were acting in England the Queen of Scots Party was very much oppressed in Scotland several of her principal Adherents being put to Death and their strongest Holds taken in In France was the Marriage now solemnized between Charles the Ninth the French King and Elizabeth of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian to Congratulate which the Lord Buckhurst was sent into France by Queen Elizabeth and was there received with all the Honours and Pomp imaginable and possibly the more in respect of a Motion that the French Court designed to make in favour of a Match between the Duke of Anjou and the Queen of England After the Lord Buckhurst had performed his Commission he returned home with great Presents and with one Cavalcantio a Florentine who had attended him in his Embassy This Cavalcantio being a prudent Person was entrusted by the Queen Mother of France to make a motion of this Match to Queen Elizabeth Which he accordingly performed and the Queen seemed to listen favourably to the Proposal for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdom of England the Dukedoms of Anjou Bourbon Avern and possibly the Kingdom of France it self Whereupon a Treaty was held in which the French proposed three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the joint Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a toleration of his Religion whereto it was replyed that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but hardly the third for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdom yet between a Wife and her Husband it seemed very incongruous and inconvenient however the matter was brought at length to this Conclusion that if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Roman not being expressly against the Word of God But they could not accommodate these Niceties insomuch that the Treaty was quite broak off after it had continued almost a Year But during these Occurrences it happened at Kinnaston in Herefordshire the ground was seen to open and certain Rocks with a piece of Ground removed and went forwards four days together carrying along great Trees and Sheep-Coats some with sixty Sheep in them and overthrew Rimnalstone Chappel the Depth of the whole where it first broke out is thirty Foot and the bredth of the Breach sixteen Yards also High-ways were removed near an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedg-rows and the like And now the Papists were plotting and contriving new Attempts against the Queen but they were all frustrated by the goodness of God and the Prudence of the Queen and the Loyalty and Zeal of her Ministers and Protestant Subjects Amongst others of those Devillish Instruments of Popery was the Bishop of Ross the Queen of Scots Ambassador who made it his whole Business to excite and stir up People to Rebellion He had laid several Plots for seizing Queen Elizabeth and freeing the Queen of Scots but they all failed him in the Execution But notwithstanding that Bishop had received so many checks for these Practices of his yet he continuing them to that degree as not only to pervert the Subjects from their Loyalty but even to Designs against the Queen's Life the Privy Council after mature Deliberation in the Business notwithstanding his Character thought fit he should be sent and kept close Prisoner in the Tower which was accordingly done as likewise with the Duke of Norfolk
Circumstances to heart and being grown extraordinary Corpulent he died of a Virulent Inflammation in his Leg in the beginning of the Year 1547. He was succeeded by Prince Edward his Son though not fully ten years old of whose Person the Earl of Hartford his Unkle was made Governour and Protector of the Kingdom until he should have attained the Age of Eighteen years and as such was proclaimed in all Parts of London It was under his happy Government that the English gained a great Victory over the Scots whilst they were demanding with Sword in hand the performance of a Treaty touching a Match between King Edward and Mary Queen of Scotland the severe Law of the Siâ— Articles and others were repealed that were made by Henry the Eighth against the Protestants those for abolishing the Pope's Authority are confirmed the Mass is abrogated Images are taken out of Churches the Books of both Testaments printed in English Divine Service celebrated in the same Tongue and both kinds ministred in the Sacraments At which the Romanists being inraged they put in practise all their Arts for the making a stop to such fair beginnings caused Dissention to be sowed amongst the Nobility and thereby the loss of several considerable Places both in France and Scotland promoted Tumults Factions debasing of Money and all other things that might stir up the People to Rebellion procured the Protector to be accused condemned and beheaded for Felony and at length removed the King himself by an untimely Death whether by Poyson or otherwise is uncertain apprehending and hating him for his extraordinary Virtues which much surpassed what could have been expected from his tender years During these sad Occurrences the Duke of Northumberland being â—ound by the Papists to be the fittest Instrument for the effecting their Designs as being of their own Religion under a Protestant Mask they made Use of him for the bringing about their Ends by sowing Distraction in the Nation by setting the Protector and his Brother Thomas Seymour at variance which he effected through a Female Emulation between the Dutchess of Somerset the Protector 's Wife and the Queen Dowager the Wife of Thomas And amongst other Articles of High Treason that were laid to Thomas his charge was that of intending to seize the King and of taking the Lady Elizabeth the King's Sister to Wife But she being wholly ignorant of this business and freeing her self from all suspicion and advancing towards a mature Age she was not onely extremely beloved by the King her Brother who never call'd her by any other Name than his sweet Sister Temperance but likewise by the Nobility and the whole Nation in general King Edward by the Practices of the Duke of Northumberland having declared the Lady Jane Gray for his Successor she was immediately after his Decease publickly proclaimed Queen of England and for the maintaining her in that Degree pretensions were put forward as first the Invalidity of the Lady Mary's and Elizabeth's Mother's Marriage both being made void by Legal Sentences of Divorce and those Divorces ratified by Acts of Parliament which Acts of the Lady Mary's and Lady Elizabeth's Illegitimation were never duely repealed Notwithstanding that the King their Father had by the same Act declared that they should succeed in order after Edward the Sixth in case he failed of Issue Secondly It was pretended that these two Sisters being but of half Blood to the Deceased King admitting them to have been born in lawful Wedlock were not in a capacity by the Common Law to be Heirs unto him or to succeed in any part of that Inheritance which came un-unto him by his Father Now the Lady Jane's Mother being the Lady Frances Daughter and one of the Co-heirs of Charles Brandon the late Duke of Suffolk by Mary his Wife Queen Dowager to Lewis the Twelfth of France and youngest Daughter to King Henry the Seventh Grand-father to King Edward now deceased Now I say the Lady Frances her Mother might seem both by the Law of Nature and the Right of Succession to have precedency in Title before her yet she received no injury because she was willing to pass by all her personal Claims for the Preferment of her Daughter It was also given out that Henry the Eighth by his last Will and Testament conveyed the Title of the Crown to the Lady Jane Gray and moreover Politick Reasons and Pretexts were used as that there was an unavoidable danger of reducing this Kingdom under the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome in case either of the King 's two Sisters should marry with a Foreign Prince of that Religion or otherwise of themselves revoke the Bishop of Rome's Authority and subject the English to a Popish Yoke But through the extraordinary Affection the Nobility and Commons had for the Daughters of King Henry the 8th this great Storm was dispersed within the space of twenty dayes to the fatal End of the Duke of Northumberland and the Lady Jane and the Lady Mary was proclaimed Queen throughout all England And at her coming to London with an Army the Lady Elizabeth met her with five hundred Horse notwithstanding the offers that had been made her by the Duke of a vast Sum of money and certain Lands if she would resign her Title to the Crown lest she should fail her Sister 's and her own Cause which was then in hand Queen Mary caused in the first Parliament that she held all those Acts to be repealed that had been made against the Marriage of Queen Katharine her Mother and King Henry the 8th and the Marriage was judged to be agreeable to the Laws of God and to all intents valid and available The same Form also of Religion and Service of God and Administration of the Sacraments which had been in use at the Death of Henry the 8th were re-established however without any acknowledgment or mention at all of the Pope's Authority notwithstanding all the Efforts of the Queen and Cardinal Pool for the Parliament were very unwilling to admit and acknowledge the Authority of the Bishop of Rome which was now shaken off Neither would they suffer that the Queen should lay down the Title of Supream Head of the Church of England unto which most of the Nobility Bishops and Commons had sworn to Henry the 8th his Heirs and Successors But the Queen was very desirous to lay down this Title as believing that her Pretensions to the Crown had no better Foundation than the Authority of the Bishop of Rome who had maintained her Cause after that her father had procured her to be declared Illegitimate And indeed at this time the apprehensions of the English were so great of Popery and of being inslaved by it's means and by the Match that was concluded with Phillip to the Yoke of Spain as that it caused some to break out into Rebellion as Wyat and others But notwithstanding the Papists had got their will by procuring after much opposition the Roman
for his Interest in the Netherlands that it should be in the Hands of the English than possessed by the French On the contrary the French maintained that Calice alone was not sufficient to satisfie the Damages the English had done them in helping the Spaniards to take their Towns many places in Brittany having been burn'd by the English Fleet their Ships taken their Trade interrupted and vast Sums of Money spent in hindring an Invasion of the English But the Spaniard in the mean while having discovered Queen Elizabeth's Aversion to a Match with him the Paces she had made towards the introducing the Reformed Religion and her Resolution to treat with the French without Communication first had with him he grew faint and fell off from promoting the English Pretensions which being perceived by Queen Elizabeth and fearing that she should be abandoned if she continued any longer in her demands upon that Point or else preferring Publick Good before Private Interest she came at length to this Agreement That the French King should peaceably enjoy for the Term of eight years the Town of Calice with the Appurtenances and sixteen great Pieces of Ordnance and that when that term was expired he should restore the same with the Town to Queen Elizabeth or otherwise should pay unto the Queen the Sum of five hundred thousand Crowns In Consequence of which Accommodation Peace was proclaimed on the 17th of April between the Queens Majesty on the one part and the Most Christian King on the other as likewise between her and the King Dauphin with his Wife the Queen of Scots and all the Subjects and Dominions of the said four Princes The People were however dissatisfied with this Peace in regard that Calice was not restored and laid the blame thereof upon the Bishops and other Papists But the French King lived not long to enjoy the Benefit thereof he being killed at a Turnament in Paris by the Count de Montgomery and though his eldest Son and Successor Francis caused the Queen of Scots his Wife to assume the Title and Arms of England yet she resolved to bestow a Royal Obsequy on the King deceased which was accordingly performed in St. Paul's Church in a most Solemn manner The Parliament being now to be dissolved the House of Commons made an humble Address unto her in which they most earnestly besought her that for securing the Peace of the Kingdom and the Satisfaction of all her good and loving Subjects she would think of marrying without particularizing to her any one man but leaving to her the Choice of the Person Whereto she made Answer That she was obliged to them for their good Affections and took their Application to her to be well intended and the rather because it contained no Limitation of Time or Person which had it done she should have disliked it very much and have looked upon it as a very great Presumption That she had long since made choice of the State of Life wherein she then lived and hoped that God would give her Strength and Constancy to go thorough with it that if she had been inclined to have changed that Course she neither wanted many Invitations to it in the Reign of her Brother nor many strong Impulsions in the time of her Sister Moreover says she to satisfie you I have already joyned my self in Marriage to a Husband namely the Kingdom of England and behold continued she which I marvel you have forgotten the Pledge of this my Marriage and my Wedlock with my Kingdom and thereupon took the Ring off her Finger wherewith at her Coronation she had in a set Form of Words given her self in Marriage to her Kingdom And then making a Pause And do not said she upbraid me with miserable lack of Children for every one of you and as many as are Englishmen are Children and Kinsmen to me of whom if God deprive me not which God forbid I cannot without injury be accounted Barren And then having promised she would take a Husband in case the good of the State should so require she licensed them to depart to their several Businesses The Queen Coming through the City in Triumpâ— The Return of the Gospell The Poolling down burning of Popish Images Shortly after which came the Duke of Finland as Ambassador from the King of Sweden to propose a Marriage between Her Majesty and Prince Ericus that King 's Eldest Son and this Ambassadour having been magnificently treated by the Queen was at length dismissed with the same Success as all the rest who before and after came upon that Errand And now the Emperour and the Catholick Princes interceeded with the Queen by several Letters that such Bishops as were displaced might meet with a kind Usage and that the Papists might be allowed Churches by themselves in Cities Whereto she made Answer Although those Popish Bishops have insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and do now obstinately reject that Doctrine which most part of themselves under Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth had of their own Accord with Heart and Hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes Sakes deal favourably with them though not without Offence to her own Subjects But grant them Churches to celebrate their Divine Offices in apart by themselves she cannot with the Safety of the Common-wealth and without wrong to her own Honour and Conscience Neither is there any Cause why she should grant them seeing England embraceth no new and strange Doctrine but the same which Christ hath commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church hath received and the Ancient Fathers have with one Voice and Mind approved And to allow Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies besides that it openly repugneth against the Laws established by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Men's Minds to cherish factious Men's Humours disturb Religion and Common-wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things Which were a thing indeed evil in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and to themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly Commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her Natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heal the private Insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by Indulgence The Spaniard having lost all hopes of a Match between Queen Elizabeth and himself and fearing lest the Crown of England might happen to be joyned to the Scepter of France he perswaded the Emperour Ferdinand to propose one of his Sons for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth which accordingly he did by an Ambassadour whom he sent to that purpose but all to the same effect as the rest that had been before him In the mean time those of the Reformed
thirtieth part of the Livings that were liable to the Benevolence and the twentieth part of those that were not By which means that Work was so hastned and furthered that in a short time it was compleated and finished In the mean time great Preparations were making for the opening and holding of the Council of Trent to which the Pope endeavoured to procure that Divines might be sent from England To which end he dispatched to the Queen a Nuncio who being come into the Low Countries stayed there in hopes of procuring leave to be admitted into England for that it was provided by an ancient Statute that the Pope's Nuncio should not come into this Realm without Leave first obtained But the Queen having absolutely refused to admit the Nuncio most of the Princes of Christendom endeavoured to perswade her by then Letters to refer her self in matters of Religion to the Occumenical Council of Trent Whereto she made Answer That she was very desirous of an Occumenical Council but she would not send Deputies to a Popish Council that she had nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome whose Authority was expelled England by Act of Parliament and that it did not belong to the Pope but to the Emperour to call Councils nor could nor would she acknowledge any greater Authority in him than in any other Bishop Much about this time the Queen of Scots being sollicited by the Popish Party to return into that Kingdom and being grown weary of France since the Death of the late King her Husband she caused Queen Elizabeth to be desired to grant her free passage thither pretending that she could not ratifie the Treaty of Edinborough without the Advice of the Nobility of Scotland But Queen Elizabeth suspecting that some dangerous Practises were contriving against England for the preventing them not only thought fit to deny her her Request but to send Sir Thomas Randolph into Scotland to exhort the Nobility to mutual Amity and to keep firm to the Promises he had made her and he found them and the Congregation so well resolved to adhere to her that she was under no Apprehensions from the Scottish Queen or her Party However it was judged safe to intercept her if possible in her passage thither To which end a Squadron of Men of War was fitted out though under other Pretexts yet the Queen of Scots her self by the favour of a great Fog escaped unperceived by the English and landed safe in Scotland though some of the Ships that attended her in that Voyage were taken and brought into England That Queen being now in Scotland sends an Envoy with Letters to Queen Elizabeth wherein she expressed a great deal of Love and Kindness to her as her dearest Friend and Sister and desired that all true and sincere Friendship and Correspondence might be maintained between them Queen Elizabeth receiving Letters at the same time to the same effect from most of the Nobility of that Kingdom But this was not the whole Errand of this Envoy for the Queen of Scots did likewise by him demand to be declared Heir Apparent to this Kingdom as being she said the surest way to continue Amity and Friendship between the two Crowns Whereto the Queen could not be prevailed with to make any other Answer than that she would do nothing to the Prejudice of her Cousin of Scotland's Title leaving the rest to be considered of at a Personal Conference that was to be held at York shortly after which Interview was however broken off by Popish Contrivances lest it might be a means towards the creating in the Queen of Scots an inclination to the Reformed Religion And now finding that tho' she had made all the fair offers imaginable to the Spaniard and treated the Guises with all possible Kindness and Honour yet her Ministers at the Courts of Spain and France instead of meeting with fair Returns and Civilities received affronts upon all Occasions wherefore though she had found her Treasure all exhausted yet she began to make all imaginable Warlike preparations for the security of her self and Subjects And amongst other her Provisions for that purpose having caused a many Pieces of great Ordnance of Iron and Brass to be cast God favouring all she undertook caused a most rich Vein of rich and Native Brass to be discovered at the same time as was likewise the Stone called Lapis Calaminaris first found out in England being very necessary for Brass Works Her Majesty caused likewise Gun-powder to be made here at home being the first that had been made in England the English before having been obliged to beg hard and pay dear for it to Foreigners She also caused the several Garisons belonging to the Kingdom to be better strengthened with new Works Men and Fortifications She likewise increased the Pay of the Souldiers and took Care to provide for those that had been maimed in the Service of the Land She added to and provided her Fleet with all manner of Necessaries making it the best Navy that ever belonged to Brittain insomuch that all Foreigners did truly term her The Restorer of the Glory of Shipping and the Queen of the North Sea She caused all manner of People to furnish themselves with Arms and to use Martial Discipline and Exercise She gave all manner of Encouragement to Husbandry and Tillage by permitting the Transportation of Grain And by a Proclamation she prohibited the Merchants from supplying the Emperour of Russia with Ammunition against the Polanderâ— and caused the Officers of her Exchequer to pay duely the Pensions to such Religious Men as had been cast out of Abbeys She revoked the Commissions of the Purveyors both for the Garrisons and Fleet and designed to have done the same with those of her Household She augmented the Stipends of the Judges And though she was extreamly liberal and bountiful to desert yet she took Care not to alienate the Domain In the mean time the Civil War broke forth in France the Faction and Family of the Guises aiming at that Crown they were sensible that they should never compass their Designs as long as the Hugonots were in Being wherefore they used all manner of means to extirpate those Protestants insomuch that they were forced to take Arms both in Defence of their Sovereign and themselves Now Queen Elizabeth well knowing the Practises of the House of Guise to advance the Interests and Pretensions of the Queen of Scots she supplyed the Protestants of that Kingdom with Money Corn and Ammunition for the Service of the French King and for the defending the Protestant Religion and hindring the Dukedom of Normandy from being possessed by the Guises who might from thence with more Ease have executed their Designs upon England She obliged her self to aid the Prince of Conde and his Associates who headed the Protestants with her Forces both by Land and Sea for the taking in of such Castles Towns and Ports as were possessed by the Faction of the House of Guise
who was again committed to the same Place it having been discovered by a Pacquet of Letters that he still continued in his Affections Design to marry and free out of Prison the Queen of Scots having for that end kept correspondence with the Pope and the other Enemies of the Crown and traiterously consulted to take away the Queens Life and to bring in Foreign Forces to invade the Kingdom for which being brought to his Tryal he was found guilty by his Peers and accordingly beheaded The Parliament being assembled upon this occasion it was Enacted amongst other Laws that if any man should go about to free any Person imprisoned by the Queens Commandment for Treason or Suspicion of Treason and not yet arraigned he shall lose all his Goods for his life time and be Imprisoned during the Queens Pleasure if the said Person having been Arraigned the Rescuer shall forfeit his Life if Condemned he shall be guilty of Rebellion Presently after the Dissolution of the Parliament a Consultation was had whether John Story Doctor of the Laws the Duke of Alva's Searcher who some time before having been engaged to go on Board a Ship to search for Goods was by that piece of cunning brought into England being an English Man born and having in Brabant consulted with a Foreign Prince were to be held guilty of High Treason which being given in the affirmative by the Learned in the Law he was thereupon brought to his Tryal and Accused of having consulted with one Preshal a Conjurer to make away the Queen that he had Cursed her daily when he said Grace at Table that he shewed a way to the Duke of Alva how to Invade England of which being found guilty he accordingly suffered Death as a Traytor About this time Matthew Stuart Earl of Lenox Regent of Scotland and the King's Grandfather was surprized unawares by the Nobility of the adverse Faction and having yielded himself to David Spence of Wormstone who thereupon lost his Life in his Defence and they were both slain together by Bell and Chaulder after he had with great Pains and care governed the Kingdom for his Grandchild above fourteen Months and in his room was unanimously elected by the Kings Faction the Earl of Marr for Regent of Scotland but the place being two full of troubles for a Man of his quiet Disposition he departed this Life after he had Governed thirteen Months Some few days after the Execution of the Duke of Norfolk one Barnes and Mather were put to Death for Conspireing with one Herle to take away the Life of certain Counsellours and freeing the Duke and at the same time suffered one Rolph for Counterfeiting the Queens hand Shortly afterwhich the Queen conferred new Honours upon several of the Nobility concluded a League with the French King and sent several Persons to expostulate with the Queen of Scots for that she had usurped the Title and Arms of the Kingdom of England and had not renounced the same according to the Agreement of the Treaty of Edenborough that she had endeavoured the Marriage of the Duke of Norfolk without acquainting the Queen and had used all forcible means to free him out of Prison had raised the Rebellion in the North had releived the Rebells both in Scotland and in the Low Countries had implored Aids from the Pope the King of Spain and others had conspired with certain of the English to free her out of Prison and declare her Queen of England and finally that she had procured the Pope's Bull against the Queen and suffered her self to be publickly named the Queen of England in Foreign Countries all which Points she either denyed or endeavoured to extenuate And though as she said she was a free Queen and not subject to any Creature yet she was willing and desired that she might make her personal Answer at the next Parliament In the mean time Scotland was full of Civil Distractions and Dissentions the English countenancing the King's Party and the French the other And the King of Spain having made Complaints to the Queen by his Ambassador that the Low Country Rebells were entertained and harboured in England the Queen caused a severe Proclamation to be put forth That all the Dutch who could in any wise be suspected of Rebellion should immediately depart the Kingdom which proved rather disadvantageous than beneficial to the King of Spain For Count Vander Marea and other of the Netherlanders being hereupon compelled out of England first seised upon the Brid and then upon Flushing the Surprize of which Places being attended by the Revolt of other Towns the Spaniards were in a short time in some kind excluded from the Sea and were never after able to recover themselves in those Countries During these Transactions the French Ambassador here made Intercession in the behalf of the Queen of Scots and likewise endeavoured to promote the Match between the Queen and the Duke of Anjou but perceiving that all his Offices were to no purpose he returned into France where he found that Court very much taken up with making Preparations for the Marriage of the King of Navarr with the Lady Margaret the French King's Sister To this Solemnity were allured by an inviting prospect of perpetual Peace and Amity not only the Queen of Navarr and the Chief of all the Protestants in that Kingdom but likewise the Earl of Leicester and the Lord Burleigh the Elector Palatine's Sons with several of the Principal of the Reformed Party of other Nations were desired to be at the Celebration of that Marriage designing at one Blow to have cut down the Protestant Religion And though those Blood-thirsty Papists could not catch all they aimed at yet as soon as the Marriage was Solemnized there followed that Cruel Massacre of Paris and that terrible Butchering of the Hugonots throughout all the Cities of France but for the extenuating and vindicating of this horrible Fact Proclamations and Edicts were immediately put forth whereby the Protestants were accused of a Conspiracy against the King and the whole Royal Family But the French King notwithstanding his mask of Piety did not escape Divine Vengeance for before a year was expired he fell sick of a Bloody Flux which brought him to his end after long and tedious Torments And now came the Head of the Earl of Northumberland to the Block who Rebelling and then flying into Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered for a Sum of Money to the Lord Hunsdon Governor of Berwick and was shortly after Executed at York About this time was Sir William Cecyl Lord Burleigh promoted to be Lord High Treasurer of England upon the Decease of the Marquess of Winchester who a little before ended his days after he had lived Ninety seven years and had seen the Issue of his Body to the number of One hundred and three Persons Not long before which was a motion made to the Queen in favour of a Match between her Majesty and the Duke of
Alanzon the French King's youngest Brother which though rejected by her by reason he was scarce seventeen years old and the Queen now past eight and thirty yet Alanzon did not cease prosecuting the Suit In the mean time the Queen fell sick of the Small Pox but recovered again before that it was known abroad that she was so attending the Affairs of Government taking Care to suppress several fresh Rebellions in Ireland and sending a new Colony thither She also repaid with Thanks the Money she had borrowed of her Subjects and put forth two Proclamations by one of which she commanded the Noble-men to observe the Law in keeping Retainers by the other she restrained Informers who under the pretence of discovering Crown-Lands concealed by private Persons sacrilegiously seized upon the Lands of Parish Churches and Alms-Houses piously endowed by the Queens Ancestors And she likewise gained a great deal of Love and Honor by two Acts of Justice the one That she satisfyed the English Merchants out of the Goods that were detained belonging to the Dutch and restored the rest to the Duke of Alva and made a full Transaction with the Merchants of Genoua for the Money intercepted the other That she free'd England at this time of the Debts which her Father and her Brother had contracted in Foreign parts and were encreased by yearly Interest and caused the Obligations of the City of London which had been so often renewed to be given in to the great Satisfaction of the Citizens The Spanish Conduct in the Low Countries having not met with that Success that was expected on the contrary several of their Towns being lost all the Provinces ready for a Revolt and the Fleet they had sent to the Relief of the English Catholicks vanquished by the Zelanders and the Duke of Alva finding how disadvantageous the cutting off Commerce with the English had been to his Masters Subjects he began to treat the English with more Kindness and thereupon the Commerce was again laid open which had been for some Years prohibited between the English and Dutch for two years which term being expired the English removed their Trade to the Confederated States In the mean time comes over a French Ambassadour to complain of the assistance that the Queen gave to the Hugonots of that Kingdom to Request her Majesty to be Godmother to the French King's Daughter and to use all manner of Offices toward the promoting a Match between the Queen and Duke of Alanzon Whereupon her Majesty sent the Earl of Worcester into France with a Present of a Font of Massy Gold and to stand as her Deputy at the Solemnity of the Christening And now the French use all their efforts for the advancing of this Match desiring that the Duke of Alanzon might have leave to come over which after much importunity she consented to upon condition that he should not take it for any Disgrace should he return without obtaining his Suit And that he should first procure a Peace in France and do something in favour of the Protestants of that Kingdom Whereupon a Peace was concluded and the Hugonots allowed the Exercise of their Religion in certain Places And the Duke of Anjou being elected King of Poland and resolving to go by Sea thither the French desired that he might have free Passage through the British Ocean which the Queen not only willingly granted but made Offer of a Fleet for the convoying him thither There having been no Regent in Scotland ever since the Earl of Marre's Death James Douglas Earl of Morton was now made Regent by the Procurement of Queen Elizabeth and was continued and maintained by the Authority and Power of Queen Elizabeth maugre all the Practices of the Papists and the French against him This Regent enacted many profitable Laws for the Defence of Religion against Papists and Hereticks in the King's Name But the Protection and keeping of the King's Person he confirmed to Alexander Ereskin Earl of Marre to whom the Custody of the Kings in their tender years belongeth by a particular Priviledge though he were in his Minority And now the Regent meeting with some Opposition through the Practices of the French he implored Aid of Queen Elizabeth which she granting him he therewith overcame his and the Kingdom 's Enemies and brought that Realm into a very setled and quiet Posture About this time the Bishop of Rosse was let out of Prison but expelled England and being abroad he continued his Sollicitations to the Pope and all Catholick Princes in favour of the Queen of Scots his Mistress from all whom he received fair Promises but no Performances And indeed he had lost the main support of his Hopes in the Duke of Alva who about that time was recall'd from his Government of the Low Countreys both for that he was grown too Great and that the People there had a Mortal Aversion for his Person by reason of his Cruelty He was succeeded by Requesens a man of a milder Spirit minding his own not concerning himself with either English or Scottish Affairs but endeavoured to oblige Queen Elizabeth by all manner of good Offices Now again broke out several new Rebellions in Ireland but were suppressed by the care and Industry of the Queen's Ministers and Officers there But they had raised a desire in Walter Devereux Earl of Essex to go against them which being opposed by Sir William Fitz-Williams Deputy of Ireland an Expedient was found out by the Queen by appointing Essex to take a Patent of the Deputy which having accordingly done he went into Ireland with some Forces but not meeting with the Success he had promised himself he long sollicited and at length obtained leave to return home In the mean time the King of Navarre and the Duke of Alanzon a Pretender to the Queen being suspected by the Queen Mother of France of some Designs against her Authority were put under Confinement whereupon Queen Elizabeth sent an Envoy to sollicit their Reconciliation and Liberty But now Charles the French King dying he was succeeded by his Brother Henry the Third who having left the Throne of Poland and being returned into his own Countrey my Lord North was sent Ambassador to congratulate his Arrival and Inauguration into his Kingdom who in return sent a Person with the same Character hither but whose chief Errand was to make strong Intercessions in the King 's and Queen Mothers name in Favour of the Match between her Majesty and the Duke of Alanzon But notwithstanding all the Kindness that passed between these two Courts and that the League of Blois was now again confirmed and ratifyed by both Crowns yet the French continued their Practices in Scotland in favour of the Queen of Scots endeavoured to have got that King over into France contrived how to deprive Morton the Regent of his Authority and the French King having demanded by Letters whether the mutual Defence mentioned in the League was intended to comprehend the Case of