ELIZABETH, Queen The Birth and Paren­rage of Queen Eliza­beth. of England, was born at Greenwich the 7 ^th of September 1533. Her Father was Henry the VIII ^th, Her Mother was the Lady Anna Boleyn the Daughter of Sir Thomas Bo­leyn, a Knight of great Estate and Esteem. After She came to wear the Royal Crown of England, She had a particular Affection for Greenwich, that Pleasant Seat upon the Thames, as for the place of Her Nativity: and upon that account, amongst many others, She preferr'd Her Palace there before all Her other Country Seats near London; as in truth it enjoys one of the Noblest Prospects in the World, and an health­ful, [Page 2] and a pleasing Air. From Her ve­ry Cradle She was exposed to the Ha­zards and Hardships of an unkind For­tune. Anna Boleyn Her Mother, upon the Death of Queen Catherine, in the Year 1535. the 8 ^th of January, was Ar­raigned for Treason; and in 1536. being Sentenced, was freed by Death from a bloody Marriage, the 19 ^th of May. The Inveterate Malice of the Popish Clergy having ever since pursu­ed this Match with their Reproaches as unlawful and void; because Queen Ca­therine his first Wife was then still li­ving, and very much inraged at it, tho' to no purpose. Hereupon soon after a Parliament was summoned, which began the 8 ^th of June; In which the Issue of both the King's former Marriages was declared Illegitimate, and for ever excluded from claiming the Inheritance of the Crown as the King's Lawful Heirs by Lineal Descent; and the Attainder of Queen Ann, and her Complices, was Con­firmed. So that by Authority of Parlia­ment She stood wholly incapacitated as to the wearing the Crown of England. Her only Support in the mean time un­der all these Injuries and Afflictions was the Goodness of God.

[Page 3] The King Her Father observing in Her Educa­tion. Her a Noble Presence of Mind, a good Memory, great Apprehension, an Ex­cellent Nature, and good Dispositions towards Piety and Vertue, caused Her to be diligently educated and brought up in Learning, and taught whatever was suitable to Her Birth and Age. Her Tutoress was the Lady Cham­pernon, a Person of great Worth, who formed this great Wit from Her Infan­cy, and improved Her Native Modesty with wise Counsels, and a Liberal and Sage Advice. Thus Her Natural Parts were in progress of time polished and improved by the knowledge of many of the best and most useful Arts: That when She came to Reign (which was even then supposed) She might manage Her Affairs with a steady hand, happi­ly and regularly Administer Justice, and shew Mercy, cure Her Anger, and go­vern prudently all Her other Passions and Affections. The King Her Father, the day after Her Mother was beheaded, married the Lady Jane Seymour; and this New Queen, what from the sweet­ness of Her Disposition, and out of compliance with the King, who loved Her very much, was as kind to Her as [Page 4] if She had been Her Mother. There is still extant two Letters written by this Young Princess to Her, the one in Ita­lian, and the other in English, in a fair Hand, the same She wrote all the rest of Her Life, when She was not full Four years of Age. The English Letter is Page 209 printed in the First Part of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation, and bears date in July 1537.

This Ripe and Flourishing Infancy Her Tutors in the Greek and Latin Tong [...]e. was a good Omen, that the next Stage of Her Life would be most Excellent; and accordingly, before She was 17 years of Age, She had made a very great progress in all the Liberal Sciences; so easily did She apprehend, and firmly retain whatever She was taught. The Learned Mr. Roger Ashcam (a man born and bred for that Age, which was to re­fine the Greek and Latin to a Politeness, and raise them to an Eloquence) was Her Tutor for the Latin Tongue; and by his Industry and Diligence he directed Her so well, that from Cicero, Pliny and Livy, She became the Mistress of an Even, Beautiful, pure, unmixed, and truly Princely Stile, which She could speak with Elegance and Facility. As She became thus Eloquent, and was [Page 5] well furnished with Knowledge by the means of this Tongue; so upon all Oc­casions She was ready afterwards to ex­press Her Love and Esteem for the La­tin Tongue. She became so perfect in it, that she spoke it with all the Advan­tages of Eloquence; so that some of Her Extemporary Orations were deser­vedly approved by both the Universities, and they too are consigned to Eternity, and left a lasting Impression on the minds of them that heard them, though few of them are now extant; but how­ever, there is one preserved and publish­ed by Mr. Fuller in his History of Cam­bridge, Page 138. In this Tongue She did not make it Her business, whilst She was reading the best Latin Authors, to furnish Her Memory with Grammati­cal Observations, or a plenty of high sounding Words, or Elegant Phrases, which might help to exalt her Reputa­tion for Learning, or adorn Her Stile: But She treasured up those Precepts ve­ry carefully, which were useful for the government of Her Life, or for the ma­naging Her Private Affairs, or those of the State, well and wisely. To this end She read Livy's History, Ta­citus his Annals, the Acts of Tiberius [Page 6] the Emperor, and all Seneca's Works. By all which She at last furnished Her Judgment with the best Remedies against all the Attacks of Fortune: With an equal Industry She read over all the best of the Greek Orators and Historians; with the Assistance of Mr. Ashcam She read Isocrates, Aeschinis and Demosthe­nes. She was curious, not only to un­derstand the Propriety of the Greek Idi­om, and the Sense of the Author, but pried into the Antiquities that occurr'd, the Causes they managed, the De­crees of the People, the Customs of the Gr [...]cians, and the Manners of that Fa­mous City of Athens, till She throughly understood them. She caused Sir John Fortescue, a great Master in the Greek and Latin Tongue, to read to Her Thuci­dides, Xenophon and Polybins, and after them Euripides, Aeschines and Sophocles: And to reward him for this Service, She afterwards made him Master of her War­drove, and Chancellor, and Under-Trea­surer of the Exchequer; And She would afterwards say, that Fortescue for Inte­grity, and Walsingham for Subtilty, out­did Her Expectation; no wonder then that he was ever of Her Privy Council. She had afterwards a great Love for Sir [Page 7] Henry Savil, a Gentleman of various and great Learning, who afterwards composed many noble Volumes, and arose to Honout purely by his Learn­ning.

In Her reading She did not only aim Her Obser­vations in Reading. to understand Her Author, and observe the softness of the Attick, and the sweet­ness of the Greek Tongue, which may serve for Ostentation: But She mado many Observations for the Tempering of Manners; The Sanctity of Justice, and the allaying Humane Passions, that nothing might be done by Her Angrily, Proudly, Injuriously, and beyond the Rules of Civility. There was not one remarkable Story or Expression in all the Works of Thucidides and Xenophon, per­taining to the Governmene of Life or Manners, or to the ordering Publick Affairs, but She had it by heart. She was as great an Admirer of Philosophy, as of Eloquence; by which She attained the Knowledg of many excellent Things; and that civil Prudence or Policy which is so absolutely necessary for all Princes, And besides all that civil Prudence and the Knowledge of Governing, by which the Publick Utility is acquired and im­proved, She drew from the Ancient and [Page 8] most Noble Philosophers all those Pre­cepts that they have set down for the gaining Moral Prudence and Vertue: For Her greatest Care was spent in the Cul­tivating these two beautiful Parts of Philosophy. I will omit the common Philosophers, of whose Learning and Do­ctrine She was a great Lover. The Di­vine Plato, that illustrious Light of Greece, was made more Noble by the Hands of this Heroick Princess. Aristo­tle, the Prince of the Philosophers, the acute Master of Alexander the Great, was read by Her: She was throughly acquainted with Xenophon's Cyrus; a Piece not writ with the Truth of an Histo­rian; but to represent the lively Image of a Just and Moderate Prince, accomplished with all those Endowments which the Great Soerates had set sorth, for the living well and happily.

Being thus prepared by Philosophy, G Grindal Her Tutor in Theology. she was, by the Learned Dr. Grindal, Professor of Divinity, initiated in Theo­logy; which above all other Sciences, teacheth the Worship of God, Pure Religion, and the Knowledge of Hea­venly Happiness; and by these dispo­seth men to Justice, Modesty, Clemen­cy, Magnanimity, and Humanity. She [Page 9] chearfully and readily embraced a ge­nuine and true Theology, free from ficti­tious Legends, and the Popish Supersti­tions, which she afterwards made more venerable, by an holy and pious Life, without any Ostentation. And being of a Great Wit, and a Strong Memory, She drew from the Annals of all Nations and People the Actions of the Greatest Princes, and an innumerable number of their Fights, and most Illustrious Victories. She would frequently set be­fore Her the Monuments of Her Prede­ccssors, the [...]riumphs and incredible Victories obtained by the English at Cressy, Poictiers, Agincourt, or Blagni, and at Vernevil, against the French, with a vast effusion of their blood; and she would frequently say, These Victo­ries were owing more to the Assistances of Heaven, than the Arms of her An­cestors.

Besides the French, Italian, and Eng­lish She spoke French and I­talian, and understood many other European Tongues. Tongues, which She spake freely, She well understood most of the com­mon Languages now spoken in Europe; but as to these Three I have mentioned, it was hard to say which she knew best. Of this there were many witnesses, when She answered the Imperial Ambassador [Page 10] in Italian; the French, in French; and the Sweden in Latin, Sharply, Prudent­ly, Pertinently, Elegantly, and Polite­ly, without any time taken to consider of it. She gave de Ronsard, a French Poet, a Diamond of great Value, as a Testimony of Her approving his ele­gant and splendid Poems in that Tongue. She understood Musick very well, and could Sing, Dance, and Play on the Lute, with a composed Motion of Body, attended with a Counte­nance, Habit, and Gesture, which be­came a Queen. She was a great Lover of Consorts, when Voices were mixed with Instruments of Musick; and at such times She would be strangely Fa­cetious and Pleasant. She spent Her times of Leisure and Diversion, with the greatest Pleasure that was possible to Her Self, and those about Her. Yet after all, Her Virtues procured Her more Honour and Esteem in all Nati­ons, than all these Ornaments of Indu­stry, Learning, and Ingenuity, though they appeared in Her to an higher and more illustrious degree, than ever was found in any other Lady; and were at­tended also with the greatest Sagacity and Judgment: For there was not any [Page 11] Person in Her Times, that exceeded Her in Chastity, Piety, Justice, and Mag­nanimity.

Now I have shortly shown the Be­ginnings Her Progress and Improve­ment under the Reign of Edward VI. and Progress of Her Virtues, and the Means and Degrees by which She attained to them: It will be plea­sant to shew how she brought them into Act under the Reign of Her Brother, EDWARD the VI ^th, (who by the Consent of the Three Estates in Parlia­ment, abolished the Popish Religion, and introduced the Reformed). She having then attained to great degrees of Piety, Eloquence, and Learning, went on in the commendable Improvement of all those Perfections She had received from the Bounty of Nature or Fortune. She rendred Her Royal Extraction more illu­strious, by the Assistances She took eve­ry day from Books; and when She had spent the time She had assigned to Polite Learning, She betook Her self every day to the more severe Studies of Religion, with a vigorous and lively Affection. She read over Melancth [...]n's Common-Pla­ces; and gained very much by an exact and acurate Perusal of the Sacred Scri­ptures: There were innumerable Sen­tences in the New Testament, and the [Page 12] Oracles of the Prophets, which She had treasured up in Her Memory, and which She would afterwards upon occa­sion mention; and She attended the Of­fices of Religion and Piety, with great Devotion and Care. She often addres­sed Her devoutest Prayers to God, and implored his Assistance, for the obtain­ing a Chast Heart, a Pure and Unspot­ted Life, and a Steady and Constant Soul. The Wills of the Subjects of England were then divided, and their Opinions distracted in the matters of Religion; and She then shewed to man­kind the true and salutary Doctrine, not so much by Words, as by a holy Life, and good Actions. She attentively heard the Sermons of the Clergy, not only to please Her self with their Oratory, but admitted them into the most intimate Recesses of Her heart, with an incre­dible satisfaction; and She joined de­voutly and constantly in the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church.

The Death of Edward the VI ^th, Her The Untime­ly D [...]th of Her B [...]loved Brother [...] VI. beloved Brother, in his Childhood, in the very Blossom of a promising Spring, tho he was snatched away from Her by an immature Fate, to the damage of his Countrey; yet it gave no stop or affright [Page 13] to Her Piety, but She consolated Her self with the Immortal Glory he had acquired in the short time he lived.

[...]o him succeeded MARY Her Si­ster, And the Suc­cession of Q. Mary. who always adhered stifly to the old way of Worship, and the Ceremo­nies and Superstitions of the Church of Rome, even when they were abolished by Acts of Parliament; and having now got the Crown, made it Her greatest Design not only to restore the Pomp and Splendor of it as before, but also to compel all her Subjects to submit to it by Force, Threats, Banishment, and most Ba [...]barous Deaths and Cruelties. To this purpose also she called over Car­dinal Reginald Pool, a Person of rare Learning, and of a very Innocent Life and Conversation; and which is rarely to be found in the men of that Persua­sion, of a great Pro [...]ity, Candor, and Sweetness of Temper. The Popish Re­ligion being thus restored, there were New Bishops, and New Preachers, sought for, to recommend it to the Na­tion; and the Honest, Innocent, Reli­gious, Good men, who had set the Crown upon Her Head, upon Her Pro­mise to Protect the Religion which She found Established, were oppressed by [Page 14] the Fury of their Enemies, which spread it self over the whole Kingdom of England, and there was no place free from their Religious Butchery. The Princess ELIZABETH, in these doleful times seeing her self deprived of the Protection of a Kind Brother, desert­ed by Her Friends, and betrayed by Her Enemies, had not the least hope of en­joying the Free Exercise of the True Re­ligion. Nor was this Calamity thought enough; but Her Popish [...]nemies per­secuted Her, under the pretence She had Conspired with Sir [...]homas Wiat to De­stroy Her Sister; tho at his death he de­clared to all the world, She had no hand in his Insurrection; but however, Her Sister was glad of this pretence to use Her ill; and being spurr'd on by Her Popish Bishops, who were highly cnra­ged against Her, as the Head of the Reformed Religion, She was sent close Prisoner to the Castle of WOOD­STOCK, in the year 1554. Thus She saw Her self deprived at once of all her Friends, and Her Liberty too: Her Servants and Friends abroad were many of them Attainted, and others forced to seek their Safety in Foreign Countries: And the Protestants in great Numbers [Page 15] became a Sacrifice to the Rage of the Popish Bishops: So that no Orator is able truly and effectually to represent in words the Desolations and Calamities of those times. Many, however, of the most Learned of the English Nation, du­ring this storm, betook themselves to Germany, as to their safest Harbour: The rest who could not make a timely Escape were committed to Prisons, tor­mented with various Arts of Cruelty, and at last burnt alive: The Publick places of our Cities were bathed with the Blood of Innocent and Holy men; and our streets were filled with the dreadful shrieks and groans of the mise­rable; men from their souls detesting the Cruelty of the Popish Clergy, and the infamous Inhumanity of these Ma­rian The Princess Elizabeth a sorrowful Spectator of the Popish Cruelty. Times. The Princess Elizabeth was a sorrowful Spectator of this Tragedy; but for all the fear she lived in, and the repeated Threats of Her Sister, She stood her ground, and would not be withdrawn from the Religion She had embraced, and in Her Conscience ap­proved; but bore all with an undaunt­ed and Heroick Courage The Chear­fulness of Her Temper soon overcame the Greatness of the Calamity, the [Page 16] Melancholy of a Prison, and the Fear of Her Sister The Bitterness of Her Misfortunes was much allayed also, by discovering to Her how tenderly the People loved her; so that the Joy of this, over balanced the Calamities of the Times, and the Frowns of Fortune. In the midst of such over-whelming Sor­rows, Suspicions, and the Fears of an Ignominious Death, no mortal ever saw her dejected or dispirited. When the fears of Her Treacherous and Perfi­dious Enemies, and that of Violence encompassed Her, Good Reason encou­raged Her; a Sound Mind, and a Quiet Conscience supported Her under Her Misfortunes, and Her Hope and Trust in the Goodness and Mercy of God, o­vercame all assaults of Despair.

It is not my Purpose to make the She was hated by the P. Bi­shop [...] for Her Religion. Reigns of Henry the VIII, and Qeeen Mary odious; and therefore I will not spend my time in representing the Cruelties that were then put in Practice; the manifold Murthers extending to all Sexes and Ages; or the Miseries that followed those that fled hence into Fo­raign Countries. For tho the mischie­vous Example of the Popish Clergy, who by their Authority, Counsel, and the [Page 17] specious pretences of Retrieving and Preserving the Ancient Piety and Wor­ship, raised and augmented these Perse­cutions, and is for ever to be detest­ed; yet the Faults of Princes, like those of our Parents, are to be conceal­ed as much as is possible; and the Inju­ries they do us are patiently and silently to be suffered.

The Popish Clergy, and especially some of the Bishops, foreseeing what hazard their Religion was exposed to as long as the Princess Elizabeth lived, and was the next Heir to the Crown of England, because she had from her In­fancy been bred up in the Protestant Re­ligion, made it their Great Design to hasten her Death with an implacable Malice, that so they might at one blow cut off the Head of that Party which was here formed against their Church. She in the mean while, during all this calamitous time saw herself under Cu­stody, her faithful Servants in Prison, and she had perpetually before her eyes the Images of a violent Death. The People of England saw her Danger, but could not so prudently conceal their Fears, but upon all occasions openly and with great Anxiety said, This Royal [Page 18] Off-spring was designed for Slaughter: Truth and Innoccnce were not secure; and the Ruin and Undoing of the Nation would be the effects of her Death. Queen Mary in the mean time was distracted between the Shame of offending the whole Nation, which generally belie­ved the Princess Elizabeth to be inno­cent; and the Fear of exposing her Re­ligion (which she loved above all things) to the Hazard of another Pro­testant Reign. She saw herself in dan­ger of Conspiracies if her Sister lived, and that on the other hand she could not take away her Life without being guil­ty of a great Wickedness. Philip the Her Life was saved by King Philip. II. a King of Spain, the Husband of Queen Mary, upon wise Reasons of State, delivered the poor, distressed, and helpless Princess out of this horrid Dan­ger, out of pure Aversion to the King­dom of France, his most dreadful Ri­val: For he wisely considered, That Mary Q [...]een of Scotland, and Grand­child to Henry VII. was married to Francis the Eldest Son of Henry II. King of France; and that if the Princess Eli­zabeth were cut off, she would be the undoubted Heiress of England, Scot­land, and Ireland, and would transfer [Page 19] and unite these Three Northern Crowns to that of France, and make the House of [...]aloise dreadful to that of Austria. This Thought put a stop to their Cru­elty; God by it procuring her Safety, and with her, preserving the English Nation, to the universal joy of all who wished well to her or their Countrey.

Queen Mary her Sister died the 17th. The Death of Queen Mary. of November, 1558, when she had Reigned Five Years, Four Months, and Eleven days, being then in the XLIII. Year of her Age, concluding an unhap­py Reign, and an unfortunate Life. She at her Death by her last Will left the af­flicted and disconsolate Lady the Prin­cess Elizabeth, the Heir of the Crown of England, rather out of an unavoida­ble Necessity, than any thing of Choice. There was then a Parliament sitting, which began the 5th. of that month in which she died; and as the Govern­ment was then wholly in the hands of the Roman-Catholicks, none of the other Party daring to appear, or if they did, not daring to own their Opinions, the Death of Queen Mary was concealed for some hours, for what purpose is not known; but about Nine of the Clock the Lord Chancellor went to the House [Page 20] of Lords, and first acquainted them with it. This gave a great terror to the Bi­shops, and those Counsellors who had­been severe against the Princess Eliza­beth; yet they all agreed to Proclaim her Queen; so they sent for the House of Commons, and the Chancellor told them also the Queen was dead, and that the Princess Elizabeth was the indisputed Heir to the Crown, of whose Right and Title none could make any Question; and there­fore the Lords intended to Proclaim her Queen, and desired their Concurrence; which was joyfully entertained by them, and they all cried, God save Queen Eli­zabeth; long and happily may she reign. She being thus advanced to the Throne, not only by her own undoubted Right, and the Providence of God, but by the Confent and with the Approbation of all the Three Estates then Assem­bled in Parliament, (which, I think, never before hapned to any of our Prin­ces besides her), she was received by the whole Nation with incredible Tran­sports of Joy and Affection, and the loudest Acclamations they could make; men highly valuing the Innocence of her former Life, and commiserating the hardships she had suffered in the former [Page 21] Reign, to the hazard of her Life. When God had thus brought this Queen to the Throne of her Ancestors, of a sudden the course of things, and the current of affairs took a new bias; the heavy Tem­pests and Misfortunes that attended England we [...]e instantly blown over, and a serene and prosperous course of things succeeded in their place. Thus in a mo­ment she was not only freed from the Miseries of an Imprisonment, but a­dorned with the highest degree of Ho­nour and Power; and this Lady with a Masculine, or rather Heroick Soul, which was worthy to have governed the Em­pire of the World, for almost Forty five years after, managed the Royal Scepter of England, and was the Arbitrator, pre­scribing the Conditions of Peace and War to all the Princes of Christendom, with a Greatness of Mind, and a Wisdom that became so high a Station. This Virtue, which was almost Divine, joined with so admirable a Prudence, renders her worthy of the Applause and Honour of all mankind. Thus one may see and admire the great force and power of Time, and the wonderful Changes of Human Affairs; and how useful it is to arrive at Prosperity by the Waves of [Page 22] Adversity. Whilst she was in her pri­vate Station, she was perpetually under the fear and danger of Death; but by the Goodness of God she escaped all the Insults of Adverse Fortune; her Innocence procured her Safety, that made way for her Liberty, so her Sove­raignty was acknowledged; and from her prudent Management of that Royal Station, she gained an [...]ndless Glory, and an Immortal Name. Thus attain­ing the Possession of a Kingdom with Glory, and the Publick Safety, and the Good Will of her Subjects, she on all occasions shewed the Greatness and Brightness of her Wit and Soul: That she had well studied and digested the best Arts, and had had an excellent Edu­cation, and wise Instruction, the good Effects of which were now made known, by her wise promoting the Good and Safety of her People.

In the beginning of her Reign she The Nation divided into Factions. found the Nation at home filled with Divisions and Heart-burnings, by reason of the contrary methods used in the two preceding Reigns: Abroad she had ne­ver an Ally she could trust to; all was in War, or an uncertain and unsteady Peace. The Spanish Government was [Page 23] b [...]come odious here, and the English called their Assected Gravity, Pride and Insolence: The French had equally in­censed us by the late Surprize of Calais. Calais newly lost. The T [...]easury was at the lowest Ebb; and our Bulwark, which our ncestors had preserved Two hundred and ten years, was taken from us in one weeks time, in the beginning of January, in this year: The New Queen proposed to herself the common Safety and Welfare of her People, and pursued it with the utmost Care and Asfection. She was then Twenty five years of Age, and something more, when the Royal Diadem of England descended to her; and she began the difficult work of raising the low and calamitous state of England, and redressing those Grievances which the opposite Interests and Designs of the former times had brought upon this Nation She was not only ripe and sit for Government, but she had by this time acquired a strange and unusual degree of Civil Prudence. She knew the Publick or Royal Laws of England, not only by reading them in Books, but also by the great Reflection she had made on our History, and on what had happened in her own times; [Page 24] and by her Conversation with great men, and the application she had ever made of her Mind to whatever was worth regarding. The 14th. of January after her Sister's Death, 1558/9, she was Crowned with the Ancient and Usual Ceremonies, when her People gave her fresh Instances of their Loyalty and Af­fection, by crowding in unusual Num­bers to see and partake in the Joy of this Solemnity: And she (having observed that her Sister, by the sullenness of her Behaviour, had much disobliged the People), frequently looked on them with a chearful and pleasing Counte­nance, and returned the Respects they paid her, with great sweetness. She took the Ancient and Usual Coronation-Oath, That she would govern her King­dom according to the Ancient and Laudable Laws and Customs of England; which she observed more willingly than most of her Predecesfors had before her; and this gained her both the Love and Re­verence of her People.

At first she cherished in her Roman S [...]e at first dissembled b [...]r Religion. Catholick Subjects a belief she would Imbrace that Religion they prosessed. She changed nothing in the Publick Ser­vice, or the Administration of the Sacra­ments, [Page 25] that she might not enrage her Papists, and give them a pretence for Separation before she had well Esta­blished herself. The Kingdom of Eng­land was then very unsetled, and had received great Damages both at home and abroad; the French had wrested from us the strong Town of Bologne in the Year 1546. before the death of Henry the VIII ^•h, and Calais in the be­ginning of this Year: The Sea was full of Privateers, and there was scarce any thing to be trusted to. In this Dis­order of Affairs she wisely thought, That the only way to settle and pre­serve the Nation from Imminent Ruine, was to chuse wise and upright Men to manage the Publick Affairs: She de­clined the use of Rash and overbold Men, who have commonly brought mischief on the States that have trusted to them. Being weary of the Popish Ce­remonies, and their Conversation, she retired for some time to one of her Country Houses, as it were, for Di­version and Pleasure, but in truth that she might with the greater Leisure and Secrecy consider of the Methods she should take for the removing the Dan­gers which threatned her Kingdom, for [Page 26] the Preservation of its Peace, for the Abating the Power of the Popish Par­ty, and the setling that Religion here, which she believed was most for the Glory of God, as being most agreeable to the Sacred [...]criptures. The Men that she most relied on in this great and difficult Work, were William Lord [...] P [...]ime Counsellors. Parre of Kendal, Marquess of Nor­thampton, whom she had restored to his Honours. Francis Russel, Earl of Bedsord. Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and Sir William Cecil, Prime Secretary of State; all of them men of great Pru­dence and Courage, who had with much difficulty escaped the Marian Tempest. These were the Chief Ma­nagers of her Secret Councels, and acquainted with her most private Thoughts and Designs for the good and safety of her People, and were all of them Protestants: The Popish No­bility and great Men were either con­tented with a Vote in the Privy Council (in which many of them still sat) and others of them refusing however to be any otherwise concerned; or fore­seeing the Change that was intend­ed, had withdrawn themselves alto­gether, [Page 27] and deserted their former Sta­tions

Of these, she relied mostly on the C [...]cil and Bacon her Prime Ministers. Council of Cecil and Bacon, who were closely united each to other, and both equally in her Favour, and were besides men of great Judgment. They were also her Chief Ministers, and most trust­ed by her for their Integrity and In­dustry.

Having throughly consider'd the state of the Nation, she resolved at first to promote a Peace abroad; and that she might gain her point in this with the greater case, she used some Dissimula­tion. Philip the II ^d, King of Spain, had lost the possession of England by She dissem­bled with the King of Spain. the death of Queen Mary, and to reco­ver it, had begun a Treaty of Marriage with Queen Elizabeth, which she decli­ned with much civility and modesty; so that he still insisted upon it for some time, and she was not willing wholly to undeceive him till she saw an end of the Treaty of Cambray. Francis the Eldest Son of Henry the II ^d, King of France, having married Mary Steward, Queen of the Scots, and the next Heir after her of the Crown of England, the French were forming a Design against [Page 28] her, and made a kind of Claim of the Crown for the Dauphiness. The Queen feared the King of Spain the mo [...]t of the two, as being a Prince of deep De­signs, and formidable to all his Neigh­bours on the score of his vast Dominions; and was resolved, as time and opportu­nity should serve, to abate his Power, and cross his Designs: She was as much offended with the King of France for the ravishing Calais from us, and for assu­ming the Arms of England to hers and the Nation's Dishonour; yet she resol­ved to make a Peace with him as soon as she could. Thus this Heroick Lady, which had tried both Adverse and Pro­sperous Fortune, being by Nature en­dowed with a strange Sagacity and Pru­dence, which is very rarely to be found in that Sex; and which she had also much improved by the Afflictons she had suf­fered; by her wise Counsels soon brought this almost Shipwrack'd Ves­sel to a sase Port, and governed it all her days with much ease and Peace; by which she gave the World a noble Specimen of her Virtue, Justice and Prudence. She discovered all the Incli­nations, Forces, Leagues and Counsels of her Neighbouring States; She laid [Page 29] aside all her Feminine Indignation, and would not suffer her most intimate Affe­ctions to have any place or consideration with her, when she was to consult the Peace, and secure the safety of her Peo­ple. Of which this may serve for a clear Proof; From the beginning of her Reign she had established this as a Maxim, That the King of Spain was the most for­midable Enemy the English then had; but then because that Nation was strong, rich, and powerful, she seemingly paid, for some time, a great respect to the King of Spain, that he and the French King might not join against her; and she al­so sent an Ambassador to renew the Amity between her and the House of Austria.

Yet considering that it was necessary She makes a Peace with France, and resolves on a War with Spain. that she should in a short time have a War with Spain, and that part of his Dominions lay near her, and that others were more remote, and very rich and fruitful, so that they would well pay her Subjects for the pains and danger of attacking them; She upon the whole concluded, That it was her Interest to enter into a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the King of France; and accord­ingly she kindly received his Ambassa­dors, [Page 30] who were sent hither to renew the Peace. She put out a Proclamation to forbid all her Subjects the offering any violence or wrong to the French that were then in England, that she might prevent their enraging the Foreign Na­tions against her or her Subjects. And in The Treaty of Cambray. the Castle of Cambray she by her Am­bassadors concluded a League with France, upon Condition, That the Town of Calais, and all that belonged to it, should after eight years be restored to the English; and if the same was not done, that the French King should pay to her, at the ex [...]iration of the said Term, 50000 Crowns, and give Hostages of the Children of Noble Families for the persormance of the said Condition in the mean time; and the assurance of an Oath, that they would punctually and truly keep the said Agreement. When this Peace came to be discovered by a Pro­clamation in London, and all the Sea­port Towns, almost all the good men of England were inwardly offended at it; and they whispered their Discon­tents in all places. Yet I cannot but think the Queen in this League (how much soever it was spoken against) did rather consult her own Honour and [Page 31] Reputation, and the safety and welfare of her People, than trust to the Faith of the King of Franc [...], as to the resti­tution of Calais. The Hostages indeed fled away, and the French broke their Faith (as it was to be thought they would) when they were to restore Ca­lais; but then the Advantages which England then gained by that seasonable Peace, abundantly overbalanced the Damages sustained by the disappoint­ment. When the time was expired for the restitution of Ca [...]ais, the English Ambassadors in the Court of France endeavoured to make that Nation ap­pear odious and detestable to all Man­kind, because they had fraudulently de­parted from the Terms of the League so solemnly made at Cambray, and af­terwards sworn to by that King: But The French Plea against the Restituti­on of Calais. Monsieur de l'Hospital, Sieur de Vitry, Chancellor of France, a Learned and a Cunning Lawyer, replied, That Ca­lais was lost by a War, and regained by another; That the Promise of restoring it was a Necessity imposed upon the French by the Iniquity of the Times, which had enforced t [...]em to yield so far to the En­glish for the safety of their State; but that in truth the English had as much [Page 32] right to Paris, as they had to Calais; and might with as good justice demand the first, as the last. Yet after all, this Wise man never endeavoured to clear his Nation from the Guilt and Infamy of Fraud and Perjury, which was a Task above his strength. In all Revolutions and Changes, the Queen always in the first place took care to secure the True Worship of God, and the safety of all her Subjects. When therefore she had thus secured her Peace abroad, or at least had gained a Cessation of War till she might take breath, and recover her strength, and was now freed there­by She resolved to resorm the Religion. from all fear of Foreign or Dome­stick Dangers, she made it her next great business to reform the Religion of England. She foresaw, that if she suffered Popery to continue, she could never establish her own Government. Therefore she resolved with pious and holy care to establish the Reformation that had been begun by her Father, and carried on by her Brother; and to suppress and eradicate by degrees, by the Authority of her Parliaments, with­out force or violence, the Popish Super­stition, which she esteemed a Corrupt and Immoderate Religion, and equally [Page 33] i [...]jurious to Princes and their Subjects.

In these times the contending Religi­ons The contend­ing Religions equally bal­lanced. were so near an Equality, and so ba­lanced each against other, that the Au­thority of the Prince was able to turn the scale. Henry the VIIIth. was able to settle a Mongrel sort of Popery: Ed­ward the VIth. advanced this to a tho­rough Reformation: Queen Mary, with­out much difficulty, re-setled the old Mass of unrefined Popery: And now when it was become ten times more hated than before, on the account of the Perfidy and Bloodshed that had been employed to establish it, Queen Eliza­beth comes upon the stage, resolved to use all her Skill and Authority for the intire Extirpation of it; and the People readily and willingly complied with her in it, or rather in truth led her the way, and were a little too hot on the work. She presently summoned a Parliament, which was opened the 25th of January, Her first Par­liament. after her Accession to the Crown; the great Design of which was, To put an end to the Distractions of the Nation in matters of Religion; and to that end, by the Lord Keeper Bacon, she desired, ‘They would consider of it without heat, or partial affection, or using any [Page 34] reproachful terms of Papist, or Here­tick; and that they would avoid the Extremes of Idolatry and Superstition on the one hand, and Contempt and Irreligion on the other; and that they would settle things so, as might bring the People to an Uniformity and cor­dial Agreement in them. And as to the State, she promised she would use her utmost endeavour to advance the Prosperity, and preserve the Affecti­ons of her Subjects. And tho she had need then of their Assistance, yet she professed she would desire no Supply, but what they did freely and chearfully offer. And at the same time she re­presented Calais as a thing which they could not at that time hope to reco­ver.’ Thus she would neither wheedle nor deceive her Subjects, but with an English Sincerity laid before them the Truth of the Case, and left it to God to direct them to what was best to be done. The Houses having heard and well considered what was offered on both sides, came at last to a full Reso­lution, That all the Acts and Laws of Mary her Sister, in favour of the Ro­mish Religion, should be Repealed. That the good Laws of Edward the VIth. and [Page 35] Henry the VIIIth. in favour of the Re­formation, should be Revived and Con­firmed. That the Mass, which had been Restored by the Laws ena [...]ted in Queen Mary's time, should be Abolished as a thing that was full of Vanity and Levi­ty. That all Images should be taken away out of the Churches: And all use of Ho­ly Water. That the Liturgy and Pub­lick Prayers should be all performed in the English Tongue, and by a Form prescribed, and then by Act of Parlia­ment Confirmed and Allowed, as it had been before in her Brother's Reign, that so the People having a full and clear knowledg of the Service of the Church, might the better and more devoutly join both Voice and Heart in it. By this her prudent Care she gave the Romish Church one of the most mor­tal Wounds she ever received from any hand, by Rupudiating and Despi­sing, Abolishing and Exposing all her Pagan Pageantry, and Jewish Ceremo­nies. She commanded all her Magi­strates to take effectual Care, That the Romish Religion should not be ex­ercised in Publick, or in any open Churches or Chappels: That all the Priests which should exercise the Romish Rites and [Page 36] Ceremonies, should be excluded out of the Church, and deprived of their Benefices. That they should exercise at all times a se­vere and wholesom Discipline: That the minds of men might thereby be reclaim­ed from Vice, and fixed in the true Wor­ship of God, She commanded them to get as many of the Popish I do not re­member that I have read elsewhere this Order for burning the Popish Books. Books toge­ther, as they could possibly, and burn them; and that they should take away and destroy all the Preparations and Vest­ments belonging to the Mass, all the I­mages, and all other the Ceremonies of that Church. She commanded, That for the future no Respect or Obedi­ence should be paid to the Pope as the Head of the Church. Nor did she scruple to assume the Authority of a Governour of the Church in her own Dominions, in all cases Sacred and Ci­vil, which is called with us, The ECCLESIASTICAL SU­PREMACY. And she abolished by Act of Parliament all that Authori­ty and Jurisdiction which had hereto­fore been Usurped or used by the Bi­shops of Rome in this Kingdom, in Publick or in Private, which is called the Popish Tyranny, and was a pretend­ed Supreme, both Spiritual and Secu­lar [Page 37] Jurisdiction. She also restored the Oath of Supremacy, which had been first introduced by Henry VIII. her Fa­ther; continued by Edward VI. her Brother; and was taken away and a­bolished by [...]ueen Mary; by which she was acknowledged to be the Su­preme Governor in all Causes, as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal, within her Dominions; and that they renounced all Foreign Power and Jurisdiction; and should bear the Queen Faith and True Allegiance. She declined the use of the word, Supreme Head, in this Oath, which had been used before by her Brother and Father, both in Reve­rence to our Saviour, to whom she thought that Title only belonged; and also to abate, by this Verbal Com­pliance, the Reluctance she feared from the Popish Party: For if she gained her Point, she was unconcern­ed for the Form of Words, as all Wife Princes ever were. Against the Pas­sing this Act Nine Bishops and Two Peers Protested, viz. the Earl of Shrews­bery, and Viscount Montacute; and they added some words which were very in­jurious to the Queen and the States; but she wisely dissembled it, and [Page 38] gave them no disturbance on that ac­count.

The Popish Bishops and Priests in The Com­plaints of the Popish Bi­shops. the mean time were not idle and un­concerned Spectators; but being agi­tated by Hopes and Fears, and a confused Expectation what would be the Event of these Counsels, they made loud and bitter Complaints, That men were drawn away from the An­cient and Established Roman Rites and Ceremonies. That Christ's Vicar (the POPE) was robb'd of his Supre­macy and Divine Jurisdiction. That the Reverence to the Holy and Apo­stolick See was brought to nothing; and that now the Pope's Authority was de­spised, intolerable Heresies were daily minted. So they endeavoured to re­tain the Nation in the Profession of their Religion, and to uphold their Ceremonies by any means; and when this failed, to alienate the minds of the People from the Queen, and to dispose them to Sedition and Rebel­lion. The Queen saw the Tendence of this, and did not think it was fit to despise their Complaints: That therefore she might prevent the ill [Page 39] effects of their Malice, and withdraw the matter that fed their Fury, and threatned her Kingdom with Schisms and Factions, which would be the Causes of great Calamities, she ap­pointed a Conference or Disputation between the Roman Catholicks and the Protestants, at London, Concerning the Authority of the Church, and the Su­premacy of the Pope; the Ceremonies in use in the Church of Rome, and the Change of the Elements in the Holy Eucharist; that she might by this means unite the disagreeing minds of her Subjects, in one and the same opinion, and mutual Love and Cha­rity to each other. In this Confe­rence many of the most reverend My­steries of the Christian Religion were on both sides debated with great Warmth and Heat, and much Learn­ing; yet nothing was gained on ei­ther side, by reason of the immode­rate Opposition, and the implacable Hatred they bore each to other. So when the Popish Party saw that the Pope's Authority, which was once reverenced as Divine, was now become contemptible and infamous; 2nd that all the Reasons they could pretend [Page 40] for the Justification of their Ceremo­nies, were overwhelmed by the load of Infamy their Pride and Cruelty had brought upon them; so that it was not possible for them to abate the Hatred, or remove the Contempt the people were then possessd with, against the Popish Clergy; they sul­lenly pretended, That in the Matters of Religion there was no need of Reason and Disputation; and defend­ed themselves with more Passion and Anger, than Reason and Judg­ment.

After this Disputation there were The Refor­mation esta­b [...]ished. Acts of Parliament passed for the E­stablishing the English Service, and concerning the Ministers of the Church, as also for Restoring the Queen's Su­premacy, with the unanimous Con­sent of the Peers, and the Applause of the Commons. But however, the Popish Party refused still to comply; and openly said, These Laws were not to be submitted to; and there­upon began a Dissention which is not yet ended. The turbulent Bishops and Clergy, who still adhered to the old Rites and Ceremonies, being there­upon [Page 41] bereaved of their Sees, made great Complaints of the Iniquity and Injustice of these Laws; and conceal­ing themselves as well as they could in corners and lurking-holes, for fear of being prosecuted for their disobe­dience, they said the Queen was guil­ty of Heresie; and solicited that part of the Nobility and Commonalty which still stuck to the Church of Rome, to renounce their Obedience to her, and stoutly to maintain the Old Service. They also sent their Agents to Rome, to perswade the Pope to Excommunicate her by Name, as one that had brought a New He­resie into the Church, and had con­fined the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln, and many of the inferior Clergy, for sticking firmly to the Ro­mish Ceremonies: And lastly, That she had assumed a Jurisdiction and Royal Authority, as well in all Spi­ritual Causes as Secular. The Queen on the other side, had by this time found the Inclination of her People, and being now well setled in her Throne, did not think fit to act any longer with that Reservedness she did at first, when she feared the Number [Page 42] and Authority of the Papists, who had then the Law on their side; but by her Proclamation she couragiously and openly commanded them, That they should embrace the True Religion, which was most acceptable to God, and leave their Popish Rites; or otherwise depart out of her Kingdoms, Royal Ci­ty, and Dominions, within so many months. And upon this, she remo­ved all those Popish Noblemen which had in her Sister's time been advan­ced to any Publick Employments or Stations in the Court or Kingdom, and she setled Protestants in all those Places, and put the whole Manage­ment of Publick Affairs into their hands; affirming very stoutly, That she would sooner lay down her life, than desist from that Zeal and Resolution she had taken up, for the bringing down the Wickedness of the Papists. This Bravery encouraged all her Friends, and struck her Enemies dumb.

Thus was the Popish Religion a­bolished in England, when it had flourished many Ages in great Wealth, by the help of a profitable Ignorance, and a fallacious and deceitful Inter­pretation [Page 43] of the Sacred Scriptures. And the Protestant Religion being re­stored to that Liberty, Esteem, and Splendor it had had in the times of Ed­ward the VI ^th. it was soon after by the means of their common Language and Vicinity, communicated to the Scots, and spread it self not only in their Cities and great Towns, but al­so in their Villages and Countrey Ha­bitations. It is impossible to the Life The Miseries of Scotland in the Reform [...] ­tion. to describe the Calamities this Re­volution brought upon the Scots Na­tion. The most sacred and venerable Churches, which seem'd to be secu­red from Violence by the Awe of Re­ligion, were burnt down; the most sacred Chappels were first Rifled, and then Demolished by the Rabble: The Sepulchres of their Ancestors were pul­led down, their Statues beaten down, and trodden under foot, and the ba­sest and most lewd Injuries done to the Altars, as if the Papists had been mere Pagan Idolaters. I am so enra­ged (saith my Author, a Learned Scot) against these men, on the ac­count of the great Ruin they wrought in my Native Countrey, that I can­not forbear expressing my Resent­ment: [Page 44] For I am of opinion, That these Popish Mo [...]ments ought indeed to have been shut up, not to have been demolished, because they were the Ornaments of our Countrey. But The Happi­nes [...] of Eng­land. to teturn to Queen Elizabeth, she made it no part of her business to find out those peaceable Ro [...]ish Priests who had betaken themselves to pri­vate lurking holes, and secret places, more out of Fear than any Legal ne­cessity: And if any of them by chance happened to be taken, they were com­mitted to an honourable and easie re­straint in the Cities, or delivered up into the hands of their own Bishops, to the end that by this her Modera­tion she might in the beginning of her Reign create an opinion of her Clemency in all her Subjects; and at the same time deprive these Priests of the opportunity of doing Mischief. There was not one of these men put to death, till Pope Pi [...]s the V ^th. in the year 1570, excommunicated her by his Bull, upon which there fol­lowed a Rebellion of the Papists in the No [...]th: This was in the Twelfth Year of her Reign; and in the next Ten Years that followed, there was [Page 45] but Twelve men of that Religion executed, who were all Convicted of very great Crimes, by the most Le­gal Trials. The name of Papist was not punished in any man that was not guilty of great Wickednesses; be­cause in the beginning of a Reign it is a dangerous thing to punish Of­fences with too much Rigor; where­as Clemency is of good use: And she accordingly took care, by her Bene­fits to allure the minds of her Popish Subjects to her, rathet than by Cru­elties to fright them: Thus the En­trance of her Reign was made happy and blessed; and she was able by the Blessing of God to settle her Religi­on, and to lay the Foundations of a Long Peace at Home and Abroad.

Having thus totally abolished all Her Care to settle Pious and Learned Bishops and Clergymen. that Papal Superstition and Pomp, which for so many Ages had domi­neered over the English, so that there was scarce any sign left that it had once been here; her first and greatest care was to advance men of Piety and Learning to the Bishopricks and Pre­ferments in the Church. There were many Protestant Clergy-men of great [Page 46] Integrity and Honesty, Innocency and Holiness, who during the Marian Per­secution had fled into Germany; or being driven from their Churches, lurked up and down the Nation in obscure and remote places; these she recalled and restored to their former or better Stations, with more honour than they had been in before. So that after a Recess of Five years Du­ration, thesemen, who had been ba­nished with Ignominy, were with Honour and Reputation repossessed of their Countrey, their Good Names, and their Liberties and Fortunes. She re granted to them all their Ancient Privileges, with some Improvements; and she took such as were of good report for their Learning and exem­plary Lives, and set them to Govern the Church as BISHOPS. When any man was commended to her as a man of Learning, she would ask if there were not others to be found, of more Learning and Piety, to whose Authority, Fidelity, and Prudence, she might recommend the Care of the Church?

[Page 47] She took great care to curb the im­moderate And to curb the immode­rate liberty of the Protestant Dissenters. Liberty of the PURI­TANS, who licentiously began to sow Discords and Divisions in the Church, and with a Fiery Zeal in their Preachments endeavoured to ex­cite the common people, (who were then quiet and at ease) to Sedition, by declaiming against the Jurisdicti­on and Authority of the Bishops; and by her Prudence and Authority she reduced many of the first Leaders, from their rash courses to a moderate Temper. In the Eighteenth year of her Reign, (A. C. 1575.) the Ana­baptists Anabaptists discovered. first appeared, or at least were discovered to be in England; a Con­venticle of Dutch-men of that Sect, being then detected without Aldgate in London, and Twenty seven of the Meeters were taken up and Impri­soned; of which Four bearing Fag­gots at Paul's Cross, recanted their dangerous Opinions, and one Dutch-man and ten Women were condemn­ed to be burnt; one of the Ten Wo­men also recanted; eight others were banished; but two of the number continued so obstinate, that the Queen ordered the Writ de Heretico Combu­rendo, [Page 48] to be issued against them, tho Mr. John Fox, the Author of the Book of Martyrs, interceded with the Queen to spare their lives, and banish them. In this Letter he blesseth God, that none of the English were infected with these m [...]d Opinions. And (saith he) I will most readily grant, That these FANATICK Sects are by no means to be cherished in any State, but are to be severely corrected; but to ex­terminate them with Fire and Faggot is, I think, too hard. The Queen there­upon gave them a Months Reprieve, and ordered that Learned Divines should endeavour in that time to re­duce them; which proving without effect, these two were burnt in Smith­field, Two of which were burnt. the 22d. of July, and they died in great horror, with crying and roar­ing. In the Twenty sixth Year of her Reign, one Robert Brown, an Eng­lish The [...]. Clergy-man, began a new Sect also in the City of Norwich, his Hear­ers being half Dutch, half English: The Queen endeavoured to suppress this Schism in its Rise, and prohibi­ted his Books, but that not taking effect, Thacker and Coping, two of his Disciples, were hanged at St. Edmonds-Bury [Page 49] in Suffolk. The Queen was the more severe upon these Sects, because her Subjects were then untainted; and these men made it their business to draw in the unlearned multitude, and enflame them both against the Eccle siastick and Civil Government; and the Queen besides having before this time been forced to be very severe a­gainst some Popish Traitors that had conspired against her, she did not think it became her to be less concerned for the Majesty of God, than for her own Personal Safety. After this she caused their Conventicles to be care­fully Conventicles suppressed. watched, and seized the Effects of all Foreign Sectaries she found in England. She dealt more gently in the mean time with the English Pu­ritans, who were the first beginners of the English Separation, and left them to the Discipline of the Bishops and the High Commission, where they were often call'd to account, for Reproach­ing the Church, Licentious Preach­ments, and Libelling the Bishops in their Prints. Having taken these ef­fectual Cares for the Adorning and Confirming the Church, she commit­ted all the other Concerns of Religi­on [Page 50] to the Management of Peaceable, Moderate, and Judicious men, and spent her whole Care and Solicitude in preserving, adorning, and strength­ning her State and Kingdoms. In all this time she was never severe against Any Papist, who had not first been clearly convicted to have raised Sedi­tion, armed the People against her, or by Rumors and false Insinuations to have endeavoured to render the Queen odious and contemptible to her People.

PIUS IV. Pope of Rome, in The Behavi­our of Pope Pius IV. the beginning of her Reign (A. C. 1561.) having deeply considered the Dangers and Ruin which then threat­ned the Papacy and Church of Rome, though he was enraged against the Protestants to the utmost degree, yet seeing how little the Passions and Vio­lences of the last Pope Paul IV. had profited them; he thought it became him to act a contrary part; and [...] ­called the Council of TRENT, The Council of Trent re­called. which had been some years before indict­ed by the Authority of the See of Rome, rather for the up [...]olding the Pope's pre­tended Ecclesiastical Authority, than for the promoting the Salvation of men; [Page 51] and which, when things succeeded contrary to the expectation of his Pre­decessors in that See, had been fre­quently intermitted, and had not been assembled since the year 1552, but was now again renewed, as the only means left for the healing the Wounds of Christendom. In this Council many things which had by the Mistakes, Ambition, and Avarice of the Popes of Rome, been changed and corrupt­ed, were considered and debated; and particularly that grand Question was to be determined, Concerning the Au­thority The Plea of the Protestant Princes a­gainst it. and Power of the Pope in Sa­cred and Civil Ca [...]ses. When the Pro­testant Princes were call'd to this Coun­cil, they answered, That they did not own the Pope had any Power to call a Council. That it did not belong to him, but to the Emperor to Indict Councils. That he had no Right to give or take away Kingdoms. And having sharply declaimed against the corrupt Manners of his Clergy, and deplored the Cala­mities of the times on that account, they represented the Pride, Pomp, Luxury, Ambition, Avarice, and Cruelty of the Court of Rome, in which mere Wolves took upon them the Office of the Pastors [Page 52] of the Church. And they said, this Council at Trent was not called to Establish Religion and true Piety, but to confirm the Inventions of men, or ra­ther of Satan; not for the reforming the Lives and Manners of men, but to defend the Pretended Dignity of the See of Rome, and the vast and boundless Authority of the Pope. That it was not intend [...]d for the Purging the Chri­stian Flock, but for the Establishing and Confirming their inveterate Errors. Tho the Pope had had these sharp Replies from the German Protestant Princes; and the Guise's and Spanish Faction had represented to him, That it would be an undervaluing of his Power and Person, to send a Nuncio to England, where he would certainly be reject­ed; yet Pius IV. would not be dis­couraged, but said, He would humble himself even to Heresie it self, in re­gard that whatsoever was done to gain Souls to Christ, did beseem that See. And accordingly he sent Abbot Mar­tiningo Martiningo sent Nuncio into England. to the Queen, who came as far as Flanders, and there he met with her Commands not to cross the Seas, but at his Peril; and altho the King of Spain and the Emperor of Germa­ny [Page 53] did earnestly intreat he might be heard, yet the Queen stood her ground, And rejected by theQueen. and replied, That she could not treat with the Bishop of Rome, whose Au­thority was for ever excluded out of England by Act of Parliament. Nay, she would give the Pope's Nuncio no other Answer, but a flat Denial; tho she gave this reason to the French and Spaniards, to give them some satisfa­ction: For she well perceived this Re­medy did not tend to the healing the Wounds of the Church, but to the making them incurable; and the Event justified her Conduct.

In the mean time the Queen clear­ly The Popish Party well di­sposed to re­bel. foresaw, that the Restoring the Protestants to their Native Countrey, and their former Stations, would dis­oblige all the Popish Nobility of Eng­land; who tho for the present they suppressed their Resentment, yet when occasion was offered, they would not fail to do her the utmost Mischief that was in their Power. The only noise of the coming of a Nuncio from the Pope, encouraged many to break the Laws made against the Pope and his Authority, with great boldness; and [Page 54] they spread false Reports abroad, That the Queen was going to change her Re­ligion, and alter the Government of the Realm; to dispose the Protestants to join with the Papists in a Rebellion to her Ruin. She saw also, that at length she should be involved in a Fo­reign War, and that the Pope would fulminate against her; all which Dan­gers the Greatness of her Soul despi­sed. She also changed her Privy-Coun­cil, into which she chose Protestants of famed Prudence and Moderation; and she openly and avowedly broke the Power, and lessened the Authori­ty of her Popish Nobility and Gentry. The Pope having at this time sent a Legate into Ireland, who had joined himself to some desperate Traytors then in Rebellion against her, and endeavouring to deprive her of all Right and Title to that Kingdom; Some others of that Persuasion were found also to have practised with the Devil by Conjurations, Charms, and casting Figures, to be informed of the Length and Continuance of her [...]; but Heaven would not, and Hell could not help them.

[Page 55] The Affairs of the Church being thus The Settle­ment of the Civil State taken into considerati­on. setled, she applied her mind to restore the Civil State of England to its An­cient Strength and Happiness, it ha­ving been strangely shaken by the Fa­ctions and Divisions in the Three Reigns that preceded hers: To this purpose she passed many Acts of Parliament, and other State-Orders for her own Security, and the Welfare of her Sub­jects. She made some new Additions to the old Laws, for the better Ad­ministration of her Civil Government, for the Promoting the common Inte­rest of her Subjects, or for the Regu lating her Parliaments: She enriched her Kingdom also; and whereas she found a great part of the current Mo­ney of England adulterared and mixed with Brass, she reduced it all to the old Standard, and made it good STER­LING. The Money reduced to the old Stan­dard. She furnished all her Ha­vens, Sea-Ports, Cities, and Frontier places, with Garisons, Forts, Castles, Cannon, Ball, Gun powder, and Pro­visions. She took care to have her The Security of the Nation providently taken care for. own Gunpowder made in England, which before had been fetch'd in from abroad. She cast great quantities of Brass and Iron Ordnance, after she [Page 56] had discovered a plentiful Mine of Brass at KESWICK in Cumber­land. She fortified BERWICK anew, and caused all the Frontier places towards Scotland to be repair­ed, and placed Garisons of good Sol­diers in them. Tho she was upon better terms with the Scots, than any of her Ancestors for many Ages had been, especially after they embraced the Reformed Religion, yet she would not so wholly rely on their good af­fections, as to neglect a timely provi­sion for her own Security: And when all these great Designs had brought a Debt upon the Crown, she chose ra­ther to sell a part of her Crown-Lands to pay it, than be over-bur­thensome to her People. She ordered also the Debts contracted by her Fa­ther and Brother (but neglected by her Sister) to be paid. She provided Maga [...]ines and Naval Stores provi­ded. a great Magazine, and furnished her Kingdom with plentiful Stores of Arms and Ammunition, and all sorts of War­like Provisions, that she might always have at hand whatever was needful to secure her against the sudden In­sults of her Foreign Enemies, or any Insurrections which might be raised [Page 57] at home. She caused her Forces to be often drawn out, viewed, and muster­ed, and with Honours and other Re­wards she recompenced those that in this kind had deserved well of her; by which she much encouraged her Soldiers and Sea-men. She encreased her Fleet, and built many large Men LargeShips of War built. of War, and furnished her Naval Stores with whatever was needful; and she encreased the Wages of her Mariners and Seamen, and appointed a Guard of Ships to ride always in the Downs, for the Security of the British Seas; and carefully scoured the Seas by her Men of War, and purged them from Pyrates and Sea-Robbers; so that in all her time the Seas were secure, safe, and open. Dr. Heylin in his History of the Reformation, acquaints us that she began these Preparations in the year 1560. ‘Ahd that holding it a safer Maxim in the Schools of Policy, not to Admit, than to endeavour by strong hand to Expel an Enemy, she enter­tained the fortunate thoughts of Wal­ling her Kingdom round about with a puissant Navy; for ou [...] Merchants had already encreased their Shipping, by managing some part of that Weal­thy [Page 58] Trade which formerly had been Monopolized by the Hanse-Towns or Easterlings. And thereupon she re­solved not to be wanting to her self in Building Ships of such Burthen, and so fit for Service, as might ena­ble her in a short time not only to Protect her Merchants, but to Com­mand the Ocean: Of which the Spa­niard found good proof, to his great Loss, and almost to his total Ruin, in the last Twenty years of her Glo­rious Government. At the same time, by her Proclamation, dated Novem­ber 15. 1560. she commanded all the Easterling, Flemish, and Spanish Mo­neys to be brought into the Mint, to take the Stamp of her Royal Au­thority, or otherwise not to pass for current Money in her Kingdom; which had a strange effect, and en­riched both her and her People.’

She invited all sorts of Artificers in­to The means by which she improved and enriched her Kingdom. England; and by proposing to them good terms and great Privileges, she repeopled the almost-desolate City of NORWICH, and the Towns of COLCHESTER and MAID­STON: She encreased the Inhabi­tants [Page 59] of many of her other Ancient Towns; and she by her Laws redu­ced the Inhabitants of the Countrey-Villages from Laziness and Beggary, to Labour and Husbandry; so that there was no part of her Kingdom but was cultivated and improved to the best advantage. When she was to settle any thing relating to her Re­venues, her Treasury, or the Admini­stration of justice, she admitted none to advise her, but men of good Know­ledge and Experience in those Affairs. If she considered of any Military Con­cerns, she always call'd to her Assi­stance the old Experienc'd Command­ers, which had spent much time in Camps. She was as careful to give a good and a prudent Dispatch of Publick Transactions, and the great Affairs of private men, Ambassies, the Petitions of her Subjects, the Requests of her Allies and Confederates, and all matters concerning Commerce and Trade with Foreigners. She took the opportunity of the times, and her Sub­jects Affections to her, to curb the Luxury of Youth, all immoderate Ex­pences and waste in Cloathes and other Furniture, and by severe Laws care­fully [Page 60] put in Execution. She reduced her People to the Ancient Thrift, when they were declining towards Effeminacy and over-great Expences, which are ever the fore-runners of Poverty, and the Causes of great Ca­lamities and Revolutions in all those States they have prevailed in.

She went on to consider and pro­vide Laws and Or­ders made for the publick good of her people. whatever was recommended to her as useful to any part of her State, carefully viewing the Conveniencies and the Inconveniencies that were an­nexed to every Change. And what­ever was at last found useful and profitable to the Body of her People, was setled by the Authority of her Council or Parliament, as the case required. She procured the Repeal of all those Laws which were either unprofitable or unjust; and she brought others which were out of use, into e­steem again, and amended the defects that were found in them. It was a Maxim with her, That Equitable Laws, and Equal Justice are the two sure and lasting Foundations of a State. She was as much reverenced and feared on the account of her Justice, T [...]m­perance, [Page 61] and Continence, as on that of her Royal Authority and Majesty.

She favoured the Protestant Bishops, The Bishops and Com­mons favour­ed, as a Balance to the Nobi­lity. and the Commons of England, as a means to curb the Insolence of the Nobility. She would never gratifie any great Ambitious man with the grant of any thing which might in­flame his Avarice, or make him ar­rogant. She had a true value, and a good esteem for all men of illustrious Parts, and of good Learning; and she preferr'd such men to all Employ­ments, and rewarded their Virtue with Honours. When the meaner people at any time crowded about her Coach, with great desire to see and salute her with loud Shouts, and fervent Prayers for her Prosperity, and long and happy Reign over them; she would ever re­turn their Loyal Zeal with much Courtship and Civility; so that some said she was too Theatrical in her Carriage towards them; but as by her Meekness, Clemency, Lenity, Ju­stice, and the setling good Laws and exact Justice, she had won their hearts, so by this Condescention and Flatte­ry she fixed their Affections, so that [Page 22] they would have willingly sacrificed all they had, to her Service and Safe­ty. She exercised a moral Friendship and Familiarity with many private persons; and ever reserved in her sole disposal all the Rewards of Virtue and good Service. She would never suffer any Immunities or Privileges, Bene­fices, Church-Livings, Governments, or the Rights of her Kingdom, to be openly sold. She advanced her Friends, Kinsmen, and Relations, with great Kindness and Affection, and no less Moderation and Prudence. She made Sir Henry Cary, Lord H [...]nsdon, who was her Cousin-German; and she gave him Riches, Employments, and At­tendance suitable to that Station. She advanced William Lord Howard of Ef­fingham, She f [...]oured her Kindred, and advanced them. on the score of his being re­lated to her, and of his good Deserts, to be Lord Chamberlain of England; of her own free motion, without any solicitation from themselves or others. She preserved the Family of Seymour, (which was ruin'd by the Attainder of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Uncle and Lord Protector of King Ed­ward VI in the year 1552.) and in the first year of her Reign she resto­red [Page 63] Edward his Son to the degree of Earl of Hertford: She restored also several of the Nobility, whose Fami­lies had been ruined by her Sister, and put them into the same condition they were before. She Attainted no man in all her Reign, by Act of Parliament. No man ever could perceive, that the least remainders of any Offence were left in her mind; but when she could most easily have revenged her self, she always chose rather to forget the Injury; so that every man presently promised himself a better Fortune for the future. If there was any Quar­rel between any of the great Nobili­ty, she presently made it her business to reconcile them each to other; and she would on such occasions exhort them, Her advice to the Nobility. not to suffer any Enmity to settle be­tween their Families▪ that they should not involve their Children, and educate them in the Dissentions of their Fami­lies, and a desire of Revenge: That they should cut off those Feuds that had descended to them from the Contests of their Ancestors; and with an invincible Courage repress the Foreign Fury of their Enemies abroad; but with one heart and one mouth provide for the Safety [Page 64] and Security of their Native Countrey at home.

As she took this care to put an end Her care to change or abolish evil Customs and Laws of for­mer times. to the Dissentions of her Nobilty, so she was no less careful to root up those evil Customs which had crept into the Nation in the former Reigns, and tended apparently to the Ruin of it; some of these she corrected, and others she totally abolished. She rescinded all Sales that were made for the cheating Creditors; she dealt very severely with all those that were found guilty of any Frauds or Cheats in the Management of the Publick Revenues, or the purveyance for her Court; ‘which she was wont to call Harpies, which fouled and ra­vaged all they could come at; and she discouraged as much as was pos­sible, all the tricks and corruptions of the Courts of Justice:’ She encreased the Wages and Salaries of the Judges; and that they might the better be en­abled and encouraged to go their Cir­cuits, and administer Justice to her people, she allowed them Travelling-Money and Purveyance. The effect of this prudent Administration was the enriching her and her Subjects, attend­ed [Page 65] with great Glory, and a willing obedience from those under her hap­py Government. The Countrey was rarely well Tilled and improved. The Subject quiet and rich, and her Coun­cils and Parliaments honoured and re­verenced. In short, all those Perfe­ctions which separately have made so many Great Men admired, met in this one Lady, viz. Civil Prudence, for the Government of a State; the knowledge of Equity and Laws; and an exact Skill of managing a King­dom, and the Publick Affairs of it. Her Goverment was not like that of most other Women, turbulent and in­solent; but was grateful to her Sub­jects, pleasing to the People, accepta­ble to the Nobility and Gentry, equal and just to her Allies, and admired by the Neighbour Nations. She has been celebrated not only in her own times, but in all that have since fol­lowed, and will be to the end of the world, on the account of these Divine Virtues and Deserts; For she was tru­ly accounted the Parent of her [...]eople, a Prince by her Nobles, and the Patro­ness of true Piety and Religion, by the Protestant Nations about her. Nor was [Page 66] there ever any Prince that was equal­ly esteemed and loved by the Nobi­lity and Commonalty too of his own Kingdom, as Queen ELIZABETH was by hers. If she happened at any time to be sick, or ever so little dis­ordered in her health, her Nobility would be so alarmed at it, that they would willingly never stir from her to eat or drink, or take any care of themselves; and all degrees of people would fly in vast Numbers to the Churches, and with Tears and the most devout Prayers beg her Life and Health, and the Continuance of her Government over them, till God heard their Petitions, and restored her to her Health. Nor was this an enjoin­ed and formal Devotion, but it was as hearty and as earnest as that which is made for the nearest and dearest Relations: And when they had ob­tained their desire, the Joy and the Gratitude they expressed, shewed they took her Preservation and Life for a Publick and an Universal Blessing. When in the beginning of her Reign she had first taken care to reform and settle Religion, and after that to re­dress and restore the Civil State or [Page 67] Government of England, (which had been brought by the Calamities of the foregoing Reigns, not only into a deplorable, but almost into a despe­rate condition, but now were by her Authority, Prudence, and Moderati­on, with the Assistance of her Coun­cil, brought to the state of Tranqui­lity, Order, and Equity she designed); the Fears of England which before oppress'd the Nation in relation to Foreign Dangers as well as Domestick, expired.

When her first Parliament had setled 1559. The Parliament Address to the Queen to Marry. the Succession and Religion, their next care was for the Marriage of the Queen, and the providing for future times; and accordingly, the Commons, by common consent resolved to Address to the Queen, (fearing, though with­out just cause), That she should Mar­ry a Foreign Prince, and thereby bring the English Liberties, and the Protestant Religion, into the same dangers they had been exposed to in the former Reign. ‘ They therefore represented the Affections of the Nation to her, and said, If they could hope she might be Immortal, they [Page 68] would rest satisfied; but that being a vain Imagination, they earnestly besought her to chuse such an Hus­band as might make her self and the Nation happy; and by the Blessing of God bring such Issue as might Reign after her Death, which they prayed God might be very late.’ To this she replied, That tho the Subject they came about was not acceptable to Which she re­fused. and in a set Speech told them, she resolved to live in Celebacy. her, yet it was a great satisfaction to her, to see how zealous they and her other Subjects were for her Welfare, and that she b [...]lieved they desired it for her's and the Nation's Good. And as to the changing my present state, (said she) and Marrying, which you so ear­nestly desire I would do, I have long since pe [...]suaded my self, That I was brought into the world by the special Provi­dence of God, that I might in the first place think and do what tended most to his Glory: Therefore I have chosen that state of Life which is the freest from human cares, that so I might be at leisure only to attend the Service of God And if it had been possible for the Marriage of a Potent Prince to have allured me, or the Fears of Death to have affrighted me from this Reso­lution, [Page 69] I might have been long since en­gaged in the Honourable State of Ma­trimony: and these were my thoughts when I was [...]et a Subject: But now when all the Cares which attend the Govern­ing of a Kingdom, are come upon me, it would appear a very inconsiderate and imprudent thing in me, to add to them the Cares of a Married State. In truth (said she) I am already married (if [...] else will satisfie you) to the Kingdom of ENGLAND. See (what I wonder you could forget) the Pledge of my Marriage and betrothing to the Nation: And stretching out her hand, she shewed them on one of the Fingers of her Right Hand, the Gold Ring had been put upon it, accord­ing to the Custom, at her Coronati­on. And after a short pause, she thus went on: And I desire you would not look upon me as Childless, and on that account weak and defenceless; for you and all other English-men are my Children and Kinsmen; and if God doth not deprive me of you, (as I hope he will not), there can be no reason why I should be thought Childless. Yet I cannot but commend you for this; That you have not prescribed or appointed [Page 70] who should be my Husband; for this would have been a very great Affront to a Sovereign Prince as I am, and ve­ry misbecoming you who are my Subjects born: But if ever it should please the Divine Majesty to incline me to change my Condition, I promise you I will never do any thing that shall tend to the Da­mage of the State; but will to the ut­most of my power take such an Husband, as shall take as much Care of the King­dom as I do. But then if I should con­tinue in my present State of Life, I do not doubt, but that God will so direct mine and your Counsels, that there shall be no doubt of my Successor, who may be more beneficial to the Kingdom, than one born of me; for it is often observed, That the Children of the Best Princes do degenerate from the Virtues of their Parents. And as for me, it will be the best Memorial and the greatest Honour I can wish to leave behind me, to have this Inscription after my Death upon my Tomb, HERE LIES A QUEEN THAT REIGNED SO LONG, AND LIVED AND DIED A VIRGIN. And she concluded, That she took their Address in good part, and desired them to carry back her Thanks [Page 71] for the Care the Commons had of her. By this means it came to pass, that Her wonder­ful Tempe­rance and Chastity. many Noblemen of great Estate and Power, especially such as enjoyed the Blessings of Nature and Fortune, Beauty and Wealth, united together, conceived an almost certain hopes, that they should win their Maiden Queen, and were by her Arts carried on in that expectation. But on the contrary, tho she lived in a Royal Plenty, and was attack­ed by the Blandishments of Nature, and a multitude of external pleasing Objects, yet she persisted in the Resolution she had taken, and with a constant and unmoveable Soul preferred her Maiden State to any Marriage. Though she was almost every night tempted to change her Resolution, by the Luxu­ry, Chearfulness, and Wantonness of a Court which shewed it self in In­terludes, Banquets, and Balls, and was surrounded on all sides with the En­ticements of Pleasures, and the things which might provoke the most cool and languid Lust; yet she preserved her self from being Conquered or broken by them: For the Fear of God, and a true Sense of Piety ex­tinguished in her all Feminine In­temperance [Page 72] and Lust. Though she was the Sovereign and Mistress of all, she did nothing that was insolent; tho she ha [...] an abundance of Wealth at her Command, she was not disso­lute, but she governed her self by the severest Rules of Chastity and Conti­nence. Yet her Juvenile Age, (for she was then about Twenty five years old) and the Intemperance which will ever attend a Court, gave occa­sion to some injurious Reports; but then she as casily washed off that slanderous Infamy, which was one of the most raging Crimes of the Age, by the incredible Continence and Cha­stity of her whole Life; her Mode­sty and Prudence over-ruling and con­trouling the Natural Inclination and Disposition. Her Maids of Honour, who waited on her, took a wonderful plea­sure in her Manners, her Discourses, and Conversation, and wholly applied themselves to imitate her, borrowing from her examples of Modesty and Chastity; so that they would never suffer any young Nobleman to have any familiar Acquaintance with any of them, if he had not recommended himself to them by some Generous Manly Action in the Wars.

[Page 73] Amongst those who in the several The Princes and Great men that Cou [...]ted her parts of her Life aspired to the Ho­nour of her Bed, Edward Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, and Marquess of Exeter, was the first who courted her in her youngest years: And after him, Christian III. King of Denmark, for his Son Frederick; after this, [...]erdinand the Emperor desired her for his Son Charles; Philip II. King of Spain, In 1560. Erix King of Sweden, and In 1560. Adolph Duke of Holstein; the Dukes of In 1568. An­jou and In 1574. Alenzon, both Princes of the House of France, desired to have Mar­ried her; but all this was to no pur­pose; for when she had by these Trea­ties deluded them, and secured her self, she ever after pretended, That at her Coronation she had obliged her self not to Marry a Foreign Prince. Yet there were some at home, who after this deceived themselves with these deluding hopes; amongst whom was James Earl of Arran, a Scotch No­bleman, who was recommended to the Queen for an Husband, by the Protestants of that Kingdom, as the best means of Uniting England and Scot­land; but though she commended this Gentleman, yet she rejected the Pro­posal. [Page 74] There was also one Sir Willi­am Pickering, a Gentleman who had improved himself by Ambassies[?] and the French Breeding, who aspired to it, tho it was so much above his For­tunes. And Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, asterwards Duke of Norfolk, one descended of one of the Noblest and Richest Families in the English Nation, and a person of great Inte­rest and Authority, though he was advanced in years, yet he would also very fain have married the Queen; but when he perceived his Old Age was ridicul'd and despised, he left the Court, and went abroad, and never came back again into England.

She persisted in this Resolution of By degrees she became more averse[?] to Marriage than the seemed at first to be. Celebacy, with a Constancy that was admired then, and ever since; and at last she would grow angry when any of her Subjects spake to her of Mar­riage, which they as passionately de­sired, as she declined it. The reason of this was wonderfully exagitated in the thoughts of men, and some were very unmannerly (to speak the best of it) in their Conjectures; whilst others ascribed it, with much more [Page 75] probability, to an habit of Chastity, which put a Curb upon all irregular Desires; or the fears of changing her Fortune, and diminishing her Autho­rity; it being but reasonable she should [...]spect, that whosoever had Married her, would have taken upon him the principal Administration, and so have abated her Power and Reputation: others ascribed it to the Counsel of her Friends, who yet prevailed with her to suffer Treaties of Marriage to be carried on, to render Foreign Prin­ces more favourable to her Interests, by the hopes of attaining her at last. But whatever was the true Cause of it, which can be certainly known to none but God, had this Queen been of the Communion of the Church of Rome, this single Virtue would have gone a great way to the Canonizing of her, as it has of many others; and she certainly would have much more deserved it, than any of the best that have been Sainted on that account only.

The common people of England for The charact­er of the the Earl of Leicester, a long time most firmly believed, That Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, [Page 76] and Lord Steward of the House to her Majesty, would be the man that would marry the Queen: He was youngest Son to John Dudley Duke of Northum­berland, who with his Eld [...]r Sons, [...]ohn call'd Larl of Warwick, Sir Am [...]rose, Sir Guilford, and Sir Henry Dudley, had been found Guilty of High [...]rea­son, and the Father, an [...] Sir Guil­ford a younger Son, was behead [...]d in the fi [...]st year of Queen Mary s Reign; when this Ro [...]ert (who was the young­est Son his [...]ather had then living) was spared merely on the account of his youth, and never Tried or Disho­noured. This Gentleman in his young­er years was a very goodly Person, of a B [...]autiful and Lovely Complexi­on and Features, but high forehead­ed, which yet was not then thought any diminution of his Beauty; he was a very great Politician, but no great Soldier; and tho he was not over-righteous in his Actions, yet in his Letters there was not known a Stile more Religious, and fuller of the strcams of Devotion. This Favourite was then in the Verdure and most Flowering Spring of his Youth, of a Stately Carriage, a Modest and Grave [Page 77] Look, a great Flatterer, of a pleasant and easie nature in outward shew or appearance; and being endowed with all those Accomplishments the City or Court could teach him, in which he had had his Education, he had in­sinuated himself into the Favour and Familiarity of the Queen, by his spe­cious shews of Loyalty, Industry, and Vigilance in her [...]ervice, and for a long time managed the greatest Station in the Court, and was repu­ted the First Minister of State, though his Counsels were not over-fortunate. His Brother Ambrose was Heir to the Estate, and he to the Wisdom of that Family; for he had all the Arts of the Publi [...]an Dudley, his Grandfather, and the Policies of Northumberland his Father. He was the most reser­ved man of that Age, that saw all, and was invisible, carrying a depth not to be fathomed, but by the Searcher of He [...]rts. He became in his latter times sullen to his Superiors, haughty towards his Equals, insolent to his Inferiors, ungrateful to his Friends, and pernicious to his Enemies, and in a word, intolerable to all but the Queen. She made him first Master of her [Page 78] Horse, and after Earl of Leicester, for the Sufferings of his Ancestors, both in her Father's and Sister's Reign: But the common people, who very rarely penetrate into the Thoughts of Princes, ascribed all his Power and good Fortune to his Wit and Carriage, which was formed by Nature and Art, to the alluring of the softer Sex, he being of a very taking Behaviour, and an excellent Dancer, so that one of the b [...]st Dances of that Age, was cal­led by his Name, The Leicester Dance. When he found the Tide of Fortune flowing according to his Ambitious Wishes, his heart was too much lift­ed up; and being sometimes confound­ed by the Number of his Attendants, and those that waited upon and visi­ted him, he would forget their Names, and call them by that of other men. He oft [...]n changed his Cloathes, and affected Gallantry to an Excess. He put himsels forward, and took up the distant Employments of Peace and War, in exclusion of others who had more Experience, (especially in War) and were Nobly born. He was con­tinually plodding to find the Studies, Abilities, Forces, and Dispositions of [Page 79] other men; and so great was his Ap­plication and Parts, that he rarely miscarried in his Enquiries He would terrifie and sometimes destroy his E­nemies, and allure his Friends by the shews of Rewards: He by his Inte­rest advanced his Dependants, Kindred and Relations, to Honours and Em­ployments; And when he found his opportunity, he as craftily sold his Mi­stress's Favours, and the Employments he had taken from others: He did the same by the Livings of the Church, but then he took Bonds and other Se­curities, to avoid the Penalties of Si­mony. Yet there were few for a great while called to the Council-Table, or admitted to Titles of Honour, but by his Commendation and Procurement; so that he seemed not so much to be the Queen's particular Favourite, as her Partner in the Royal Power; and he was accordingly courted and revered by the rest of the Nobility.

The Queen made him Earl of Lei­cester in the year 1564. she gave him also a considerable Estate out of the Crown Lands, and advanced him from Master of the Horse, to Lord Steward [Page 80] [...] [Page 81] [...] [Page 80] of her Houshold. She had made Am­brose Dudley, his eldest Brother, (then living, for John the eldest of them died a Prisoner in the Reign of Queen She Prefer'd him in Title and estate, and advanced his Brother. Mary, without Issue), about two years before Earl of Warwick; and enriched him with the Grant of a plentiful Estate to bear the Charge of that Ho­nour; much of which being made up out of the Estates that had been for­feited to the Crown, this and the sud­den Rise of these two Brothers, who had not done any considerable Service to the Nation, that was known, ei­ther in Peace or War, made them envied and hated not only by the Nobility and Courtiers, but by the Populace: And Leicester encreased the Aversion of all men, by his licentious and expensive way of living, and by his Rapins which he craftily made upon many; he in other Instances perverted the Laws, and invaded the last Wills and Testaments of the Dead: He ruined many of his Neighbours by cunning and tedious Law-Suits to get their Estates which lay conveni­ent for him: In the mean time he gave himself up intirely to the exer­cise of a most wicked and univerfal [Page 81] Luxury, and brought into England from Foreign Countreys, many new and un­heard-of Pleasures, and invented new kinds of Dishes to gratifie his Gluttony: He would drink dissolved Pearls and Am­ber to excite his Lust; and had so accusto­med himself to the scents of Musk and Civet, that when he went General into the Low-Countries, he could not live without them; so that in short, he very much exceeded the Intemperance of all former times, and made an accursed addition to the ruining-disorders of men. His Example corrupted many of the younger Nobility also, who being prone to Luxury, very easily imitated his Vices, and thought that the height of human Happiness was in Pleasures; and therefore wholly neglecting the Care and Improve­ment of their Minds, spent all their Time, Money, and Thoughts on the Dressing themselves after the French Fashion, and pleasing their Senses. The ill effects of Luxury. Who can conceive the Poverty that fol­lowed these immense Expences? And the bold Adventures these impoverish­ed Gallants were forced upon to sup­ply their Wants? Desperation and Ef­feminacy making them outragious to [Page 82] the Ruin of the State. Certainly there is nothing that is more destructive to a Nation, and consequently more to be avoided, than the Feasts and Riots of a prodigal Apicius, or the Luxury and Banquets of a profuse [...]. Thus was Fitz-Alan the last [...]arl of Arun­del, and Edward de Vere, Lord High Chamberlain of England, and Earl of Oxford, the Baron of Windfor, and many rich Knights and Gentlemen, who might have been the Ornaments of their Countrey, by his ill Example and Conversation drawn into great Ex­pences, Chargeable Feasts, Balls, and Interludes, and an excessive Gallantry, the common Attendants of too much Ease and Plenty; by which they much wasted their Estates, and impoverished their Families; and their Bodies also were much softned and unmann'd by their Excesses and Sloth; and the gene­rous Inclinations and Faculties of their Souls stifled and weakned by the Charms of Pleasures.

There are some who think that the His designs in debauch­ing the No­bility. crafty Earl of Leicester designed this debauching the Prime Nobility of Eng­land, when he entred upon this way of [Page 83] living, that he might by it render them weak and contemptible: But however, it is most certain, the great influence he had upon the Queen, and his being the Prime Minister of State; and ac­quainted with all her Counsels and In­tentions, made him extremely hated by all the rest. He had by his cunning and crafty Projects and Counsels, engrossed all the Rewards of Virtue, Riches, Honours, Attendants, and the first Place of Minister of State, and he ma­naged them, and lived without any Re­ligion towards God, or Fidelity to men, making it his great design to co­ver all things with Luxury, Cruelty, and Rapines. With whom did he con­tinue in a constant Friendship? What good man did not find him an Enemy? He was to the utmost degree ungrateful to all his Friends; and if any of his Enemies had at any time a little too freely expressed their Resentments a­gainst his Dishonesty, Wickedness, In­juries, Power, or Perfidy, (as he gave men too frequent occasions to reflect on them) he seldom failed to cause them to be treacherously murdered. Many fell in his time (saith a Great Man of that Age) who saw not the hand that [Page 84] pull'd them down; and as many died, that knew not their own disease: He would not trust his Familiars above one year, but either Transported them to Foreign Ser­vices, or wafted them to another world. In the year 1583, he caused one Mr. Ed­ward Adern, a Generous, but Imprudent and Rash Gentleman, a zealous Roman-Catholick, and a great Defamer of others, to be drawn into Troubles, by the means of one Somervil (a mad Papist) his Father-in-Law, and one Hall, a Po­pish Priest; and being found guilty of Treason, he, his Wife, Somervil, and the Priest, were all sentenced to die. So­mervil hanged himself in Prison, Adern was executed, and Hall the Author and Procurer of all this Mischief, was pre­served by the Intercession of Leicester. This was by all men looked upon a Spe­ctacle of great Compassion. He laid Snares for many of the Nobility, ruin­ing the Reputation of some of them, endangering the Lives of others; and some Noble Families he utterly extin­guished. He impiously and sacrilegi­ously invaded the Revenues of the Church, and brought some of the Bi­shops into Danger and Dis-favour. He incensed the Queen against the Lord [Page 85] Archbishop Grindal, a Prelate of great Integrity and Honesty, by his Calum­nies and Slanders. This Grave and Religious Prelate was (as Mr. Cambden Anno 1583. saith) first made Bishop of London, then Archbishop of York, and after­wards of Canterbury, and for many years enjoyed the Favour of the Queen, till by the crafty Insinuations of Leice­ster, she was set against him, upon a pretence and slanderous Report, That he was a Favourer of the Conventicles of the turbulent Puritan Preachers, and of their Preachments; but in truth be­cause he would not patiently dissemble the Disorders of one Julio an Italian Physician, and a Favourite of Leicester's, who had Married another man's Wife, for which the good Prelate stoutly pro­secuted him, though Leicester appeared for the Criminal.

The best of Princes, after all the Leicester re­commends Robert Earl of Essex to the Queen. Care and prudent Foresight that Morta­lity is capable of, are yet sometimes de­ceived in the choice of their Servants. Leicester having married the Countess Dowager of Essex, who was a Widow when his first Lady died, and having no Children of his own, was easily per­swaded [Page 86] by his Wife to recommend Ro­bert Devereux, the young Earl of Essex, her Son, to the Queen, as one fit to serve her Majesty; and by this he open­ed the way to that great man, and brought him with good advantage into the Court, and into Business. Nor would this Nobleman afterwards refuse to acknowledge, That all the Autho­rity and Favour he had acquired with the Queen, was owing in a great mea­sure to the Assistance his Step-Father had at first given him.

When he had some time served as a The Actions of that Earl in Holland. Volunteer, first under his own Father in Ireland, and after in other places, he was made General of the Horse, and Field-Marshal, under the Earl of Leice­ster; when in the year 1585, he went General of the English Forces in the Low Countries. In this Expedition this Noble Gentleman behaved himself with that Courage, Bravery, Modera­tion, and Prudence, that he won the Love and Esteem of the whole Army; and by that Reputation he became very Popular, which afterwards was the occasion of his Ruin. The truth was, His Chara­cter. he for Honesty, Valour, Liberality, [Page 87] and Sincerity, was equal to the best of the Nobility of his time; but in Pru­dence and Discretion he was inferior to many. He for a long time enjoyed the Favour of the Queen, which his good­ness prompted him freely to employ to the doing good, and to the relief of the indigent and oppressed; so that all his Greatness seemed only to be lodged in him as Water in a Cistern, for the good of others He was not observed to be addicted to any Vice, but that of Miss­ing and Luxury; but as to all his other Appetites, he had them in a tolerable subjection to his Reason. In the year 1587, he was made Master of the Horse. In 1590, he was sent into France with an English Army, to assist Henry the IVth. In 1596, he was made Earl Marshal of England, and after that, Master of the Ordnance the same year. In the year 1597, he was Admiral of the second Squadron of that Fleet which was sent against Cadiz. In 1599, he was made Lord Deputy of Irel [...]nd, with more ample power than had been given to any of his Predecessors, and a good Army. This Expedition was the occa­sion of the Ruin of this Great Man; his Army being wasted, without any [Page 88] considerable Advantage. Cambden at­tributes this to the Discontent of the Earl of Essex, Because Sir Robert Cecil was made Master of the Wards; which so netled him, who desired to engross all h [...]s Mistress's Favours, that he left Ire­land without leave, and returned to England, where he perished in his Discontent and Folly, in the year 1600.

The Queen was in her own Temper The Queen very much oppressed by the Inf [...]my and Villanies of Leicester. a Person of an extraordinary Piety and Goodness, and without any exception; yet her Virtue was scarce able to secure her from being made infamous and un­happy by the Wickedness of the Earl of Leicester; she in the beginning of her Reign relying too much upon his Coun­sel, and as it were committing her self and her Kingdoms to his Industry and Care, to the neglect of the rest of the Nobility, who hated this Minister; Whilst the rest of the Peers withdrew from Danger, or stood as it were at a gaze in a stupid amazement, or servile­ly and patiently complied with him: But Thomas Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex, and Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold to the Queen, and President of the North; [Page 89] agoodly Gentleman, of a Brave and The Chara­cter of Tho­mas Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex. Noble Nature; constant to his Friends and Servants, and the best Soldier the Queen then had, would not so tamely yield to Leicester; there being in his Nature as well as Morals, a perfect Antipathy to the other; so that the Court for a long time stood divided be­tween them, and they kept Spies upon each other's actions: The Queen did what she could to reconcile them, but it was utterly impossible; they were equal in Power and Estate, but so dif­fering from each other in their Designs and Interests, and so unwilling on both sides to yield, that nothing but Death could determine this mortal Feud be­tween them. This Noble Martial Earl died in the year 1583. He would often remonstrate, That Leicester's Covetousness and his other Vices were intolerable; that he had more Autho­rity with the Queen, than all the rest of the Nobility; that he disposed of all the Rewards of Virtue and Industry, and all the rest were forced to truckle under, and serve him; that his Pride, Laziness, Luxury, and dissolute Man­ners were not to be born; and there was hardly a good man in the Nation, [Page 90] who was not in his heart convinced of the truth of all this, and did not wish to see this ill man humbled. The truth is, Sussex was the honester man, and the better Soldier; Leicester the more accomplished Courtier, and the deeper Politician, not for the general Good, but his own partitular Profit.

Sir William Cecil was a Person of The Chara­cter of Sir William Cecil, afterward Lord Burleigh. great Learning, singular Judgment, and admirable Moderation and Pru­dence; unto which is justly attributed very much of the Prosperity which England for so many years enjoyed under this most auspieious Government. He was made Secretary of State the 5th. of Ed [...]. the 6th. 1551. His opposition to the Exclusion of Queen Mary, pre­served him in her fair Esteem, tho he was of a differing Religion. In the first of Queen Elizabeth he was again call'd to the Council-Table. In the 3d. year of her Reign he was made Master of the Wards; and in the 14th. Anno 1572. he was made Lord Treasurer of England, upon the Death of William Lord Pa [...]let, havingthe 25th, of Fe­bruary of the preceding year, obtained his Patentof Baron Lord Burleigh; so [Page 91] that he was the first Peer of this Illu­strious House, though his Father and Grandfather had enjoyed good Employ­ments under Henry the 8th. In all the Contests between Sussex and Leice­ster, this Great Man stood Neuter, and would engage in neither of the Parties; which made him the Head of a Third, and enabled him to serve himself of both the other, in whose ways he laid many rubs. Others were raised to ba­lance Factions, he to support a King­dom; as he was the best Statesman in that Age, so he was constantly on the watch for the Safety of his Mistress and her Kingdoms. Leicester was the Cun­ningest man of the Age, but Cecil the Wisest, the Stoutest; and being with­out Guile or Pride; made it his business to baffle all Leicester's Projects for th [...] Marriage of the Queen, and the ensla­ving the Nation. He and Sussex threw themselves once at the Feet of the Queen, and presumed to tell her, That all her good subjects were concern'd to see the Danger and Dishonour Dudley had brought upon her; ‘That he had transgressed all the bounds of a Sub­ject, and very much exceeded the Crimes of Northumberland his Father: [Page 92] That he had bragg'd of Marrying her: That this was a Dishonour to her Majesty, and would bring Mis­chief on her Kingdoms; for her Sub­jects would never endure the Sove­raignty of an unchaste and wicked man. And they advised her to put a stop to the Jealousies of her People, and to consult her own Honour, and the Safety of her Friends. They re­presented to her very warmly, the Dignity, Power, and Wealth of a Fo­reign Match; and recommended to her Charles Arch-Duke of Austria, se­cond Son of Ferdinand the Emperor, and Brother of Maximilian II. as a Prince worthy of her Affections.’ These Discourses of these Great Men made a very deep Impression on the The Earl of Sussex sent Ambassador to the Empe­ror. mind of the Queen; and thereupon this Noble Earl was sent in the year 1567, to carry the George to Maximili­an II. Emperor of Germany; and had Commission at the same time to treat of this Marriage; which he endeavour­ed to effect with all his Power, though the Earl of Leicester opposed it. The Gallantry of his Behaviour, and the Splendor of his Equipage and Retinue, gain'd him a Familiarity from the Em­peror, [Page 93] and a Reverence from the Arch-Duke, a Respect from the People, and his Mistress a kindness in that Court, which stood her in great stead against the Attempts of the King of Spain, and Pope of Rome; which perhaps was all that was designed by the Trea­ty; for it is said, the Lord North, who went with him, had Orders under hand to oppose all his Negotiations, as he did, and by a few fond Scruples disappoint­ed and at last defeated the whole De­sign. It is supposed by some, this Ob­struction was procured by Leicester, to secure his own Greatness. When this The Ruin of Leicester. Great but Ill Man had struggled many years with the opposite Parties which arose one after another against him in the Court, and found himself sinking in the Favour of the Queen, by his pri­vate Marrying the Countess of Essex du­ring the Life of his first Wife; fearing the Divine Justice, the Change of the Times, and the great Numbers of men he had exasperated against him, he in the year 1585, obtained a Commission of the Queen for Levying 500 men, to be sent into Holland and Zealand; and was after that, by another, constituted Lieutenant and Captain-General of the [Page 94] whole Army designed for the Service of the United Provinces, against the Spani­ard, whither he went the same year; he had no good Success in this Expediti­on; and the next year the Hollanders made loud and dreadful Complaints a­gainst him, for mis-spending their Mo­ney, and ill-managing their Affairs; whereupon he was re-called; and the Complaint following him hither, he told the Queen, That she having sent HisDeath and Dishonour. him thither with Honour, (he hoped) she would not receive him back with Disgrace; and that whom she had raised from the Dust, she would not bury alive. There­upon he left the Court, and the 4th. of Septemb [...]r, 1588 he died at Cornbury-Park in Oxfordshire. Thus died this Favourite, having in one year in the Wars lost all that Reputation and Fa­vour he had acquired in so many years in the Court.

Peregrine Lord Willoughby, a Noble The Chara­cter of the Lord Wil­loughby. Gentleman, a good Soldier, and a Vir­tuous Man, who was one of the Com­manders under the Earl of Leicester, succeeded him as General of the English Forces in the Netherlands: He had more Experience, more Courage, and also [Page 95] more Success than his Predecessor; so that he was stiled the Queen's first Sword­man, and a great Master of the Military Art, by the Historians of those times: He did the States of Holland great Ser­vice, by his brave Defence of Bergen ap Zoom, against the Prince of Parma, in the year 1588: But for all that, he had some of the Fate of his Predecessor, which fell to his lot, for he was com­plained of by the Hollanders, as well, tho not so justly as Leicester; but his In­nocence clear'd him. In the year 1589, he was sent General of 4000 men, in aid of the King of Navarre, into France; and he died in the year 1601.

The Queen in all the time of her The Chara­cter of Sir Francis Wal­singham. Reign, took care to Establish her Go­vernment by the Counsel, Virtue, and Fidelity of many Wise and Learned Men, who spent their whole time in promoting the Publick Welfare and Peace of her Kingdoms. Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State, was one of the greatest of these, and an Ornament to her Court and Council. He so sedulously attended the execution of the Office committed to him, and [Page 96] took his Measures for the Safety of her Person and Kingdoms, and the Security of the Protestant Religion, with that Prudence and Caution, that it was scarce possible any thing should hap­pen, which his Care and Industry had not foreseen, or his Spies discovered to him before-hand. His Maxim was, Knowledge is never too dear; and ac­cordingly he spent his whole Income and Time in her Service, and died in the year 1590, so poor, that the Queen gave his Daughter her Portion. The Queen has been heard to say, That his Diligence and Sagacity exceeded her Ex­pectation.

The Lord Burleigh was made Lord Burleigh made Lord Treasu­rer for his Virtue. Treasurer of England by her, because he was the Cato of his Time; a man well versed in the Affairs of the Trea­sury, and a Provident and Careful Ma­nager of them: He would insinuate to the Queen, That the Treasury was not her own Money, but committed to her Care for the Safety of her People; and therefore it was not to be spent in useless ways, or in satisfying the Ava­rice and Knavery of her Ministers, but for the Benefit and Welfare of the State; [Page 97] and that the best thing which could possibly be done by any person, was to do that which tended to the good of his Countrey.

Mary the Daughter of James V. King of Scotland, was a young Lady The Chara­cter and Story of Mary Queen of Scotland. of great Beauty; and by the Arts of her Mother, who was a French Lady, and descended of the House of Lorain, she was perswaded to marry Francis the Eldest Son of Henry II. then King of France, by which he obtained the Title of King of Scotland in her Right. Af­ter Mary Queen of England was dead, the House of Guise in France perswaded this Prince and his Lady to assume and use the Royal Arms of England, be­cause she was of the Royal Family; and accordingly it was Engraven on all their Plate, and put upon all their other Furniture, and they used it in their Seals, to the great Injury and Exaspera­tion of Queen Elizabeth: She suffered also her self to be stiled Queen of Eng­land, which highly incensed the English Nation against her and the French Court; it being thought the greatest Contempt that could possibly be offered to us, to assume that Title at a time [Page 98] when France was engaged in a War with Spain: But however, the Civil War which soon after broke out in France, and lasted many years, the de­feating their Designs in Scotland, the Deaths of Henry II. and Francis II. and all other the Calamities that follow­ed this foolish Attempt, sufficiently re­venged the Injury offered to the Queen and the English Nation.

Sir Nicholas Throgmorton was an In­dustrious, The Chara­cter of Sir N. Throgmorton. Wise, and an Active States­man, but apt to be heat, and of a fiery Temper: He was at that time the Eng­lish Leiger Ambassador in the Court of France, and was highly exasperated to see this Affront put upon his Mistress, and he made sharp and loud Complaints of it to the Council of France: After a tedious Debate, and many Hearings, he at last by the means of Montmorancy, Constable of France, obtained an Or­der or Promise, That the Queen of the Scots should no more use the Royal Arms of England, nor the Title of Queen of England or Ireland, during the Life of Queen Elizabeth, or of any Children born of her. The Envy and Hatred which was occasioned by this impru­dent [Page 99] Contest between these two great Ladies, who were equal in Authority and Beauty, had an ill effect upon them in all the after-parts of their Lives, and at last ended in the violent Death of Mary Queen of the Scots.

The French seemed then to desire no­thing The French desirous of a War with England. more than a pretence for a War with England: Throgmorton the Am­bassador was made the subject of their Court-Jesters and Comedians Raillery; one of his Servants was, contrary to the Laws of Nations, taken violently and unjustly from him, and sent to the Gallies by the Brother of the Duke of Guise; the English which Traded in France, were without any provocation or complaint made of them to their own Queen, most unjustly Imprison'd, and otherwise exposed to Contempt and Blows: The Ambassador bore all things with an invincible Resolution, and re­solved, whatever he suffered, not to be frighted from his Post, but to watch the first opportunity to revenge the Contempt was offered to his Character, and their violations of the Laws of Nations: He complained openly and freely to the Council of France, of the [Page 100] Affronts offered to his Mistress, of their Violence, Injuries, and Rapins com­mitted upon her Subjects: And as for the Duke of Guise, he considered him only as a Subject of France, and said many things of him with the utmost Freedom and Sharpness; and the Duke of Guise answered him with some ve­hemence: The Council on the other hand laid all the blame on the common people of France, and offered a speci­ous T [...]rogmorton kindles the Civil Wars in France. but un [...]rue Excuse for what had been done. The Ambassador there­upon calling God and man to bear wit­ness how much they had violated the Law of Nations, and the Liberty of an Am­bassador, which was Sacred by the Laws of God and man, returned to his House; and from thenceforward made it his bu­siness to imbroil France; he exasperated by his Arts Anthony King of Navarre, the Prince of Conde his Brother, Mont­morancy, and the rest of the Peers of that Kingdom, till he made all France the Scene of a Civil War, and filled it with inexpressible Calamities, which ended in the utter Ruin of the exorbi­tant Power and Greatness of the House of Guise. Tho this Great man did all this; yet upon his return into Eng­land [Page 101] he did not meet with a Recom­pence proportionable to his Integrity, Courage, and Industry; because the Lord Burleigh was his Enemy, and sought by all means to curb and conquer this lively, free, and haughty Spi­rit, which too often appeared against him.

The French having obtained a Matri­monial The French design to im­prove their Interest in Scotland, to the Ruin of England. Right to the Crown of Scot­land, thought it afforded them a fair pretence, and an happy introduction into the Island, and designed to employ these Advantages for the Conquest of England also. They thereupon taking hold of the Disorders their own Cruel­ty and Perfidy had caused in Scotland, raised a Potent Army under the Com­mand of the Count de Martigues, and Monsieur La Brosse, two Expert Com­manders, and sent them into Scotland: These French Gentlemen did all that was possible to Establish the Faction that favoured France in Scotland; they wasted and destroyed all that durst op­pose them; and threatned the intire Destruction of all that any way oppo­sed their designs: Their Violence and Cruelty in the mean time highly exas­perated [Page 101] the common people of that Kingdom, and they began to whisper, That the Destruction of all the Scotch The Scotch complain, and arm against them. Nobility, and the Extirpation of their Government, was intended: Thereupon the Scots began in good earnest to think how they might preserve themselves, and defend their Lands and Territories from the Incursions and Depredations of the French. The French, on the o­ther side, meeting with Repulses, and seeing the whole Nation arm against them, when they expected the most profound Submission, retired to Leith, which they had then Fortified for their The French retire to Leith. security, whither the Scotch Nobility sollowed them; and there were fre­quent but small Skirmishes between them and the French: But however, still the storm fell heaviest on that part of the Scots which had embraced the Reformation, (for that was made the pretence for sending over these French Forces); and they on the contrary saw, that during the Marriage of their Queen with Francis II. King of France, there was no hopes of Security against the Pride and Cruelty of their new The Scots send into England for assistance. Masters, and that they were not able to defend themselves, without Assistance [Page 102] from abroad. Whereupon they sent their Agents with Letters to Queen E­lizabeth, laying before her Majesty the miserable Estate they were reduced to, and imploring her Protection and As­sistance for the prevention of their Ruin. The Queen being before exas­perated by the ill usages she had recei­ved from the Guifes, and compassiona­ting the Dangers of Scotland; fore­seeing also at the same time the great and almost unavoidable danger which was ap­proaching her own Kingdom, if the French were suffered by force or fraud to subdue that part of the Scots which were of the Protestant Religion; she couragiously and prudently resolved to undertake the Defence and Protection of this Nati­on; A Fleet sent into Scotland. and broke with the French, whose Friendship is at all times doubtful and uncertain: Thereupon she sent Mr. Wil­liam Winter, the Master of her Naval Cannon, with a Fleet into the Fryth of Edinburgh, in the year 1560; which took the Island of Keth from the French, and expelled their Garifo [...] and relie­ved the Scots that were then in Arms. She made also the Duke of Norfolk, a Peer of good Experience in Warlike [...], President of the North. At [Page 104] the same time she sent the Lord Grey of WILTON, who had been very un­successful in the Defence of GUINES, a Fortress belonging to Calais, in her Si­ster's Reign, with an Army by Land into Scotland. He entred Scotland with And an Ar­my, which besieged Leith. this Army, which consisted in Six Thousand Foot, and Two Thousand Horse, in a peaceable and civil manner treating the Countries through which he passed, as a Friend and an Ally that came to help them; and sat down be­fore Leith, a Sea-Port which was then Garison'd by the French. Martigues, who was a young and a fiery Gentle­man, being spurr'd on by the over­warm desires of Glory, would needs undertake with Twelve Companies of Foot, to beat the English Army, upon their first approach, from the Hills on which they were posted, tho the French were to charge up the Hill; where­upon there was presently a sharp and bloody Fight for that Ground; the French for a great while sustained with much Bravery the Charge of the English Army on their Front; but the Scotch Horse Wheeling about, and Charging them on the flank too, they were at last beaten with great Loss from their [Page 105] ground, and forced into the Town of Leith; and very few of them had esca­ped, if the English Horse had done their part, as well as the Scotch did theirs The French however, were not quiet, tho thus beaten, but making a Sally after this, the 15th. of April, they surprized the Advanced Guards, and cut them off, broke into the Lines, and Nailed up Three of the English Cannons, and took Maurice Berkley, one of the Commanders, Prisoner: But Robert Crof [...]s, and Cuthbert Vaghan, two other English Officers, fell on the French who pursued their point too far, and forced them back into the Town. In this Sally, Arthur the Eldest Son of the Lord Grey, who then commanded in the Trenches, was wounded in the Shoulder by a Musket-Bullet, whilst he valiantly opposed the French. This Sally exasperated the English, and they observingthat their Batteries had not any considerable effect on the Walls, by rea­son of their distance, they came nearer to the Town, and erected new Batte­ries. There was nothing wanting in the Town which was needful to enable the Garison to make a stout Defence; the Walls and Bastions were full of men [Page 106] excellently Armed, and they played fu­riously on the English, wounding some, and killing others, and both by day and by night making furious Sallies besides; which the English bore with so much Patience and Bravery, that they sur [...]ounted all these difficulties. The last day of April a Fire happened in the Town, which b [...]rned all that night; and the English by turning their Cannon upon those parts that were burning, terrified the Inhabitants, and spread the Fire; and the same night they passed the Dike, and measured the heighth of the Walls: The French within the Town, were no less industrious than the English were without, and at last they had the good fortune to put out the Fire, and to prevent the English from turning the Terror of it to the best ad­vantage: After this the English burnt the Water-Mills upon the River Leith, which here falls into the Fryth of Edin­burgh, and gives name to the Town; and what they could not burn, they de­molished: The 5th. of May the English storm'd the Town, with the Assistance of the Scots, under the Command of one Vincer; the French, tho much ter­rified with the bold approaches of the [Page 107] English, yet manfully defended the Walls; and the Ladders proving too short, and the Waters being restrained by the Garison, were also found deeper than was expected, to their great da­mage; so that 160 of the English were slain, and nothing gained. The whole blame of this Misfortune was cast upon Crofts, who stood stone still in the plac [...] he was appointed to act in, and neither diverted the Enemy, or sent any As­sistance to them that were engaged; and thereupon he was accused to the Queen by the Duke of Norfolk, and th [...] Lord Grey, for which he afterwards being called be [...]ore the Council, was deprived of the Government of Ber­wick. The Duke of Norfolk in the mean time took care to revive the droopi [...]g Spirits of the English, by a fresh Supply of 2000 men, which he soon after sen [...] to reinforce the Camp, and to curb the Insolence of the French, which rose higher upon this Misfortune of the Be­siegers, so that they made more fre­quent Sallies, after i [...] than they had done before. At the same ti [...]e the Duke sent a Letter to the Lord Grey, to co [...] ­fort the Army for the late [...], and to assure him, that within a short [Page 108] time he would follow with all the For­ces he had under his Command. This Recruit blew off the Memory of their Loss, and kindled in the minds of the Besiegers a strong desire to revenge the Baffle they had received, and recover their former Reputation: By this time the Besieged had tried all the ways their prudence could suggest, to raise the Siege without any success, and were now as much oppressed by Famine with­in, as by the Enemy without; and having no hopes of any Relief, they at last began, with the consent of the French King, to Capitulate with the Queen, (for he scorned to Treat with the Scots who were his Subjects); who to that end sent Sir William Cecil, and Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, to Edinburgh. The Lord James, a Scotch Peer, propo­sed some things on the behalf of the Scots in this Treaty, which Sir William Cecil told him, did not become Subjects to ask, or Princes to grant: And the French on the other side offered the Queen, that if she would withdraw her Forces out of Scotland, he would restore Calais to the English; to which she generously repli­ed, She did not value that Fisher-Town so much, as to hazard for it the State of [Page 109] Britain; so even did she hold the Ba­lance between that King and his Sub­jects, suffering neither of them to wrong the other: At last it was agreed, That the French should within Twenty days depart out of Scotland, and the Forti­fications of Leith and Dunbar should be Leith disman­tled. slighted: The 16th. of July the French accordingly embarked on the English Fleet for France; and the same day the Lord Grey began his March with the English Army for England, where he was rewarded for this Service with the Government of Berwick, which he did not long enjoy, for he died the 14th of December, 1562. This War, saith Mr. Cambden, preserved all Britain from Ruin, restored the Scots to their Anci­ent Liberty, and setled the Peace, and enlarged the Reputation of the English Nation; so that from thenceforward during all her happy Reign, she had no reason to apprehend any danger from Scotland, the Protestants of that Nation esteeming the Queen their Pa­troness and Deliverer; and the English acknowledging she had laid a sure foun­dation for their future Security, Thus she delivered Scotland from those Fo­reigners who designed by Violence and [Page 110] Force to suppress not only the Protestant Religion, but their Civil Rights and Liberties also, and to bring upon that Free Nation an intolerable French Sla­very. Of this the Scots were then so extremely sensible, (saith my Author, who was of that Nation) That they being delivered by her means from Foreign Servitnde, they thereupon subscribed to a League to maintain the Protestant Reli­gion, and to use the English Worship and Rites.

After this a Civil War arose in The first Ci­vil War in France. France, and the Queen sent Supplies under the Earl of Warwick, in 1562. to the Prince of Conde, the Count de Rohan and Coligny, the Defenders of the Protestant Religion, and of the Liberties of that Kingdom; To these Forces, when the Protestants them­selves opposed th [...]m, she sent af­terwards Additional Forces and great Sums of Money: At this time the French Protestants put Havre de Grace into her hands as a Cautionary Town, and it was Garison'd with English Sol­diers; but so soon as their Fear of the Popish Party was a little abated by a Peace granted to them, which yet wa [...] [Page 111] of no duration, they joined with their Popish Countreymen to drive out their Benefactors, and with equal Violence endeavoured to reduce the Town under the Crown of France again: The Earl of Warwick seeing his men consu­med by a War without, and a Pla [...]ue within the Town, and no Relief to be expected in due time, he thereupon began a Treaty with the Enemy, and the 28th. of July, 1563. the Articles of Surrender were signed; the next day there came a Fleet of 60 Sail of English Ships into the Haven, on which the Garison was Transported into Eng­land: And the Protestants of France had the chief hand in the driving them out, as all sides acknowledge.

The Death of Francis II. King of The Death of Francis II King of France. France, the 5th. of December, 1560. when he had Reigned but Seventeen Months, put an end to all the French Ambitious Designs of Conquering Eng­land, and Reducing Scotland, and to the Fears of both these Kingdoms on that score. Mary Queen of Scotland being thus deprived of her Beloved Husband, soon grew weary of that Kingdom, and getting a small Number [Page 112] of Ships together for that purpose, she went on board at Calais, the 14th of August, and she landed at Leith the 20th. of the same month in the year 1561, being attended by many of the Nobility, and some great Ladies of both the French and Scots Nation. Not long after the Queen of England having opposed this Princess's designs of Mar­rying Charles Archduke of Austria, and rather recommending to her choice the Lord James Darnley, Eldest Son to the Earl of Lenox, and the next Heir after her of the Crowns of England and Scot­land; so that this Match would un­doubtedly Mary Queen of the Sco [...]s Marrieth. secure her Title to England too, after the Death of Queen Eliza­beth; whereupon she married him at Edinburgh, in the year 1565; and the next year after, James their only Son James 1. borr. was born, to the great Joy of both the Nations; for he was then thought one of the Pillars of Christendom, the Or­nament of his Native Countrey and Fa­mily; and all men presaged, That he would one day become the King of Great Britain, as it came afterwards to pass, by the wonderful good Provi­dence of God.

[Page 113] This Marriage was attended with The begin­ni [...]g of the Mi [...]ortunes of Mary Qu. of Scotland. a Catastrophe and Tragick Event, which is grievous to the thoughts, and scarce possible to be enough lamented; Mary Stewart, the Relict of Francis II. King of France, and the Immediate Heiress, and Lawful Queen of Scotland, and the Presumptive Heir of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland, the Mother of James VI. soon after became a Lamen­table Example of the Unsteadiness of Human Affairs. The Lord Darnley her Husband, having out of Jealousie ordered the Murther of one David Rixio, the Queen's Secretary, was af­terwards himself Poisoned first, and then Murdered at Edinburgh, in the year 1567: The effect of which was, the Deposing the Queen her self, (who was suspected to have an hand in it), and the Imprisoning her in a Castle in the Lake of Locklevin, where she was forced to subscribe a Resignation of the Crown and Government of Scotland, in the year 1568. The Queen by the Providence of God escaped afterwards out of this Restraint the 2d. of May, and raised some Forces to recover her Crown again, which were intirely rout­ed and dispersed by the Forces of the [Page 114] Regent of Scotland: So that having nothing more to trust to in that King­dom, she took shipping with intention to pass into France; but being by stress of Weather, or the Treachery of those that carried her, brought into England, she was landed at Warkinton in Cumber­land the 17th. of the same Month, and not long after committed Prisoner to the Castle of Carlisle; so that being driven Her Impri­ [...]onment at Carl [...]. from her Native Countrey by her own Subjects, she found an uneasie and cruel Restraint, where she expected a Re­fuge and a Sanctuary: The Laws of Hospitality, and that Kindness which Nature teacheth all men to use towards those that are of the same Lineage and Blood, not being able to protect her against the Jealousie of a Rival Queen. When Mary Queen of the Scots saw her self reduced to this Calamitous Condi­tion, forsaken of all her Subjects and Servants, and forced to flee in one day about Sixty Miles, and then not think­ing her self secure till passing to Sea, she was thrown upon the English shore; She wrote a Letter to the Queen of England, before she left Scotland, and sent it by one Beton, and she gave him a Diamond which the Queen had sent [Page 115] her before this as a Pledge of her Friendship; she also ordered him to tell the Queen, That she intended to leave Scotland, and to come into Eng­land; and did most earnestly beseech her to send her such Help and Assistance as was necessary, in case the Scots should persist in the same Methods of Oppres­sion. Queen Elizabeth assured this Gentleman, That she would shew the Queen of Scots all that Affection that she could possibly expect from a Sister. Before this Gentleman could get back again, she left Scotland, contrary to the Advice of all her Friends, and came into England, and as soon as she was on shore she sent the Queen a Second Let­ter in French, in the Conclusion of which she tells the Queen of England, That she was come into her Kingdom with The Queen of Scots Letter to Q. Elizabeth upon her first Landing in England. an intire Reliance upon her Majesties most unquestionable good affections towards her, not doubting but her Majesty would assist her, and that by her Example and Encou­ragement others would be won over to her. I do most earnestly therefore (said she) beseech you, That I may presently be admit­ted to come to you, because I am now in great Distress, as I will more at large inform you, when you shall please so far to [Page 116] have Compassion on me. God grant your Majesty a long and an happy Life, and me that Patience and Consolation which I [...]ope to obtain from him by your seasonable Assistance. Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Knolles and some others to the Queen of the Scots, to comfort her, and promised her all that Protection and Assistance which the Equity of her Cause would allow, but she would not suffer her to come to her. And she or­dered her to be removed to Carlisle, which was a place of great [...]r Safety to her, than that she was at present in, where the Scots might perhaps surprize her: Upon this the Queen of the Scots wrote a Third Letter to the Queen, and sent it by the Lord Herris, desiring that she might be suffered to come be­fore her Majesty, to propose the Injuries The Thi [...]d Letter. which had been done to her by her Subjects, and to answer the accusations they did pre­tend to bring against her. That it was most equitable and just, that Queen Eliza­beth should admit her who was her Nearest Kinswoman, and was now an Exile, into her presence, and hear what she had to say for her self, and restore her to her King­dom, which she had most unjustly been de­prived of, by those who had been most justly [Page 117] banished for their Treasons against her, and w [...]re Pardoned and Restored upon your Majesty's Intercession with me, to my own R [...], as now it plainly appeareth, (said she) if your Majesty d th not prevent it. Wherefore I once more Conjure your Ma­jesty either to Admit me into your Pre­sence, and to Assist me, or otherwise to suffer me forthwith to go out of England to seek help elsewhere, and that you would not detain me as a Captive and a Prisoner any longer in the Castle of Carlisle, be­cause I came freely into England, trusting in your many kind Letters, Messages, and the Pledges of an Honourable Reception. This Letter wrought very much upon the heart of the Queen, and she could not but pity the desolate and deplorable Estate of so near a Relation, who being by Force of Arms taken by her own Subjects, had been thrust from a Throne into a Prison, brought into the utmost danger of her Life, Condemned with­out being heard, and was deprived of a Kingdom, and had now fled to her out of a Confidence of her Assistance, and was now at last willing and desirous that the Queen of England should be her Judge, and when she had heard both her and her Subjects, pronounce [Page 118] what Sentence she thought fit and just.

Princes are certainly the most unhap­py The deplo [...] ­ble state of the Princes of the earth. part of Mankind, because they are frequently reduced to those straits, that they can scarce tell which way to turn them; Sin or Misery, Ruin or Disho­nour, surround and encompass them, so that there is no possibility of avoid­ing both at once. Had Queen Eliza­beth dismissed the Queen of Scots, she would without doubt have found e­nough who would have entertained her as an Instrument and Pretence to ruin both England and Scotland too. If she The Difficul­ties attending the keeping or dismissing the Queen os the Scots. detained her in England, it was feared that her Wheedling Humour, Youth, and Beauty, and her stout Attachment to the Popish Religion, would draw in many of the English to take her part, as long as she was considered as the nex [...] Heir of the Crown, after the Queen then Reigning; and this would very much endanger the Peace of England: Foreign Ambassadors would have Or­ders from their Masters, (when her Case was once known) to espouse her Interest, and promote her Affairs; and a part of the Scots would certainly en­deavour [Page 119] to restore her, and suppress the Opposite Party, when they had so fair a Prospect of making their own For­tunes into the bargain. The Faith of those that were trusted with the keeping this Precious Depositum, was not to be relied on, and if-she should happen to dye by a Natural Death, the Queen must expect to be defamed and slandered as the Mur­therer of her. So that the Queen saw that every day new and unforeseen Dif­ficulties grew upon her. If she were suffered to go into France, it was feared the House of Guise which was related to her by her Mother, might renew their old Pretences in her Right to Eng­land, and again set on foot her former Claim of this Throne, and might win many over to assist her, either on the score of her Religion, or the Probabi­lity of her Right, or lastly, merely out of a mad desire of changing the present Government, which is never so easie or sweet as to please all. That the parting with her would put an end to the League and Friendship between Eng­land and Scotland, which was then con­sidered as a thing of the greatest use that could possibly be conceived to England; and it was to be feared if by her means [Page 120] the Popish part of Scotland prevailed a­gainst the Protestant, the League with France would be renewed; and this would be so much the more mischievous to England now, because heretofore we had the Friendship of the House of Burgundy, to balance that of Scotland; but the Estates of that Family being all at this time united in the Person of Phi­lip II. King of Spain, England had not one Ally near it which could be relied on, but the Scots: If she were resetled in Scotland, it was to be feared that those of the English Faction would be ruined, and those of the French would be alone intrusted with all the Power: The young Prince would be exposed to Dangers; the Religion which was now well Established there, would be chan­ged; the French and other Foreigners would be invited thither and entertain­ed; and Ireland would be more infested by the Highland-Scots, than heretofore, and Queen Mary her self would be in danger of losing her Life amongst her own Subjects. Hereupon the far great­est part of the Council of England were A Resolution taken to de­tain her as a Prisoner of War. of an Opinion, That she ought to be de­tained here as a Prisoner of War, till she had given sufficient satisfaction for her as­suming [Page 121] the Title of the Crown of Eng­land; and answered for the Death of the Lord Darnly, who was a Subject of Eng­land. For this, the Countess of Lenox had furnished them with a Pretence, by her coming to the Queen, and with Tears in her eyes demanding Justice in her own and her Husbands name; and had also besought the Queen, That Ma­ry Queen of the Scots might be Ar­raigned for the Death of her Son. To whom the Queen had calmly and wisely answered, That the Countess ought not to bring so grievous an Accusation, or charge so black a Crime as this was, upon a Princess so nearly related to the Crown; which yet could not be proved by certain Evidence. That the times were unjust and wicked, and Malice was blinded with Pre­judice, and made no scruple to charge the most Innocent with horrid Crimes: [...]hat, however, there was an All-seeing Justice. which attended at the Throne of God, which was the best Avenger of all secret Villanies.

It will appear by all this what Diffi­culties The Queen of England not acted by a spirit of Jea­lousie and Revenge. there were on all hands in this great Affair; and that the Queen was not acted only by a spirit of Jealousie [Page 122] and Revenge for what was past, or out of a Personal and Selfish Humour op­pressed this Banished Queen, without considering all things with great appli­cation of mind. The Lord Herris, who attended the Court for the Queen of Scots, was not idle in the mean time, but earnestly sollicited Queen Elizabeth, That she would not rashly believe any Ac­cusation which should be brought against a Sovereign Queen, till she had been heard: and that the Meeting of the States of Scotland should not be precipitated by the Earl of Murray, the Prime Regent, to the Prejudice of the Deposed Queen, and the Ruin of all her Loyal and Good Sub­jects. The Queen of England accord­ingly did interpose her Authority with Murray, as to the lattter of these; but the Regent went on for all that, Assem­bled the States of Scotland, and attaint­ed several of those that had taken Arms for the Queen, and seized their Estates and Houses: The Queen of England being highly incensed upon this, sent Sir Walter Mildmay to the Regent, to Mildmay sent into Scotland to threaten the Regent. tell him from her, ‘That she could not sit still and see the Sacred Power of Princes be brought into Contempt a­mongst their Subjects, and be trodden [Page 123] under foot at the Will and Pleasure of Factious men. That altho they had forgot all that Duty and Respect which they owed to their Queen; yet she for her part could not forger the Affection and Compassion her Piety obliged her to shew to a Sister and a Neighbour Queen: That therefore Murray should either come to her him­self, or send some able men who might answer the Complaints of the Queen of Scots against the Regent and his Partakers; and shew the Causes for which they had Abdicated (Deposed) the Queen; which if they did not forthwith do, she would dismiss the Queen of Scots, and lend her all her Forces, in order to the resettling her in her Kingdom. And at the same time she admonished them not to sell the Queen's Jewels and Wardrobe, tho the States had given him leave to do it.’

The Earl of Murray accordingly, Murray upon Q. Elizabeth's threats comes into England. and some other of the Nobility came into England, and the case of the Queen of Scots was heard at York by several of the Lords of the English Council, but could be brought to no Issue by rea­son [Page 124] of the cross Interests, and the mu­tual Fears on all sides: Tho the Queen of England to the last declared, That she detested the Insolence of the Scots in her soul, who had presumed to Abdicate their Queen. But then, when the Duke of Norfolk thought it reasonable that Murray should be stayed in England, and be prosecuted for the Death of the Lord Darnley, which the Queen of Scots said she would prove against him; ‘tho this was approved by the Earls of A­rundel, Sussex, Leicester, and Clinton, afterwards Earl of Linco [...]n, yet the Queen was very angry at the Motion, and openly said, The Queen of Scots would never want an Advocate as long as the Duke of Norfolk lived.’ So that upon the whole, it is strongly probable Q Elizabeth durst not re­store the Qu. of the Scots to her Throne. she durst not dismiss or restore the Queen of Scots, for fear it should in­volve both England and Scotland in Wars and Calamities which would have very much endangered the utter Ruin of both the Nations; but then she was desirous as much as was possible, to keep the Example from spreading, to the Damage of other Princes, and the En­dangering other States in other Circum­stances, as much as it tended now to [Page 125] their Preservation. Many have endea­voured to blacken this Act of the Queen's, and others to defend and excuse it; but for my part, I think the Character God gave of King David, may be applied to Queen Elizabeth here; David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life; save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And what if upon the whole, the Queen of the Scots is to be excepted only in our Instance?

This Reflection will appear so much The Queen prevailed up­on to put the Queen of Scots upon her Trial. the more reasonable, if we take into Consideration her Death too. The Queen of Scots had been now a Priso­ner in England almost XVIII. Years, when the Queen of England was pre­vailed upon by the earnest Solicitation of many of the Peers and Commons of England, who fell down upon their Knees, humbly requesting her Majesty (as Melvil expresseth it) to have Com­passion upon their unsure Estate, albeit she should slight her own: Alledging, That her Life was in hazard by the Practices of the Queen of Scotland, and their Lives and Fortunes also. Now as it was pos­sible [Page 126] for the English to have kept all those ill men from her, which might put the Queen of Scotland upon such Pra­ctices, so it was utterly unreasonable that Queen Elizabeth should expect the Queen of Scots would desist from endea­vouring by all the ways that were pos­sible, to recover her Liberty and her Kingdom, tho with the Death of her Oppressor. But by this time the King of Scotland her Son was become a man, and he would have secured the Peace and Possession of that Kingdom; and the Queen of Scots was now XLIV. Years of Age, and so not so likely if she had escaped, to have been Courted, or to have wrought her any great Mis­chief in the world, as she might have done in her Younger years; besides, by this time the States of Holland had pret­ty well establishtd themselves to balance the Spaniards; but then the House of Guise was then in its greatest Pride, and the King of Spain was preparing his Invincible Armado, which came two years after; and these two may seem to have been the real Motives to it: But whatever they were, the thing cannot be justified, neither ought it; and Queen Elizabeth seems to own as much, by her [Page 127] ruining Davison the Secretary, to con­ceal her own fault, tho in truth it made it much worse.

When the Queen of Scots was The Trial of the Q. of the Scots. brought before the Lords that were to Try her for her Life, she declined their Jurisdiction (as well she might) and alledged she was a Sovereign Queen; to which the Chancellor, the Lord Hat­ton Hatton's wheedling Speech. replied, 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 to her, than that you were Charged with such a Crime: Where­fore lay aside the bootless Privilege of a Royal Dignity, which here can be of no use to you; appear in Judgment, and shew your Innocence; lest by avoiding Tryal [Page 128] you draw upon your self suspicion, and lay upon your Reputation an Eternal Blot and Aspersion.

This short Speech is highly com­mended The Speech censured. for the Ingenuity and Softness of it; but it was a detestable piece of Wickedness to wheedle a poor Captive Queen, who was ignorant of the Laws of Nations, and destitute of all Advice and Counsel, out of her Reputation, Majesty, Innocence, and Life; and un­der the false Pretences of the Queen's Tenderness for her, her Judges Up­rightness, and her own alledg'd Inno­cence, to bring her by a Pretended Shew of Justice, to a Scaffold as a Subject, who was an Equal, an Enemy, and a Sovereign. The Queen of Scots Inno­cence did not consist in her having never contrived any thing against Queen Eli­zabeth, but in her Right to contrive all that was possible, to recover her Liberty and her Kingdom; and therefore when they had proved her in their Notion Guilty, they had done nothing; she was no Subject to Queen Elizabeth, and so ought her no Allegiance, and conse­quently could commit no Treason a­gainst her; and the Queen of England [Page 129] ought to have set her at Liberty, and commanded her out of her Kingdom, before she could justly treat her as an Enemy. So that this was all of it Pre­tence, Injustice, and Oppression; and had Nathan the Prophet been sent to the Queen of England, he would cer­tainly have told her as he did David, Thou hast slain her with the sword of the children of Ammon. And the Com­plaint that she made to the Lord Hatton, and all that she did after to excuse her self, shew that she had a reluctance within, and acted against the Dictates of her own Conscience; so that this can be no Example, for the future, to any Prince or Subject, but ought to be looked upon as the Dishonour and Shame of that otherwise most Excellent Princess.

Yet after all, the Queen is not to be Foreign Prin­ces, and the Popish Priests guilty of the Murther of the Q. of the Scots. charged with the whole Guilt of this Royal and Innocent Blood; but those Foreign Princes, and the Priests and Je­suits are justly chargable with the great­est part of the blame, because when they saw the Queen of Scots in so much danger of her Life, they would never suffer her to be quiet, but were eternal­ly [Page 130] Plotting and Contriving, Bribing and Conspiring, how to murder Queen Elizabeth, and to set up the Queen of Scots in her stead, to restore their Belo­ved Popery here in England: To de­monstrate the Truth of this Assertion, I must in the next place give an account of the Troubles and Conspiracies of the Popish Party against this Princess, which to the shame of their Religion were all began and carried on under the pretence of a mighty Zeal for their Faith, and in Obedience to its Princi­ples. Pope Pius Quintus, in the year Pins V Excommuni­cates the Qu and absolves all her Sub­jects. 1570, thought it became his Piety, and would be an excellent Argument of his deserving that name, to Arm all the Queen's Subjects against God, and their Prince and Countrey, and foolishly pre­sumed the Avenger of Perjury would permit him to free them from the obli­gations of their Natural and sworn Al­legiance to their Lawful Sovereign and his Vicegerent: Thereupon he sent out his BULL, to declare the Queen an Heretick, and that she had forfeited all her Right to Reign and Govern: And he excited all the Neighbour Catholick Prin­ces to take Arms against her, and put this Bull in Execution. And one Dr. Morton, [Page 131] the Pope's Legate à Latere here, then lay lurking amongst the Papists in the North of England, and with impati­ence expected the Roaring of this Bull, as the Signal to Treason and Rebellion; and in the mean time made it his busi­ness to excite their Madness and Rage, and inflame their Hatred by vain hopes and promises, that so he might engage them in a miserable destructive War. The Popish Subjects of England, being Thereupon followed Re­bellions and Insurrections in England. thus debauched from their Allegiance, by the Pope's Authority and Approbation, there presently followed a great many Seditions and Insurrections, and some of the Nobility and Gentry of that Persuasion, in compliance with their Religion, began to be very ill affected towards their Prince. Thus Religion be­came a Pretence for, and a Promoter of Rebellion and Treason. The first of the Nobility that entred into Action against the Queen, was Thomas Piercy, Earl of The E. of Northumber­land leads the way. Northumberland, who in the year 1569, had been privy to the Intended Marri­age of Mary Queen of the Scots, with Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk; and being discovered thereupon, he submit­ted himself to the Earl of Sussex, at that time President of the North; yet [Page 132] after this he joined with Charles Nevil, And is fol­lowed by the E. of West­morland. Earl of Westmorland, and great Multi­tudes of people began to resort to them, and they began to be suspected again by the Government as designing some Mischief. The President of the North sent for them both at one time, and free­ly told them what he had heard, and they both stoutly disclaimed the having a Conspiracy in hand against the Queen, and promised to adventure their Lives very zealously against any Traytor whatsoever, that should take Arms a­gainst their Sovereign: Yet after all, Piercy began to raise what Forces he could in the year 1569, which being discovered to the Queen, she sent her Letters to them, requiring them to come both to Court. The Earl of Northum­berland was so easie a man, and so far from that fiery Activity that is requisite in the Head of a Faction, that upon the receit and reading of the Queen's Letter, he was almost resolved to go to Court, and cast himself at the Queen's Feet, as in all probability he had done, if his Servants and Followers who were more bent upon Mischief than he, had not allarm'd him in the dead of the night, and frighted him into a Rebelli­on [Page 133] by their crafty arts; persuading him at the same time, That all the Catholicks in England were ready prepared to assert that Religion; and that if they neglected it any longer, Foreign Princes would take this work in hand, to the great Damage of the Nation: Whereupon he fled to Branspeth in the Bishoprick of Durham, to the Earl of Westmorland, and they joining in a Rebellion, summoned their Confederates, and issued out a Procla­mation in the Queen's Name, command­ing the people to put themselves in Arms for the Defence of her Majesty's Person. In their Banner was a Cross Painted, with the Five Wounds of Christ; yet after all, they never could assemble more than 2000 Horse, and 5000 Foot; so that tho they designed to have march­ed to York, they durst not do it; and upon the first News that the Earl of Sussex was advancing towards them, they disbanded these Tumultuous For­ces before he came up to them, and both the Farls fled into Scotland. The Earl of Northumberland was not long there before he was discovered by the Regent Northumber­land taken in Scotland. of Scotland, and was sent a Prisoner to the Castle of Lo [...]klevin, and in 1572, delivered into the Queen's hands; and [Page 134] the 22d of August in that year, he was Beheaded at York. The Earl of West­morland Westmorland fled into Flanders. fled into Flanders, and was re­ceived into the Protection of the Spani­ards, where he lived to a great Old Age, and died in the year 1584, having lived all that while he was there in great Pe­nury and Want. This was the last Earl of that Noble Family, which had en­joyed that Earldom Six Descents, from the year 1398, and was now wholly extinct, he being Attainted in Parlia­ment, and leaving none but Daughters behind him. As their Forces were small, they did but very little mischief to any besides themselves: First they marched to Durham, which they entred without Resistance, in a kind of silly Triumph, and entring the Churches, they cast to the ground the Bibles, and trod upon them, because they were English; and then they plundered all the Church-Treasures, threatning great Calamities to all those they called He­reticks: Then they went Northward, and Besieged Bernard-Castle, which Sir George Bowes defended against them Eleven days, and by that time they had taken it, Sussex was upon them, and they were forced to disband and fly for [Page 135] it; so little did the Popish Religion gain by this Abortive Insurrection.

When the Queen heard of this sud­den The Causes of the Mis­carriage of this Insurre­ction. Insurrection, she forthwith by the Advice of her Privy Council, issued out a sharp Proclamation against the two Earls and all the rest of the Com­manders and Abettors of this Rebellion; and exhorted all her Subjects to join heartily with her to revenge the Injury which was hereby offered both to her and them. The Popish Religion, which in the beginning of her Reign was not able to preserve it self, tho Established by Law when she came to the Crown, in the Thirteen years which she had now Reigned, was become so much less in Numbers than it was at her coming to the Crown, and her Throne was now so well established, that many of the Roman-Catholicks which were de­sirous enough of Innovation, durst not be too forward to appear, for fear the Event should prove ruinous to them: So that many of them sent the Earls Letters to them, to the Queen, and promised to assist her towards the sup­pressing this Rebellion. And the two Earls being by their Servants and a com­pany [Page 136] of hot-headed Priests, trick'd in­to a Rebellion, had made so little Pre­parations, that they seemed only to rise that they might fall the lower, and rise no more. But that which hastned the Reduction of them mostly, was the Reputation and Valour of Thomas Rat­cliff, Farl of Sussex, then President of the North: He was a Gentleman of great Industry and Experience, and having now the supreme Command in the North, he would not give them time to fill up their Numbers, but getting what Forces he could on a sudden toge­ther, he marched against them with an Army of 7000 men; and by his bold and quick approach struck Terror into the Rebels, and extinguished this dan­gerous Fire in its beginning. The two Earls were by this time sensible that a great part of the Popish Faction would not Rise, and that they had neither Numbers, nor Officers, nor Ammu­nition, nor Money to carry on a War; and besides, they heard that the Earl of Warwick and Clinton were Raising For­ces in the South, and had got together 12000 men, and were marching to­wards them: So that if they had beat­en Sussex, they had been sure of ano­ther [Page 137] Army in a few days, that would have ruined the Remains of their small Forces. So that they had no other course to take, than to disband their men, and skulk away as well as they could

Whilst the Earl of Northumberland The Calami­ties of the Earl of Nor­thumberland. continued at Liberty in Scotland, he was forced to lurk in a small Cottage destitute of Meat and Drink and all other Necessaries of human life, suita­ble to a Person of his Birth and Quality, as living amongst the bordering Thieves; and it was not long before they grew weary of him, and discover­ed him to the Regent of Scotland: Morton, the next Regent of Scotland, sold him after this, tho he had former­ly been very kindly entertained by this Earl, when he was forced to flec out of Scotland: So that as he had broke his Faith to his Mistress, he found no Faith, nor Pity, or Gratitude, amongst others, but was pursued to the Block by a Di­vine Vengeance, which turned every thing against him. But it was, how­ever, the happiness of this Family, that by his Attainder the Estate descended with the Title to Sir Henry Piercy, his [Page 138] younger Brother, upon whom it was by Name entailed by Queen Mary, when she re-granted this Earldom to this Thomas, in 1556; whereas the Family of the Nevils was intirely ruin­ed, and never got up again.

The Earl of Sussex prosecuted the The Earl of Sussex prose­cutes the Re­bels with great Seve­rity. Rebels with great Severity, tho he had obtained so easie a Victory, and with­out any Bloodshed, hanging many of them who had the misfortune to fall in­to his hands, plundering their Houses of all they had, and confiscating and seizing their Estates. And not content­ed with this, he led his Army into Scotland, in hopes to catch the Fugitive Earls, and wasted Tivedale with Fire and Sword, and then returned into England, without gaining what he sought. The Queen was so incensed against them too, that she Attainted all that she could find were concerned in it, that were men of Estate, but shewed more Mercy to the Poorer people, whose Ignorance might bespeak her Compassion. She ordered also her Thanks to be given to those Noblemen and Gentlemen, who in the heat of this Affair had taken Arms and come into [Page 139] her Assistance, commanding competent Rewards to be given to all that deserved them; and that they should spare the Lives of all those miserable men, who should beg her Pardon, and acknow­ledge their Fault.

Out of the Ashes of this Rebellion Another Re­bellion springeth out of this. there arose another at Naworth in the North part of Cumberland, upon Seve­rus's Wall, which was headed by Leo­nard the second Son of William Lord Dacres of Gillesland. This Gentleman was discontented, because the Estate of his Family was by Law so vested in the Daughters of Thomas Lord Dacres, his Elder Brother, that it would pass into other Families with them; and this was the first spring of this Motion: He was in the Conspiracy of the Two Earls, and was then at Court managing an Intrigue with some Foreign Ambas­sadors, for some Assistance to be sent to them; but finding the War began un­seasonably, he went to the Queen, and tendred her his Assistance against the Earls, and she granted him her Com­mission for the Raising men to that pur­pose: He thereupon sent some to en­courage the Earls to persist, and to as­sure [Page 140] them, That he would join them with what Forces he could raise; but before he could get down and get into a Posture of Assisting them, he saw all their Army dispersed, and they forced to flee into Scotland; whereupon he formed a Design to Murder the Bishop of Carlisle, and the Lord scrope, Warden of the West Marshes; which when he saw he could not effect, he recommend­ed the Two Earls to the Scots, and sei­zed Greistoke and Caworth Castles as his own, which belonged to the Family of the Dacres; and he got together about 3000 Borderers, with some others who were the Friends of that Ancient and Splendid Family. The Lord Hunsdon hearing of this Insurrection, drew out a part of the Garison of Berwick (of which he was Governour), and march­ed against this Incendiary, who met Hunsdon, and fought stoutly at the Head of his Party; which was yet at last over-powered and broken; the Lord Hunsdon having no great reason to be overjoyed at the Victory, by rea­son of the Number of men he lost: Dacres fled into Scotland, and was with the two Earls Attainted in the next Par­liament. Both these Rebellions were [Page 141] caused by Pope Pius his Bull, tho they broke out before the Bull was Published here in England, which was one great reason that they spread no further. The Delivery of the Queen of Scots, who was then in the Custody of George Earl of Shrewsbury; the Restoring the Po­pish Religion, and the suppressing the Protestant, was the last thing they aim­ed at; and the King of Spain was the Fomenter of these Troubles, and had sent them Assurances that he would send them Assistance from Flanders, and had his Agent at Court to promote it. But all these Projects being disappoint­ed, England soon returned to her for­mer state of Peace; and the rest of the Popish Party seeing their Weakness, and the Severity of the Government against these Ring-leaders, soon found how much it was their Interest to be quiet.

The secret Head of all these Motions, The Duke of Norfolk the secret Head of these Re­bellions. was Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who was the Richest, most Noble, and Wisest Peer then in England, and of the greatest Authority with the Queen, and no less beloved by the People. This Great Man having appeared a little over-inclined to favour the Interest of [Page 142] the Captive Queen of the Scots, in the XIth. year of the Queen's Reign, he drew upon himself both the Suspicion of the Queen, and the Practices of his Enemies at Home and Abroad: The Pope, the King of Spain, and many of the Nobility of England, for diffe­rent and very contrary ends, promoting a Marriage between the Queen of Scots, and this Duke; which being by the means of these Rebellions discovered in part to the Council of England, in the latter end of the year 1669, he was first Committed; he left the Court in Discontent, and resolved to Marry the Queen of S [...]ots, without the Queen of England's Leave, tho he had promised the Queen he would proceed no further in this business: Whereupon he was committed Prisoner to the Tower, in the year 1571; and the 16th. of January, 1572. he was found Guilty of High-Treason, and Beheaded the 15th. of June following. The Greatness of his Fortunes and Soul, and the wonderful Affection the People of England on all occasions shewed to this Noble Gentle­man, added to his Compassion for the Queen of Scots, who was a Lady of great Wit and Beauty, first stirred in [Page 143] him the thought of Marrying her upon her first coming into England; which coming to the Queen's ears, he was a little before the Rebellion of the North, put under Confinement; yet he found means to send Money to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland, but so privately, that after this he had his Liberty again. By the procurement of one Robert Ridolf, Agent for Pope Pius Quintus here in England, under the pretence of Merchandize, he was a­gain drawn into a secret Practice for the Marrying that Captive Queen; which being discovered to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, by the Duke's Se­cretary, out of mere Treachery, he was again Imprisoned, Tried, and Con­victed, by one whom he most trusted, and leaft suspected of Designing against him. Thus wonderfully did God ap­pear for this Religious Queen, turning all the Crafty Imaginations of her Ene­mies, and all their intended Violences, upon their own heads, for the Preser­vation of this Church and Nation.

‘Saith Mr. Cambden, The Love that The Chara­cter of the D. of Norf [...] the People of England bore to the Duke of Norfolk, is incredible, which [Page 144] he had acquired by a Courtesie and Goodness which was worthy of so great a Prince. The Wiser part of the Nation were very differently affected towards him, some being affrighted at the Danger which was threatned to the Nation from his Numerous Party, whilst he lived to Head them: And others very heartily commiserating this Noble Gentleman, who was of an excellent Temper, of great Beauty, and of a Manly Aspect, and would have been the Ornament and Securer of his Countrey, if the fraudulent Arts of his Enemies had not turned him out of his former course and way of living, by the deceivable hopes of greater things, and the specious pre­tences and shews of promoting the Publick Welfare. His End renewed the Memory of his Father's most un­happy Fate, who Twenty Five Years before was Beheaded in the same place, only because he wore the Scutcheon of Edward the Confessor, in his Arms; which were granted to the. Mowbrays, Dukes of Norfolk, from whom he was descended Lineally, by King Richard the IId.’

[Page 145] This Bull of Pope Pius V. and his Pra­ctises After these Rebellions followed a shoal of Treasons and Conspiracies. against England, produced a shoal of Traytors to plague that Generation; for they were ever after it restlefly plotting and conspiring against their Sovereign, their Countrey, and their Kindred, with an invincible perfidy and obstinacy, which the Executions of many could not extinguish: But yet the Calamity did not end there; for from the same Exuberant Fountain of Mischief, issued those refractory and stab­born Recusants, who separating from the Communion and Service of the Church of England (which till then they had frequented without the least scruple or difference) they set up Popish Conven­ticles, and the Latin Mass, and called over a swarm of Jesuits, Priests, and Monks, to in­fest the Nation, and incense those that en­tertained them, against the Religion and Government that was established, and so perpetuated our Quarrels, and kept open the bloody wounds of this Kingdom. This is the thing we have most reason to complain of, because it has brought upon all the succeeding Times, great miseries and di­stresses; and the Wisdom of our Fore­fathers has not been able to cure this Dis­ease. The Queen seeing in the mean [Page 146] time the mischief this would bring up­on her Kingdoms, and being roused by the Rebellions in the North, and the in­timations she had, that there were De­signs on foot against her Person and Life, took up a resolution to put a stop to it; and to that end, passed an Act in the next Parliament for the levying 20 l. Which occa­sioned the Acts of P. a­gainst the Re­cusants[?]. the Month, upon all that should refuse to go to Church, and attend at the Service of God; or to take the Oath of Supremacy. And finding that the Iesuits and Secu­lar Priests were, under the Mask and Pretence of Religion, the Spies and Partisans of Philip II. King of Spain, and the Emissaries and Promoters of the Papal Tyranny and Disorder; and that their greatest business was to pervert her Subjects, and to entice them to commit the most unnatural and horrid Crimes, she banished them for ever from her Kingdoms and Territories, and made it Treason for them to return, and Felo­ny for any of her Subjects (knowing them to be such) to entertain, conceal, or harbor them. This, which was design­ed by the Queen and the Government to cure, or rather to prevent their Trea­chery and Malice, by keeping them at a distance, inflamed their rage against [Page 147] her, so that concealing themselves under the Habits and Dresses of Lay men, and sometimes under the Disguise of Mechanick and mean Trades and Em­ployments, they lay as it were in am­bush, expecting and ready to catch at a­ny opportunity that offered it self to murther her.

In the year 1578. which was the The Colleges of the Jesuits opene lin Ean­ders, &c. 12th year of her Reign, and the very year when the Popish Schism began; se­veral of the Popish Priests fled over into Flanders, where Philip II. had already prepared for them a College at Doway; and here they put themselves under the Government of one William Alan, a Divine of Oxford; who having obtained a large Pension from the Pope, opened here a School for Rebellion and Trea­son; To the end (say they) that as the Papal Priests in England are by time ex­tinguished, there might always be a new Race to supply their Places, and sow the Seeds of the Roman Religion in Eng­land; and therefore they called these Pla­ces And called Seminaries. Seminaries, and those that were educated in them Seminary Priests. The first of these Seminary Priests sent Parson and Campian the two first Semi­nary Priests sent into Eng­land. over, were Robert Parson, and Edmund Campion, in the year 1580. Parson was [Page 148] a Somersetfhire man, of a furious and hot Temper, and of an ungenteel be­haviour: Campian was a Londoner, well bred, sweet and elegant, and both of them had been bred up in the Univer­sity of Oxford, and had profess'd the Protestant Religion. These men, upon their coming over into England, appear­ed sometimes in a Military Habit, sometimes in the Dress of a Gentleman, and at others in the Habits of the Cler­gy, and sometimes like Paritors, and frequented the Country Houses, and Seats of the Popish Nobility and Gentry. Parson was so hot with them for the deposing of the Queen, that some of them were strongly inclined to deliver him up in­to the Hands of the Magistrates. Cam­pian made it more his business to pervert the People by his Writings, to the Popish Religion; but his Reign was not long, for in the year 1581. he was taken and executed for High-Treason. The Queen had before this, put out a Procla­mation to give these men a caution be­fore-hand, That seeing they had put off all that Love which they owed to their Countrey, and the Allegiance which was due to her, they should yet behave them­selves prudently and modestly, and not irri­tate [Page 149] her Justice any farther against them; for she was now resolved not to be cruel to her self and her good Subjects any longer, by sparing such Miscreants, as she had found them to be: So that how severe­ly soever they were used, they had the less [...]ason to complain, because she had fairly before-hand told them what she meant to do, and what usage they might expect at her hands.

In the year 1583. Francis Throgmor­ton, the eldest Son of John Throgmor­ton, Chief Justice of Chester, Thomas Lord Paget, and Charles Arundel, and others of the Popish Religion, conspired to deliver the Queen of Scots out of her Confinement. Henry, Earl of Nor­thumberland, and Philip his Son, Earl of Arundel, were suspected, and confined to their own Houses: and some others were suspected, and difficultly delivered themselves. For about this time, the outragious Malice of the Popish Party against the Queen, broke out to that degree, that they printed Books to exhor [...] the Queens Servants to serve her as Judith did Holofernes The Author of which was never fully discovered, but i [...] was suspected that it was written by [Page 150] Gregory Martin of Oxford; but Carter, a Printer that printed it, was hanged; Throgm [...] had the same Fate; but Paget, and Charles Arundel, left the Nation, and went into France. Staf­ford, the Queen's Ambassador, desired they might be sent out of France, which was denied, because the Queen had at the same time entertained the Count de Montgomery, and had then with her, Sagner an Advocate of Berne, an Ambassador for the King of Na­var, who was endeavouring to promote a War in France.

In the year 1585. William Parry, a Parry's Con­spiracy a­gainst the Queen. Welshman by Birth, and of a very mean Extraction, meanly learned in the Ci­vil Law, but proud and gallant beyond his Means, being chosen a Member of the Lower-House, declaimed very furi­ously against a Bill then proposed in Parliament against the Jesuits, averring t [...]at it was a cruel, bloody, desperate Bill, and would be destructive to the Kingdom of England. Being desired to shew his Reasons for what he said, he refused to answer before any other than the Privy Council, whereupon he was commit­ [...]ed, and afterwards upon his submissi­on, [Page 151] readmitted into the House; but was afterwards accused by Edmund Nevil, the Heir Male of the House of West­morland, to have a Design against the Life of the Queen, which he confessed afterwards in the Tower, upon which he was tryed and executed.

In the year 1586. J. Ballard, a Ruf­fling Babington's Conspiracy. Priest of the College of Reims, came over to embroil the Nation, and made his visit to most of the Popish Nobility and Gentry in England and Scotland, being every where accompanied by one Mand, who was a Spy employed by Sir F. Walsingham. This Silken Priest His Character. came into England about Easter, and contracted a great acquaintance and friendship with Mr. Anth. Babington, of Dethick in Derbyshire, a young Gen­tleman of good Birth and Estate, of great Wit, and Learned above his years; but being a great Zealot for the Romish Religion, he about a year before this, without the Queen's leave, went into France, and there was first debauched as to his Loyalty by Morgan, an Agent for the Scotchmen in that Court. Bal­lard informed this Gentleman, that the Queen of England would not live long, [Page 152] because there was one Savage come over Savage sent to assassinate the Q [...]en. to assassinate her. This Project did not please Babington, so he formed a new Design, in which were Edward, Brother The Persons in Babington's Conspiracy. to the Lord Windsor, Thomas Saris­bury, of the County of Denbigh, Charles Tilney, one of the Gentlemen Pensio­ners that waited upon the Queen, and the only hope of his Family; but re­conciled to the Church of Rome un­der-hand by this Ballard; Chidick Tich­burn, of the County of Southampton, Edward Abington, Son of the Queen's Cosserer; Robert Grage of Surry, John Traverse, John Charnock of Lancaster, John Jones, whose Father had been Master of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary; Sava [...]e, and one Barnwell of a Noble [...] Family;; Henry Dun, a Clerk in the Tenth and First Fruits Office; and there was one Polle, who pretended to be a great Friend of the Queen of Scots, and was trusted very much in her Affairs, though he was a Spy employed by Walsingham the Secretary. Nave, the Scotch Queens Secretary, had in some degree scented the Treachery of this false Brother, and had given them a caution to beware of him; but he appeared so active to promote the Conspiracy, and [Page 153] pushed them on in the Design with so much Zeal and Warmth, that they had no manner of suspicion of him, tho he every day discovered to the Secretary what they did or said.

Babington was the great Manager of Babington the great Actor in it. this Plot, and assigned to every one of them his business, without communi­cating to all the Orders he had given to the several Parties. He was very earnest that Tilney and Tichburne should be the men that should assassinate the Queen, which they at first stoutly refused, till Ballard and Babington undertook to prove to them, That it was lawful to kill an Excommunicated Prince; and that if Justice was in any cause to be violated, it was for the sake of the Catholick Religion; Yet they at last did not hear [...]ily consent, but in some sort yielded, but with great reluctance, Abington, Barnwell, [...]bar­nock, and Savage, were on the other hand prepared and ready for mischief, and so needed no Perswasion. Sarisbury would never be perswaded to have any hand in the Death of the Queen; but then he promised his assistance for the freeing the Queen of the Scots. Whilst they were contriving the Design, and ta­lting [Page 154] care for Foreign Forces to second it, Gilbert Giffard a Priest, was sent over to put Savage in mind of his Promise, who was born of a good Family at Chellington[?] in Staffordstire, not far from Chartley Castle, where the Queen of Scots was then a Prisoner; and he came over under the Name of Luson. His other Business was to take care to transmit beyond Sea the Queen of Scots Letters, which several others of Grea­ter Quality had refused. This Giffard betrayed the whole Business to Secretary Walsingham, and sent him all theirs, and the Queen of Scots Letters; So that the whole Design was discovered, and to be proved as clear as the Light in Heaven. Whereupon the Queen orde­red Ballard to be taken up, and Babing­ton to be so closely observed, that he could not stir. Giffard was sent into France, where being suspected, he was clapt up in Prison, and perished misera­bly. The 13th of September, seven of the Conspirators were arraigned, and confessed the Crime, viz. Ballard, Ba­bington, Savage, Barnwell, Tichburn, Tilney, Abington; seven denied it, and put themselves upon their Tryal. Ba­bington was executed with great severi­ty; [Page 155] Savage broke the Rope, and was cut up alive, without any hanging: These two, with Savage, Barnwell, Tichburn, Tilney, and Abington, were executed with great rigour the 20th of Sept. in St. Giles's Fields. The next day the other seven were executed with more mercy, the Queen detested the cut­ting them up alive, as had been done the day before: These were Sarisbury, Duns, Jones, Charnock, Traverse, Gage, and one Bellamy, who was not in the Plot, but had a Brother in it, who hanged himself in Prison; and Bellamy was executed for concealing Babington, after he was declared to be a Tray­tor.

This Conspiracy being thus detected, This Conspi­racy proved fatal to the Queen of the Scots. proved fatal to the Queen of Scots, and was the Cause and Pretence of her Death, she being tryed as one of them that had an hand in it, as without doubt she had.

The Papists in that, and all the suc­ceeding A Justificati­on of Queen Elizabeth a­gainst the Re­proaches of the Papists. Ages, have belched out against Queen Elizabeth, the Hellish Steams of an enraged Mallce, traducing her as the most bloody and unmerciful Ty­rant [Page 156] that ever yet swayed a Scepter; and averring that the Roman Catholicks suffered as much or more in her Reign, than all the Primitive Christians did under the Pagan and Arian Roman Em­perors. Now if this were literally true, yet they have no reason to com­plain, because they brought all this up­on themselves, by their abominable Perfidy and Treasons, which the other never were guilty of. For could they think she was bound to sit still, and suf­fer them to depose and murther her? No; but if they find the Person of a Prince is out of their reach, that they cannot destroy it, their next care is, to defame them to Posterity, and so to murther their Reputation. But the ne­cessary Inference is, That this is the worst Religion that ever got foot a­mongst men, and equally destructive to its own Votaries, and others, by put­ting them that embrace it, upon such base and detestable Practices, as must ruin both Body and Soul, and make their Names infamous to Posterity. Who can consider the Untimely End of Mr. Babington, a hopeful Young Gen­tleman, and not detest to the Pit of Hell, the Baseness and Treachery of Ballard [Page 157] and Gifford, those Firebrands of Hell, that brought him to so Untimely a Grave, with Infamy and Horrible Tor­tures; for he was perfectly alive when he was cut open, and said after he was cut down, Parce mihi Domine Jesu; Lord Jesus spare me. And however unjustifiable the Execution of the Queen of Scots is, these were the men that brought her too to an Untimely Grave, and betrayed her into the hands of her Enemies; and in the Day of Judg­ment thty shall answer for her Blood.

The Queen in the mean time finding The Queen has a plenti­ful Supply gi­ven her in Par­liament. her Treasury exhausted by the vast Ex­pences she had been put to for the up­holding the Hollanders against the Spani­ards; to whom in the year 1576. she Lent 20000 l and after that time she furnish­ed them several times: And in the year 1585. she had Cautionary Towns gi­ven her, and openly espoused their Cause, and undertook the protection of them. All these great Expences, and her Troubles at home, enforced her to demand Assistance of her Subjects in Parliament, which was accordingly gi­ven by the Temporality and the Clergy most freely and liberally, and with a [Page 158] kind of Emulation which should give most. The Queen finding on the other side, that of four Subsidies that were gi­ven her, three would do her business, she by her Proclamation discharged the She dischar­geth a Part of what was granted by her Proclama­tion. fourth, and so much of the other three as was not levied; presuming that the backwardness of the payment was occa­sioned only by the poverty of those that should have paid it. Thus her Care and Thrift enabled her to maintain a vast Charge with a small Revenue; and at the same time relieve the needy part of the Nation, by her remitting one Part, and the whole Nation by re­leasing another Part; which won the Hearts of her People to that degree, that they never after denied her whatever she asked.

The Spaniards finding their Naval The Spaniards send Lopez and two o­thers to murther the Queen. Preparation in 1588. defeated; all their Designs against the Hollanders baffled; their Attempts in Ireland disappointed; their Forces wasted, and the Floods of Treasure the New World then sent them, exhausted to small or no pur­pose; in the Year 1594. out of meer spite and desperation they condescended so low, as to employ one Roder [...]ck Lo­pez [Page 159] a Jew, and a Physician by Profes­sion, to Poyson the Queen; Stephen Fer­reira Gama, and Emanuel Loisio, two Portuges, to stabher; but all this was so seasonably discovered to the Queen by the Letters that were sent to them, and intercepted by her Subjects, that they were all three taken up, and they all confessed their several Treasons, and had Sentence of Death sor it, and they were all three executed for it; together with one Cullin, an Irish Fencing-Ma­ster, who was hired by the Fugitives in Cullin, York, and Wil­liams, sent from Flanders on the same Errand. Flanders, and sent over to Murther the Queen, which he also confessed. And not long after, Edmund York, and Rich­ard Williams were hired by D. Ybarra, a Spaniard, and these Fugitives, and sent into England on the same Errand, and here taken up. When the Queen was told of all the base Conspiracies against And executed in 1595. her Life, she was no way terrified at the danger, tho she saw Henry the III. fall by their Hands in the Year 1589. in France; but repeated that Passage in the Psalms, Thou art my God, my time is in thy hand, (Psalm 31.) And with a Maseuline Courage, despi­sing all their Rage and Baseness, she took great care of her self, and put her [Page 160] whole trust in God: For the rest, per­sisting She spared none of those who fell into her hands. to her dying day in her first Reso­lution, not to spare one of these Tray­tors that fell into her hands, as she at first told them in a Proclamation she would not: And this is the true way of dealing with these Implacable Monsters, who are neither worthy of Mercy, nor capa­ble of Repentance.

This Censure may possibly seem too A Digression concerning William Parry. severe to those that are not perfectly acquainted with the Principles and Tempers of these Men; and therefore it will not be amiss to confirm it with an Example: William Parry, mention'd above, was employed by the Jesuits to murther the Queen, and they had tho­roughly pèrswaded him, That there was nothing more Glorious than to die for the service of the Church; and that he would be reputed a Martyr, if he could ex­tirpate her who was the Favourer of Here­sie, and the Enemy of the Church. To this End he came into England, in the Year 1583. And to insinuate himself into the Queen's Favour (whose Ser­vant he had formerly been) and to ob­tain her belief, he freely and openly told her, that he had been solicited to [Page 161] Murther her, by Morgan and other Fugi­tive Priests beyond the Seas; Pretending that he had entred into a Familiarity with them to no other end, than to disco­ver their secret Designs against her, and to take care of her Safety, to whom he owed his Life; she having pardoned him when he had forfeited it to Justice, in the year 1580. The Queen heard all this Story with an unconcerned Cou­rage, and told him, That none of the Catholicks should be called in question on account of his Religion, or of the Pope's pretended Supremacy, if they behaved themselves in all other things like good Subjects. Which words he afterwards confessed made such an impression on his mind, that he could not forget them: And after this he was so much in her good opinion, that he solicited for an Employment; but receiving a Letter from the Cardinal of Coma, wherein he commended the Design he was engaged in, (saith he) and sending him an Absoluti­on Parry's Con­fession. in the Pope's Name; tho he shewed the Letter to the Queen, yet he persisted in his Resolution to Assassinate her; and from thenceforward had no scruple in his mind concerning the Lawfulness of the Fact. But then he pretended he was resolved first [Page 162] to try if he could perswade her by fair means to use the Catholicks more favoura­bly: And when at any time he went to the Queen, he would lay by his Dagger, for fear the Opportunity should be too strong a Temptation to him. When he looked up­on her, and considered her Royal Virtues, he confessed he was staggered in his mind: But his Vows were in Heaven, and his Letters and Promises on Earth, that he would do it; and this perpetually dis­quieted him, and put him on. At last he fell upon a Book written by Alan a Jesuit, to prove, That Princes that were Ex­communicated, might be Deposed or Slain; and this Book was a strong Motive to him to go on with the Treason. And he communicated it to Nevil, (who af­terwards Accused him); and they two having taken an Oath of Secrefse each to other, formed a Design to set upon her with Ten Horsemen when she was in the Countrey, and so Murther her. They could, however, never find the oppor­tunity; and about six months after this the Earl of Westmorland dying, and Nevil being his next Heir, he discovered His Design discovered by one Nevil. to Secretary Walsingham this Conspira­cy. By the Queen's Order he sent for Parry, and asked him, If he had had [Page 163] any Treaty with any Dissatisfied or Su­spected person; opening him a door for his Escape; but he plainly denied he ever had; for if he had confessed it, and said he did it to try Nevil, he had without doubt escaped; but the Crime he had resolved upon, had blinded his eyes so, that he could not see it: Nay, he had the Impudence to say, That tho the Queen had twice spared his Life, yet he was not beholden to her for it, because it had been unjust to have taken it. The greatest part of this Narra­tive is extracted from his own Confes­sion before the Lord Chancellor Hatton, and others; so that there can be no doubt of the Truth of it.

This her Severity to them struck a The Queen's Severity to these Conspi­rators made her terrible to the Eng­lish Papists. great Terror into the minds of the Eng­lish Papists, when they every where saw the Heads and Quarters of their Party exposed to the publick view, but nothing could cure or appease their fe­stered Malice. Her Majesty and Pre­sence, we see, was able to excite the Admiration, and her undaunted Valour to terrifie this Cut-throat, as he con­fessed; but tho she charmed his hands, yet neither was her Mercy or Goodness [Page 164] able to melt his hardned heart; nor was her Severity towards him and other such Miscreants, sufficient to mitigate the enraged Malice of the rest of the Jesuits and Popish Villains, but they still went on with their Hellish Designs to destroy her. But when all was done, the Goodness of God watched over her to preserve her, and frustrated all the Designs of wicked men against her: and without this, all the wise Counsel of Burleigh and Walsingham, and the rest of her Servants would have signi­fied nothing. We may see Henry the But it was God that pre­served her. IIId. of France, and Henry the IVth. his Successor, tho they both professed the Roman-Catholick Religion, were Assassinated in the day time, in the midst of their Servants and Friends, by these Religious Villains, when it was not pos­sible they that did it could escape; and yet this Queen, who was more hated than either of them, and less able to de­fend her self, in the spite of all their Malice Reigned above Forty four years, and died in Peace. And it is worth the observing, That in all the times since the Reformation began, which is now One hundred seventy five years, though they have been engaged in endless Plots [Page 165] against the Protestant Princes, yet they There has been but one Protestant Prince Mur­thered since the Reforma­tion, by them. have been so far disappointed by the spe­cial Providence of God, that I do not know of any Prince they have been able to Assassinate, but Willian the First, Prince of Orange; and him they at­tempted twice before it succeeded.

In the year 1567. there broke out a The second Civil War in France. second Civil War in France, on the score of Religion, which filled that once most flourishing Kingdom with Factions and Seditions, and strangely exagitated the Towns and great Cities of that Kingdom; so that the people of France ran upon each other as if they had been divided and set on by a Di­vine Judgment. Catherine de Medicis, the Queen Dowager of France, had then assumed the Supreme Government, as Guardian to CharlesIX. herSon, who was then a Minor: She and her Council were contriving by all the ways that were possible, to suppress the Protestants of France, which grew numerous during the Minority of the King, and under the Favour and Protection of the last Treaty; to this end they had ordered some men to be Levied in Champagne, and had sent for Six thousand Swiss: [Page 166] The Prince of Conde, and Coligny, ob­serving these Preparations, concluded they were made against them, and re­solved to begin first; and they formed a Design to surprize the King and the Queen-Mother at Meaux; but she being informed of it, withdrew in the night time towards Paris; the Prince of Conde being thus disappointed, follow­ed them to Paris, and Besieged that City, which being reduced to some streights, there followed a Fight at St. Dennis, in which Montmorancy was slain, but the Protestants were driven out of the Field; and they fell next up­on Chartres, which they besieged. Queen Elizabeth thereupon ordered her Ambassador Norris to interpose be­tween the Parties, and bring them to a Peace, as he did, but it was short, and full of Insincerity and Treachery. The Queen-Mother of France was now so afraid of Queen Elizabeth, that to pre­vent her sending Succours to the Prote­stants, she caused a Marriage to be pro­posed between her and the Duke of An­jou her Second Son, who was after­wards King of France, by the name of Henry III. and was now about Seven­teen years of Age, but this Treaty end­ed [Page 167] with the Peace, for the procuring of which it was began.

In the year 1568. the War broke The third Civil War of France. out again, by the Perfidy of the Popish Party, who had now joined with the Spaniards, by a Treaty made in a clan­destine manner at Baionne, in the year 1565. for the Extirpating the Protestant Religion in France and Flanders, and the mutual assisting each other to that pur­pose. And the Duke de Alva, the Spa­nish Governor of the Low-Countries, had Orders to join with the Guises in this Religious work; and tho the King of France had in the beginning of this year promised them of that Persuasion Liberty of Conscience, yet he soon af­ter put out an Edict to forbid all publick Exercise of any other Religion in France but the Roman-Catholick; and commanding all the Protestant Mini­sters to depart out of France within a certain time. This was followed by a severe Prosecution, and in many places they were Assassinated or Robbed, and all France was thereupon in Arms: Queen Elizabeth ordered her Ambassa­dor to use all his Endeavours to procure a solid and a sincere Peace, shewing the [Page 168] King, the Methods prop [...]sed would only serve to exasperate the minds of his Peo­ple, and deprive him of the Service of his most faithful Subjects; so that the Forces of France being diminished with his People, his Kingdom would be exposed to the Violence of its Enemies: A Con­sideration which Lewis the XIVth. may have reason one day to think more seri­ously of: But now it was rejected, and the young King of France sent into Spain to borrow Money, and into Ger­many and Italy to raise Auxiliary Forces to carry on the War: Whereupon the Queen resolved not to be wanting to the common Protestant Interest (which was now plainly struck at); and upon the French Protestants assuring her, That they had not taken up Arms a­gainst the King's Authority, but for their own sale Defence, she sent them One She sends 100000 Crowns, and great Stores of Arms and Ammunition into [...] to the Prote­stants. hundred thousand Crowns in Money, and great Stores of Ammunition, and entertained all the French that fled into England, with great Humanity. It is worth the observing here, the Wild Notions of Passive Obedience, which have been since set on foot, were not in being in these times, the Queen desi­ring no other Security or Justification, [Page 169] than this Protestation, which being A Reflection concerning Passive Obe­dience. joined with her own knowledg of the Designs of the Guises, was then thought sufficient to warrant a Defensive War, when nothing less than the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion was intend­ed. She did not think these Subjects of France were obliged to submit to an Extirpation, because it was the Will of their Monarch to have it so; nor that she Assisted Rebels and Traytors a­gainst their Lawful Prince, when she undertook the Defence of those of her own Religion against a Tyrant, who contrary to all Faith and Humanity, had designed the Destruction of those he was bound and had promised to protect.

The King of France seeing by this time a destructive War would follow, The King of France la­boureth to divide the Protestants, without Suc­cess. to distract the [...]inds and divide the Forces of the Protestants, promised that all those that continued quiet at home, should be tolerated; but this Facility, as a Jesuit calls it, when it was a mere Treachery, had no effect, the Perfidy of it was palpable: If he was in good ear­nest, why had he Revoked the former Edict, and began the War? Who [Page 170] could reconcile these two contrary E­dicts, That they should and should not be tolerated at one and the same time? The Pope to promote this War, gave the King leave to sell Church-Lands, to the Value of 50000 Crowns by the year; and saith the same Jesuit, Never were Church Revenues better employed, or granted away upon a better reason. The destruction of Hereticks with Fire and Sword, contrary to the Publick Faith, is certainly a most Holy Work, and an Excellent Subject to spend the Reve­nues of the Church on. The next year the Armies drew into the Field, and in March there followed a Fight at Jarnac, in which the Prince of Condé was slain, and Coligni became General of the Pro­testants; and after this another at Mon­contour, in which the Protestants lost 20000 men: They renewed their For­ces, however, with that Alacrity, that in the year 1570 they forced the King, after a vast Expence of Blood and Trea­sure, when he saw he could not any lon­ger continue the War without apparent Ruin, to make a Peace on the same terms with the former. The Queen-Mother The true Causes of this and the other Civil Wars of France. was the Firebrand of France, and by her Dissimulation and Hypocri­sy, [Page 171] raised all these Combustions there. She was jealous of the Princes of the Blood, of the House of Bourbon, who were become the Heads of the Prote­stants in that Kingdom; and she was perpetually Plotting how to ruin them, or force them to preserve themselves by War. The King of Spain pushed on rhe Incendiaries of France, under pre­tence of securing the Catholick Religi­on, but with a Design at the bottom to weaken that Kingdom by their intestine Wars, and at last to subdue it. Queen Elizabeth observed all this, and saw whither it tended; and by her seasona­ble Supplies upheld the Protestant Par­ty, The Queen of England preserv'd the Protestants of France. which was the weaker, till she for­ced the Court of France to see its Er­ror, and lay aside, or rather change their destructive Methods, for others that were more infamous, and as in­effectual. In the mean time the noble Kingdom of France was desolated by Fire and Sword, their Populous Towns destroyed, their Rich Churches and Monasteries plunder'd, their Nobility and Gentry slain on both sides, and by their own Swords; their Matrons Ravished, and the Children Murdered in the Arms [Page 172] of their Parents, and France was more wasted by this War in her bowels, than by all the Foreign Wars she had been engaged in from the time the English were expelled, to that time. Was ever Church-Treasures better spent?

At the same time that France was thus miserably harass'd by an intestine The begin­ning of the Low-Countrey War. War, the Spaniards were as busie in the Low-Countries to extirpate Heresie, as they pretended, but in truth to deprive those Provinces, under that pretence, of their Ancient Liberties and Civil Privi­leges, and to submit them to the Servi­tude of the Insolent Spaniards, that so they might from thence pass on to the Conquest of England and France, and so erect an Universal Monarchy in Eu­rope; which Design they had Vanity enough to discover. To this end, in the year 1564. they erected Seven new bishopricks to curb that people. In the year 1565. he commanded the Coun­cil of Trent to be Revived, together with the Inquisition, and a strict obser­vation of the Edicts concerning Religi­on. Upon this the Nobility of those Countries, as well those that persisted [Page 173] in the Roman-Catholick Religion, as those that were well inclined to the Re­formation, seeing the Liberty and Riches, Trade and Commerce of their Countrey must be ruined, if these courses were taken, they interceded with Margaret the King's Sister, their Regent, that the King's Letter might not be put in execution; but she went on, however, and they on the other hand stood upon their guard, and as much as was possible hindred it. The next year the Quarrel grew higher, and the multitude rose in many places with an irresistible fury, and destroyed all the Images in the Churches of many of the great Cities; the Torrent ran so high, and was so impetuous, that the Regent was forced to publish an Edict of Li­berty Liberty of Conscience treacherously granted, and re-called. of Conscience, to appease the people, the Spaniards being not able by any other means to secure the Possessi­on of these Countries; but so soon as the people were quieted, the Edict was recalled; which they owned was granted only to gain time to send for Men and Moneys, to force the Inhabi­tants of the Netherlands to submit to the King's Will, and to punish them for their disobedience. Yet however, [Page 174] in the mean time, whilst this Edict was observed, all places returned to the former state of Peace, and Trade went on successfully; so that if the King of Spain could have perswaded himself to have complied with his Interest in this Affair, he and his Posterity had conti­nued in the Peaceable Possession of these Provinces, which would have been worth the owning, Rich, Populous, and Potent, and able to defend them­selves against the French. But by pur­suing contrary Methods, he brought a War upon himself, which wasted Spain, ruined his Treasures, erected a part of these Provinces into an Independent Commonwealth; and so depopulated and impoverished the rest, that they are not able to defend themselves against the French: So that the breaking this E­dict, proved the Ruin of all the Spanish Greatness.

This Liberty of Conscience, which The King of Spa [...]n enra­ged at the Edict for Li­berty of Con­science. was extorted from the Regent by pure Force and Fear, being sent into Spain to be confirmed by the King, he was highly displeased at it, and ordered some of his Council to let the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont know, ‘That [Page 175] if they or either of them had opposed these Insurrections with that Bravery they had shewed on other occasions, and as they were bound in Duty to have done, things could never have been brought by the Populace into the state they were now in: That if yet they would do their Duty without mincing or dissembling, absolutely, they might reduce things into the for­mer state, or at least keep them as they were, till the King could come thither himself to settle them. That it was the Duty of a good Subject, when he once knew his Prince's Plea­sure, to set himself roundly, (with­out considering what should be the event to himself or others), to put the same in execution, and that willingly, readily, and effectually, tho he him­self were of a contrary opinion; for that it did not become them to think themselves wiser than their Prince, since they were his Subjects and Vas­sals.’ They had Advices at the same time from Spain, That the King was fixedly resolved to oppose these Grants of his Sister the Regent, both to pre­vent the Example as to his other Pro­vinces, and also preserve the Popish [Page 176] Religion in these. And they were in­formed The Spani­ards design to settle an Absolute and Arbitra­ry Govern­ment in the N [...]therlands. also, that under the pretence of pre­serving the Catholick Religion in the Ne­therlands, there was a Design formed to advance the King's Power; and that they were not displeased ai Court, that they had this occasion given them to bring the whole under, and settle in them a new and more Absolute Form of Government, be­cause they concluded in Spain, That all the Obstinacy the people had shewn, pro­ceeded from their Reliance upon their great Freedoms and Privileges. But then this was to be concealed with the utmost care from them; and the King and the Regent to delude and deceive them, wrote the kindest Letters, and spoke the sweetest Words to the Confederate Lords, and especially to the Prince of Orange, that the Wit of man could in­vent. But in the mean time, the Re­gent Levied Two Regiments in Flan­ders, under the Earls of Arenbergh and M [...]em, and Two more in Germany, un­de [...] Count Philip of Overstein, and Three of Walloons, and a German Regiment of Horse, under Count Mansfield: These Forces were Levied in distant places, and upon different pretences, and brought into, or near the Provinces; [Page 177] and then the Regent began to throw off her Mask by degrees; And she ordered The Regent grows severe against the Protestants, on various pretences. the Protestant Meetings and Sermons in many places to be disturbed, pretending they were not kept just in the same place that they were at first allowed. And after, she went on and seized on and imprisoned some of the Preachers on the same pretence; and she hanged one of them near AE­LEST. And when complaint was made of these Proceedings to the Re­gent, she would sometimes say, Her Consent was not free, but extorted from her by fear, and therefore she was not bound to keep her Promise. And at other times she would say, She promised them a Li­berty to Preach, but she never meant they should Marry, Bury, Baptize, Administer the Lord's Supper, and hold Consistories, and the like.

When the Regent saw her Forces at Valenciennes commanded to receive a Garison. hand, she wrote to the City of Valen­tiennes to receive a Garison, in the year 1566, because that City was more in­clined to embrace the Reformed Religi­on, than any of the rest in the Low-Countries, and had rescued some that were condemned to be burnt for Here­sie heretofore, and also because it was [Page 178] near [...]r to France, and so more suspect­ed. They refused to comply with this Command, alledging many Reasons and Privileges to the contrary; and were thereupon proclaimed Rebels the 14th. of December. After this, all means good and bad were used to prevent the exercise of the Protestant Religion; which had its effect in all places, but Amsterdam, Antwerp, Sherlogen-bosk, Maestricht, Utrecht, and Ghent; for these Cities still upheld it. These Pro­ceedings alarm'd the Cities of Flanders; and Antwerp sent a Committee of the principal Inhabitants to consult with the Deputies of the Cities in Brabant, The rest of the [...] petition for a General As­sembly of the States. who all joined in a Petition to the Re­gent, That there might be a General As­sembly of the States, to take present or­der concerning the business of Religion, by provision, That then new Orders might be therein made for the preserving the true Christian Religion, the Authority and Majesty of their King, and for the pro­moting the Prosperity of these Provin­ces: That in the mean time assurance should be given to those of the Reformed Religion, That they should not be molested or disquieted during this Suspension: That after the said States have resolved [Page 179] with the King how they will settle these things, those that were not satisfied with their Orders, might have some Months time given them to retire in, whither they pleased; and those that would submit, should have a general Pardon granted them. This reasonable Request was ve­ry little debated, because they of the Council knew the King's mind; but was altogether rejected. The princi­pal Nobility of these Countries there­upon met at Dermond [...]: And here was read the Letter written by the Lord Montigni, giving an account how much the King of Spain resented the present state of Affairs in the Low·Countries: And there was also read a Letter writ­ten by Francis Davala, the Spanish Am­bassador in the Court of France, to the Regent of Flanders, the 29th. of Au­ [...]ust, The Design [...] of Spain di­scovered to the Nobility of the Nether­lands. 1566. which was intercepted; ‘wherein he endeavoured to confirm her Highness in her opinion, That all the Calamities of the Netherlands sprang from the Triumvirate, (mean­ing the Prince of Orange, and the Counts of Egmont and Hoorne): That it was fit nevertheless to shew these all the respect that was possible; and to tell them, that the King owned the pre­serving [Page 180] those Countries to have been the effect of their Loyalty and good Service: But yet when time served he would punish them: And also the two Lords that were now in Spain, who should be kept there still to that purpose, with Counsellor Rennert; and that the King had sworn at Madrid,’ That he saw well that what had hap­pened in the Netherlands, was not only prejudicial to his Honour, but also to the Service of God, which touched him so near, that he would run the ha­zard of losing all the Dominions he had, rather than not chastise this Re­bellion exemplarily in the sight of all Christendom; and that he would go thither in Person, and send to the Em­peror and the Pope for Assistance. ‘That his Majesty would certainly reap great Advantages from the ill things that had been done; and expected to see those Countries brought under his Absolute Command; and to settle af­ter this, both the Religion and the Civil Government, as he thought fit; which the King could never have done, if these things had not hapned. That the King had desired this a long time, and they had now given him [Page 181] means to bring them under as to the Civil State, and to quiet them as to the matters of Religion, as he thought fit.’

Thus the Crafty Spaniard made up The Disco­very at the first only ter­rified and di­vided them. his reckoning without his host, and in the end found himself deceived. The Nobility were never able, howev [...]r, to come to any Resolve, because Count Egmont was resolved to throw himself upon the King's Mercy, and the Prince of Orange durst not undertake to Head the Leaguers against so Potent and Im­placable a Prince as Philip the IId. was then: So this Discovery terrified and divided, instead of uniting them: And Valenciens besieged. the City of Valenciens in the mean time defended it self very resolutely, from the 14th. of December to the 24th. of March, and then was forced to submit to Mercy: Norcarmes, the General for the King of Spain, thereupon hanged up their Ministers, and about Two hundred of the best of the Inhabitants; whereupon the Regent forced or per­swaded a great part of the Nobility to take an Oath to maintain the Roman-Catholick Religion; but yet the Prince of Orange, and some few others, refu­sed [Page 182] it, and retired. After this, she fell to shut up all the Protestant Meet­ing-Houses, and opened the Popish Churches, furnishing them splendidly with new Images, and other such-like Necessaries; and they hanged up the contrary Party by whole-sale, fifty or an hundred in a place, some for pul­ling down their Images, and others for bearing Arms against the Government: And in some of the greater Cities they A bloody Persecution against the P [...]otestants of the Nether­lands. hanged up two, three, or four hundred men, making Gallows of the Timber of their Meeting Houses Upon this many thousands of the Inhabitants of these Countries retired, some into Eng­land, and others into Germany; so that by the beginning of May, 1567. the Regent was intirely Mistress of all the Seventeen Provinces, and there was not the least opposition any where made to whatsoever she was pleased to order. Yet the King was never the more ap­peased; but so soon as he heard the In­habitants were mastered and brought under, he put John Marquess of Bergen ap Zoom, and the Marquess Van Mon­tigni, two Flandrian Noblemen, both of the Roman Catholick Religion, who went into Spain to inform him of the [Page 183] state of Affairs, and to induce him to shew pity to his good Subjects, into Pri­son; where they both perished, by what means was not known; and besides, he seized both their Estates. In truth, after long consultation it was resolved, That the first L [...]gal Pretence that should be offered, should be taken to bridle these provinces, that they might so be brought into the new form of Conquered King­doms, and be put under other Laws: They pretended also, that it was impossible with­out this to keep these Countries in the Ro­man-Catholick Religion, because they were on all sides surrounded with Heretick Countries, and relied very much upon their Civil Privileges and Liberties; and this reason was very much pressed upon the King's Conscience by the Fathers of the Inquisition. So that these Countries were doom'd to Slavery and Oppression, as the only means to preserve Popery, which can never thrive in a free en­lightned Countrey: And their case was perfectly like ours; for we too of late were to be Conquered, and our Laws changed for the same end.

It was observed with great wonder on all sides, That when they took so [Page 184] many, and punished so severely those The Breakers of Images not put upon it by the Re­formed. that had pull'd down and destroy'd the Images, there was not one of them to be found, that would confess that they had been put upon this, or persuaded to it, by those of the Reformed Religi­on; but they all said it proceeded from an Impulse upon th [...]ir minds, of which they could give no account: But however, in Spain it was resolved to take the op­portunity The use Spain designed to make of this Disorder. of these Troubles, to bring under and subdue all these Provinces, and to deprive them, by way of Punish­ment, of all their Privileges and Liber­ties; and altho all was quiet in the be­ginning of the year 1567, yet they were not satisfied with the Punishment of the particular persons that had offended, but resolved to extend their Revenge to all the Provinces, and to those of their own Religion, as well as to their Oppo­sers: And to fulfil this Bloody Tyranni­cal The Chara­cter of the Duke of Alva. Resolution, the Duke d' Alva was chosen, a man of great Experience in Warlike Affairs, and well acquainted with these Countries, and of a merci­less violent Temper. The Inquisition and Clergy of Spain opened their Trea­sures, and furnished the King liberally with Money also, for they looked upon [Page 185] this as an Holy War, and hoped to make it the dawning to a general Destructi­on of the Protestants. This Duke ar­rived at Brussels the 22d. of August, He comes in­to Fland [...]rs. 1567. with 8678 Spanish and Italian Foot, and 1600 Horse; and 12000 Ger­man Horse and Foot; tho all was quiet, and no opposition to be feared, if they he brought with him did not cause it: He concealed a great part of his Com­mission; yet what he produced of it, went very much beyond that which had been given to the Regent that now was recalled and discharged of the Go­vernment. The Duke usurped present­ly an Absolute and Uncontroulable Au­thority; and having appointed a Coun­cil The Coun­cil of Blood setled. of Twelve Bloody Men, he disposed of the Lives and Fortunes of the Sub­jects of the Low-Countries, of all States and Conditions, contrary to their Laws, without any Appeal, Reformation, or Revision of his Sentence. He proceed­ed to that height of Cruelty and Ty­ranny, that Nine of the Twelve left the Council out of pure shame, and went home: For he had obtained from the King before he came thither, a Full, Absolute, Sovereign Authority, which was not bounded by any L [...]ws or Instructions, [Page 186] and was not to be contradicted by any body: Which was contrary to all the Laws of that people, and to the King's Oath and Promise; but he relied upon his Forces, and was not at all concerned what men thought or said of him. Amongst the Eighteen Rules which the Council of Blood prescribed to themselves to judge by, these were some.

1. All Petitions made by the States, Their Rules. Cities, or Nobility of the Land, against the New Bishops and the Inquisition, or to have any of the Placaets made by the King or Council moderated, were Conspi­racies against God and the King.

2. That all the Lords, Nobility, and Governors, that had not appeared against the Petitions, Preachings, and breaking down of Images, are guilty of the same Crime, tho they appeared discontented at them, and ashamed.

3. And all those that took the Proceed­ings of this Court for Tyrannical, Unjust, or Illegal.

The First this Council began with, The Counts of Egmont and Hoorne the first they sei­zed. was Count Egmont, the Count Van Hoorne, and Anthony Van Straten, Bur­gomaster of Antwerp, who were trea­cherously [Page 187] summoned to a great Coun­cil, and there Arrested by the Order of the Duke d' Alv [...], the 9th. of Septem­ber, 1567. which put the Countrey in­to such an affright, that all degrees of men fled into all the Neighbour Coun­tries; but however, they went on, and filled the Prisons with the remainder, and such as they hapned to take; and it was observed, that they had before­hand taken good care to Repair, Strengthen, and enlarge these places; yet in some places they were broken up, and the Prisoners discharged by Force. Having spent the rest of this year in Ruining and Attainting the Nobility, they in the year 1568. began to Perse­cute the meaner sort of people, citing And after them vast numbtrs of the meaner Inhabitants. Thirty, Forty, or Fifty at a time, out of every City in the Provinces, to ap­pear before this Council; and upon their not appearing, (as none but the Imprisoned durst), they seized upon their Estates, and confiscated their Goods to the King's use: Thus they dealt with the Rich; but as for the poorer people, they took them up and hang'd them, without any more Ceremony. They pretended by this Violence to enrich the King, and to establish the Romish [Page 188] Religion; but they frighted away the people, alienated their hearts from him, and drove many Roman Catholicks into Protestant Countries, where they em­braced that Religion they had only a moderate opinion of before. To reme­dy a part of these Inconveniencies, they published an Order, That whosoever harboured or assisted any person that was fled, or held any Correspondence by Letters or otherwise, should be thought guilty of the same Crime; and that any Ship that carried off any of their Goods, or any Wagon or Boat that furthered their Escape, or convey­ed away their Goods, should be for­feited.

The noise of these Proceedings a­larmed all the Protestants in France, and These Pro­ceedings a­larm all the Protestants in France, and Queen Eliza­beth. was the principal Cause of the renew­ing the War there; of which I have already given a short account. Queen Elizabeth was a sorrowful Observer of all these Tyranical Encroachments on the Lives, Liberties, and Fortunes of her Neighbours; and such as fled into England from the bloody and outragi­ous treatment of the Duke of Alva, and the Spaniards, found here in Eng­land [Page 189] a secure Sanctuary, and had her They fly in­to England, and set up many Manu­factures. leave to settle at Norwich, Colchester, Sandwich, Maidstone, and Hampton, to the great Advantage of the English Na­tion, and the great Impoverishing of the King of Spain's Territories, by set­ting up here the making of SAYES, BAYES, and STUFFS, which the English before fetched out of France and Flanders. The King of Spain would have no Hereticks (as he call'd them) and none of his Subjects should have any Civil Liberties to secure them a­gainst his Will or Humour: But then he might have soreseen he should have lost his Subjects, his Trade, his Wealth, and he had reason to fear he should lose his Countrey too; but he trusted in The Conduct of this Prince considered. Force, and it deceived him; but no Force could secure the other Three; Men are not like Beasts of Burthen; they must be well treated, or they will flye, or not work, or be poor, or fail, and the Land become desolate, and not be able to defend it self. How happy had Philip II. and Lewis XIV. been, if they had but understood this? The ignorance of this has ruined many flou­rishing Empires, I might say all; and this is that first Cause of the Ruin of [Page 190] the Ottoman Empire, which has sapped its Foundations, and brought a Con­sumption upon it, which in a few years will destroy it. Thus also fell the Ro­man, and all the other Empires, when the fatal time was come. Not that Re­ligion was then the pretence of the op­pressing their Subjects, but Oppression is the same thing, and will eternally have the same effect, be the Pretence or Motive what it will. Emanuel Van Meteren, in his Third Book of the Hi­story of these times, deploring the Loss his Countrey sustained by being depri­ved at once of all its Trades, and so many of its useful and industrious Sub­jects, saith, ‘That there was not less than an Hundred thousand people that then fled into strange Countries to earn their bread; and tho some of these afterwards returned, yet the main body of them never did; and their Trades were lost to the English and other Nations, who learned them of these people, and exercise them to this day.’

The Queen of England seeing the King of Spain was deaf to all her and her Neighbour Princes Entreaties and [Page 191] Intercessions with him for the mitiga­ting The reasons which mov'd the Queen of England to oppose the Spaniards. his Sanguinary and Cruel Edicts concerning Religion; and that he had set up in the Netherlands a Spanish In­quisition for the more grievous Tortu­ring the Consciences of his Subjects: That he had denied an Assembly of the States of the Netherlands, (which was the only and the usual way of compo­sing their Affairs, when they were in any disorder): That he governed them rather by Arbitrary Orders sent from Spain, than by the Laws of the Coun­trey, or Counsels of the Natives: That he made use of the Tumults which the meanest of the people had fallen into upon the account of the Images, tho they were presently suppress'd, and that by the Natives, to bring one of the Freest Nations of Europe under the intolerable yoke of an Arbitrary Go­vernment; turning unjustly the rash Folly and Madness of a few mean peo­ple, to the great Damage of this whole Nation, by pretending All that people had rebelled against him, and thereby Forfeited their Ancient Liberties. She saw also that he had sent Ferdinand A­lavares, Duke of Alva, a Bloody man, to usurp this Arbitrary Government, [Page 192] who being no way related to the Royal Family, was now constituted the Su­preme Governor of these Provinces, contrary to their Laws, and that he had abolished and suspended the Jurisdicti­on and Authority of all their Legal Courts, and brought in amongst them a new unheard of Tribunal, which had proceeded illegally against several of the Nobility of that Countrey, and condemned them to death, and they had been thereupon executed. That Spanish Garisons were quartered, and Citadels built in the great Towns and Cities; and the Twentieth Penny of all their Real Estates, and the Tenth of their Personal had been illegally as­sess'd, and by force levied. She saw al­so that the Duke d' Alva the 29th. of December, 1568. had furiously and impatiently seized the Goods and Per­sons of her own Subjects, and put them into the Custody of his Soldiers, on the pretence of some Moneys stopped in England, which belonged to the Mer­chants of Genoua, who had consented to the Embargo; and she concluded this enraged man was not content to op­press the Netherlands, but would needs make himself a Terror to her and her [Page 193] people too; whereupon this Heroick Lady commanded all the Ships and Goods of the Netherlands which were in her Ports, to be stopp'd; which were of greater value than those the Duke had been able to find in the Low-Coun­tries; whereby she humbled that proud, hasty man, and made him see how lit­tle she could fear either him or his Master.

This Action of the Queen's opened The Inhabitants of the Netherlands follow the Example of Q. Elizabeth. the eyes of the poor oppressed people of these Countries, and shewed them the way to deal with their Oppressors was to attack them by Water, and not by Land. They had made several attempts on the side of Germany, under the Command of some of their banished Nobility, in the year 1568; and they had been unfortunate in all of them. Lewis Van Nassau, Brother of William Prince of Orange, tho he had 7000 men, Horse and Foot, and was a good and a prudent Commander, and had taken all the care that was possible to prevent Misfortunes, yet he was defeated near Emden The Prince of Orange, who followed after, was in a short time for­ced to retire into France, tho he had [Page 194] 11000 men under him. The two next years he served the Prince of Conde in France; and in the year 1569. he took up the Resolution to grant Letters of Mart to all that would put out Ships to Cruise against the Spaniards in the Low Countries; the Heer Van Dolhain being Admiral, who in that year took, and spoiled, and ransomed many Ships. This good success encouraged more in the year 1570. to take this course; and as they grew stronger and more nume­rous, so they had better success. In 1571. they set upon the Fleet that was going to Spain, and took and plundered a great part of it in the Texel. The Duke of Alva sent out some Men of War against these Privateers, but to small purpose, because they were small and too nimble for his great Ships; and Germany and England protected, victu­all'd, and harboured them. Where­upon in the year 1571. he sent to the Queen of England to complain of the He com-plains to Q. Elizabeth of her Harbour­ing the Ne­therland Py­rates. Harbouring these Pyrates as he called them. The Queen was in no haste to do his business after he had so far provo­ked her, but in the year 1572. when they were become Rich, and very Nu­merous, she put out a severe Proclama­tion [Page 195] against them, commanding them to be gone by a limited time, or to be feized in her Harbours; whereupon in March this year they put themselves un­der the Command of William Van Marck, Lord Lumey, to the number of about Thirty Ships or Fly-Boats, well mann'd and victuall'd; and these had the good fortune to find the Briel without They seize the Sea-Ports of Holland and Zealand. any Garison, and so they took Possessi­on of it without any opposition, the first of April. The eighth of the same month, Flushing joined with them, and cast out the few Spaniards were there. And after this, in a short time the whole Provinces of South and North Holland, as fast as they could by any means get rid of the Spanish Garisons, revolted from them, and took up Arms against the Duke of Alva, declaring at first for the Prince of Orange, as Stadtholder to the King of Spain in these Provinces. Thus were the Foundations of the Li­berties Which was the begin­ning of the United Pro­vinces. of the United Provinces in the Low Countries, laid in the blood of its Inhabitants, and as heartily at first promoted by the Roman-Catholick Sub­jects, to preserve their Civil Privileges, as by the Protestants to secure their Lives and Fortunes from the Arbitrary [Page 196] Violence of the Spaniards: ‘So that if ☞ either of them were Rebels, it was because Philip the IId. would not be contented with the same degree of Power the former Princes his Prede­cessors had enjoyed; but made use of a Ferment the Providence of God and his own Cruelty and Imprudenee had raised in the minds of his Subjects, to enslave the Innocent and the Guilty. And altho he made Religion his Pre­tence, yet Ambition and Worldly Greatness, and the subduing his own People and all his Neighbours, was the Real Motive at the bottom.’ I conclude therefore, That he was a Ty­rant, and a Perfidious Man; and his Subjects that revolted from him upon such horrid Provocations, and after they had done all that was possible to bring him to better courses, were no Rebels. I cannot here but observe how frequent­ly and passionately of late the Holland­ers were called Rebels and Traytors here, by a sort of men who were going to act upon us all the ill things the Spa­niards did there; but wanting Num­bers, they were forced to go slowly on, and had great thoughts of heart, that our Doctrine of Non-Resistance might [Page 197] fail them when they stood most in need of it to bind up our hands till they should cut our Throats; and therefore they declaimed furiously against these Hollanders, to fright us into the snare. But certainly the man must be very silly, that would at all regard the being called a Rebel by the Roman-Catholicks; or part with all that is valuable, to avoid that Reproach from such men of all others.

But to return from this Digression Q. Elizabeth undertakes the Protecti­on of her op­pressedNeigh­bours. concerning the Cause of this War: The Queen seeing her Neighbours in the Netherlands thus oppressed by the Savage Tyranny of the Duke De Alva, and so injuriously exhausted by his Ar­bitrary and Illegal Exactions, Prosecuti­ons and Murthers, and all the other Calamities of an unjust War; and the distressed Inhabitants of these Provinces flocking in great numbers into her King­dom, to shelter themselves from the Af­fronts, Assassinations, Pride and Cru­elty of this Enemy and Executioner, with all they could bring away with them, she opened her Ports to receive them, and with great compassion heard their bitter Complaints, whilst they [Page 198] deplored the Miseries of their Country, and begged her Protection, pursuant to the Treaties and Leagues between England, and the House of Burgundy. She always expressed a great regard for those Nations and Countries that lay near hers, and were by Leagues uni­ted to her; and she was the more afflict­ed for this People, because fhe saw the extirpating the Protestant Religion, was made the Pretence of one of the most flagrant Injuries that was ever of­fered to a Free People: And therefore she was the more easily induced to de­liver these her nearest Allies out of the Jaws of this Pyratc and Enemy of Mankind; and to curb the Insolence of these Spanish Forccs, that from all quar­ters were poured in upon these misera­ble Countries, to enslave and destroy them. She thought there was nothing in this world which so well became the Majesty of a Prince, and tended more to her Reputation and Glory, than the taking Arms against such men as these, and in the Defence of such Supplicants, to deliver them at once from the most intolerable Dangers, and from Slavery. It is very probable she would for a long­er time have dissembled the Injuries the [Page 199] King of Spain had done to her and her Subjects, if he would have mitigated his Rigors in the Low Countries; but seeing that was not to be hoped for, she resolved to put a stop to his Rage by Force; and for the Glory of God, and the common Safety of the Protestant Interest, to assist the Netherlanders with Men, Money, Arms, Ammunition, and what­ever else was necessary to keep them out of the hands of their Oppressors. She neither feared the Greatness of Phi­lip the IId nor the Threats of France, nor the Secret and Treacherous Machi­nations and Plots of her own Popish Subjects at home; nor the Hazards, Expences, or Calamities of a very dan­gerous and lasting War abroad, with the Richest and most Potent Princes in her Times; but putting her sole Trust and Confidence in the Providence and Protection of God, she chearfully and undauntedly entred the Lists with these men, that her Neighbours and Friends, Confederates and Allies, might enjoy their Ancient Liberties and Privileges, their beloved Countrey, their Estates and Fortunes, and the Liberty of their Consciences, and live happily. She thought no Labour, no Danger, no Ex­pence [Page 200] too great to be hazarded, to ob­tain so great a Blessing for them; but went through all that stood in her way, with Courage, Equinimity, Fidelity, and Constancy: By which she acquired an Immortal Glory, and is still esteem­ed the Deliverer and Preserver of this People, and in truth of the whole Pro­testant Interest in Christendom. The Kings of France and Spain in the mean time threatned to expel her out of her Kingdoms; and promoted Rebellions in England and Ireland to that end a­gainst her; but there happened such dreadful Civil Wars in both their King­doms, that they were very much disa­bled from prosecuting these Designs to the degree they intended. And she for her part was not wanting, but sent her Forces both into France and Flanders, to find these two Monarchs work at home, and by kindling Fires in their Kingdoms, prevented their laying her own in Ashes. Thus at the same time she delivered Britain from the fear of a War with France and Flanders; and whilst she protected her Oppressed Neighbours, she preserved her own Subjects from an intolerable Foreign Servitude. Thus she preserved England [Page 201] for ever from the Danger of a Spanish Invasion and Conquest, upon which they were then bent, and slew vast num­bers of their best Commanders and Forces both by Sea and Land.

France for the first Thirty Years of French Affairs. her Reign was perpetually involved ei­ther in an actual Civil War within its own bowels, or enjoyed an uneasie and a suspected Peace; so that this King­dom was never so quiet, as to be able to look abroad, and give any distur­bance to its Neighbours. The Prote­stant Party was strong and numerous, and every day grew greater, and was headed by the Princes of the Royal Family of the House of Bourbon: And the Popish Party on the other side was the far greater Party, and was headed by the Royal Family that was in Posses­sion of the Crown of France: So that Henry II. and Francis II. Charles IX. and Henry III. his Sons, who were all successively Kings of France one after the other, did all that was possible, by Wit and Policy, Force, Perfidy, Wars, Massacres, Breach of Faith, and Sur­prizes, to extirpate this Party; and when all was done, the End of Seven [Page 202] Civil Wars one after another, was a Toloration; and the End of every To­leration, but the last, was a Civil War, began by the Popish Party, upon the Principle, That no Faith was to be kept with Hereticks; which Maxim was so often alledged, either by way of Excuse, or by way of Incitement, or Justifica­tion, that nothing but the Weakness of the Protestant Party could possibly have induced them to accept a Security, which had been so often forfeited, and which they were certain would last no longer, than till the Popish Party were in a condition to break it. And yet the keeping of the Seventh, that was grant­ed by Henry the IVth. in the year 1596. did them more damage than the breach of all the other Six that went before it; because by its long duration it disarmed and effeminated that Party, and robbed them of their Fears, their Martial Cou­rage, and that keen Zeal for their Reli­gion, which the Perfidy and Violence of the former Times had kept alive. We desire Peace and good days; but God who knows our temper, and what will follow very often, sends us Trou­bles for our good, which like Physick keeps us alive, tho it doth not please us.

[Page 203] In the year 1565. there was a secret A Private League be­tween France and Spain a­gainst the Protestants. League made at Bayone, between the Crowns of France and Spain, which was called, The Holy League, because chiefly designed for the Extirpating the Protestant Religion out of France and Flanders; tho it was managed with all the Privacy and Secrecy that was possi­ble, yet the suspicion of the Protestant Party gave them the first hint to dive in­to it; and within a little time it was discovered both by its effects, and by the cross Interests of many of the Ro­man-Catholicks, who were to be depri­ved of their Civil Privileges, in lieu of having their Religion established and preserved. This gave the occasion to all those fearful Commotions in Flan­ders, which I have just now related: And in France there followed a Civil War in the year 66. another in the year 1568. which in the year 1572. was ended by a Treaty of Marriage between Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre, Head of the Protestants, and Margaret Sister of Charles the IXth. then King of France. Here the Roman-Catholick Party played their last Card, and with a Diabolical Perfidy and Cruelty which has no Example in Sacred or Prophane [Page 204] History, and Massacred vast Numbers of the Principal Nobility and Gentry of the Protestants, who were come to Paris to see the Marriage, not being able to suspect a Court could be so base as to stain it self in so Treacherous a manner with the blood of men who relied upon their Faith. The next year after Charles died; and Henry the IIId. his Brother, who had been a great Henry III. suc­ceeds in France. Actor in the Massacre, succeeded him in the Kingdom of France: Under him the Holy League, as it was called, went slowly on; and he was not so for­ward to involve his Kingdom in War and Blood, as the weaker Princes, his Brothers had been; but he was rather inclined to destroy them insensibly by the Arts of Peace, as it came afterwards to be done; but this Method was disli­ked by the Popish Party in France, which is for the most part Fiery and Cruel, and will never use slow and gentle ways, but when it is impossible they should do otherwise. Hereupon the Duke of Guise, a Valiant, but very The D. of Guise designs against that Prince. Factious Gentleman, began in the year 1576. to set up himself against his Prince; and in the year 1584. he got himself declared Head of the Holy [Page 205] League against the King his Master, as a Favourer of Heresie, by Gregory the XIIIth. then Pope of Rome, and a great part of the bigotted and discon­tented Clergy and Nobility of France: Whereupon in the year 1585. followed the Seventh Civil War in France, upon the Pope's Excommunicating the King of Navarre, and the Prince of Conde, for Heresie. This last War was began by the Popish Party, against the opinion, and without the consent of Henry King of France; and accordingly it thrived, the King of Navarre beating them in the Battel of Courtay, in the year 1587. After which Victory, the King was de­sirous to have a Peace, and the Guises and the Popish Party to continue the War: And upon this the Roman Ca­tholick Party subdivided it self into two Factions, part siding with the King for a Peace, and part joining with the Guises to carry on the War, and depose this King as a Favourer of Heresle, soft­ned with Pleasures, and unfit for Go­vernment.

The Duke of Guise was a younger An Account of the House of Guise. Branch of the Family of Lorrain, which is esteemed the Direct Heir of the House [Page 206] of Charles the Great, and consequently it has a Pretence to the Crown of France, which is foreclosed by nothing but the too great Antiquity of the Claim, and the Weakness of that Fa­mily. Henry the IIId. the then King of France, was become the last of the House of Valoise, and thought unfit for Generation; and upon his Death, the Crown of this Kingdom was to devolve to Henry King of Navarre, who was the Head of the Protestant Party; and all the Family was in the same Interest, but the Cardinal of Bourbon, who was a very old Gentleman; so that if things were suffered to go quietly on, the Death of Henry III. would put the Protestants of France in Possession of the Throne in the Person of Henry IV. This was the true ground of that dread­ful Revolution, which shook the Foūn­dations of the French Monarchy and Nation. They considered, that if a Protestant Prince was once quietly set­led in the Throne, nothing but a Mira­cle could preserve the Roman-Catholick Religion in France; and they durst not trust an Event to the Providence of God, and the Reasons and Consciences of men, which in all probability would [Page 207] put an end to the Romish Religion in France, and so weaken it in all the rest of Europe, that it would never be in a condition to make use of Force more, against those that had forsaken it; so The Reasons why Hen. III. was to be De­posed, and Henry IV. Ex­cluded. the Design was laid between the King of Spain, the Pope, and the Duke of Guise, That Henry the IIId. should be Deposed, and turned into a Monastery, as Chilperick was; and Henry the IVth. should be excluded as an Heretick re­lapsed, and Excommunicated, and a new King of France should be chosen; and then each of these Heads of this League hoped to make their own Mar­ket in the end. Henry the IIId. saw all this, and to save himself, in the year 1588. called an Assembly of the Three Estates of France at Bloise; but finding the greater part of his Subjects, by the procurement of the Popish Clergy, in­clined to join with the Duke of Guise against him, he ordered Henry Duke of Guise, and Charles his Brother, Cardinal of Lorain, to be both Assassinated by his Guards; and secured many of their Friends; but the Duke of Maine, ano­ther of the Brothers of the Duke of Guise, escaped the slaughter, and there­upon almost the whole Kingdom of [Page 208] France revolted, and took up Arms a­gainst him under the Duke of Maine; so that he had no way to save his own Life and Crown, but to call Henry King of Navarre, and his Protestant Subjects, to his Assistance against these his enraged Catholick Subjects, who were now become his implacable ene­mies. Being thus in a condition to have forced Paris, and to have driven the Conspirators out of France, one James Clement, a Dominican Monk, stabbed Henry III. slain. him the first of August in his Tent, un­der the Walls of Paris. The House of Valoise thus failing in him, when it had enjoyed the Crown of France Two hundred and sixty Years, the Right of it fell to Henry King of Navarre, of the House of Bourbon; but he was su­spected by all his Popish Subjects, stout­ly resisted by all that were in the League against his Predecessor, and Excommu­nicated by the Pope, and sorely laid at by the King of Spain, who dreaded no­thing so much as the seeing France in the hand of a Valiant, Wise, Prote­stant Prince, now his Invincible Arma­do was returned back srom England with Shame, Ignominy, and Con­tempt, and such a Loss as Spain was never able since to recover.

[Page 209] The Queen-Mother of France, who The Queen Mother of France di­eth of Grief. had been the principal Incendiary, when she saw the Duke of Guise fall in the Assembly of Bloise, and her only Son in the utmost danger of being Murdered or Deposed, she died with the mere apprehension of the Calami­ties she had brought upon her own head and Family, before her Son was slain. And as for Henry the IVth. the new King of France, he saw things in that Disorder and Confusion, that he was forced to raise his Camp, and re­treat from Paris into Normandy, from whence he sent to Queen Elizabeth for Succors of Men, Money, and Ammu­nition. The Queen presently sent Pe­regrine Queen Eliza­beth assists Henry IV. with Men and Money. Lord Willoughby, who had sig­nalized his Valour in the Netherlands, with Four thousand Men, and Two and twenty thousand Pounds of English Money in Gold, which was a Sum which Henry the IVth. owned he had never before seen together in Gold at once. Henry had beat the Leaguers before these men arrived, contrary to the expectation of all the World; and being thus reinforced from England, he pursued his Victory to the Gates of Pa­ris, and was in a fair way to have taken [Page 210] the City, but that he did not think it possible, and he was besides unwilling to run the hazard of seeing the Capital City of France plundered by his own Army. This tenderness of his at length brought him under the necessity of changing his Religion, to gain the Crown of France.

In the year 1590. the King of Spain The Spani­ards invade Britagne, a Province of France. sent Forces to take possession of Bre­tagne, a Province of France, pretend­ing a Title to it for himself; and some of the English Courtiers advised Queen Elizabeth not to concern her self any farther in the Affairs of that Kingdom, to her great impoverishing, and no ad­vantage, telling her, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, used to say, It would be better for all the Neighbour Nations to have France under Twenty Kings than One: To which she as stoutly replied, The Evening of the last Day the Crown of France should see, would be fatal to England. And the next year she sent a Q. Elizabeth assists the French against these Spani­ards. Fleet, and Three thousand Land-men to secure that Province out of the hands of the Spaniards. This small Number of men being commanded by Sir John Norris, a person of great Experience [Page 211] and Conduct, preserved that Province not only from the Dominion, but in a good degree also from the Rapines and Cruelties of the Spaniards. She spent in Three years in these French Affairs, (besides the Gold she sent to Henry the IVth. into Normandy), 226058 Crowns of French Money; yet she did not burthen her Subjects to pay it, but got it together by her Thrifty Ma­nagement.

This Queen was wholly intent upon Spain invad­ed by the English. the humbling the Pride of Spain; and at the same time she opposed his Great­ness, and curb'd his Ambitious Designs in France and the Netherlands, she sent a potent Fleet, and an Army into Spain, in the year 1589, to revenge the Inva­sion of the preceeding year, and to set­tle Anthony a Bastard in the Kingdom of Portugal, which was then in the Possession of Philip the IId. King of Spain: The Army consisted of Eleven thousand Men, and there went in the Fleet Fifteen hundred Sea-men: The Army was commanded by Sir John Nor­ris, and the Fleet by Sir Francis Drake; They first landed at the Groyne in Gali­cia They take the Groyne. without any Opposition; and the [Page 212] next day they took the Lower-Town by Scalado, but not without the loss of a great many men: And here they found a vast Magazine of Gunpowder and Maritime Stores, which was brought hither for another Expedition against England. In this Expedition Robert Earl of Essex stole a­way from the Court, and served as a Volunteer in this Expediti­on. Robert Earl of Essex gave proofs of his Martial Inclinations, for he stole away from Court without the Queen's Leave, she being unwilling to venture any of her principal Nobility in so dangerous an Undertaking as this seemed then to be; but this brisk young Gentleman, on the contrary, despising the soft Plea­sures of a Court, greedily embraced this opportunity of Revenging the Wrongs of his Countrey, and set Sail after the Fleet in a single Ship, and he had the good fortune to fall into the English Fleet, after they had left the Groyne, and were going to attack Lis­bon, wherein they had not the same suc­cess, by reason their Forces were too small, and the Fleet was kept at too great a distance to relieve the Army, which was forced to march about Sixty Miles by Land; but however, they took the Towns of Paniche and Cha­scais, and brought out of Spain One [Page 213] hundred Great Guns, and about Sixty Ships, sent by the Hanse Towns in Germany, loaded with Corn, which went round about Scotland and Ireland, by the Vergivian Ocean, to avoid being intercepted by the English, the Queen having before warned those Cities, That if they sent any Provisions or Am­munition into Spain, she would treat them as Enemies. Besides all these, they brought back with them a very rich Prey in Housholdstuff, Money, and Plate, which they gathered in that Kingdom; but the most considerable advantage, was the intercepting all the Stores which had been gathered for a second Expedition against England, (the Design of which was after this laid aside), and the discovering the Weakness of the Spaniards when they were set upon at their own doors; so that after this time the English despised this before so formidable Enemy, they ha­ving with so small an Army marched so many Miles, and taken so many places in two of the best peopled Provinces of that Kingdom.

In the year 1591. Robert Earl of Essex was sent into Normandy with Four [Page 214] thousand English, to Assist Henry the The Actions of Robert Earl of Essex. IVth. in the Reduction of Roan; where before that City he lost his Bro­ther Walter, who was [...]ain by a Mus­quet: This was so far from terrifying this Noble Earl, that it was with won­der observed by the French, that he ex­posed his own person the more freely, that he might take all opportunities to revenge his Death. After this, in the The second Expedition into Spain. year 1596. the Queen sent him her Ge­neral again into Spain; the Fleet which consisted of One hundred and fifty Ships, (being partly English, and part­ly Dutch) was commanded by Charles Lord Howard, Admiral of England; and the Land-Forces, which were about Seven thousand and three hundred men, were to be commanded by Essex and Howard, as Joynt-Generals, Essex ha­ving the Precedence on Shore, and Howard at Sea: They came before Ca­diz the 20th. of June, but did not at­tempt to Land while the 22d. and then Cadiz taken by the English. they took the Town on the first Assault by the Cowardise of the Spaniards, which paid Five hundred and twenty thousand Ducats for its Ransom. There was Two Millions more offered for the Redemption of the Ships in Port Real, [Page 215] but it was refused by the Admiral, he saying, He was sent to Burn, and not to Ransom the Spanish Navies. The Spaniards confess they lost in the Sack The loss the Spaniard su­stained. of this Town, in Ships Taken and Burnt, in Canon Taken and Sunk, and in Stores, and Ammunition, and Vi­ctuals, above Twenty Millions of Du­cats. The Magnanimous Earl of Essex was for keeping the Town and Island, and he offered to do it with Three hun­dred men, and Three Months Provisi­on for them; but the rest of the Com­manders who had enriched themselves, were for returning, and so he was for­ced to return much against his will, the 5th. of July, when he had got little but a Noble Library, which he chose out of that Rich Spoil. The Spaniards observed, ‘The English in this Sack shewed themselves to be Hereticks by their Contempt of their Religious Houses and Places; but in all other things they behaved themselves with great Valour, Prudence, and Genero­sity.’ The Noble Earl would fain in his return have attempted the Groyne, St. Andreo, and St. Sebastian, but the rest of the Commanders were against making any other Trial of their For­tune, [Page 216] believing they had done enough for the Glory and Safety of their Coun­trey. This Expedition secured England for the Remainder of her Reign against all the Attempts and Fears of Spain. In the year 1599. this Earl was made Deputy of Ireland, which proved his Ruin, Sir Robert Cecil in his Absence being made Master of the Wards, tho the Queen had promised him that Of­fice, and he depended upon it as that which was to repair his Estate, shat­tered in her Service; whereupon he came back without her Leave, and the next year after was beheaded for At­tempting to Raise an Insurrection in London against the Court.

To pass from these Foreign Affairs to The Affairs of Ireland in her time. others that were of nearer concern to England; there was in all her days a Destructive and most Chargeable War continued against her in Ireland. The Irish Nation have ever since it was sub­dued by the English, born an implacable hatred to the Conquerors, which nei­ther Marriages, nor Benefits, nor Los­ses, nor Time it self has been able to extinguish: But when in her time the Religion of England was changed, and [Page 217] the general Body of the Irish, and a great part of the old English Families persisted in the Popish Religion; there was by that means a new Ferment ad­ded to their restless and unquiet spirits; so that there was nothing to be heard of from thence, but frequent and perfidi­ous Rebellions, which were the more dangerous and lasting, because they were excited by the Pope's Bulls whom the Irish reverence above all other Na­tions; and supported and carried on by Spanish Counsels, Money, and Forces: Yet however, the Queen did never think it her Interest to make a sharp and a concluding War upon them, because this was not possible to be done, with­out being grievous to her People of Eng­land, whilst she was forced to spend such prodigious Sums of Money in the Netherlands, and France, as would have made an effectual War in Ireland insup­portable. She took care in the mean time to send over thither the Best and Wisest of her States men and Sword­men, as her Deputy-Lieutenants; and she sent them such Supplies of Men and Moneys as enabled them from time to time to keep the English Pale in good order, and to hinder the Spanish Party [Page 218] from growing more Potent in the North, than was convenient to con­sume his Forces, and divert him from nearer and more dangerous Attempts; and by her Generals and the Forces she sent over, she wasted and consumed the Forces of the CLANS and great Irish Lords, and by degrees brought the Wild and Barbarous Irish from the former way of living more like Beasts than Men, in Woods and Mountains, to the living in Populous and well-go­vern'd Towns and Villages. She taught them to leave off their barbarous cruel Customs, and to live soberly and ac­cording to Law; to forsake their wild ways of Diet and Cloathing, and live more Civilly, and like the English. The Northern Province of Ulster was the Ulster the first Provencethat Rebelled a­gainst her. first that Rebelled, the Scots and the Islanders in great Numbers pouring in­to that Province; whereupon Shan O Neale in the year 1563. took up Arms against his Sovereign, instead of send­ing to her for Assistance to drive out these Foreign Enemies: He was first Reduced by the Earl of Sussex, and forced to come into England to beg Par­don of the Queen: The next year he broke out again, and was reduced by [Page 219] Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy; and in 1565. he perished in a drunken Fray by the Macdonnels, to whom he fled for Succour and Refuge. This Shan O Neale was so wicked and debauched a Villain in all his Actions, that all men appro­ved of the Revenge Macdonnel took of so false and perfidious a man, that had done many Wrongs to them and their Families, as well as to the English. The Macdonnels were Scots, and of the number of the Islanders that had setled in this Province of Ulster. This Exe­cution hapned the 2d. of June, 1567. Mr. Cox writes their Names, MAC­CONEL.

In the year 1564. there hapned a Quar­rel A Quarrel between Or­mond and Des­mond. between the Earls of Ormond and Des­mond, which came to a Battel between them at Affane, in the County of Water­ford. The next year they went over into England together to implead each other before the Queen, who of the two was most inclined to favour Desmond. In 1566. they returned, and Desmond took the Field with Two thousand men to join Shan O Neale, as was pretended, but in truth to Revenge his Quarrels on the Earl of Ormond, who defeated him [Page 220] and all his Forces near Drumelin; and in the close of that year the Lord Depu­ty Sidney took Desmond Prisoner, and at Limerick tried him for High-Trea­son, and he was found Guilty, and committed to Prison, and his Brother John was Knighted, and made Earl of Desmond. This Quarrel was at first a personal private Feud between these Two Potent Families; but in the year 1568. some Laws having passed in a Parliament, which displeased the Great Men, they took up the pretence of Re­ligion to draw in the People; and the Pope entred into it, and the King of Spain was solicited to send Forces by the Earl of Desmond's younger Bro­ther, Titular Bishop of Cashil: There­upon the Lord Deputy began the War this very year, and defeated Two thou­sand of their men near Kilkenny, with the loss of one single man. The Earl of Ormond was then in England, and went into Ireland to reclaim his own Brothers, who joined with Desmond in this Revolt, which was designed to sub­vert the Government, and clear the Coun­trey of all English Men, and English Laws.

[Page 221] In the year 1569. Pope Pius Quintus The Pope and King of Spain inte­rested in the Irish War. Excommunicated the Queen, and de­prived her of all her Dominions; and this had such effect upon Ireland, that there was no quiet to be looked for in that Kingdom to the end of her days: But yet by the year 1571. Sir John Per­rot, Governor of Munster, brought that Province into Peace. The King of Spain was slow in meddling with the Irish Affairs, and sent them little or no Supplies till the year 1578. which was Ten years after they began to treat with him for his Assistance. This year one Stukely an English-man was sent by Gregory XIII. Pope of Rome, and the King of Spain, with Eight hundred Italian Soldiers; but he went with Se­bastian King of Portugal, into Africa, where he and his men perished with that King.

In 1578. Sir William Drury was Fitz-Morris and Sanders invade Ireland with Spani­ards. sworn Lord Deputy of Ireland, the 14th. of September. The same year James Fitz Morris after he had Sworn Allegiance to the Queen before Sir John Perrot, went into France, and failing of any Supplies, from thence he went into Spain, where he obtained a few [Page 222] Men, and some Money; and in July, 1579. he landed Eighty Spaniards at Semerwick in Kerry, where he built a Fort, and Sanders the Pope's Legate Consecrated the ground; but the Eng­lish took the three Ships for all that, and put the Spaniards into a wonderful fright: The Desmonds joined with these Rebels, and soon after, a great many of the old English, who persisted in the Roman-Catholick Religion; which was in a great degree owing to the smalness of the English Forces in Ireland, the Army being then but a­bout Six hundred men. Sir William Drury sickned and died; and Sir Willi­am Pelham was chosen in his Place by the Council, and Sworn the 11th. of October, 1579. who was succeeded by

Arthur Lord Grey, Baron of Wilton, Sworn the 14th. of September, 1580. He took the Fort above-mentioned, and put all the Spaniards to the Sword, which much displeased the Queen, tho the Deputy alledged, That he could not keep them his Prisoners, the Army was so small, and the Numbers of his Enemies were so great. The Deputy went on with small Forces, and an In­vincible [Page 223] Resolution and Industry, de­feating and reducing them so often and so strangely, that at last they got him represented to the Queen, as a Bloody The Deputy for his good Service, slan­dered in Eng­land. man that regarded not the Lives of the Subjects any more than the lives of Dogs, but had Tyrannized with that Bar­barity, that there was little left for the Queen to reign over, but Carcasses and Ashes. The Necessity of the Times had indeed made him severe; but he had shewed much more Mercy to the Irish than either they deserved, or was con­sistent with the Queen's Interest, or the Safety of the English that were in Ire­land; however in the midst of his Vi­ctories he was re-called in August 1582. The next year the miserable Earl of Desmond was taken in a Cabin in a Wood, and slain unknown by an Irish man, and his Head sent over into Eng­land, and set on London-Bridge: His Name was Girald, and he was the Fif­teenth Earl of that Family; and with his Life ended this Rebellion in Munster. The Queen was however a Lady of that Generous Mercy and Compassion, that she was heartily concerned for the Bloods of these miserable Wretches who sought hers, and her Protestant [Page 224] Subjects Ruin with an Hellish and Im­placable [...]ury.

The distributing Mercy and Justice The difficul­ty of Admi­nistring Ju­stice and Mercy sea­sonably. with Prudence, is the hardest Task a Prince has; and in truth there is none but God that can pretend to do it al­ways well; because he alone knows both the truth of all mens actions, the ends and designs of them, and the tem­pers of the Agents as to the present and the future: But Princes are often de­ceived in one or more of these, and so spare or punish, when they should not: Besides, they are subject to the same Passions other men are, and by them they are mis-led when the thing is plain. It is better, generally speaking, to be too Merciful, than too severe: But when it is known once that a man will be so, it ruins more than it can save; and too much, exposeth the Innocent. Mercy to Multitudes and mean people is always seasonable, and the contrary destructive; but to pardon Great men for two, three, or four Rebellions one after another, is to proclaim a liberty of doing it impunedly. She was never guilty of this in England, but in Ireland it was frequently done, and therefore [Page 225] it was her own fault that she met with so much trouble; and all her Mercy almost was thrown away, and proved Cruelty to the English. Pardon a bar­barous Enemy, and you make him in­solent; and therefore inexorable Ju­stice, especially upon a relapse, is abso­lutely necessary; but then this is to be understood only of great Men and of great Crimes, such as Murder and Re­bellion.

In the year 1584. June 26. Sir John Perrot Sir John Per­rot, Lord De­puty of Ire­land. was made Lord Deputy of Ire­land. He was sent thither in unquiet and dangerous times; and he managed Affairs with so much Industry and Courage, that he saved Ireland, tho he himself fell a Sacrifice to the Malice of Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of Eng­land. In his time the Queen gave to New Colo­nies of English sent into Munster. several Adventurers, of the Lands for­feited by Desmond and his Accomplices, 574628 Acres. The Proprietors were to People the same, and to pay the Queen over and besides, 1976 l. 7 s. 5 d. the year, Quit-Rent. To this end she invited the younger Brothers of the English Nation to settle in Ireland, promising them great Privileges, and [Page 226] Land at reasonable Rents. The Burks in Connaught hereupon rebelled, but were overthrown; Seven of Three thousand scaping. Thus things were again redu­ced into a tolerable good order; and the dispeopled Province of Munster was at once Peopled and Civilized by the Eng­lish; but the Deputy had no share in it, but it was managed by a Committee; for he was on ill terms with the Queen, upon the account of some indiscreet passionate words he had dropped; and which were by the Malice of his Ene­mies told the Queen, with many invi­dious Additions.

The Queen had ordered, That if The Irish complain of the English. any unforfeited Lands were intermixed with those that were forfeited, that the Proprietor should be compounded with to his content, and be bought out, that so the Undertakers might have his Mannor intire. But when this came to be put in practice, there was great and loud Complaints brought to the Deputy, That the Adventurers had unjustly outed many innocent men of their In­heritances, out of covetousness to get their Estates: Whereupon a Procla­mation was issued out, Commanding [Page 227] the Proprietors to restore what they had unjustly taken; which with the favour the Deputy shewed to the Eject­ed Irish by the Queen's Order, put a stop to the Wrong and the Complaints. As he had had no hand in the distribution of these Lands, so he soon made the Adventurers sensible they were to ex­pect no favour from him; which turn­ed to the advantage of the Irish, but occasioned bitter Complaints from the The English complain of the Lord De­puty. English against the Deputy, as a Fa­vourer of the Irish rather than of the English: But this Great Man, who was of a Regal Spirit, (and is suppo­sed to have been a Bastard Son of Hen­ry the VIIIth.), despised too much the Complaints of his Countrey-men, and forced the greatest of the English to fly before his Authority; and as for the Irish, he made them better than they would otherwise have been both by his Threats and Severity, and by his good Advices; and by the strength of his Reason he made them understand how much it was for their good to con­tinue firm in their Allegiance to the Queen. This was an hard Task, con­sidering the Capacity and Temper both of the People he was to deal with, and [Page 228] of the Times in which he governed Ireland.

In the year 1588. Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Lord Deputy of Ireland, and continued till the 11th. of August, 1594. He was a Covetous, Fitz-Williams Character. Unjust man, and laid the Foundations of a great many Troubles to the Eng­lish in after times; but in all his, Ire­land was tolerably quiet, till towards the latter end of his Government; on­ly the Irish took up an Aversion for the English Government and Sheriffs, by his means; and Tyrone having Six Companies allowed him under the Queen's Pay, he changed his men so often, that the whole Countrey be­came Disciplined men; and he got great quantities of Lead into his Pos­session, under pretence of building a fine House. In the year 1593 the The College of Dublin finished. College of Dublin was finished at the Queen's Charges, and Burleigh was the first Chancellor, and Usher the first Scholar in it.

That which made Ireland so quiet The English Colonies keep Ireland quiet a while. under Fitz-Williams, was the Justice, Prudence, and Valour of his Prede­cessor, [Page 229] Sir John Perrot, which had bro­ken the Power of the Heads of the Irish Clans, and so well Civilized and Planted that Kingdom with English Colonies and Garisons, that during these Six years there was but Eight hundred Foot, and Three hundred Horse maintained, to keep the Natives in quiet. The Irish were also so well setled in their Lands, Estates and Cat­tel, that it was no mans Interest to make any Disturbance: And there was no Foreign Prince that could be brought to join with them, or lend them any Assistance. The Spanish Part of the Spanish Arma­da shipwrack­ed on the Coast of Ire­land. Armada in the latter end of the year 1588. lost Seventeen of its Ships upon the Northern and Western Shores of this Kingdom, and 5394 of the men in it perished; and tho some of the Popish Natives sheltered some of them, yet they all robbed them of their Frea­sures, and got what they had for it: And King James of Scotland looked upon himself as the Presumptive Heir of this Kingdom after the Queen, and kept a fair Correspondence with the English, and restrained the Scots and Islanders from joining with the Irish. There was a Rumor in England, That [Page 230] there was a vast Treasure found in the Spanish Ships which perished in Con­naught, and Ulster: And Fitz-Williams the Lord Deputy made a severe search after it, commanding by a Proclama­tion all the Spanish Treasures to be brought into the Exchequer for the Queen's use; and he imprisoned Sir O­wen O Toole, and Sir John O Dogherty, two of the greatest men in the North, in the Castle of Dublin, on this pre­tence, tho they were the best affected to the English, of any of the Inhabi­tants; but he could discover nothing, tho he kept the first Two years in Re­straint, and the latter all his time, who was discharged by his Successor, and died soon after, being much decayed by the Hardships of a long Imprison­ment, and Old Age. But all these ill things done under Fitz Williams, made work for them that followed him.

Upon the Death of Mac Mahon, who Hugh Roe wrongfully murthered by the Deputy. was one of the Heads of an Irish Clan, and had not long before taken a Patent from the Queen for the County of Mo­naghan, to him and his Heirs Male for ever; Hugh Roe his Brother and Heir, Petitioned the Deputy to be setled in his [Page 231] Inheritance, according to the Queen's Patent, and the Laws of the Kingdom; and the Irish say it coft him Six hun­dred Cows to have a Promise of it. And then the Deputy only said he would go in person to do it: But as soon as he came to Monaghan, he Im­prisoned, Tried, and Condemned Hugh Roe, by Military Law, and without any Legal Trial; pretending he had Levied Forces two years before, to di­strain for Rent he pretended was due to him in the Ferny. Hereupon he was hanged, and the County was di­vided between Sir Henry Bagnal, Mar­shal, Captain Henslow, and four of the Mac Mahons, under a Yearly Rent; each of these giving the Deputy consi­derable Bribes, as they said in their Complaint to the Council of England. The Deputy denied all this; but it was observed, That from thenceforward the Irish loathed Sheriffs, and the Neighbourhood of the English, fear­ing the same fate might at one time or other attend them, that had befallen Hugh Roe. The Report of this Vil­lany Spread it self all over Ulster; and the Heads of the Clans were greatly terrified and incensed at it, and had [Page 232] close Cabals, wherein they severely taxed the ill Management, Covetous­ness, and Cruelty of the Deputy.

There was then in Ulster a Great The Rise of Hugh O Neale, Earl of Ty­rone. Man, called Hugh O Neal, the Son of one Mathew a Smith, a Cunning and a Crafty man; who from his youth had served the Queen in the Wars: In Des­mond's Rebellion he had done the Queen good Service, and got much Re­putation both for his Courage and In­dustry: The Queen on the other side protected this poor obscure Gentleman against the Malice of the O Neals, who hated him as the Enemy to their Nation; and she advanced him from an abject and mean Condition, to great Ho­nour, and made him Earl of Tyrone, for his Merits and Deserts. He became in­toxicated with his too good fortune, and ungratefully and madly design'd to ruin her that had made him what he was; and now nothing would serve him, but he would needs be King of Ulster; He aspires to be King of Ulster. and to that end he assumed the Title of O Neale, and cast off all Respect and Allegiance for the Queen. He disci­plined the rude and ignorant Kerns af­ter the English manner, under the pre­tence [Page 233] I have before recited; and in the mean time under hand instilled into them an invincible hatred of the Eng­lish Religion and Government, calling the first Heresy, and the latter a shame­ful Slavery and Servitude; by which he disposed them so well to a Rebelli­on, that almost the whole Nation re­volted at once from the Queen.

In July 1591. Tyrone was made a Tyrone made a County; which occasi­oned O Neal's Rebellion. County, and divided into Eight Baro­nies, Dungannon being appointed for the Shire-Town; which with the Au­thority of Marshal Bagnal, so fretted Tyrone, that it's believed it occasioned his Confederating this Summer under­hand with the rest of the Irish to defend their pretended Rights, and not to ad­mit Sheriffs into their Counties. The effects of this first appeared in the year 1593. when O Connor became trouble­some in Connaught, and O Donnel and Mac Guire, chief of Fermanagh, rose in Ulster against the Sheriffs, and would have murthered them, but that Tyrone pretended to intercede to have their [...] spared: This they durst never [...] done, but that they knew all the [...]ans in Ulster would second them: [Page 234] The Deputy, to revenge this Insurre­ction, proclaimed Mac Guire a Tray­tor, and invading Fermanagh he took Inniskilling; but upon his withdraw­ing, the Irish returned and drove the English he had left, out of Fermanagh. During this Tumult, Tyrone came thi­ther, as by chance, and asking what the matter was, and what had provo­ked their Anger against the English, he gravely reprehended Mac Guire, the Beginner of the Insurrection, and then began seemingly to appease the exaspe­rated meaner Irish people, tho in truth he was the first Promoter of all this Disturbance, and did this only to con­ceal himself, and avoid being suspect­ed by the English. Hereupon the Queen recalled Fitz-William, who had never been a Soldier, and sent a new Deputy in his stead.

Sir William Russel, youngest Son of Sir William Russel made Lord Deputy of Ireland, un­der whom O Neal broke in­to a Rebelli­on. Francis Earl of Bedford, was sworn Lord Deputy of Ireland the 11th. of August, 1594. Under him this great Revolution hapned. Cormock Mac Ba­ron, Tyrone's Brother, about the same time Befieged Inniskilling, and defeated 46 English Horse, and 600 Foot, that [Page 235] came to Relieve it, under the Conduct of Sir Edward Herbert, and Sir Henry Duke; yet Tyrone had the Impudence to come to Dublin, and impose upon the Council, That he had no hand in this Insurrection, tho some offered to prove him a Traytor, which was not then believed. In March, 1595. he broke into a second open Rebellion, notwithstanding all his Oaths and Asse­verations, which in an Irish man are the certain tokens of Treachery and Falshood. Bagnal, his mortal Enemy, thereupon marched against him with 1500 Foot, and 250 English Horfe; and Tyrone appeared with 1500 Irish Horse, but retired without attempting any thing; but soon after he appeared with 8000 Foot to second his Horse: Yet this handful of men fought all his Forces, and came off with good Suc­cess, tho they were in great danger of being destroyed, as they had been if the Enemies Powder had not failed in the Action.

In June, 1595. Sir John Norris arri­ved Sir John Nor­ris sent into Ireland with 3000 men. with Two thousand Veterane Sol­diers, and One thousand New-raised men, and with the Title of Lord Ge­neral [Page 236] of the Forces in Ulster, he being to command absolutely in the absence of the Deputy. The Queen's De­sign The Chara­cter of this Great Man. in sending Norris with this large Commission was, that he and the De­puty should act with the greater vi­gor against the Enemy: But then tho Norris was an excellent Commander, he was a little too violent, and disdained to be subject to the Orders of the De­puty; and which was yet worse, dis­agreed with him in the general method of managing the War, and was very stiff in his opinion besides; so that much time was spent in useless Contests between these two high-spirited men, which very much prejudiced the Queen's Affairs, and secured Tyrone, (who cunningly made use of it) from being suppressed in the beginning of his Rebellion.

By this time the Rebels had taken The Irish be­come very expert in the use of Arms. several of the English Forts, and were become so expert in the use of Arms, that they were almost a Match for the English. Sir John Perrot to save charges, had armed the Irish in Ulster, against the Isl [...]nder Scots, and taught them the use of Fire-Arms; and Fitz-Williams [Page 237] had pursued the same false Measures, and had taken many Irish into the Eng­lish Army, and sent others of them in­to the Low-Countries to be bred Sol­diers; and now they were become stout Rebels, to the damage of the English. The Deputy having in the mean time spent the Summer in the Field against the Enemy, took care to settle Con­naught and Leinster in the Winter, and finding them much disordered by the Injuries of the Presidents, he heard their Complaints very patiently, and redressed what he found amiss, with much Justice, that he might raise in the people an expectation and hopes of better [...]mes to come. And he also le­vied [...]ore Forces, and invited Tyrone to co [...] [...] him to Dublin, and sent him a Passport: The Earl came according­ly, being tossed between hopes and fears; and there the Deputy before many of the Nobility of that King­dom, represented to him the Benefits he had received at the Queen's hands; which he readily acknowledged; pre­tending, Tyrone's Pre­tences to the Deputy. That he had on that consider at i­on patiently born the Injuries of Fitz-Williams Government, and the Wrongs done him by Bagnal the Marshal: That [Page 238] he had saved the English from the Fury of Mac Guire, and preserved them in the possession of Fermanagh: That his good Actions had been misrepresented, and he had been ill rewarded for them: That he desired nothing more, than to be restored to the Queen's Favour, which he had been deprived of by the slanders of his Enemies. This cunning Defence appeased the Deputy; and he was re­solved to try if he could reclaim him by favours and good usage; and so he per­mitted him to return home again. Yet in September of this year he offered the King of Spain the Kingdom of Ireland, if he would supply him with 3000 Men, and a little Treasure. Thus were the Winter of this year, and the Spring of the next, spent in needless and in­effectual Treaties, Tyrone pretending to submit, to gain time; and at last he was Pardoned; but Three Ships arri­ving from Spain with Powder and 200 men, he refused his Pardon a great while, and when he took it, he used it as a cover for his Treasonable Designs. He was always Treating and Rebelling at the same time; and finding a Discon­tent between Sir John Norris and the Lord Deputy, he made use of the one [Page 239] against the other, and in the mean time surprized the Garisons, and embroiled the Countrey, to the great hazard of Extirpating the English. A Treaty with a perfidious man tends to nothing but to make him insolent, and the Go­vernment secure to its Ruin: If you never trust him, he can never hurt you. The English Council was so weary of these Chargeable Wars, that they dreaded nothing more than a War in Ireland: So that it was then a Maxim here, That it were well for England, if Ireland could be sunk into the bottom of the Ocean; but since that was not possi­ble to be done, it had been well if they had gone roundly to work, and sending competent Forces, had pursued these counterfeiting Rebels to utter destru­ction, not suffering any Irish-man to have any Fire-Arms.

The Deputy observing that Tyrone The Deputy offended with Tyrone. slighted him, and made his applications to Norris, to whom he sent Messen­gers to commemorate his Loyalty and Duty to the Queen, and to beg her Ma­jesties Pardon; he thereupon wrote to the Queen, That he had not been used to Wars, and was unacquainted with [Page 240] the Fatigues that attended Insurrections and Tumults: That King Philip of Macedonia was less terrible to him than a desultory Enemy, and a barbarous Irish Teagne: That this languid Sedi­tion might be composed without wounds or bloodshed, as some thought, if good men were but sent to treat with the Rebels: That there were those in Ireland who had conferred with the Rebels, and had sent into England the Rebels Defamations against him and others of her Governors: By which passage the Deputy slily taxed Sir John Norris as one that had done nothing worthy of his former Military Repu­tation, but thought to work upon the good nature of the Ulster Clowns by his Courtship and Flattery; which tended rather to the making them more insolent. This carriage of the Gene­ral's was the occasion of fierce Contests and Quarrels between him and the De­puty, and the effect of it was, that not only the Heads of the Clans in Ulster, but those also in Connanght and Lein­ster, took Arms and revolted from the Crown of England The Deputy seeing things by their Divisions brought to so desperate an estate, resolved to get rid [Page 241] of the Government, and by his Let­ters humbly besought the Queen a good General might be sent in his place In this doubtful time, Sir John Norris as earnestly desired to be Deputy, and that his Brother, who was fitter for the Labours of the War, might be made President of Munster. But he obtained neither of his Requests. The Coun­cil of England was divided for some time between the Lord Burroughs and the Earl of Essex, but the latter join­ing with the former, it was carried for him, and he had both the Supreme Civil and Military Power put into his hands.

The 15th. of May, 1597. Thomas The Lord Burroughs made Depu­ty of Ireland. Lord Burroughs arrived at Dublin, with a Commission to be Lord Deputy of Ireland: With the Supreme Authori­ty, he presently commanded Norris to his Presidency of Munster, which with the disappointment of the Deputy's Place, broke his heart. Johnstonius saith, The reason of this was, because Norris was a person of more Experi­ence in the War, and of greater Fame than Burroughs. So that when he came to Dublin, Norris was no way pleased [Page 242] with the change, for that he dreaded the fiery Temper of that Lord, with whom he had formerly had some quar­rels, which he would now have wil­lingly sacrificed to the Welfare of his Countrey. But the Deputy was of an Implacable Temper, and commanded him into Munster, upon the peril of his life, not permitting Norris to see him: This Great and Stout Man could not bear the Affront; but he that had run through so many Perils in the Field, in the Netherlands, France, and Portu­gal; he that had despised the Rages of the Duke d' Alva in Holland, and put a stop to the Victories of the Duke of Parma, fell under this, and expired in the Arms of his Brother. Thus he became a wonderful Instance of hu­mane frailty, as well as of Martial Courage; being rather pitied than ap­proved; because his Management in Ireland was much inferior to what he had done elsewhere, and short of what was expected from him. The Lord Lieutenant died in November follow­ing; yet in that short time he beat the Irish in Ulster, and recovered the Fort of Blackwater, and Garison'd it with English. Sir Thomas Norris was no­minated [Page 243] for his Successor, but he was melancholy, and would not accept it; his Brother the General being just then dead also: Thereupon the Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Robert Gardiner, Lord Chief Justice, were sworn the 15th of November, when the Council The Council of Ireland re­present the I­rish War as an universal Rebellion of that whole Nation. concluded their Account of the State of the Kingdom, That it was an universal Irish Rebellion to shake off all English Government. In August this year Ty­rone had the good fortune to rout Mar­shal Bagnal his mortal Enemy, in a Wood half a mile beyond Armagh, where the Marshal, 13 Captains, and 1500 English Soldiers were slain. The Tyrone beat the English. Irish by this Defeat got Arms, Victual, Ammunition, and Reputation, and the Fort of Blackwater; so that the English were reduced from an Offensive to a Defensive War. This nettled the Queen, and she sent to Ormond, who was Lieutenant-General, to clear the Army of all the Irish, and she sent 2000 Foot and 100 Horse to recruit the Army. Ty­rone sent after this 4000 Kerns into Munster, and the President not being able to resist them, by reason his Forces were small, that whole Province re­belled also in October, 1598. and began [Page 244] to Kill, Rob, and Ravage the English, without Measure or Mercy. Thus the Rebellion grew to that height, that it became terrible to the Queen. Tyrone in the mean time sent submissive Let­ters to the Earl of Ormond, and pro­mised the Spaniards that he would ac­cept And at the same time treats with England and Spain. no Conditions from the English, magnifying his Victories beyond all reason and truth: So that now the Courtiers in England began to consider, as Mr. Cambden observes, That by long use it was grown to a destructive custom in Ireland, That Rebels and Tray­tors might with the Money they had gotten from the spoiled English by Pillage and Villany, procure for themselves Protecti­on and Pardon. The Queen was well inclined to have sent the Lord Mont­joy into Ireland; but the Earl of Essex pretended to it, and he was chosen. Others say the Council put him upon The Earl of Essex sent De­puty. it, that he might put an end to the Troubles of Ireland, which had been encreased by the Contentions between the Commanders that were employed before, and also by the deaths of Sir John Norris, and that of the Lord De­puty, as well as by the Defeat of Mar­shal Bagnal: That the Lords cried up [Page 245] the Valour of the Earl of Essex to the skies; and affirmed that there was not in England any General who could un­dertake the Reduction of so far-spread a Rebellion, with that Prudence, Di­ligence, and Courage, they might ex­pect from him. Thus he was sent thi­ther by the perfidious Commendati­ons of his Enemies, against the opini­on of his real and true Friends, that they that put him upon it might when he was there, find an opportunity to ruin him. The Earl on the other side was anxious, and unresolved what to do; for as he feared the Fate of his Fa­ther, who perished in that Kingdom, so he could not tell how to oppose his own Destiny; and accepted of an Em­ployment which no other durst pretend to, purely to comply with the good opinion of the whole Privy Council, which loaded him with Praises on this occasion, tho in his heart he misdoubt­ed the Event. The Queen also sent him away thither with great Testimonies of her Affection to him, commending him excessively for preferring her Ser­vice before his own Safety; but then this was the last good day that unfortu­nate Earl ever saw.

[Page 246] He landed there the 15th. of April, The Army under Essex 20000 men. 1599. with 13000 Horse, and 16000 Foot, which were made up 20000. there being more than that number in Arms against the Queen: But with all these Forces he did nothing worthy of his former Reputation, or of his Ar­my: And that Winter he went out of Ireland in a Discontent, without the Queen's Leave, and returned unex­pectedly to the Court, which proved his Ruin. Tyrone grew insolent here­upon, and profess'd publickly he would recover the Liberty of Religion and his Countrey.

Charles Lord Montjoy was thereupon The Lord Montjoy sent Deputy. The Methods by which he ruined the I­rish, and end­ed the War. sent Lord Deputy, who landed the 24th. of February, 1599/600 The English Army was then 1200 Horse, and 14000 Foot; and the General finding the Irish Strength was in their Fastnesses, he re­solved to ruin them by small flying Par­ties placed in Garisons; and this way accordingly destroyed them without redress, and they began to talk of sub­mitting, which was not regarded, be­cause all the world saw there was no Truth, Faith, or Honour in this bar­barous and false Enemy. From thence­forward [Page 247] many that begged for Pardon No Irish par­doned, but what merited the Mercy by some signal Service. were denied it, if they did not bring in the Heads of their Fellow-Traytors, or do some other considerable service to purchase it, which they seldom failed of attempting, and were very often ta­ken by their own Party in the Fact and hanged. The War went vigorously on, and the Rebels were generally beaten in all places till the 23d of September, 1601. when the Spaniards landed at The Spaniards land at King­sale. Kingsale, and the English immediately sat down before it; yet the Spaniards (tho beaten in every Sally) defended the Town to the 24th. of December, when there was a general Battel be­tween Tyrone and all the Rebels on the one side, and so many of the English as could be spared out of the Trenches: Tyrone was beaten out of the Field, and he lost 1200 of his men, 800 wounded, and the English lost only one Cornet, and six Soldiers: The Spa­niards knew nothing of the Battel, and made no Sally till it was over, tho the Fight was within one Mile of King­sale, but then they sallied twice to no purpose; whereupon, the 31st. of De­cember, the Spaniards capitulated, and delivered up the Town. After this, [Page 248] the War went on so successfully against these Rebels, and they were reduced to such Necessities, that the Parents eat their Children, and three Children roasted the flesh of their dead Mother, The Irish re­duced to eat man's flesh. and lived upon it twenty days; so that this exceeded the Famine of Jeru­salem: The 30th, of March, 1602. Ty­rone Tyrone sub­mits. submitted to Mercy at Melifont, begging to be received upon his Knees. Thus ended this most dangerous Re­bellion that ever was made in Ireland before that time, about a week after the Death of the Queen, and before it was known. It had never risen to that height, but for the over-great pe­nuriousness of the Queen; for which she afterwards paid very dear, and had not the happiness to see the Traytor Tyrone at her foot before her Death; but however she was sufficiently re­venged of all her Enemies, by the Ruin, Famine, Deaths, and Plagues that fell upon them; Heaven favouring her Cause, and blasting all their Un­dertakings against her. It is very ob­servable, Religion causlesly made the pretence of the Irish Re­bellion. that the main pretence of this Rebellion, was the Preservation of the Roman-Catholick Religion; yet there was then never any Law passed in this [Page 249] Kingdom against it, nor any Prosecu­tion made of those that professed it; but they had a perfect Liberty of Con­science to embrace which of the Reli­gions they pleased; only the Church-Preferments and Revenues were put into the hands of the Protestant Cler­gy, and the Tythes paid to them; and the Government was generally put in­to the hands of the Protestant Nobility and Gentry, but so that they were mixed; and they of the other Religion being more in number, were common­ly returned on all Juries: So that Li­berty Liberty of Conscience considered. of Conscience will not keep a divi­ded Kingdom always quiet; but there have ever been men to be found, who are as uneasie when they cannot perse­cute others, as when they themselves are persecuted. The Charge of this War from the first of October, 1598. to the first of April, 1603. amounted to Eleven hundred ninety eight thousand seven hundred and seventeen Pounds Nineteen Shillings and One Peny, as Mr. Cox assures us; from whence he inferreth how justly the Irish had for feited the Estates were taken from them; and how reasonable it will ever be for the English in Ireland to contri­bute [Page 250] freely to the maintaining of a good Army for the preserving that Kingdom in Peace.

In her time the English Nation was The Great­ness of the Reputation of the English Nation in Q. Elizabeth's time. at its highest pitch of Honour, Wealth, and Reputation. The Queen was al­so in the greatest esteem that was pos­sible with all the Neighbour Nations; because she had delivered Scotland from the hated Dominion of the French; and she had after this succour­ed and supported the Netherlands when their Affairs were most desperate; she had sent vast Treasures into France to support Henry the IVth. against the Holy League, and the King of Spain; and when after all, Ireland had been stirr'd up against her, and had made al­most a general Revolt under the Com­mand of a false and treacherous Tray­tor, she had the good fortune to reduce that Kingdom by the Prosperity of her Arms, and the Valour of her Subjects. Spain was in her time terrible to all the other Nations in Europe, till her Navies afflicted and ruined that Kingdom, by burning their Fleets and Naval Stores at the Groyne and Cadiz. Her Fame spread it self to the most distant [Page 251] parts of Europe; and the Muscovites and Turks, who were only known by report to the English before her happy times, sent Ambassies to her to beg her Friendship, and settle Commerce and Trade with her. The King of Morocco and Fez, in Barbary in Africa, sent also an Ambassy to her; so that her Subjects had the pleasure of smi­ling at the half-naked Moors, and the Russ who were loaded with Furs after the manner of their Countrey. The Hollander, French, Poles, Germans, Danes, and Swedes, and all the other Nations about her, begged her Friend­ship in times of Peace, her Assistance and Protection in times of War, and on every occasion testified their sense of her Favours, and their Gratitude for the good offices she had done them. She laboured always to unite those Her Carriage towards her Allies a­broad. Princes who were her Friends and Al­lies, by Marriages and other such me­thods; if any Controversie or Diffe­rence at any time arose between them, she sent her Letters and her Ambassa­dors to both the Parties to compose them; and they on the other side did for the most part acquiesce in her Judg­ment, and yield to her Authority. If [Page 252] in any part of her Dominions the Countrey hapned to become desolate and ill peopl'd, she took particular care to send Colonies thither to supply that defect. She brought her meanest Subjects from an idle, poor, and beg­garly way of living, to the practice of good and useful Trades; many of which were brought into England in her time by the banished and persecuted Netherlanders, to the great benefit and advantage of this Kingdom. She made the Naval Glory of England equal to its Military or Land-Service and Re­putation. The Bounds of her Fame were not confined to England, but ex­tended to the utmost parts of the earth, and the farthest Recesses of the Ocean; for her Subjects in her time passed the Li [...]e, and filled all the corners of the habitable world with the fame of this most Celebrated Queen. There was no place in the wide and remotest Oce­an, but her Subjects sailed thither with their Merchandize to enrich their Countrey. The English Fleets then first pierced into the vast Bays of the East-Indian Ocean; and they frequent­ed the Philippine Islands, and the South Parts of Asia, and the Eastern Shores [Page 253] of Affrica. Drake and Cavendish, in these times went round the Globe of the Earth, and erected every where Tro­phies to the Honour of their Queen. This last was not only above the hopes, but beyond the thoughts of this Nati­on, so far they were of attempting any thing of that nature before.

Sir Francis Drake was of a mean and Sir Francis Drake's Ori­ginal and Sto­ry. obscure Extraction, and born in Devon­shire, his Father embracing the Prote­stant Religion in the time of Henry VIII. was persecuted for the same, and forced to remove for his greater security into Kent, after which he entred Orders, and by Poverty was constrained to bind his Son to the Master of a Ship, who sometimes passed into France and Flanders. The young Man so well pleased his Master, that he dying un­married, he gave this Servant of his, his Ship. After this he put himself under Mr. John Hawkins, who in the year 1567. was preparing a small Fleet at Plymouth, with a design to discover some yet unknown Parts of A­merica; but this Voyage was very un­fortunate, and the English falling into the hands of the Spaniards, he lost all [Page 254] his stock, and hardly escaped with his Liberty. After this he became one of the most famous Mariners this Nation has produced; and by his industry he opened the way to both the Indies, which before was not known to the English. For about five years after this first Voyage, he preyed as a Pyrate up­on the Spaniards wheresoever he found them, and could master them; and ha­ving by this means acquired a good sum of Money, he built a stout Ship, which he called the Dragon, with which and two Barks he ventured once more in the Year 1572. to visit the Coasts of America, and took Nombre de Dios, a Town in the Bay of Mexico. Here he was informed by the Negroes that were Slaves to the Spaniards (and were called Cimarones) that a vast Trea­sure in Gold and Silver was to be short­ly after transported by Mules and other Land-Carriages from Panama, in order to be shipped for Spain: These he waylayed, and seized all this Wealth, which proved much more than he could bring away; so that he was forced to leave the Silver, a great part of which he buried in the Earth, but he got all the Gold on board his Ship; after [Page 255] which he burnt Sancta Cruz, a Rich Re­ceptacle of the Merchandises of this Country, seated upon the River Chia­gre, which falls into the Gulf of Mex­ico, at Porto Bello. This Town of Sancta Cruz seems to be that which Mr. Gage in his Travels calls Venta de Cruzes, and saith it lies about twelve Leagues from Panama to the East, upon the Chiagre, and was in his time inhabited by none but Mulatto's and Black-Moors, who belonged to the Boats that carry the Goods brought thi­ther from Panama to Porto Bello. Thus far this bold Captain ventured to travel by Land with a small Party of resolute English men, to the great loss and ter­ror of the Spaniards; and by the success of it encouraged others to follow him. So that the Buccaneers, which in our times have performed such wonderful things in America, have only followed him in their Adventures. From the Mountains of St. Pablo upon this Ri­ver he first saw the Mar del Zur, or the Pacifick Occan, which washeth the Western Shoars of America, and there­upon being strangely possess'd with a strong desire to sail herafter upon thatO­cean, he fell down upon his Knees, [Page 256] and beseeched God to grant him that favour, vowing to do his utmost for the discovering it; and from thenceforth he found no rest in his mind night or day, till he had accomplished this Re­solution. In the mean time our Great Man having divided the spoil he had taken amongst his followers, with an open hand to all their content, he set sail for England with vast Riches. Whilst others gazed on the Gold he brought home with wonder; He glo­ried in nothing but that he had seen the Mar de Zur, and thought of nothing but the making Preparations to sail up­on it, which the Treasure he had got (for he was now become very rich) fur­nished him with means to effect, and enabled him to build Ships for that purpose.

Whilst he was thus employed, one The Story of John Oxen­ham. John Oxenham a Common Sailer, who had served under him in his former Ex­peditions, as a Soldier, Seaman, and Cook, and had gained the name of a Captain amongst the Mariners, ha­ving scraped together under hand a good stock, took up the same Project, and resolved once more to rob the Mulatto's, [Page 257] and sail upon that Sea before his Ma­ster; to this end he got a single Ship, and 70 Sailors to venture with him; and in the year 1575. failed to the same place; but hearing from the Negroes, that now the Spaniards were become so cautious as to send a Guard of Sol­diers with their Caravans, to guard them from Panama to Porto Bello, he drew his Ship ashore in a desolate place, and covered it with Boughs, burying his Cannon and Provisions in the earth, and then with all his Company, and six Negroes for his Guide, he travelled to a River, which falls into the South Sea, where he cut down Timber, and built some Boats, and so passed to the Island of Pearls in that Ocean, which lay not far from the Mouth of this River; where he staid ten days to ex­pect the return of the Ships from Peru; and he intercepted one with fixty pound of Gold, and another with One hundred pound of Silver; and in these ships he passed back to the River. The News of this being brought to the Spa­niards, they sent John de Ortega, with an hundred Soldiers, to pursue the bold Adventurers; the River had Three Mouths, and he was doubtful which [Page 258] to chuse, till the Feathers of the Fowls the English had eaten, came down, and shewed him which way they were gone before: The Spaniards found the Gold, and the English contending about the dividing of it amongst them, but they soon put an end to the brawl, and defended themselves against the Spani­ards, who were more numerous than they, with great Courage, but many of them being slain in the Fight, the rest were taken, and amongst them Oxenham the Captain [...] and sent to Li­ma, where being not able to produce any Commission from the Queen for the invading these Spanish Dominions, he and many of the Mariners were execu­ted as Pyrates, and the common ene­mies of mankind.

Drake, who knew nothing of this Drake's se­cond Voyage to America. Attempt and Miscarriage of Oxenham, in the year 1577. the 13th. of Decem­ber, set sail from Plimouth with five Ships, and 163 Mariners; the 16th. of April he arrived in the Mouth of the River of Plate in Brafil; the 20th. of August he arrived at the Mouth of the Streights of Magellan; when he came into the Pacifick Ocean, he found [Page 259] it very turbulent, and was driven by a furious Tempest, in a few days, above a hundred Leagues to the South; and here one of the Ships being separated, returned back again through these Streights into England. After this, Drake took St. Jago in Chili, and plun­dered He takes St. Jago. it, and here he got a Prize with 400 pound of pure Gold. Arriving at Turapassa, he found 13 Bars of Massy Silver, of the value of CCCCM Du­cats, which was left on the ground by some Spaniards, who were asleep by it; he took the Silver, and never waked the Keepers of it. From thence he pass'd to the Port of Arica, in which he found three Ships without one man in them, but there was 57 Wedges of Silver, each of 20 pound weight, and some other Merchandize which he took. Arriving at Lima, he found twelve Ships, but all the Mariners were on shore, and yet in them he had a great quantity of Silk, and a Chest of Minted Silver; which shews how se­cure from Pyrates this Coast had to this time been. Nor in truth till this time had any other than the Spaniards ever sailed upon this Sea, except Oxenham. In his journey to Panama he took a [Page 260] Barque without any resistance, that afforded him 80 pound weight of Gold. The first of March he took a Ship cal­led the Cacofoga, which had on board 80 pound weight of Gold, and 13 Chests of Minted Money, and as much Silver as balasted his own Ship; the Master of this Ship told him, That his Ship (Drake's) should henceforth be call'd the Cacofoga, and the Spanish Ship the Cacoplata.

Being thus wonderfully enriched, and, as he thought, sufficiently aven­ged on the Spaniards for the Loss he had sustained in his first Attempt upon Vera Crnz, he began to consider of his return; and not thinking the passage by the Streights of Magellan safe (as in truth it was beset by the Orders of Francis Duke of Toledo, then Viceroy of Peru) he directed his Course North­ward to the height of 42 Degrees of North Latitude, to seek a paslage; but finding nothing but snow and defolate shores, he returned to 38 degrees, and Wintered there, calling the Countrey New Albion; and here the naked peo­ple chofe him for their King, and by their ignorance shewed him plainly [Page 261] the Spaniards had never been so far that way. In the Month of November he He sails for the Nolucca Islands. set sail for the Molucca Islands; the 9th. of January his Ship stuck 27 hours up­on a Rock, but by the blessing of God came off it by a side-wind, which seem'd to be sent of purpose to save this Hero. From thence he passed to the Jsland of Java in the East Indies, and so to the Cape of Good Hope, which had never been seen before by any English-man; and Watering at the Rio Grande in Africa, he arrived in England the 3d. of November, 1580. having in this time gone round the Globe of the Earth. The People of England recei­ved him with great Triumph, and a Publick Joy; and the Queen as a Re­ward of the good Service he had done her against the Spaniards, Knighted him, and caused the Ship he had sailed in to be laid up at Deptford. Mr. Gage, our Countrey-man, who lived some years in the Spanish Territories in Ame­rica, assures us, his Memory is preser­ved there by the Spaniards, who to this day, saith he, admire this Expe­dition, and teach their Children to fear even his Name. After this the Queen often made him one of her Admirals; [Page 262] and he being grown exceeding rich, took diligent care to put out a greater Fleet, and openly assaulted the Island of St. Jago, and took St. Domingo, and Carthagena, and some others in the West Indies, being sent by the Queen with 21 Ships, and 2300 men, in the year 1585. The Towns they took in this Expedition were either so poor that there was nothing of Silver or Gold to be found in them, or they had had such previous notice of the coming of the English, that they had sent a way all that was valuable; yet St. Do­mingo and Carthagena were forced to redeem themselves from Fire by Mo­ney; the first gave Twenty five thou­sand Ducats, and the latter One hun­dred and ten thousand, which was presently divided amongst the Mari­ners and Seamen. The Spaniards more regretted the loss of their ships, great numbers being burnt; and this hastned the Invasion designed upon England, which was undertaken in the year 1588. which miscarrying, the Spanish Greatness dwindled into nothing; and after the Queen's Death they were glad to send to King James the First, her Suc­cessor, to beg a Peace in the first year [Page 263] of his Reign; so the Honour of Re­ducing Spain was hers, and that of setling Peace, after a War that had last­ed so long, his.

The Riches and Fame Sir Francis The Story of Mr. Thomas Cavendish. Drake had acquired in these Maritime Expeditions, encouraged Mr. Thomas Cavendish, a Gentleman of Trimely in the County of Suffolk, to pursue the same methods for the raising his For­tunes, and with them the Reputation and Glory of the English Nation. The 21st of July, 1586. he set out from Plimouth with three ships, the biggest of which was but 120 Tuns, and 123 Seamen, with Provisions for two years. With this small Fleet he passed the Streights of Magellan, and sailed up to the Coast of New Spain in the Mar del Zur, and took 19 of the Spanish Mer­chant ships, and burnt two or three of their Towns, and then sailing to the Philippine Islands, the Molucca's, and the Cape of Good Hope, he staid some time in St. Helens; and the 9th. of September, 1588. he returned to Ply­mouth; he having been the second man of this Nation, that went round the Globe of the Earth, with no less Ho­nour, [Page 264] tho he returned with less Spoils than the first Adventurer. The Queen entertained him at Greenwich, and be­stowed upon him many Marks of her Favour, and gave him some considera­ble Rewards. Sir Martin Forbisher, or Frobisher, Sir John Hawkins, Davis, Jackman, Jenkenson, and Sir Walter Rawleigh, and many others of the Eng­lish, employed their time in searching out the remotest parts of the world at the same time to very good effect, there having been great Trades driven ever since by the Dutch and English, by the means of their Discoveries. Mr. Ri­chard Hackluit, Hackluit re­cords and publishes all the English Expeditions in these and former times. who lived in these times, took a particular care to collect and publish the Journals of all these Voya­ges; by which he des [...]rved very well of this Nation; and it is a great pity that his Works are become so scarce, and so little known, and that no man has since pursued the same method; these Di­scourses being of great use for all Ma­riners, and serving very much for the enlarging and clearing the Geography of the World.

Philip King of Spain being highly incensed by the ruin of so many of his [Page 265] Towns, and the losses he had sustained Philip King of Spain highly in­censed a­gainst the English Nati­on. by Drake's Expeditions, gave Order that all the English Sea-men that should after this be taken in America, should be treated like Pyrates and the Enemies of mankind: And all the Merchant Ships that fell into his hands, were seized, and the Merchants imprisoned, tho there was then no open Wars pro­claimed; and he laid cunning Designs to ruin the English Nation, which the necessity of his other affairs put off from time to time; so that there were Threats of a War, and great Prepa­rations made for it, rather than a War. But when he saw Threats and Anger would not terrifie the English, he turn­ed his secret Anger into open War, and entred into a Contention which in the end proved fatal to himself and his Na­tion: The Invinci­ble Armado in 1588. pre­pared and sent to in­vade Eng­gland. He prepared to that end a vast Fleet of 134 Sail of Ships, so great, so arm'd, and so mann'd, that perhaps the Ocean never bore such another on its proud Billows; there was on board it 20000 Land-men, and 8300 Sea­men, and the Command of it was com­mitted to the Duke of Medina Cali, a Person of an exalted Worth and Repu­tation: One Martin Re [...]alda was, under [Page 266] him, the great Director of the Fleet, being a Pilot of great Experience. This Fleet, which had raised so great an Expectation in the Neighbour-Countries, that it was not doubted but it would not only subdue but over­whelm the little Island of Great Bri­tain, sailed from the Groyne the 12th. of July, 1588. and came within sight of Cornwal, the 19th. of the same Month; whereupon the Beacons were fired, and one Fleming came in with a Scout-Ship, and assured the English Admiral, the Spanish Fleet had been seen by him near the Lizzard: The English Fleet was then in the Port of Plimouth, un­der the Command of Charles Lord Howard, then Admiral of England: Charles Lord Howard Ad­miral of Eng­land. And as it was believed the Spanish Fleet would not have come that year, so there was not on board it that num­ber of men that was necessary to man it, and which on the sudden was hard­ly possible to be got together; but how­ever, the Admiral went first to Sea, and gave the Signal for the rest to fol­low, and he ranged them in their Order as they were able to get out. The Spa­nish Ships were very much higher and stronger than the English, and had [Page 267] greater and more Cannon; but there was four CARACKS of an exces­sive Greatness, and which seemed scarce fit for motion, which served instead of Castles to defend the smaller Ships: The English Fleet, on the contrary, was nimble, and very well provided for Fight or Flight, and managed by men that understood the Sea-Affairs wonderfully well; so that they assault­ed the Spanish Armado the 21st. of Ju­ly, with Dexterity and Courage: The Fight lasted three days without any in­termission, and then was intermitted for want of Gunpowder. After this they followed the Spanish Fleet, (which kept its course for Flanders, notwith­standing this continual Fight); and when any Ship happened to be separa­ted from the main body, they would be sure to be upon it, and for the most part they took it. The English were at first but 40 Sail, the rest not being able to get out of the Port. The St. Ca­therina, a great Spanish Galiass, the first day was so torn by the English Shot, that they were forced to take it into the Body of the Fleet to repair the Mischief it had received: The principal Galeon of Sevil, wherein many of the Spanish [Page 268] Nobility sailed, falling foul upon ano­ther Ship, in this disorder had her Fore-mast broken, and so could not sail with the rest, but was left to the Mercy of the Seas, and of the English. The 22d. of July, Sir Francis Drake found this great Galeon, which was dis­abled, and summon'd it to yield, which was done when they heard Drake was the man they had to do with: The Commander of this ship was Valdez who was one of the principal persons in the Navy, and he had with him 450 persons. The same day the Ad­miral of the Squadron of Guipuscoa, commanded by Michael de Oquendo, Vice-Admiral of the whole Fleet, was set on fire by a disobliged Hollander, the upper part of it, and most of the men perished, but the Gunpowder ne­ver fired. This night the Admiral of England followed the Spanish Lan­thorn, and was next morning in the midst of their Fleet. The 23d. of Ju­ly, the Spanish Fleet was over-against Portland, and the Wind was against the English; but they being nimbler, soon recovered that advantage again over the unwieldy Spaniards; this day the English played with more fury on [Page 269] the Spaniards than the two former, but they would not be provoked to stop till they came to Calis, that being the Orders given them in Spain; by this time the English Fleet was become a hundred strong, of one sort or other; and many Voluntier Ships made out by men of all degrees, were come into it; and by that time they came to Dover, there was 130. of which yet there was not above 22. or 23. of the Queen's biggest ships, that were able to grapple with the Spanish ships. The 24th. of July the Sea was calm, and four great Galeasses which had Oars, fought the English Fleet with great advantage; by night the English wanted Gunpowder, which they sent for that night. The 25th. the Spaniards being at the height of the Isle of Wight, the Admiral of England, with five of the biggest ships, attacked the Admiral of Spain in the midst of his Fleet, and then there fol­lowed a terrible fight, which was ma­naged on both sides with the utmost Bravery; but the Spaniards grew wea­ry of it, and cast themselves again into the form of a Ring. The 26th. the Admiral Knighted Sir Martin Forbisher, and Sir John Hawkins. The 27th. [Page 270] by Sun-set the Spanish Fleet arrived over-against Dover, their Fleet cast Anchor this night in the Channel, within sight both of Dover and Calis, and the English Fleet were within Can­non-shot of it, and now 130 strong; from hence the Duke of Medina sent to the Duke of Parma, who was then at Dunkirk, and had Orders to join this Fleet, to hasten out the Land Army, which in 40 Fly-boats was to have join­ed him, that being covered by this huge Fleet, and with the Forces sent from Spain, now aboard it, a Descent might be made in England; but the Hollanders having notice of his Inten­tions, had sent a Fleet of 35. Men of War, under the Command of Justin of Nassau, their Admiral, on board the which was 1200 Musketeers; and he hadOrders not to suffer any ship to come out of the Ports of Flanders, nor any Zabraes, Pataches, or other small Ves­sels of the Spanish Fleet to enter there­into; and this Dutch Fleet so awed the Duke of Parma and his Land-Army, that they durst not stir, nor indeed was his Army then come to the Sea, or rea­dy to be embark'd, if he could have gone out; and besides, he wanted all [Page 271] manner of Necessaries for such an Expedi­tion; and all the Flandrians had no great inclinations to make the King of Spain Master of England, to the Ruin of their own Civil Privileges. The Mariners also that were to have served the Duke of Parma, being terrified by the Hollanders, withdrew from the dan­ger, and stole away for fear they should have been forced by the Duke to at­tempt the passing through the Dutch Fleet to their Ruin. The 2d. of Au­gust was the day appointed for the land­ing in England; but before that came, the Admiral of England having chosen eight old Ships, and filled them with combustible matter, and charged all their Ordnance with Stones and Bul­lets, he sent them the 28th. of July, about Two of the Clock in the morn­ing, with the Wind and Tide against the Spanish Fleet, and when they were just upon it, the Mariners fired all these ships at once, and left them un­der sail to enter the Spanish Fleet; this fire in the dead of the night put the Spaniards into such an affright, that cutting their Cables, and hoisting their Sails, they betook themselves to the Sea in great confusion and disorder; one of [Page 272] the greatest of their Galeasses falling foul upon another ship, lost her Rud­der, and was driven on the Coast of Calis, where the English found and took her, and in her, besides other valuable Spoils, they found 50000 Ducats of the King of Spain's Treasure. The 29th. of July the Spanish Fleet got it self into some Order again before Graveling, but the English Fleet which had followed it, furiously assaulted it, and the Spaniards suffered the English to get the Weathergage of them, tho they were more in number, and strong­er than the English, but they were re­solved to keep on the Defensive part till Parma was joined with them. This whole day was spent in a furious Fight, with great slaughter of the Spaniards, tho there was few ships taken or sunk; but at night the English having spent all their Powder, retired. In all these fights the English did not lose above 100 men, and amongst them not one Per­son of Quality. The Spanish Ships were so battered, that this night two or three of them sunk, and amongst them a great ship of Biscay, and two Portugal Galeons of Seven or Eight Hundred Tun, were deserted by the [Page 273] Spanish Fleet, because the Water entred into them on all sides, and taken by the Hollanders of Flushing. That day the Spanish Fleet passed by Dunkirk: The next day the Spanish Fleet cut down their Main-Sails, and resolved to fight no more; nor was there any occasion, for the English Admiral having sent a Squadron to secure the Duke of Parma in Flanders, he with the rest pursued the Spanish Fleet till the 2d. of August, but tho he was very near them, yet wanting Powder and Ball he never of­fered them any violence. The 4th. of August, the Spanish Navy spread all their Sails before a strong Wind, and committed their shattered ships to the Violence of the Northern Ocean, but the English following them to 57. De­grees of North-Latitude, returned and left them to receive the rest of their Chastisement from the Seas, and the Scots and Irish, but there were certain Pinnaces sent to follow them, and ob­serve their Motions at a distance.

The Spaniards found they had lost The Conditi­on of the Spanish Fleet, when the English left it: four or five thousand of their men, and ten or twelve of their principal ships; and tho they were rid of the English, [Page 274] yet they wanted Water and Victuals, Cables, Cordage, Anchors, Masts, and Sails; and as for the Duke of Parma, he they saw could not succour them; so they resolved to pass round about Scot­land and Ireland, and return into Spain; they also cast over-board all their Hor­ses and Mules, to preserve the remain­der of their Water: Thus they were driven Northward to 61 Degrees of La­titude; Twenty five of the best pro­vided ships returned into Spain; forty more wanting Water, set sail for Ire­land to get fresh Water there: These (the 2d. of September) were by a Storm from the South-West driven upon seve­ral parts of Ireland, and most of their Ships perished, together with the men in them; others were by a West Wind blown into the English Channel again, and were taken by the English or Ro­chellers: So that of 134 ships (as some counted them) that came from Spain, there never returned above 53. Of al­most 30000 men that went in it, there perished above half, and many of them that came back, died with the hard­ships they had suffered. In short, there was not one Great Family in Spain, which did not lose a Son, a [Page 275] Brother, or a Kinsman. All those of the Spaniards which hapned to be cast upon the Coast of Scotland, were en­tertained by the Scots, and fed and cloathed, and afterwards sent into Spain; but those that were cast upon the Coast of Ireland, were plundered of all that was left them by the English and Irish, and without any Mercy put to the Sword; those that were cast up­on the Coasts of Norway and France, and even those that fell into the hands of the English and the Hollanders, met with a better treatment: So that Ire­land the most deceived their expectati­on, and of a Friend proved the most implacable and barbarous Enemy to this wretched Fleet in their greatest di­stress.

Philip King of Spain bore the Loss The King of Spain bears his Loss with much Pati­ence and Prudence. of this great Fleet and Army with a more equal mind than is usual for Prin­ces; and at last took the Duke of Me­dina, the General of this unfortunate Expedition, again into his favour; at­tributing the Calamity not to the Im­prudence or Negligence of the Gene­ral, but to the Violence of Tempests, and the Rage of the Ocean; tho in [Page 276] truth it was owing to the Blessing of God upon the Valour and Policy of the English, and the too strict Orders they brought from Spain, Not to engage till they were joined with the Duke of Parma, who could never get out of the Harbour to meet them, being locked in by the Hollanders: This exposed them for so many days to the [...]ury of the English Cannon, with the advantage of the Weathergage; and had the Eng­lish had Powder enough to have conti­nued the Fight to the last, very much fewer of these ships had ever returned into Spain: But however, when they were battered and strangely weakned, they were forced to take the way of the Northern Ocean in September, and were exposed to dreadful Tempests, wanting fresh Water, Victuals, and all other Necessaries; for all the North­ern Countries hated the Spaniards, so that neither Germany, Denmark, nor Scotland would relieve them: Thus being exposed to all manner of hard­ships in this battered estate, it is a great wonder so many of them returned in­to Spain. Some were for grappling with these ships when they fought them in the British Seas, but the Eng­lish [Page 277] Admiral confidering they were taller and stronger than the English ships, and had a Land-Army on board to defend their Decks, which we had not, he would never consent to it, and this was a principal cause of the Vi­ctory. The States of Holland, and the The English and Holland­ers glorifie God for the Victory. English Nation, which were equally concerned in this Victory, returned the Glory of it to God alone, who was acknowledged by all as the Author of it, the English Fleet being nothing, when compared with the bulky ships that came from Spain; so that they thought we would not have dared to resist them: The 29th. of November the Queen went into the City of Lon­don in a Triumphant Chariot, the Spa­nish Colours that were taken being born before her to St. Paul's Church, where was a Sermon and a solemn Thanksgiving, at which the Mayor and all the Companies were present; and the same Piety was commanded at the same time in all the remoter parts of her Kingdom; and it was observed by her Subjects with the highest Expressi­ons of Joy and Gratitude towards God, and of Loyalty and Affection to­wards her; so that she was now in the [Page 278] height of all her Glory both at Home and Abroad, beloved by her Friends, and feared by her Enemies, who were never after in a condition to assault her Kingdom the second time; but found it difficult to defend their own against her and her brave Martial Comman­ders.

To revenge this Attempt upon her The Queen declares a War against the King of Spain. Kingdoms, the Queen the same year put out a Declaration of War against Philip King of Spain, which was sharp­ly Penn'd, and from thenceforward to the end of her days there was a perpe­tual and a sharp War carried on against the Spaniards, which kept her Subjects quiet at home. The very next year she The English Expeditions against that Kingdom. sent Sir Francis Drake with a Fleet into Spain, who took the Groyne, as is said a­bove; by which Action she defeated the Designs of that King, who was prepa­ring there for a second Invasion; and ha­ving abated his Pride and Rashness in­to a more tractable Modesty, she thereby delivered her People from a signal Danger. In this War the Earl of Essex signalized himself by taking Cadiz in 1596. and Burning all the ships he found in that Harbour. George [Page 279] Earl of Cumberland, and Thomas Lord Howard, a younger Son of the Duke of Norfolk, lay heavy upon the Spa­niards, and took many of their ships richly laden, giving all but the tenth part (which was reserved for the Queen) to the Mariners and Soldiers as the Reward of their Valour. In the year 1597. having heard the King of Spain was preparing a Fleet against Ireland, she sent a Navy of 120 ships, part English, and part Hollanders, un­der the Earl of Essex, and in it a Land-Army of 6000 men; but this Fleet went out and met with so severe a storm, that it was forced to return, and after that, was detained by contrary Winds, so that the Provisions being spent, the greatest part of the Army and of the ships were dismissed, the rest got to Sea the 17th. of August. This Fleet went to the Azores where Sir Wal­ter Rawleigh took the Town of Fial, and beat the Spaniards that endeavour­ed to hinder his passage to it. After this they lost the opportunity of surprizing the Spanish Indian Fleet, which they there waited for, and returned into England without any signal Victory, or what might help to bear the Charges [Page 280] of this Expedition, which was owing in great part to the Emulations be­tween the Chief Commanders, who envied each other the Glory of doing well. Tho the English did not get much by this Expedition, yet the Spa­niards were great Losers, one of their biggest Caracks being forced ashore, and burnt, three ships were taken, and many others of that Fleet being kept out too long, perished by tempestuous weather; whereas all the English Fleet returned in safety.

In the year 1597. George Clifford, The Earl of Cumberland put out a Fleet against Spain at his own Cost. Earl of Cumberland, at his own proper Costs and Charge put out a Fleet of Eleven ships to way-lay the Caracks that go every year from Lisbon to the East-Indies; but they having notice of his being there, sheltered themselves under the Fort of St. Juliana, which had a Hundred great Guns to defend it; and here he attended so long, that there was no ships sent that year. From thence he set sail to the Canary Islands, and took that which is called Lance­rata, with the Town upon it, which he pillaged: Thence he passed to Bo­riquena in the Bay of Mexico in the [Page 281] West-Indies, and took Porto Rico, the principal Town in it, and one of the Keys of America, with the loss of less than 30 of his men, though it was ve­ry strong, and defended by 400 Spanish Soldiers, besides the Towns-men. The Earl considering the strength and im­portance of the Place, resolved to keep it, though the Spaniards offered him a vast price for the redemption of it; but within a short time a Disentery, with grievous Torments seized the English Garison, so that in 40 days he buried 70 of his men; and this forced him to return home with 60 great Guns, but otherwise more exalted by the Victory than enriched. However, he did the Crown of Spain a vast damage, for that Year there went no Fleet to the East-Indies, and there came none home from America. It is observed of this Great Man, That his building so many great ships, and some other less honourable Diversions, wasted more of his Estate, than any of his Ancestors had spent. After this the Rebellion of Tyrone grew so formidable to the Queen, and the English Nation, that all the Money and Forces the Queen could space, were imployed that way, and spent in Ire­land, [Page 282] of which I have given an Ac­count in its proper place; So that from henceforth there was no considerable Expedition undertaken against the Spaniards.

There was one singular Instance of A rare Exam­ple of Martial Valour and Courage. Personal Valour in the Course of this War, which happened in the Year 1591. but was reserved to this Place, that the Steps by which the Spanish Pride and Greatness were abated and pull'd down, might appear the better by being laid together. May this Mag­nanimity of this Virgin Queen be an encouragement and an Example to the Present Age for the humbling another Prince, who in our times, and by our means, is become a terror to all his Neighbours on the score of his Naval Forces, though infinitely inferior in that, and the Point of Wealth too, to Philip the IId. King of Spain. But to return, Tho. Lord Howard, Second Son of the Duke of Norfolk, was sent this year with six Men of War, and six Ships of Burthen, to way-lay the Ame­rican Flect in its return to Spain, whilst he was waiting for it at the Azores, where he lay six months, his Soldiers [Page 283] and Sea-men being generally sick, Al­phonso Bassano, the Spanish Admiral, came upon him suddenly with 80 Ships, so that the English could hardly gain the main Sea to make their defence. One RICHARD GREEN­VILL, Vice-Admiral, being in a Ship called the REVENGE, stay­ing a little too long to take in some of his men who were on shoar, and not hoisting his Sails neither in the mean time, out of a contempt of the Spani­ards; by all these oversights happened to be shut in between the Spanish Fleet and the Island. Attemping, when it was too late, to break through the Spa­nish Fleet, which was divided into four Squadrons, the Spanish Admiral, called the St. Philip, a Ship of vast bulk, clapt in between him and the Wind to de­prive him of it, and three smaller Ships surrounded him, and poured in their great and small Shot on all sides; the Spaniards very often boarded him, but he every time drove them into their own ships, or into the Sea; Thus he defended himself all that night, with the great slaughter of his own men, but with the greater loss of the Enemy. In the morning the English found their [Page 284] Powder fail, their Masts shot down, their Rigging torn, and the most part of their bravest men slain or wounded, and the rest so wearied with the fight, that they could hardly stand to their Arms; The ship also had received 800 shot of Cannon from the Enemy. Greenvill was wounded, and whilst the Chyrurgeon was applying a Plaister to the Wound, he was wounded on the head, and the Chyrurgeon was slain. When the day broke upon them, they found the Deck all covered with Blood, shattered Timber, dead and dying men; so that it struck terror into the be­holder. Greenvill having now fought 15 hours, and there being no hope of escaping, commanded the ship to be sunk; the Pilot forbad it, and went forth within the Long-boat to the Spa­nish Admiral to resign the English ship, covenanting for their Lives and Liber­ties that were left in it; Greenvill there­upon was carried aboard the Spanish Admiral languishing, and just ready to expire. The Spaniards, when they came to fetch him off, found him lying upon the Deck all covered with Blood and Wounds, and gasping out his Soul; and they being amazed at the Resi­stance [Page 285] he had made, and the Condition they found him in, endeavoured to stanch his Wounds, and applied fit Remedies to him. But all they could do or say to mitigate his Sorrows was despised by him, and he answered all their Kindnesses with Frowns and Threats; and thus living two days in the Agonies of Death, he expired. The Spaniards, who are a valiant Na­tion, were so far from being exaspera­ted by this carriage of his, that they re­verenced him as an Hero. The ship verified her Name at last, for being sent into Spain with 200 men on board, she perished in a storm, and all the men were drown'd: so that every way she was to them a severe REVENGE.

When the Queen had any small re­spite Complaints made to her of the Depre­dations of the English at Sea. from the Cares of War (the far greatest part of her Reign being in truth spent in the defence of her King­doms, and her Neighbours, who all had their recourse to her in their Distres­ses) she always turned her thoughts to the amending what was amiss in the State. There were great Complaints made to her by the Ministers and Am­bassadors of Foreign States residing [Page 284] [...] [Page 285] [...] [Page 286] here, That the Seas were infested by her Subjects, and the ships of her Friends and Allies rifl'd; whereupon she put out a Proclamation for the secu­rity of her Friends; strictly forbidding all her Subjects for the future to offer any violence or wrong to the Ships of any of her Neighbours, if they did not carry Iron, Corn, or Stores for Navigation and Shipping to the Spaniards, with whom she was then in War. Threatning, that whoever was hereafter found to break her Orders, should be taken for Pyrats, and treated accordingly. By this Procla­mation, and her exact care to see it ex­ecuted accordingly, she cleared the Seas, and made them as safe as the Land. The management of Procla­mations A Reflection concerning Proclama­tions. in our Government is a thing of great difficulty, because they can in­troduce no new Law, and are of no force if they be contrary to Law; And when they are never so legal, if men are once inured to the slighting them, they are no more regarded than the whistling of the Wind in a stormy day. We have seen many Proclamations put out in our times which were extorted from Princes against their wills, or is­sued upon design to serve a turn for the [Page 287] present, and the Prince well pleased to see the Bauble ridiculed and contemn­ed; but men did not stop there, they treated other Proclamations in the same manner, which were of the greatest im­portance to the safety of the Prince and Nation. And all these Orders of State, which in her times were as venerable as an Act of Parliament, in Ours sunk to the value of almost a common Ballad, a Mischief which it will take some time perfectly to redress.

Amongst those that complained of The Hanse Towns very clamorous a­gainst the English. the Depredations of the English, none were more clamorous than the Hanse Towns in Germany, who in the Year 1597. brought a Complaint before the Dyet of Germany at Ratisbon against the English, That they had rifl'd and robb'd all their ships that carried Corn, Iron and Cordage to the Spaniards. The Quarrel went so high, that the English were prohibited all Trade in Germany, because they traded there up­on their own Laws, and not according to the Laws of the Empire. That is, that they would not submit their Trade to the Rules of the Hanse Towns, but tra­ded as a free Nation under the Prote­ction [Page 288] of their own Queen and Laws. To this the Queen by her Ambassador Mr. John Wroth replied, ‘That the Complaint of the Hanse Towns was unjust; That it became her as a good Prince to consult the Welfare of her own People, and to promote their safety and common advantage; and that it became a good Shepherd to pre­fer the welfare of his own Flock, be­fore that of any other. That the Hanse Towns, if they did well consi­der it, might trade upon the same Privileges with her own Subjects; but then if they expected to enjoy a Monopoly in her Kingdom, they de­sired more than was fit to be grant­ed by a just and free Prince, as she was.’ Rodolph, then Emperor of Ger­many, The Trade of the English prohibited in Germany. was offended with the Answer the Queen had made, and passed a Law in the Dyet, prohibiting the English from trading in any of the Ports of Ger­many, and commanding them to with­draw, with their effects, by a certain day. The Queen on the other hand repre­sented the injustice of this Edict to the Emperor, and the Princes, and inform­ed them that Henry the IIId. her Pre­decessor, had by a Royal Charter made [Page 289] by agreement granted to the Hanse Towns, a place in London call'd the Still­yard, with many very large Privileges, for the preserving the Freedom of their Trade; That this Grant had after been confirm'd by Edward III. Richard II. Henry IV, V, VI. and all the other Princes, to her Brother's time, and had been religiously observed, and there­fore she desired that the Edict might be suspended, and the Controversie ended by a Treaty; but this was denied: Whereupon the Queen, by the Advice of her Council, put out a Proclama­tion, She takes a­way the Still­yard from the Easter lings or Germans. commanding the Germans to depart from the Stillyard the same day the English were commanded to leave Germany; from thenceforward she put a stop to all their Trade in London, or any other of her Ports, and ordered the Lord Mayor of London to seize the Still­yard. The Hanse Towns called a Dyet of all their Members at Lubeck, and in it, by way of Revenge, resolved to put a stop to the Trade of the English in Po­land, and other places of the Baltick Sea; Whereupon the Queen sent Sir George Carew, Chancellor of the Ex­chequer, into Pruffia and Poland, to ac­quaint the Dyet of that Kingdom, That [Page 290] the Hanse Towns of Germany might still have enjoyed their Ancient Privileges in England, if they would have been con­tented to use them as Favours granted by our Princes, and not have pretended they were their Right: That as there was reason for the granting them when they were given, so there was all the reason in the world they should be su­spended, restrained, or quite taken a­way when the Reason ceased upon which they were granted; that this had been done in Denmark, Sweden and England in the Reigns of Edward the VIth. and Queen Mary. That the Hanse Towns had been made so rich by the Favour of Princes, that they had been heretofore terrible even to their Benefactors; that it became the King of Poland rather to favour her who was a Prince, than to patronize the insatia­ble Avarice of the Merchants; who when they were become very rich, were too apt insolently to lift up them­selves against Princes: That the Queen was contented they should carry Corn, and all other Merchandize to Spain, ex­cept Ammunition and Warlike Stores for Sea or Land, though it was lawful, and the Practice of all Nations, to in­tercept [Page 291] all those Provsions that were sent to an Enemy. She had better suc­cess Poland con­tinues the Trade with the English. here than in Germany, and setled her Subjects Trade in the Baltick so ef­fectually, that the Hanse Towns were never after in a condition to dispute the Trade of the English. Thus the Queen by her Authority and Prudence master­ed the Obstinacy of the Hanse Towns, and forced them to sue for their Goods in her Court of Admiralty, and to trade with her Subjects upon equal terms in all places; and she so divided and broke their Power, that they were never since able to contest with any Prince, much less with her, or her Successors. Notwithstanding which, the The Embassy into Muscovy p. 213 Kings of England have always religiously continued the same Privileges to the Hanse Towns, though the tide of the Trade be long since wholly turn'd, the English now carrying all that Trade to their own doors, and much more than ever they received from them; And I my self (saith the late Earl of Carlisle) was present in Council, when Charles the IId. after his Happy Restauration ratified the said Pri­vileges.

[Page 292] She also by her Authority, in the She ends a War between the Russians and Swedes. Year 1595. composed a War which had depended many years between the King of Sweden and the Emperor of Russia, who had a greater respect for her, than for any other Prince in Christendom; her Subjects having opened a way by the White Sea, and the Bay of Arch-angel, to trade by Sea with him in the Year 1554. which was then, and has ever since been of vast advantage to that remote, barbarous, and poor King­dom; The Subjects of which have not only been enriched, but civilized, and learned many mechanick Arts, which they did not unsterstand before, of us, and those people we and the Hollanders have sent thither.

Her whole care was not imployed in Her Laws for the Enrich­ing of her Subjects at home. defending her People from the violence of her foreign Enemies, and the Frauds and Arts of the Neighbour Traders by Sea, but she took effectual care at the same time in her Parliaments, to pro­mote excellent and useful Laws for the Restraint of excessive Dvmestick Ex­pences, and the regulating the Lives of her Subjects, as will appear by the Printed Statutes of her time. To this end she ne­cessitated [Page 293] the meaner of her Subjects, by sharp Laws, as sharply executed, to a mo­dest and frugal way of living, both as to their Diet and Habits. She curbed and discountenanced the Luxury, and expen­sive folly of the English Youth and Nobi­lity, both by her private Advices, and her publick Laws; and she prescribed them Rules for their Furniture, Families, and Retinues. She had observed the Pur­veyers The Purvey­ers reformed. for her Court were a rapacious sort of men, and under the colour and pretence of Law, made great depreda­tions on the Husbandmen, and the Farmers in her Kingdom, and therefore she kept a strict hand upon them, and by her Severity, when ever any Com­plaint was brought against them, she kept them in awe. There was another Generation of men called commonly the CONCEALERS; of mean Extra­ction, As also the Concealers. and worse Disposition; who had obtained Commissions to enquire into the Frauds and Concealments of those that had got any Lands belonging to the Royal Demeans, or Crown of England; and they had under that pre­tence wrested from many of her Sub­jects their Inheritances and Estates; but when she understood their Crimes, [Page 294] she not only punished them for their Wrongs, but revoked their Commis­sions which she had formerly granted out; And by a Proclamation she forbad any further inquiry should be made in­to the Titles of her Subjects, as to those Lands they possessed on the behalf of the Crown, by which she put a stop to that sort os Miscreants, and secured the Estates of her People from further wrong. Whencver she found that her Her Severity to her Judges and Gover­nors. People had been afflicted, or ruined in their Fortunes by the Judges and Gover­nors she had set over them in any part of her Dominions, she consolated them upon the first opportunity. Before her time the Usurers of England had taken what they could get from all for usury; and she to prevent the Frauds and rapa­cious Encroachments of these men, first passed a Law, that they should not take above ten in the hundred for one years Usury miti­gated. interest, which by the plenty of Mo­ney sunk after to Six, and of late, with­out any Act, to five in the Hundred. To prevent enhansement of the Mar­ket, she made a severe Law against Forestallers, Ingrossers, and Regattors, repelling their insatiable Avarice, by im­prisoning, whipping, and Pillory. She [Page 295] called her Customs the Nerves of the Na­tion The Customs carefully looked after. (as they were the best branch of her Revenues) and she made it her bu­siness to study them, and well under­stand the value of them, and the ways of raising them. When her Exchequer was at the lowest ebb, she detested all Monopolies and bitter Exactions upon Monopoly suppress'd. her People, which she thought to be utterly unlawful, and tending more to the loading her with the hatred of her Subjects, than the enriching of her Cof­fers. She was very severe against all Informers, or Promoters, who having Informers and Promoters carefully in­quired into. been for many Ages encouraged by her Predecessors, as the Enrichers and Im­provers of the Royal Revenues, had contracted a vast envy from the whole Nation; but she was the first Prince that would suffer their Crimes to be in­quired into; and finding they had been guilty of many ill Actions, she put a stop to them, and punished them for what they had done, that they might no longer impoverish the better and richer part of her Subjects. Thus she delivered her People from the grievous Oppressions of Usurers, Ingrossers, and Promoters. She was no less careful to protect them against the Avarice of her [Page 296] Judges and Presidents; and when any of them came to wait on her, she would upon occasion speak very severely a­gainst their aspiring to those places, the She detested multitude of Suits. multitude of Suits, and the over great variety of Causes. She encreased the Wages of her Judges, that she might deliver them at once from the tempta­tion and suspition of Bribery. She pas­sed an excellent and a most equitable Law, for the more speedy determining the Cases depending in her Courts. ‘She admonished her Judges, That Her Admoni­tion to the Judges. they should consider the Judgment or Jurisdiction they exercised, was God's; and therefore they should hear with patience, and give judgment with equity and justice, truly, and with­out any corruption. That they should diligently study the Law, and consi­der it well, and with relation to the profit of the State, and not shew the sharpness of their Wits by a falacious interpretation of a doubtful Law, to the injury of her People; but that without partiality they should admi­nister equal Justice to all, and severely punish those they found guilty.’ If therefore there were any just cause os complaint in her times, it was only [Page 297] owing to the Judges, who had a full liberty to have satisfied the Nation by their Fidelity and Integrity, and the Religious Observation of their Oaths; and so were not necessitated to become a Grievance to her People by Illegal Pro­o [...]edings. But then all these cares shew the Corruption of the Times, and that many of the Law-Proceedings had been corrupted by the Lawyers, which made these Laws for the correction of them necessary. When she had thus restored her Law-Courts, her next care was to restrain the License of the The­atre, The licenti­ous liberty of the Theatre restrained. and she prohibited all Exercises and Plays, but what were Manly, and tended to the fitting her Subjects for War, by making their bodies more hardy and active, and their Souls more valiant. Her Divine Virtues are not to be Recompenced by Statues of Brass or Marble, which have more of Osten­tation than true and solid Honour; nor are they to be Equall'd by any Com­mendations or Magnificent Titles; for they deserved more Lasting Monu­ments to be erected in the Minds and Judgments of men for an Everlasting Remembrance. And certainly Poste­rity will stand amazed to read and con­sider [Page 298] a State so firmly established by the Greatness of her Soul and Coun­sels, so many Victories obtained, and such incredible things done in her Times.

Tho her Reign was the most glori­ous and happy period or space of time The Calami­ties and Mis­fortunes that hapned in her Times. that had ever hapned to this Island from the Norman Conquest to her days; yet there were some Misfortunes and Calamities that clouded the Brightness of it. In the fifth year of her Reign there was a Plague brought out of France by her Soldiers from Newhaven, which destroyed more people in Eng­land than any that had happened before it. The Earthquakes that happened frequently in those times, frighted the English more than any other thing, they being very unusual, and attended, with horrible Noises in the earth, and some Damage. The Queen was al­ways ready to relieve any of her Sub­jects that had suffered by these Earth­quakes, Inundations, or Fire; her Cof­fers were ever open to redress the Cala­mities of her Subjects, and to enable them to repair their Losses. When the people of London fell into an out­ragious [Page 299] Tumult on the account of a Famine, and a great want of Corn, she first by her Royal Proclamation appea­sed their enraged minds, and then com­manded the Lord Mayor to undertake the Care of supplying the Wants of the City; and she sent many Ships in­to the Baltick Sea, and to Poland, for Corn, which upon their return put an end to these Complaints.

She would punish the Iniquities of Her Care of, and Kindness to her good Magistrates. her Magistrates, whenever she found them guilty; but then she would de­fend their Lawful Power, and assert their Just Authority against ill men, with the hazard of her Life. Thus she put a stop to the Insolence of the Londoners when they were in the greatest Rage that was possible, by the sole Authority of her Proclamation, without any Forces. She frequently Her Care of the Poor. issued considerable Sums of Money out of her Treasury, for the Relief of the Poor. She took a particular care that all Religious Foundations, and places built for the benefit of the Poor, should be employed to the right uses; and that the Lands and Houses belonging to them, should for ever be preserved intire to them.

[Page 300] As she took effectual and wise Care Her affectio­nate and ten­der Care of the Church. to heal the Wounds of the State, or Civil Government, so she well under­stood the Diseases of the Church were to be taken into consideration too, and to be prevented with the utmost hazard of a Prince's Personal Safety: To this end she made severe Laws against the selling Livings, the Avarice of Patrons, and the Simony of Clergy-men. She detested the giving Curacies and Pre­ferments to those that had no Learning. She preferred honest stout men, who were well read in Divine and Humane Literature, and well acquainted with Men, and Books, and the Times, to the Dignities of the Church, and the great­est and best endowed Livings: But on the other hand, she despised all those that had neither Virtue, nor Parts, nor Learning; but above all, the dishonest, slanderous, and crasty Knaves, who were at a catch to injure others. She compelled all that were inducted into any Benefice, to swear, That they had not given nor promised any thing to any person whatsoever, directly or in­directly, on the account of that Pre­ferment. She would not suffer any Benefice to be bought or sold; but she [Page 301] detested the Buyer and the Seller as the worst of Plagues; and took care to exclude them from that and all other Preferments. She was never silent or unconcerned, when unworthy and un­fit men were recommended to the Dig­nities of the Church. The most ear­nest solicitations of the greatest of her Courtiers and Favourites, could in this case have no effect upon her; and in all other things which concerned the Safe­ty and Welfare of the Church, she took a Pious and Religious Care to place her Favours to the best advan­tage.

She was a Lady of Great Beauty, of Her Stature and Personal Accomplish­ments. a Decent Stature, and of an Excellent Shape: In her youth she was adorned with a more than usual Maiden Mo­desty; her Skin was of pure white, and her hair of a yellow colour; her Eyes were beautiful and lively: In short, her whole Body was well made, and her Face was adorned with a won­derful and sweet Beauty and Majesty. This Beauty lasted till her Middle Age, tho it declined: In her Old Age she became deformed with Wrinkles, Lean­ness, and fallen Lips; so that it was [Page 302] hard to believe she had ever had that Excellent Composure, and Lovely Beauty: But then, Time was able to make no change in her, as to her Ma­jesty, her Princely Speech and Carri­age; her Mind was as high, her Man­ners as regular, and the Course of her Life the same it had ever been. She was however so displeased to see her Beau­ty wear off, and her Body decline from its former Lustre, that she made her self a little ridiculous, by her taking too much notice of it. If she hapned by accident to cast her eye upon a true Looking-glass, she would be strangely In her Old Age she was offended at the Decay of her Beauty. transported and offended, because it did not still shew her what she had been. The Courtiers, who knew her humour, if she were to pass through any of the Ladies Chambers that waited on her, presently conveyed away all the Look­ing-glasses, and sometimes for haste broke them. To please and flatter her, they would also frequently admire her Beauty, and pretend in her greatest Age and Deformity she was still hand­some and lovely. She was strangely pleased to hear the Beauty of her Face, the Sweetness of her Voice, and the Majesty and Decence of her Counte­nance [Page 303] still admired by others: And this gave occasion to many unworthy strokes of Flattery, and examples of Adulation sometimes used to her. Adulation. Thus the Orators of those times would too often in their Speeches vainly commemorate and celebrate the wonderful and pleasing Beauty and Shape of their Queen, and say, The Majesty of her Countenance was not at all subject to the Injuries of Time; when their eyes told them and all that saw her, the contrary; from thence they went on sometimes to tell her, She had a Soul was worthy to Rule over the whole World; and enjoyed those Favours of Fortune, and Gifts of Nature and Art, which fitted her for the Empire of the Universe: Nor were her stately Palaces and Buildings, her noble Furniture, her fine Statues, or excellent Pictures, her great Trea­sures, Virtues, or Felicity, forgotten on these occasions.

The Flatteries of Learned men to­wards The Flatte­ries of learn­ed men no­ted. her were very base and shameful, and such as would hardly become the Stage or Theatre; for they would often apply to her that Expression of Virgil's as spoken of her, (O Dea certe)! Sure­ly [Page 304] this is a Goddess! And that Sentence too which Tacitus marked as the utmost pitch of a wild and boundless Assenta­tion, (Solam D. Elizabethae mentena tantae molis capacem), That none but the Divine Soul of Queen Elizabeth was able to sustain that Weight: By which extravagant Flatteries they would have had men think that the Name of their Queen had something of Divinity in it, and that they revered her as a Goddess which fell from Heaven. These base and pernicious Flatteries so far tran­sported the minds of Caligula, Domiti­an, and Heliogabilus, that they fell into a kind of Madness, and forgetting the frailty of their humane state, they as­sumed the Stile and Honours of gods, and despised all Religions, and the Pro­vidence of God. The Queen especial­ly She endea­voured at first to raise a good opi­nion of her self in her Subjects. in the beginning of her Reign endea­voured to raise in the minds of her Sub­jects an high opinion of her self; and to that end she shewed her self on all occasions very Civil and Obliging to the Many in her Attire, Retinue, and Carriage. She always openly profess'd that she would make it her business to employ her Estate and Fortunes in the most prudent Administration of her [Page 305] Royal Power and Authority. What­ever Which by degrees brought her to love Flat­tery. she did or said was by her design­ed to draw upon her self the Applause and Good Wills of her Subjects; and by this her Moderation and Prudence she won the Hearts, and obtained the Prailes of all men. Afterwards with the Prosperity of her Affairs, Flattery, that old haunter of the Courts of For­tunate Monarchs, under the Vizor and Mask of Diligence, Loyalty, and Du­ty, gained her ear and her heart; and she was pleased to see her Parasitical Courtiers, when they had looked in­tently on her, of sudden cast their eyes upon the ground, and craftily­seem to shake, as if their Modesty was not able to bear the Greatness of her Majesty, and the splendor of her Hea­venly Eyes. And if in their common Intercourses with her, or their Publick Addresses to her, they happened to fall into Flattery, she never corrected them for it, nor forbid these indecent and unseasonable Flatteries. She would not suffer any of her Subjects, tho Parlia­ment-men, to speak to her by way of Address or Business, but upon their Knees, and with great submission. The crafty men of that Age who lay in Am­bush, [Page 306] made great use of this Infirmity Crafty men wrought up­on this her Infirmity. of the Queen's, and observed not only her Words, but her Looks and Nods, and flattered her in every thing. Sir Tho­mas Henage, a Knight, was one of these cunning Blades, who by the basest crouching Insinuations scrued himself into her good opinion, and most inti­mate Familiarity; and by this means in her Court raised himself to a great Power and Estate. And besides him, there were many others who were not ignorant of this useful Art, tho they were inferior to him in Place, Fortune, and Fame. Tho many of her more sincere and hearty Friends advised her, Not to be imposed on by the specious Pre­tences of obsequious Diligence and Re­spect; yet she was not only better plea­sed with Flattery than Truth, but ha­ted all that Liberty in her Subjects that was above this practice. A Learned man taking notice in one of his Ser­mons before her, That she that had been as meek as a Lamb, was become an untameable Heifer; he was repre­hended by her so soon as he came out of the Pulpit, as an over-confident man, that dishonoured his Sovereign; as in truth that was the worst Time and [Page 307] Place he could have chosen to Reprove her in. Rudd, Bishop of St. David's, a man of great Piety and Learning, discoursing once very prudently of the many Infirmities of Old Age, so pro­voked the Indignation of the Queen, that she would never after endure to hear him. Tho she was an utter Ene­my to all Freedom of Speech, yet she very well knew how to distinguish be­tween a Crafty Preacher who made it his She under­stood Preacli­ing very well, and lo­ved Severe and Grave men. business to accomodate himself to the Opi­nions and Wills of his Hearers, and a constant, severe, and grave man. Ac­cordingly she ever preferr'd a Mode­rate and Temperate Way of Preaching, for fear her People should have been excited by such Turbulent men to ex­cessive Insolence, and the minds of wi­ser men should also have been offended. In this affair she made good use of the provident Prudence of the Bishops, But curbed the Fiery, Turbulent Preachers. who deprived the over-fiery spirits of the Liberty of Preaching, and put a stop to their excessive Boldness. And this was the principal Reason why none were suffercd to Preach in her times, but such as were Licensed to do so. Yet at the same time she was a Per­son of great Piety, and endowed with [Page 308] the most ardent Love of Religion; but then she did not think it was fit to suf­fer her Kingdoms to be embroiled by Seditious spirits, under the Mask and She loved Religion, but hated Facti­ons. Pretence of avoiding Persecution, and promoting the Service of God: And she was happy in this, that in her times those Parties that have since spread themselves over this whole Kingdom, were small and inconsiderable, and so she was under no necessity of comply­ing with them for her own safety, but could treat them as she thought fit; and perhaps if her two next immediate Successors had pursued the same Me­thods she did, there had been no Civil War in England; but whilst they sought to gratifie the Princes of the Roman-Catholick Religion abroad, by their Lenity to the Papists at home, the Protestant Dissenters grew up here, and if they were connived at, encreased; if they were suppressed, they turned the Envy of the Favour shewn to the Papists, upon the Government; and easily persuaded the People, that Pope­ry would be restored in England. Whe­ther she consulted of [...] War, she always set God befo [...] [...], and directed all things to [...]. For [Page 309] the promoting Charity and Piety, she Her Devoti­on in the Publick Ser­vice of God. Religiously observed the stated and ap pointed Festivals of the Church, when she was present at the appointed Pray­ers, and the Sermons, both which she heard with much Devotion and Atten­tion, but without the least mixture of Superstition. She ever received the Eucharist with highest Expressions of Respect, and used the Ceremonies of the Church. When she went to hear the Week day or Lent-Sermons, she was ever attended by many of, her No­bility of both Sexes, but without, any extraordinary Splendor in her Dress or Retinue. According to the nature and circumstance of the times, she religi­ously and devoutly listned to the Ser­mons made before her; and according to the Merits of the Preachers, rarely failed to shew them her Favour, and salute and thank them before they went away. She very freely exposed She exposed her Life for the Safety of the Church. her Life to the utmost hazards for the preserving the Dignity and Discipline of the Church; to which end she cau­sed her Laws against the Papists to be constantly and regularly executed; and she shewed the same Severity a­gainst the Obstinacy of the Protestant [Page 310] Dissenters, whom she kept all her times under strict and sharp Restraint. I think it is not needful to shew here again to what great Perils she exposed her Life for the Preservation of the Reformed Religion.

She shewed her self ever easie and She humour­ed and cares­sed the Body of the Peo­ple. merciful to the People, and condescend­ed to humour them, and promote their Welfare with the utmost Humanity. By this her Clemency and Sweetness, and the Equity of her Laws, and the Proceedings on them, her Courteous Behaviour, and Obliging Speeches to them, she so intirely won their Hearts, and fixed their Affections, that with­out any Command of hers, of their own accord, and by an universal Con­sent, they every year celebrated her Coronation-Day with a Religious Joy: They chearfully exposed their Lives to any Danger for her Safety; and never refused to suffer or hazard any thing, if they might but enjoy their beloved Queen. Being thus secured of the Af­fection of her People, she lived plea­santly and securely in Peace and Plen­ty; and she could safely treat her No­bility, as became a Prince, when she [Page 311] was sure to be reverenced and obeyed; her Authority being supported thus by the Love and good disposition of her Subjects towards her. The People ho­noured some of her Ministers of State too, and very much applauded them; and upon every New-Year's Day freely made a present to them, to testifie the grateful sense they had of the Benefits they had received by their Ministry. The People of the meanest degree had ever an easie access to the Queen, and could with the utmost freedom make their Complaints to her of any Injury they had suffered from the greatest of the Nobility; so that it is very diffi­cult to say, whether her Subjects most feared her Authority, or loved her Humanity and Courtesie. All these many and great Virtues, her Piety, the Love of her Kingdom, and the careful diligence she employed to win and keep the Affections of her Sub­jects, sprang from one and the same Fountain, her Prudence. This taught her how much it contributed to the Safety and Security of her State, to have her Privy Council consist of none but Wise and Faithful Men, chosen freely and prudently by her self: And [Page 312] by the Authority and with the Appro­bation of this Council, she provided for the Government of her Border-Counties and Garisons, approved men, of good Understandings, and well E­ducated, who were to take care to se­cure her Kingdom from External Sur­prizes, and Internal Broils; they were directed by her to take care also of whatever tended to the Welfare of her People, and to punish what was wick­ed and disquieting; which they did, not only by the execution of good Laws, but also by the exemplary Lives they led.

The Parliaments in her time were Parliaments frequently held, and for the most part well tempered. frequent, and well tempered; the Lower House being generally chosen of Men of good Prudence, and beloved by the people, upon the opinion of their Integrity, Fidelity, and Piety: By their Advice and Assistance the Royal Authority became more resplen­dant; and whilst they did their Duties, she as carefully observed their Privi­leges, and regarded their Petitions and Advices; but if at any time they hap­ned to transgress their bounds, and in­trench upon her Authority, she would [Page 313] make them soon sensible that they were her Subjects, as well in Parliament, as out of Parliament: And the truth is, those Notions and Practices which af­terwards imbroil d this Kingdom, and injealoused some, and ruined one of her Successors, began to spring up in her time, and were only suppressed by the prudence and steadiness of the Queen, her wise Council, good Government, and the affection the People bore to her; so that it was not possible for Factious and Ambitious Men in her times to raise those Fears, or fo­ment those Distrusts, that became so fatal afterwards. Though she was thus jealous of her own Regal and Sovereign Authority, by which she had the right of conferring Titles of Honour, administring Justice, &c. yet she did little of importance without the concurrence of the Three Estates: And they never stubbornly and gene­rally invaded the Royal Authority, de­spised her Commands, or resisted her Counsels and Admonitions. Whilst she was setling the methods of her Go­vernment, she laid down this as a cer­tain Maxim, which she had learned from the English History, and her own [Page 314] Observation and Experience, That the Her Maxim concerning War and Peace. People of England were more governable in times of War, than in times of Peace. That the common People were hardened and made valiant by War, but by too much Peace became sloathful and dissolute, and at the same time Factious and un­quiet. That the Nobility, if once ma­numised from the Labours and Perils of War, would in Peace become expen­sive, luxurious and effeminate. Her greater care was to know throughly the state of her Kingdoms; and those men that were intrusted by her to govern her People, whose Words and Actions she carefully observed. She carefully observed the Examples of her Royal Ancestors, the Publick Laws and In­stitutions, the Manners and Inclinations of the Common People, the Names and Abilities of her Nobility, their Publick Offices, and Private Estates, the number of her Soldiers and Ga­risons, her Fleets and Forts, and whatever else had been provided for the defence and safety of her Kingdoms; her Customs, Taxes, Crown-Lands, and Revenues, and the Charges and Expence she was to make; in all which she prudently and [Page 315] providently altered many things for the better. She never put Arms into the She would never arm the meanest of the Peo­ple. hands of the meanest and poorest of the People, that their wants might not prompt them to Sedition; So that the Militia in her time was generally sup­plied by the Yeomanry and richer Te­nants, who served in their own Arms. The present Practice of imploying mean people, arose upon the multiply­ing the Train Arms, and the over­charging men, which indeed has made them more numerous, but not so safe, considerable, or governable, as they were before, to the damage both of the Crown and People. She never ad­vanced any to the degree of a Peer, but The Honours belonging to the Peerage, carefully gi­ven. those that were men of worth, and whose virtue and industry had render­ed them fit for it; and yet after all these Cautions, the number she crea­ted was very small. She rarely created any man a Peer upon the solicitation or recommendation of others, or for her own fancy or humour; but when any person stood Candidate for that Honour, there was an exact and care­ful confideration had of the Nobility of his Ancestors, the Greatness of the Fa­mily, the Endowments of his Mind, [Page 316] and the briskness of his Parts, of his Probity, Wisdom and Prudence, and of the strength and vigour of his Body, which might enable him to per­form some good service to the Nation. It was the rare felicity of these Times, That men were advanced to Honours without their seeking it; and sometimes against their wills, being promoted for their Virtues, not Fortunes. She chose Her care in chusing good Councellors, Bishops, Judges and Ministers. her Counsellors, Bishops, Judges, Mi­nisters and Court-Officers, and her in­ferior Magistrates, on the single score of their Fidelity, Experience, Piety, Justice, Modesty, Prudence and Wis­dom: That they being thus advanced, might exercise their Offices the more honourably and sincerely. She would often tell those she entrusted, That they might rest assured she would re­ward their Integrity, Industry and E­quity; and if she found them guilty of any Injustice and Oppression, she would as certainly punish them for it. She would never entertain in her Ser­vice any Ignorant, Covetous, Disho­nest, or Light Person. She always loved Sir Walter Rawleigh for his great Ingenuity and Loyalty, yet he was never admitted into the Privy Council. [Page 317] When Burleigh, the Lord Treasurer, had a long time solicited her to advance his Son Robert, a Person of great Parts, to be Secretary of State; she a great while denied it, only because he was little of stature, and hunch-backed; and she thought it a dishonour to that Board, to have a deformed Person sit amongst so many Eminent and Noble Persons; and when afterwards he at­tained this Honour upon the solicitation of his Father, and his other Friends, the Nobility were highly offended at it. And when after that he was, upon the death of the Lord Buckhurst, made his Father's Assistant in the Treasury, it so far provoked the Military men, that it proved the Ruine of the Earl of Essex, and it was well it ended here. The Queen being thus provided with a Wise and Noble Council with great care and prudence, and which were highly esteemed by her People too, as well as her self, for their virtue; she chose the most learned and uprightest of the Councellors, or Lawyers, to be her Judges, only Hatton excepted.

She was an exact Observer of Justice, Her Justice, and Veracity, and Severity to Offenders. which is the most resplendent of all the [Page 318] Moral Virtues, and of veracity or con­stancy to her Word, which is the foun­dation of Justice: She was extremely severe against all that broke her Laws, and punished sometimes small Offences with great severity. Though the Earl of Essex was a Person of great Fame, her particular Favourite, and had done her, and the Nation, good Services, and was the best Soldier her times bred (which were well stored with excellent Military men) yet when by the fraud of his Enemies and Flatterers, rather than his own Inclinations, he was so far transported, as to attempt to arm her Subjects against his envious Rivals, who treacherously sought his ruine; That which he expected would have turned to his advantage failing, the Queen delivered him into the hands of the common Executioner, who mang­led his Body to that degree, that it en­raged the people that saw it, against the Hangman, and they stoned and cursed him for it, and drove him out of the City. Soon after God took a severe account of those that had been the Pro­curers of this Noble Person's death; Cobham, Gray and Rawleigh, with their whole Families, were ruined within [Page 319] the space of a few years; Sir Robert Cecil, the principal Agent in it, lived longer, but at last perished too by a long Disease, attended with Ulcers, and other painful and loathsome Cir­cumstances; and as the Story goes, un­der an Hedge in the open Fields as he was travelling on the Road.

Sir John Perrot, a Welsh Gentleman Sir John Per­rot an In­stance of her Severity. of great Spirit, and of much fame for his Military Exploits, and his Integri­ty in the management of the Wars in Ireland; was yet of something too fierce a temper, which gave his Ene­mies too many opportunities to traduce and injure him. The Lord Chancellor Hatton was one of those who imployed Spies upon him, and they catching some Expressions that fell from him in a passion, and much improving them to his disadvantage, accused him to the Queen as one that was not well affected to Her Majesty, and that had used some Expressions which tended to her disho­nour; for which, and his over-stiff Contumacy, he was put upon his Trial, and being found guilty, he was con­demned, and was imprisoned to the day of his death; suffering want, [Page 320] and nastiness of a common Goal and the uneasiness of an afflicted and dele­cted mind. to see himself thus in his old Age abandon'd to the malice of his Ene­mies by his Mistress, whom he had ser­ved with much fidelity and courage in her Wars. His Estate also, which he had received from his Ancestors, which was considerable, and what he had gained himself, was all taken from him. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was also suspected to have had a great share in the Contrivance of this Gentleman's Ruine.

Her Severity, which she exerted in Her very Se­verity to Of­fenders made her the more beloved by the People. punishing the Disorders and Offences of her Servants, was so far from being invidious, that it made her more popu­lar, and the better thought of by all good men. She had the utmost aver­sion for all contrived and malicious Murthers; so that she thought such Miscreants could never be treated too ill; and when she got them into her power, she would rarely shew them any mercy. Of this I will only give two In­stances of a multitude that happened in her times, which will shorten my Work, and serve to illustrate her Ju­stice [Page 321] and Severity. There were two Brothers of the Family of Davers who were of the degree of Knights, and men of good Estates and Reputations, and they had a quarrel with another Gentleman of equal Birth and Estate, whose name was Long, a man of Va­lour too; thereupon they resolved to murther him; and taking the advan­tage as he was going to set down to Dinner, they shot him in the breast. The Queen hearing of this Fact, was strangely enraged at it, and resolved to revenge the Villany to the utmost de­gree (as she ever detected all premedi­tated Assassinations) and she according­ly ordered the Law to pass against the two Daverses, and cited them to appear before her Judges to answer for it. But the two Brothers made their escape, and fled first into France; there they heard of the Insurrections in Ireland, into which Kingdom they passed, and served the Queen against her Rebel-Subjects, in hopes by some signal Acts of Valour to blot out their said Crime, and regain her Favour; And in truth they served her many years with extra­ordinary Fidelity and Courage against those Barbarous Rebels; yet after all, [Page 322] the Earl of Essex could not obtain their Pardon without very great difficuly, and many and repeated Solicitations. The Eldest of these two Brothers af­terwards lost his Life in the Service of the Queen, and under the Command of the Earl of Essex.

In all private Suits she was observed Her Justice. to be a religious Observer of Justice and Equity, and to keep the Ballance even between the greatest and the meanest of her Subjects: She preser­ved the poorest from wrongs, and made it her care that every man might enjoy what was his own, and serve the Publick with it; by the impartiality of Justice, and the equity of all Law-pro­ceedings, providing carefully for the preservation of Human Society, for the good of the whole Community. When any Case happened to be wrongfully de­termin'd, by reason of Perjury, or Inte­rest, Partiality, or mistake in any of her Courts; she would upon complaint hear it her self, taking to her assistance men of the greatest Authority, and much celebrated for their exact know­ledge of the Laws of England. And when she had thus sifted it to the [Page 323] bottom, she would ever give a most just and wise Sentence, by which she made her Judges the more careful to keep within the bounds of Equity and Justice, and shewed her Subjects, that no part of her People should want the benign influence of her care and assi­stance in time of need. She always took care that her inferior Magistrates should be reverenced, and the Autho­rity of her Council and Laws kept up? But then whatever had been injurious­ly transacted by Bribery, or Error, in any of her Courts, she as willingly cor­rected, that Errors might not encrease and multiply by her carelesness, or the ignorance of her Judges; and that Mi­stakes might not get strength by time, and plead custom. She would some­times also cause Cases to be heard by her other ordinary Judges after they had been determined, that she might keep the ordinary Judges in awe, and make them the more circumspect, when they were liable to have their Actions scanned over again.

In her Personal Expences she was She was spa­ring in her personal Ex­pences, but magnificant in her pub­lick Actions. [...]hrifty and sparing; that she might not exhaust her Exchequer, and at the [Page 324] same time to teach her Subjects by her own Example to live thriftily, and so­berly, after the manner of their Ance­stors: In her Government, and all her Publick Actions she carried all things in such manner as might best befit her Honour, and represent her to the World as a great and a splendid Prince: Nor would she at any time make any considerable expence, till she had first consulted with her Trea­surer Burleigh concerning the state of her Exchequer, and what Monies she had to defray the same: It ws then thought his Advices to her made her more spa­ring than was fit toward the Sword-men and Commanders in the War; It is cer­tain however, that she never called Grey, Willoughby, Norris, or Sir Francis Vere to the Council-Table, though they were excellent Commanders, and had done her good service in Holland, Spain, France and Ireland, by the gain­ing of many signal Victories, and the spreading the Fame, and exalting the Reputation of the English Nation. When some of them had wasted the She was too sparing in her Rewards, especially to the Sword­men. Estates left them by their Ancestors, and complained to her of their Poverty, beseeching her to give them wherewith [Page 325] to pay off the Debts they had contra­cted in her Service, it is certain she ne­ver contributed any thing to that pur­pose from her Treasure, nor in the least assisted or favoured them in any thing. She sought rather to encourage and win her Generals and Nobility over to Acts of Va­lour by her Commendations, than by the gift of Money, Lands, or Offices. In her conversation with them she would shew them much patience and affabili­ty, and would frequently acknowledge how much they had obliged her by their Actions. But as to those that had lost their Lives in her Service, or done any great Action for the Safety, Liberty, and Glory of her Kingdom, she would often take occasion to speak of them with much affection and ho­nour, which was the best Reward they often met with for having served her with great Iudustry and Courage.

When Sir Philip Sidney, a Gentle­man Sir Philip Sid­ney much la­mented. of noble Birth, and honest Dispo­sition, of great Parts, Learning, Virtue and Fame, had lost his life before Zut­phen in the Netherlands, in the Year 1586. he was not only lamented by the whole Army in the Camp, and [Page 326] Elegies made to his Honour by the Universities of England, but he was commended also by the Court, and the Queen commanded his Body to be pub­lickly interred in St. Paul's Church in London, which was performed with much solemnity, and a vast concourse of the Nobility, Gentry, and Citizens: And it was fit all this respect should be shewed to his Memory on the score of his Virtue, Learning and Merits, which have made him so famous in those, and all the succeeding times. This is an Honour that is more lasting, and more noble, than any Statues, or Funeral Monuments, which are often destroyed by Fire, Wars, Earthquakes, or Time; and without any of these, are some­times lost to the knowledge of men, and themselves buried in forgetfulness; but his Books and Actions will make him admired in all times. The Magnificent Funeral of this Noble Knight was an honour to the Queen, and to the Age, and even to Learning it self. The Earl of Leicester, who was his Unkle, was chief Mourner at his Funeral, and extoll'd the Virtue of his Nephew to Heaven, in hopes the lustre of his Pupil's Name would re­flect [Page 327] upon himself an equal commenda­tion and glory; but in truth Sir Philip Sidney was his own Tutor, and gained all the glory he met with by his natural Endowments, and his Studies; and perhaps it was owing too in great part to the scarcity of Learning at that time, which made those that enjoyed it then, more conspicuous and regardable than they have been since, when it became more common; but then this latter neglect has made it less desired, and less aspired to, and almost wheeled us a­bout to the same point of the Circle he was in.

Nor was the Queen's Favours confi­ned She shewed great respect to the memo­ry of the meanest Sol­dier that pe­rished in her Service. only to her Generals, and Great Men, but she would condescend to ce­lebrate the Memory of the meanest com­mon Soldier that had had the honour to spend his life in the service of his Coun­trey, to excess. She redeemed out of Captivity those that were taken of the meaner People; and she willingly gave to their Parents, Wives and Children, that Money, and those Rewards they might justly have expected from her, if they had lived. So that she kindled in the minds of all her Subjects by her [Page 328] bounty, kindness and beneficence, an ardent desire of Military Virtue, and in this she exceeded the most of her Predeces­sors. Burleigh, though a man of great virtue and honour, too stubbornly pro­secuted the Cause of the Exchequer a­gainst the Commanders of those times, and kept the Queen from shewing them that Favour, and from giving them those Rewards they had by their Virtue and Industry so well deserved; by which means he alienated from the Queen the But was not liberal to the Great men, which had an ill effect. hearts of many of the Nobility, who were men of great knowledge, valour, indu­stry and fidelity, and had, with the ha­zard of their Lives and Limbs, procured hers, and the Nation's safety; and af­ter all, in their old, Age were left in poverty to struggle with the Debts and Diseases they had contracted in her Ser­vice. To this man's sordid and sparing Humour was owing the failing of all Military Virtue in the following Reigns, when men saw how rich he, and the rest of the States men, could leave their Families and Descendents; whilst those of the greatest Generals and Commanders in the Wars, were forced to be satisfied with the gilded glory of their Ancestors, but ought in [Page 329] Reason and Justice to have been at least equally rewarded, and I may say, in point of Interest too.

Yet she was not over-liberal to the Gown-men and States-men in general, nor did she take any extraordinary care of them or theirs. She had learned this Lesson of her Grandfather Henry the VIIth. Not to exhaust in any case the Fountain of her Bounty, I mean the Exchequer; which was again to be re­cruited by the Spoils of the People, and unusual Taxes. That Prince by his The Praises of Henry VII. Virtue, Labour, Solicitude, Thrifti ness, and Provident Administration, had re-established and improved the English Monarchy, and the Reve­nues of the Crown; and was for it much esteemed by the People of England of all degrees; his Covetous Humour having been more beneficial to the Crown, than damageable to the Body of the People, because he gave few or none of the Crown-Lands to his Followers or Servants, except when they were extorted from him by mere importunity, or he was cheated with the pretence of an advantageous ex­change; but then he was also wont to [Page 330] give more freely the Estates of Con­victed Criminals; so that there are many Examples in the Rolls of his Times, of men that rose by the Falls, and grew rich by the Calamities and Ruins of others. The small Gifts, and inconsiderable Largesses this Prince gave when he was possessed of so much Wealth, was a means that preserved England from Ruin, after it had been so terribly exhausted by the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lan­caster.

The Earl of Oxford was one of the Her Bounty to the Earl of Oxford, and some few o­thers of the Nobility. most Ancient Houses amongst the No­bility, but by the excessive Bounty and Splendor of the former Earl was redu­ced to a very low and mean condition, so that the Family was no longer able to maintain its Dignity and Grandeur: And the Queen allowed that House One thousand Pound the year out of her Exchequer, that one of the most Illustrious Houses in her Kingdom might not suffer that Want which was intolerable to those of meaner Extracti­on. She also upheld Sir Edward Dyer, an old Courtier, who was become very poor, and would not suffer him to want. [Page 331] But as for those Spendthrifts and Wast­ers that had foolishly wasted their Pa­trimonies in Luxury and base Expences, to gratifie their Intemperance, and af­terwards solicited her to bestow Pensi­ons on them, she sent some of them to her Privy Council, who rejected their Petitions, and gave those Reasons for it which the Queen was not willing to give her self; and others who sought And her Se­verity to­wards Luxu­rious Spend­thrifts. by way of Reward what they had ne­ver deserved, she neglected: That her Bounty might not encourage others to Luxury and imprudent Expences, whilst they relied upon the Crown for the Repair of what they had wastfully consumed.

She for some time entertained, and Her Favours to Anthony King of Por­tugal. out of her Treasury supported This Antho­ny is by all confessed to have been a Bastard of the former King's. An thony King of Portugal, who was de­prived of his Dominions by the Iniqui­ty of Philip the IId. King of Spain, and fled to her with a few Servants for her Protection and Assistance. She severely punished Sir Richard Bingham, President of Connaught in Ireland, tho he were an excellent Soldier, because he was found guilty of a sordid and in­jurious Covetousness. She entertained [Page 332] all Strangers that came to her Court, with great Pleasantness, Munificence, and Decency; and when they went from her, she gave them Princely Pre­sents.

Ursino Duke de Bracciano in Italy, Ursino, Duke of Bracciano. hearing of the Fame of this Queen, came over into England to see her; and he being a person of great Virtue, and descended of one of the best Families in Italy, the Queen gave him a splen­did Reception, and gave order he should be shewn her Fleets, her Stores, and Magazines, her Veterane Soldi­ers and Garisons, her Treasures and Wardrobes, her Retinue and Princely Palaces, and extorted from him a Con­fession, That there was no where in the world a more Potent and Happy Prince than she. She entertained seve­ral of the best and greatest Noblemen of Italy, France, Germany, and Poland; who all said of her, That they never saw a more Magnificent, Honourable, Loving, Courteous Prince than Queen Elizabeth; and that her Virtue and Prudence was great and admirable, above all the Examples they had ever seen, read, or heard. In truth, she was Mistress [Page 333] of all the Virtues that belonged to both Sexes, and had none of the Faults be­longing to her own, but a little Un­steadiness in her Will.

Knighthood in her Times was rarely She never Knighted a­ny but men of Virtue and good Estate. given, and to none but men of Virtue and real. Worth, Soldiers, and Gentle­men of good Families and Estates; so that she scarce ever admitted any man into that degree, of a mean Fortune or Extraction, as was too frequently done in after times. There were not many Enobled, or raised from the lower de­grees of Peerage to higher, as Clinton and Howard, her Admirals at Sea, Lei cester and Warwick. She made few Barons, and amongst them, Burleigh, after he had served her many years with admirable Prudence, Fidelity, and In­dustry, in many of the principal Offi­ces at Court. This lowest degree of The Peerage well and spa­ringly given. Peerage was sparingly, and with great Care and Consideration, bestowed up­on Worthy Men, as a Reward of some signal Services, and an Encouragement to others, and not out of a Personal Affection or Respect. It was not then sold by men that had easily obtained the Grant of a Blank Patent, instead [Page 334] of ready Money; and took no other care, but who should give most for the Mercenary Creation; which could on­ly dishonour the person that gave it, as well as he that bought it. In her time none but the most Worthy, the most Valiant, the most Faithful to his Coun­trey, and the most Loyal to his Prince, could hope to obtain this Favour, and raise his Name and Family. Thus she charily and prudently kept the Re­wards of Virtue and Industry, never granting them upon Caprice, to shew her Absolute Power, upon the Inter­cession of Favourites, or the Letters of Great men, to those that were mean, and neither deserved nor could main­tain the Grandeur of that Noble Title.

She set a high Value upon the most Noble Order of the Garter, and took The Noble Order of the Garter pru­dently given. the utmost care to keep it as the since­rest Reward of an extraordinary Fide­lity, Industry, and Nobility; and there­fore she would never suffer it to be in the least corrupted by any mixture of mean persons. Tho the Lord Bur­leigh was her Principal Councellor, and the First Mover in all her greater Af­fairs, without whose advice she would rarely resolve upon any thing of mo­ment, [Page 335] and he had deserved so very well of her by his unparallel'd Care, La­bour, and Vigilance; yet because he was but a Gentleman born, and a Peer of her own Creation only, it was very long before she could persuade her self to take him into the Order of the Gar­ter, which has flourished now Three hundred years and more, and has in all times been given to the Greatest and Best of the Nobility at Home, for the best Services they could do for their Princes and Countrey; or to Foreign Princes Abroad, who were united to us by the most strict and indearing Bonds of Friendship and Interest.

She gave Governments, Magistra­cies, Court-Offices, and other Places of Trust, Reputation, and Profit, to those The Choice of her Ser­vants, Offi­cers and Mi­n isters. that deserved well of her, that by the example of these Rewards she might provoke others to imitate their Fidelity and Industry. She would never endure that any man she employed should raise to himself an odious or oppressive Gain, either from the Power or Office she had given him. If she observed a man to do nothing but for Money, she would never trust him; and as for any Offices or Governments, she took care [Page 336] to keep them as much as was possible out of such men's hands. Yet she was not too hard to, or suspicious of her Servants; she extended her Favour to all those she found good men, and her Friendship and Kindness was lasting to all those she found honest, thrifty, so­ber men; but then in Law-Suits she would not suffer any the least distincti­on to be made between her Servants and Favourites, and the rest of her Subjects, lest they being exalted by it above measure, should any way endan­ger the common Liberty of her People, or the Publick Peace and Safety. She raised Sadler from nothing; Mildmay and Fortescue from mean Fortunes to the Honour of Knighthood, and made them Privy Councellors for their good Services; and lest that Dignity should suffer by the meanness of their Estates, she gave them a Competency by way of Addition to what they had before. She would always remember to Re­ward those well that had served her faithfully as her Ambassadors in Fo­reign Courts: And she raised many of her servants for their Fidelity, and pro­tected others of them from the Vio­lence of Great Men: She protected [Page 337] Sir Thomas Knevet from the Violence of the Earl of Oxford, who to revenge a Wound he had received from Sir Tho­mas in a Duel, was mustering up all his Friends and Servants to destroy him; which the Queen prevented, by giving him a Guard for some time.

She so effectually recommended the Her kindness to the Bishops and Church­men. Cause of her Bishops to her people, when they were attacked by the Cla­mours and Reproaches of the Puritans, that nothing was more dear to the Multitude than their Bishops, and no Name was more Popular or beloved than theirs, so that all men stood up for their Dignity and Authority. She curbed the Boldness, Rage, and Fury, of these Pretenders to Godliness, by Laws well and severely executed; and she made it her business to preserve the Church to the utmost of her Power, as well from the Disturbance of Sediti­ous Preachers within, as the Insults of Declared Enemies without. Her Mot­to was, Semper eadem, Always the same; and in this affair she took the greatest care to verify it, never departing one tittle from what she had once setled, or changing the Methods she had esta­blished, but upon great reason.

[Page 338] She had a very great Love for Sir She loved Sir F. Walsingham herSecretary. Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State, who was one of the Pillars of her King­dom, and so intent upon the Preserva­tion of the Publick Safety, and the Discovery of the Designs of her Ene­mies against her Person and Govern­ment, that he took little care of his own private Family, and made no provision for those he left behind him: But then it was hardly well taken by the body of the Nation, to see the most part of his Inheritance sold after his death to repay those Moneys to the Treasury, which he had spent in the Queen's Service: The Envy of which, however, fell heaviest upon the Treasurer and the Earl of Leicester, who were none of his Friends whilst he lived, and took this opportunity to revenge the Af­fronts they had received from him. She Sir Nicholas Bacon, Eger­ton, Popham, but above all the Lord Bur­leigh and Howard. had also a particular favour for Sir Ni­cholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who was the Ornament of the Court, and the great Luminary of Westminster-Hall. She highly esteemed Egerton and Popham: But above all her other Councellors and Ministers of State, she valued Burleigh the Lord Treasurer, and Howard the Lord Ad­miral [Page 339] of England, the Ornament of his own Family, and a strange Example of Modesty, Civility, and Liberality. These men enjoyed her Favour to the last, and were ever of great Authority with her.

She loved a Prudent and Moderate Her Habit in Publick and in Private. Habit in her private Apartment and conversation with her ownServants; but when she appeared in Publick, she was ever richly adorn'dwith the most valua­ble cloaths, set off again with much gold, and Jewels of inestimable Value; and on such occasions she ever wore High Shooes, that she might seem Taller than indeed she was. The first day of the Parliament she would appear in a Robe Embroidered with Pearls, the Royal Crown upon her Head, the Golden Ball in her Left-hand, and the Scepter in her Right; and as she never failed then of the loud Acclamations of her People, so she was ever pleased with it, and went to the House in a kind of Triumph, with all the En­signs of Majesty. There was at such times so great a Concourse of the Peo­ple to see and salute the Queen, that many were trodden down, and some have been lamed. The Royal Name [Page 340] was ever venerable [...] to the English Nati­on; but this Quee [...] was more sacred than any of her Ancestors. She alone was able to furnish her whole Sex with the Examples of Chastity, Temperance, and all other Vertues: And she was very vigilant to keep her Family and Court in severe Discipline. She persua­ded all Married Women to pay a mo­dest Respect to their Husbands, as to their Superiors. She kept a severer Guard upon her own desires, than up­on those of others that were about her; so that by degrees she made them seem at least like her self, because she ever laboured so to have them. She banished from her Court all Drunkenness, Filthi­ness, Immodesty, and the very fame and saspicion of Wantonness. Whoredoms, Rapes, Adulteries, and Incests, were Crimes she detested; and if she found any of her Retinue, how great soever they were, guilty of them, they must never more come before her. She ba­nished Burgess, one of her Maids of Honour, because she had entred into an Intriegue with the Earl of Essex, who loved her very passionately; be­cause the Queen suspected she had had an hand in his Ruin: And the Lady [Page 341] Fitton, another of these Maids, was sent away too, for yielding to the In­ticements of a young Gentleman of Noble Birth. The Noblemen found no more favour than the Ladies, if once they were found guilty in the same kind. She sent the Earl of Ox­ford to the Tower, for attempting to Ravish one of her Maids of Honour, that was a Tall and Lovely Lady. If she knew any of her Nobility given to frequent Houses of ill fame, she treat­ed them with as little Respect as she did meaner men. To conclude, she shewed her self the Irreconcilable Ene­my of all that had been found guilty of any base or immodest and unchaste Action. She would frequently admo­nish her Servants and Attendants, ‘That they should take heed not to do any thing that might be dishonourable to her, destructive to themselves, and of ill Example to the Publick. That they should take care not to bring an Ill Report upon the Chaste, a Blot upon the Upright, or an Infamy and Dishonour upon the Good.’

In the Furniture of her Royal Pala­ces Her Furni­ture. she ever affected Magnificence, and an extraordinary Splendor; she adorn­ed [Page 342] the Galeties with excellent Pictures, done by the best Artists; the Walls she covered with Rich Tapistries: She was a true Lover of Jewels and Pearls, all sorts of Precious Stones, Plate, plain, Bossed of Gold and Silver, and Gilt; Rich Beds, Fine Coaches and Chari­ots, Persian and Indian Carpets, Sta­tues, Medals, &c. which she would purchase at great Prices. The Specimen of her Rich Furniture was to be seen a long time after her Death, at Hampton Court, which was Moveabled, above any of the other Royal Houses in her Times; and here she had caused her Naval Victories obtained against the Spaniards, to be represented in excel­lent Tapistries, and laid up amongst the Richest Pieces of her Wardrobe. These things did not only please the eyes of the Spectators, and renew the Memo­ry of the great things atchieved in her Times, but they helped to raise in the minds of her Subjects and of Stran­gers too, a Venerable Idea of the Ma­jesty, Wisdom, Riches, and Power of this Heroick Lady.

In her Meat, Drink, and other Nou­rishments Her Diet in Publick and in Private. and Refreshments, she was very Temperate, in private especially. [Page 343] She was not subject to the love of Sleep, or any of the other Pleasures of Hu­man Life. She eat very little, but then she chose what was pleasant, and easie of digestion; and in her declining Age she became more Temperate than before; but then she eat whensoever she was hungry: She seldom drank above Three times at a Meal, and that was common Beer, and she very rarely drank again till Supper. She would seldom drink any Wine, for fear it should cloud her Faculties: She loved Aligophore. Alicant Wine above any other. She al­ways Religiously observed the Fasting-Days. When she made any Publick Feast or Dinners for her Honour or her Pleasure, she would then order her Ta­ble to be served with all the Magnifi­cence that was possible; and many Side-Tables to be adorned with all sorts of Plate. She had many of the No­bility which waited upon her at the Table at those times, and served her with great Care and Attention. In these things she took the greatest Pride to shew her Royal Treasures, and made her greatest Feasts when Foreign Am­bassadors were present, who were high­ly, pleased with these Shews. At these [Page 344] times she would also have all sorts of Musick, Vocal and Instrumental; and after Dinner, Dancing; and she took care thus to entertain the most Illustri­ous Persons of other Nations, that came into England. Nor was she less careful that her great Ministers of State should keep up the Tables she allow­ed them; and she would order her Nobility to keep good Hospitable Hou­ses according to their Qualities and De­grees. All which tended more to her Honour, and the Reputation of the Nation, than the Courses were after­wards taken up with a greater Expence.

The Splendor and Magnificence of The Splendor and Diver­tisements of the Court. the Publick Feasts in her times, and the Ceremonies that were used when the several Courses were serv'd up to the Table, would be troublesome to relate, and perhaps a little ridiculous, now they are antiquated. The Cup-bearer never presented the Cup to the Queen, but with much ceremony, and kneeled always when he gave, or took it; and during the whole Refreshment, Musick and Songs were heard, and the Queen her self would frequently dance to hu­mour the younger Persons in her Court; for all these Solemnities were in her [Page 345] Royal Palace, and were designed to adorn and sweeten her Government. The coming of the Duke of Alenzon into England, opened a way to a more free way of living, and relaxed very much the old severe form of Discipline: The Queen danced often then, and omitted no sort of Recreation, plea­sant Conversation, or variety of De­lights for his satisfaction: At the same time the plenty of good Dishes, plea­sant Wines, fragrant Ointments and Perfumes, Dances, Masques, and va­riety of rich Attires, were all taken up, and used, to shew him how much he was honoured. There were then acted Comedies and Tragedies with much cost and splendor; From whence proceeded in after-times an unrestrainable desire of frequenting these Divertise­ments; so that there was afterwards a greater concourse at the Theatre, than at the Sermon. When these things had once been entertained, the Courtiers were never more to be reclaimed from them; and they could not be satiated, or wearied with them. But when Alenzon was once dismissed, and gone, the Queen her self left off these Diver­tisements, and betook her self, as be­fore, [Page 346] to the care of her Kingdom: And by her own Example and severe Cor­rections, she as heartily endeavoured to reduce her Nobility to their old severe way of living, and the former provi­dent way of cloathing.

In her private way of living she al­ways Her private way ofliving. preferr'd her necessary Affairs, and the dispatch of what concerned the Go­vernment, before, and above any Plea­sures, Recreations, and Conversation; and serious things before what was pleasing. In the morning she spent the first fruits of her time in her Closet at her Devotions, and then she betook her self to the dispatch of her Civil Af­fairs, and to the reading of Letters, and the ordering what Answers should be returned; then she considered what was fit to be brought before the Lords of the Council; she ever kept a vigi­lant eye upon the Motions of Philip II. King of Spain, who was all her days plotting and contriving the Conquest of Europe, and the reducing all his Neighbours and the Free-States, and Cities of it, under his obedience. She ever consulted first with her wisest, and best experienced Ministers and States­men, of whose Fidelity, Industry and [Page 347] Ability, she had formerly made good proof; and she commanded them to speak freely and plainly what was best to be done; and when she had heard the Advices of all, she chose what she thought was best. When she had thus wearied her self, and oppressed her Spi­rits, she sought for rest and peace; and would either walk in a shady Garden, or pleasant Gallery, without any other Attendance, than that of a few Learn­ed Men. Then she took her Coach, and passed in the sight of her People to the Neighbouring Groves and Fields, and sometimes would hunt, or hawk, spending in her Youth all her time in this change of Labour, or innocent Di­vertisement. Nor was she less careful to exercise her mind in Learning, than her body by Labour; but by a wise di­stribution of her time, she consulted the good and welfare both of Body and Soul. There was scarce a day in her Her Studies. life, but she imployed a part of it in reading and study; sometimes before she entered upon her State-affairs, and sometimes after them; so that by this means she gained a part of every day for her self, and the improvement of her own Faculties. In her Studies she [Page 348] mixed pleasing and serious things one with another. In the Summer she for Her Summer Progress, and catriage to­wards her People in it. the most part lived in the Countrey; then she took her Royal Progresses into the several Counties of England, and she would amuse her self with consider­ing and commending the pleasantness and goodness of her Countrey, and the greatness and variety of the Fruits Eng­land produced; she would also admire the Wisdom and Goodness of God in diversifying the face of the Earth by the mixture of Fields, Meadows, Pa­stures and Woods; and she would, as occasion offered, hunt too. In all this she was intent upon that which was her main business, the government of her People, the management of her Fami­ly, and of her Revenues, and the obser­ving the state and condition, the car­riage and designs of the Neighbour States and Princes; which way soever she went, she was sure to draw upon her the eyes of her People: Innumera­ble crowds of them met her in all places with loud hearty Acclamations, with Countenances full of joy, and hearts equally filled with love and admiration, and this ever attended her in publick, and in private; for what sight in this [Page 349] World can possibly please Mortals, like that of a just, beneficent, and kind Prince? So that those Places were ac­counted the most happy, in which, for the goodness of the Air, or the plea­santness of the Fields, she was pleased to stay the longest. In her Progress she was the most easie to be approached; Pri­vate Persons, and Magistrates, Men and Women, Countrey people and Children, came joyfully, and without any fear, to wait upon her, and see her. Her ears were then open to the Complaints of the afflicted, and of those that had been any way injured. She would not suffer the meanest of her People to be shut out from the places where she resided, but the greatest and the least were then in a man­ner levelled. She took with her own hand, and read with the greatest goodness the Petitions of the meanest Rusticks. And she would frequently assure them, that she would take a particular care of their Affairs; and she would ever be as good as her word. She by her Royal Authority protected those that were injured and oppressed: She punished the Fraudulent, False, Perfidious and Wicked. In all this va­riety of Affairs she was able to keep her temper, and appear with an equal and [Page 350] uninterrupted serenity and humanity to all that came nigh her; She was never seen angry with the most unseasonable, or uncourtly Approach: She was never of­fended with the most impudent or impor­tunate Petitioner. There was no com­motion to be seen in her mind, no Re-proaches, no Reprehensions came from her. Nor was there any thing in the whole course of her Reign that more won the hearts of the People, than this her wonderful facility, condescention, and the strange sweetness and pleasant­ness with which she entertained all that came to her. Thus for the most part she spent her Summer.

She spent her Winter in London in The Winter she spent in London. the procuring the safety of her People, and that of her Allies and Confederates. Before day every morning she heard the Petitions of those that had any business with her; and calling her Secretaries of State, and Masters of Requests, she caused the Orders of Council, Procla­mations, Patents, and all other Papers relating to the Publick, to be read, which were then depending; and gave such order in each Affair as she thought fit, which was set down in short Notes, either by her self, or her Secretaries. As [Page 351] often as any thing happened that was difficult, she called her great and wise men to her, and proposing the diversity of Opinions, she very attentively consi­dered and weighed on which side the strongest reason lay, ever preferring that way which seemed most to pro­mote the publick safety and welfare. When she was thus wearied with her morning work, she would take a walk, if the Sun shined, into her Garden, or otherwise in her Galleries, especially in windy or rainy Weather. She would then cause Stanhop, or Sir Henry Savill, or some other very learned Man to be called to walk with her, and en­tertain her with some learned Subject; the rest of the day she spent in pri­vate reading History, or some other Learning, with great care and atten­tion; not out of ostentation, and a vain ambition of being always learning something, but out of a diligent care to enable her self thereby to live the better, and to avoid sin; and she would commonly have some Learned Man with her, or near her, to assist her; whose Labour and Industry she would well reward: Thus she spent her Winter.

[Page 352] In the Summer time, when she was Her Diet in Summer and Winter. hungry, she would eat something that was of light and easie digestion in her Chamber, with the Windows open to admit the gentle breezes of wind from the Gardens, or pleasant Hills. Some­times she would do this alone, but more commonly she would have her Friends with her then. When she had thus satisfied her hunger and thirst with a very moderate repast, she would rest awhile upon an Indian Couch curiously and richly covered. In the Winter­time she observed the same Order, but she omitted her Noon-sleep. When her day was thus spent, she went late to Supper, which was ever sparing, and very moderate. At Supper she would divert her self with her Friends and Attendance; and if they made her no anfwer, she would put them upon mirth and pleasant discourse with great civility. She would then also admit Tarleton, a famousComedian, and a pleasant Talker, and other such like men, to divert her with Stories of the Town, and the common Jests, or Accidents; but so, that they kept within the bounds of modesty and chastity. In the Winter­time, after Supper, she would some [Page 353] time hear a Song, or a Lesson or two plaid upon the Lute; but she would be much offended if there was any rude­ness to any Person, any reproach or li­centious Reflection used. Tarleton, Her Diver­sions and pri­vate Conver­sation. who was then the best Comedian in England, had made a pleasant Play, and when it was acting before the Queen, he pointed at Sir Walter Rawleigh, and said, See the Knave commands the Queen; for which he was corrected by a Frown from the Queen; yet he had the confi­dence to add, that he was of too much, and too intolerable a power; and going on with the same liberty, he reflected on the over-great Power and Riches of the Earl of Leicester, which was so uni­versally applauded by all that were pre­sent, that she thought fit for the present to bear these Reflections with a seeming unconcernedness. But yet she was so of­fended, that she forbad Tarleton, and all her Jesters, from coming near her Ta­ble, being inwardly displeased with this impudent and unreasonable Liberty. She would talk with Learned Men that had travelled, in the presence of many, and ask them many Questions concern­ing the Government, Customs and Discipline used abroad. She loved a [Page 354] natural Jester, that would tell a Story pleasantly, and humour it with his Countenance, and Gesture, and Voice; but she hated all those Praters that made bold with other mens Reputati­on, or defamed them. She detested, as ominous and unfortunate, all Dwarfs and Monstrous Births. She loved Little Dogs, Singing Birds, Parrots, and Apes: And when she was in private, she would recreate her self with various Discourses, a game at Chess, Dancing, or Singing. Then she would retire into her Bed-chamber, where she was attended by married Ladies of the Nobility, the Mar­chioness of Winchester, then a Widow, the Countess of Warwick, and the Lord Scroop's Lady, whose Husband was Go­vernor of the West Marshes. She would seldom suffer any to wait upon her there, except Leicester, Hatton, Essex, Nottingham, and Sir Walter Rawleigh, who were more intimately conversant with her than anyother of theCourtiers; She frequently mixed serious things with her Jests, and her Mirth; and up­on Festival Days, and especially in Christmas-time, she would play at Cards and Tables, which was one of her usual Pastimes; and if at any time she hap­pened [Page 355] to win, she would be sure to de­mand the Money. When she found her self sleepy, she would take her leave of them that were present with much kindness and gravity, and so be­take her to her rest; some Lady of good quality, and of her intimate acquain­tance, always lying in the same Cham­ber. And besides her Guards, that were always upon Duty, there was a Gentle­man of Good Quality, and some others, up in the next Chamber, who were to wake her in case any thing extraordi­nary happened.

Though she was endowed with all She was sub­ject to be vio­lently angry. the Goods of Nature and Fortune, and adorned with all those things which are valuable, and to be desired; yet there were some things in her that were capa­ble of amendment; nor was there ever any Mortal, whose Virtues were not eclipsed by the neigbourhood of some Vices or Imperfections. She was subject to be vehemently transported with An­ger; and when she was so, she would shew it by her Voice, her Countenance, and her Hand. She would chide her familiar Servants so loud, that they that stood afar off, might sometimes hear her Voice. And it was reported, that for [Page 356] small Offences she would strike her Maids of Honour with her hand; but then her Anger was short, and very innocent, and she learned from Zeno­phon's Book, Of the Institution of Cyrus, the method of curbing and correcting this unruly and uneasie Passion. And when her Friends acknowledged their Offences, and humbly begged her par­don, she with an appeased mind easily forgave them many things.

She was also of an Opinion, That Se­verity Her Severity, and especially to the Queen of Scots. was safe, and too much Cle­mency was destructive, and therefore in her Punishments and Justice she was the more severe. The worst thing that she did in all her Reign, was her treat­ment of the Queen of Scots, who be­ing by her own Subjects driven into Ex­ile, and not only deprived of her Regal Authority, but of her Liberty, her Estate, and her Treasures; and com­ing poor and distressed into England upon the Queen's promise and faith gi­ven, she at first kindly and hospitably received and entertained her; but af­terwards confined her, and at last, up­on pretence that the Queen of the Scots was plotting against her, put her upon her trial, condemned, and at last execu­ted [Page 357] her, making her a sad, and unheard­of Example of her cruel and unjust Se­verity. Thus she polluted her happy Reign with the Innocent Blood, not of an Enemy, but of a Guest: The memo­ry of old Disgusts and Injuries prevail­ing more upon the mind of Queen Eli­zabeth, than the dignity of a Sovereign Queen, the Intercession of the Neigh­bour Princes, the Laws of Hospitality, the Tears of a Captive, and a Kinswo­man; so that no Intercession, no Sup­plications could take any place in a mind inexorably bent upon Revenge. They that would excuse this mournful Action, pretend the Queen of Scots was only confined to prevent mischief; but she entering into a Conspiracy against the Queen of England in her own King­dom, and her Designs against the Life and Throne of Queen Elizabeth being thus detected, there was no other way left to preserve the Life, and consult the safety of Queen Elizabeth, but by the punishment of the Queen of Scots, and others, who had conspired to destroy her. That all Precautions were in vain, and therefore it was absolutely necessa­ry to cut off this Guest, though her Cousin, and the next Heir after her of [Page 358] the Crown of England; and one, that by her deprivation of her Kingdom, and her Imprisonment in England, was deprived of all means to hurt her. If she would have taken the right method to secure her self, she should have released her Captive, and have sent her away, which would have cut off the Causes, and the Pretences of these Conspiracies, and have tended more to her honour and peace, than the way she took. This Execution of the Queen of the Scots raised in the minds of the Neighbour Princes an enraged Indignation. And she her self, when she knew the Fact was done, and could not be recalled, deplored the united and common Indig­nation of all the Foreign Princes with many tears, and gave many signs of her inward grief, laying the blame of this wicked action wholly upon the Actors; and upon every men­tion of the death of the Queen of Scots, she would to her dying day weep bitterly, and lament her misfortune in it. So great was the force of her Repentance, tho it came too late, and was altogether useless.

It was thought she brought Leicester Her Severity to Leicester and Hatton. and Hatton, two of her greatest Fa­vourites, to their Graves, by her hard usages, and the many Indignities she [Page 359] put upon them. Leicester had offend­ed her, by attempting to imbroil the Affairs of the United Provinces in the Netherlands; to that end he had suf­fered his Soldiers to live very irregular, and without almost any Military Di­scipline, and this in a State the most closely united to her; and he had am­bitiously affected the Power of a Lieu­tenant·General in England and Ireland; which Burleigh represented to the Queen as intolerable; and thereupon she became so incensed against him, that she brought him to a Despondence of Mind, which ended in his Death; the Queen declining all Reconciliation, that he might be an Example to all others to consult their own and the Publick Interest better than he had done, and not aspire like him to too great and dangerous Honours. Upon this Repulse he resolved to retire into the Countrey, and to live remote from the Court, at Killingnorth; but on the Road he fell into a violent Feavet, which brought him to his Grave. He left a Brother behind him, who was Earl of Warwick, and had the Chara­cter of a good man from his Enemies; and he succeeded him in the Estate, [Page 360] but did not long enjoy it. He left also a Son who laid Claim afterwards to the Earldom of Leicester, but he was then very young, and not owned as Legitimate. When the Queen heard of the Death of Leicester, she could not forbear grieving at it: She ordered, however, his Personal Estate to be sei­zed for Money due to the Exchequer from the deceased Earl; but she got lit­tle by it, the Creditors and others by various Stratagems, and on various Pre­tences, drawing it out again.

Hatton was a very good Dancer, and Hatton's Death. that was his best Qualification, and was the means of promoting him to be Lord Chancellor of England. Being in that high and undeserved Station, he became proud and arrogant, and at last began to favour the Popish Party more than the Queen thought well of. The Queen thereupon told him, That he was too much exalted by the Indul­gence of his Fortune, which had pla­ced him in a Station for which he was unfit, he being ignorant of the Chan­cery-Law, and needing the Assistance of others to enable him to do his Duty. This Reproach struck him to the heart, and he resolved to admit no Consola­tion. [Page 361] When he was almost half-dead, the Queen repented of her Severity, and went her self in Person to comfort the Dying Chancellor, and did what was possible to retrieve him; but it was all to no purpose, for he was obstinate­ly resolved to dye. His Brother's Son succeeded him in his Estates and Goods, (he dying a Batchellor) and raised a Family upon this Foundation; and the Queen did not exact from him the Debts due to the Exchequer, whether out of Respect to the Deceased, or Favour to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, whose Niece this Gentleman had Married.

As the Queen was by Nature severe, The Provo­cations she met with were many and great. so she did not want the utmost Provo­cations to exert her Natural Temper: For there was in all her Reign a Chain of Conspiracies detected, which were so outragious and wicked, that they exceeded by their Cruelty and bruitish Ferity all measures, and seemed to de­serve and call for Severity in her pu­nishing of them; she was also exaspe­rated by Rebellions and Insurrections in both her Kingdoms, and by most in­famous Libels published without any Author's Name, against the Cruelty of this Prince, with the Infamy of [Page 362] them that writ these Books. The Re­proach of Cruelty would not fix upon her, tho they did what was possible to defame her, because all men thought the Actors and Leaders in these horri­ble Treasons and Rebellions, deserved all the Punishments and Severities she inflicted on them for their Crimes. However it is apparent, That in her Reign many of the Nobility were put to Death, some of the most Noble Fa­milies were ruined, and that the Ro­man-Catholicks were punished, banish­ed, or forced to flye into Foreign Coun­tries to escape those Punishments they had drawn upon themselves by their restless endeavours to undermine her Throne, and subvert her Government, or to destroy her Person. After all, some of these Papists, out of a spirit of Slander and Detraction, and a desire to gratifie the Pope and his Party, la­boured by all ways that they could in­vent, to have her thought a Cruel and a Bloody Princess, and with the utmost Impudence represented her as such in their Pamphlets, tho she was forced to this Severity by their great and repeated Villanies.

There were some that with an un­susserable [Page 363] Rashness charged her with The Chara­cter of San­ders and o­thers who defamed her. Unchastity: The principal of which was Nicholas Sanders, one of the basest and wickedest Slanderers, and of the most hellish and incurable Malice that ever was born. This Fellow forgot all Modesty, and not content with the de­faming her Mother, and the reviving all those Slanders against her, which had before his time been sufficiently detected and disproved, or were forgot­ten, he went on to slander and defame the Queen too; and to that end invent­ed very many lewd Stories, and most infamous Satyrs against her and her Ministers, endeavouring to have the World believe she was guilty of Ra­pine, villanous Lusts, and intolerable Frauds for the Subversion of the Eng­lish Nation. But the Modesty and the incredible Chastity of her Life, easily dispelled all these black and noisom Slanders and Reproaches; her worst Enemies having never been able to dis­cover the least shadow of Luxury or Unchastity in all her Life; which was so pure and so spotless and unblamable, that it is very hard to believe she was a Mortal. This her rare Temperance and Continence put a stop to the Lyes [Page 364] and Defamations of this abominable Slanderer, and made all men despise him and his Writings. Nor did he so escape the Justice of God, which pur­sued him for this and his other Crimes, and before his Death deprived him of his Reason and Understanding, and ba­nishing him from the Conversation of men, he perished in a desolate place in Ireland, after he had a long time strug­gled with Hunger and Cold, and en­deavoured to preserve himself alive with the Roots of the Herbs that na­turally grew in those Woods he lurked in; nor was there one Friend to cover his Carkass with a little earth after he was dead, but it was found by the Eng­lish in the Woods, and left a Prey to the Wild Beasts; all men rejoicing that the Justice of God had thus fhewn it self in the Punishment of this infa­mous Slanderer, and Impenitent Rebel.

Another virulent Slanderer printed Dydimus Veri­dicus. a Book, under the Title of Dydimus Veridicus, being infected with the same contagious distemper of Lying, and presumed to pollute the ears of men with most wicked Difcourses, and to attempt the Ruin of the Fame of a most Noble Princess, which was sup­ported [Page 365] by the united Approbation and Praises of Mankind. He invented ma­ny absurd, false, and incredible things, that were like the fained Representati­ons of Poets and Painters, so that they appear false at first sight, and only serve to shew the liberty he took of Lying notoriously; so that he may be left without any answer, to receive his Confutation from the Prudence of the Reader.

Florimond Remond, another indi­screet Florimond Re­mond, a French Writer. Writer, transcribes the Defama­tions and Lyes which Sanders had in­vented, and sets down without any Truth, the Imprisonments, Tortures, Punishments, and Ignominies of the Papists: He impudently writes, That the Publick Places and Streets were washed with their Innocent Blood; that the Priests were tormented, the Matrons slain, the Layicks hurried a­way to Death and Tortures; forgetting or dissembling, that in the short Five years Reign of Queen Mary, there were more innocent Protestants burnt alive without Mercy, than suffered in all the Forty four Years of that of Queen Elizabeth, tho convicted of the great­est Crimes, and executed upon the [Page 366] most Just and Legal Prosecutions, viz. For disturbing the Peace of the Nati­on, by Insurrections, Tumults, and Rebellions, for entring into Conspira­cies, joining with Foreign Enemies, or abetting and concealing Domestick Treasons and Traitors, or for endea­vouring to Murder the Queen. The Moderation and Justice of the Queen has covered these passionate and false Scriblers with Infamy and Contempt, and it were lost labour to endeavour to refute them.

Nor ought George Cone, a Scot, to George Conc, a Scot. be passed over in silence, who in his History of the Life of Mary Queen of the Scots, has persecuted the Memory of Queen Elizabeth with a rapid Fury. He faith impudently, That she was born in an Incestuous Marriage, and got the Possession of England by Force; which Expressions were the effects of a Flattering Affection to the Interest of the Popish Party, and of Aversion for that of the Protestants. These Treat­ments induced the Queen to be very se­vere against all Libels and Verses pen­ned to the end to blacken the Reputati­on of any man; which she forbad any to read or divulge; and she ordered [Page 367] them to be burnt: And she extended this her Severity to all Rumors and Reports that were spread abroad under­hand, for fear her People should by these means be excited to Rebellions or Seditions.

Whilst her Forces in Ireland under Her last Sick­ness. the Command of the Lord Montjoy, were struggling hard with Tyrone for the Reduction of Ulster, and Tyrone was reduced to a necessity of submit­ting himself to her, which would have ended in the quieting of that King­dom, the Queen was involved in an uncurable and grievous Disease, ari­sing from the Greatness of her Age: She spent many Nights sadly and restlesly, without any sleep, in much Anxiety and troublesome Cares; her Stomach being wholly weakned and decayed, loathed all sorts of Diet; till at last the Anguish of her Troubled and Afflicted mind, made her despair of a Recove­ry; so that she despised the Counsels of her Physicians, and became exasperated and stubbornly resolved against all Mede­cines. The most powerful and consi­derable of her Friends who waited up­on her night and day, and did all they could to consolate and please her, when [Page 368] they saw the muttering Discontents of her Physicians, and considered seriously the uncertainty of the Event which might follow this Sickness of Body and Mind, and the Imbecility of human Nature, they became anxious, and most earnestly besought her, That she would curb this Disturbance and Grief of her mind; that she would for the present not fill her mind with the Ar­guments of Learned men against the Fears of Death, tho they had the shew of Wisdom; that she would consult her own Reason, and endeavour the Preservation of her Life, and the Re­covery of her former Health: That she would not encrease her Danger by Despondency, or her Distemper by her Obstinacy against all Medicines; but that she would be pleased to yield to the Perswasions of her Physicians, and follow their Advices, Eat, and endea­vour to overcome her inward grief with Patience: Lastly, That she would be pleased to value and endeavour to preserve her own Life, and deliver her Loyal and Faithful Servants, Nobility, and Subjects, from that Anxiety and Sorrow that now oppressed them. She made no other Answer to all this Wise [Page 369] and Loyal Advice, but That she was full satiated with this present Life, and now Her last Words to her Council. desired nothing more than to be translated to a state of Immortality, and to make her escape out of this dark and disordered state of human Affairs. That Death, which many so much abhorred, was only the payment of a Debt due to Nature; and that our Spirits were of right to be restored to God from whom they came. Thus her Body by slow degrees consu­med away, and she became very Lean, Weak, and Faint. Yet after all, her Mind was more afflicted than her Bo­dy; She was night and day troubled with a sorrowful Remembrance of the late exe­cuted Earl of Essex. The Grief of her Mind was encreased by the Necessity of her Affairs, which compell'd her to yield to Tyrone, not only his Life and Liberty, and the Pardon of his Re­bellions and Perfidy, but a great part of his Estate; which she esteemed a kind of rewarding him for his Treasons and Perjuries.

Her Sorrows were every day increa­sed She nomina­ted her Suc­cessor. and made more insupportable, by the Melancholy Humour which then abounded in her Blood, and the restless­ness of her Mind; so that all her Strength being exhausted, and her [Page 370] Mind, which was filled with Indigna­tion, contributing more and more to the Disease, she seemed to decline a­pace by the Weakness which augment­ed every day, yet she bore this her last Sickness with a wonderful Constancy and Patience, which alone deserved ve­ry great Commendation. When some of the principal Nobility of England, the Lord Admiral, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and one of the Secreta­ries of State, in the Name and by the Order of the Privy Council, told her Majesty, That it was their humble Request, That she would, if not for her own sake, yet for the good of her People, throw off that load of Grief which oppressed her, and lay aside the Resolution of dying: That if she should happen to dye by the course of Nature, in the present Circumstances of Affairs, it would bring Ruin upon England: That they had no hopes of any Prosperity after her Death, unless the Certainty of the Succession were fixed by her. If she should leave this to be determined after her Death, in that flagrant desire men had of obtain­ing the Sovereignty, there might ma­ny ill things be done and suffered, which would augment the Sorrows of [Page 371] her People for the loss of so good a Prince: Therefore they most earnestly, and with one Voice, and united Tears and Sighs intreated her, That in her present Circumstances she would take care of the Common Safety of her People after her Death; and that she would be pleased to remember, That so many of the Lives of her Subjects would be exposed to the utmost hazard if she died without Naming her Suc­cessor. To which she lovingly and modestly replied, That if she died of this sickness, the Kingdom would not want a Defender, but would be in the same state of quiet. Nottingham, the Lord Admiral replied, Whom do your Majesty mean? She looking thereupon steadily on all that were then present, said, I mean James King Of Scot­land, my Dearest Kinsman, and the Right Heir to Henry the VIIth. This cheared all that were present, and she persisted constantly in this to her last Breath, That he was her undoubt­ed Heir.

When she had said this, and recom­mended She spent the last Moments of her Life wholly in Devotion. her Name and Memory to her Nobility, she cast off all the Cares of this Life, and betook her self wholly to the acts of Piety and Devotion; she [Page 372] sent also for the Archbishop of Canter­bury, a Learned, Pious, and Moderate Prelate, who was then the Guide of her Conscience, and whose Salutary Advices she always much esteemed and gladly embraced. When this great and good man came to her, he admo­nished her to consider the Imperfection of the Human Nature, and therefore advised her to place all her Hopes in the Merits of Christ. She replied with some Her last Words to the Archbishop. difficulty of breathing or speak­ing, That she was weary of this misera­ble Life, which was subject to so many Calamities and Dangers: That from her Soul she desired to pass to that Eter­nal Light which overflowed with all man­ner of Felicity; and was hastning to her Heavenly Countrey, to the Presence of her good Saviour, and into his holy Arms. When the Bishop had ended his pru­dent and holy Exhortation, she turned her a little, and laying her Head upon her Right Arm, she composed her self as it were to her Last Long Sleep, with a Quiet Mind, and a Composed Countenance; nor were her Last Mo­ments unlike the rest of her Life, but it appeared by the motions of her Hand and Eyes, that they were spent in the acts of Devotion and Mental Prayer. [Page 373] Thus being at last wholly spent, she quietly yielded up her Soul to God, the And her Death. 24th. of March, about Midnight, in the year of our Lord 1602. in her Pa­lace of Richmond, and in the same Chamber Henry the VIIth. her Grand­father died in. She called this Royal Palace the Warm Box to which she could best trust her sickly Old Age; and she was now come hither to avoid the over-sharp Winter. She was a lit­tle less than Seventy years of Age, and she had Reigned Forty four Years, Four Months, and Seven Days. Thus died this Illustrious Queen, which was not only the Greatest and the Best Wo­man of the times in which she lived, but equal, if not superior, to any of her Predecessors, in the Majesty of her Name, or the Reverence that was paid to her by her Subjects and Neighbours; in the Art of Governing; in all the commendable Qualities of a Prince, such as Council, Policy, Magnanimity in Misfortunes, Moderation and Tem­perance in Prosperity, Constancy in her Behaviour, Maxims, Friendship, and Resolutions; and accordingly the Glory that followed her, and the Acti­ons of her Reign was Incomparable. She was lamented by them that then [Page 374] lived, with an unfeigned and an unex­pressible Grief; and the Memory of her Virtue, Learning, and Piety, has re­mained fresh and flourishing in all the following Times, and shall do so for ever. Her Words and Actions are in truth such as will render her Immor­tally Honourable, be the Abilities of the Historians that shall truly repre­sent the same what they will.

So soon as it was known that she The Sorrow for her Death. was dead, the Court was filled with the Lamentations and sorrowful Sighs and Tears of her Courtiers and Sub­jects, as for the greatest Loss that ever befel any men. There was never any where a greater, a sincerer, a more in­consolable Grief, than that which then took possession of this Royal Palace; nothing could stop the torrent of their Tears, nothing could appease or soften their bitter Complaints. The Noble Ladies which by the Order of the Pri­vy-Council were appointed to take Care of her Body, were scarce able to bear the load of their Sorrows which oppressed them, but lifted up their Hands and Eyes to Heaven, and im­plored the Mercy of God in this their Desolations and Affliction; concluding, without his powerful Assistance, and [Page 375] favourable Interposition, This Night would prove fatal to the English Nati­on; and that nothing less than the Ruin of the Kingdom, could be the consequence of so great and so deplo­rable a Loss as this. The Countess of Warwick, a Lady of great Honour, Vir­tue, Piety, Sanctity, and intirely belo­ved by the Queen, testified her sorrow for the loss of her Mistress in all the ef­fects of an inconsolable Affliction, and would never be induced to put off that mourning Habit she had put on upon this occasion. She performed all the Of­fices belonging to the Sepulture of the Queen with the utmost care, piery and fidelity, and by her Example taught all the rest of the Queen's Servants how they ought to behave themselves in this Mournful Affair. Those of the Noblemen who were present at the time of her death, expressed their Sor­rows in silent tears, and a deep, but grave sorrow. The meanest of her Servants were more noisy in their La­mentations, and that Court became in a few hours a desolate place, very few induring to stay in that place in which they had lost their good Mistress, be­neficent Sovereign, and their great Be­nefactor.

[Page 376] When Report had once spread the News of her Death in the City of London, an incredible Sorrow and Lamentation both of the Citizens and Strangers was observed, which spread it self to all the Neighbour Nations, as the fame of her Death was com­municated to them. But none more heartily deplored this loss than the HOLLANDERS, who were there­by deprived of the Author of their For­tunes; the Defender of their Liberty, and the Preserver of their Peace and Safety. A Prince she was, that would refuse no Labour, no Expence, no Ha­zard, how great soever it were, that the Protestants might live in peace, and enjoy their Liberty; and this and the many good Offices she had done to them and all the Neighbour Nations, had made her Name so venerable, that it was no easie Task for the Magistrates at home, or abroad, to keep the com­mon People in any bounds in this their outragious Sorrows; for almost all that heard it were of Opinion, That worse Times would follow, and that many and great Calamities would ensue in England, and all the Neigh­bour Nations.