The works of Francis Bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St. Alban, and lord high chancellor of England

University of California • Berkeley

Gift of
JOHN A. & CHARLES

STEVENSON

I

THE

WORKS

OF

FRANCIS BACON,

BARON OF VERULAM,

VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN,

AND
LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.

IN TEN VOLUMES.
VOLUME HI.
LONDON: ,

HUNTED FOR J. JOHNSON' ', W, J. AND J. RICHARDSON; OTHIDCE AND SON;
H. L. GARDNER ; F. AND C. RIVINGTOS \ T. PAYNE ; R. FAULDER ; O. AND J.

BOBINSON ; j. WALKER; J.MATTHEWS; J. SCATCHERD; VERNOR AND HOOD ;

J. SUNN J CLARKE AND SONS J CUTHELL AND MARTIN ; LACKINOTOM, ALLE}*,
AND CO. J R. LEA J E. JEFFERY J W. MILLER ', LONGMAN AND REES 't CADELb
AND DAVIES; B. CROSBYJ J. HARDING; AND J. M A WMAN ;

Ey J. Croivdcr and E, Hcn\jlcdt Warwick-Square,

1803.

CONTENTS

OF THE

THIRD VOLU M E.

WORKS POLITICAL.

PAGE

OF the state of Europe - 3

Mr. Bacon's discourse in praise of his sovereign 22
Certain observations upon a libel, Milled, A de-
claration of the true causes of the great troubles
presupposed to be intended against the realm of
England 4O

A true report of the detestable treason, intended
by Dr. Roderigo Lopez, a physician attending
upon the person of the queen's majesty - 106

The proceedings of the earl of Essex - - 1 20
A declaration of the practices and treasons at-
tempted and committed by Robert earl of Es-
seXy and his complices, against her majesty and
her kingdoms ; and of the proceedings as well at
the arraignment of the said late earl and his ad-
herents, as after, together with the very con-
fessions, and other parts of the evidences them-
selves, ivord for word, taken out of the origi-
nals - - 136

a2

CONTENTS.

PAGE

The apology of Sir Francis Bacon, in certain im-
putations concerning the. taie earl of Essex - 211

A speech in parliament, 39 of Elizabeth, upon the
motion of subsidy - - -234

A proclamation drawn for his ma je sty* s first com-
ing in - 239

A draught of a proclamation touching his majesty's
style - 244

A speech made by Sir Francis Bacon, knight,
chosen by the commons to present a petition
touching purveyors - - - 250

A brief discourse of the happy union of the king-
doms of England and Scotland - - 257

Certain articles or considerations touching the
union of the kingdoms of England and Scot-
land .... 267

The certificate or return of the commissioners of
England and Scotland, authorised to treat of
an union . - - 286

A speech in the house of commons concerning the
article of the general naturalization of the Sco-
tish nation - - 290

A speecli in the lower house of parliament, by
occasion of a motion concerning the union of
laws - - 310

Considerations touching the plantation in Ireland 317

A report in the house of commons, of a speecli de-
livered by the earl of Salisbury ; and another
speech delivered by the earl of Northamp-
ton, at a conference concerning the petition of
the merchants upon the Spanish grievances - 330

A certificate to his majesty touching the projects
of Sir Stephen Proctor relating to the penal
laws - 348

A speech used to the king by his majesty's solici-
tor, being chosen by the commons, as their
mouth, and messenger, for the presenting to his
majesty the instrument or ivriting of their grie-
vances - - - 357

A speech used unto the lords at a conference by
commission from the commons y moving and ptr-

CONTENTS.

PAGS

suading the lords to join with the commons in
petition to the king, to obtain liberty to treat
of a composition with his majesty forwards and
tenures - - - - -359

A frame of declaration for the master of the wards
at his first sitting - 364

Directions for the master of the wards to observe,
for his majesty's better service ', and the general
good - - 366

A speech persuading the house of commons to desist
from farther question of receiving the kings
messages by their speaker, and from the body
of the council, as well as from the king's person 369

An argument in the lower house of parliament,
proving the king's right of impositions on mer-
chandises imported and exported - - 373

A brief speech persuadi?ig some supply to be given
to his majesty - 382

A certificate to the lords of the council^ upon hi-
formation given touching the scarcity of silver
at the mint - 383

Advice to the king touching Mr. Button s estate 388

A speech irFthe lower house> when the house was
in great heat about the undertakers - - 395

A speech in parliament, being lord chancellory to
the speaker's excuse - 403

Of the true greatness of the kingdom of Britain 410

Adi ice to Sir George Villiers, afterward duke of
Buckingham, when he became favourite to king
James - 429

Advertisement touching a holy zvar - - 467

Notes of a speech concerning a war with Spain 493

Considerations touching a war with Spain - 499

a 3

WORKS POLITICAL.

VOL. Ill,

OF THE

STATE OF EUROPE

WRITTEN ABOUT THE YEAR 1580.

AN the consideration of the present state of Chris-
tendom, depending on the inclination and qualities of
the princes, governors of the same, first the person
of the pope, acknowledged for supreme of the princes
catholic, may be brought forth.

Gregory XIII. of the age of seventy years, by sur- Pope,
name Boncompagno, born in Bolonia of the meanest
state of the people, his father a shoemaker by occu-
pation ; of no great learning nor understanding, busy
rather in practice, than desirous of wars, and that
rather to further the advancement of his son and his
house, a respect highly regarded of all the popes,
than of any inclination of nature, the which, yet in
these years, abhorreth not his secret pleasures. How-
beit, two things especially have set so sharp edge to
him, whereby he doth bend himself so vehemently
against religion. The one is a mere necessity, the
other the solicitation of the king of Spain. For, if
we consider duly the eftate of the present time, we
shall find that he is not so much carried with the
desire to suppress our religion, as driven with the fear
of the downfal of his own, if in time it be not up-
held and restored.

The reasons be these : he seeth the king of Spain
already in years, and worn with labour and troubles,
that there is little hope in him of long life. And he
failing, there were likely to ensue great alterations of

B 2

Of the State of Europe.

state in all his dominions, the which should be joined
with the like in religion, especially in this divided
time, and in Spain, already so forward, as the fury of
the inquisition can scarce keep in.

Inj France, the state of that church seemeth to de-
pend on the sole life of the king now reigning, being
of a weak constitution, full of infirmities, not likely
to have long life, and quite out of hope of any issue.
Of the duke of Anjou he doth not assure himself;
besides the opinion conceived of the weakness of the
complexion of all that race, giving neither hope of
length of life nor of children. And tbe next to the
succession make already profession of the reformed
religion, besides the increase thereof daily in France :
England and Scotland are already, God be thanked,
quite reformed, with the better part of Germany. And
because the queen's majefty hath that reputation to
be the defender of the true religion and faith ; against
her majesty, as the head of the faithful, is the drift
of all their mischiefs.

The king of Spain having erected, in his conceit, a
monarchy, wherein seeking reputation in the protec-
tion of religion, this conjunction with the pope is as
necessary to him for the furtherance of his purposes,
as to the pope behoveful for the advancing of his
house, and for his authority ; the king of Spain having
already bestowed on the pope's son, degree of title
and of office, with great revenues. To encourage
the pope herein, being head of the church, they set
before him the analogy of the name Gregory, saying,
that we were first under a Gregory brought to the
faith, and by a Gregory are again to be reduced to the
obedience of Rome.

A prophecy likewise is found out that foretelleth,
" that the dragon sitting in the chair of Peter, great
things should be brought to pass."

Thus is the king of France solicited against those
of the religion in France ; the emperor against those
in his dominions ; divisions set in Germany ; the Low
Countries miserably oppressed ; and daily attempts
against her majefty, both by force and practice j hereto

Of the State of Europe.

serve the seminaries, where none are now admitted,
but those who take the oath against her majesty.

'I he feet of the Jesuits are special instruments to
alienate the people from her majesty, sow faction, and
to absolve them of the oath of obedience, and prepare
the way to rebellion and revolt.

Besides, for confirmation of their own religion they
have used some reformation of the clergy, and brought
in catechizing.

To go forth with the princes of Italy next in situation.

The great duke of Tuscany, Francisco de Medic N^ce,n°f
son to Cosmo, and the third duke of that family and
province ; of the age of forty years, of disposition
severe and sad, rather than manly and grave ; no
princely port or behaviour more than a great justicer -y
inclined to peace, and gathering money. All Tus-
cany is subject unto him, wherein were divers com-
monwealths; whereof the chief were Florence, Siena,
and Pisa, Prato, and Pistoia, saving Lucca, and cer-
tain forts on the sea-coast, held by the king of Spain.

He retaineth in his service few, and they strangers,
to whom he giveth pensions. In all his citadels he
hath garisons of Spaniards, except at Siena : in house-
keeping spendeth little, being as it were in pension,
agreeing for so much the year with a citizen of Flo-
rence for his diet : he has a small guard of Swissers,
and w7hen he rideth abroad a guard of forty light
horsemen. The militia of his country amounteth to
forty thousand soldiers, to the which he granteth leave
to wear their weapons on the holy days, and other
immunities. Besides, he entertaineth certain men of
arms, to the which he giveth seven crowns the month.
He also maintaineth seven galleys, the which serve
under his knights, erected by his father in Pisa, of the
order of St. Stephano : of these galleys three go every
year in chase.

His common exercise is in distillations, and in trying
of conclusions, the which he doth exercise in a house
called Cassino in Florence, where he spendeth the
most part of the day ; giving ear in the mean season

Of the State of Europe.

to matters of affairs, and conferring with his chie
officers. His revenues are esteemed 'to amount to a
million and a half of crowns,, of the which spending
half a million, he layeth up yearly one million. But
certainly he is the richest prince in all Europe of coin.
The form of his government is absolute, depending
only of his will and pleasure, though retaining in many
things the ancient offices and shew. But those ma-
gistrates resolve nothing without his express directions
and pleasure. Privy council he useth none, but re-
poseth his trust most on sound secretaries, and con-
ferreth chiefly with his wife, as his father did with one
of his secretaries. For matters of examinations, one
Corbolo hath the especial trust; he doth favour the
people more than the nobility, because they do. bear
an old grudge to the gentlemen, and the people are
the more in number, without whom the nobility can
do nothing. One thing in him giveth great content-
ment to the subjects, that he vouchsafeth to receive
and hear all their petitions himself. And in his ab-
sence from Florence, those that have suit do resort to
the office, and there exhibit their bill endorsed;
whereof within three days absolute answer is returned
them, unless the matter be of great importance, then
have they direction how to proceed. He is a great
justicer; and for the ease of the people, and to have
the better eye over justice, hath built hard by his
palace a fair row of houses for all offices together in
one place.

Two years since he married la Signora Bianca his
concubine, a Venetian of Casa Capelli, whereby he
entered straiter amity with the Venetians : with the
pope he had good intelligence, and some affinity by
the marriage of Signor Jacomo, the pope's son, in
Casa Sforza.

To the emperor he is allied, his first wife being the
emperor Maximilian's sister.

With Spain he is in strait league, and his mother
was of the house of Toledo; his brother likewise, D.
Pietro, married in the same house. With France he
standeth at this present in some misliking.

Of the State of Europe.

With Ferrara always at jar, as with all the dukes of
Italy for the preference in some controversy.

All his revenues arise of taxes and customs; his
domains are very small.

He hath by his first wife one son, of the age of four
or five years, and four daughters; he hath a base child
by this woman, and a base brother, D. Joanni, sixteen
years of age, of great expectation.

Two brothers, D. Pietro, and the cardinal.
The duke of Ferrara, Alfonso d'Este, the fifth duke, Ferrara.
now about forty years of age; his first wife Lucretia,
daughter to Cosmo de Medici, whom they say he poi-
soned; his second, daughter to Ferdinand the em-
peror ; his third wife now living, Anne daughter to
the duke of Mantua. He hath no child. The chief
cities of his state are Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio:
he is rich in money, growing, as the most of Italy, of
exactions; of all the princes of Italy he alone in-
clineth to the French ; with the pope he hath some
jar about the passage of a river. The Venetians and
he fall in great hatred; with Florence hath enmity;
with Lucca little skirmishes every year for a castle
he buildeth on their confines, to raise a great toll in a
strait passage, by reason of his mother a Guise.

William of the house of Gonsaga, the third duke Mantua,
of Mantua; his wife Barbara daughter to the em-
peror Ferdinand, by whom he hath a son of twenty-
two years of age, and a daughter. His son is called
Vincentio, his daughter Anne married of late to the
duke of Ferrara ; his son likewise married a year since
to the prince of Parma's daughter. The duke himself
very deformed and crook-backed, well in years. Mont-
ferrat likewise appertaineth to him. Divers of his
house have pension always, and serve the king of
Spain ; his brother the duke of Nevers remaineth in
France. He only seeketh to maintain his estate and
enrich himself; his greatest pleasure is in horses and
building.

The duke of Urbin, Francesco Maria, of the house Urbln.
of Rovere, the second of that name, a prince of good
behaviour and witty. In his state are seven reason-

1

B Of the Stale of Europe.

able fair cities: Pesaro, Augubio, Sinigaglia, Fossom-
brone, Sanleo, Cagli, Urbino ; Pesaro and Sinigaglia
are fortresses on the sea-side, Urbin and Sanleo on the
Apennine, well fortified. lie holdeth three provinces,
Montefeltro, Massa Trebaria, and Vicariato di Mon-
davio.

There have been good princes and valiant of that
house, not so great exactor.s as the rest of Italy, there-
fore better beloved of their subjects, which love re-
stored their house, being displaced by pope Leo X.

His wife Leonora, sister to the duke of Ferrara, by
whom he hath no children, and now is divorced. He
hath two sisters, the one married to the duke of Gra-
vina, the other to the prince Bisignano, and a third is
to marry, whose name is Lavinia.

Parma. Ottaviano, first duke of Castro, then of Camerino,
and after of Parma and Piacenza, with great trouble
restored to his estate ; now is aged and liveth quietly:
his wife, Marguerite daughter to Charles the fifth,
first wife to Alexander de Medici first duke of Flo-
rence. He hath one -son called Alexander, now
general for the k'ng of Spain in the Low Countries ;
his daughter Vittoria was mother to the duke of
Urbin.

The cardinal Farnese his uncle, of great credit in
that college, long time hath aspired to be pope, but
withstood by the king of Spain ; on whom though now
that house depend, yet forgetteth not, as he thinketh,
the death of Pier Luigi, and the loss of Parma and
Piacenza, restored to their house by the French.

The young princes of Mirandola, in the government
of their mother Fulvia Correggio, and under the pro-
tection of the king of France, who rnaintaineth there
a garison.

savoy. The duke of Savoy, Carlo Emanuel, a young prince
of twenty-one years, very little of stature, but well
brought up and disposed. His territory is the greatest
of any duke of Italy, having Piemont beyond the Alps^
and Savoy on this side ; divers fair towns and strong-
holds, richly left of his father, who was accounted a
very wise prince, This duke, as is thought, is advised

Of the State of Europe.

to remain always indifferent between Spain and France,
being neighbour to them both, unless some accident
do counsel him to declare himself in behalf of either.
Therefore both those princes go about by marriage to
have him nearer allied to them. His mother was
sister to king Francis the great ; his father being ex-
pulsed his dominions by the French, was restored by
the king of Spain, with whom while he lived he had
strait intelligence. As yet his inclination doth not
appear; he retaineth his father's alliances with Venice,
especially in Italy, and with the emperor. With Flo-
rence he hath question for pre-eminence.

His revenues are judged to be a million of crowns
yearly; now he is in arms against Geneva, and guarded
against Bern.

Of free estates, Lucca the least, is under the pro- Lucca,
tection of the king of Spain : small in territory ; the
city itself well fortified and provided, because of the
doubt they have of the duke of Florence.

Genoa is recommended to the king of Spain, their Genoa,
galleys serve under him, and the chiefest of their city
are at his devotion. Though there is a faction for the
French, whereto he doth hearken so weakly, that the
Spaniard is there all in all ; by whom that state in few
years hath made a marvellous gain. And the king of
Spain hath great need of their friendship, for their
ports, where embark and land all men, and whatsoever
is sent between Spain and Milan.

They hold Corsica an island, and Savona a fair city,
and the goodliest haven in Italy, until it was destroyed
by the Genevois ; the which now make no profession
but of merchandise.

There is a dangerous faction amongst them, between
the ancient houses and the new, which wrere admitted
into the ancient families.

St. George is their treasure-house and receiver, as
at Venice St. Mark.

Venice retaining still the ancient form of govern -Venice,
ment, is always for itself in like estate and all one; at
this time between the Turk and the king of Spain, in
continual watch, seeming to make more account of

10 Of the State of Europe.

France, not so much in hope of any great affiance at
this present to be had in him, but for the reputation
of that nation, and the amity always they have had
with the same, and behoving them so to do. They
use it with good fore-sight, and speedy preventing,
sparing for no charge to meet as they may with every
accident. Of late they have had some jar with the
pope, as well about the inquisition as title of land.
With Ferrara and the Venetians is ancient enmity,
specially because he receiveth all their banished and
fugitives. They make most account of the duke of
Savoy amongst the princes of Italy. They maintain
divers ambassadors abroad, with the Turk, the em-
peror, France, Spain, and at Rome: with them is an
ambassador of France and Savoy always resident, and
an agent of Spain, because they gave the preference
to France.

In this it seemeth all the potentates of Italy do
agree to let all private grudges give place to foreign
invasion, more for doubt of alteration in religion, than
for any other civil cause.

There is none among them at this day in any like-
lihood to grow to any greatness. For Venice is bri-
dkd by the Turk and Spain. The duke of Tuscany
seeketh rather title than territory, otherwise than by
purchasing.

Savoy is yet young ; the rest of no great force of
themselves. France hath greatly lost the reputation
they had in Italy, by neglecting the occasions offered,
and suffering the king of Spain to settle himself.
Emperor, The emperor Adolphe of the house of Austria, son
to Maximilian, about thirty years of age ; no strong
constitution of body, and greatly weakened by immo-
derate pleasure ; no great quickness of spirit. In
fashion and apparel all Spanish, where he had his
education in his youth, lie was most governed by
his mother while she remained with him ; and yet
altogether by his steward Dyetristan, and his great
chamberlain Romphe, both pensionaries of Spain, and
there with him maintained.

Of the State of Europe. 1 1

Of the empire he hath by the last imperial diet one
million of dollars towards the maintenance of the ga-
risons of Hungary ; and, besides, his guards are paid
of the empire.

To the Turk he payeth yearly tribute for Hungary
403000 dollars, besides the charge of the presents and
his ambassadors, amounting to more than the tribute;
in all 100,000 dollars.

The ordinary garisoris in Hungary are to the num-
ber of but badly paid at this time.

The revenues and subsidies of Hungary do not pass
100,000 florins. The last emperor affirmed solemnly,
that the charge of Hungary amounted to one million
and a half.

The revenues of Bohemia, ordinary and extraor-
dinary, amount to 50,OOO dollars.

In the absence of the emperor, the baron of Rosem-
berg is governor of Bohemia, who possesseth almost a
fourth part of that country, and is a papist; neither
he nor his brother have children: he beareth the em-
peror in hand to make him his heir.

Of Silesia and Moravia, the emperor yearly may
have 200,000 florins.

Out of Austria of subsidy and tribute 100,000 flo-
rins, for his domains are all sold away and engaged.

Thus all his revenues make half a million of florins.

To his brothers Maximilian and Ernest he alloweth
yearly, by agreement made between them, 4-5,000
florins apiece, as well for Austria, as that might here-
after fall unto them by the decease of the archduke
Ferdinand in Tyrol, the which shall come to the em-
peror.

The emperor altogether dependeth on Spain, as well
in respect of his house, as the education he received
there, and the rule his mother hath over him with the
chief of his council. He is utter enemy to religion,
having well declared the same in banishing the mi-
nisters out of Vienna, and divers other towns, where
he goeth about to plant Jesuits.

Of his subjects greatly misliked, as his house is
hateful to all Germany.

12 Of the State of Europe.

The archduke Charles holdeth Stiria and Carinthia ;
his chief abode is at Gratz ; his wife* is sister to the
duke of Bavaria, by whom he hath children.

The archduke Ferdinand hath Tyrol, and retaineth
the most part of Ilsburg. For his eldest son he hath
bought in Germany a pretty state, not far from Ulms;
the second is a cardinal. Now he is a widower, and said
that he shall marry a daughter of the duke of Mantua.

These are uncles to the emperor: besides Max-
imilian and Ernest, he hath two brothers, the archduke
Matthias, that hath a pension of the estates of the
Low Countries, and a cardinal archbishop of Toledo.
Germany. In Germany there are divers princes diversly af-
fected. The elector palatine Ludovic, a Lutheran ;
his chief abode is at Heidelberg.

His brother, John Casimir, a Calvinist, at Keisers-
lautern, or Nieustadt.

Richard their uncle at Symyers.

During the life of the last elector, Ludovic dwelt
at Amberg in the Higher Palatinate.

Philip Ludovic dwelt at Norbourgh on the Danube,
and is commonly called duke thereof.

John dwelleth at Rypont, or Sweybourgh, or in
Bergefaber ; the other three brethren have no certain
dwelling-place. George John, son of Rupert, count
Palatine, dwelleth at Lysselsteyn.

Princes of Augustus, duke and elector of Saxony, remaineth
Germany. ^]ie most part at Dresden on the Elbe ; sometimes at
Torge on Kibe, a goodly castle fortified by John Fre-
derick. This elector is a Lutheran, and a great enemy
to our profession ; of sixty years of age, half frantic,
severe, governed much by his wife, a greater exactor
than the German princes are wont to be, and retaineth
in his service divers Italians ; his eldest son married of
late the daughter of the duke of Brandebourg.

The sons of John Frederick, captive, and yet in
prison, remain at Coburge in East Franconia, near the
forest of Turingia.

The sons of John William abide at Vinaria in Tu-
ringia.

Joachim Frederick, son of John George elector of

Of the Slate of Europe. 13

Brandebourg, at Hala in Saxony on the river of Sala,
as administrator of the archbishopric of Magdebourgh.

George Frederick, son of George, dwelleth at Ors-
buche in East Franconia, or at Blassenbourge, the
which was the mansion of his uncle Albert the warrior.

The elector of Brandebourg, John George, remain-
eth at Berlin on the river of Sprea : his uncle John
dwelleth at Castryne beyond Odera, very strong both
by the situation and fortified.

William duke of Bavaria, a papist, at Munich in
Bavaria, married the daughter of the duke of Lorrain.

His second brother Ferdinand remaineth most at
Landshutt.

The third, Ernest,' is bishop of Frisinghen and Hil-
desheim, and late of Liege.

Julius duke of Brunswick, at the strong castle of
Wolfenbuttel on Oder.

Ericke of Brunswick, son to Magnus, uncle to Ju-
lius, remaineth at Mynda, or where the rivers of
Werra and Fulda do join, making the river of Visurgis
navigable.

William duke of Lunenburgh hath his being at
Cella, on the river Albera.

Henry his brother at Grysorn, where, before, their
uncle Francis was wont to dwell.

Otho their cousin, duke of Lunenburg, inhabiteth
Harbourg, on this side the Elbe, over-right against
Hamburgh. ,

The duke of Pomerania, John Frederic, dwelleth
at Stetin.

Bugeslaus at Campena, some time an abbey in the
county of Bardruse.

Ernest Ludovic at Wolgast, on the river of Panis
that runneth into the Baltick sea.

Barmin at Ragenwald in Further Pomerania, on the
borders of Poland and Prussia.

Cassimire at Camyn, which bishoprick he holdeth,
either as administrator, or in his own possession and
right. _

Ulricke duke of Meckelbourg, remaineth most at
Gustrow; his brother John Albert dwelleth at Swerin,

14- Of the State of Europe.

whose two sons are in the court of the duke of
Saxony.

Adolph duke of Hoist and Dytmarch ; his chief seat
Is at Gottorpin the duchy of Sleswick.

John his elder brother, unmarried, hath his abode
at Hadersberge ; John, son to Christiern king of Den-
mark, and brother to the duke of Holstj, and to Fre-
derick now king of Denmark, bishop of Oeselya and
Courland in Livonia.

William duke of Juliers, Cleve, and Bergen, hath
his court at Dusseldorp in the dukedom of Bergense.

William landgrave of Hesse dwelleth at Cassel on
Fulda.

Ludovic at Marpurge.
Philip at Brubache on the Rhine.
George at Darmstadt.

Ludovic duke of Wirtenberge, his chief house at
Stutgard.

Frederic at Montbelgard.

The marquises of Bathe : the elder Ernest, the se-
cond Jacob, the third brother yet younger ; their chief
dwelling-place is at Forsheim, or at Durlach.
The sons of Philip at the Bath called Baden.
Ernest Joachim, prince of Anhalt, at Zerbest, in
the midway between Magdebourgh and Wittemberg;
his other mansion is at Dessau on Mylda, where he
was born, new built and fortified by his grandfather
Ernest : he hath besides the castle of Cathenen, the
which was the habitation of Wolfgan prince of Anhalt
his great uncle ; Ernest favoureth religion.

George Ernest, prince and earl of Henneberg, at
Schlewsing, by the forest called Turing.

George duke of Silesia and Brieke, of the family of
the kings of Poland, dwelleth at Brieke ; his eldest
son, Joachim Frederick, hath married the daughter of
the prince of Anhalt ; his second son, John George.

Henry duke of Silesia and Lignitz, son to the bro-
ther of George, dwelleth at Lignitz ; he hath no chil-
dren alive.
Frederic, brother to Henry, unmarried.

Of the State of Europe. \ 3

Charles duke of Munsterberg and Olsse, bis wife
the countess of Sternberg in Bohemia, where he ma-
keth his abode.

Henry, brother to Charles, remained at Olsse.

John Frederic duke ofTeschen.

Charles duke of Lorrain, his chief court at Nancy.

His eldest son Henry of man's estate.

Charles cardinal archbishop of Mets.

A daughter in the French court.

Besides, there are in Germany three electors bishops,
and divers bishops of great livings.

The free towns of greatest importance are Norem-
berg, Auspurgh, Ulmes, and Strasburg : then the
cantons of the Swisses, the Grisons, and\ralois.

The greatest trouble in Germany at this time is about
the concordate, furthered by the duke of Saxony, and
the count Palatine.

There is at this present no prince in Germany greatly
toward or redoubted.

The duke Casimir's credit is greatly impaired, and
his ability small.

The dyet imperial shortly should be held, when the
concordate shall be urged, collection for Hungary
made, and a king of the Romans named.

The French king, Henry the third, of thirty years of France,
age, of a very weak constitution, and full of infirmities ;
yet extremely given over to his wanton pleasures,
having only delight in dancing, feasting, and enter-
taining ladies, and chamber-pleasures : no great wit,
yet a comely behaviour and goodly personage, very
poor, though exacting inordinately by all devices
of his subjects ; greatly repining that revenge and hun-
gry government, abhorring wa,rs and all action, yet
daily worketh the ruin of those he hateth, as all of the
religion and the house of Bourbon -, doting fondly on
some he chooseth to favour extremely, without any
virtue or cause of desert in them, to whom he giveth
prodigally. His chief favourites now about him are
the duke Joyeuse, la Valette, and monsieur D'Au.
The queen mother ruleth him rather by policy and fear
he hath of her, than by his good will} yet he always

16 Of the State of Europe.

doth shew great reverence towards her. The Guise
is in as great favour with him as ever he was ; the
house is now the greatest of all France, being allied
to Ferrara, Savoy, Lorrain, Scotland, and favoured of
all the papists ; the French king having his kinswoman
to wife, and divers great personages in that realm of
his house.

The chiefest at this present in credit in court, whose
counsel he useth, are, Villeroy, Villaquier, Bellievre,
the chancellor and lord keeper, Birague andChiverny.

He greatly entertaineth no amity with any prince,
other than for form ; neither is his friendship otherwise
respected of others, save in respect of the reputation
of so great a kingdom.

The pope beareth a great sway, and the king of
Spain by means of his pensions ; and of the queen-mo-
ther with the Guise; she for her two daughters, he for
other regard, can do what he list there, or hinder what
he would not have done.

The division in his country for matters of religion and
state, through miscontentment of the nobility to see
strangers advanced to the greatest charges of the realm,
the offices of justice sold, the treasury wasted, the
people polled, the country destroyed, hath bred great
trouble, and like to see more. The faction between
the house of Guise against that of Montmorancy, hath
gotten great advantage.

At this present the king is about to restore Don
Antonio king of Portugal, whereto are great levies and
preparation.

Duke of Francis duke of Anjou and of Brabant, for his cal-
Brabant. jjng an(j quality greatly to be considered as any prince
this day living, being second person to the king his
brother, and in likelihood to succeed him. There is
noted in the disposition of this prince a quiet mildness,
giving satisfaction to all men ; facility ot access and
natural courtesy; understanding and speech great and
eloquent ; secrecy more than commonly is in the
French ; from his youth always desirous of action, the
which thing hath made him always followed and re-
spected. And though hitherto he hath brought to pass

Of the State of Europe. 17

no great purpose, having suffered great wants and re-
sistance both at home and abroad, yet by the inter-
meddling is grown to good experience, readiness and
judgment, the better thereby able to guide and govern
his affairs, both in practice, in treaty, and action.
Moreover, the diseased state of the world doth so
concur with this his active forwardness, as it giveth
him matter to work upon : and he is the only man to
be seen of all them in distress, or desirous of altera-
tion, A matter of special furtherance to all such as
have atchieved great things, when they have found
matter disposed to receive form.

And there is to be found no other prince in this part
of the world so towards and forward as the duke, to-
wards whom they in distress may turn their eyes. We
do plainly see in the most countries of Christendom so
unsound and shaken an estate, as desireth the help of
some great person, to set together and join again the
pieces asunder and out of joint. Wherefore the pre-
sumption is great, and if this prince continue this his
course, he is likely to become a mighty potentate :
for, one enterprise failing, other will be offered,
and still men evil at ease and desirous of a head and
captain, will run to him that is fittest to receive them.
Besides, the French, desirous to shake off the civil
wars, must needs attempt somewhat abroad. This
duke first had intelligence with the count Ludovic in
king Charles's days, and an enterprise to escape from
the court, and in this king's time joined with them of
the religion and malcontents: after was carried against
them ; seeketh the marriage with her majesty, so
mighty a princess, as it were to marry might with his
activity.

He hath had practice in Germany to be created king
of the Romans, made a sudden voyage with great ex-
pedition into the Low Countries, now is there again
with better success than so soon was looked for.

The king of Spain, Philip son to Charles the fifth, Spain.
about sixty years of age, a prince of great understand-
ing, subtle and aspiring, diligent and cruel. This
king especially hath made his benefit of the time,

VOL. III. C

IS ' Of the State of Europe.

where his last attempt on Portugal deserveth exact
consideration, thereby as by the workmanship to know
the master.

The first success he had was at St. Quintin, where
he got a notable hand of the French ; he sought to re-
duce the Low Countries to an absolute subjection.

He hath kept France in continual broil, where, by
his pensions and the favour of the house of Guise, by
means of the queen-mother in contemplation of her
nieces, he beareth great sway. With the pope he is
so linked, as he may do what him list, and dispose of
that authority to serve his purposes : as he has gotten
great authority in pretending to protect the church and
religion.

He possesseth the one half of Italy, comprehending
Sicily and Sardinia, with Naples and Milan; the
which estates do yield him little other profit, save the
maintenance of so many Spaniards as he keepeth there
always.

The duke of Florence relieth greatly upon him, as
well in respect of the state of Siena, as of the ports he
holdeth, and of his greatness. Lucca is under his pro-
tection. Genoa, the one faction at his devotion, with
their galleys : at his pension is most of the greatest
there.

Besides the Low Countries, he holdeth the French
Comte, the best used of all his subjects, and Luxem-
bourg : the West-Indies furnish him gold and silver,
the which he consumeth in the wars of the Low Coun-
tries, and in pensions, and is greatly indebted, while
he worketh on the foundation his father laid, to erect a
monarchy, the which if he succeed in the conquest of
Portugal, he is likely to atchieve, unless death do cut
him off.

He hath one son of the years of five by his last wife,
two daughters by the French king's sister, two base
sons.

He hath greatly sought the marriage of the queen's
daughter of France, sister to his last wife, and cousin
german removed.

Of the State of Europe. 1 9

His revenues are reckoned to amount to sixteen mil-The Turks

i • revenues

Il0ns- arethought

The chief in credit with him of martial men and for tobe e.<iual
counsel are - - - - withhis-

He maketh account to have in continual pay 50,000
soldiers.

He maintaineth galleys to the number of 140,
whereof there are sixty in Portugal, the rest are at
Naples, and other places. Now is on league with the
Turk.

D. Antonio, elect king of Portugal, thrust out by Portugal
the king of Spain, of forty-five years of age, a mild
spirit, sober and discreet : he is now in France, where
he hath levied soldiers, whereof part are embarked,
hoping by the favour of that king, and the good-will
the Portugals do bear him, to be restored again. He
holdeth the Torges, and the Eaft-Indians yet remain
well affected to him, a case of itself deserving the con-
sidering and relief of all other princes. Besides in his
person, his election to be noted with the title he claim-
eth very singular, and seldom the like seen, being
chosen of all the people ; the great dangers he hath
escaped likewise at sundry times.

The king of Poland, Stephen Batoaye, a baron of Poland.
Hungary, by the favour of the Turk chosen king of
the Pollacks, after the escape made by the French
king ; a prince of the greatest value and courage of
any at this day, of competent years, sufficient wisdom,
the which he hath shewed in the siege of Danske, and
the wars with the Muscovite.

The Hungarians could be content to exchange the
emperor for him. The Bohemians likewise wish him
in the stead of the other. He were like to attain to the
empire, were there not that mortal enmity between
those two nations as could not agree in one subjection.

Straight upon his election he married the Infant of
Poland, somewhat in years and crooked, only to con-
tent the Pollacks, but never companied with her. He
doth tolerate there all religions, himself heareth the
mass; but is not thought to be a papist ; he had a great

c 2

20 Of the State of Europe.

part of his education in Turkey, after served the last
emperor.

Denmark. Frederic the Second, of forty-eight years, king of
Denmark and Norway; his wife Sophia, daughter to
UJricke duke of Mechelebourg, by whom he hath six
children, four daughters and two sons, Christianus and
Ulricus, the eldest of five years of age.

The chiefest about him, Nicolas Cose his chancel-
lor, in whose counsel he doth much repose.

He hath always 800 horse about his court, to whom
he giveth ten dollars the month.

His father deceased in the year 1559, after which
he had wars ten years space with the Swede, which
gave him occasion to arm by sea. His navy is six
great ships of 1 500 ton, and fifteen smaller, ten gallies
which sail to pass the Straits.

His revenues grow chiefly in customs, and such
living as were in the hands of the abbeys, and bifhops,
whereby he is greatly enriched : his chief haven is Co-
penhagen, where always his navy lieth.

His brother John, duke of Hoist in Jutland, mar-
ried to the daughter of the duke of Inferior Saxony.

Magnus, his other brother, biftiop of Courland,
married the daughter of the Muscovite's brother.

The chiefest wars that the king of Denmark hath is
•with Sweden, with whom now he hath peace. The
duke of Hoist is uncle to the king now reigning; they
make often alliances with Scotland.
Sweden. John, king of Sweden, son of Gustavus.

This Gustavus had four sons, Erick, John, Magnus,
and Charles.

Erick married a soldier's daughter, by whom he
had divers children, and died in prison.

John, now king, married the sister of Sigismond
late king of Poland.

Magnus bestraught of his wits.

Charles married a daughter of the Palsgrave.

Five daughters of Gustavus.

Catharine married to the earl of East-Friseland.

Anne to one of the Palsgraves.

Cicilia to the marquis of Baden.

Of the State of Europe. 2 1

Sophia to the duke of Inferior Saxony.

Elizabeth to the duke of Meclenburg.

This prince is of no great force nor wealth, but of
late hath increased his navigation by reason of the
wars between him and the Dane, the which, the war
ceasing, they hardly maintain.

The Muscovite emperor of Russia, John Basil, of Muscovy,
threescore years of age, in league and amity with no
prince ; always at war with the Tartarians, and now
with the Pollake.

He is advised by no council, but governeth alto-
gether like a tyrant. He hath one son of thirty
years of age. Not long since this prince deposed
himself, and set in his place a Tartar, whom he re-
moved again. Of late he sent an ambassador to
Rome, giving some hope to submit himself to that
see. Their religion is nearest the Greek church, full
of superstition and idolatry.

C 22 ]

MR. BACON'S DISCOURSE

IN THE PRAISE OF HIS SOVEREIGN,

O praise of magnanimity, nor of love, nor of
knowledge, can intercept her praise, that planteth
and nourisheth magnanimity by her example, love
by her person, and knowledge by the peace and se-
renity of her times. And if these rich pieces be so
fair unset, what are they set, and set in all perfection ?
Magnanimity no doubt consisteth in contempt of peril,
in contempt of profit, and in meriting of the times
wherein one liveth. For contempt of peril, see a lady
that cometh to a crown after the experience of some
adverse fortune, which for the most part extenuateth
the mind, and maketh it apprehensive of fears. No
sooner she taketh the scepter into her sacred hands,
but she putteth on a resolution to make the greatest,
the most important, the most dangerous that can be in
a state, the alteration of religion. This she doth, not
after a sovereignty established and continued by sundry
years, when custom might have bred in her people a
more absolute obedience ; when trial of her servants
might have made her more assured whom to employ ;
when the reputation of her policy and virtue might
have made her government redoubted : but at the very
entrance of her reign, when she was green in autho-
rity, her servants scarce known unto her, the adverse
party not weakened, her own party not confirmed.
Neither doth she reduce or reunite her realm to the
religion of the states about her, that the evil inclination
of the subject might be countervailed by the good cor-
respondence in foreign parts - but contrariwise, she in-
troduceth a religion exterminated and persecuted both
at home and abroad. Her proceeding herein is not
by degrees and by stealth, but absolute and at once.
Was she encouraged thereto by the strength she found

A Discourse in Praise of Quee?i Elizabeth. 23

in leagues and alliances with great and potent confe-
derates ? No, but she found her realm in wars with
her nearest and mightiest neighbours. She stood single
and alone, and in league only with one, that after the
people of her nation had made his wars, left her to
make her own peace ; one that could never be by any
solicitation moved to renew the treaties -3 and one that
since hath proceeded from doubtful terms of amity to
the highest acts of hostility. Yet, notwithstanding the
opposition so great, the support so weak, the season
so improper ; yet, I say, because it was a religion
wherein she was nourished and brought up ; a religion
that freed her subjects from pretence of foreign powers,
and indeed the true religion ; she brought to pass this
great work with success worthy so noble a resolution.
See a queen that, when a deep and secret conspiracy
was plotted against her sacred person, practised by
subtile instruments, embraced by violent and desperate
humours, strengthened and bound by vows and sacra-
ments, and the same was revealed unto her, and yet
the nature of the affairs required further ripening be-
fore the apprehension of any of the parties, was content
to put herself into the guard of the divine providence,
and her own prudence, to have some of the conspira-
tors in her eyes, to suffer them to approach to her per-
son, to take a petition of the hand that was conjured
for her death ; and that with such majesty of counte-
nance, such mildness and serenity of gesture, such art
and impression of words, as had been sufficient to have
represt and bound the hand of a conspirator, if he had
not been discovered. Lastly, see a queen, that when
her realm was to have been invaded by an army, the
preparation whereof was like the travel of an elephant,
the provisions were infinite, the setting forth whereof
was the terror and wonder of Europe ; it was not seen
that her chear, her fashion, her ordinary manner was
any thing altered : not a cloud of that storm did appear
in that countenance wherein peace doth ever shine ;
but with excellent assurance, and advised security,
she inspired her council, animated her nobility, re-
doubled the courage of her people, still having this

I

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

noble apprehension, not only that she would commu-
nicate her fortune with them, but that it was she that
would protect them, and not they her: which she tes-
tified by no less demonstration than her presence in
camp. Therefore, that magnanimity that neither
feareth greatness of alteration, nor the views of con-
spirators, nor the power of an enemy, is more than
heroical.

For contempt of profit, consider her offers, conisder
her purchases. She hath reigned in a most populous
and wealthy peace, her people greatly multiplied,
wealthily appointed, and singularly devoted. She
wanted not the example of the power of her arms in
the memorable voyages and invasions prosperously
made and atchieved by sundry her noble progenitors.
She had not wanted pretences, as well of claim and
right, as of quarrel and revenge. She hath reigned
during the minority of some of her neighbouring
princes, and during the factions and divisions of their
people upon deep and irreconcilable quarrels, and
during the embracing greatness of some one that hath
made himself so weak through too much burden, as
others are through decay of strength -, and yet see her
sitting as it were within the compass of her sands.
Scotland, that doth as it were eclipse her island ; the
United Provinces of the Low Countries, which for
wealth, commodity of traffic, affection to our nation,
were most meet to be annexed to this crown ; she left
the possession of the one, and refused the sovereignty
of the other: so that notwithstanding the greatness of
her means, the justness of her pretences, and the
rareness of her opportunity ; she hath continued her
first mind, she hath made the possessions which she
received the limits of her dominions, and the world
the limits of her name, by a peace that hath stained
all victories.

For her merits, who doth not acknowledge, that she
hath been as a star of most fortunate influence upon
the age wherein she hath shined ? Shall we speak of
merit of clemency ? or merit of beneficence ? Where
shall a man take the most proper and natural trial of

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 25

her royal clemency ? Will it best appear in the injuries
that were done unto her before she attained the crown ?
or after she is seated in her throne ? or that the com-
monwealth is incorporated in her person? Then cle-
mency is drawn in question, as a dangerous encounter
of justice and policy. And therefore, who did ever
note, that she did relent, after that she was established
in her kingdom, of the wrongs done unto her former
estate ? Who doth not remember how she did revenge
the rigour and rudeness of her jailor by a word, and
that no bitter but salt, and such as shewed rather the
excellency of her wit than any impression of her wrong?
Yea, and further, is it not so manifest, that since her
reign, notwithstanding the principle that princes
should not neglect, " That the Commonwealth's
wrong is included in themselves ;" yet when it is ques-
tion of drawing the sword, there is ever a conflict be-
tween the justice of her place, joined with the neces-
sity of her state and her royal clemency, which as a
sovereign and precious balm continually distilleth from
her fair hands, and falleth into the wounds of many
that have incurred the offence of her law.

Now, for her beneficence, what kind of persons
have breathed during her most happy reign, but have
had the benefit of her virtues conveyed unto them ?
Take a view, and consider, whether they have not
extended to subjects, to neighbours, to remote sran-
gers, yea, to her greatest enemies. For her subjects,
where shall we begin in such a maze of benefits as
presenteth itself to remembrance ? Shall we speak of
the purging away of the dross of religion, the hea-
venly treasure ; or that of money, the earthly treasure?
The greater was touched before, and the latter de-
serveth not to be forgotten. For who believeth not,
that knoweth any thing in matter of estate, of the
great absurdites and frauds that arise of divorcing the
legal estimation of moneys from the general, and, as
I may term it, natural estimation of metals, and again
of the uncertainty and wavering values of coins, a very
labyrinth of cousenages and abuse, yet such as great
princes have made their profit of towards their own

26 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

people. Pass on from the mint to the revenue and
receipts : there shall you find no raising of rents, not-
withstanding the alteration of prices and the usage of
the times ; but the over value, besides a reasonable
fine left for the relief of tenants and reward of ser-
vants; no raising of customs, notwithstanding her
continual charges of setting to the sea ; no extremity
taken of forfeiture and penal laws, means used by
some kings for the gathering of great treasures. A
few forfeitures, indeed, not taken to her own purse,
but set over to some others for the trial only, whether
gain could bring those laws to be well executed,
which the ministers of justice did neglect. But after
it was found, that only compassions were used, and
the law never the nearer the execution, the course
was straight suppressed and discontinued. Yea, there
have been made laws more than one in her time for
the restraint of the vexation of informers and pro-
moters : nay, a course taken by her own direction for
the repealing of all heavy and snared laws, if it had
not been crossed by those to whom the benefit should
have redounded. There shall you find no new taxes,
impositions, nor devices; but the benevolence of the
subject freely offered by assent of parliament, accord-
ing to the ancient rates, and with great moderation
in assessment ; and not so only, but some new forms
of contribution offered likewise by the subject in par-
liament ; and the demonstration of their devotion only
accepted, but the thing never put in use. There shall
you find loans, but honourably answered and paid, as
it were the contract of a private man. To conclude,
there shall you find moneys levied upon failts of lands,
alienation, though not of the ancient patrimony, yet
of the rich and commodious purchases and perquisites
of the crown only, because she will not be grievous
and burdensome to the people. This treasure, so in-
nocently levied, so honourably gathered and raised,
with such tenderness to the subject, without any base-
ness or dryness at all ; how hath it been expended
and employed ? Where be the wasteful buildings,
and the exorbitant and prodigal donatives, the sump-

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 27

tuous dissipations in pleasures, and vain ostentations
which we find have exhausted the coffers of so many
kings ? It is the honour of her house, the royal remu-
nerating of her servants, the preservation of her peo-
ple and state, the protection of her suppliants and
allies, the encounter, breaking, and defeating the ene-
mies of her realm, that hath been the only pores and
pipes whereby the treasures hath issued. Hath it been
the sinews of a blessed and prosperous peace ? Hath
she bought her peace ? Hath she lent the king of
Spain money upon some cavillation not to be re-
peated, and so bought his favour? And hath she
given large pensions to corrupt his council ? No, but
she hath used the most honourable diversion of trou-
bles that can be in the world. She hath kept the fire
from her own walls by seeking to quench it in her
neighbours. That poor brand of the state of Bur-
gundy, and that other of the crown of France that
remaineth , had been in ashes but for the ready foun-
tain of her continual benignity. For the honour of
her house it is well known, that almost the universal
manners of the times doth incline to a certain parsi-
mony and dryness in that kind of expence ; yet that
she retaineth the ancient magnificence, the allowance
as full, the charge greater than in time of her father,
or any king before ; the books appear, the computa-
tion will not flatter. And for the remunerating and
rewarding of her servants, and the attendance of the
court, let a man cast and sum up all the books of
gifts, fee-farms, leases and custodies that have passed
her bountiful hands. Let him consider again what a
number of commodious and gainful offices heretofore
bestowed upon men of other education and profession,
have been withdrawn and conferred upon her court.
Let him remember what a number of other gifts dis-
guised by other names, but in effect as good as money
given out of her coffers, have been granted by her ;
and he will conclude, that her royal mind is far above
her means. The other benefits of her politic, clement,
and gracious government towards the subjects are,
without number 5 the state of justice good, not with-

28 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

standing the great subtilty and humourous affections
of these times ; the security of peace greater than can
be described by that verse ;

Tutus bos etenim rura perambulat :
Nutrit rura Ceres, almaque Faujiitas.
Or that other,

Condit quisque diem collibus in suis.
The opulency of the peace such, as if you have re-
spect, to take one sign for many, to the number of
fair houses that have been built during her reign, as
Augustus said, " that he had received the city of
brick, and left it of marble ;" so she may say, she re-
ceived it a realm of cottages, and hath made it a
realm of palaces : the state of traffic great and rich :
the customs, notwithstanding these wars and inter-
ruptions, not fallen : many profitable trades, many
honourable discoveries : and lastly, to make an end
where no end is, the shipping of this realm so ad-
vanced and made so mighty and potent, as this island
is become, as the natural site thereof deserved, the
lady of the sea ; a point of so high consequence, as it
may be truly said, that the commandment of the sea
is an abridgement or quintessence of an universal mo-
narchy.

This and much more hath she merited of her sub-
jects : now to set forth the merit of her neighbours and
the states about her. It seemeth the things have
made themselves purveyors of continual, new, and
noble occasions for her to shew them benignity, and
that the fires of troubles abroad have been ordained to
be as lights and tapers to make her virtue and magna-
nimity more apparent. For when that one, stranger
born, the family of Guise, being as a hasty weed
sprung up in a night, had spread itself to a greatness,
not civil but seditious ; a greatness, not of encounter
of the ancient nobility, not of preeminency in the
favour of kings, and not remiss of affairs from kings;
but a greatness of innovation in state, of usurpations
of authority, of affecting of crowns ; and that accord-
ingly, under colour of consanguinity and religion, they
had brought French forces into Scotland, in the

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 29

abfence of their king and queen being within their
ufurped tutele; and that the ancient nobility of this
realm, seeing the imminent danger of reducing that
kingdom under the tyranny of foreigners and their fac-
tion, had, according to the good intelligence betwixt
the two crowns, prayed her neighbourly fuccours : ihe
undertook the action, expelled the strangers, and re-
stored the nobility to their degree. And lest any man
should think her intent was to unnestle ill neighbours,
and not to aid good neighbours, or that she was readier
to restore what was invaded by others than to render
what was in her own hands ; see if the time provided
not a new occasion afterwards, when through their
own divisions, without the intermise of strangers, her
forces were again sought and required ; she forsook
them not, prevailed so far as to be possessed of the
castle of Edinburgh, the principal strength of that
kingdom, with peace, incontinently, without cuncta-
tions or cavillations, the preambles of a wavering faith,
she rendered with all honour and security ; and his
person to safe and -faithful hands; and so ever after
during his minority continued his principal guardian
and protector. In the time and between the two oc-
casions of Scotland, when the same faction of Guise,
covered still with pretence of religion, and strengthened
by the desire of retaining government in the queen
mother of France, had raised and moved civil wars in
that kingdom, only to extirpate the ancient nobility,
by shocking them one against another, and to waste
that realm as a candle which is lighted at both ends:
and that those of the religion, being near of the blood-
royal, and otherwise of the greatest house in France,
and great officers of the crown opposed themselves
only against their insolency, and to their supports
called in her aid, giving unto them Newhaven for a
place of security : see with what alacrity, in tender
regard towards the fortune of that young king, whose
name was used to the suppliants of his strength, she
embraced the enterprise ; and by their support and
reputation the same party suddenly made great pro-
ceedings, and in conclusion made their peace as they

30 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

would themselves : and although they joined them-
selves against her, and performed the parts rather of
good patriots than of good confederates, and that after
great demonstration of valour in her subjects. For as
the French will to this day report, especially by the
great mortality by the hand of God, and the rather
because it is known she did never much affect the
holding of that town to her own use ; it was left, and
her forces withdrawn, yet did that nothing diminish
her merit of the crown, and namely of that party who
recovered by it such strength, as by that and no other
thing they subsisted long after : and lest that any should
sinisterly and maliciously interpret that she did nourish
those divisions ; who knoweth not what faithful advice,
continual and earnest solicitation she used by her am-
bassadors and ministers to the French kings succes-
sively, and to their mother, to move them to keep
their edi&s of pacification, to retain their own autho-
rity and greatness by the union of her subjects ? Which
counsel, if it had been as happily followed, as it was
prudently and sincerely given ; France at this day had
been a most flourishing kingdom, which now is a
theatre of misery. And now at last, when the said
house of Guise, being one of the whips of God,
whereof themselves are but the cords, and Spain the
stock, had by their infinite aspiring practises wrought
the miracles of states, to make a king in possession
long established to play again for his crown, without
any title of a competitor, without any invasion of a
foreign enemy, yea, without any combination in sub-
stance of a blood-royal or nobility ; but only by furring
in audacious persons into sundry governments, and
by making the populace of towns drunk with seditious
preachers : and that king Henry the Third, awaked
by those pressing dangers, was compelled to execute
the duke of Guise without ceremony ; and yet never-
theless found the despair of so many persons embarked
and engaged in that conspiracy, so violent, as the
flame thereby was little assuaged ; so that he was in-
forced to implore her aids and succours. Consider
how benign care and good correspondence she gave

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 31

,to the distressed requests of that king; and he soon
after being, by the sacrilegious hand of a wretched
Jacobin lifted up against the sacred person of his na-
tural sovereign, taken away, not wherein the crimi-
nous blood of Guise, but the innocent blood which he
hath often spilled by instigation of him and his house
was revenged, and that this worthy gentleman who
reigneth come to the crown ; it will not be forgotten
by so grateful a king, nor by so observing an age, how
ready, how opportune and reasonable, how royal and
sufficient her succours were, whereby she enlarged
him at that time, and preferred him to his better for-
tune : and ever since in those tedious wars, wherein
he hath to do with a Hydra, or a monster with many
heads, she hath supported him with treasure, with
forces, and with employment of one that she favoureth
most. What shall I speak of the offering of Don An-
thony to his fortune ; a devoted catholic, only com-
mended unto her by his oppressed state ? What shall
I say of the great storm of a mighty invasion, not of
preparation, but in act, by the Turk upon the king of
Poland, lately dissipated only by the beams of her re-
putation : which with the Grand Signer is greater than
that of all the states of Europe put together? But let
me rest upon the honourable and continual aid and
relief she hath gotten to the distressed and desolate
people of the Low Countries ; a people recommended
unto her by ancient confederacy and daily intercourse,
by their cause so innocent, and their fortune so la-
mentable. And yet notwithstanding, to keep the
conformity of her own proceeding never stained with
the least note of ambition or malice, she refused the
sovereignty of divers of those goodly provinces offered
unto her with great instance, to have been accepted
with great contentment both of her own people and
others, and justly to be derived either in respect of the
hostility of Spain, or in respect of the conditions, li-
berties and privileges of those subjects, and without
charge, danger, and offence to the king of Spain and
his partisans. She hath taken upon her their defence
and protection without any further avail or profit unto

32 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

herself, than the honour and merit of her benignity to
the people that hath been pursued by their natural
king only upon passion and wrath, in such sort that
he doth consume his means upon revenge. And,
having to verify that which I said, that her merits
have extended to her greatest enemies -, let it be re-
membered what hath passed in that matter between
the king of Spain and her : how in the beginning of
the troubles there, she gave and imparted to him faith-
ful and friendly advice touching the course that was
to be taken for quieting and appeasing of them.
Then she interposed herself to most just and reasona-
ble capitulations, wherein always should have been pre-
served unto him as ample interest, jurisdiction, and su-
periority in those countries as he in right could claim,
or a prince well-minded would seek to have : and,
which is the greatest point, she did by her advice,
credit and policy, and all good means, interrupt
and appeach, that the same people by despair should
not utterly alien and distract themselves from the obe-
dience of the king of Spain, and cast themselves into
the arms of a stranger: insomuch, that it is most true,
that she did ever persuade the duke of Anjou from
that action, notwithstanding the affection she bare to
that duke, and the obstinacy which she saw daily
growing in the king of Spain. Lastly, to touch the
mighty general merit of this queen, bear in mind,
that her benignity and beneficence hath been as large
as the oppression and ambition of Spain. For to begin
with the church of Rome, that pretended apostolic see
is become but a donative cell of the king of Spain; the
vicar of Christ is become the king of Spain's chaplain ;
he parteth the coming in of the new pope, for the
treasure of the old : he was wont to exclude but some
two or three cardinals, and to leave the election of
the rest ; but now he doth include, and present di-
rectly some small number, all incapable and incom-
patible with the conclave, put in only for colour, ex-
cept one or two. The states of Italy, they be like
little quillets of freehold being intermixt in the midst
of a great honour or lordship ; France is turned upside

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth . S3

down, the subject against the king, cut and mangled
infinitely, a country of Rodamonts and Roytelets, far-
mers of the ways: Portugal usurped by no' other title
than strength and vicinity : the Low Countries warred
upon, because he seeketh, not to possess them, for
they were possessed by him before, but to plant there
an absolute and martial government, and to suppress
their liberties : the like at this day attempted upon
Arragon : the poor Indies, whereas the Christian reli-
gion generally brought infranchisement of slaves in all
places where it came, in a contrary course are brought
from freemen to be slaves, and slaves of most miserable
condition : sundry trains and practises of this king's
ambition in Germany, Denmark, Scotland, the east
towns, are not unknown. Then it is her government,
and her government alone, that had been the sconce
and fort of all Europe, which hath lett this proud na-
tion from over-running all. If any state be yet free
from his factions erected in the bowels thereof; if
there be any state wherein this faction is erected, that
is not yet fired with civil troubles ; if there be any state
under his protection upon whom he usurpeth not ; if
there be any subject to him that enjoyeth moderate
liberty, upon whom he tyrannizeth not : Jet them all
know, it is by the mercy of this renowned queen, that
standeth between them and their misfortunes. These
be some of the beams of noble and radiant magnani-
mity, in contempt of peril which so manifestly, in con-
tempt of profit w hich so many admire, and in merit of the
world which so many include in themselves ; set forth
in my simplicity of speech with much loss of lustre,
but with near approach of truth ; as the sun is seen in
the water.

Now to pass to the excellencies of her person : the A persona,
view of them wholly and not severally, do make so
sweet a wonder, as I fear to divide them. Again,
nobility extracted out of the royal and victorious line
of the kings of England ; yea, both roses, white and
red, do as well nourish in her nobility as in her beauty,
as health, such as was like she should have that was
brought forth by two of the most goodly princes in the

VOL. Ill, D

34 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

world, in the strength of their years, in the heat of
their love ; that hath been injured neither with an
over-liberal nor over-curious diet, that hath not been
sustained by an umbratile life still under the roof, but
strengthened by the use of the pure and open air, that
still retaineth flower and vigour of youth. For the
beauty and many graces of her presence, what colours
are fine enough for such a portraiture ? let no light
poet be used for such a description, but the chastest
and the royalest :

Of her gait ; Et vera incessu patuit Dea.

Of her voice; Nee vox hominem sonat.

Of her eye ; Et laetos oculis afflavit honores.

Of her colour; Indum sanguineo velutiviolaverit oslro
Si quis ebur.

Of her neck ; Et rosea cervice refulsit.

Of her breast; Veste sinus collectajluentes.

Of her hair; Ambrosiaeque comae dimnum vertice

odorem
Spircwere.

If this be presumption, let him bear the blame that
owneth the verses. What shall I speak of her rare
qualities of compliment ; which as they be excellent
in the things themselves, so they have always beside
somewhat of a queen; and as queens use shadows
and veils with their rich apparel; methinks in all her
qualities there is somewhat that flieth from ostentation,
and yet iriviteth the mind to contemplate her more ?
A sermone. What should I speak of her excellent gift of speech,
being a character of the greatness of her conceit, the
height of her degree, and the sweetness of her nature?
What life, what edge is there in those words and
glances wherewith at pleasure she can give a man
long to think ; be it that she mean to daunt him, to
encourage him, or to amaze him ! How admirable is
her discourse, w?hether it be in learning, state, or love !
what variety of knowledge ; what rareness of conceit ;
what choice of words ; what grace of utterance ! Doth
it not appear, that though her wit be as the adamant
of excellencies, w?hich draweth out of any book an-
cient or new, out of any writing or speech, the best ;

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 35

yet she refineth it, she enricheth it far above the value
wherein it is received ? And is her speech only that
language which the child learneth with pleasure, and
not those which the studious learn with industry ? Hath
she not attained, beside her rare eloquence in her own
language, infinitely polished since her happy times,
changes of her languages both learned and modern ?
so that she is able to negotiate with divers ambassadors
in their own languages ; and that with no disadvan-
tage unto them, who I think cannot but have a great
part of their wits distracted from their matters in hand
to the contemplation and admiration of such perfec-
tions. What should I wander on to speak of the ex-
cellencies of her nature, which cannot endure to be
looked on with a discontented eye : of the constancy
of her favours, which maketh service as a journey by
Jand, whereas the service of other princes is like an
embarking by sea. For her royal wisdom and policy
of government, he that shall note and observe the pru-
dent temper she useth in admitting access ; of the one
side maintaining the majesty of her degree, and on
the other side not prejudicing herself by looking to her
estate through too few windows : her exquisite judg-
ment in choosing and finding good servants, a point
beyond the former, her profound discretion in assign-
ing and appropriating every of them to their, aptest
employment : her penetrating sight in discovering
every man's ends and drifts; her wonderful art in
keeping servants in satisfaction, and yet in appetite :
her inventing wit in contriving plots and overturns :
her exact caution in censuring the propositions of
others for her service : her foreseeing events : her usage
of occasions : he that shall consider of these, and
other things that may not well be touched, as he shall
never cease to wonder at such a queen, so he shall
wonder the less, that in so dangerous times, when
wits are so cunning, humours extravagant, passions
so violent, the corruptions so great, the dissimulations
so deep, factions <so many ; she hath notwithstand-r
ing done such great things, and reigned in felicity,

D 2

36 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

Afortuna. To speak of her fortune, that which I did reserve
for a garland of her honour ; and that is, that she
liveth a virgin, and hath no children : so it is that
which maketh all her other virtues and acts more sa-
cred, more august, more divine. Let them leave
children that leave no other memory in their times :
Brutorum aetcrnitas, soboles. Revolve in histories the
memories of happy men, and you shall not find any of
rare felicity but either he died childless, or his line spent
soon after his death ; or else was unfortunate in his
children. Should a man have them to be slain by his
vassals, as the posthumus of Alexander the great was ?
or to call them his imposthumes, as Augustus Caesar
called his ? Peruse the catalogue : Cornelius Sylla, Ju-
lius Caesar, Flavius Vespasianus, Severus, Constan-
tinus the great, and many more. Generare et liber i,
liumana : creare et operari, dlvina. And therefore,
this objection removed, let us proceed to take a view
of her felicity.

Afclidtate. A mate of fortune she never took: only some ad*
versity she passed at the first, to give her a quicker
sense of the prosperity that should follow, and to make
her more reposed in the divine providence. Well, she
cometh to the crown : It was no small fortune to find
at her entrance some such servants and counsellors as
she then found. The French king, who at this time,
by reason of the peace concluded with Spain, and of
the interest he had in Scotland, might have proved a
dangerous neighbour : by how strange an accident
was he taken away? The king of Spain, who, if he
would have inclined to reduce the Low Countries by
lenity, considering the goodly revenues which he
drew from those countries, the great commodity to
annoy her state from thence, might have made mighty
and perilous matches against her repose ; putteth on a
resolution not only to use the means of those countries,
but to spend and consume all his other means, the
treasure of his Indies, and the forces of his ill-com-
pacted dominions there and upon them. The Carles
that rebelled in the North, before the Duke of Ncr-

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 37

folk's plot, which, indeed, was the strength and feal
of that commotion, was fully ripe, broke forth, and
prevented their time. The king Sebastian of Portugal,
whom the king of Spain would fain have persuaded
that it was a devouter enterprise to purge Christendom,
than to enlarge it, though I know some think that he
did artificially nourish him in that voyage, is cut to
pieces with his army in Africa : then hath the king of
Spain work cut out to make all things in readiness
during the old cardinal's time for the conquest of Portu-
gal; whereby his desire of invading of England was
slackened and put offsome years, and by that means was
put in execution at a time for some respects much more
to his disadvantage. And the same invasion, like and
as if it had been attempted before, it had the time much
more proper and favourable ; so likewise had it in
true discourse a better season afterwards : for, if
it had been dissolved till time that the League had
been better confirmed in France ; which no doubt
would have been, if the duke of Guise, who was the
only man of worth on that side, had lived ; and the
French king durst never have laid hand upon him,
had he not been animated by the English victory
against the Spaniards precedent. And then, if some
maritime town had been gotten into the hands of the
League, it had been a great surety and strength to the
enterprise. The popes, to consider of them whose
course and policy it had been, knowing her majesty's
natural clemency, to have temporized and dispensed
with the Papists coming to church, that through the
mask of their hypocrisy they might have been brought
into places of government in the state and in the coun-
try : these, contrariwise, by the instigation of some
fugitive scholars that advised him, not that was best
for the see of Rome, but what agreed best with their (
eager humours and desperate states ; discover and de-
clare themselves so far by sending most seminaries, and
taking of reconcilements, as there is now severity of
laws introduced for the repressing of that sort, and
men of that religion are become the suspect. What

38 A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth.

should I speak of so many conspiracies miraculously
detected? the records shew the treasons : but it is yet
hidden in many of them how they came to light. What
should I speak of the opportune death of her enemies,
and the wicked instruments towards her estate ? Don
Juan died not amiss : Damleigh, duke of Lenox, who
was used as an instrument to divorce Scotland from
the amity of England, died in no ill season : a man
withdrawn indeed at that time to France ; but not
without great help. I may not mention the death of
some that occur to mind : but still methinks, they live
that should live, and they die that should die. I
would not have the king of Spain die yet; he is seges
gloriae : but when he groweth dangerous, or any other
besides him; I am persuaded they will die. What
should I speak of the fortunes of her armies, which,
notwithstanding the inward peace of this nation, were
never more renowned? What should I recount Leith
and Newhaven for the honourable skirmishes and ser-
vices ? they are no blemish at all to the militia of
England.

. In the Low Countries ; the Lammas day, the re-
treat of Ghent, the day of Zutphen, and the prospe-
rous progress of this summer : the bravado in Portu-
gal, and the honourable exploits in the aid of the
French king, besides the memorable voyages in the
Indies ; and lastly, the good entertainment of the in-
vincible navy, which was chased till the chasers were
weary, after infinite loss, without taking a cock-boat,
without firing a sheep-cot, sailed on the mercies of the
wind, and the discretion of their adventures, making
a perambulation or pilgrimage about the northern seas,
and ignobjing many shores and points of land by ship-
wreck : and so returned home with scorn and disho-
nour much greater, than the terror and expectation of
their setting forth.

These virtues and perfections, with so great felicity,
have made her the honour of her times, the admira-
tion of the world, the suit and aspiring of greatest
kings and princes, who yet durst never have aspired
unto her, but as their minds were raised by love.

A Discourse in Praise of Queen Elizabeth. 39

But why do I forget, that words do extenuate and
embase matters of so great weight ? Time is her best
commender, which never brought forth such a prince,
whose imperial virtues contend with the excellency of
her person : both virtues contend with her fortune :
and both virtue and fortune contend with her fame.
Orbis amor^ famae carmen, codique pupilla:
Tu dccus omne tins, tu decus ipsa tibi !

CERTAIN OBSERVATIONS

MADE UPON A HBEL PUBLISHED THIS PRESENT TEAR, 1592,
INTITLED,

A declaration of the true causes of the great troubles^ presupposed t«
be intended against the realm of England*

IT were just and honourable for princes being in wars
together, that howsoever they prosecute their quarrels
and debates by arms and acts of hostility; yea, though
the wars be such, as they pretend the utter ruin and
overthrow of the forces and states one of another, yet
they so limit their passions as they preserve two things
sacred and inviolable ; that is, the life and good name
each of other. For the wars are no massacres and
confusions ; but they are the highest trials of right ;
when princes and states, that acknowledge no
superior upon earth, shall put themselves upon the
justice of God for the deciding of their controversies
by such success, as it shall please him to give on
either side. And as in the process of particular pleas
between private men, all things ought to be ordered
by the rules of civil laws j so in the proceedings
of the war, nothing ought to be done against the
law of nations, or the law of honour ; which laws
have ever pronounced these two sorts of rnen ; the
one, conspirators against the persons of princes ;
the other, libellers against their good fame ; to be
such enemies of common society as are not to be
cherished, no not by enemies. For in the exam-
ples of times, which were less corrupted, we find
that when in the greatest heats and extremities of
wars, there have been made offers of murderous and
traiterous attempts against the person of a prince to
the enemy, they have been not only rejected, but also

Observations on a Libel.

revealed : and in like manner, when dishonourable
mention hath been made of a prince before an enemy
prince, by some that have thought therein to please
his humour, he hath shewed himself, contrariwise,
utterly distasted therewith, and been ready to contest
for the honour of an enemy.

According to which noble and magnanimous kind of
proceeding, it will be found, that in the whole course
of her majesty's proceeding with the king of Spain,
since the amity interrupted, there was never any
project by her majesty, or any of her ministers, either
moved or assented unto, for the taking away of the
life of the said king: neither hath there been any
declaration or writing of estate, no nor book allowed,
wherein his honour hath been touched or taxed, other-
wise than for his ambition; a point which is neces-
sarily interlaced with her majesty's own justification.
So that no man needeth to doubt, but that those wars
are grounded, upon her majesty's part, upon just and
honourable causes, which have so just and honourable
a prosecution ; considering it is a much harder matter
when a prince is entered into wars, to hold respect
then, and not to be transported with passion, than to
make moderate and just resolutions in the begin-
nings.-

But now if a man look on the other part, it will
appear that, rather, as it is to be thought, by the soli-
citation of traiterous subjects, which is the only poison
and corruption of all honourable war between foreign-
ers, or by the presumption of his agents and ministers,
than by the proper inclination of that king, there hath
been, if not plotted and practised, yet at the least
comforted, conspiracies against her majesty's sacred
person ; which nevertheless God's goodness hath used
and turned, to shew by such miraculous discoveries
into how near and precious care and custody it hath
pleased him to receive her majesty's life and preser-
vation. But in the other point it is strange what a
number of libellous and defamatory books and writ-
ings, and in what variety, with what art and cunning
handled, have been allowed to pass through the world

Observations on a Libtl.

in all languages against her majesty and he:
me- ties pretending the gravity and authority

church stories : .lief; sometimes formed

- and I , inents of estate to

move regard; sometir .\i as it were in tra-

gedies of i mentions of catholics to move pin ;

:rived into : pasquils and satires

IS there is no shape v\ hereunto these
have not t ed themselves: nor no hu-

mour nor r. in the mind of man to which they

:n- to insinuate

tr untruths and abuses to the worl, \
I man k x . and he shall rind them the

onlv triumphant Ives that ever wore confuted b^
cumsta time and place ; confuted by contra-

riety in the \ the witness of infinite

kS that li\ and have had particular k

:' the matters; but yet avouched with such
s if either thev \\ ore fallen into that
stra mind, which a wise writer de-

scribeth in thes :$unf simul crt\htnfque : or

they '. .-. principal I and

.Binaries, lUtditcfrr ctihtmniuri,

semper illiquid katret . the race

which in old time were wont to help the:' with

rnir. I

that there r out of this

eager and unquiet scholars, whom
their own turbulent and humourous nature presseth out
:heir adventure- :. ; and that, on the other

a rather in listening after news
xl intel' :igs, than in any com-

mendable learning ; and after a time, when either
their iv : their ambitious appc

importune them, they fall on c. tint do some

acceptable service to that side which maintaineth
them; so as ever when their credit waxeth cold with
foreign prir. that their pensions are ill pal,

son: at which thev level, straight-

I ;th a libel, pretending thereby to keep
:o the party, which within the realm is contrary

Observations on a Libel. 43

to the state, wherein they ;ire as wise as he that
thinketh to kindle a lire by blowing the dead allies ;
when, I say, a man looketh into the cause and ground
of this plentiful \ield of libels, he will cease to marvel,
Considering the concurrence which is, as well in the
nature of the seed, as in the travel of tilling and dress-
ing ; \ca, and in the fitness of the season for the bring-
ing up of those infectious \\ecds.

Hut to verify the saying of our Saviour, uon est dis-
cipnlns super inagistrum ; as they have sought to de-
prave her majesty's government in herself, so have
they not forgotten to do the same in her principal ser-
vants and counsellors ; thinking, belike, that as the
immediate invectives against her majesty do best sa-
tisfy the malice of the foreigner, so the slander and
calumniation of her principal counsellors agreed best
with the humours o( some malccontents within the
realm ; imagining also, that it was like they should
be more scattered here, and free Her dispersed ; and
also should be less odious to those foreigners which
\verc not merely partial and passionate, who have for
the most part in detestation the traiterous libellings of
subjects directly against their natural prince.

Amongst the rest in this kind, there hath been pub-
lished this present year of IJJJ'J, a libel that givclh
place to none of the rest in malice and untruths;
though inferior to most of them in penning and stile;
the author having chosen the vein of a Lucianist, and
yet being a counterfeit even in that kind. This libel

is intitled, A declaration of t In* true causes of tkc great

troubles presupposed lo be intended against, the. realm
of England \ and hath a semblance as if it were bent
againt the doings of her majesty's ancient and worthy
counsellor the lord Burlcigh ; whose carefulness and
pains her majesty hath used in her counsels and actions
of this realm for these thirty-lour years space, in all
dangerous times, and amidst many and mighty prac-
tises; and with such success, as our enemies aie put
Still to their paper-shot of such libels as these ; the
memory of whom will remain in this land, when all
these libels shall be extinct and forgotten , according

Observations on a Libel.

to the Scripture, Memoria justi cum laudibus, at im-
piorum nomen putrescet. But it is more than evident,
by the parts of the same book, that the author's malice
was to her majesty and her government, as may spe-
cially appear in this, that he charged not his lordship
with any particular actions of his private life, such
power had truth, whereas the libels made against
other counsellors have principally insisted upon that
part : but hath only wrested and distorted such actions
of state as in times of his service have been managed ;
and depraving them, hath ascribed and imputed to
him the effects that have followed ; indeed, to the
good of the realm, and the honour of her majesty,
though sometimes to the provoking of the nhalice, but
abridging of the power and means of desperate and
incorrigible subjects.

All which slanders, as his lordship might justly
despise, both for their manifest untruths, and for the
baseness and obscurity of the author ; so nevertheless,
according to the moderation which his lordship useth
in all things, never claiming the privilege of his autho-
rity, when it is question of satisfying the world, he
hath been content that they be not passed over alto-
gether in silence ; whereupon I have, in particular
duty to his lordship, amongst others that do honour
and love his lordship, and that have diligently observed
his actions, and in zeal of truth, collected, upon the
reading of the said libel, certain observations, not in
form of a just answer, lest I should fall into the error
whereof Solomon speaketh thus, Answer not a fool in
his own kind, lest thou also be like him ; but only to
discover the malice, and to reprove and convict the
untruths thereof.

The points that I have observed upon the reading
of this libel, are these following :

I. Of the scope or drift of the libeller.

II. Of the present state of this realm of England,
whether it may be truly avouched to be prosperous or
afflicted.

III. Of the proceedings against the pretended ca-

Observations on a Libel. 45

tholics, whether they have been violent, or moderate,
and necessary.

IV. Of the disturbance of the quiet of Christendom,
and to what causes it may be justly imputed.

V. Of the cunning of the libeller, in palliation of
his malicious invective against her majesty and the
state, with pretence of taxing only the actions of the
lord Burleigh.

VI. Certain true general notes upon the actions of
the lord Burleigh.

VII. Of divers particular untruths and abuses dis-
persed through the libel.

VIII. Of the height of impudency that these men
are grown unto, in publishing and avouching untruths;
with a particular recital of some of them for an assay.

I. Of the scope or drift of the libeller.

It is good advice, in dealing with cautelous and ma-
licious persons, whose speech is ever at distance with
their meanings, non quid dixerint, sed quo spectdrint,
videndum: a man is not to regard what they affirm, or
what they hold ; but what they would convey under
their pretended discovery, and what turn they would
serve. It soundeth strangely in the ears of an En- «*
glishman, that the miseries of the present state of
England exceed them of former times whatsoever.
One would straightway think with himself, doth this
man believe what he saith ? Or, not believing it, doth
he think it possible to make us believe it ? Surely, in
my conceit, neither of both ; but his end, no doubt,
was to round the pope and the king of Spain in the
ear, by seeming to tell a tale to the people of Eng-
land. For such books are ever wont to be translated
into divers languages; and, no doubt, the man was
not so simple as to think he could persuade the people
of England the contrary of what they taste and feel.
But he thought he might better abuse the states abroad,
if he directed his speech to them who could best con-
vict him, and disprove him if he said untrue ; so that
as Livy saith in the like case, Aetolos mugis, cor am
quibus verba facerent, quam ad quos, pensi habere ;

4(? Observations on a Libel.

That the ^Etolians, in their tale, did more respect
those who did overhear them, than those to whom
they directed their speech ; so in this matter this fel-
low cared not to be counted a lyar by all English, upon
price of deceiving of Spain and Italy ; for it must be
understood, that it hath been the general practice of
this kind of men many years, of the one side, to abuse
the foreign estates, by making them believe that all is
out of joint and ruinous here in England, and that
there is great part ready to join with the invader ; and
on the other side, to make the evil subjects of England
believe of great preparations abroad, and in great rea-
diness to be put in act, and so to deceive on both
sides: and this I take to be his principal drift. So
again, it is an extravagant and incredible conceit, to
imagine that all the conclusions and actions of estate
which have passed during her majesty's reign, should
be ascribed to one counsellor alone ; and to such an
one as was never noted for an imperious or over- ruling
man ; and to say, that though he carried them not by
violence, yet he compassed them by devise, there is
no man of judgment that looketh into the nature of
these times, but will easily descry that the wits of these
days are too much refined for any man to walk invisi-
ble, or to make all the world his instruments ; and
therefore, no not in this point assuredly, the libeller
spake as he thought ; but this he foresaw, that the
imputation of cunning doth breed suspicion, and the
imputation of greatness and sway doth breed envy ;
and therefore finding where he was most wrong, and
by whose policy and experience their plots were most
crossed, the mark he shot at was to see whether he
could heave at his lordship's authority, by making him
suspected to the queen, or generally odious to the
realm ; knowing well enough for the one point, that there
are not only jealousies, but certain revolutions in
princes minds : so that it is a rare virtue in the rarest
princes, to continue constant to the end in their fa-
vours and employments. And knowing for the other
point, that envy ever accompanieth greatness, though
never so well deserved : and that his lordship hath al-

Observations on a Libel. 47

ways marched a round and a real course in service ;
and as he hath not moved envy by pomp and ostenta-
tion, so hath he never extinguished it by any popular
or insinuating carriage of himself: and this no doubt
was his second drift.

A third drift was, to assay if he could supplant and
weaken, by this violent kind of libelling, and turning
the whole imputation upon his lordship, his resolu-
tion and courage ; and to make him proceed more
cautiously, and not so thoroughly and strongly against
them ; knowing his lordship to be a politic man, and
one that hath a great stake to lose.

Lastly, lest, while I discover the cunning and art
of this fellow, I should make him wiser than he was,
I think a great part of this book was passion ; dijficile
est tacere, cum doleas. The humours of these men
being of themselves eager and fierce, have, by the
abortion and blasting of their hopes, been blinded and
enraged. And surely this book is, of all that sort that
have been written, of the meanest workmanship ;
being fraught with sundry base scoffs, and cold am-
plifications, and other characters of despite ; but void
of all judgment or ornament.

II. Of the present state of this realm of England,
whether it may be truly avouched to be pros-
perous or afflicted.

The benefits of almighty God upon this land, since
the time that in his singular providence lie led as it
were by the hand, and placed in the kingdom, his
servant our queen Elizabeth, are such, as not in boast-
ing, or in confidence of ourselves, but in praise of his
holy name, are worthy to be both considered and con-
fessed, yea, and registered in perpetual memory : not-
withstanding, I mean not after the manner of a pane-
gyric to extol the present time : it shall suffice only
that those men, that through the gall and bitterness of
their own heart have lost their taste and judgment,
and would deprive God of his glory, and us of our
senses, in affirming our condition to be miserable, and

48 Observations on a Libel.

full of tokens of the wrath and indignation of God, be
reproved.

If then it he true, that nemo est miser, nut felix,
nisi comparatus ; whether we shall, keeping ourselves
within the compass of our own island, look into the
memories of times past, or at this present time take a
view of other states abroad'in Europe, we shall find
that we need not give place to the happiness either of
ancestors or neighbours. For if a man weigh well all
the parts of state and religion, laws, administration of
justice, policy of government, manners, civility, learn-
ing and liberal sciences, industry and manual arts,
arms and provisions of wars for sea and land, treasure,
traffic, improvement of the soil, population, honour
and reputation, it will appear that, taking one part
with another, the state of this nation was never more
flourishing.

It is easy to call to remembrance, out of histories,
the kings of England which have in more ancient
times enjoyed greatest happiness ; besides her majesty's
father and grandfather, that reigned in rare felicity, as
is fresh in memory. They have been king Henry I.
king Henry II. king Henry III. king Edward I. king
Edward III. king Henry V. All which have been
princes of royal virtue, great felicity, and famous me-
mory. But it may be truly affirmed, without deroga-
tion to any of these worthy princes, that whatsoever
we find in libels, there is not to be found in the English
chronicles, a king that hath, in all respects laid to-
gether, reigned with such felicity as her majesty hath
done. Eor as for the first three Henries, the first came
in too soon after the conquest ; the second too soon
after an usurpation ; and the third too soon after a
league, or barons war, to reign with security and con-
tentation. King Henry I. also had unnatural wars
with his brother Robert, wherein much nobility was
consumed : he had therewithal tedious wars in Wales ;
and was not without some other seditions and trou-
bles; as namely the great contestation of his prelates.
King Henry II. his happiness was much deformed by
the revolt of his son Henrv, after he had associated

Observations on a Libel. 49

him, and of bis other sons. King Henry TIT. besides
his- continual wars in Wales, was after forty-four years
reign, unquieted with intricate commotions of his ba-
rons ; as may appear by the mad parliament held at
Oxford, and the acts thereupon ensuing His son Ed-
ward I. had a more flourishing time than any of the
other ; came to his kingdom at ripe years, and with
great reputation, after his voyage into the Holy Land,
and was much loved and obeyed, "contrived his wars
with great judgment: first having reclaimed Wales to
a settled allegiance, and being upon the point of
uniting Scotland. But yet I suppose it was more ho-
nour tor her majesty to have so important a piece of
Scotland in her hand, and the same with such justice
to render up, than it was for that worthy king lo have
advanced in such forwardness the conquest of that
nation. And for king Edward III. his reign was vi-
sited with much sickness, and mortality ; so as they
reckoned in his days three several mortalities ; one in
the 2l2d year, another in the 35th year, and the last in
the 43d year of his reign ; and being otherwise victo-
rious and in prosperity, was by that only cross more
afflicted, than he was by the other prosperities com-
forted. Besides, he entered hardly; and again9 ac-
cording to the verse, cedebant ultima primis, his latter
times were not so prosperous. And for king Henry V.
as his success was wonderful, so he wanted continu-
ance , being extinguished after ten years reign in the
prime of his fortunes.

Now for her majesty, we will first speak of the 1. Cominu-
blessing of continuance, as that which wanted in the an
happiest of these kings \ and is not only a great favour
of God unto the prince, but also a singular benefit
unto the people ; for that sentence of the Scripture,
miser a natio cum -multi sunf. principes ejtts, is inter-
preted not only to extend to divisions and distractions
in government, but also to frequent changes in suc-
cession: considering, that the change of a prince
bringeth in many charges, which are harsh and un-
pleasant to a great part of the subjects. It appeareth
then, that of the line of five hundred and fourscore

VOL. III. E

ance.

50 Observations on a Libel.

years, and more, containing the number of twenty-
( two kings, God hath already prolonged her majesty's
reign to exceed sixteen of the said two and twenty ;
and by the end of this present year, which God pros-
per, she shall attain to be equal with two more :
during which time there have deceased four emperors,
as many French kings ; twice so many bishops of
Rome. Yea, every state in Christendom, except
Spain, have received sundry successions. And for the
king of Spain, he is waxed so infirm, and thereby so
retired, as the report of his death serveth for every
year's news : whereas her majesty, thanks be given to
God, being nothing decayed in vigour of health and
strength, was never more able to supply and sustain
the weight of her affairs, and is, as far as standeth
with the dignity of her majesty's royal state, conti-
nually to be seen, to the great comfort and heart-ease
of her people.

2. Health. Secondly, we will ^mention the blessing of health :
I mean generally of the people, which was wanting
in the reign of another of these kings ; which else de-
served to have the second place in happiness, which is
one of the great favours of God towards any nation.
For as there be three scourges of God, war, famine,
and pestilence ; so are there three benedictions, peace,
plenty, and health. Whereas therefore this realm hath
been visited in times past with sundry kinds of morta-
lities, as pestilences, sweats, and other contagious
diseases, it is so, that in her majesty's times, being of
the continuance aforesaid, there was only, towards
the beginning of her reign, some sickness, between
June and February, in the city ; but not dispersed
into any other part of the realm, as was noted j which
we call yet the great plague ; because that though it
was nothing so grievous and so sweeping as it hath
been sundry times heretofore, yet it was great in re-
spect of the health which hath followed since ; which
hath been such, especially of late years, as we began
to dispute and move questions of the causes whereunto
it should be ascribed, until such time as it pleased God
to teach us that we ought to ascribe it only to his

Observations on a Ltbel. 5 1

mercy, by touching us a little this present year, but with
a very gentle hand ; and such as it hath pleased him
since to remove. But certain it is, for so many years
together, notwithstanding the great pestering of peo-
ple in houses, the great multitude of strangers, and
the sundry voyages by seas, all which have been
noted to be causes of pestilence, the health universal
of the people was never so good.

The third blessing is that which all the politic and 3. Peace*
fortunate kings before recited have wanted ; that is,
peace : for there was never foreigner since her ma-
jesty's reign, by invasion or incursion of moment, that
took any footing within the realm of England. One
rebellion there hath .been only, but such an one as
was repressed within the space of seven weeks, and
did not waste the realm so much as by the destruction
or depopulation of one poor town. And for wars
abroad, taking in those of Leith, those of Newhaven,
the second expedition into Scotland, the wars of Spain,
which I reckon from the year 86 or 87, before which
time neither had the king of Spain withdrawn his am-
bassadors here residing ; neither had her majesty re-
ceived into protection the United Provinces of the
Low Countries, and the aid of France ; they have not
occupied in time a third part of her majesty's reign;
nor consumed past two of any noble house j whereof
France took one, and Flanders another ; and very few
besides of quality or appearance. They have scarce
mowed down the overcharge of the people within the
realm. It is therefore true, that the kings aforesaid,
and others her majesty's progenitors, have been vic-
torious in their wars, and have made many famous
and memorable voyages and expeditions into sundry
parts ; and that her majesty, contrariwise, from the
beginning, put on a firm resolution to content herself
within those limits of her dominions which she re-
ceived, and to entertain peace with her neighbour
princes ; which resolution she hath ever since, not-
withstanding she hath had rare opportunities, just
claims and pretences, and great and mighty means,
sought to continue. But if this be objected to be the

E2

52 Observations on a LibeL

less honourable fortune ; I answer, that ever amongst
the heathen, who held not the expence of blood so
precious as Christians ought to do, the peaceable go-
vernment of Augustus Caesar wras ever as highly
esteemed as the victories of Julius his uncle ; and that
the name of pater patrioe was ever as honourable as
that of propagator imperil. And this I add further,
that during this inward peace of so many years in the
actions of war before mentioned, which her majesty,
either in her own defence or in just and honourable
aids, hath undertaken, the service hath been such as
hath carried no note of a people, whose militia were
degenerated through a long peace ; but hath every way
answered the ancient reputation of the English arms.
4. Plenty The fourth blessing is plenty and abundance : and
and wealth. £rst fQf grain and all victuals, there cannot be more
evident proof of the plenty than this ; that whereas
England was wont to be fed by other countries from
the east, it sufficeth now to feed other countries ; so
as we do many times transport and serve sundry fo-
reign countries : and yet there was never the like mul-
titude of people to eat it within the realm. Another
evident proof thereof may be, that the good yields of
com which have been, together with some toleration
of vent, hath of late time invited and enticed men to
break up more ground, and to convert it to tillage,
than all the penal laws for that purpose made and
enacted could ever by compulsion effect. A third
proof may be, that the prices of grain and victual were
never of late years more reasonable. Now for argu-
ments of the great wealth in all other respects, let the
points following be considered.

There was never the like number of fair and stately
houses as have been built and set up from the ground
since her majesty's reign ; insomuch, that there have
been reckoned in one shire that is not great, to the
number of thirty-three, which have been all new built
within that time ; and whereof the meanest was never
built for two thousand pounds.

There were never the like pleasures of goodly gar-
dens and orchards, walks, pools, and parks, as do
adorn almost every mansion-house.

Observations on a Libel. 53

There was never the like number of beautiful and
costly tombs and monuments which are erected in sun-
dry churches, in honourable memory of the dead.

There was never the like quantity of plate, jewels,
sujnptuous moveables, and stuff, as now within the
realm.

There was never the like quantity of waste and
unprofitable ground, in need, reclaimed, and im-
proved.

There was never the like husbanding of all sorts of
grounds by fencing, manuring, and all kinds of good
husbandry.

The towns were never better built nor peopled ; nor
the principal fairs and markets ever better customed or
frequented.

The commodities and ease of rivers cut by hand,
and brought into a new channel ; of piers that have
been built ; of waters that have been forced and
brought against the ground were never so many.

There was never so many excellent artificers, nor
so many new handy-crafts used and exercised : nor
new commodities made within the realm ; sugar,
paper, glass, copper, divers silks, and the like.

There was never such complete and honourable
provision of horse, armour, weapons, ordnance of the
war.

The fifth blessing hath been the great population 5. increase
and multitude of families increased within her majes-of^eo^le-
ty's days : for which point I refer myself to the pro-
clamations of restraint of building in London, the in-
hibition of inmates of sundry cities, the restraint of
cottages by act of parliament, and sundry other tokens
of record of the surcharge of people.

Besides these parts of a government, blessed from e. Reforma-
God, wherein the condition of the people hath been
more happy in her majesty's times, than in the times
of her progenitors, there are certain singularities and
particulars of her majesty's reign ; wherein I do not
say, that we have enjoyed them in a more ample de-
ree and proportion than in former ages, as it hath
alien out in the points before mentioned, but such as

tion in reli-
gion.

54 Observations on a Libel.

were in effect unknown and untasted heretofore. As
first, the purity of religion, which is a benefit ines-
timable, and was in the time of all former princes,
until the days of her majesty's father of famous me- ,
mory, unheard of. Out of which purity of religion
have since ensued, beside the principal effect of the
true knowledge and worship of God, three points of
grea^ consequence unto the civil estate.

The special One, the stay of a mighty treasure within the realm,
" wnicn in foretimes was drawn forth to Rome. Ano-
ther, the dispersion and distribution of those revenues,
amounting to a third part of the land of the realm,
and that of the goodliest and the richest sort, which
heretofore was unprofitably spent in monasteries, into
such hands as by whom the realm receiveth, at this
day, service and strength ; and many great houses
have been set up and augmented. The third, the
managing and enfranchising of the regal dignity from
the recognition of a foreign superior. All which
points, though begun by her father, and continued by
her brother, were yet nevertheless, after an eclipse or
intermission, restored and re-established by her ma-
jesty's self.

Fineness of Secondly, the fineness of money : for as the purging
money, away of the dross of religion, the heavenly treasure,
was common to her majesty with her father and her
brother, so the purging of the base money, the earthly
treasure, hath been altogether proper to her majesty's
own times ; whereby our moneys bearing the natural
estimation of the stamp or mark, both every man
resteth assured of his own value, and free from the
losses and deceits which fall out in other places upon
the rising and falling of moneys. .

The might Thirdly, the might of the navy, and augmentation
ofthenavy* of the shipping of the realm; which, by politic con-
stitutions for maintenance of fishing, and the encou-
ragement and assistance given to the undertakers of
new discoveries and trades by sea, is so advanced, as
this island is become, as the natural site thereof de-
serveth, the lady of the sea.

Now, to pass from the comparison of time to the

Observations on a Libel. 55

comparison of place, we may find in the states abroad
cause of pity and compassion in some; but of envy
or emulation in none ; our condition being, by the
good favour of God, not inferior to any.

The kingdom of France, which, by reason of the Comparison
seat of the empire of the west, was wont to have the °Jf ^g^
precedence of the kingdoms of Europe, is now fallen with the
into those calamities, that, as the prophet saith, From J^J a"
the crown of the head to the sole of the foot > there ?> no Afflicted in
whole place. The divisions are so many, and so intri-Fr
cate, of protestants and catholics, royalists and leaguers,
Bourbonists and Lorainists, patriots and Spanish; as it
seemeth God hath some great work to bring to pass
upon that nation : yea, the nobility divided from the
third estate, and the towns from the field. All which
miseries, truly to speak, have been wrought by Spain
and the Spanish faction.

The Low Countries, which were, within the age of L?w Coun-
a young man, the richest, the best peopled, and the
best built plots in Europe, are in such estate, as a
country is like to be in, that hath been the seat of
thirty years war : and although the sea-provinces be
rather increased in wealth and shipping than other-
wise: yet they cannot but mourn for their distraction
from the rest of their body.

The kingdom of Portugal, which of late times, Portugal,
through their merchandising and places in the East
Indies, was grown to be an opulent kingdom, is now
at the last, after the unfortunate journey of Afric, in
that state as a country is like to be that is reduced
under a foreigner by conquest ; and such a foreigner
as hath his competitor in title, being a natural Portu-
gal and no stranger; and having been once in pos-
session, yet in life ; whereby his jealousy must neces-
sarily be increased, and through his jealousy their op-
pression : which is apparent, by the carrying of many
noble families out of their natural countries to live in
exile, and by putting to death a great number of no-
blemen, naturally born to have been principal gover-
nors of their countries. These are three afflicted parts

56 Observations on a Libel.

of Christendom ; the rest of the states enjoy either
prosperity or tolerable condition.

Prosperous, The kingdom of Scotland, though at this present,

as Scotland. Dy tne good regimen and wise proceeding of the king,
they enjoy good quiet; yet since our peace it hath
passed through no small troubles, and remaineth full
of boiling and swelling humours; but like, by the ma-
turity of the said king every day increasing, to be re-
pressed.

Poland, The kingdom of Poland is newly recovered out of

great wars about an ambiguous election. And be-
sides, is a state of that composition, that their king
being elective, they do commonly choose rather a
stranger than one of their own country : a great ex-
ception to the flourishing estate of any kingdom.

Sweden. The kingdom of Swedeland, besides their foreign
wars upon their confines, the Muscovites and the
Danes, hath been also subject to divers intestine tu-
mults and mutations, as their stories do record.

Denmark. The kingdom of Denmark hath had good times,
especially by the good government of the late king,
who maintained the profession of the gospel ; but yet
greatly giveth place to the kingdom of England, in
climate, wealth, fertility, and many other points both
of honour and strength.

Italy. The estates of Italy, which are not under the domi-

nion of Spain, have had peace equal in continuance
with ours, except in regard to that which hath passed
between them and the Turk, which hath sorted to
their honour and commendation ; but yet they are so
bridled and over-awed by the Spaniard, that posses-
seth the two principal members thereof, and that in
the two extreme parts, as they be Itke quillets of free-
hold, being intermixed in the midst of a great honour
or lordship ; so as their quiet is intermingled, not with
jealousy alone, but with restraint.

Germany. The states of Germany have had for the most part
peaceable times ; but yet they yield to the state of
England ; not only in the great honour of a great
kingdom, they being of a mean stile and dignity, but
also in many other respects both of wealth and policy.

Observations on a Libel. 57

The state of Savoy having been in the old duke's Savoy,
time governed in good prosperity, hath since (notwith-
standing their new great alliance with Spain, where-
upon they waxed so insolent, as to design to snatch
up some piece of France, after the dishonourable re-
pulse from the siege of Geneva) been often distressed
by a particular gentleman of Dauphiny ; and at this
present day the duke feeleth,even in Piedmont beyond
the mountains, the weight of the same enemy ; who
hath lately shut up his gates and common entries be-
tween Savoy and Piedmont.

So as hitherto I do not see but that we are as much
bound to the mercies of God as any other nation;
considering that the fires of dissension and oppression
in some parts of Christendom, may serve us for lights
to shew us our happiness; and the good estates of other
places, which we do congratulate with them for, is
such, nevertheless, as doth not stain and exceed ours;
but rather doth still leave somewhat, wherein we may
acknowledge an ordinary benediction of God.

Lastly, we do not much emulate the greatness and Spain,
glory of the Spaniards ; who having not only excluded
the purity of religion, but also fortified against it, by
their device of the inquisition, which is a bulwark
against the entrance of the truth of God ; having, in
recompence of their new purchase of Portugal, lost a
great part of their ancient patrimonies of the Low
Countries, being of far greater commodity and value,
or at the least holding part thereof in such sort as most
of their other revenues are spent there upon their own;
having lately, with much difficulty, rather smoothed
and skinned over, than healed and extinguished the
commotions of Aragon; having rather sowed troubles
in France, than reaped assured fruit thereof unto them-
selves ; having from the attempt of England received
scorn and disreputation ; being at this time with the
states of Italy rather suspected than either loved or
feared ; having in Germany, and elsewhere, rather
much practice, than any sound intelligence or amity;
having no such clear succession as they need object,
and reproach the uncertainty thereof unto another

68 Observations on a Libel.

nation; have in the end won a reputation rather of
ambition than justice ; and in the pursuit of their am-
bition, rather of much enterprising than of fortunate
atchieving ; and in their enterprising, rather of doing
things by treasure and expence, than by forces and
valour.

Now that I have given the reader a taste of England
respectively, and, in comparison of the times past, and
of the states abroad, I will descend to examine the-
libeller's own divisions, whereupon let the world judge
how easily and clean this ink, which he hath cast in
our faces, is washed off.

The first branch of the pretended calamities of Eng-
land, is the great and wronderful confusion which, he
saith, is in the state of the church ; which is subdi-
vided again into two parts : the one, the prosecutions
against the catholics ; the other, the discords and con-
troversies amongst ourselves : the former of which two
parts I have made an article by itself; wherein I have
set down a clear and simple narration of the proceed-
ings of state against that sort of subjects ; adding this
by the way, that there are two extremities in state
concerning the causes of faith and religion ; that is
to say, the permission of the exercises of more reli-
gions than one, which is a dangerous indulgence and
toleration ; the other is the entering and sifting into
mens consciences when no overt scandal is given,
which is a rigorous and strainable inquisition; and I
avouch the proceedings towards the pretended catho-
lics to have been a mean between these two extre-
mities, referring the demonstration thereof unto the
aforesaid narration in the articles following.
Concerning Touching the divisions in our church, the libeller

the contro-

affirmeth that the protestantical Calvinism, for so it
«ur church, pleaseth him with very good grace to term the religion
with us established, is grown contemptible, and de-
tected of idolatry, heresy, and many other superstitious
abuses, by a purified sort of professors of the same
gospel. And this contention is yet grown to be more
intricate, by reason of a third kind of gospellers called
Brownists : who, being directed by the great fervour

Observations on a Libel. 59

of the unholy ghost, do expresly affirm, that the
protestantical church of England is not gathered
in the name of Christ, but of Antichrist; and that
if the prince or magistrate under her do refuse or
defer to reform the church, the people may, without
her consent, take the reformation into their own
hands : and hereto he addeth the fanatical pageant
of Hacket. And this is the effect of this accusation
in this point.

For answer whereunto, first, it must be remembered
that the church of God hath been in all ages subject
to contentions and schisms: the tares were not sown
but where the wheat was sown before. Our Saviour
Christ delivered it for an ill note to have outward
peace ; saying, when a strong man is in possession of
the house, meaning the devil, all things are in peace.
It is the condition of the church to be ever under
trials; and there are but two trials; the one of perse-
cution, the other of scandal and contention ; and when
the one ceaseth, the other succeeded! : nay, there is
scarce any one epistle of St. Paul's unto the churches,
but containeth some reprehension of unnecessary and
schismatical controversies. So likewise in the reign
of Constantine the Great, after the time that the
church had obtained peace from persecution, straight
entered sundry questions and controversies, about no
less matters than the essential parts of the faith, and
the high mysteries of the Trinity. But reason teach-
eth us, that in ignorance and implied belief it is easy
to agree, as colours agree in the dark : or if any coun-
try decline into atheism, then controversies wax
dainty, because men do think religion scarce worth the
falling out for; so as it is weak divinity to account
controversies an ill sign in the church.

It is true that certain men, moved with an incon-
siderate detestation of all ceremonies or orders, which
were in use in the time of the Roman religion, as if
they were without difference superstitious or polluted,
and led with an affectionate imitation of the govern*
ment of some protestant churches in foreign states;
have sought by books and preaching, indiscreetly, and

60 Observations on a Libel.

sometimes undutifully, to bring in an alteration in the
external rites and policy of the church ; but neither
have the grounds of the controversies extended unto
any point of faith ; neither hath the pressing and pro-
secution exceeded, in the generality, the nature of
some inferior contempts : so as they have been far
from heresy and sedition, and therefore rather offensive
than dangerous to the church or state.

And as for those which we call Brownists, being,
when they were at the most, a very small number of
very silly and base people, here and there in corners
dispersed, they are now, thanks be to Godj by the
good remedies that have been used, suppressed and
worn out; so as there is scarce any news of them.
Neither had they been much known at all, had not
Brown their leader written a pamphlet, wherein, as it
came into his head, he inveighed more against logic
and rhetoric, than against the state of the church,
which writing was much read ; and had not also one
Barrow, being a gentleman of a good house, but one
that lived in London at ordinaries, and there learned
to argue in table-talk, and so was very much known
in the city and abroad, made a leap from a vain and
libertine youth, to a preciseness in the highest degree;
the strangeness of which alteration made him very
much spoken of; the matter might Jong before have
breathed out. And here I note an honesty and dis-
cretion in the libeller, which I note no where else ; in
that he did forbear to lay to our charge the sect of the
Family of Love ; for, about twelve years since, there
was creeping in, in some secret places of the realm,
indeed a very great heresy, derived from the Dutch,
and named as was before said; which since, by the
good blessing of God, and by the good strength of
our church, is banished and extinct. But so much we
see, that the diseases wherewith our church hath been
visited, whatsoever these men say, have either not been
malign and dangerous, or else they have been as blis-
ters in some small ignoble part of the body, which
have soon after fallen and gone away. For such also
was the phrenetical and fanatical^ for- 1 mean not to

Observations on a Libel. 61

determine it, attempt of Hacket, who must needs have
been thought a very dangerous heretic, that could
never get but two disciples; and those, as it should
seem, perished in their brain ; and a dangerous com-
motioner, that in so great and populous a city as Lon-
don is, could draw but those two same fellows, whom
the people rather laughed at as a may-game, than took
any heed of what they did or said : so as it was very
true that an honest poor woman said when she saw
Hacket out of a window pass to his execution ; said
she to herself, " It was foretold that in the latter days
" there should come those that have deceived many;
" but in faith thou hast deceived but few."

But it is a manifest untruth which the libeller set-
teth down, that there hath been no punishment done
upon those which in any of the foresaid kinds have
broken the laws, and disturbed the church and state;
and that the edge of the law hath been only turned
upon the pretended catholics : for the examples are
very many, where according to the nature and de-
gree of the offence, the correction of such offenders
hath not been neglected.

These be the great confusions whereof he hath ac-
cused our church, which I refer to the judgment of
an indifferent and understanding person, how true they
be: my meaning is not to blanch or excuse any fault
of our church j nor on the other side, to enter into
commemoration, how flourishing it is in great and
learned divines, or painful and excellent preachers;
let men have the reproof of that which is amiss, and
God the glory of that which is good. And so much
for the first branch.

In the second branch, he maketh great musters and Concerning
shews of the strength and multitude of the enemies enemies^
of this state ; declaring in what evil terms and cor- the slate-
respondence we stand with foreign states, and how-
desolate and destitute we are of friends and confede-
rates ; doubting belike, how he should be able to
prove and justify his assertion touching the present
miseries, and therefore endeavouring at the least to
maintain, that the good estate which we enjoy, is yet

62 Observations on a Libel.

made somewhat bitter by reason of many terrors and
fears. Whereupon entering into consideration of the
security, wherein not by our own policy, but by the
good providence and protection of God, we stand at
this time, I do find it to be a security of that nature
and kind, which Iphicrates the Athenian did commend ;
who being a commissioner to treat with the state of
Sparta upon conditions of peace, and hearing the other
side make many propositions touching security, inter-
rupted them and told them, there was but one manner
of security whereupon the Athenians could rest;
which was, if the deputies of the Lacedaemonians
could make it plain unto them, that, after these and
these things parted withal, the Lacedaemonians should
not be able to hurt them though they would. So it is
with US;, as we have not justly provoked the hatred or
enmity of any other state, so howsoever that be, I know
not at this time the enemy that hath the power to of-
fend us though he had the will.

And whether we have given just cause of quarrel or
offence, it shall be afterwards touched in the fourth ar-
t tide, touching the true causes of the disturbance of
the quiet of Christendom, as far as it is fit to justify the
actions of so high a prince upon the occasion of such a
libel as this. But now concerning the power and
forces of any enemy, I do find that England hath some-
times apprehended with jealousy the confederation
between France and Scotland ; the one being upon the
same continent that we are, and breeding a soldier of
puissance and courage, not much differing from the
English : the other a kingdom very opulent, and thereby
able to sustain wars, though at very great charge ;
and having a brave nobility; and being a near neigh-
bour. And yet of this conjunction there never came
any offence of moment : but Scotland was ever rather
used by France as a diversion of an English invasion
upon France, than as a commodity of a French inva-
sion upon England. I confess also, that since the
unions of the kingdom of Spain, and during the time the
kingdom of France was in his entire, a conjunction of
those two potent kingdoms against us might have been

Observations on a Libel. 63

of some terror to us. But now it is evident that the
state of France is such as both those conjunctions are
become impossible : it resteth that either Spain with
Scotland should offend us, or Spain alone. For Scot-
land, thanks be to God, the amity and intelligence is so
sound and secret between the two crowns, being
strengthened by consent in religion, nearness of blood,
and continual good offices reciprocally on either side,
as the Spaniard himself, in his own plot, thinketh it
easier to alter and overthrow the present state of Scot-
land than to remove and divide it from the amity of
England. So as it must be Spain alone that we
should fear, which should seem, by reason of its spa-
cious dominions, to be a great overmatch. The con*
ceit whereof maketh me call to mind the resemblance
of an ancient writer in physic ; who, labouring to per-
suade that a physician should not doubt sometimes to
purge his patient, though he seem very weak, entereth
into a distinction of weakness; and saith there is a
weakness of spirit, and a weakness of body; the latter
whereof he compareth unto a man that were otherwise
very strong, but had a great pack on his neck, so great
as made him double again, so as one might thrust
him down with his finger; which similitude and distinc-
tion both maybe fitly applied to matter of state; for
some states are weak through want of means, and some
weak through excess of burden; in which rank I do
place the state of Spain, which having out-compassed
itself in embracing too much; and being itself but a
barren seed-plot of soldiers, and much decayed and
exhausted of men by the Indies, and by continual
wars ; and as to the state of their treasure, being in-
debted and engaged before such times as they waged
so great forces in France, and therefore much more
since, is not in brief an enemy to be feared by a na-
tion seated, manned, furnished, and policed as is
England.

Neither is this spoken by guess, for the experience
was substantial enough, and of fresh memory in the
late enterprise of Spain upon England: what time all
that goodly shipping, which in that voyage was con-

64 Obsmations on a Libel.

sumed, was complete; what time his forces in the
Low-Countries were also full and entire, which now
are wasted to a fourth part; what time also he was
not intangled with the matters of France, but was
rather like to receive assistance than impediment from
his friends there, in respect of the great vigour wherein
the league then was, while the duke of Guise then
lived ; and yet nevertheless this great preparation passed
away like a dream. The invincible navy neither took
any one barque of ours, neither yet once offered to land ;
but after they had been well beaten and chased, made
a perambulation about the northern seas ; ennobling
many coasts with wrecks of mighty ships; and so
returned home with greater derision than they set forth
with expectation.

So as we shall not need much confederacies and
succours, which he saith we want for breaking of the
Spanish invasion: no, though the Spaniard should nes-
tle in Britain, and supplant the French, and get some
port-towns into their hands there, which is yet far off,
yet shall he never be so commodiously seated to annoy
us, as if he had kept the Low-Countries: and we shall
rather fear him as a wrangling neighbour, that may tres-
pass now and then upon some straggling ships of ours,
than as an invader. And as for our confederacies, God
hath given us both means and minds to tender and
relieve the states of others, and therefore our confedera-
cies are rather of honour than such as we depend upon.
And yet nevertheless the apostates and huguenots
of France on the one part, for so he termed the whole
nobility in a manner of France, among the which a
great part is of his own religion; which maintain the
clear and unblemished title of their lawful and natu-
ral king against the seditious populace, and the beer-
brewers and basket-makers of Holland and Zealand,
as he also terms them, on the other, have almost ban-
died away between them, all the duke of Parma's
forces; and I suppose the very mines of the Indies will
go low, or ever the one be ruined, or the other recovered.
Neither again desire we better confederacies and
leagues than Spain itself hath provided for us: Non

Observations on a Libel. 65

enim verbisfoedcra confirm antur, sed iifdem utilitati-
bus. We know to bow many states the king of Spain
is odious and suspected ; and for ourselves we have in-
censed none by our injuries, nor made any jealous of
our ambition: tbese are in rules of policy and firmest
contracts.

Let tbus mucb be said in answer of tbe second branch,
concerning the number of the exterior enemies : where-
in my meaning is nothing less than to attribute our fe-
licity to our policy ; or to nourish ourselves in the hu-
mour of security. But I hope we shall depend upon
God and be vigilant ; and then it will be seen to what
end these false alarms will come.

In the third branch of the miseries of England, he
taketh upon him to play the prophet, as he hath in all
the rest played the poet ; and will needs divine or prog-
nosticate the great troubles whereunto this realm shall
fall after her majesty's times ; as if he that hath so sin-
gular a gift in lying of the present time and times past,
had nevertheless an extraordinary grace in telling truth
of the time to come ; or, as if the effect of the pope's
curses of England were upon better advice adjourned
to those days. It is true, it will be misery enough for
this realm, whensoever it shall be, to lose such a sove-
reign : but for the rest, we must repose ourselves upon
the good pleasure of God. So it is an unjust charge in
the libeller to impute an accident of state to the fault
of the government.

It pleaseth God sometimes, to the end to make
men depend upon him the more, to hide from them
the clear sight of future events ; and to make them
think that full of uncertainties which proveth certain
and clear: and sometimes, on the other side, to cross
mens expectations, and to make them full of difficulty
and perplexity in that .which they thougHt to be easy
and assured. Neither is it any new thing for the titles
of succession in monarchies to be at times less or more
declared. King Sebastian of Portugal, before his
journey into Africa, declared no successor. The car-
dinal, though he were of extreme age, and were
much importuned by the king of Spain, and knew di-

VOL, III. F

66 Observations on a Libel.

rectly of six or seven competitors to that crown, yet he
rather established I know not what interims, than de-
cided the titles, or designed any certain successor.
The dukedom of Ferrara is at this day, after the death
of the prince that now liveth, uncertain in the point
of succession: the kingdom of Scotland hath declared
no successor. Nay, it is very rare in hereditary mo-
narchies, by any act of state, or any recognition or oath
of the people in the collateral line, to establish a suc-
cessor. The duke of Orleans succeeded Charles
VIII. of France, but was never declared successor in
his time. Monsieur d'Angulesme also succeeded him,
but without any designation. Sons of kings them-
selves oftentimes, through desire to reign and to pre-
vent their time, wax dangerous to their parents: how
much more cousins in a more remote degree? It is
lawful, no doubt, and honourable, if the case require,
for princes to make an establishment: but as it was
said, it is rarely practised in the collateral line. Tra-
jan, the best emperor of Rome, of an heathen, that
ever was, at what time the emperors did use to design
successors, not so much to avoid the uncertainty of
succession, as to the end, to have partidpes curarum
for the present time, because their empire was so
vast ; at what time also adoptions were in use, and
himself had been adopted; yet never designed a suc-
cessor, but by his last will and testament, which also
was thought to be suborned by his wife Plotina in
the favour of her lover Adrian.

You may be sure that nothing hath been done to
prejudice the right; and there can be but one right.
But one thing I am persuaded of, that no king of
Spain, nor bishop of Rome, shall umpire, or promote
any beneficiary, or feodatory king, as they designed
to do; even when the Scots queen lived, whom they
pretended to cherish. I will not retort the matter of
succession upon Spain, but use that modesty and re-
verence, that belongeth to the majesty of so great a
king, though an enemy. And so much for this third
branch.

The fourth branch he makcth to be touching the

Observations on a Libel. 67

overthrow of the nobility and the oppression of the
people: wherein though he may perchance abuse the
simplicity of any foreigner; yet to an Englishman,
or any that heareth of the present condition of Eng-
land, he will appear to be a man of singular audacity,
and worthy to be employed in the defence of any pa-
radox. And surely if he would needs have defaced
the general state of England, at this time, he should in
wisdom rather have made some frierly declamation
against the excess of superfluity and delicacy of our
times, than to have insisted upon the misery and
poverty and depopulation of the land, as may suffi-
ciently appear by that which hath been said.

But nevertheless, to follow this man in his own Concerning
steps: first, concerning the nobility; it is true, that [{jy
there have been in ages past, noblemen, as I take it,
both of greater possessions and of greater command
and sway than any are at this day. One reason why
the possessions are less, I conceive to be, because
certain sumptuous veins and humours of expence, as
apparel, gaming, maintaining of a kind of followers,
and the like, do reign more than they did in times
past. Another reason is, because noblemen now-a-
days do deal better with their younger sons than they
were accustomed to do heretofore, whereby the prin-
cipal house receiveth many abatements. Touching
the command, which is not indeed so great as it hath
been, I take it rather to be a commendation of the
time, than otherwise : for men were wont factiously
to depend upon noblemen, whereof ensued many
partialities and divisions, besides much interruption
of justice, while the great ones did seek to bear out
those that did depend upon them. So as the kings
of this realm, finding long since that kind of com-
mandment in noblemen unsafe unto their crown, and
inconvenient unto their people, thought meet to re-
strain the same by provision of laws; whereupon
grew the statute of retainers; so as men now depend
upon the prince and the laws, and upon no other ; a
matter which hath also a congruity with the nature of
the -time, as may be seen in other countries; namely,

F 2

68 Observations on a Libel.

in Spain, where their grandees are nothing so potent
and so absolute as they have been in times past. But
otherwise, it may be truly affirmed, that the rights
and pre-eminencies of the nobility were never more
duly and exactly preserved unto them, than they have-
been in her majesty's time; the precedence of knights
given to the younger sons of barons; no subpoenas
awarded against the nobility out of the chancery, but
letters; no answer upon oath, but upon honour: be-
sides a number of other privileges in parliament,
court, and country. So likewise for the countenance
of her majesty and the state, in lieutenancies, commis-
sions, offices, and the like, there was never a more
honourable and graceful regard had of the nobility ;
neither was there ever a more faithful remembrancer
and exacter of all these particular pre-eminencies unto
them ; nor a more diligent searcher and register of
their pedigrees, alliances, and all memorials of honour,
than that man, whom he chargeth to have overthrown
the nobility; because a few of them by immoderate
expence are decayed, according to the humour of
the time, which he hath not been able to resist, no
not in his own house. And as for attainders, there
have been in thirty-five years but five of any of the
nobility, whereof but two came to execution; and
one of them was accompanied with restitution of blood
in the children: yea, all of them, except Westmore-
land, were such, as, whether it were by favour of
law or government, their heirs have, or are like to
have, a great part of their possessions. And so much
for the nobility.

Touching the oppression of the -people, he mention-
eth four points.

1. The consumption of people in the wars.

2. The interruption of traffick.

3. The corruption of justice.

Concerning 4. f he multitude of taxations. Unto all which

the common points there needeth no long speech. For the first,

subject. thanks be to God, the beneditlion of Crescife and

Multiplicamini, is not so weak upon this realm of

England, but the population thereof may afford such

Observations on a Libel.

loss of men as were sufficient for the making our late
wars, and were in a perpetuity, without being seen
either in city or country. We read, that when the
Romans did take cense of their people, whereby the
citizens were numbered by the poll in the beginning
of a great war; and afterwards again at the ending,
there sometimes wanted a third part of the number;
but let our muster books be perused, those, I say, that
cenify the number of all righting men in every shire,
of vicesimo of the queen; at what time, except a
handful of soldiers in the Low Countries, we expended
no men in the wars ; and now again, at this present
time, and there will appear small diminution. There
be many tokens in this realm rather of press and sur-
charge of people, than of want and depopulation ,
which were before recited. Besides, it is a better
condition of inward peace to be accompanied with
some exercise ot no dangerous wrar in foreign parts,
than to be utterly without apprentisage of war, where-
by people grow effeminate and unpractised when oc-
casion shall be. And it is no small strength unto the
realm, that in these wars of exercise and not of peril,
so many of our people are trained, and so many ofour
nobility and gentlemen have been made excellent
leaders both by sea and land. As for that he objecteth,
we have no provision for soldiers at their return;
though that point hath not been altogether neglected,
yet I wish with all my heart, that it were more ample
than it is; though I have read and heard, that in all
estates, upon casheering and disbanding of soldiers,
many have endured necessity.

For the stopping of traffick, as I referred myself to
the muster-books for the first, so I refer myself to the
custom-books upon this, which will not lye, and do
make demonstration of no abatement at all in these last
years, but rather of rising and increase. We know of
many in London and other places that are within a
small time greatly come up and made rich by mer-
chandising : and a man may speak within his compass,
and affirm, that our prizes by sea have countervailed
any prizes upon us.

70 Observations on a Libel.

And as to the justice of this realm, it is true, that
cunning and wealth have bred many suits and debates
in law. But let those points be considered: the inte-
grity and sufficiency of those which supply the judi-
cial places in the queen's courts ; the good laws that
have been made in her majesty's time against informers
and promoters, and for the bettering of trials ; the ex-
ample of severity which is used in the Star-Chamber,
in oppressing forces and frauds ; the diligence and
stoutness that is used by justices of assizes, in encoun-
tering all countenancing and bearing of causes in the
country by their authorities _and wisdom; the great
favours that have been used towards copy-holders and
customary tenants, which were in ancient times merely
at the discretion and mercy of the lord, and are now
continually relieved from hard dealing, in chancery
and other courts of equity : I say, let these and many
other points be considered, and men will worthily
conceive an honourable opinion of the justice ot Eng-
land.

Now to the points of levies and distributions of mo-
ney, which he calieth exactions. First, very coldly,
he is not abashed to bring in the gathering for Paul's
steeple and the lottery trirles : whereof the former be-
ing but a voluntary collection of that men were freely
disposed to give, never grew to so great a sum as was
sufficient to finish the work for which it was appoint-
ed : and so I imagine, it was converted into some other
use ; like to that gathering which was for the forti-
fications of Paris ; save that the gathering for Paris
came to a much greater, though, as I have heard, no
competent sum. And for the lottery, it was but a
novelty devised and followed by some particular per-
sons, and only allowed by the state, being as a gain of
hazard; wherein if any gain was, it was because many
men thought scorn, after they had fallen from their
greater hopes, to fetch their odd money. Then he
mentioneth loans and privy seals : wherein he sheweth
great ignorance and indiscretion, considering the pay-
ments back again have been very good and certain,
and much for her majesty's honour. Indeed, in other

Observations on a Libel. 7 1

princes times it was not wont to be so. And there-
fore, though the name be not so pleasant, yet the use
of them in our times have been with small grievance.
He reckoneth also new customs upon cloths, and new
imposts upon wines. In that of cloths, he is deceived;
for the ancient rate of custom upon cloths was not
raised by her majesty, but by queen Mary, a catholic
queen : and hath been commonly continued by her
majesty; except he mean the computation of the odd
yards, which in strict duty was ever answerable, though
the error were but lately looked into, or rather the to-
leration taken away. And to that of wines, being a
foreign merchandise, and but a delicacy, and of those
which might be forborn, there hath been some in-
crease of imposition, which can rather make the price
of wine higher, than the merchant poorer. Lastly,
touching the number of subsidies, it is true, that her
majesty, in respect of the great charges of her wars,
both by sea and land, against such a lord of treasure
as is the king of Spain; having for her part no Indies
nor mines, and the revenues of the crown of England,
being such, as they less grate upon the people than
the revenues of any crown or state in Europe, hath,
by the assent of parliament, according to the ancient
-customs of this realm, received divers subsidies of her
people, which as they have been employed upon the
defence and preservation of the subject, not upon ex-
cessive buildings, nor upon immoderate donatives,
nor upon triumphs and pleasures ; or any the like
veins of dissipation of treasure, which have been fa-
miliar to many kings: so have they been yielded with
great good-will and chearfulness, as may appear by
other kinds of benevolence, presented to her likewise
in parliament ; which her majesty nevertheless hath
not put in use. They have been taxed also and as-
sessed with a very light and gentle hand ; and they
have been spared as much as may be, as may appear
in that her majesty now twice, to spare the subject,
hath sold of her own lands. But he that shall look
into other countries, and consider the taxes, and talli-
ages, and impositions, and assizes, and the like, that

72 Observations on a Libel.

are every where in use, will find that the Englishman
is the most master of his own valuation, and the least
bitten in his purse of any nation of Europe. Nay even
at this instant in the kingdom of Spain, notwithstand-
ing the pioneers do still work in the Indian mines, the
Jesuits most play the pioneers, and mine into the Spa-
niards purses ; and, under the colour of a ghostly
exhortation, contrive the greatest exaction that ever
was in any realm.

Thus much, in answer of these calumniations, I have
thought good to note touching the present state of
England; which state is such, that whosoever hath
been an architect in the frame thereof, under the bles-
sing of God, and the virtues of our sovereign, needed
not to be ashamed of his work.

III. Of the proceedings against the pretended ca-
tholics, whether they have been violent, or mo-
derate and necessary.

I find her majesty's proceedings generally to have
been grounded upon two principles : the one,

That consciences are not to be forced, but to be
won and reduced by the force of truth, by the aid of
time, and the use of all good means of instruction or
persuasion: the other,

That causes of conscience when they exceed their
bounds, and prove to be matter of faction, lose their
nature ; and that sovereign princes ought distinctly to
punish the practice or contempt, though coloured with
the pretences of conscience and religion.

According to these two principles, her majesty, at
her coming to the crown, utterly disliking of the ty-
ranny of the church of Rome, which had used by ter-
ror and rigour to seek commandment over mens faiths
and consciences ; although, as a prince of great wis-
dom and magnanimity, she suffered but the exercise
of one religion, yet her proceedings towards the papists
were with great lenity, expecting the good effects
which time might work in them.

And therefore her majesty revived not the laws
made in 28, and 35, of her father's reign, whereby

Observations on a Libel. 73

the oath of supremacy might have been offered at the
king's pleasure to any subject, though he kept his con-
science never so modestly to himself ; and the refusal
to take the same oath, without farther circumstance,
was made treason : but contrariwise, her majesty not
liking to make windows into mens hearts and secret
thoughts, except the abundance of them did overflow
into overt and express acts and affirmations, tempered
her law so, as it restraineth only manifest disobedience
in impugning and impeaching advisedly and ambi-
tiously her majesty's supreme power, and maintaining
and extolling a foreign jurisdiction. And as for the
oath, it was altered by her majesty into a more grate-
ful form; the harshness of the name, and appellation
of supreme head was removed ; and the penalty of the
refusal thereof turned into a disablement to take any
promotion, or to exercise any charge; and yet that
with a liberty of being revested therein, if any man
shall accept thereof during his life.

But after many years toleration of a multitude of
factious papists, when Pius (iuintus had excommuni-
cated her majesty, and the bill of excommunication
was published in London, whereby her majesty was
in a sort proscribed, and all her subjects drawn upon
pain of damnation from her obedience; and that there-
upon, as upon a principal motive or preparative, fol-
lowed the rebellion in the north; yet notwithstanding,
because many of those evil humours were by that re-
bellion partly purged, and that she feared at that time
no foreign invasion, and much less the attempts of any
within the realm not backed by some foreign succours
from without ; she contented herself to make a law
against that special case of bringing in, or publishing
of bulls or the like instruments; whereunto was added
a prohibition, not upon pain of treason, but of an infe-
rior degree of punishment, against bringing mof Agnus
Dei'sy hallowed beads, and such other merchandise of
Rome, as are well known not to be any essential part
of the Roman religion, but only to be used in practice
as love-tokens, to inchant and bewitch the peoples af-
fections from their allegiance to their natural sovereign.

"4 Observations on a Libel.

In all other points her majesty continued her former
lenity.

But when, about the twentieth year of her reign,
she had discovered in the king of Spain an intention to
Invade her dominions, and that a principal point of the
plot was to prepare a party within the realm that might
adhere to the foreigner; and that the seminaries be-
gan to blossom and to send forth daily priests and pro-
fessed men, who should by vow, taken at shrift, re-
concile her subjects from her obedience; yea, and bind
many of them to attempt against her majesty's sacred
person ; and that, by. the poison they spread, the hu-
mours of most papists were altered, and that the}- were
no more papists in custom, but papists in treasonable
faction : then were there new laws made for the pu-
nishment of such as should submit themselves to recon-
cilements or renunciations of obedience. For it is to be
understood, that this manner of reconcilement in con-
fession, is of the same nature and operation that the
bull itself was of, with this only difference, that whereas
the bull assoiled the subjects from their obedience at
once, the other doth it one by one. And therefore it
is both more secret, and more insinuative into the con-
science, being joined with no less matter than an ab-
solution from mortal sin. And because it was a trea-
son carried in the clouds, and in wonderful secrecy,
and came seldom to light ; and that there was no pre-
sumption thereof so great as the recusants to come to
divine service, because it was set down by their de-
crees, that to come to church before reconcilement,
was to live in schism ; but to come to church after re-
concilement, was absolutely heretical and damnable:
therefore there were added new laws, containing a
punishment pecuniary against the recusants, not to
enforce consciences, but to enfeeble those of whom it
rested indifferent and ambiguous, whether they were
reconciled or no ? For there is no doubt, but if the
law of recusancy, which is challenged to be so extreme
and rigorous, were thus qualified, that any recusant
that shall voluntarily come in and take his oath, that he
or she were never reconciled, should immediately be

Observations on a Libel. 75

discharged of the penalty and forfeiture of the law;
they would be so far from liking well of that mitiga-
tion, as they would cry out it was made to in trap
them. And when, notwithstanding all this provision,
this poison was dispersed so secretly, as that there
were no means to stay it, but to restrain the merchants
that brought it in ; then was there lastly added a law,
whereby such < editious priests of the new erection were
exiled ; and those that were at that time within the
land shipped over, and so commanded to keep hence
upon pain of treason.

This hath been the proceeding with that sort,
though intermingled not only with sundry examples of
her majesty's grace towards fuch as in her wisdom she
knew to be papists in conscience, and not in faction ;
but also with an extraordinary mitigation towards the
offenders in the highest degree convicted by law, if
they would protest, that in case this realm should be
invaded with a foreign army, by the pope's authority,
for the catholic cause, as they term it, they would take
part with her majesty, and not adhere to her enemies.

And whereas he saith no priest dealt in matter of
state, Ballard only excepted; it appeareth by the re-
cords of the confession of the said Ballard, and sundry
other priests, that all priests at that time generally
were made acquainted with the invasion then intended,
and afterwards put in act ; and had received instruc-
tions not only to move an expectation in the people of
a change, but also to take their vows and- promises in
shrift to adhere to the foreigner ; insomuch that one of
their principal heads vaunted himself in a letter of the
device, saying, that it was a point the council of Eng-
land would never dream of, who would imagine that
they should practise with some nobleman to make him
head of their faction ; whereas they took a course only to
deal with the people, and them so severally, as any
one apprehended should be able to appeal no more than
himself, except the priests, who he knew would re-
veal nothing that was uttered in confession : so inno-
cent was this princely priestly function, which this
man taketh to be but a matter of conscience, and

76 Observations on a Libel.

think eth it reason it should have free exercise through-
out the land.

IV. Of the disturbance of the quiet of Christendom ;
and to what causes it may be justly assigned.

It is indeed a question, which those that look into
matters of state do well know to fall out very often ;
though this libellerseemeth to be more ignorant thereof,
whether the ambition of the more mighty state, or the
jealousy of the less mighty state, is to be charged with
breach of amity. Hereof as there may be many ex-
amples, so there is one so proper unto the present
matter, as thougk it were many years since, yet it
seemeth to be a parable of these times, and namely of
the proceedings of Spain and England.

The states then, which answered to these two now,
were Macedon and Athens. Consider therefore the
resemblance between the two Philips, of Macedon and
Spain: he of Macedon aspired to the monarchy of
Greece, as he of Spain doth of Europe -, but more ap-
parently than the first, because that design was disco-
vered in his father Charles V. and so left him by de-
scent ; whereas Philip of Macedon was the first of the
kings of that nation which fixed so great conceits in
his breast. The course which this king of Maceo^on
held was not so much by great armies and invasions,
though these wanted not when the case required, but
by practice, by sowing of factions in states, and by
obliging sundry particular persons of greatness. The
state of opposition against his ambitious proceedings
was only the state of Athens, as now is the state of
England against Spain. For Lacedsemon and Thebes
were both low, as France is now ; and the rest of the
states of Greece were, in power and territories, far in-
ferior. The people of Athens were exceedingly affect-
ed to peace, and weary of expence. But the point
which I chiefly make the comparison, was that of the
orators, which were as counsellors to a popular state -3
such as were sharpest sighted, and looked deepest into
the projects and spreading of the Macedonians, doubt-
ing still that the fire, after it licked up the neighbour-

Observations on a Libel. 77

ing, states, and made itself opportunity to pass, would
at last take hold of the dominions of Athens with so
great advantages, as they should not be able to re-
medy it, were ever charged both by the declarations
of the king of Macedon, and by the imputation of such
Athenians as were corrupted to be of his faction, as the
kindlers of troubles, and disturbers of the peace and
leagues : but as that party was in Athens too mighty,
so as it discountenanced the true counsels of the ora-
tors, and so bred the ruin of that state, and accomplished
the ends of that Philip : so it is to be hoped that in a mo-
narchy, where there are commonly better intelligences
and resolutions than in a popular state, those plots as
they are detected already, so they will be resisted and
made frustrate.

But to follow the libeller in his own course ; the sum
of that which he delivereth concerning the imputation,
as well of the interruption of the amity between the
crowns of England and of Spain, as the disturbance of
the general peace of Christendom unto the English
proceedings, and not to the ambitious appetites of
Spain, may be reduced into three points.

1. Touching the proceeding of Spain and England
towards their neighbouring states.

2. Touching the proceeding of Spain and England
between themselves.

3. Touching the articles and conditions which it
pleaseth him, as it were in the behalf of England,
to pen and propose for the treating and concluding of
an universal peace.

In the first he discovereth how the king of Spain
never offered molestation neither unto the states of
Italy, upon which he confineth by Naples and Milan ;
neither unto the states of: Germany, unto whom he
confincth by a part of Burgundy and the Low Coun-
tries 5 nor unto Portugal, till it was devolved to him
in title, upon which he confineth by Spain ; but con-
trariwise, as one that had in precious regard the peace
of Christendom, he designed from the beginning to
turn his whole forces upon the Turk. Only he con-
fesseth, that agreeable to his devotion, which appre-

78 Observations on a Libel.

bended as well the purging of Christendom from here-
sies, as the enlarging thereof upon the Infidels, he
was ever ready to give succours unto the French kings
against the Pluguenots, especially being their own
subjects : whereas, on the other side, " England, as
" he affirmeth, hath not only sowed troubles and dis-
" sensions in France and Scotland, the one their neigh-
tc bour upon the continent, the other divided only by
•*c the narrow seas, but also hath actually invaded
" both kingdoms. For as for the matters of the Low
" Countries, they belong to the dealings which have
" passed by Spain."

In answer whereof, it is worthy the consideration
how it pleased God in that king to cross one passion
by another ; and namely, that passion which might
have proved dangerous unto all Europe, which was
his ambition, by another which was only hurtful to
himself and his own, which was wrath and indigna-
tion towards his subjects of the Netherlands. For after
that he was settled in his kingdom, and freed from
some fear of the Turk, revolving his father's design
in aspiring to the monarchy of Europe, casting his eye
principally upon the two potent kingdoms of France
and England ; and remembering how his father had
once promised «unto himself the conquest of the one ;
and how himself by marriage had lately had some pos-
session of the other ; and seeing that diversity of reli-
gion was entered into both these realms ; and that
France was fallen unto princes weak, and in minority ;
and England unto the government of a lady, in whom
he did not expect that policy of government, magna-
nimity, and felicity, which since he hath proved, con-
cluded, as the Spaniards are great waiters upon time,
and ground their plots deep, upon two points ; the one
to profess an extraordinary patronage and defence of
the Roman religion, making account thereby to have
factions in both kingdoms : in England a faction di-
rectly against the state ; in France a faction that did
consent indeed in religion with the king, and there-
fore at first shew, should seem improper to make a
party for a foreigner. But he foresaw well enough

Observations on a Libel. 79

that the king of France should be forced, to the end
to retain peace and .obedience, to yield in some things
to those of the religion, which would undoubtedly alie-
nate the fiery and more violent sort of papists ; which
preparation in the people, added to the ambition of
the family of Guise, which he nourished for an instru-
ment, would -in the end make a party for him against
the state, as since it proved, and might well have
done long before, as may well appear by the mention
of leagues and associations, which is above twenty-
five years old in France.

The other point he concluded upon, was, that his
Low Countries was the aptest place both for ports and
shipping, in respect of England, and for situation in
respect of France, having goodly frontier towns upon
that realm, and joining also upon Germany, whereby
they might receive in at pleasure any forces of Al-
maigns, to annoy and offend either kingdom. The
impediment was the inclination of the people, which,
receiving a wonderful commodity of trades out of both
realms, especially of England ; and having been in
ancient league and confederacy with our nation, and
having been also homagers unto France, he knew
would be in no wise disposed to either war: where-
upon he resolved to reduce them to a martial govern-
ment, like unto that which he had established in Na-
ples and Milan ; upon which suppression of their li-
berties, ensued the defection of those provinces. And
about the same time the reformed religion found en-
trance in the same countries; so as the king, inflamed
with the resistance he found in the first part of his
plots, and also because he might not dispense with his
other principle in yielding to any toleration of religion ;
and withal expecting a shorter work of it than he
found, became passionately bent to reconquer those
countries ; wherein he hath consumed infinite treasure
and forces. And this is the true cause, if a man will
look into it, that hath made the king of Spain so good
a neighbour; namely, that he was so intangled with
the wars of the Low Countries as he could not intend
any. other enterprise, Besides, in enterprising upon

80 Observations on a LibeL

Italy, he doubted first the displeasure of the see of
Rome, with whom he meant to run a course of strait
conjunction ; also he doubted it might invite the Turk
to return. And for Germany, he had a fresh ex; m pie
of his father, who, when he had annexed unto the
dominions which he now possesseth, the empire of
Alrraign, nevertheless sunk in that enterprise ; where-
by he perceived that the nation was of too strong a
composition for him to deal withal : though not long
since, by practice, he could have been contented to
snatch up in the East the country of Embden. For
Portugal, first, the kings thereof were good sons to the
see of Rome ; next, he had no colour of quarrel or
pretence ; thirdly, they were officious unto him : yet
if you will believe the Genoese, who otherwise writeth
much to the honour and advantage of the kings of
Spain, it seemeth he had a good mind to make him-
self a way into that kingdom, seeing that for that pur-
pose, as he reporteth, he did artificially nourish the
young king Sebastian in the voyage of Afric, expect-
ing that overthrow which followed.

As for his intention to war upon the Infidels and
Turks, it maketh me think what Francis Guicciardine,
a wise writer of history, speaketh of his great giand-
father, making a judgment of him as historiographers
use ; " that he did always mask and veil his appetites
" with a demonstration of a devout and holy intention
" to the advancement of the church and the public
<* good." His father also, when he received advertise-
ment of the taking of the French king, prohibited all
ringings, and bonfires, and other tokens of joy ; and
said, those were to be reserved for victories upon in-
fidels : on whom he never meant to war. Many a
cruzado hath the bishop of Rome granted to him and
his predecessors upon that colour, which all have been
spent upon the effusion of Christian blood : and now
this year the levies of Germans, which should have
been made underhand for France, were coloured with
the pretence of war upon the Turk ; which the princes
of Germany descrying, not only broke the levies, but
threatened the commissioners to hang the next that

Observations on a LibeL 8 1

should offer the like abuse : so that this form of dis-
sembling is familiar, and as it were hereditary to the
king of Spain.

,And as for the succours given to the French king
against the Protestants, he could not chuse but ac-
company the pernicious counsels which still he gave to
the French kings, of breaking their edicts, and ad-
mitting of no pacification, but pursuing their subjects •
with mortal war, with some offer of aids ; which
having promised, he could not but in some small de-
gree perform ; whereby also the subject of France,
namely the violent Papist, was inured to depend upon
Spain. And so much for the king of Spain's proceed-
ings toward other states.

Now for ours : and first touching the point wherein
he chargeth us to be the authors of troubles in Scot-
land and France ; it will appear to any that have been
well informed of the memoirs of these affairs, that the
troubles of those kingdoms were indeed chiefly kin-
dled by one and the same family of the Guise ; a fa-
mily, as was partly touched before, as particularly
devoted now for many years together to Spain, as the
order of the Jesuits is. This house of Guise having of
late years extraordinarily flourished in the eminent
virtue of a few persons, whose ambition nevertheless
was nothing inferior to their virtue ; but being of a
house, notwithstanding, which the princes of the
blood of France reckoned but as strangers, aspired to
a greatness more than civil and proportionable to their
cause, wheresoever they had authority : and accord-
ingly, under colour of consanguinity and religion, they
brought into Scotland in the year 1559, and in the ab-
sence of tjie king and queen, French forces in great
numbers; whereupon the ancient nobility of that realm,
seeing the imminent danger of reducing that kingdom
under the tyranny of strangers, did pray, according to
the good intelligence between the two crowns, her
majesty's neighbourly forces. And so it is true that
the action being very just and honourable, her ma-
jesty undertook it, expelled the strangers, and restored
the nobility to their degrees, and the state to peace.

VOL. Ill, G

82 Observations on a Libel.

•

After, when certain noblemen of Scotland of the
same faction of Guise had, during the minority of the
king, possessed themselves of his person, to the end
to abuse his authority many ways ; and namely, to
make a breach between Scotland and England ; her
majesty's forces were again, in the year 1582, by the
king's best and truest servants sought and required :
and with the forces of her majesty prevailed so far, as
to be possessed of the castle of Edinburgh, the prin-
cipal part of that kingdom ; which nevertheless her
majesty incontinently with all honour and sincerity re-
stored, after she had put the king into good and faith-
ful hands : and so, ever since, in all the occasions of
intestine troubles, whereunto that nation hath been
ever subject, she hath performed unto the king all
possible good offices, and such as he doth with all
good affection acknowledge.

The same house of Guise, under colour of alliance,
during the reign of Francis the Second, and by the
support and practice of the queen mother; who, de-
siring to retain the regency under her own hands
during the minority of Charles the Ninth, used those
of Guise as a counterpoise to the princes of the blood,
obtained also great authority in the kingdom of France :
whereupon, having raised and moved civil wars under
pretence of religion, but indeed to enfeeble and de-
press the ancient nobility of that realm -y the contrary
part, being compounded of the blood-royal and the
greatest officers of the crown, opposed themselves
only againt their insolency ; and to their aids called in
her majesty's forces, giving them for security the town
of Newhaven ; which, nevertheless, when as after-
wards, having by the reputation of her majesty's con-
federation made their peace in effect as they would
themselves, they would, without observing any condi-
tions that had passed, have had it back again; then
indeed, it was held by force, and so had been long,
but for the great mortality which it pleased God to
send amongst our men. After which time, so far was
her majesty from seeking to sow or kindle new trou-
bles, as continually, by the solicitation of her ambas*

Observations on a Libel. 83

sadors, she still persuaded the kings, both Charles IX.
and Henry III. to keep and observe their edicts of pa-
cification, and to preserve their authority by the union
of their subjects : which counsel, if it had been as
happily followed as it was prudently and sincerely
given, France had been at this day a most flourishing
kingdom, which is now a theatre of misery : and now
in the end, after that the ambitious practises of the
same house of Guise had grown to that ripeness, that
gathering farther strength upon the weakness and mis-
government of the said king Henry III. he was fain to
execute the duke of Guise without ceremony at Blois.
And yet, nevertheless, so many men were embarked
and engaged in that conspiracy, as the flame thereof
was nothing assuaged ; but, contrariwise, that king
Henry grew distressed, so as he was enforced to im-
plore the succours of England from her majesty,
though no way interested in that quarrel, nor any way
obliged for any good offices she had received of that
king, yet she accorded to the same ; before the arrival
of which forces, the king being by a sacrilegious Jaco-
bine murdered in his camp near Paris, yet they went
on, and came in good time for the assistance of the
king which now reigneth ; the justice of whose quar-
rel, together with the long continued amity and good
intelligence, which her majesty had with him, hath
moved her majesty from time to time to supply with
great aids ; and yet she never, by any demand, urged
upon him the putting into her hands of any town or
place : so as upon this that hath been said let the rea-
der judge, whether hath been the more just and ho-
nourable proceeding, and the more free from ambition
and passion towards other states ; that of Spain, or
that of England. Now let us examine the proceed-
ings reciprocal between themselves.

Her majesty, at her coming to the crown, found her
realm intangled with the wars of France and Scotland,
her nearest neighbours ; which wars were grounded
only upon the Spaniard's quarrel; but in the pursuit
of them had lost to England the town of Calais :
which, from the twenty-first of king Edward III. had

G 2

8 *• Observations on a Libel.

been possessed by the kings of England. There was
a meeting near Bourdeaux, towards the end of Queen
Mary's reign, between the commissioners of France,
Spain, and England, and some overture of peace was
made ; but broke off upon the article of the restitution
of Calais. After Queen Mary's death, the king of
Spain, thinking himself discharged of that difficulty,
though in honour he was no less bound to it than be-
fore, renewed the like treaty, wherein her majesty
concurred : so as the commissioners for the said
princes met at Chasteau Cambraissi, near Cambray.
In the proceedings of which treaty, it is true, that at
the first the commissioners of Spain, for form and in
demonstration only, pretended to stand firm upon the
demand of Calais: but it was discerned, indeed, that
the king's meaning was, after some ceremonies and
perfunctory insisting thereupon, to grow apart to a
peace with the French, excluding her majesty, and
so to leave her to make her own peace, after her peo-
ple had made his wars. Which covert dealing being
politicly looked into, her majesty had reason, being
newly invested in her kingdom, and of her own incli-
nation being affected to peace, to conclude the same
with such conditions as she might : and yet the king
of Spain in his dissimulation had so much advantage
as she was fain to do it in a treaty apart with the
French ; whereby to one that is not informed of the
counsels and treaties of state, as they passed, it should
seem to be a voluntary agreement of her majesty,
whereto the king of Spain would not be party : where-
as indeed he left her no other choice ; and this was
the first assay or earnest penny of that king's good
affection to her majesty.

About the same time, when the king was solicited
to renew7 such treaties and leagues as had passed be-
tween the two crowns of Spain and England, by the
lord Cobham, sent unto him, to acquaint him with
the death of queen Mary ; and afterwards by Sir Tho-
mas Chaloner and Sir Thomas Chamberlain, succes-
sively ambassadors resident in his Low Countries j who
had order, divers times, during their charge, to make

Observations on a Libel. 85

overtures thereof, both unto the king, and certain
principal persons about him ; and lastly, those former
motions taking no effect, by Viscount Montacute and
Sir Thomas Chamberlain, sent into Spain in the year
1560; no other answer could be had or obtained of
the king, but that the treaties did stand in as good
force to all intents as a new ratification could make
them. An answer strange at that time, but very
conformable to his proceedings since : which belike
even then were closely smothered in his own breast.
For had he not at that time had some hidden aliena-
tion of mind, and design of an enemy towards her
majesty, so wise a king could not be ignorant, that
the renewing and ratifying of treaties between princes
and states do add great life and force, both of as-
surance to the parties themselves, and countenance
and reputation to the world besides ; and have for that
cause been commonly and necessarily used and prac-
tised.

In the message of Viscount Montacute, it was also
contained, that he should crave the king's counsel and
assistance, according to amity and good intelligence,
upon a discovery of certain pernicious plots of the
house of Guise, to annoy this realm by the way of
Scotland : whereunto the king's answer was so dark
and so cold, that nothing could be made of it, till he
had made an exposition of it himself by effects, in the
express restraint of munition to be carried out of the
Low Countries unto the siege of Leith ; because our
nation was to have supply thereof from thence. So as
in all the negociations that passed with that king, still
her majesty received no satisfaction, but more and
more suspicious and bad tokens of evil affection.

Soon after, when upon that project, which was
disclosed before the king had resolved to disannul the
liberties and privileges unto his subjects of the Nether-
lands anciently belonging ; and to establish among
them a martial government, which the people, being
very wealthy, and inhabiting towns very strong and
defensible, by fortifications both of nature and the
band, could not endure, there followed the defection

86 Observations on a Libel.

and revolt of those countries. In which action being
the greatest of all those which have passed between
Spain and England, the proceeding of her majesty
hath been so just, and mingled with so many honour-
able regards, as nothing doth so much clear and ac-
quit her majesty, not only from passion, but also from
all dishonourable policy. For first, at the beginning
of the troubles, she did impart unto him faithful and
sincere advice of the course that was to be taken for
the quieting and appeasing them ; and expresly fore-
warned both himself and such as were in principal
charge in those countries, during the wars, of the dan-
ger like to ensue if he held so heavy a hand over that
people ; lest they should cast themselves into the arms
of a stranger. But finding the king's mind so exulce-
rated as he rejected all counsel that tended to mild and
gracious proceeding, her majesty nevertheless gave not
over her honourable resolution, which was, if it were
possible, to reduce and reconcile those countries unto
the obedience of their natural sovereign the king of
Spain ; and if that might not be, yet to preserve them
from alienating themselves to a foreign lord, as namely
unto the French, with whom they much treated ; and
amongst whom the enterprise of Flanders was ever
propounded as a mean to unite their own civil dissen^
sions, but patiently temporising, expected the good
effect which time might breed. And whensoever the
states grew into extremities of despair, and thereby
ready to embrace the offer of any foreigner, then
would her majesty yield them some relief of money,
or permit some supply of forces to go over unto them ; to
the end to interrupt such violent resolution : and still con-
tinued to meditate unto the king some just and honour-
able capitulations of grace and accord, such as where-
by always should have been preserved unto him such
interest and authority as he in justice could claim, or
a prince moderately minded would seek to have. And
this course she held interchangeably, seeking to miti-
gate the wrath of the king, and the despair of the
countries, till such time as after the death of the duke
of AnjoUj into whose hands, according to her ma*

Observations on a Libel. 87

jesty's predictions, but against her good liking, they
had put themselves, the enemy pressing them, the
United Provinces were received into her majesty's pro-
tection : which was after such time, as the king of
Spain had discovered himself, not only an implacable
lord to them, but also a professed enemy unto her
majesty ; having actually invaded Ireland, and de-
signed the invasion of England. For it is to be noted,
that the like offers which were then made unto her
majesty, had been made to her long before : but as
long as her majesty conceived any hope, either of
making their peace, or entertaining her own with
Spain, she would never hearken thereunto. And yet
now, even at last, her majesty retained a singular and
evident proof to the world of her justice and modera-
tion, in that she refused the inheritance and sove-
reignty of those goodly provinces; which by the
states, with much instance, was pressed upon her ;
and being accepted, would have wrought greater con-
tentment and satisfaction both to her people and theirs,
being countries for the site, wealth, commodity of
traffic, affection to our nation, obedience of the sub-
jects, well used, most convenient to have been an-
nexed to the crown of England, and with all one
charge, danger, and offence of Spain ; only took upon
her the defence and protection of their liberties : which
liberties and privileges are of that nature, as they may
justly esteem themselves but conditional subjects to
the king of Spain, more justly than Arragon : and may
make her majesty as justly esteem the ancient confe-
deracies and treaties with Burgundy to be of force
rather with the people and nation, than with the line
of the duke ; because it was never an absolute mo-
narchy. So as, to sum up her majesty's proceedings
in this great action, they have but this, that they have
sought first to restore them to Spain, then to keep
them from strangers, and never to purchase them to
herself.

But during all that time, the king of Spain kept one
tenor in his proceedings towards her majesty, breaking
forth more and more into injuries and contempts: her

Observations on a Libel.

subjects trading into Spain have been many of them
burned ; some cast into the galleys ; others have died
in prison, without any other crimes committed, but
upon quarrels picked upon them for their religion here
at home. Her merchants, at the sack of Antwerp,
were divers of them spoiled and put to their ransoms,
though they could not be charged with any part-
taking ; neither upon the complaint of Doctor V;
and Sir Kdward Horsey, could any redress be had.
A general arrest was made by the duke of Alva of
Englishmen* both goods and persons, upon pretence
that certain ships stayed in this realm laden with g'
and money of certain merchants of Genoa, h
to that king : which money and goods was afteru ;

;ie uttermost value, restored and paid L;
whereas our men were far from rt< the like jiu-

tice on their side. Dr. Man, h< ty's am

sador, received, during hi on, sundry indigni-

ties; himself being i OUl of Madrid, and

lodged in a vill;. hey are accustom* the

..d steward forced to

.• at a mass with t< in their hands;

sundry other contumelies and re; ,. Hut the

Damnifying of a merchant, vexation of a

:ion subject, dishonour of an an
rather but demonstrate ill disposition, than < I-

, if they be compared with acti' ial<-, w],

in he and hi /ljgn* tn<: <>v< Jlhrow of

this governmejit. As in the year J Oof>, when th<
bellion in the north part of Knglnnd broke lorth -, who
but tlie duke of AJva, then the king nant in

the \AJW Countries, and Don <

h< f , m re di 'i to he

cliief instru; ;'-; havin;; COinplol

with the duke of /!<•, a ,

-:i, that an army

of twenty th' . ..ould have land'-d at 1 Jar-

! of that party whirh the (,aid dul.< had

made within the realm, and the having

d oi, •: h.mdred and lifty thouianq

crowns in that j/repaiatiojj.

Observations on a Libel. 89

Not contented thus to have consorted and assisted
her majesty's rebels in England, ,he procured a rebel-
lion in Ireland ; arming and sending thither in the
year 1579, an arch-rebel of that country, James Fitz
Morrice, which before was fled. And truly to speak,
the whole course of molestation, which her majesty
hath received in that realm by the rising and keeping
on of the Irish, hath been nourished and fomented
from Spain ; but afterwards most apparently, in the
year 1580, he invaded the same Ireland with Spanish
forces, under an Italian colonel, by name San Josepho,
being but the forerunners of a greater power ; which
by treaty between him and the pope should have fol-
lowed, but that by the speedy defeat of those former,
they were discouraged to pursue the action : which
invasion was proved to be done by the king's own
orders, both by the letters of secretary Escovedo, and
of Guerres to the king ; and also by divers other let-
ters, wherein the particular conferences were set down
concerning this enterprise between cardinal Riario the
pope's legate, and the king's deputy in Spain, touching
the genera], the number of men, the contribution of
money, and the manner of the prosecuting of the ac-
tion, and by the confession of some of the chiefest of
those that were taken prisoners at the fort ; which act
being an act of apparent hostility, added unto all the
injuries aforesaid, and accompanied with a continual
receit, comfort, and countenance, by audiences, pen-
sions, and employments, which he gave to traytors
and fugitives, both English and Irish ; as Westmore-
land, Paget, Englefield, Baltinglass, and numbers
of others ; did sufficiently justify and warrant that pur-
suit of revenge, which, either in the spoil of Cartha-
gena and San Domingo in the Indies, by Mr. Drake,
or in the undertaking the protection of the Low Coun-
tries when the earl of Leicester was sent over, after-
wards followed. For before that time her majesty,
though she stood upon her guard in respect of the
just cause of the jealousy, which the sundry injuries
of that king gave her; yet had entered into no of
fensive action against him. For both the voluntary

90 Observations on a Libel.

forces which Don Antonio had collected in this realm,
were by express commandment restrained, and offer
was made of restitution to the Spanish ambassador of
such treasure as had been brought into this realm,
upon proof that it had been taken by wrong ; and the
duke of Anjou was, as much as could stand with the
near treaty of a marriage which then was very forward
between her majesty and the said duke, diverted from
the enterprise of Flanders.

But to conclude this point: when that, some years
after, the invasion and conquest of this land, in-
tended long before, but through many crosses and im-
pediments, which the king of Spain found in his plots,
deferred, was in the year 1588 attempted; her ma-
jesty, not forgetting her own nature, was content at
the same instant to treat of a peace ; not ignorantly, as
a prince that knew not in what forwardness his prepa-
rations were, for she had discovered them long before,
nor fearfully, as may appear by the articles whereupon
her majesty in that treaty stood, which were not the
demands of a prince afraid; but only to spare the shed-
ding of Christian blood, and to shew her constant de-
sire to make her reign renowned, rather by peace than
victories: which peace was on her part treated sin-
cerely, but on his part, as it should seem, was but an
abuse ; thinking thereby to have taken us more unpro-
vided : so that the duke of Parma not liking to be used
as an instrument in such a case, in regard of his parti-
cular honour, would sometimes in treating interlace,
that the king his master meant to make his peace with
his sword in his hand. Let it then be tryed, upon an
indifferent view of the proceedings of England and
Spain, who it is that fisheth in troubled waters, and
hath disturbed the peace of Christendom, and hath
written and described all his plots in blood.

There follow the articles of an universal peace,
which the libeller, as a commissioner for the estate of
England hath propounded, and are these :

First, that the king of Spain should recall such
forces, as, of great compassion to the natural people
of France, he hath sent thitherto defend them against
a relapsed Huguenot.

Observations on a Libel. 91

Secondly, that be suffer his rebels of Holland and
Zealand quietly to possess the places they hold, and
to take unto them all the rest of the Low Countries
also ; conditionally, that the English may still keep
the possession of such port towns as they have,
and have some half a dozen more annexed unto
them.

Thirdly, that the English rovers might peaceably go
to his Indies, and there take away his treasure and his
Indies also.

And these articles being accorded, he saith, might
follow that peace which passeth all understanding, as
he calleth it in a scurrile and prophane mockery of
the peace which Christians enjoy with God, by the
atonement which is made by the blood of Christ,
whereof the Apostle saith that it passeth all under-
standing. But these his articles are surely mistaken,
and indeed corrected, are briefly these :

1. That the king of France be not impeached in
reducing his rebels to obedience.

2. That the Netherlands be suffered to enjoy their
ancient liberties and privileges, and so forces of strangers
to be withdrawn, both English and Spanish.

3. That all nations may trade into the East and
West Indies ; yea, discover and occupy such parts as
the Spaniard doth not actually possess, and are not
under civil government, notwithstanding any donation
of the pope.

V. Of the cunning of the libeller, in palliation of
his malicious invectives against her majesty and
the state, with pretence of taxing only the actions
of the lord Burleigh.

I cannot rightly call this point cunning in the
libeller, but rather good will to be cunning; without
skill indeed or judgment : for finding that it hath been
the usual and ready practice of seditious subjects to
plant and bend their invectives and clamours, not
against the sovereigns themselves, but against some
such as had grace with them, and authority under
them, he put in use his learning in a wrong and

Observations on a Libel.

improper case. For this hath some appearance to
cover undutiful invectives, when it is used against
favourites or new upstarts, and sudden risen counsel-
lors : but when it shall be practised against one that
hath been counsellor before her majesty 's time, and
hath continued longer counsellor than any other coun-
sellor in Europe ; one that must needs have been great
if it were but by surviving alone, though he had no
other excellency; one that hath passed the degrees of
honour with great travel and long time, which quench-
eth always envy, except it be joined with extreme
malice ; then it appeareth manifestly to be but a
brick-wall at tennis to make the defamation and ha-
tred rebound from the counsellor upon the prince.
And assuredly they be very simple to think to abuse
the world with those shifts; since every child can tell
the fable, that the wolf's malice was not to the shep-
herd, but to his dog. It is true, that these men have
altered their tune twice or thrice : w7hen the match
was in treating with the duke of Anjou, they spake
honey as to her majesty ; all the gall was uttered
against the earl of Leicester: but when they had
gotten heart upon expectation of the invasion, they
changed stile, and disclosed all the venom in the world
immediately against her majesty : what new hope hath
made them return to their Sinon's note, in teaching
Troy how to save itself, I cannot tell. But in the
mean time they do his lordship much honour : for the
more despitefully they inveigh against his lordship, the
more reason hath her majesty to trust him, and the
realm to honour him. It was wont to be a token of
scarce a good liegeman when the enemy spoiled the
country, and left any particular mens houses or fields
un wasted.

VI. Certain true general notes upon the actions of
the lord Burleigh.

But above all the rest, it is a strange fancy in the
libeller that he maketh his lordship to be the primum
"mobile in every action without distinction ; that to him
her majesty is accountant of her resolutions 3 that to

Observations on a Libel. 93

"him the earl of Leicester and Air. Secretary Walsing-
ham, both men of great power, and of great wit and
understanding, were but as instruments: whereas it
is well known, that as to her majesty, there was never
a counsellor of his lordship's long continuance that was
so appliable to her majesty's princely resolutions; en-
deavouring always, after faithful propositions and re-
monstrances, and these in the best words, and the
most grateful manner, to rest upon such conclusions,
as her majesty in her own wisdom determineth, and
them to execute to the best : so far hath he been
from contestation, or drawing her majesty into any of
his own courses. And as for the forenamed counsel-
lors and others, with whom his lordship hath consorted
in her majesty's service, it is rather true that his lord-
ship, out of the greatness of his experience and wis-
dom, and out of the coldness of his nature, hath quali-
fied generally all hard and extreme courses, as far as
the service of her majesty, and the safety of the state,
and the making himself compatible with those with
whom he served, would permit : so far hath his lord-
ship been from inciting others, or running a full course
with them in that kind. But yet it is more strange
that this man should be so absurdly malicious, as he
should charge his lordship, not only with all actions of
state, but also with all the faults and vices of the
times y as, if curiosity and emulation have bred some
controversies in the church ; though, thanks be to God,
they extend but to outward things ;. as, if wealth, and
the cunning of wits have brought forth multitudes of
suits in law ; as, if excess in pleasures, and in magni-
ficence, joined with the unfaithfulness of servants, and
the greediness of moneyed men, have decayed the pa-
trimony of many noblemen, and others; that all these,
and such like conditions of the time, should be put on
his lordship's account ; who hath been, as far as to his
place appertained, a most religious and wise mode-
rator in church matters to have unity kept; who with
great justice hath dispatched infinite causes in law that
have orderly been brought before him: and for his
own example, may say that which few men can sayj

Obscrvation&on a Libel

but was Sometimes said by Cephalus, the Athenian so
much renowned in Plato's works, who having lived
near to the age of an hundred years, and in continual
affairs and business, was wont to say of himself;
" That he never sued any, neither had been sued by
any :" who by reason of his office hath preserved many
great houses from overthrow, by relieving sundry ex-
tremities towards such as in their minority have been
circumvented ; and towards all such as his lordship
might advise, did ever persuade sober and limited ex-
pence. Nay, to make proof farther of his contented
manner of life, free from suits and covetousness; as he
never sued any man, so did he never raise any rent,
or put out any tenant of his own : nor ever gave con-
sent to have the like done to any of the queen's te-
nants ; matters singularly to be noted in this age.

But however, by this fellow, as in a false artificial
glass, which is able to make the best face deformed,
his lordship's doings be set forth: yet let his pro-
ceedings, which be indeed his own, be indifferently
weighed and considered ; and let men call to mind,
that his lordship was never a violent and transported
man in matters of state, but ever respected and mo-
derate ; that he was never man in his particular, a
breaker of necks ; no heavy enemy, but ever placable
and mild ; that he was never a brewer of holy water
in court; no dallier, no abuser, but ever real and cer-
tain ; that he never was a bearing man, nor carrier of
causes, but ever gave way to justice and course of
law ; that he never was a glorious wilful proud man,
but ever civil and familiar, and good to deal withal;
that in the course of his service, he hath rather sus-
tained the burden, than sought the fruition of honour
or profit ; scarcely sparing any time from his cares and
travels to the sustentation of his health ; that he never
had, nor sought to have for himself and his children,
any pennyworth of lands or goods that appertained to
any attainted of any treason, felony, or otherwise ; that
he never had, or sought any kind of benefit by any
forfeiture to her majesty ; that he was never a factious
commender of men, as he that intended any ways ta

Observations on a Libel. 95

besiege her, by bringing in men at his devotion ; but
was ever a true reporter unto her majesty of every
man's deserts and abilities ; that he never took the
course to unquiet or offend, no nor exasperate her
majesty, but to content her mind, and mitigate her
displeasure : that he ever bare himself reverently and
without scandal in matters of religion, and without
blemish in his private course of life. Let men, I say,
without passionate malice, call to mind these things,
and they will think it reason, that though he be not
canonized for a saint in Rome, yet he is worthily cele-
brated as Paler patriac in England , and though he
be libelled against by fugitives, yet he is prayed for by
a multitude of good subjects; and lastly, though he
be envied whilst he liveth, yet he shall be deeply
wanted when he is gone. And assuredly many
princes have had many servants of trust, name, and
sufficiency: but where there hath been great parts,
there hath often wanted temper of affection ; where
there hath been both ability and moderation, there
have wanted diligence and love of travail ; where all
three have been, there have sometimes wanted faith
and sincerity ; where some few have had all these
four, yet they have wanted time and experience: but
where there is a concurrence of all these, there is no
marvel, though a prince of judgment be constant in
the employment and trust of such a servant.

VII. Of divers particular untruths and abuses dis-
persed through the libel.

The order which this man keepeth in his libel, is
such, as it may appear, that he meant but to empty
some note-book of the matters of England, to bring in,
whatsoever came of it, a numble of idle jests, which
he thought might fiy abroad ; and intended nothing
less than to clear the matters he handled by the light of
order and distinct writing. Having therefore in the
principal points, namely, the second, third, and fourth
articles, ranged his scattering and wandering discourse
into some order, such as may help the judgment of
the reader, I am now content to gather up some of

96 Observations on a Libel.

his by-matters and straggling untruths, and very briefly
to censure them.

Page 9. he saith, that his lordship could neither by
the greatness of his beads, creeping to the cross, nor
exterior shew of devotion before the high altar, find
his entrance into high dignity in queen Mary's time.
All which is a mere fiction at pleasure ; for queen
Mary bore that respect unto him, in regard of his con-
stant standing for her title, as she desired to continue
his service ; the refusal thereof growing from his own
part : he enjoyed nevertheless all other liberties and
favours of the time ; save only that it was put into the
queen's head that it was dangerous to permit him to
go beyond the sea, because he had a great wit of ac-
tion, and had served in so principal a place; which
nevertheless after, with cardinal Pool, he was suffered
to do.

Page eadem he saith, Sir Nicholas Bacon, that was
lord keeper, was a man of exceeding crafty wit ; which
sheweth that this fellow in his slanders is no good
marksman, but throweth out his words of defaming
without all level. For all the world noted Sir Nicholas
Bacon to be a man plain, direct, and constant, with-
out all finesse and doubleness; and one that was of
the mind that a man in his private proceedings and
estate, and in the proceedings of state, should rest
upon the soundness and strength of his own courses,
and not upon practice to circumvent others ; accord-
Ing to the sentence of Solomon, Vir prudens advertit
ad gressus suos, stultus autem divertit ad dolos: inso-
much that the bishop of Ross, a subtle and observing
man, said of him, that he could fasten no words upon
him, and that it was impossible to come within him,
because he offered no play : and the queen-mother of
France, a very politic princess, said of him, that he
should have been of the council of Spain, because he
despised the occurrents, and rested upon the first plot;
so that if he were crafty, it is hard to say who is wise.

Page 10. he saith, That the lord Burleigh, in the
establishment of religion, in the beginning of the
queen's time, prescribed a composition of his own in-

Observations on a Libel. 97

Vention ; whereas the same form, not fully six years
before, had been received in this realm in king Ed-
ward's time : so as his lordship being a Christian poli-
tic counsellor, thought it better to follow a precedent,
than to innovate; and chose the precedent rather at
home than abroad.

Page 41. he saith. That catholics never attempted
to murder any principal person of her majesty's court,
as did Burchew, whom he calleth a puritan, in wound-
ing of a gentleman instead of Sir Christopher Hatton ;
but by their great virtue, modesty, and patience, do
manifest in themselves a far different spirit from the
other sort. For Burchew, it is certain he was mad ;
as appeareth not only by his mad mistaking, but by
the violence that he offered afterwards to his keeper,
and most evidently by his behaviour at his execution :
but of catholics, I mean the traiterous sort of them, a
man may say as Cato said sometimes of Caesar, eum ad
evertendam rempublicam sobrium acctssisse: they came
sober and well advised to their treasons and conspi-
racies ; and commonly they look not so low as the
counsellors, but have bent their murderous attempts
immediately against her majesty's sacred person, which
God have in his precious custody ! as may appear by
the conspiracy of Sommervile, Parry, Savage, the six,
and others ; nay, they have defended it in thesi, to be
a lawful act.

Page 43. he saith, That his lordship, whom he call-
eth the arch-politic, hath fraudulently provided, that
when any priest is arraigned, the indictment is enforced
with many odious matters: wherein he sheweth
great ignorance, if it be not malice ; for the law per-
mitteth not the ancient forms of indictments to be
altered; like as, in an action of trespass, although a
man take away anotl^er's goods in the peaceablest
manner in the world, yet the writ hath quare vi et
armis; and if a man enter upon another's ground and
do no more, the plaintiff mentioneth quod her bam suam,
ibidem cresct/item, cum equis, bobtts, -porcis, et biden-
tibus, depastus sit, concukaint et consumes it. Neither
is this any absurdity, for in the practice of all law the

VOL. Ill, H

Observations on a Libel.

formularies have been few and certain ; and not varied
according to every particular case. And in indict-
ments also of treason, it is not so far fetched as in that
of trespass ; for the law ever presumeth in treason an
Intention of subverting the state, and impeaching the
majesty royal.

Page 45. and in other places, speaking of the perse-
cuting of the catholics, he still mentioneth bowelings
and consuming mens entrails by fire ; as if this were a
torture newly devised : wherein he doth cautelously
and maliciousJy suppress, that the law and custom of
this land from all antiquity hath ordained that punish-
ment in case of treason, and permitteth no other. And
a punishment surely it is, though of great terror, yet
by reason of the quick dispatching, of less torment
far than either the wheel or forcipation, yea than sim-
ple burning.

Page 48. he saith, England is confederate with the
great Turk : wherein if he mean it because the mer-
chants have an agent in Constantinople, how will he
answer for all the kings of France since Francis the
first, which were good catholics? For the Emperor?
For the king of Spain himself? For the senate of Ve-
nice, and other states, that have had long time am-
bassadors liegers in that court? If he mean it because
the Turk hath done some special honour to our am-
bassador, if he be so to be termed, we are beholden
to the king of Spain for that : for that the honour, we
have won upon him by opposition, hath given us repu-
tation through the world : if he mean it because the
Turk seemeth to affect us for the abolishing of images ;
let him consider then what a scandal the matter of
images hath been in the church, as having been one
of the principal branches whereby Mahometism en-
tered.

Page 65. he saith, Cardinal Allen was of late very
near to have been elected pope. Whereby he would
put the catholics here in some hope, that once within
five or six years, for a pope commonly sitteth no lon-
ger, he may obtain that which he missed narrowly.
This is a direct abuse, for it is certain in all the con-

Observations on a Libd.

claves since Sixtus Quintus, who gave him his hat,
he was never in possibility ; nay, the king of Spain,
that hath patronized the church of Rome so long, as
he is become a right patron of it, in that he seeketh to
present to that see whom he liketh, yet never durst,
strain his credit to so desperate a point as once to make
a canvass for him: no, he never nominated him in his
inclusive narration. And those that know any thing
of the respects of conclaves, know that he is not papa-
ble: first, because he is an ultramontane, of which
sort there hath been none these fifty years. Next, be-
cause he is a cardinal of alms of Spain, and wholly at
the devotion of that king. Thirdly, because he is like
to employ the treasure and favours of the popedorn
upon the enterprises of England, and the relief and
advancement of English fugitives, his necessitous
countrymen. So as he presumed much upon the sim-
plicity of the reader in this point, as in many more.

Page 55, and again p. 70, he saith, his lordship,
meaning the lord Burleigh, intended to match his
grandchild Mr. William Cecil with the lady Arabella.
Which being a mere imagination, without any circum-
stance at all to induce it, more than that they are both
unmarried, and that their years agree wrell, needeth
no answer. It is true that his loidship, being no stoical
unnatural man, but loving towards his children, for
charitas reipublicae incipit a familia, hath been glad
to match them into honourable and good blood: and
yet not so, but that a private gentleman of Northamp-
tonshire, that lived altogether in the country, was able
to bestow his daughters higher than his lordship hath
done. But yet it is not seen by any thing past, that
his lordship ever thought or affected to match his chil-
dren in the blood-royal. His lordship's wisdom, which
hath been so long of gathering, teacheth him to leave
to his posterity rather surety than danger. And I marvel
where be the combinations which have been with great
men ; and the popular and plausible courses, which
ever accompany such designs, as the libeller speaketh
of: and therefore this match is but like unto that which
the same fellow concluded between the same lady

100 Observations on a Libel.

Arabella and the earl of Leicester's son, when he was
but a twelvemonth old.

Page 70. he saith, He laboureth incessantly with
the queen to make his eldest son deputy of Ireland;
as if that were such a catch, considering all the depu-
ties since her majesty's time, except the earl of Sussex
and the lord Grey, have been persons of meaner de-
gree than Sir Thomas Cecil is ; and the most that is
gotten by that place, is but the saving and putting up
of a man's own revenues, during those years that he
serveth there ; and this perhaps to be saved with some
displeasure at his return.

Page eadem he saith, He hath brought in his second
son Sir Robert Cecil to be of the council, who hath
neither wit nor experience ; which speech is as noto-
rious an untruth as is in all the libel : for it is confessed
by all men that know the gentleman, that he hath one
of the rarest and most excellent wits of England, with
a singular delivery and application of the same ; whe-
ther it be to use a continued speech, or to negociate,
or to couch in writing, or to make report, or discreetly
to consider of the circumstances, and aptly to draw
things to a point; and all this joined with a very good
nature and a great respect to all men, as is daily more
and more revealed. And for his experience, it is easy
to think that his training and helps hath made it already
such, as many, that have served long prentishood
for it, have not attained the like : so as if that be true,
qui beneficium digno dat, omnes obligat, not his father
only, but the state is bound unto her majesty, for the
choice and employment of so sufficient and worthy a
gentleman.

There be many other follies and absurdities in the
book ; which, if an eloquent scholar had it in hand,
he would take advantage thereof, and justly make the
author not only odious, but ridiculous and contemp-
tible to the world : but I pass them over, and even
this which hath been said hath been vouchsafed to the
value and worth of the matter, and not the worth of the
writer, who hath handled a theme above his compass.

Observations on a Libel. 101

VIII. Of the height of impudency that these men
are grown unto in publishing and avouching un-
truths, with a particular recital of some of them
for an assay.

These men are grown to a singular spirit and faculty
inlying and abusing the world; such as, it seemeth,
although they are to purchase a particular dispensation
for all other sins, yet they have a dispensation dormant
to lye for the catholic cause ; which moveth me to give
the reader a taste of their untruths, such as are written,
and are not merely gross and palpable ; desiring him
out of their own writings, when any shall fall into
his hands, to increase the roll at least in his own me-
mory.

We retain in our calendars no other holydays but
such as have their memorials in the Scriptures; and
therefore in the honour of the blessed Virgin, we only
receive the feasts of the annunciation and the purifica-
tion ; omitting the other of the conception and the
nativity ; which nativity was used to be celebrated
upon the eighth of September, the vigil whereof hap-
pened to be the nativity of our queen: which though
we keep not holy, yet we use therein certain civil cus-
toms of joy and gratulation, as ringing of bells, bon-
fires, and such like : and likewise make a memorial
of the same day in our calendar : whereupon they have
published, that we have expunged the nativity of the
blessed Virgin, and put instead thereof the nativity of
our queen : and farther, that we sing certain hymns
unto her, used to be sung unto our Lady.

It happened that, upon some blood-shed in the
church of Paul's, according to the canon law, yet
with us in force, the said church was interdicted, and
so the gates shut up for some few days; whereupon
they published, that, because the same church is a
place where people use to meet to walk and confer,
the queen's majesty, after the manner of the ancient
tyrants, had forbidden all assemblies and meetings of
people together, and for that reason, upon extreme
jealousy, did cause Paul's gates to be shut up.

The gate of London called Ludgate, being in decay,

102 Observations on a Libel.

was pulled down, and built anew; and on the one
side was set up the image of king Lud and his two
sons ; who, according to the name, was thought to be
the first founder of that gate; and on the other side
the image of her majesty, in whose time it was re-edi-
fied ; whereupon they published that her majesty, after
all the images of the saints were long beaten down,
had now at last set up her own image upon the princi-
pal gate of London, to be adored, and that all men
\yere forced to do reverence to it as they passed by,
and a watch there placed for that purpose.

Mr. Jewel, the bishop of Salisbury, who according
to his life died most godly and patiently, at the point
of death used the versicle of the hymn Te Deum, O
Lord, in thee have 1 trusted, let me never be con-
founded ; whereupon, suppressing the rest, they pub-
lished, tha' the principal champion of the hereiics in
his very 1 ist words cried he was confounded.

In the act of recognition of primo, whereby the
right of the crown is acknowledged by parliament to
be in her majesty, the like whereof was used in queen
Mary's time, the words of limitation are, in the
queens majesty, and the natural heirs of her body,
and her lawful successors. Upon which word, natural,
they do maliciously, and indeed villainously gloss, that
it was the intention of the parliament, in a cloud to
convey the crown to any issue of her majesty's, that
were illegitimate ; whereas the word heir, doth with
us so necessarily and pregnantly import lawfulness, as
it had been indecorum, and uncivil speaking of the
issues of a prince, to have expressed it.

They set forth in the year , a book with tables

and pictures of the persecutions against catholics,
, wherein they have not only stories of fifty years old to
supply their pages, but also taken all the persecu-
tions of the primitive church, under the heathen, and
translated them to the practice of England ; as that
of worrying priests under the skins of bears, by dogs,
and the like.

I conclude then, that I know not what to make of
this excess in avouching untruths, save this, that they

Observations on a Libel. 103

may truly cbaunt in their quires ; Linguam nostram
magnificabimuSy labia nostra nobis stint: and that
they who have Jong ago forsaken the truth of God,
which is the touchstone, must now hold by the whet-
stone ; and that their ancient pillar of lying wonders
being decayed, they must now hold by lying slanders,
and make their libels successors to ther legends.

The first copy of my discourse touching the safety of
the Queen's person*.

THESE be the principal remedies, I could think of,
for extirpating the principal cause of those conspi-
racies, by the breaking the nest of those fugitive trai-
tors, and the filling them full of terror, despair, jea-
lousy, and revolt. And it is true, I thought of some
other remedies, which, because in mine own conceit
I did not so well allow, I therefore do forbear to ex-
press. And so likewise I have thought, and thought
again, of the means to stop and divert as well the at-
tempts of violence, as poison, in the performance and
execution. But not knowing how my travel may be
accepted, being the unwarranted wishes of a private
man, I leave ; humbly praying her Majesty's pardon,
if in the zeal of my simplicity I have roved at things
above my aim.

The first fragments of a discourse, touching intelli-
gence, and the safety of the Queen's person f.

THE first remedy, in my poor opinion, is that
against which, as I conceive, least exception can be
taken, as a thing, without controversy, honourable
and politic ; and that is reputation of good intelligence.
I say not only good intelligence, but the reputation
and fame thereof. For I see, that where booths are
set for watching thievish places, there is no more rob-

* From the original in the Lambeth Library,
t From the original in the Lambeth Library.

[ 104 ]

bing : and though no doubt the watchmen many times
are asleep, or away ; yet that is more than the thief
knoweth ; so as the empty booth is strength and safe-
guard enough. So likewise, if there be sown an
opinion abroad, -that her Majesty hath much secret
intelligence, and that all is full of spies and false
brethren; the fugitives will grow into such a mutual
jealousy and suspicion one of another, as they will not
have the confidence to conspire together, not knowing
\vhorn to trust ; and thinking all practice bootless, as
that which is assured to be discovered. And to this
purpose, to speak reverently, as becometh me, as I
do not doubt but those honourable counsellers, to
whom it doth appertain, do carefully and sufficiently
provide and take order that her Majesty receive good
intelligence; so yet, under correction, methinks it is
not done with that glory and note to the world, which
was in Mr. Secretary Walsingham's * time: and in
this case, as was said, opinio veritate major.

The second remedy I deliver with less assurance,
as that which is more removed from the compass of
mine understanding : and that is, to treat and nego-
ciate with the King of Spain, or Archduke Ernest f,
who resides in that place where these conspiracies are
most forged, upon the point of the law of nations,
upon which kind of points princes enemies may with
honour negociate, viz. that, contrary to the same law
of nations, and the sacred dignity of kings, and the ho-

* Who died April 6, 1.590. After his death the business of
secretary of state appears to be chiefly done by Mr. Robert Cecil,
•who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Theobald's, about the
beginning of June, 1591, and in August following sworn of the
privy-council ; but not actually appointed secretary of state till
July 5, 1596. BIRCH.

f Ernest, Archduke of Austria, son of the Emperor Maximi-
lian II. and governor of the Low Countries, upon which govern-
ment he entered in June, 1594 ; but held it only a short time, dying
February •£•}• following. It was probably in pursuance of the advice
of Mr. Francis Bacon in this paper, that Queen Elizabeth sent to
the Archduke in 1594, to complain of the designs which had been
formed against her life by the Count de Fuentes, and Don Diego

[ 105 ]

nour of arms, certain of her Majesty's subjects, if it
be not thought meet to impeach any of his ministers,
refuged in his dominions, have conspired and practised
assassination against her Majesty's person.

de Ibarra, and other Spanish ministers concerned in governing the
Low Countries after the death of Alexander Duke of Parma in
December. 1592, and by the English fugitives there ; and to desire
him to signify those facts to the king of Spain, in order that he
might vindicate his ^wn character, by punishing his ministers,
and delivering up to her such fugitives as were parties in such de»
signs. Camaeni Annales Lliz, ReginK, p. 625. Edit. LugduDi Bat.
1625. BIRCH.

[ 106 ]

A

TRUE REPORT

OF THB

DETESTABLE TREASON,

INTENDED BY

DOCTOR ROGER LOPEZ,

A PHYSICIAN ATTENDING UPON THE PERSON
OF THE QUEEN'S MAJESTY,

Which he, for a sum of money, promised to be paid to
him by the king of Spain, did undertake to have
destroyed by poison ; with certain circumstances both
of the plotting and detecting of the said treason.

DRAWN UP IN 1594.

JL HE king of Spain, having found, by the enterprise
of 1588, the difficulty of an invasion of England ; and
having also since that time embraced the matters of
France, being a design of a more easy nature, and better
prepared to his hand, hath of necessity for a time laid
aside the prosecution of his attempts against this realm
by open forces, as knowing his means unable to wield
both actions at once, as well that of England as that
of France ; and therefore, casting at the fairest, hath,
in a manner, bent his whole strength upon France,
making, in the mean time, only a defensive war in
the Low Countries. But finding again, that the sup-
ports and aids which her majesty hath continued to
the French king, are a principal impediment an'd re-
tardation to his prevailing there according to his ends,
he hath, now of late, by all means, projected to trou-
ble the waters here, and to cut us out some work at
home ; that by practice, without diverting and em-
ploying any great forces, he might nevertheless divert
our succours from France.

Eeport of Lopez's Treason.

According to which purpose, he first proved to move
some innovation in Scotland, not so much in hope to
alienate the king from the amity of her majesty, as
practising to make a party there against the king him-
self, whereby he should be compelled to use her ma-
jesty's forces for his assistance. Then he solicited a
subject within this realm, being a person of great no-
bility, to rise in arms and levy war against her ma-
jesty ; which practice was by the said nobleman loyally
and prudently revealed. And lastly, rather, as it is
to be thought, by the instigation of our traiterous fugi-
tives in foreign parts, and the corrupter sort of his
counsellors and ministers, than of his own nature and
inclination, either himself, or his said counsellors and
ministers using his name, have descended to a course
against all honour, all society and humanity, odious
to God and man, detested by the heathens themselves,
which is, to take away the life of her majesty, which
God have in his precious custody ! by violence or poi-
son. A matter which might be proved to be not only
against all Christianity and religion, but against na-
ture, the law of nations, the honour of arms, civil
law, the rules of morality and policy ; finally, to be
the most condemned, barbarous, savage, and ferine
act that can be imagined ; yea, supposing the quar-
rels and hostility between the princes to be never so
declared and so mortal, yet where it not that it would
be a very reproach unto the age, that the matter
should be once disputed or called in question. And
therefore I leave it to the censure which Titus Livius
giveth in the like case upon Perseus, the last king of
the Macedons, afterwards overthrown, taken with his
children, and led in triumph by the Romans; Quern
non jiistum parare bellum rcgio animo, sed per omnia
clandestina grassari scelera, latrociniorum ac ven{fi-
ciorum, ccrnebant.

But to proceed : certain it is, that even about this
present time there have been suborned and sent into
this realm divers persons, some English, some Irish,
corrupted by money and promises, and resolved and
conjured by priests in confession, to have executed

08 Report of Lopez's Treason.

that most wretched and horrible fact; of which num-
ber certain have been taken, and some have suffered,
and some are spared because they have with great sor-
row confessed these attempts, and detested their
suborners. And if I should conjecture what the rea-
son is why this cursed enterprise was at this time so
hotly and with such devilish diligence pursued, I take
it to be chiefly because the matters of France wax
ripe, and the king of Spain made himself ready to un-
mask himself, and to reap that in France, which he
had been long in sowing, in regard that, there being
like to be a divulsion in the league by the reconcilia-
tion of some of the heads to the king, the more pas-
sionate sort, being destituted by their associates, were
like to cast themselves wholly into the king of Spain's
arms, and to dismember some important piece of that
crown ; though now upon this fresh accident of re-
ceiving the king into Paris, it is to be thought that both
the worst affected of the league will submit themselves
upon any tolerable conditions to their natural king,
thus advanced in strength and reputation ; and the
king of Spain will take a second advice ere he embark
himself too far in any new attempt against France.
But taking the affairs as they then stood before, this
accident unexpected, especially of the council of Spain,
during this his supposed harvest in France, his council
had reason to wish that there were no disturbance
from hence, where they make account that if her ma-
jesty were removed, upon whose person God continue
his extraordinary watch and providence ! here would
be nothing but confusion, which they do not doubt
but with some no great treasure, and forces from with-
out, may be nourished till they can more fully intend
the ruin of this state, according to their ancient ma-
lice.

But howsoever that be, amongst the number of
these execrable undertakers, there was none so much
built and relied upon by the great ones of the other
side, as was this physician Lopez ; nor, indeed, none
so dangerous ; whether you consider the aptness of
the instrument, or the subtlety and secresy of those

Report of Lopez's Treason.

that practised with him, or the shift and evasion which
he had provided for a colour of his doings, if they
should happen to come into question. For first,
whereas others were to find and encounter infinite
difficulties, in the very obtaining of an opportunity to
execute this horrible act; and, besides, cannot but
see present and most assured death before their eyes,
and therefore must be, as it were, damnable votaries
if they undertake it : this man, in regard of his faculty,
and of his private access to her majesty, had both
means to perpetrate, and means to conceal, whereby
he might reap the fruit of his wicked treason without
evident peril. And for his complices that practised
with him, being Portuguese, and of the retinue of
king Antonio, the king of Spain's mortal enemy, they
were men thereby freed and discharged from suspi-
cion, and might send letters and receive letters out of
Spain without jealousy ; as those which were thought
to entertain intelligences there for the good of their
master. And for the evasion and mask that Lopez
had prepared for this treason, if it had not been
searched and sifted to the bottom, it was, that he did
intend but to cozen the king of Spain, without ill
meaning ; somewhat in the nature of that stratagem
which Parry, a most cunning and artificial traitor, had
provided for himself.

Nevertheless this matter, by the great goodness of
God, falling into good hands, of those honourable and
sufficient persons wrhich dealt therein, was by their
great and worthy industry so handled and followed, as
this Proteus of a disguised and transformed treason did
at last appear in his own likeness and colours, which
were as foul and monstrous as have been known in the
world. For some of her majesty's honourable council
long since entered into consideration, that the retinue
of king Antonio, I mean some of them, were not unlike
to hatch these kinds of treasons, in regard they were
needy strangers, entered into despair of their master's
fortune, and like enough to aspire to make their peace
at home, by some such wicked services as these -, and
therefore grew to have an extraordinary vigilant eye

Report of Lopez's Treason.

upon them : which prudent and discreet presumption,
or conjecture, joined with some advertisements of
espials abroad, and some other industry, was the first
cause, next under the great benediction of God,
which giverh unto princes zealous counsellors, and
giveth to counsellors policy, and discerning thoughts,
of the revealing and discovering of these treasons,
which \vere contrived in order and form, as hereafter
is set down.

This Lopez, of nation a Portuguese, and suspected
to be in sect secretly a Jew, though here he conformed
himself to the rites of the Christian religion, had for
a long time professed physic in this land, by occasion
whereof, being withal a man very observant and offi-
cious, and of a pleasing and appliable behaviour; in
that regard, rather than for any great learning in his
faculty, he grew known and favoured in court, and
was some years since sworn physician of her majesty's
household ; and by her majesty's bounty, of whom he
hath received divers gifts of good commodity, was
grown to good estate of wealth.

This man had insinuated himself greatly, in regard
he was of the same nation with the king Antonio,
whose causes he pretended to solicit at the court;
especially while he supposed there was any appear-
ance of his fortune ; of whom also he had obtained,
as one that referred all his doings to gain, an assigna-
tion of 50,000 crowns to be levied in Portugal. But
being a person wholly of a corrupt and mercenary na-
ture, and rinding his hopes cold from that part ; he
cast his eyes upon a more able paymaster, and se-
cretly made offer long since of his service to the king
of Spain: and accordingly gave sundry intelligences of
that which passed here, and imported most for the
king of Spain to know, having no small means, in re-
gard of his continual attendance at court, nearness,
and access, to learn many particulars of great weight :
which intelligences he entertained with Bernardine
Mendoza, Antonio Vega, Roderigo Marquez, and
divers others.

In the conveyance of which his intelligences, and

Report of Lopez's Treason. Ill

in the making known of his disposition to do the king
of Spain service, he did use, amongst others, one
Manuel Andrada a Portuguese, revolted from Don
Antonio to the king of Spain ; one that was discovered
to have practised the death of the said Don Antonio,
and to have betrayed him to Bernardine Mendoza.
This man coming hither, was, for the same, his prac-
tice appearing by letters intercepted, apprehended and
committed to prison. Before which time also, there
had been by good diligence intercepted other letters,
\vhereby the said Andrada advertised Mendoza, that
he had won Dr. Lopez to the king's service: but
Lopez having understanding thereof, and finding
means to have secret conference with Andrada before
his examination, persuaded with him to take the matter
upon himself, as if he had invented that advertisement
touching Lopez, only to procure himself credit with
Mendoza ; and to make him conceive well of his in-
dustry and service. And to move him hereunto,
Lopez set before Andrada, that if he did excuse him,
he should have credit to work his delivery; whereas,
if he did impeach him, he was not like to find any
other means of favour. By which subtle persuasion
Andrada, when he came to be examined, answered
according to the direction and lessoning which Lopez
had given him. And having thus acquitted himself of
this suspicion, became suitor for Andrada's delivery,
craftily suggesting, that he was to do some notable
service to Don Antonio ; in which his suit he accord-
ingly prevailed. When Lopez had thus got Andrada
out of prison, he was suffered to go out of the realm
into Spain -, in pretence, as was said, to do some ser-
vice to Don Antonio; but in truth, to continue Lopez's
negotiations and intelligences with the king of Spain ;
which he handled so well, as at his return hither, for
the comforting of the said Lopez, he brought to him
from the king, besides thanks and words of encou-
ragement, and an Abrazo, which is the complement
of favour, a very good jewel garnished with sundry
stones of good value. This jewel, when Lopez had
accepted, he cunningly cast with himself, that if he

112 Report of Lopez's Treason.

should offer it to her majesty first, he was assured she*
would not take it : next, that thereby he should lay
her asleep, and make her secure of him for greater
matters, according to the saying, Fraus sibi fdtm in
parvis pratstruit ut in magnis opprhnat ,• which ac-
cordingly he did, with protestations of his fidelity :
and her majesty, as a princess of magnanimity, not
apt to fear or suspicion, returned it to him with gra-
cious words.

After Lopez had thus abused her majesty, and had
these trials of the fidelity of Andrada, they fell in con-
ference, the matter being first moved by Andrada, as
he that came freshly out of Spain, touching the em-
poisoning of the queen : which Lopez, who saw that
matter of intelligence, without some such particular
service, would draw no great reward from the king of
Spain ; such as a man that was not needy, but wealthy
as he was, could find any taste in, assented unto. And
to that purpose procured again this Andrada to be sent
over, as well to advertise and assure this matter to the
king of Spain and his ministers, namely, to the count
de Fuentes, assistant to the general of the king of
Spain's forces in the Low Countries3 as also to capitu-
late and contract with him about the certainty of his
reward. Andrada having received those instructions,
and being furnished with money, by Lopez's procure-
ment, from Don Antonio, about whose service his
employment was believed to be, went over to Calais,
where he remained to be near unto England and Flan-
ders, having a boy that ordinarily passed to and fro
between him and Lopez : by whom he did also, the
better to colour his employment, write to Lopez intel-
ligence, as it was agreed he should between him and
Lopez ; who bad him send such news as he should
take up in the streets. From Calais he writeth to
count de Fuentes of Lopez's promise and demands.
Upon the receipt of which letters, after some time
taken to advertise this proposition unto Spain, and to
receive direction thereupon, the count de Fuentes as-
sociated with Stephano Ibarra, secretary of the coun-
cil of the wars in the Low Countries, callcth to him

Report of Lopez1 s Treason. 113

one Manuel Louis Tinoco, a Portuguese, who had also
followed king Antonio, and of whose good devotion
he had had experience, in that he had conveyed unto
him two several packets, wherewith he was trusted by
the king Antonio for France. Of this Louis they first
received a corporal oath, with solemn ceremony, taking
his hands between their hands, that he should keep
secret that which should be imparted to him, and never
reveal the same, though he should be apprehended and
questioned here. This done, they acquaint him with
the letters of Andrada, with whom they charge him
to confer at Calais in his way, and to pass to Lopez
into England, addressing him farther to Stephano
Ferrera de Gam a, and signifying unto the said Louis
withal, as from the king, that he gave no great cre-
dence to Andrada, as a person too slight to be used in
a cause of so great weight: and therefore marvelled
much that he heard nothing from Ferrera of this mat-
ter, from whom he had in former time been advertised
in generality of Lopez's good affection to do him ser-
vice. This Ferrera had been sometimes a man of
great livelihood and wealth in Portugal, which he did
forego in adhering to Don Antonio, and appeareth to
be a man of a capacity and practice; but hath some
years since been secretly won to the service of the king
of Spain, not travelling nevertheless to and fro, but
residing as his lieger in England.

Manuel Louis dispatched with these instructions, and
with all affectionate commendation from the comte to
Lopez, and with letters to Ferrera, took his journey
first to Calais, where he conferred with Andrada ; of
whom receiving more ample information, together
with a short ticket of credence to Lopez, that he was
a person whom he might trust without scruple, came
over into England, and first repaired to Ferrera, and
acquainted him with the state of the business, who had
before that time given some light unto Lopez, that he
was not a stranger unto the practice between him and
Andrada, wherewith, indeed, Andrada had in a sort
acquainted him. And now upon this new dispatch
and knowledge given to Lopez, of the choice of Fer-

VOL. Ill, I

114- Report of Lopez's Treason.

rera to continue that which Aridrada had begun : he,
to conform himself the better to the satisfaction of the
king of Spain, and his ministers abroad, was content
more fully to communicate with Ferrera, with whom,
from that time forward, he meant singly and apart to
/ deal; and therefore cunningly forbore to speak with
Manuel Louis himself; but concluded that Ferrera
fliould be his only trunk, and all his dealings should
pass through his hands, thinking thereby to have gone
invisible.

Whereupon he cast with himself, that it was not so
safe to use the mediation of Manuel Louis, who had
been made privy to the matter, as some base carrier of
letters ; which letters also should be written in a cipher,
not of alphabet, but of words ; such as might, if they
were opened, import no vehement suspicion. And
therefore Manuel Louis was sent back with a short
answer, and Lopez purveyed himself of a base fellow,
a Portuguese called Gomez d'Avila, dwelling hard by
Lopez's house, to convey his letters. After this mes-
senger provided, it was agreed between Lopez and
Ferrera, that letters should be sent to the comte de
Fuentes, and secretary Juarra, written and signed by
Ferrera, for Lopez cautelously did forbear to write
himself, but directed, and indeed dictated word by
word by Lopez himself. The contents thereof were,
that Lopez was ready to execute that service to the
king, which before had been treated, but required for
his recompence the sum of 5000 crowns, and assurance
for the same.

These letters were written obscurely, as was touched,
in terms of merchandise; to which obscurity, when
Ferrera excepted, Lopez answered, they knew his
meaning by that which had passed before. Ferrera
wrote also to E. Manuel Louis, but charged this Gomez
to deliver the same letters unto him in the presence of
Juarra; as also the letter to Juarra in the presence of
Manuel Louis. And these letters were delivered to
Gomez d'Avila to be carried to Brussels, and a pass-
port procured, and his charges defrayed by Lopez.
And Ferrera, the more to approve his industry, writ

Report of Lopez's Treason.

letters two several times, the one conveyed by Emanuel
Fallacies, with the privity of Lopez, to Christophero
Moro, a principal counsellor of the king of Spain, in
Spain; signifying that Lopez was won to the king of
Spain, and that he was ready to receive his command-
ments; and received a letter from the same Christophero
Moro, in answer to one of these which he shewed unto
Lopez. In the mean time Lopez, though a man in
semblance of a heavy wit, yet indeed subtle of him-
self, as one trained in practice, and besides as wily as
fear and covetousness could make him, thought to
provide for himself, as was partly touched before, as
many starting holes and evasions as he could devise, if
any of these matters should come to light. And first
he took his time to cast forth some general words afar
off to her majesty, as asking her the question, Whether
a deceiver might not be deceived? Whereof her ma-
jesty, not imagining these words tended to such end,
as to warrant him colourably in this wretched conspi-
racy, but otherwise, of her own natural disposition to
integrity and sincerity, uttered dislike and disallowance.
Next, he thought he had wrought a great mystery in
demanding the precise sum of 50,000 crowns, agreeing
just with the sum of assignation or donation from Don
Antonio; idly, and in that grosly imagining, that, if
afterwards he should accept the same sum, he might
excuse it, as made good by the king of Spain, in re-
gard he had desisted to follow and favour Don Antonio ^
whereupon the king of Spain was in honour tied not
to see him a loser. Thirdly, in his conferences with
Ferrera, when he was apposed upon the particular
manner how he would poison her majesty, he purposely
named unto him a syrup, knowing that her majesty
never useth syrup; and therefore thinking that would
prove an high point for his justification, if things should
come in any question.

But all this while desirous after his prey, which he
had in hope devoured, he did instantly importune
Ferrera for the answering of his last dispatch, finding
the delay strange, and reiterating the protestations of

I 2

Report of Lopez's Treason.

his readiness to do the service, if he were assured of
his money.

Now before the return of Gomez d'Avila into Eng-
land, this Stephen Ferrera was discovered to have
intelligence with the enemy; but so, as the particular
of his traffic and overtures appeared not, only it seemed
there was great account made of that he managed :
and thereupon he was committed to prison. Soon
after arrived Gomez d'Avila, and brought letters only
from Manuel Louis, by the name of Francisco de
Thoresj because as it seemeth, the great persons on
the other side had a contrary discretion to Lopez, and
liked not to write by so base a messenger, but con-
tinued their course to trust and employ Manuel Louis
himself, who in likelihood was retained till they might
receive a full conclusion from Spain ; which was not
till about two months after. This Gomez was appre-
hended at his landing, and about him were found the
letters aforesaid, written in jargon, or verbal cipher,
but yet somewhat suspicious, in these words : " This
" bearer will tell you the price in which your pearls are
" esteemed, and in what resolution we rest about a
c< little musk and amber, which I am determined to
" buy." Which words the said Manuel Louis after-
wards voluntarily confessed to be deciphered in this
sort; that by the allowance of the pearls he meant,
that the comte de Fuentes, and the secretary, did gladly
accept the offer of Lopez to poison the queen, signified
by Ferrera's letter; and for the provision of amber and
musk, it was meant, that the comte looked shortly for
a resolution from the king of Spain concerning a matter
of importance, which was for burning of the queen's
ships ; and another point tending to the satisfaction of
their vindictive humour.

But while the sense of this former letter rested am-
biguous, and that no direct particular was confessed
by Ferrera, nor sufficient light given to ground any
rigorous examination of him, cometh over Manuel
Louis with the resolution from Spain ; who first under-
standing of Ferrera's restraint, and therefore doubting
how far things were discovered, to shadow the matter,

Report of Lopez's Treason.

like a cunning companion, gave advertisement of an
intent he had to do service, and hereupon obtained a
passport: but after his coming in, he made no haste to
reveal any thing, but thought to dally and abuse in
some other sort. And while the light was thus in the
clouds, there was also intercepted a little ticket which
Ferrera in prison had found means to write, in care to
conceal Lopez, and to keep him out of danger, to give
a caveat of staving all farther answers and advertise-
ments in these causes. Whereupon Lopez was first
called in question.

But in conclusion, this matter being with all assiduity
and policy more and more pierced and mined into, first,
there was won from Manuel Louis his letters from the
comte de Fuentes and secretary Juarra to Ferrera, in
both which, mention is made of the queen's death; in
that of the comte's, under the term of a commission;
and in that of the secretary's, under the term of the
great service, whereof should arise an universal benefit
to the whole world. Also the letters of credit written
by Gonsalo Gomez, one to Pedro de Carrera, and the
other to Juan Pallacio, to take up a sum of money by
E. Manuel Louis, by the foresaid false name of Fr. de
Thores; letters so large, and in a manner without
limitation, as any sum by virtue thereof might be
taken up : which letters were delivered to Loui? by
the comte de Fuentes's own hands, with directions to
shew them to Lopez for his assurance ; a matter of
God's secret working in staying the same, for thereupon
rested only the execution of the fact of Lopez. Upon
so narrow a point consisted the safety of her majesty's
life, already sold by avarice, to malice and ambition,
but extraordinarily preserved by that watchman which
never slumbereth. This same E. Manuel Louis, and
Stephen Ferrera also, whereof the one managed the
matter abroad, and the other resided here to give cor-
respondence, never meeting after Manuel had returned,
severally examined without torture or threatening, did
in the end voluntarily and clearly confess the matters
above-mentioned, and in their confessions fully consent
and concur, not only in substance, but in all points,

Reporl of Lopez's Treason.

particularities, and circumstances; which confessions
appear expressed in their own natural language, testi-
fied and subscribed with their own hands ; and in open
assembly, at the arraignment of Lopez in the Guild-
hall, were by them confirmed and avouched to Lopez
his face; and therewithal are extant, undefaced, the
original letters from comte deFuentes, secretary Juarra,
and the rest.

And Lopez himself, at his first apprehension and
examination, did indeed deny, and deny with deep
and terrible oaths and execrations, the very conferences
and treatures with Ferrera, or Andrada, about the
empoisonment. And being demanded, if they were
proved against him what he would say? he answered,
That he would yield himself guilty of the fact intended.
Nevertheless, being afterwards confronted by Ferrera,
who constantly maintained to him all that he had said,
reducing him to the times and places of his said con-
ferences, he confessed the matter, as by his confession
in writing, signed with his own hand, appeareth. But
then he fell to that slender evasion, as his last refuge,
that he meant only to cozen the king of Spain of the
money : and in that he continued at his arraignment,
when, notwithstanding, at the first he did retract his
own confession : and yet being asked, whether he was
drawn, either by means of torture, or promise of
life, to make the same confession ? he did openly
testify that no such means were used towards him.

But the falsehood of this excuse, being an allegation
that any traitor may use and provide for himself, is
convicted by three notable proofs. The first, that he
never opened this matter, neither unto her majesty,
unto whom he had ordinary access, nor to any coun-
sellor of state, to have permission to toll on, and in-
veigle these parties with whom he did treat, if it had
been thought so convenient; wherein, perhaps, he had
opportunity to have done some good service, for the
farther discovery of their secret machinations against
her majesty's life. The second, that he came too late
to this shift ; having first bewrayed his guilty con-
j in denying those treaties and conferences till

Report of Lopez's Treason. 1 19

they were evidently and manifestly proved to his face.
The third, that in conferring with Ferrera about the
manner of his assurance, he thought it better to have
the money in the hands of such merchants as he should
name in Antwerp, than to have it brought into Eng-
land ; declaring his purpose to be, after the fact done,
speedily to fly to Antwerp, and there to tarry some
time, and so to convey himself to Constantinople;
where it is affirmed, that Don Salomon, a Jew in good
credit, is Lopez his near kinsman, and that he is
greatly favoured by the said Don Salomon: whereby
it is evident that Lopez had cast his reckonings upon
the supposition of the fact done.

Thus may appear, both how justly this Lopez* is
condemned for the highest treason that can be ima-
gined; and how by God's marvellous goodness, her
majesty hath been preserved. And surely, if a man
do duly consider, it is hard to say, whether God hath
done greater things by her majesty or for her: if you
observe on the one side, how God hath ordained her
government to break and cross the unjust ambition^of
the two mighty potentates, the king of Spain and the
Bishop of Rome, never so straitly between themselves
combined: and on the other side, how mightily God
hath protected her, both against foreign invasion and
inwrard troubles, and singularly against the many secret
conspiracies that have been made against her life;
thereby declaring to the world that he will indeed
preserve that instrument which he hath magnified.
But the corruptions of these times are wonderful, when
that wars, which are the highest trials of right between
princes, that acknowledge no superior jurisdiction, and
ought to be prosecuted with all honour, shall be stained
and infamed with such foul and inhuman practices.
"Wherein if so great a king hath been named, the rule
of the civil law, which is a rule of common reason,
tmus be remembered ; Frits tra legis auxilium implorat,
qui in legem committit. He that hath sought to violate
the majesty royal, in the highest degree, cannot claim
the pre-eminence thereof to be exempted from just
imputation.

* Lopez was executed jth June, 1594.

t 320 ]

THE

* PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

EARL OF ESSEX.

The points of form worthy to be observed.

X HE fifth of June in Trinity term, upon Thursday,
being no Star-chamber day, at the ordinary hour when
the courts sit at Westminster, were assembled together
at the lord-keeper's house in the great chamber, her
majesty's privy-council, enlarged and assisted for that
time and cause by the special call and associating of
certain select persons, viz. four earls, two barons, and
four judges of the law, making in the whole a council
or court of eighteen persons, who were attended by
four of her majesty's learned counsel for charging the
earl ; and two clerks of the council, the one to read,
the other as a register ; and an auditory of persons, to
the number, as I could guess, of two hundred, almost
all men of quality, but of every kind or profession ;
nobility, court, law, country, city. The upper end of
the table left void for the earl's appearance, w?ho, after
the commissioners had sat a while, and the auditory
was quiet from the first throng to get in, and the doors
shut, presented himself and kneeled down at the
board's end, and so continued till he was licensed to
Stand up.

The names of the commissioners.

Lord Archbishop,
Lord Keeper, etc.

* At York-House, in June, 1600, prepared for queen Elizabeth
by her- command, and read to her by Mr, Bacon, but never pub*
lished.

TJie Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 121

IT was opened, that her majesty being imperial, and A
immediate under God, was not holden to render ac-
count of her actions to any ; howbeit, because she
had chosen ever to govern, as well with satisfaction i
as with sovereignty, and the rather, to command down
the winds of malicious and seditious rumours where-
with mens conceits may have been tossed to and fro*
she wras pleased to call the world to an understanding
of her princely course held towards the earl of Essex,
as well in here-before protracting as in now pro-
ceeding.

The earl repairing from his government into this
realm in August last, contrary to her majesty's express
and most judicial commandment, though the contempt
were in that point visible, and her majesty's mind pre-
pared to a just and high displeasure, in regard of that
realm of Ireland set at hazard by his former disobe-
dience to her royal directions, yet kept that stay, as
she commanded my lord only to his chamber in court,
until his allegations might by her privy-council be
questioned and heard; which account taken, and my
lord's answers appearing to be of no defence, that
shadow of defence which was offered consisted of
two parts, the one his own conceit of some likeli-
hood of good effects to ensue of the course held, the
other a vehement and over-ruling persuasion of the
council there, though he were indeed as absolutely
freed from opinion of the council of Ireland, as he
was absolutely tied to her majesty's trust and instruc-
tions. Nevertheless, her majesty not unwilling to
admit any extenuation of his offence ; and consider-
ing the one point required advertisement out of Ireland,
and the other further expectation of the event and
sequel of the affairs there, and so both points asked
time and protraction: her majesty proceeded still with
reservation, not to any restraint of my lord according
to the nature and degree of his offence, but to a com-
mitment of him sub Libcra custodia, in the lord-
keeper's house.

After, when both parts of this defence plainly failed
my lord, yea and proved utterly adverse to him, for the

1 22 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

council of Ireland in plain terms disavowed all those
his proceedings, and the event made a miserable in-
terpretation of them, then her majesty began to behold
the offence in nature and likeness, as it was divested
from any palliation or cover, and in the true proportion
and magnitude thereof, importing the peril of a king-
dom : which consideration wrought in her majesty a
strange effect, if any thing which is heroical in virtue
can be strange in her nature ; for when offence was
grown unmeasurably offensive, then did grace supera-
bound ; and in the heat of all the ill news out of Ire-
land, and other advertisements thence to my lord's
disadvantage, her majesty entered into a resolution,
out of herself and her inscrutable goodness, not to
overthrow my lord's fortune irreparably, by public and
proportionable justice : notwithstanding, inasmuch as
about that time there did fly about in London streets
and theatres divers seditious libels ; and Powles and
ordinaries were full of bold and factious discourses,
\vhereby not only many of her majesty's faithful and
zealous counsellors and servants were taxed, but
withal the hard estate of Ireland was imputed to any
thing rather than unto the true cause, the earl's de-
faults, though this might have made any prince on
earth to lay aside straightways the former resolution
taken, yet her majesty in her moderation persisted in
her course of clemency, and bethought herself of a
mean to right her own honour, and yet spare the earl's
ruin 'y and therefore taking a just and most necessary
occasion upon these libels, of an admonition to be
given seasonably, and as is oft accustomed; the last
Star-chamber day of Michaelmas term, was pleased,
that declaration should be made, by way of testimony,
of all her honourable privy council, of her majesty's
infinite care, royal provisions, and prudent directions
for the prosecutions in Ireland, wherein the earl's
errors, by which means so great care and charge was
frustrated, were incidently touched,

But as in bodies very corrupt, the medicine rather
stirreth and exasperateth the humour than purgeth it,
so some turbulent spirits laid hold of this proceeding in

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 123

so singular partiality towards my lord, as if it bad been
to his disadvantage, and gave out that this was to con-
demn a man unheard, and to wound him on his back,
and to leave Justice her sword, and take away her
balance, which consisted of an accusation and a de-
fence ; and such other seditious phrases: whereupon
her majesty seeing herself interested in honour, which
she hath ever sought to preserve as her eye, clear and
without mote, was inforced to resolve of a judicial
hearing of the cause, which was accordingly appointed
in the end of Hilary term. At the which time, warn-
ing being given to my lord to prepare himself, he fall-
ing, as it seemed, in a deep consideration of his estate,
made unto her majesty by letter an humble and effec-
tual submission, beseeching her that that bitter cup of
justice might pass from him, for those were his words;
which wrought such an impression in her majesty's
mind, that it not only revived in her her former resolu-
tion to forbear any public hearing, but it fetched this
virtue out of mercy by the only touch, a few days after
my lord was removed to further liberty in his own
house, her majesty hoping that these bruits and mali-
cious imputations would of themselves wax old and
vanish : but finding it otherwise in proof, upon taste
taken by some intermission of time, and especially
beholding the humour of the time in a letter presumed
to be written to her majesty herself by a lady, to
whom, though nearest in blood to my lord, it apper-
tained little to intermeddle in matters of this nature,
otherwise than in course of humility to have solicited
her grace and mercy; in which letter, in a certain
violent and mineral spirit of bitterness, remonstrance
and representation is made to her majesty, as if my
lord suffered under passion and faction, and not under
justice mixed with mercy; which letter, though writ-
ten to her sacred majesty, and therefore unfit to pass
in vulgar hands, yet was first divulged by copies every
where, that being, as it seemeth, the newest and
finest form of libelling, and since committed to the
press : her majesty in her wisdom seeing manifestly
these rumours thus nourished had got too great a head

124 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

to be repressed without some hearing of the cause,
and calling my lord to answer ; and yet on the other
side, being still informed touching my lord himself of
his continuance of penitence and submission, did in
conclusion resolve to use justice, but with the edge
and point taken off and rebated ; for whereas nothing
Icaveth that teint upon honour, which In a person of
my lord's condition is hardliest repaired, in question
of justice, as to be called to the ordinary and open
place of offenders and criminals, her majesty had or-
dered that the hearing should be intra domesticos pa-
rie/eSy and not luce forensi. And whereas again in
the Star-chamber there be certain formalities, not fit in
regard of example to be dispensed with, which would
Strike deeper both into my lord's fortune and reputa-
tation ; as the fine which is incident to a sentence
there given, and the imprisonment of the Tower,
which in case of contempts that touch the point of
estate doth likewise follow ; her majesty turning this
course, hath directed that the matters should receive,
before a great, honourable, and selected council, a
full and deliberate, and yet in respect, a private, mild,
and gracious hearing.

All this was not spoken in one undivided speech,
but partly by the first that spake of the learned coun-
cil, and partly by some of the commissioners : for in
this and the rest I keep order of matter, and not of
circumstance.

The matters laid to my Lord's charge.

The charge. The matters wherewith my lord was charged were
of two several natures ; of an higher, and of an inferior
degree of offence.

The former kind purported great and high con-
temps and points of misgovernance in his office of her
majesty's lieutenant and governor of her realm of Ire-
land ; and in the trust and authority thereby to him
committed.

The latter contained divers notorious errors and neg-
lects of duty, as well in his government as otherwise.

Tlie Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 125

The great contempts and points of misgovernment
and malversation in his office, were articulated into
three heads.

I. The first was the journey into Munster, whereby
the prosecution in due time upon Tyrone in U1-
ster was overthrown : wherein he proceeded con-
trary to his directions, arid the whole design of
his employment ; whereof ensued the consump-
tion of her majesty's army, treasure, and provi-
sions, and the evident peril of that kingdom.

II. The second was the ' dishonourable and dan-
gerous treaty held, and cessation concluded with
the same arch-rebel Tyrone.

III. The third was his contemptuous leaving his
government, contrary to her majesty's absolute
mandate under her hand and signet, and in a
time of so imminent and instant danger.

For the first, it had two parts ; that her majesty'sTtats*»
resolution and direction was precise and absolute
the northern prosecution, and that the same direction
was by my lord, in regard of the journey to Munster,
wilfully and contemptuously broken.

It was therefore delivered, that her majesty, touched pm
with a true and princely sense of the torn and broken
estate of that kingdom of Ireland, entered into a most
Christian and magnanimous resolution to leave no fa-
culty of her regal power or policy unimployed for the
reduction of that people, and for the suppressing and
utter quenching of that flame of rebellion, wherewith
that country was and is wasted : whereupon her majesty
was pleased to take knowledge of the general conceit,
how the former making and managing of the actions
there had been taxed, upon two exceptions ; the one,
that the proportions of forces which had been there
maintained and continued by supplies, were not suffi-
cient to bring the prosecutions to a period : the other,
that the prosecutions had been also intermixed and in-
terrupted with too many temporizing treaties, whereby
the rebel did not only gather strength, but also find his

126 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

strength more and more, so as ever such smothers
broke forth again into greater flames. Which kind of
discourses and objections, as they were entertained in
a popular kind of observation, so were they ever chiefly
patronized and apprehended by the earl, both upon
former times and occasions, and now last when this
matter was in deliberation. So as her majesty, to
acquit her honour and regal function, and to give this
satisfaction to herself and others, that she had left no
way untried, resolved to undertake the action with a
royal army and puissant forces, under the leading of
some principal nobleman ; in such sort, that, as far as
human discourse might discern, it might be hoped,
that by the expedition of a summer things might be
brought to that state, as both realms may feel some
ease and respiration ; this from charge and levies, and
that from troubles and perils. Upon this ground her
majesty made choice of my lord of Essex for that ser-
vice, a principal peer and officer of her realm, a per-
son honoured with the trust of a privy counsellor,
graced with the note of her majesty's special favour,
infallibly betokening and redoubling his worth and va-
lue, enabled with the experience and reputation of
former services, and honourable charges in the wars ;
a man every way eminent, select, and qualified for a
general of a great enterprise, intended for the recovery
and reduction of that kingdom, and not only or merely
as a lieutenant or governor of Ireland.

My lord, after that he had taken the charge upon
him, tell strajgbtways to make propositions answerable
to her majesty's ends, and answerable to his own for-
mer discourses and opinions ; and chiefly did set down
one full and distinct resolution, that the design and
action, which of all others was most final and sum-
mary towards an end of those troubles, and which was
worthy her majesty's enterprise with great and puissant
forces, was a prosecution to be made upon the arch-
traitor Tyrone in his own strengths within the province
of Ulster, whereby both the interior rebels which rely
upon him, and the foreigner upon whom he relieth,
might be discouraged, and so to cut asunder both de-

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 127

pendencies : and for the proceeding with greater
strength and policy in that action, that the main inva-
sion and impression of her majesty's army should be
accompanied and corresponded unto by the plantation
of strong garrisons in the north, as well upon the river
of Loghfoile as a postern of that province, as upon the
hither frontiers, both for the distracting and bridling of
the rebels forces during the action, and again, for the
keeping possession of the victory, if God should send it.

This proposition and project moving from my lord,
was debated in many consultations. The principal
men of judgment and service in the wars, as a council
of war to assist a council of state, were called at times
unto it ; and this opinion of my lord was by himself
fortified and maintained against all contradiction and
opposite argument ; and in the end, ex unanimi con-
sensu, it was concluded and resolved that the ax should
be put to the root of the tree: which resolution was
ratified and confirmed by the binding and royal judg-
ment of her sacred majesty, who vouchsafed her royal
presence at most of those consultations.

According to a proposition and enterprise of this
nature, were the proportions of forces and provi-
sions thereunto allotted. The first proportion set
down by my lord was the number of 12,000 foot and
120O horse; which being agreed unto, upon some other
accident out of Ireland, the earl propounded to have
it made 14,OOO foot, and 1300 horse, which was like-
wise accorded : within a little while after the earl did
newly insist to have an augmentation of 2000 more,
using great persuasions and confident significations of
good effect, if those numbers might be yielded to him,
as which he also obtained before his departure ; and
besides the supplies of 2000 arriving in July, he had
authority to raise 2000 Irish more, which he procured
by his letters out of Ireland, with pretence to further
the northern service ; so as the army was raised in the
conclusion and list to 16,000 foot, and 1300 horse, sup-
plied with 2000 more at three months end, and in-
creased with 2000 Irish upon this new demand;

128 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

whereby her majesty at that time paid 18,000 foot and
130O horse in the realm of Ireland. Of these forces,
divers companies drawn out of the experienced bands
of the Low Countries ; special care taken that the
new levies in the country should be of the ablest, and
most disposed bodies ; the army also animated and en-
couraged with the service of divers brave and valiant no-
blemen and gentlemen voluntaries ; in sum, the most
flourishing and complete troops that have been known
to have been sent out of our nation in any late memory.
A great mass of treasure provided and issued, amounting
to such a total, as the charge of that army, all manner
of ways, from the time of the first provisions and set-
ting forth, to the time of my lord's returning into Eng-
land, was verified to have drawn out of the coffers,
besides the charge of the country, the quantity of
300,0001. and so ordered, as he carried with him
three months pay beforehand, and likewise victual,
munition, and all habiliments of war whatsoever,
with attendance of shipping allowed and furnished in
a sortable proportion, and to the full of all my lord's
own demands. For my lord being himself a principal
counsellor for the preparations, as he was to be an
absolute commander in the execution, his spirit was
in every conference and conclusion in such sort, as
when there happened . any points of difference upon
demands, my lord using the forcible advantages of the
toleration and liberty which her majesty's special fa-
vour did give unto him, and the great devotion and
forwardness of his fellow-counsellors to the general
cause, and the necessity of his then present service, he
did ever prevail and carry it; insomuch as it was ob-
jected and laid to my lord's charge as one of his errors
and presumptions, that he did oftentimes, upon their
propositions and demands, enter into contestations
with her majesty, more a great deal than was fit. All
which propositions before mentioned being to the
utmost of my lord's own askings, and of that height
and greatness, might really and demonstratively express
and intimate unto him, besides his particular know-

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 1 29

ledge which he had, as a counsellor of estate, of the
means both of her majesty and this kingdom, that he
was not to expect to have the commandment of 16,OOO
foot and 1300 horse, as an appurtenance to his lieute-
nancy of Ireland, which was impossible to be main-
tained ; but contrariwise, that in truth of intention he
was designed as general for one great action and expe-
dition, unto which the rest of his authority was but
accessary and accommodated.

It was delivered further, that in the authority of his
commission, which was more ample in many points
than any former lieutenant had been vested with, there
were many direct and evident marks of his designation
to the northern action, as principally a clause whereby
mcrum arbitrium belli et pads was reposed in his sole
trust and discretion, whereas all the lieutenants were
ever tied unto the peremptory assistance and admoni-
tion of a certain number of voices of the council of
Ireland. The occasion of which clause so passed to
my lord, doth notably disclose and point unto the pre-
cise trust committed to my lord for the northern jour-
ney; for when his commission was drawn at first ac-
cording to former precedents, and on the other side
my lord insisted strongly to have this new and prim a
facie vast and exorbitant authority, he used this argu-
ment; that the council of Ireland had many of them
livings and possessions in or near the province of Lem-
ster and Munster ; but that Ulster was abandoned
from any such particular respects, whereby it was
like, the council there would be glad to use her ma-
jesty's forces for the clearing and assuring of those ter-
ritories and countries where their fortunes and estates
were planted : so as, if he should be tied to their
voices, he were like to be diverted from the main ser-
vice intended : upon which reason that clause was
yielded unto.

So as it was then concluded, that all circumstances
tended to one point, that there was a full and precise in-
tention and direction for Ulster, and that my lord could
not descend into the consideration of his own quality
and value; he could not muster his fair army; he

VOL. in/ K

130 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

could not account with the treasurer, and take con-
sideration of the great mass of treasure issued ; he could
not look into the ample and new clause of his letters
patents, he could not look back, either to bis own
former discourses, or to the late propositions whereof
himself was author, nor to the conferences, consulta-
tions, and conclusions thereupon, nor principally to
her majesty's royal direction and expectation, nor ge-
nerally to the conceit both of subjects of this realm,
and the rebels themselves in Ireland ; but which way
soever he turned, he must find himself trusted, directed,
and engaged wholly for the northern expedition.

The parts of this that was charged were verified by
three proofs: the first, the most authentical but the
least pressed, and that was her majesty's own royal
affirmation, both by her speech now and her precedent
letters ; the second, the testimony of the privy council,
who upon their honours did avouch the substance of
that was charged, and referred themselves also to many
of their lordships letters to the same effect ; the third,
letters written from my lord after his being in Ireland,
whereby the resolution touching the design of the
north is often acknowledged.

The proofs. There follow some clauses both of her majesty's
letters and of the lords of her council, and of the earl's
and the council of Ireland, for the verification of this
point.

Her majesty, in her letter of the 19th of July to my
lord of Essex, upon the lingering of the northern
journey, doubting my lord did value service, rather
by the labour he endured, than by the advantage of her
majesty's royal ends, hath these words:

Hermajesty " You have in this dispatch given us small light,

Essex T9ih°f<c either when or in what order you intend particularly

of juiy, im-" to proceed to the northern action ; wherein if you

aforti!? " compare the time that is run on, and the excessive

Munster « charges that are spent, with the effects of any thing

journey. (< wrought by this voyage, howsoever we remain satis-

" fied with your own particular cares and travails of

" body and mind, yet you must needs think that we,

" that have the eyes of foreign princes upon our

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 131

cc actions, and have the hearts of people to comfort
cc and cherish, who groan under the burthen of continual
" levies and impositions, which are occasioned by these
" late actions, can little please ourself hitherto with
c{ any thing that hath been effected."

In another branch of the same letter, reflecting her
royal regard upon her own honour interested in this
delay, hath these words :

" Whereunto we will add this one thing that doth A second
" more displease us than any charge or offence that
" happens, which is, that it must be the queen of
cc England's fortune, who hath held down the greatest
" enemy she had, to make a base bushkern to be ac-
" counted so famous a rebel, as to be a person against
" whom so many thousands of foot and horse, besides
" the force of all the nobility of that kingdom, must
" be thought too little to be imployed."

In another branch, discovering, as upon the vantage
ground of her princely wisdom, what would be the
issue of the courses then held, hath these words:

" And therefore, although by your letter we found A third
<c your purpose to go northwards, on which depends clauseofth»

, i_ • if • JV--L same letter.

<c the mam good or our service, and which wre ex-
" pected long since should have been performed ; yet
" because we do hear it bruited, besides the words of
" your letter written with your own hand, which
<c carries some such sense, that you who alledge such
" sickness in your army by being travelled with you,
" and find so great and important affairs to digest at
" Dublin, will yet ingage yourself personally into
cc Ophalie, being our lieutenant, when you have there
" so many inferiors able, might victual a fort, or seek
" revenge against those who have lately prospered
" against our forces. And when we call to mind how
" far the sun hath run his course, and what dependeth
" upon the timely plantation of garisons in the North,
" and how great scandal it would be to our honour to
" leave that proud rebel unassayed, when we have
" with so great an expectation of our enemies engaged
" ourselves so far in the action ; so that without that
" be done, all those former courses will prove like via

K 2

132 The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

cc navis in mari ; besides that our power, which
(< hitherto hath been dreaded by potent enemies, will
" now even be held contemptible amongst our rebels:
" we must plainly charge you, according to the duty
" you owe to us, so to unite soundness of judgment,
fc to the zeal you have to do us service, as with all
" speed to pass thither in such sort, as the ax might be
fl put to the root of that tree, which hath been the
" treasonable stock from whom so many poisoned
" plants and grafts have been derived ; by which pro-
ic ceedings of yours, we may neither have cause to
" repent of our imployment of yourself for omitting
" those opportunities to shorten the wars, nor receive
" in the eye of the world imputation of so much weak-
" ness in ourself, to begin a work without better
" foresight what would be the end of our excessive
" charge, the adventure of our people's lives, and the
" holding up of our own greatness against a wretch
" whom we have raised from the dust, and who could
<c never prosper, if the charges we have been put to
" were orderly imployed."

Her majesty in her particular letter written to my
lord the 30th of July, bindeth, still expresly upon the
northern prosecution, my lord ad principalia rerum,
in these words :

Hermajesty « First, you know right well, wThen we yielded to
Essex, °sot°h " this excessive charge, it was upon no other foun-
juiy. « Ration than to which yourself did ever advise us as
" much as any, which was, to assail the northern
" traitor, and to plant garrisons in his country 5 it
" being ever your firm opinion, amongst other our
" council, to conclude that all that was done in other
" kind in Ireland, was but waste and consumption.'*
Her majesty in her letter of the 9th of August to my
lord of Essex and the council of Ireland, when, after
Munster journey, they began in a new time to dissuade
the northern journey in her excellent ear, quickly rind-
ing a discord of men from themselves, chargeth them
in these words:

« Observe well what we have already written, and
e" " aP?ty your councils to that which may shorten, and

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 133

°f

cc not prolong the war; seeing never any of you was of 9th

" other opinion, than that all other courses were but August.
" consumptions, except we went on with the northern
" prosecution."

The lords of her majesty's council, in their letter
of the 10th of August to my lord of Essex and the
council of Ireland, do in plain terms lay before them the
first plot, in these words :

" We cannot deny but we did ground our counsels The lords of
" upon this foundation, That there should have been l^ord
" a prosecution of the capital rebels in the North, and the
" whereby the war might have been shortened ; which JJSmd,0
" resolution, as it was advised by yourself before your
" going, and assented to by most part of the council
" of war that were called to the question, so must we
" confess to your lordship, that we have all this while
" concurred with her majesty in the same desire and
" expectation."

My lord of Essex, and the council of Ireland, in
their letter of the 5th of May, to the lords of the coun-
cil before the Munster journey, write in haec verba.

" Moreover, in your lordship's great wisdom, you
" will likewise judge what pride the rebels will grow E,ssex and,

Jo r & the council

" to, what advantage the foreign enemy may take, of Ireland to
" and what loss her majesty shall receive, if this sum-^^rads;
" mer the arch-traitor be not assailed, and garrisons
" planted upon him."

My lord of Essex, in his particular letter of the 1 1th
of July, to the lords of the council, after Munster
journey, writeth thus :

" As fast as I can call these troops together, I will Theearito
<c go look upon yonder proud rebel, and if I find iuh°juiy.
" him on hard ground, and in an open country,
" though I should find him in horse and foot three for
" one, yet will I by God's grace dislodge him, or put
<e the council to the trouble of," etc.

The earl of Essex, in his letter of the 14th of August
to the lords of the council, writeth out ot great affec-
tion, as it seemeth, in these words:

" Yet must these rebels be assailed in the height of Thff earl to
" their pride, and our base clowns must be taught to

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex.

a fight again; else will her majesty's honour never be
cc recovered, nor our nation valued, nor this kingdom
" reduced."

Besides it was noted, that whereas my lord and the
council of Ireland, had, by theirs of the 15th of July,
desired an increase of 2000 Irish purposely for the
better setting on foot of the northern service ; her
majesty, notwithstanding her proportions, by often
gradations and risings, had been raised to the highest
elevation, yet was pleased to yield unto it.

1. The first part concerneth my lord's ingress into
his charge, and that which passed here before his going
hence ; now followeth an order, both of time and mat-
ter, what was done after my lord was gone into Ireland,
and had taken upon him the government by her ma-
jesty's commission.

2. The second part then of the first article was to
shew, that my lord did wilfully and contemptuously,

contemptu- in this great point of estate, violate and infringe her
majesty's direction before remembered.

jn delivering of the evidence and proofs of this part,

. i • i i r r i

it was laid down for a foundation, that there was a
fu|] performance on her majesty's part of all the points

prosecution. r •'.;**,

agreed upon for this great prosecution, so as there was
no impediment or cause of interruption from hence.

This is proved by a letter from my lord of Essex and
the council of Ireland to the lords of the council
here, dated 9th May, which was some three weeks
after my lord had received the sword, by which time
he might well and thoroughly inform himself whether
promises were kept in all things or no, and the words
of the letter are these:

The eari of " As your lordships do very truly set forth, we do

the council " veTT ^lum^y acknowledge her majesty's chargeable

ofheiandto" magnificence and royal preparations and transporta-

the cpuDcH " tions of men, munition, apparel, money, and victuals,

sth May. '« for the recovery of this distressed kingdom;" where

" note, the transportations acknowledged as well as

the preparations.

Next, it was set down for a second ground, that
there was no natural nor accidental impediment in the

The Proceedings of the Earl of Essex. 135

estate of the affairs themselves, against the prosecution
upon Tyrone, but only culpable impediments raised by
the journey of Munster.

This appeared by a letter from my lord and therhefariof
council of Ireland to the lords of the council here, JJ^JUJJ-i
dated the 28th of April, whereby they advertise, that of Ireland to
the prosecution of Ulster, in regard of lack of grass ^
and forage, and the poorness of cattle at that time of ast
year, and such like difficulties of the season, and not Apn1'
of the matter, will in better time, and with better com-
modity for the army, be fully executed about the middle
of June or beginning of July; and signify, that the earl
intended a present prosecution should be set on foot in
Lemster: to' which letters the lords make answer by
theirs of the 8th of May, signifying her majesty's tole-
ration of the delay.

[ 136 ]

A

DECLARATI ON

OF THE

PRACTICES AND TREASONS,

ATTEMPTED AND COMMITTED BY

ROBERT LATE EARL OF ESSEX

AND HIS COMPLICES,

AGAINST

Her Majesty and her Kingdoms;

And of the Proceedings as well as the Arraignments
and Convictions of the said late Earl, and his Adhe-
rents, as after: together with the very Confessions,
and other Parts of the Evidences themselves, word
for word, taken out of the Originals.

IMPRINTED ANNO 1601*.

A HOUGH public justice passed upon capital of-
fenders, according to the laws, and in course of an

* Our author has abundantly vouched this DECLARATION, etc.
to be penned by himself in the following passage of his Apology:

" It is very true also, about that time, her majesty taking a liking
" to my pen, upon that which I had formerly done concerning the
" proceeding at York-House, and likewise upon some other DE-
" CLARATIONS, which in former times by her appointment I put in
" writing, commanded me to pen that book, which was published
" for the better satisfaction of the world:, which I did, but so, as
" never secretary had more particular and express directions and
" instructions in every point how to guide my hand in it : and not
(< only so, but after I had made a first draft thereof, and propounded
" it to certain principal counsellors by her majesty's appointment,
*' it was perused, weighed, censured, altered, and made almost a
" new writing, according to their lordship's better consideration -,
(t wherein their lordships and myself both were as religious and
" curious of truth, as desirous of satisfa6tion: and myself indeed
" gave only words and form of stile in pursuing their direction.
" And after it had passed their allowance, it was again exactly
" perused by the queen herself, and some alterations made again

Declaration of the Treasons, Sfc. 137

honourable and ordinary trial, where the case would
have bom and required the severity of martial law to
have been speedily used, do in itself carry a sufficient
satisfaction towards all men, specially in a merciful
government, such as her majesty's is approved to be:
yet because there do pass abroad in the hands of many
men divers false and corrupt collections and relations
of the proceedings at the araignment of the late earls of
Essex and Southampton; and, again, because it is
requisite that the world do understand as well the pre-
cedent practices and inducements to the treasons, as
the open and actual treasons themselves, though in a
case of life it was not thought convenient to insist at
the trial upon matter of inference or presumption, but
chiefly upon matter of plain and direct proofs; there-
fore it hath been thought fit to publish to the world a
brief declaration of the practices and treasons at-
tempted and committed by Robert late earl of Essex
and his complices, against her majesty and her king-
doms, and of the proceedings at the convictions of the
said late earl and his adherents, upon the same treasons:
and not so only, but therewithal, for the better warrant-
ing and verifying of the narration, to set down in the
end the very confessions and testimonies themselves
word for word, taken out of the originals, whereby it
will be most manifest that nothing is obscured or dis-
guised, though it do appear by divers most wicked
and seditious libels thrown abroad, that the dregs of
these treasons which the late earl of Essex himself, a
little before his death, did term a leprosy, that had
infected far and near, do yet remain in the hearts and
tongues of some misaffected persons.

" by her appointment : nay, and after it was set to print, the queen,
" who as your lordship knoweth, as she was excellent in great mat-
" ters, so she was exquisite in small j and noted that I could not
" forget my ancient respect to my lord of Essex, in terming him
M ever my lord of Essex, my lord of Essex, almost in every page of the
" book j which she thought not fit, but would have it made Euex,
" or the late earl of Essex j whereupon, of force, it was printed de
" UOTJO, and the first copies suppressed by her peremptory conv-
" mandmcnt."

138 Declaration of ' the Treasons

THE most partial will not deny, but that Robert
late earl of Essex was, by her majesty's manifold be-
nefits and graces, besides oath and allegiance, as much
tied to her majesty, as the subj:?ct could be to the
sovereign; her majesty having heaped upon him both
dignities, offices, and gifts, in such measure, as within
the circle of twelve years, or more, there was scarcely
a year of rest, in W7hich he did not obtain at her ma-
jesty's hands some notable addition either of honour
or profit.

But he on the other side making these her majesty's
favours nothing else but wings for his ambition, and
looking upon them not as her benefits, but as his ad-
vantages, supposing that to be his own metal which
was but her mark and impression, was so given over
by God, who often punisheth ingratitude by ambition,
and ambition by treason, and treason by final ruin, as
he had long ago plotted it in his heart to become a
dangerous supplanter of that seat, whereof he ought to
have been a principal supporter; in such sort as now
every man of common sense may discern not only his
last actual and open treasons, but also his former
more secret practices and preparations towards those
his treasons, and that without any gloss or interpreter,
but himself and his own doings.

For first of all, the world can now expound why it
was that he did aspire, and had almost attained unto a
greatness, like unto tjie ancient greatness of the prae-
fectus praetorio under the emperors of Rome, to have
all men of war to make their sole and particular de-
pendence upon him ; that with such jealousy and
watchfulness he sought to discountenance any one
that might be a competitor to him in any part of that
greatness, that with great violence and bitterness he
sought to suppress and ^keep down all the worthiest
martial men, which did not appropriate their respects
and acknowledgments only towards himself. All
which did manifestly detect and distinguish, that
it was not the reputation of a famous leader in the
wars which he sought, as it was construed a great
while, but only power and greatness to serve his own

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 39

ends, considering he never loved virtue nor valour in
another, but where he thought he should be pro-
prietary and commander of it, as referred to himself.

So likewise those points of popularity which every
man took notice and note of, as his affable gestures,
open doors, making his table and his bed so popularly
places of audience to suitors, denying nothing when
he did nothing, feeding many men in their discontent-
ments against the queen and the state, and the like ;
as they were ever since Absalom's time the forerunners
of treasons following, so in him were they either the
qualities of a nature disposed to disloyalty, or the be-
ginnings and conceptions of that which afterwards
grew to shape and form.

But as it were a vain thing to think to search the
roots and first motions of treasons, which are known
to none but God that discerns the heart, and the devil
that gives the instigation ; so it is more than to be
presumed, being made apparent by the evidence of all
the events following, that he carried into Ireland a
heart corrupted in his allegiance, and pregnant of those
or the like treasons which afterwards came to light.

For being a man by nature of an high imagination,
and a great promiser to himself as well as to others,
he was confident that if he were once the first person
in a kingdom, and a sea between the queen's seat
and his, and Wales the nearest land from Ireland,
and that he had got the flower of the English forces
into his hands, which he thought so to intermix with
his own followers, as the whole body should move by
his spirit, and if he might have also absolutely into
his own hands potestatem vllae et necis, ct arbitrium
belli et pads, over the rebels of Ireland, whereby he
might entice and make them his own, first by pardons
and conditions, and after by hopes to bring them in
place where they should serve for hope of better
booties than cows, he should be able to. make that
place of lieutenancy of Ireland as a rise or step to as-
cend to his desired greatness in England.

And although many of these conceits were windy,
yet neither were they the less like to his ; neither are

Dec la ratio n of th e Treasons

they now only probable conjectures or comments upon
these his last treasons, but the very preludes of actions
almost immediately subsequent, as shall be touched in
due place.

But first, it was strange with what appetite and
thirst he did affect and compass the goverment of Ire-
land, which he did obtain. For although he made
some formal shews to put it from him ; yet in this, as
in most things else, his desires being too strong for his
dissimulations, he did so far pass the bounds of deco-
rum, as he did in effect name himself to the queen by
such description and such particularities as could not
be applied to any other but himself; neither did he
so only, but farther, he was still at hand to offer and
urge vehemently and peremptorily exceptions to any
other that was named.

Then after he once found that there was no man
but himself, who had other matters in his head, so
far in love with that charge, as to make any compe-
tition or opposition to his pursuit, whereby he saw it
would fall upon him, and especially after himself was
resolved upon ; he began to make propositions to her
majesty by way of taxation of the former course held
in managing the actions of Ireland, especially upon
three points ; the first, that the proportions of forces
which had been there maintained and continued by
supplies, were not sufficient to bring the prosecutions
there to a period. The second, that the ax had not
been put to the root of the tree, in regard there had
not been made a main prosecution upon the arch-traitor
Tyrone in his own strength, within the province of
Ulster. The third, that the prosecutions before time
had been intermixed and interrupted with too many
temporizing treaties, whereby the rebel did ever ga-
ther strength and reputation to renew the war with
advantage. All which goodly and well-sounding dis-
courses, together with the great vaunts, that he would
make the earth tremble before him, tended but to this,
that the queen should increase the list of her army,
and all proportions of treasure and other furniture, to
the end his commandment might be the greater. For

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 4- 1

that he never intended any such prosecution, may
appear by this, that even at the time before his going
into Ireland, he did open himself so far in speech to
Blunt, his inwardest counsellor, " That he did assure The confes.
himself that many of the rebels in Ireland would be £°nofBlunt
advised by him ;" so far was he from intending any
prosecution towards those in whom he took himself to
have interest. But his ends were two ; the one, to get
great forces into his hands ; the other, to oblige the
heads of the rebellion unto him, aud to make them of
his party. These two ends had in themselves a re-
pugnancy ; for the one imported prosecution, and the
other treaty : but he that meant to be too strong to be
called to account for any thing, and meant besides,
when he was once in Ireland, to engage himself in
other journeys that should hinder the prosecution in
the North, took things in order as they made for him;
and so first did nothing, as was said, but trumpet a
final and utter prosecution against Tyrone in the North,
to the end to have his forces augmented.

But yet he forgot not his other purpose of making
himself strong by a party amongst the rebels, when it
came to the scanning of the clauses of his commission.
For then he did insist, and that with a kind of contes-
tation, that the pardoning, no not of Tyrone himself,
the capital rebel, should be excepted and reserved to
her majesty's immediate grace ; being infinitely desi-
rous that Tyrone should not look beyond him for his
life or pardon, but should hold his fortune as of him,
and account for it to him only.

So again, whereas in the commission of the earl of
Sussex, and of all other lieutenants or deputies, there
was ever in that clause, which giveth unto the lieute-
nant or deputy, that high or regal point of authority to
pardon treasons and traitors, an exception contained
of such cases of treason as are committed against the
person of the king ; it was strange, and suspiciously
strange, even at that time, with what importunity and
instance he did labour, and in the end prevailed to
have that exception also omitted : glossing them, that
because he had heard that by strict exposition of law,

142 Declaration of the Treasons

a point in law that he would needs forget at his arraign-
ment, but could take knowledge of it before, when it
\vasto serve his own ambition, all treasons of rebellion
did tend to the destruction of the king's person, it
might breed a buz in the rebels heads, and so disco -
rage them from coming in : whereas he knew well
that in all experience passed, there was never rebel
made any doubt or scruple upon that point to accept
of pardon from all former governors, who had their
commissions penned with that limitation, their com-
missions being things not kept secretly in a box, but
published and recorded : so as if appeared manifestly
that it was a mere device of his own out of the secret
reaches of his heart then not revealed ; but it may be
shrewdly expounded since, what his drift was, by
those pardons which he granted to Blunt the marshal,
and Thomas Lee, and others, that his care was no less
to secure his own instruments than the rebels of Ire-
land

Yet was there another point for which he did con-
tend and contest, which was, that he might not be
tied to any opinion of the council of Ireland, as all
others in certain points, as pardoning traitors, con-
cluding war and peace, and some other principal arti-
cles, had been before him; to the end he might be
absolute of himself, and be fully master of opportunities
and occasions for the performing and executing of his
own treasonable ends.

But after he had once, by her majesty's singular
trust and favour towards him, obtained his patent of
commission at large, and his list of forces as full as he
desired, there was an end in his course of the prose-
cution in the North. For being arrived into Ireland,
the whole carriage of his actions there was nothing else
but a cunning defeating of that journey, with an in-
tent, as appeared, in the end of the year to pleasure
and gratify the rebel with a dishonourable peace, and
to contract with him for his own greatness.

Therefore not long after he had received the sword,
he did voluntarily engage himself in an unseasonable
and fruitless journey into Munster, a journey never

of Robert Earl of Essex.

propounded in the council there, never advertised
over hither while it was past: by which journey her
majesty's forces, which were to be preserved intire
both in vigour and number for the great prosecution,
were harassed and tired with long marches together,
and the Northern prosecution was indeed quite dashed
and made impossible

But yet still doubting he might receive from her ma-
jesty some quick and express commandment to pro-
ceed; to be sure he pursued his former advice of wrap-
ping himself in other actions, and so set himself on work
anew in the county of Ophaley, being resolved, as is
manifest, to dally out the season, and never to have
gone that journey at all : that setting forward which
he made in the very end of August being but a mere play
and a mockery, and for the purposes which now shall
be declared

After he perceived that four months of the sum-
mer, and three parts of the army were wasted, he
thought now was a time to set on foot such a peace
as might be for the rebels advantage, and so to
work a mutual obligation between Tyrone and him-
self; for which purpose he did but seek a commo-
dity. He had there with him in his army one Thomas
Lee, a man of a seditious and working spirit, and one
that had been privately familiar and intlrely beloved
of Tyrone, and one that afterwards, immediately upon
Essex's open rebellion, was apprehended for a despe-
rate attempt of violence against her majesty's person ;
which he plainly confessed, and for which he suffered.
Wherefore judging him to be a fit instrument, he made
some signification to Lee of such an employment,
which was no sooner signified than apprehended by
Lee. He gave order also to Sir Christopher Blunt,
marshal of his army, to licence Lee to go to Tyrone,
when he should require it. But Lee thought good to
let slip first unto Tyrone, which was nevertheless by
the marshal's warrant, one James Knowd, a person
of wit and sufficiency, to sound in what terms and
humours Tyrone then was. This Knowd returned a The confes
message from Tyrone to Lee, which was, That if the ^ai i!clh°

144 Declaration of the Treasons

earl of Essex -would follow Tyrone's plot, he would
make the earl of Essex the greatest man that ever was
in England: and farther, that if the earl would have
conference with him, Tyrone would deliver his eldest
son in pledge for his assurance. This message was
delivered byKnowd to Lee, and by Lee was imparted
to the earl of Essex, who after this message, employed
Lee himself to Tyrone, and by his negotiating, what-
soever passed else, prepared and disposed Tyrone to
the parley.

And this employment of Lee was a matter of that
guiltiness in my lord, as, being charged with it at my
lord-keeper's only in this nature, for the message of
in the con- Knowd was not then known, that when he pretended
BkmTafthe to assa*l Tyrone, he had before underhand agreed
bar, he did upon a parley, my lord utterly denied it that he
Xartehechai3 ever employed Lee to Tyrone at all, and turned it
Essex his upon Blunt, whom he afterwards required to take it
upon him, having before sufficiently provided for the

send Lee, security of all parts, for he had granted both to Blunt
w^.d* wa~s and Lee pardons of all treasons under the great seal of
desired by Ireland, and so, himself disclaiming it, and they being

Essex to take „ r J

it upon him- pardoned, all was sate.

^ut w^en tnat Tyrone was by these means, besides
. what others, God knows, prepared to demand a par-
ley, now was the time for Essex to acquit himself of
all the queen's commandments, and his own promises
and undertakings for the Northern journey; and not
so alone, but to have the glory at the disadvantage of
the year, being but 2500 strong of foot, and 300 of
horse, after the fresh disaster of Sir Conyers Clifford,
in the height of the rebels pride, to set forth to assail,
and then that the very terror and reputation of my lord
of Essex person was such, as did daunt him and make
him stoop to seek a parley; and this was the end he
shot at in that September journey, being a mere abuse
and bravery, and but inducements only to the treaty,
which was the only matter he intended. For Essex
drawing now towards the catastrophe, or last part of
that tragedy, for which he came upon the stage in
Ireland, his treasons grew to a further ripeness. For

of Eo bert Ea rl of Essex. 145

knowing how unfit it was for him to communicate
with any English, even of those whom he trusted
most, and meant to use in other treasons, that he had
an intention to grow to an agreement with Tyrone, to
have succours from him for the usurping upon the
state here : not because it was more dangerous than
the rest of his treasons, but because it was more odious,
and in a kind monstrous, that he should conspire with
such a rebel, against whom he was sent ; and there-
fore might adventure to alienate mens affections from
him ; he drave it to this, that there might be, and so
there was, under colour of treaty, an interview and
private conference between Tyrone and himself only,
no third person admitted. A strange course, consi-
dering with whom he dealt, and especially considering
what message Knowd had brought, which should
have made him rather call witnesses to him, than
avoid witnesses. Bat he being only true to his own
ends, easily dispensed with all such considerations.
Nay, there was such careful order taken, that no per-
son should overhear one word that passed between
them two, as, because the place appointed and used
for the parley was such, as there was the depth of a
brook between them, which made them speak with
some loudness, there were certain horsemen appointed
by order from Essex, to keep all men off a great dis-
tance from the place.

It is true, that the secrecy of that parley, as it gave
to him the more liberty of treason, so it may give any
man the more liberty of surmise, what was then
handled between them, inasmuch as nothing can be
known, but by report from one of them two, either
Essex or Tyrone.

But although there were no proceeding against
Essex upon these treasons, and that it were a needless
thing to load more treasons upon him then, whose
burden was so great after ; yet, for truth's sake, it is
fit the world know what is testified touching the
speeches, letters, and reports of Tyrone, immediately
following this conference, and observe also what en-
sued likewise in the designs of Essex himself,

VOL. III. L

146 Declaration of the Treasons

On Tyrone's part it fell out, that the very day after
that Essex came to the court of England, Tyrone hav-
ing conference with Sir William Warren at Armagh,
by way of discourse told him, and bound it with an
The relation oath, and iterated it two or three several times; That
Sam'wfrren w^tnm two or ^ree nionths he should see the greatest
certified un- alterations and strangest that ever he saw in his life,
fiESS^pr could imagine: and that he the said Tyrone hoped
councilor ere long to have a good share in England. With this
thebrds^of concurred fully the report of Richard Bremingham,
the council a gentleman of the pale, having made his repair about
* the same time to Tyrone, to right him in a cause of
^anc^ ? saving that Birmingham delivers the like speech
e of Tyrone to himself; but not what Tyrone hoped, but
wnat Tyrone had promised in these words, That he
land. * had promised, it may be thought to whom, ere long to
shew his face in England, little to the good of England.
These generalities coming immediately from the
report of Tyrone himself, are drawn to more particu-
larity in a conference had between the lord Fitz-Mor-
rice, baron of Liksnaw in Munster, and one Thomas
Wood, a person well reputed of, immediately after
Essex coming into England. In which conference Fitz-
Morrice declared unto Wood, that Tyrone had written
to the traiterous titulary earl of Desmond to inform
him, that the condition of that contract between Ty-
rone and Essex was, That Essex should be king of
England ; and that Tyrone should hold of him the
honour and state of viceroy of Ireland ; and that the
proportion of soldiers which Tyrone should bring or
send to Essex, were 8000 Irish. With which con-
The confes- curreth fully the testimony of the said James Knowd,
sion of who, being in credit with Owny Mac Roory, chief of
the Omoores in Lemster, was used as a secretary for
him, in the writing of a letter to Tyrone, immediately
after Essex coming into England. The effect of
which letter was, To understand some light of the
secret agreement between the earl of Essex and Ty-
rone, that he the said Owny might frame his course
accordingly. Which letter, with farther instructions
to the same effect, was in the presence of Knowd,

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 47

delivered to Turlagh Macdauy, a man of trust with
Owny, who brought an answer from Tyrone : the con-
tents whereof were, That the earl of Essex had agreed
to take his part, and that they should aid him towards
the conquest of England.

Besides, very certain it is, and testified by divers The decia-
credible persons, that immediately upon this parley, "^ ^
there did fly abroad, as sparkles of this fire, which it theKngton,
did not concern Tyrone so much to keep secret, as itK™vsdjand
did Essex, a general and received opinion, that went others.
up and down in the mouths both of the better and
meaner sort of rebels ; That the earl of Essex was
theirs, and they his ; and that he would never leave
the one sword, meaning that of Ireland, till he had
gotten the other in England; and that he would bring
them to serve, where they should have other manner of
booties than cows ; and the like speeches. And Confession
Thomas Lee himself, who had been, as was before ^^hqmM
declared, with Tyrone two or three days, upon my
lord's sending, and had sounded him, hath left it con-
fessed under his hand ; That he knew the earl of Essex
and Tyrone to be one, and to run the same courses.

And certain it is also, that immediately upon that
parley, Tyrone grew into a strange and unwonted
pride, and appointed his progresses and visitations to
receive congratulations and homages from his confe-
derates, and behaved himself in all things as one that
had some new spirit of hope and courage put into him*

But on the earl of Essex his part insued immedi-
ately after this parley a strange motion and project,
which though no doubt he had harboured in his breast
before ; yet, for any thing yet appeareth, he did not
utter and break with any in it, before he had been
confirmed and fortified in his purpose, by the combi-
nation and correspondence which he found in Tyrone
upon their conference. Neither is this a matter ga-Theeariof
thered out of reports, but confessed directly by two ^^^
of his principal friends and associates, being witnesses Christopher
upon their own knowledge, and of that which was Sb*»nc£!5
spoken to themselves: the substance of which con- that which
fession is this; That a little before my lord's coming is confes'^

L 2

•. nd

148 Declaration of the Treasons

>y south- over into England, at the castle of Dublin, where Sif
• Christopher Blunt Jay hurt, having been lately removed
- thither from Rheban, a castle of Thomas Lee's, and
p^ced in a lodging that had been my lord of Southamp-
ton's ; the earl of Essex took the earl of Southampton
with him to visit Blunt, and there being none present
[reiand,and but they three, my lord of Essex told them, he found

he changing . J r •* • • T^ i i

>f that de- it now necessary tor him to go into England, and would
;isn into the ad vise with them of the manner of his going, since to

)ther design 11*11 11

>f surprising go he was resolved. And thereupon propounded unto

indqtheen them, that he thought it fit to carry with him of the army

:ourt. in Ireland as much as he could conveniently transport,

at least the choice of it, to the number of two or three

thousand, to secure and make good his first descent

on shore, purposing to land them at Milford-Haven

in Wales, or thereabouts": not doubting, but that his

army would so increase within a small time, by such

as would come in to him, as he should be able to

march with his power to London, and make his own

conditions as he thought good. But both Southamp-

ton and Blunt dissuaded him from this enterprise ;

Blunt alledging the hazard of it, and that it would

make him odious : and Southampton utterly disliking

of that course, upon the same and many other reasons.

Howbeit, thereupon Blunt advised him rather to another

course, which was to draw forth of the army some 20O

resolute gentlemen, and with those to come over, and

so to make sure of the court, and so to make his own

conditions. Which confessions it is not amiss to deliver,

by what a good providence of God they came to light:

for they could not be used at Essex' arraignment to

charge him, because they wrere uttered after his death.

Th'e speech But Sir Christopher Blunt at his arraignment, being

^ ^^'^ charged that the earl of Essex had set it down under

a°tPhiSrar-n his hand, that he had been a principal instigator of

an'drt^c- him to his treasons, in passion brake forth into these

caskm of the speeches: That then he must be forced to disclose

IheaforesSd wnat farther matters he had held my lord from, and

confessions, desired for that purpose, because the present proceed-

ing should not be interrupted, to speak with the lord

Admiral and Air. Secretary after his arraignment, and

of Robert Earl of Essex. 143

so fell most naturally and most voluntarily into this
his confession, which, if it had been thought fit to
have required of him at that time publicly, he had
delivered before his conviction. And the same con-
fession he did after, at the time of his execution, con-
stantly and fully confirm, discourse particularly, and
take upon his death, where never any man shewed
less fear, nor a greater resolution to die.

And the same matter so by him confessed, was like-
wise confessed with the same circumstances of time
and place by Southampton, being severally examined
thereupon.

So as now the world may see how long since my
lord put off his vizard, and disclosed the secrets of
his heart to two of his most confident friends, falling
upon that unnatural and detestable treason, whereunto
all his former actions in his government in Ireland, and
God knows how long before, were but introductions.

But finding that these two persons, which of all theihepiaceof
rest he thought to have found forvvardest, Southamp-f^1^^
ton, whose displacing he had made his own discon- the army of
tentment, having placed him, no question to that end, JonSre7by
to find cause of discontentment, and Blunt, a man so ESS-X upon
enterprising and prodigal of his own life, as himselff^1^"?"
termed himself at the bar, did not applaud to this histrai7toker
purpose, and thereby doubting how coldly he should
find others minded, that were not so near to him ;
and therefore condescending to Blunt's advice to sur-
prise the court, he did pursue that plot accordingly,
and came over with a selected company of captains
and voluntaries, and such as he thought were most
affectionate unto himself, and most resolute, though
not knowing of his purpose. So as even at that time
every man noted and wondered what the matter should
be, that my lord took his most particular friends and
followers, from their companies, which were counte-
nance and means unto them to bring them over. But
hie purpose, as in part was touched before, was this ;
that if he held his greatness in court, and were not
committed, which, in regard of the miserable and de-
plored estate he left Ireland in, whereby he thought

m

Declaration of the Treasons

the opinion here would be that his service could not
be spared, he made full account he should not be,
then, at the first opportunity, he would execute the
surprise of her majesty's person. And if he were
committed to the Tower, or to prison for his con-
tempts, for, besides his other contempts, he came over
expresly against the queen's prohibition under her sig-
net, it might be the care of some of his principal friends,
by the help of that choice and resolute company which
he brought over, to rescue him.

But the pretext of his coming over was, by the
efficacy of his own presence and persuasion to have
moved and drawn her majesty to accept of such con-
ditions of peace as he had treated of with Tyrone in
his private conference ; which was indeed somewhat
needful, the principal article of them being, That
there should be a general restitution of rebels in Ireland
to all their lands and possessions, that they could pre-
tend any right to before their going out into rebellion,
without reservation of such lands as were by act of
parliament passed to the crown, and so planted with
English, both in the time of queen Mary, and since ;
and without difference either of time of their going
forth, or nature of their offence, or other circumstance:
tending in effect to this, that all the queen's good sub-
jects, in most of the provinces, should have been dis-
planted, and the country abandoned to the rebels.

When this man was come over, his heart thus
fraughted with treasons, and presented himself to her
majesty ; it pleased God, in his singular providence
over her majesty, to guide and hem in her proceeding
towards him in a narrow way of safety between two
perils. For neither did her majesty leave him at liberty,
whereby he might have commodity to execute his
purpose ; nor restrain him in any such nature, as
might signify or betoken matter of despair of his re-
turn to court and favour. And so the means of the
present mischief being taken away, and the humours
not stirred, this matter fell asleep, and the thread of
his purposes was cut off. For coming over about the
end of September, and not denied access and qonfe-

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 5 1

rence with her majesty, and then' being commanded
to his chamber at court for some days, and from thence
to the lord-keeper's house, it was conceived that these
were no ill signs. At my lord-keeper's house he re-
mained till some few days before Easter, and then was
removed to his own house, under the custody of Sir
Richard Barkley, and in that sort continued till the
end of Trinity term following.

For her majesty, all this while looking into his faults
with the eye of her princely favour, and loth to take
advantage of his great offences, in other nature than as
contempts, resolved so to proceed against him, as
might, to use her majesty's own words, tend ad cor-
rectionem, et non ad ruinam.

Nevertheless afterwards, about the end of Trinity
term following, for the better satisfaction of the world,
and to repress seditious bruits and libels which were
dispersed in his justification, and to observe a form of
justice before he should be set at full liberty ; her ma-
jesty was pleased to direct, that there should be asso-
ciate unto her privy council some chosen persons of
her nobility, and of her judges of the law ; and before
them his cause, concerning the breaking of his in-
structions for the Northern prosecution, and the man-
ner of his treating with Tyrone, and his coming over,
and leaving the kingdom of Ireland contrary to her
majesty's commandment, expressed as well by signi-
fication thereof, made under her royal hand and signet,
as by a most binding and effectual letter written pri-
vately to himself, to receive a hearing ; w7ith limita-
tion, nevertheless, that he should not be charged with
any point of disloyalty : and with like favour directed,
that he should not be called in question in the open
and ordinary place of offenders, in the Star-chamber,
from which he had likewise, by a most penitent and
humble letter, desired to be spared, as that which
would have wounded him for ever, as he affirmed, but in
a more private manner, at my lord-keeper's house.
Neither was the effect of the sentence, that there
passed against him, any more than a suspension of the
exercise of some of his places : at which time also,

Declaration of the Treasons

Essex, that could vary himself into all shapes for a
time, infinitely desirous, as by the sequel now ap-
peareth, to be at liberty to practise and revive his for-
mer purposes, and hoping to set into them with bet-
ter strength than ever, because he conceived the peo-
ples hearts were kindled to him by his troubles, and
that they had made great demonstrations of as much $
he did transform himself into such a strange and de-
jected humility, as if he had been no man of this
world, with passionate protestations that he called
God to witness, That he had made an utter divorce
with the world ; and he desired her majesty 's favour
not for any worldly respect, but for a preparative for a
Nunc dimittis ; and that the tears of his heart had
quenched in him all humours of ambition. All this
to make her majesty secure, and to lull the world
asleep, that he was not a man to be held any ways
dangerous,

Not many days after, Sir Richard Barkley, his
keeper, was removed from him, and he set at liberty
with this admonition only, That he should not take
himself to be altogether discharged, though he were
left to the guard of none but his own discretion. But
he felt himself no sooner upon the wings of his liberty,
but, notwithstanding his former shews of a mortified
estate of mind, he began to practise afresh as busily
as ever, reviving his former resolution ; which was the
surprising and possessing the queen's person and the
court. And that it may appear how early after his
liberty he set his engines on work, having long before
entertained into his service, and during his government
in Ireland drawn near unto him in the place of his
chief secretary, one Henry Cuffe, a base fellow by
birth, but a great -scholar, and indeed a notable traitor
by the book, being otherwise of a turbulent and mu-
tinous spirit against all superiors.

This fellow, in the beginning of August, which was
not a month after Essex had liberty granted, fell of
practising with Sir Henry Nevil, that served her ma-
jesty as legier ambassador with the French king, and
then newly come over into England from Bulloign,

of Robert Earl of Essex. , 153

abusing him with a false lie and mere invention, that
his service was blamed and misliked, and that the im-
putation of the breach of the treaty of peace held at The
Bulloign was like to light upon him, when there was
no colour of any such matter, only to distaste him of
others, and fasten him to my lord, though he did not
acquaint him with any particulars of my lord's designs
till a good while after.

But my lord having spent the end of the summer,
being a private time, when every body was out of
town and dispersed, in digesting his own thoughts,
with the help, and conference of Mr. Cuffe, they had
soon set down between them the ancient principle of
traitors and conspirators, which was, to prepare many,
and to acquaint few , and, after the manner of miners,
to make ready their powder, and place it, and then
give fire but in the instant. Therefore, the first consi-
deration was of such persons as my lord thought fit to
draw to be of his party ; singling out both of nobility
and martial men, and others, such as were discon-
tented or turbulent, and such as were weak of judg-
ment, and easy to be abused, or such as were wholly
dependents and followers, for means or countenance
of himself, Southampton, or some other of his greatest
associates.

And knowing there were no such strong and drawing
cords of popularity as religion, he had not neglected,
both at this time and long before, in a profane policy
to serve his turn, for his own greatness, of both sorts
and factions, both of catholics and puritans, as they
term them, turning his outside to the one, and his in-
side to the other; and making himself pleasing and
gracious to the one sort by professing zeal, and fre-
quenting sermons, and making much of preachers,
and secretly underhand giving assurance to Blunt, The confes.
Davis, and divers others, that, if he might prevail in
his desired greatness, he would bring in a toleration of
the catholic religion.

Then having passed the whole Michaelmas term in
making himself plausible, and in. drawing concourse
about him, and in effecting and alluring men by kind

154 Declaration of the Treasons

provocations and usage, wherein, because his liberty
-was qualified, he neither forgot exercise of mind nor
body, neither sermon nor tennis court, to give the oc-
casion and freedom of access and concourse unto him,
and much other practice and device ; about the end
of that term, towards Christmas, he grew to a more
framed resolution of the time and manner, when and
how he would put his purpose in execution. And
first, about the end of Michaelmas term, it passed as
a kind of cypher and watch-word amongst his friends
The decia- and followers, That my lord would stand upon his
Hll??evn,Sir guard : which might receive construction, in a good
and confes- sense, as well guard of circumspection, as guard of
FeJdinwdo *orce : but to the more private and trusty persons he
Gorge. was content it should be expounded that he would be
cooped up no more, nor hazard any more restraints or
commandments.

But the next care was how to bring such persons,
as he thought fit for his purpose, into town together,
without vent or suspicion, to be ready at the time,
when he should put his design in execution ; which
he had concluded should be some time in Hilary term;
wherein he found many devices to draw them up,
The confes- some for suits in law, and some for suits in court, and
Bhmt°f some f°r assurance of land : and one friend to draw
up another, it not being perceived that all moved from
one head. And it may be truly noted, that in the
catalogue of those persons that were the eighth of Fe-
bruary in the action of open rebellion, a man may
find almost out of every county of England some ;
which could not be by chance or constellation : and in
the particularity of examinations, too long to be re-
hearsed, it was easy to trace in what sort many of
them were brought up to town, and held in town upon
several pretences. But in Candlemas-term, when the
time drew near, then was he content consultation
should be had by certain choice persons, upon the
whole matter and course which he should hold. And
because he thought himself and his own house more
observed, it was thought fit that the meeting and con-
ference should be at Drury-liouse, where Sir Charles

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 5 5

Davers lodged. There met at this council, the earl of
Southampton, with whom in former times he had
been at some emulations and differences in court ; but
after, Southampton having married his kinswoman,
and plunged himself wholly into his fortune, and being
his continual associate in Ireland, he accounted of him
as most assured unto him, and had long ago in Ire-
land acquainted him with his purpose, as was de-
"clared before : Sir Charles Davers, one exceedingly
devoted to the earl of Southampton, upon affection
begun first upon the deserving of the same earl to-
wards him, when he was in trouble about the murder
of one Long : Sir Ferdinando Gorge, one that the earl
of Essex had of purpose sent for up from his govern-
ment at Plymouth by his letter, with particular assig-
nation to be here before the second of February : Sir
John Davis, one that had been his servant, and raised
by him, and that bare office in the Tower, being sur-
veyor of the ordnance, and one that he greatly trusted :
and John Littleton, one they respected for his wit and
valour.

The consultation and conference rested upon three The confes-
parts : the perusal of a list of those persons, whom !i"n°f Sir

r *. . r Cli. Davers,

they took to be of their party ; the consideration or the i. 2. sir j.
action itself which they should set a foot, and how they p^1^2'5^
should proceed in it ; and the distribution of the per- Gorge,*2.sir
sons, according to the action concluded on, to their f1hu1nStlt|her
several employments. Southimp-

The list contained the number of sixscore persons, £^at
noblemen, and knights, and principal gentlemen, and
was, for the more credit's sake, of the earl of Essex
own hand-writing.

For the action itself, there was proposition made of
two principal articles : the one of possessing the Tower
of London ; the other of surprising her majesty's per-
son and the court; in which also deliberation was had,
what course to hold with the city, either towards the
effecting of the surprise, or after it was effected.

For the Tower, was alledged the giving a reputa-
tion to the action, by getting into their hand the prin-
cipal fort of the realm, with the stores and provisions

156 Declaration of the Treasons

thereunto appertaining, the bridling of the city by that
place, and commodity of entrance in and possessing it
by the means of Sir John Davis. But this was by opi-
nion of all rejected, as that which would distract their
attempt from the more principal, which was the court,
and as that which they made a judgment would fol-
low incidently, if the court were once possessed.

But the latter, which was the ancient plot, as was
well known to Southampton, was in the end, by the
general opinion of them all, insisted and rested upon.

And the manner how it should be ordered and dis-
posed was this: That certain selected persons of their
number, such as were well known in court, and
might have access, without check or suspicion, into
the several rooms in court, according to the several
qualities of the persons, and the differences of the
rooms, should distribute themselves into*the presence,
the guard-chamber, the hall, and the outer court and
gate, and some one principal man undertaking every
several room with the strength of some few to be
joined with him, every man to make good his charge,
according to the occasion. In which distribution, Sir
Charles Davers was then named to the presence, and
to the great chamber, where he was appointed, when
time should be, to seize upon the halberds of the
guard 3 Sir John Davis to the hall ; and Sir Christopher
Blunt to the outer gate ; these seeming to them the
three principal wards of consideration : and that things
being within the court in a readiness, a signal should
be given and sent to Essex, to set forward from Essex-
house, being no great distance off. Whereupon Essex,
accompanied with the noblemen of his party, and such
as should be prepared and assembled at his house for
that purpose, should march towards the. court; and
that the former conspirators already entered, should
give correspondence to them without, as well by
making themselves masters of the gates to give them
entrance, as by attempting to get into their hand upon
the sudden the halberds of the guard, thereby hoping
to prevent any great resistance within, and by filling
all full of tumult and confusion.

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 57

This being the platform of their enterprise, the se-
cond act of this tragedy was also resolved, which was,
that my lord should present himself to her majesty, as
prostrating himself at her feet, and desire the remove
of such persons as he called his enemies from about
her. And after that my lord had obtained possession
of the queen, and the state, he should call his pre-
tended enemies to a trial upon their lives, and summon
a parliament, and alter the government, and obtain to
himself and his associates such conditions as seemed to
him and them good.

There passed a speech also in this conspiracy of pos-
sessing the city of London, which Essex himself, in
his own particular and secret inclination, had ever a
special mind unto : not as a departure or going from
his purpose of possessing the court, but as an induce-
ment and preparative to perform it upon a surer
ground ; an opinion bred in him, as may be imagined,
partly by the great overweaning he had of the love of
the citizens ; but chiefly, in all likelihood, by a fear,
that although he should have prevailed in getting her
majesty's person into his hands for a time, with his
two or three hundred gentlemen, yet the very beams
and graces of her majesty's magnanimity and prudent
carriage in such disaster, working with the natural in-
stinct of loyalty, which of course, when fury is over,
doth ever revive in the hearts of subjects of any good
blood or mind, such as his troop for the more part
was compounded of, though by him seduced and be-
witched, would quickly break the knot, and cause
some disunion and separation amongst them, whereby
he might have been left destitute, except- he should
build upon some more popular number, according to
the nature of all usurping rebels, which do ever trust
more in the common people, than in persons of sort or
quality. And this may well appear by his own plot
in Ireland, which was to have come with the choice
of the army, from which he was diverted, as before is
shewed. So as his own courses inclined ever to rest
upon the main strength of the multitude, and not upon
surprises, or the combinations of a few.

But to return : these were the resolutions taken at

158 Declaration of the Treasons

that consultation, held by these five at Drury-house,
some five or six days before the rebellion, to be re-
ported to Essex, who ever kept in himself the binding
and directing voice : which he did to prevent all dif-
ferences that might grow by dissent or contradiction.
And besides he had other persons, which were Cuffe
and Blunt, of more inwardness and confidence with
him than these, Southampton only excepted, which
managed that consultation. And for the day of the
enterprise, which is that must rise out of the know-
ledge of all the opportunities and difficulties, it was
referred to Essex his own choice and appointment ;
it being nevertheless resolved, that it should be some
time before the end of Candlemas term.

sir Henry But this council and the resolutions thereof, were
SSSwf^"*0 some points refined by Essex, and Cuffe, and
Blunt : for, first it was thought good, for the better
making sure of the outer gate of the court, and the
greater celerity and suddenness, to have a troop at
receipt to a competent number, to have come from
the Mews, where there should have been assembled
without suspicion in several companies, and from
thence cast themselves in a moment upon the court-
gate, and join with them which are within, while
Essex with the main of his company were making
forward.

It was also thought fit, that because they would be
commonwealth's men, and foresee, that the business
and service of the public state should not stand still ;
they should have ready at court, and at hand, certain
other persons to be offered, to supply the offices and
places of such of her majesty's counsellors and servants,
as they should demand to be removed and displaced.

But chiefly it was thought good, that the assembling
of their companies together should be upon some
plausible pretext : both to make divers of their com-
pany, that understood not the depth of their practices,
the more willing to follow them ; and to engage them-
selves, and to gather them together the better without
peril of detecting or interrupting : and again, to take
Confession tnc court tne more unprovided, without any alarm
of Bium, s. given. So as now there wanted nothing but the as-

of Robert Earl of Essex. 169

signation of the day : which nevertheless was resolved
indefinitely to be before the end of the term, as was
said before, for the putting in execution of this most
dangerous and execrable treason. But God, who had
in his divine providence long ago cursed this action with
the curse that the psalm speaketh of. That it should be
like the untimely fruit of a woman, brought forth be-
fore it came to perfection, so disposed above, that her
majesty, understanding by a general charm and mut-
tering of the great and universal resort to Essex-house,
contrary to her princely admonition, and somewhat
differing from his former manner, as there could not be
so great fire without some smoke, upon the seventh of
February, the afternoon before this rebellion, sent to
Essex-house Mr. Secretary Herbert, to require him to
come before the lords of her majesty's council, then
sitting in council at Salisbury-court, being the lord
treasurer's house : where it was only intended, that
he should have received some reprehension, for ex-
ceeding the limitations of his liberty, granted to him
in a qualified manner, without any intention towards
him of restraint; which he, under colour of not being
well, excused to do : but his own guilty conscience
applying it, that his trains were discovered, doubting
peril in any farther delay, determined to hasten his
enterprise, and to set it on foot the next day.

But then again, having some advertisement in the
evening, that the guards were doubled at court, and
laying that to the message he had received over-night ;
and so concluding that alarm was taken at court, he
thought it to be in vain to think of the enterprise of the
court, by way of surprise : but that now his only way
was, to come thither in strength, and to that end first
to attempt the city : wherein he did but fail back to
his own former opinion, which he had in no sort neg-
lected, but had formerly made some overtures to pre-
pare the city to take his part ; relying himself, besides
his general conceit that himself was the darling and
minion of the people, and specially of the city, more
particularly upon assurance given of Thomas Smith,
then sheriff of London, a man well beloved amongst

16O Declaration of the Treasons

the citizens, and one that had some particular com-
mand of some of the trained forces of the city, to join
with him. Having therefore concluded upon this de-
termination, now was the time to execute in fact all
that he had before in purpose digested.

First, therefore, he concluded of a pretext which
was ever part of the plot, and which he had meditated
upon and studied long before. For finding himself,
thanks be to God, to seek, in her majesty's govern-
ment, of any just pretext in matter of state, either of
innovation, oppression, or any unworthiness: as in all
his former discontentments he had gone the beaten
path of traitors, turning their imputation upon coun-
sellors, and persons of credit with their sovereign ; so
now he was forced to descend to the pretext of a pri-
vate quarrel, giving~out this speech, how that even-
ing, when he should have been called before the lords
of the council, there was an ambuscade of musketeers
placed upon the water, by the device of my lord Cob-
ham and Sir Walter Raleigh, to have murdered him by
the way as he passed : a matter of no probability ;
those persons having no such desperate estates Or
minds, as to ruin themselves and their posterity, by
committing so odious a crime.

confession But contrariwise, certain it is, Sir Ferdinando Gorge
r.lndoFeidi"accuse<^ Blunt, to have persuaded him to kill, or at
least apprehend Sir Walter Raleigh ; the latter where-
of Blunt denieth not, and asked Sir Walter Raleigh
forgiveness at the time of his death.

But this pretext, being the best he had, was taken :
and then did messages and warnings fly thick up and
down to every particular nobleman and gentleman,
both that evening and the next morning, to draw them
together in the forenoon to Essex-house, dispersing the
foresaid fable, That he should have been murdered ;
save that it was sometime on the water, sometime in
his bed, varying according to the nature of a lie. He
sent likewise the same night certain of his instruments,
as namely, one William Temple, his secretary, into the
city to disperse the same tale, having increased it some
few days Before by an addition, That he should have

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 6 1

been likewise murdered by some Jesuits to the number
of four: and to fortify this pretext, and to make the
more buz of the danger he stood in, he caused that
night a watch to be kept all night long, towards
the street, in his house. The next morning, which was
Sunday, they came unto him of all hands, according to
his messages and warnings: of the nobility, the earls
of Rutland, Southampton, and the lord Sands, and Sir
Henry Parker, commonly called the lord Montegle;
besides divers knights and principal gentlemen and
their followers, to the number of some three hundred.
And also it being Sunday, and the hour when he had
used to have a sermon at his house, it gave cause to
some and colour to others to come upon that occasion.
As they came, my lord saluted and embraced, and to
the generality of them gave to understand, in as plau-
sible terms as he could, That his life had been sought,
and that he meant to go to the court and declare his
griefs to the queen, because his enemies were mighty,
and used her majesty's name and commandment; and The con-
desired their help to take his part: but unto the more t^eariff
special persons, he spake high, and in other terms, Rutland.
telling them, That he was sure of the city, and would
put himself into that strength that her majesty should
not be able to stand against him, and that he would
take revenge of his enemies.

All the while after eight of the clock in the morning,
the gates to the street and water were strongly guarded,
and men taken in and let forth by discretion of those
that held the charge, but with special caution of re-
ceiving in such as came from court, but not suffering
them to go back without my lord's special direction,
to the end no particularity of that which passed there
might be known to her majesty.

About ten of the clock, her majesty having under-
standing of this strange and tumultuous assembly at
Essex-house, yet in her princely wisdom and modera-
tion thought to cast water upon this fire before it brake
forth to farther inconvenience : and therefore using
authority before she would use force, sent unto him
four persons of great honour and place, and such as he.

VOL. III. M

162 Declaration of the Treasons

ever pretended to, reverence and love, to offer him
justice for any griefs of his, but yet to lay her royal
commandment upon him to disperse his company, and
upon them to withdraw themselves.
The decia- These four honourable persons, being the lord

ration of the T^ ri i !••*•»• m % i i r xir

lordKeeper, Keeper of the great seal or England, the earl or Wor-
Wurcester cester> ^e Comptroller of her majesty's houshold, and
the lord * the lord Chief Justice of England, came to the house,
thunder anc* f°und ^e gates shut upon them. But after a
their hands, little stay, they were let in at the wicket; and as soon
Irtheaiord as they were within, the wicket was shut, and all their
chief jus- servants kept out, except the bearer of the seal. In

- company, the court in a manner full, and upon their
eari°of WOT- coming towards Essex, they all flocked and thronged
cester, viva about them ; whereupon the lord Keeper in an audible
voice delivered to the earl the queen's message, That
they were sent by her majesty to understand the cause
of this their assembly, and to let them know that if
they had any particular cause of griefs against any
persons whatsoever, they should have hearing and
justice.

Whereupon the earl of Essex, in a very loud and
furious voice declared, That his life was sought, and
that he should have been murdered in his bed, and
that he had been perfidiously dealt withal ; and other
speeches to the like effect. To which the lord Chief
Justice said, If any such matter were attempted or
intended against him, it was fit for him to declare it,
assuring him both a faithful relation on their part, and
that they could not fail of a princely indifferency and
justice on her majesty's part.

To which the earl of Southampton took occasion to
object the assault made upon him by the lord Gray :
which my lord Chief Justice returned upon him, and
said, That in that case justice had been done, and the
party was in prison for it.

Then the lord Keeper required the earl of Essex,
that if he would not declare his griefs openly, yet that
then he would impart them privately; and then they
doubted not to give him or procure him satisfaction.

of Robert Earl of Essex.

Upon this there arose a great clamour among the
multitude: "Away, my lord, they abuse you, they
" betray you, they undo you, you lose time." Where-
upon my lord Keeper put on his hat, and said with a
louder voice than before, <f My lord, let us speak
" with you privately, and understand your griefs; and
" I do command you all upon your allegiance, to lay
<c down your weapons and to depart." Upon which
words the earl of Essex and all the rest, and disdaining
commandment, put on their hats; and Essex some-
what abruptly went from him into the house, and the
counsellors followed him, thinking he would have
private conference with them as was required.

And as they passed through the several rooms, they
might hear many of the disordered company cry,
" Kill them, kill them;" and others crying, " Nay,
" but shop them up, keep them as pledges, cast the
<c great seal out at the window;" and other such au-
dacious and traiterous speeches. But Essex took hold
of the occasion and advantage, to keep in deed such
pledges if he were distressed, and to have the coun-
tenance to lead them with him to the court, especially
the two great magistrates of justice, and the great seal
of England, if he prevailed, and to deprive her majesty
of the use of their counsel in such a strait, and to
engage his followers in the very beginning by such a
capital act, as the imprisonment of counsellors carrying
her majesty 's royal commandment for the suppressing
of a rebellious force.

And after that they were come up into his book
chamber, he gave order they should be kept fast,

5iving the charge of their custody principally to Sir
ohn Davis, but adjoined unto him a warder, one
Owen Salisbury, one of the most seditious and wicked
persons of the number, having been a notorious robber,
and one that served the enemy under Sir William
Stanley, and that bare a special spleen unto my lord
Chief Justice ; who guarded these honourable persons
with muskets charged, and matches ready fired at the
chamber door.
This done, the earl, notwithstanding my lord Keeper

M 2

64? Declaration of the Treasons

required to speak with him, left the charge pf his house
with Sir Gilly Merick ; and, using these words to my
lord Keeper, " Have patience for a while, I will go
" take order with the mayor and sheriffs for the city,
" and be with you again within half an hour ;" issued
with his troop into London, to the number of two
hundred, besides those that remained in the house,
choice men for hardiness and valour, unto whom some
gentlemen and one nobleman did after join themselves.

But from the time he went forth, it seems God did
strike him with the spirit of amazement, and brought
him round again to the place whence he first moved.

For after he had once by Ludgate entered into the
city, he never had so much as the heart or assurance
to speak any set or confident speech to the people, but
repeated only over and over his tale as he passed by,
that he should have been murdered, nor to do any act
of foresight or courage; but he that had vowed he
would never be cooped up more, cooped himself first
within the walls of the city, and after within the walls
of an house, as arrested by God's justice as an example
he confes- of disloyalty. For passing through Cheapside, and so

an of the , ,J c -.i, i bi r i • & ,1

.ri 0fRut-t°wards Smith s house, and finding though some came

nd. The about him, yet none joined or armed with him, he

s' provoked them by speeches as he passed, to arm,

telling them, They did him hurt and no good, to come

about him with no weapons.

But there was not in so populous a city, where he
thought himself held so dear, one man, from the
chiefest citizen to the meanest artificer or prentice, that
armed with him: so as being extremely appalled, as
divers that happened to see him then might visibly
perceive in his face and countenance, and almost
moulten with sweat, though without any cause of
bodily labour but only by the perplexity and horror of
his mind, he came to Smith's house the sheriff, where
he refreshed himself a little and shifted him.

But the mean while it pleased God, that her ma-
jesty's directions at court, though in a case so strange
and sudden, were judicial and sound. For first there
was commandment in the morning given unto the city,

of Robert Earl of Essex. 165

that every man should be in a readiness both in person
and armour, but yet to keep within his own door, and
to expect commandment; upon a reasonable and po-
litic consideration, that had they armed suddenly in
the streets, if there were any ill disposed persons, they
might arm on the one side and turn on the other, or at
least, if armed men had been seen to and fro, it would
have bred a greater tumult, and more blood-shed ; and
the nakedness of Essex's troop would not have so
well appeared.

And soon after, direction was given that the lord
Burghley, taking with him the king of heralds, should
declare him traitor in the principal parts of the city;
which was performed with good expedition and reso-
lution, and the loss and hurt of some of his company.
Besides that, the earl of Cumberland} and Sir. Thomas
Gerard, knight-marshal, rode into the city, and declared
and notified to the people that he was a traitor: from
which time divers of his troop withdrawing from him,
and none other coming in to him, there was nothing
but despair. For having staid a while, as is said, at The confes-
sheriff Smith's house, and there changing his pretext
of a private quarrel, and publishing, that the realm land.
should have been sold to the Infanta, the better to spur fe
on the people to rise, and called, and given command- the bar.
ment to have arms brought and weapons of all sorts,
and being soon after advertised of the proclamation,
he came forth in a hurry.

So having made some stay in Gracechurch-street, and
being dismayed upon knowledge given to him that forces
were coming forwards against him under the conduct
of the lord Admiral, the lieutenant of her majesty's
forces; and not knowing what course to take, he de-
termined in the end to go back towards his own house, '
as well in hope to have found the counsellors there,
and by them to have served some turn, as upon trust
that towards night his friends in the city would gather
their spirits together, and rescue him, as himself de-
clared after to the lieutenant of the Tower.

But for the counsellors, it had pleased God to make
one of the principal offenders his instrument for their

ca°tn-

Declaration of the Treasons

delivery; who seeing my lord's case desperate, and
contriving how to redeem his fault and save himself,
came to Sir John Davis, and Sir Gilly Merick, as sent
from my lord ; and so procured them to be released.

But the earl of Essex, with his company that was
left, thinking to recover his house, made on by land
towards Ludgate ; where being resisted by a company
of pikemen and other forces, gathered together by the
wise and diligent care of the bishop of London, and
commanded by Sir John Luson, and yet attempting to
clear the passage, he was with no great difficulty re-
pulsed, At which encounter Sir Christopher Blunt
was sore wounded, and young Tracy slain on his part;
and one Waits on the queen's part, and some others.
Upon which repulse he went back and fled towards
the water-side, and took boat at Queenhithe, and so
was received into Essex-house at the water-gate,
which he fortified and barricado'd ; but instantly the
lord-lieutenant so disposed his companies, as all pas-
sage and issue forth was cut off from him both by land
and by water, and all succours that he might hope for
were discouraged : and leaving the earl of Cumberland,
the earl of Lincoln, the lord Thomas Howard, the lord
Gray, the lord Burghley, and the lord Compton, Sir
Walter Raleigh, Sir Thomas Gerard, with divers others,
before the house to landward, my lord-lieutenant him-
self thought good, taking with him the lord of Effing-
ham, lord Cobham, Sir John Stanhope, Sir Robert
Sidney, M. Foulk Grevill, with divers others, to assail
the garden and banqueting-house on the water-side,
and presently forced the garden, and won to the walls
of the house, and was ready to have assailed the house;
but out of a Christian and honourable consideration,
understanding that there were in the house the countess
of Essex, and the lady Rich, with their gentlewomen,
let the earl of Essex know by Sir Robert Sidney, that
he was content to suffer the ladies and gentlewomen
to come forth. Whereupon Essex returning the lord-
lieutenant thanks for the compassion and care he had
of the ladies, desired only to have an hour's respite to
make way for their going out, and an hour after to

of Robert Earl of Essex.

barricade the place again : which because it could
make no alteration to the hindrance of the service, the
lord-lieutenant thought good to grant. But Essex,
having had some talk within of a sally, and despairing
of the success, and thinking better to yield himself,
sent word, that upon some conditions he would yield.

But the lord-lieutenant utterly refusing to. hear of
capitulation, Essex desired to speak with my lord, who
thereupon went up close to the house; and the late
earls of Essex and Southampton, with divers other
lords and gentlemen their partakers, presented them-
selves upon the leads; and Essex said, he would not
capitulate, but intreat; and made three petitions. The
first, that they might be civilly used : whereof the
lord-lieutenant assured them. The second, that they
might have an honourable trial: whereof, the lord-
lieutenant answered, they need not to doubt. The
third, that he might have Ashton a preacher with him
in prison for the comfort of his soul; which the lord-
lieutenant said he would move to her majesty, not
doubting of the matter of his request, though he could
not absolutely promise him that person. Whereupon
they all, with the ceremony amongst martial men ac-
customed, came down and submitted themselves, and
yielded up their swords, which was about ten of the
clock at night; there having been slain in holding of
the house by musket shot Owen Salisbury, and some
few more on the part of my lord, and some few like-
wise slain and hurt on the queen's part: and presently,
as well the lords as the rest of their confederates of
quality, were severally taken into the charge of divers
particular lords and gentlemen, and by them conveyed
to the Tower and other prisons.

So as this action, so dangerous in respect of the
person of the leader, the manner of the combination,
and the intent of the plot, brake forth and ended
within the compass of twelve hours, and with the loss
of little blood, and in such sort as the next day all
courts of justice were open, and did sit in their ac-
customed manner, giving good subjects and all reason-
able men just cause to think, not the less of the

168 Declaration of the Treasons

offender's treason, but the more of her majesty's
princely magnanimity and prudent foresight in so
great a peril, and chiefly of God's goodness, that hath
blessed her majesty in this, as in many things else,
with so rare and divine felicity.

The effect of the evidence given at the several
arraignments of the late earls of ESSEX and
SOUTHAMPTON, before the lord Steward; and
of Sir CHRISTOPHER BLUNT,and Sir CHARLES
D AVERS, and others, before great and ho-
nourable Commissioners of Oyer and Ter-
miner: and of the answers and defences
which the said offenders made for themselves ;
and the replies made upon such their defences :
with some other circumstances of the pro-
ceedings, as well at the same arraignments
as after.

Some ques- THE two late earls of Essex and Southampton were
rcTdeTy the brought to their trial the nineteenth of February,
eari of Essex, e]even days after the rebellion. At which trial there
roigiudiaf- passed upon them twenty-five peers, a greater num-
thegeeeny>°f ker *^an ^atn been called in any former precedent.
But anTwer Amongst whom her majesty did not forbear to use
many that were of near alliance and blood to the earl
of Essex, and some others, that had their sons and
ne^rs apparent that were of his company, and followed
him in the open action of rebellion. The lord Steward
" tnen 'm commission, according to the solemnity in such
both without trials received, was the lord Buckhurst, lord high
challenge, treasurer, who with gravity and temperance directed
the evidence, and moderated, and gave the judgment.
There was also an assistance of eight judges, the three
chief, and five others. The hearing was with great
patience and liberty: the ordinary course not being
held, to silence the prisoners till the whole state of the
evidence was given in ; but they being suffered to
answer articulately to every branch of the evidence,

of Robert Earl of Essex. 169

and sometimes to every particular deposition, whenso-
ever they offered to speak : and not so only, but they
were often spared to be interrupted, even in their di-
gressions and speeches not much pertinent to their
cause. And always when any doubt in law was
moved, or when it was required either by the prisoners
or the peers, the lord Steward required the judges to
deliver the law; who gave their opinions severally,
not barely yea or no, but at large with their reasons.

In the indictment were not laid or charged the
treasons of Ireland, because the greatest matter, which
was the design to bring over the army of Ireland,
being then not confessed nor known; it was not
thought convenient to stuff the indictment with mat-
ters which might have been conceived to be chiefly
gathered by curious inquisition, and grounded upon
report or presumption, when there was other matter
so notorious. And besides, it was not unlikely that
in his case, to whom many were so partial, some, who
would not consider how things came to light by de-
grees, might have reported that he was twice called
in question about one offence. And therefore the late
treasons of his rebellion and conspiracy were only
comprehended in the indictment, with the usual clauses
and consequents in law, of compassing the queen's
death, destruction, and deprivation, and levying war,
and the like.

The evidence consisted of two par Is: the plot of sur-
prising her majesty's person in court, and the open
rebellion in the city.

THE plot was opened according to the former nar-
ration, and proved by the several confessions of four
witnesses, fully and directly concurring in the point ;
Sir Christopher Blunt, Sir Charles Davers, Sir John
Davis, and Sir Ferdinando Gorge. Of which num-
ber, though Sir Christopher Blunt were not at the
council held at Drury-house, no more than Essex him-
self was ; yet he was privy to that which passed.
Sir Ferdinando Gorge being prisoner in the Gate-

17O Declaration of the Treasons

house, near the place of tria], was, at the request of
the earl of Essex, brought thither, and avouched viva
voce his confession in all things.

And these four proved all particularities of surprising
the court, and the manner of putting the same in ex-
ecution, and the distributing and naming of the prin-
cipal persons and actors to their several charges 3 and
the calling of my lord's pretended enemies to trial for
their lives, and the summoning of a parliament, and
the altering of the government. And Sir Christopher
Blunt, and Sir John Davis from Sir Christopher Blunt,
did speak to the point of bringing in a toleration of
the catholic religion.

For the overt rebellion in. the city itself, it teas like-
wise opened, according to the former narration, and
divided itself naturally into three parts.

FIRST, the imprisonment of the counsellors, bring-
ing her majesty's royal commandment to them, upon
their allegiance to disperse their forces. Secondly, the
entering the city, and the stirring of the people to rise,
as well by provoking them to arm, as by giving forth
the slanders that the realm was sold to the Spaniard,
and the assailing of the queen's forces at Ludgate.
And thirdly, the resistance and keeping of the house
against her majesty's forces under the charge and con-
duct of the lord-lieutenant.

And albeit these parts were matters notorious, and
-within almost every man's view and knowledge ; yet,
for the better satisfaction of the peers, they were fully
proved by the oath of the lord chief justice of England,
being there present, viva voce, and the declaration of
the earl of Worcester, being one of the peers likewise,
viva voce, touching so much as passed about the im-
prisonment of themselves and the rest; and by the
confessions of the earl of Rutland, the lord Sandys,
the lord Cromwell, and others.

The defence of the late earl of Essex, touching the
plot and consultation at Drury-house, was? That it
was not proved that he was at it 5 and that they could

of Robert Earl of Essex. 171

shew nothing, proving his consent or privity under
his hand.

Touching the action in the city, he justified the pre-
text of the danger of his life to be a truth. He said that
his speech, that the realm should have been sold to the
Infanta of Spain, was grounded upon a report he had
heard, that Sir Robert Cecil should say privately, That
the Infanta's title to the crown, after her majesty, was
as good as any other. He excused the imprisonment
of the counsellors to have been against his mind, forced
upon him by his unruly company. He protested he
never intended in his heart any hurt to her majesty's
person; that he did desire to secure his access to her,
for which purpose he thought to pray the help of the
city, and that he did not arm his men in warlike sort,
nor struck up drum, nor the like.

The defence of the late earl of Southampton to his
part of the plot, and consultation at Drury-house, was:
That it was a matter debated, but not resolved nor
concluded; and that the action which was executed,
was not the action which was consulted upon. And
for the open, action in the city, he concurred with
Essex, with protestation of the clearness of his mind
for any hurt to the queen's person : and that it was
but his affection to my lord of Essex that had drawn
him into the cause. This was the substance and best
of both their defences. Unto which the reply was:

Defence. To the point, that the late earl of Essex
was not at. the consultation at Drury-house:

Reply. It was replied, that it was proved by all the
witnesses, that that consultation was held by his spe-
cial appointment and direction, and that both the list
of the names and the principal articles were of his own
hand-writing. And whereas he said, they could not
be shewed extant under his hand ; it was proved by
the confession of my lord of Rutland, and the lord
Sands, that he had provided for that himself. For
after he returned out of the city to his own house, he
burned divers papers which he had in a cabinet,
because, as himself said, they should tell no tales.

Defence. To the point which Southampton aliedged,

172 Declaration of the Treasons

That the consultation at Drury-house, upon the list and
articles in writing, was not executed:

Reply. It was replied, that both that consultation in
that manner held, if none other act had followed, was
treason : and that the rebellion following in the city,
was not a desisting from the other plot, but an induce-
ment and pursuance of it; their meaning being plain
on all parts, that after they had gotten the aid of the
city, they would have gone and -possessed the court.

Defence. To the point, that it was a truth that Essex
should have been assailed by his private enemies :

Reply. First, he was required to deliver who it was
that gave him the advertisement of it ; because other-
wise it must light upon himself, and be thought his
own invention: whereunto he said, that he would
name no man that day.

Then it was shewed how improbable it was, consi-
dering that my lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh
were men whose estates were better settled and esta-
blished, than to overthrow their fortunes by such a
crime.

Besides, it was shewed how the tale did not hang
together, but: varied in itself, as the tale of the two
judges did, when one said, under the mulberry-tree,
and another said, under the fig-tree. So sometimes it
was, that he should have been murdered in his bed,
and sometimes upon the water, and sometimes it
should have been performed by Jesuits some days
before.

Thirdly, it was asked what reference the going into
the city for succour against any of his private enemies
had to the imprisoning of the lord Keeper, and the lord
Chief Justice, persons that he pretended to love and
respect ; and the earl of Worcester his kinsman, and
Master Comptroller his uncle, and the publishing to the
people, that the realm should have been sold to the
Spaniard.

And lastly, it was said, that these were the ancient
footsteps of former traitors, to make their quarrel as
against their private enemies, because God unto lawful
kings did ever impart such beams of his own glory,

of Robert Earl of Essex. 173

as traitors could not look straight upon them, but ever
turned their pretences against some about them ; and
that this action of his resembled the action of Pisistratus
of Athens, that proceeded so far in this kind of fiction
and dissimulation, as he lanced his own body, and
came hurt and wounded before the people, as having-
been assailed by his private enemies ; and by colour
thereof obtained a guard about his person, by help of
whom he after usurped upon the state.

Defence. To the point, that he heard it reported
Mr. Secretary should say, That the Infanta's title to
the crown, after her majesty, was as good as any
other :

Reply. Upon this his allegation, Mr. Secretary
standing out of sight in a private place, only to hear,
being much moved with so false and foul an accusa-
tion, came suddenly forth, and made humble request
to the lord Steward, that he might have the favour to
answer for himself. Which being granted him in re-
spect of the place he carried, after a bitter contestation
on his part with the earl, and a serious protestation qf
his alienation of heart from the Spanish nation in any
such condition, he still urged the earl to name the
reporter, that all the circumstances might be known.
But the earl still warily avoiding it, Mr. Secretary re-
plied, That seeing he would alledge no author, it ought
to be reputed his own fiction. Whereupon the earl of
Essex said, Though his own conscience was a suffi-
cient testimony to himself that he had not invented
any untruth, yet he would affirm thus much for the
world's farther satisfaction in that behalf, that the earl
of Southampton also had heard so much reported of
Mr. Secretary ; but said still that he, for his part,
would name nobody. Whereupon Mr. Secretary ad-
jured the earl of Southampton, by all former friendship,
wrhich had been indeed very great between them, that
he would declare the person ; which he did presently,
and said it was Mr. Comptroller. At which speech
Mr. Secretary straight took hold and said, That he
was glad to hear him named of all others ; for howso-
ever some malicious person might peradventure have

174- Declaration of the Treasons

been content to give credit to so injurious a conceit of
him, especially such as were against the peace wherein
he was employed, and for which the earl of Essex had
ever hated him, being ever desirous to keep an army
on his own dependency, yet he did think no man of
any understanding would believe that he could be so
senseless, as to pick out the earl of Essex his uncle to
lay open to him his affection to that nation, in a matter
of so odious and pernicious consequence; and so did
very humbly crave it at the hands of the lord Steward,
and all the peers, that Mr. Comptroller might be sent
for to make good his accusation.

Thereupon the lord Steward sent a serjeant at arms
for Mr. Comptroller, who presently came thither, and
did freely and sincerely deliver, that he had only said,
though he knew not well to whom, that Mr. Secretary
and he walking in the garden at court one morning
about two years since, and talking casually of foreign
things, Air. Secretary told him, That one Doleman
had maintained in a book, not long since printed, that
the Infanta of Spain had a good title to the crown of
England : which was all, as Mr. Comptroller said, that
ever he heard Mr. Secretary speak of that matter. And
so the weak foundation of that scandal being quickly
discerned, that matter ended ; all that could be proved
being no other, than that Mr. Comptroller had told
another, who had told the earl of Essex, that Mr. Se-
cretary said to him, that such a book said so ; which
every man could say that hath read it, and no man
better knew than the earl himself, to whom it was
dedicated.

Defence. To the point of both their protestations,
that they intended no hurt to her majesty 's person :

Reply. First, the judges delivered their opinions
for matter in law upon two points : the one, that in
case where a subject attempteth to put himself into
such strength as the king shall not be able to resist
him, and to force and compel the king to govern other-
wise than according to his own royal authority and
direction, it is manifest rebellion. The other, that in
every rebellion the law intendeth as a consequent, the

of Robert Earl of Essex. 175

compassing the death and deprivation of the king, as
foreseeing that the rebel will never suffer that king to
live or reign, which might punish or take revenge of
his treason and rebellion. And it was inforced by the
queen's counsel, that this is not only the wisdom of the
laws of the realm which so defineth of it, but it is also
the censure of foreign laws, the conclusion of common
reason, which is the ground of all laws, and the de-
monstrative assertion of experience, which is the war-
ranty of all reason. For first, the civil law maketh this
judgment, that treason is nothing else but crimen
laesae majestatis, or diminutae majestatis, making
every offence which abridgeth or hurteth the power
and authority of the prince, as an insult or invading of
the crown, and extorting the imperial sceptre. And
for common reason, it is not possible that a subject
should once come to that height as to give law to
his sovereign, but what with insolency of the change,
and what with terror of his own guiltiness, he will
never permit the king, if he can choose, to recover
authority; nor, for doubt of that, to continue alive*
And lastly, for experience, it is confirmed by all sto-
ries and examples, that the subject never obtained
a superiority and command over the king, but there
followed soon after the deposing and putting of the
king to death, as appeareth in our own chronicles, in
two notable particulars of two unfortunate kings : the
one of Edward the second, who when he kept himself
close, for danger, was summoned by proclamation to
come and take upon him the government of the realm:
but as soon as he presented himself was made prisoner,
and soon after forced to resign, and in the end tragi-
cally murdered in Berkley castle. And the other of
king Richard the second, who though the duke of
Hertford, after king Henry the fourth, presented him-
self before him with three humble reverences, yet in
the end was deposed and put to death.

Defence. To the point of not arming his men
otherwise than with pistols, rapiers, and daggers, it
was replied :

Reply. That that course was held upon cunning,

176 Declaration of the Treasons

the better to insinuate himself into the favour of the
city, as coming like a friend with an All hail, or kiss,
and not as an enemy, making full reckoning that the
city would arm him, and arm with him ; and that he
took the pattern of his action from the day of the bar-
ricadoes at Paris, where the duke of Guise entering
the city but with eight gentlemen, prevailing with the
city of Paris to take his part, as my lord of Essex,
thanks be to God, failed of the city of London, made
the king, whom he thought likewise to have surprised,
to forsake the town, and withdraw himself into other
places, for his farther safety. And it was also urged
against him out of the confession of the earl of Rutland
and others, that he cried out to the citizens, cc That
they did him hurt and no good, to come without wea-
pons ;" and provoked them to arm : and finding they
would not be moved to arm with him, sought to arm
his own troops.

This, point by point, was the effect of the reply.
Upon all which evidence, both the earls were found
guilty of treason by all the several voices of every one
of the peers, and so received judgment.

The names of the peers that passed upon the trial of the
tzvo earls.

Earl of Oxford. LordCobham.

Earl of Shrewsbury. Lord Stafford.

Earl of Derby. Lord Gray.

Earl of Cumberland. Lord Lumley.

Earl of Worcester. Lord Windsor.

Earl of Sussex. Lord Rich.

Earl of Hertford. Lord Darcy de Chichey.

Earl of Lincoln. Lord Chandos.

Earl of Nottingham. Lord Hunsdon.

T j XT-- ^ T>- j Lord St. John de Bletso.

Lord V1Scount Bmdon. Lord Co[^pton>

Lord De la Ware. Lord Burghley.

Lord Morley, Lord Howard of Walden,

of Robert Earl of Essex. 1 77

The names of the judges that assisted the court.

Lord Chief Justice. Justice Fenner.

Lord Chief Justice of Justice Walmsly.

the Common Pleas. Baron Clerke.

Lo/d Chief Baron. Justice Kingsmill.
Justice Gawdy.

Some particularities of that which passed after the
arraignment of the late earls, and at the time of
the suffering of the earl of ESSEX.

BUT the earl of Essex, finding that the consultation
at Drury-house, and the secret plots of his premeditated
and prepensed treasons were come to light, contrary
to his expectation, was touched, even at his parting
from the bar, with a kind of remorse ; especially be-
cause he had carried the manner of his answer, rather
in a spirit of ostentation and glory, than with humility
and penitence: and brake out in the hall, while the
lords were in conference, into these words ; " That
" seeing things were thus carried, he would ere it be
ic long say more than yet was known." Which good
motion of his mind being, after his coming back to the
Tower, first cherished by M. D. of Norwich, but after
wrought on by the religious and effectual persuasions
and exhortations of Mr. Abdy Ashton his chaplain,
the man whom he made suit by name to have with
him for his soul's health, as one that of late time he
had been most used unto, and found most comfort o£
comparing it, when he made the request, to the case
of a patient, that in his extremity would be desirous
to have that physician that was best acquainted with
his body ; he sent word the next day, to desire to
speak with some of the principal counsellors, with
whom he desired also that particularly Mr. Secretary
might come for one. Upon which his request, first
the lord Admiral and Mr. Secretary, and afterwards
at two several times the lord Keeper of the great seal,
the lord High Treasurer, the lord High Admiral, and

VOL. III. N

178 Declaration of the Treasons, 8Cc.

Mr. Secretary repaired unto him: before whom, after
he had asked the lord Keeper forgiveness, for restrain-
ing him in his house, and Mr. Secretary for having
wronged him at the bar, concerning the matter of the
Infanta, with signification of his earnest desire to be
reconciled to them, which was accepted with all
Christian charity and humanity ; he proceeded to ac-
cuse heavily most of his confederates for carrying ma-
licious minds to the state, and vehemently charged
Cuffe his man to his own face, to have been a prin-
cipal instigator of him in his treasons; and then dis-
closed how far Sir Henry Neville, her majesty's late
ambassador, was privy to all the conspiracy ; of whose
name till then there had not been so much as any suspi-
cion. And farther, at the lords first coming to him,
not sticking to confess that he knew her majesty could
not be safe while he lived, did very earnestly desire
this favour of the queen, that he might die as privately
as might be.

Thetesti- And the morning before his execution, there being
itoeedivitu* sent unto h*m> ^or ^s better preparation, Mr. Doctor
under their Mountford, and Mr. Doctor Barlow, to join with Mr.
Abdy Ashton his chaplain, he did in many words thank
God that he had given him a deeper insight into his
offencfc, being sorry he had so stood upon his justifi-
cation at his arraignment : since which time, he said,
he was become a new man, and heartily thanked God
also that his course was by tiod's providence prevented.
For, if his project had taken effect, " God knoweth,"
said he, " what harm it had wrought in the realm."

He did also humbly thank her majesty, that he
should die in so private a manner, for he suffered in
the Tower-yard, and not upon the hill, by his own
special suit, lest the acclamation of the people, for
those were his own words, might be a, temptation to
him : adding, that all popularity and trust in man was
vain, the experience whereof himself had felt ; and
• acknowledged farther unto them, that he was justly
end worthily spued out, for that was also his own
word, of the realm, and that the nature of his offence
was like a leprosy that had infected far and near. And

Arraignments of Blunt, Davers, Kc.

so likewise at the public place of his suffering, he did
use vehement detestation of his offence, desiring God
to forgive him his great, his bloody, his crying, and
his infectious sin : and so died very penitently, but yet
with great conflict, as it should seem, for his sins.
For he never mentioned nor remembered there, wife,
children, or friend, nor took particular leave of any
that were present, but wholly abstracted and seques-
tered himself to the state of his conscience, and
prayer.

The effect of that which passed at the arraignments
of Sir CHRISTOPHER BLUNT, SirCHARLES
DAVERS, Sir JOHN DAVIS, Sir GILLY ME-
RICK, and HENRY CUFFE.

THE fifth of March, by a very honourable com-
mission of Oyer and Terminer, directed to the lord
High Admiral, the lord Chamberlain, Mr. Secretary,
the lord Chief Justice of England, Mr. Chancellor of
the exchequer, Mr. Secretary Herbert, with divers of
the judges, the commissioners sitting in the court of
the Queen's Bench, there were arraigned and tried by
a jury both of aldermen of London, and other gentle-
men of good credit and sort, Sir Christopher Blunt, Sir
Charles Davers, Sir John Davis, Sir Gilly Merick,
and Henry Cuffe. The three first whereof, before they
pleaded, asked this question of the judges: Whether
they might not. confess the indictment in part, and
plead not guilty to it in the other part ? But being re-
solved by the judges, that their pleading must be ge-
neral; they pleaded Not guilty, as did likewise the
other two, without any such question asked. The
reason of that question was, as they confessed, in
respect of the clause laid in the indictment ; That they
intended and compassed the death and destruction of
the queen's majesty : unto whose person, although
they confessed at the bar, as they had done in their
examinations, that their meaning was to come to her
in such strength, as they should not be resisted, and to

N 2

Arraignments of Blunt, Davers, 8£c.

require of her divers conditions and alterations of go-
vernment, such as in their confessions are expressed,
nevertheless they protested, they intended no personal
harm to herself. Whereupon as at the arraignment
of the two earls, so then again the judges delivered
the rule of the law : that the wisdom and foresight of
the laws of this land maketh this judgment. That the
subject that rebelleth or riseth in forcible manner to
over-rule the royal will and power of the king, intend-
eth to deprive the king both of crown and life : and
that the law judgeth not of the fact by the intent, but
of the intent by the fact. And the queen's counsel did
again inforce that point, setting forth that it was no
mystery or quiddity of the common law, but it was a
conclusion infallible of reason and experience ; for that
the crown was not a ceremony or garland, but consisted
of pre-eminence and power.

And therefore, when the subject will take upon
him to give law to the king, and to make the power
sovereign and commanding to become subject and
commanded ; such subject layeth hold of the crown,
and taketh the sword out of the king's hands. And
that the crown was fastened so close upon the king's
head, that it cannot be pulled off, but that head, and
life, and all will follow ; as all examples, both in fo-
reign stones and here at home, do make manifest.
And therefore, when their words did protest one thing,
and their deeds did testify another, they were but like
the precedent of the protestation used by Manlius the
lieutenant of Catiline, that conspired against the state
of Rome, who began his letter to the senate with
these words : Deos hominesque testor,patrts conscripti^
n os nihilaliudy etc.

And it was said farther, that admitting their protes-
tations were so far true, that they had not at that time
in their minds a formed and distinct cogitation to have
destroyed the queen's person ; yet nothing was more
variable and mutable than the mind of man, and spe-
cially Honorcs mutant mores : when they were once
• aloft, and had the queen in their hands, and were
peers in my lord of Essex his parliament, who could

Arraignments of Blunt, Davers, 8Cc. 13]

promise of what mind they would then be? especially
when my lord of Essex at his arraignment had made
defence of his first action of imprisoning the privy
counsellors, by pretence that he was inforced to it by
his unruly company. So that if themselves should not
have had, or would not seem to have had, that extreme
and devilish wickedness of mind, as to lay violent
hands upon the queen's sacred person; yet, what must
be done to satisfy the multitude and secure their party,
must be then the question: wherein the example was
remembered of Richard the third, who, though he
were king in possession, and the rightful inheritors
but infants, could never sleep quiet in his bed till they
were made away. Much less would a Catilinary knot
and combination of rebels, that did rise without so
much as the fume of a title, ever endure, that a queen
that had been their sovereign, and had reigned so many
years in such renown and policy, should be longer alive
than made for their own turn. And much speech was
used to the same end. So that in the end all those
three at the bar said, that now they were informed,
and that they descended into a deeper consideration
of the matter, they were sorry they had not con-
fessed the indictment. And Sir Christopher Blunt, at The confes.
the time of his suffering, discharged his conscience_in aJTifd^atT
plain terms, and said publicly betore all the people, which is set
that he saw plainly with himself, that if they could not end." h> the
have attained all that they would, they must have
drawn blood even from the queen herself..

The evidence given in against them three, was prin-
cipally their own confessions, charging every one him-
self, and the other, and the rest of the evidence used
at the arraignment of the late earls, and mentioned
before: save that, because it was perceived, that that
part of the charge would take no labour nor time, being
plain matter and confessed, and because some touch
had been given in the proclamation of the treasons of
Ireland, and chiefly because Sir Christopher Blunt
was marshal of the army in Ireland, and most inward
with my lord in all his proceedings there; and not so
only, but farther in the confession of Thomas Lee it

Arraignments of Ciijfe and Merick.

was precisely contained, that he knew the earl of
Essex and Tyrone, and Blunt the marshal, to be all
one, and to run one course; it was thought fit to open
some part of the treasons of Ireland, such as were
then known. "Which very happily gave the occasion
for Blunt to make that discovery of the purpose to have
invaded the realm with the army of Ireland : which he
then offered, and afterwards uttered, and in the end
sealed with his blood, as is hereafter set down.

Against Cuffe was given in evidence, both Sir
Charles Davers's confession, who charged him, when
there was any debating of the several enterprises which
they should undertake, that he did ever bind firmly
and resolutely for the court : and the accusation under
the earl's hand, avouched by him to his face, that he
was a principal instigator of him in his treasons : but
especially a full declaration of Sir Henry Neville's, which
describeth and planteth forth the whole manner of his
practising with him.

The fellow, after he had made some introduction
by an artificial and continued speech, and some time
spent in sophistical arguments, descended to these two
answers : the one, For his being within Essex-house
that day, the day of the rebellion, they might as well
charge a lion within a grate with treason, as him; and
for the consultation at Drury-house, it was no more
treason than the child in the mother's belly is a child.
But it was replied, that for his being in the house, it
was not compulsory, and that there was a distribution
in the action, of some to make good the house, and
some to enter the city, and the one part held corres-
pondent to the other, and that in treasons there were
no accessaries, but all principals.

And for the consultation at Drury-house, it was a
perfect treason in itself, because the compassing of
the king's destruction, which by judgment of law was
concluded and implied in that consultation, was trea-
son in the very thought and cogitation, so as that
thought be proved by an overt act : and that the same
consultation and debating thereupon was an overt act,
though it had not been upon a list of names3 and

Arraignments of Citffe and Merick. 1 83

articles in writing, much more being upon matter in
writing.

And again : the going into the city was a pursuance
and inducement of the enterprise to possess the court,
and not a desisting or departure from it.

And lastly, it was ruled by the judges for law, That
if many do conspire to execute treason against the
prince in one manner, and some of them do execute
it in another manner, yet their act, though differing
in the manner, is the act of all them that conspire, by
reason of the general malice of the intent.

Against Sir Gilly Merick, the evidence that was
given, charged him chiefly with the matter of the open
rebellion, that he was as captain or commander over
the house, and took upon him charge to keep it, and
make it good as a place of retreat for those which
issued into the city, and fortifying and barricading the
same house, and making provision of muskets, pow-
der, pellets, and other munition and weapons for the
holding and defendingof it, and as a busy, forward, and
noted actor in that defence and resistance, which was
made against the queen's forces brought against it by
her majesty's lieutenant.

And farther to prove him privy to the -plot, it was
given in evidence, that some few days before the re-
bellion, with great heat and violence he had displaced
certain gentlemen lodged in an house fast by Essex-
house, and there planted divers of my lord's followers
and complices, all such as went forth with him in the
action of rebellion.

That the afternoon before the rebellion, Merick,
with a great company of others that afterwards were
all in the action, had procured to be played before
them the play of deposing king Richard the second.

Neither was it casual, but a play bespoken by Me-
rick.

And not so only, but when it was told him by one
of the players, that the play was old, and they should
have loss in playing it, because few would come to it:
there were forty shillings extraordinary given to play it,
and so thereupon played it was.

184 Confessions and other Evidences.

So earnest he was to satisfy his eyes with the sight of
that tragedy, which he thought soon after his lordship
should bring from the stage to the state, but that God
turned it upon their own heads.

The speeches of Sir Christopher Blunt at his
execution, are set down as near as they
could be remembered, after the rest of the
confessions and evidences.

Here follow the voluntary confessions themselves,
such as were given in evidence at both the
several arraignments, taken forth word for
word out of the originals : whereby it may
appear how God brought matters to light, at
several times, and in several parts, all con-
curring in substance: and with them other
declarations and parts of evidence.

The confession of THOMAS LEE, taken the 14-th
of February 1600, before Sir JOHN PEYTON,
lieutenant of the Tower; ROGER WILBRA-
HAM, master of the Requests; Sir ANTHONY
SAINTLEGER, master of the Rolls in Ireland;
and THOMAS FLEMING, her majesty's Soli-
citor general.

THIS examinant saith, that Tyrone sent a message
to this examinate by James Knowd, whom this exa-
ininate by the marshal's warrant in writing had sent to
Tyrone before himself went to Tyrone, that if the earl
of Essex would follow his plot, he would make him
the greatest man that ever was in England, and that,
when Essex and Tyrone should have conference toge-
ther, for his assurance unto the earl of Essex, Tyrone
would deliver his eldest son in pledge to the earl. And
with this message this examinate made the earl of
Essex acquainted before his coming to this exami-
nate's house, at that time when this examinate was
sent to Tyrone.

Ccnfessions and other Evidences. 185

This examinate saith, be knew that Essex, Tyrone,
and the marshal Sir Christopher Blunt, were all one,
and held all one course.

THOMAS LEE.
Exam, per JOHN PRY TON,

ROGER WILBRAHAM,
ANTHONY SAINTLEGER,
THOMAS FLEMING.

The declaration of Sir WILLIAM WARREN,
3 Octobris, 1599.

THE said Sir William came to Armagh the last The car! of
Friday, being the twenty-eighth of September: from ^f^f1*8
thence he sent a messenger in the night to Tyrone to day to the
Dungannon, signifying his coming to Armagh, as
aforesaid, and that the next morning he would meet
Tyrone at the fort of Black water : where accordingly
the said Tyrone met with him ; and after other speeches,
by farther discourse the said Tyrone told the said Sir
William, and delivered it with an oath, that within
these two months he should see the greatest alteration,
and the strangest, that he the said Sir William could
imagine, or ever saw in his life : and said, that he
hoped, before it was long, that the said Tyrone should
have a good share in England : which speeches of
the alteration, Tyrone reiterated two or three several
times.

WILLIAM WARREN.

Certified from the council of Ireland to
the lords of the council here.

The declaration of THOMAS WOOD, 20 Januarii
1599, taken before the lord BUCKHURST, lord
High Treasurer ; the earl of NOTTINGHAM,
lord High Admiral; Sir ROBERT CECIL, prin-
cipal Secretary; and Sir J. FORTES CUE, Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer.

THE said Wood said, that happening to be with
the lord Fitzmorris baron of Licksnaw, at his house at

186 Confessions and other Evidences.

Licksnaw, between Michaelmas and Alhallowtide
last, the said baron walking abroad with the said
Wood, asked of him what force the earl of Essex was
of in England; he answered, he could not tell, but
said he was well beloved of the commonalty. Then said
the baron, that the earl was gone for England, and
had discharged many of the companies of Ireland, and
that it was agreed that be should be king of England,
and Onelc to be viceroy of Ireland; and whensoever
he should have occasion, and would send for them,
Onele should send him eight thousand men out of Ire-
land. The said Wood asked the baron, how he knew

» The tim. that ? He answered, that the earl of * Desmond had

InfrS written to him so much.

lion. THOMAS WOOD.

Confessed in the presence of THOMAS BUCKHURST,

NOTTINGHAM,
ROBERT CECIL,
JOHN FORTESCUE.

The confession of JAMES KNOWD, taken the
16th of February 1600, before Sir ANTHONY
SAINTLEGER, master of'the Rolls in Ireland,
and ROGER WILBRAHAM, master of the
Requests.

OWNEY MAC RORY having secret intelligence
of the friendship between the earl of Essex and Tyrone,
wrote to Tyrone, desiring him to certify him thereof,
whereby he might frame his course accordingly, and not
do any thing contrary to their agreement : which letter
myself did write by Owney's appointment, for then I
was in credit with him; in which letter he also desired
Tyrone to send him some munition. The letter, with
instructions to that effect, was, in my presence deli-
vered to one Turlagh mac Davy o Kelly, a man of
secrecy, sufficiency, and trust with Owney ; and he
carried it to Tyrone : before whose return Owney
grew suspicious of me, because I sometimes belonged
to Mr. Bowen, and therefore they would not trust me.

Confessions and other Evidences. 187

so as I could not see the answer: but yet I beard by-
many of their secret council, that the effect thereof
was, That the earl of Essex should be king of Eng-
land, and Tyrone of Ireland.

Afterwards I met with Turlagh mac Davy, the
messenger aforesaid, and asked him whether he
brought an answer of the letter from Tyrone. He
said he did, and delivered it to Owney. And then I
asked him what he thought of the wars. He told me
he had good hope the last year, and had none this
jyear: his reason was, as he said, that the earl of Essex
was to take their part, and they should aid him to-
wards the conquest of England ; and now they were
hindered thereof by means of his apprehension.

I, dwelling with the tanist of the country, my
mother's cousin german, heard him speak sundry-
times, that now the earl of Essex had gotten one of
the swords, he would never forego his government
until he became king of England, which was near at
hand.

I saw a letter which the earl of Essex writ to
Owney, to this effect ; That if Owney came to him,
he would speak with him about that, which if he
would follow, should be happy for him and his
country.

JAMES KNOWD.

Exam, per ANTHONY SAINTLEGER.
ROGER WILBRAHAM.

The declaration of DAVID HETHRINGTON, an
ancient captain and servitor in Ireland, 6 Ja-
nuary 1599, taken before the lord BUCKHURST,
lord High Treasurer ; the earl of NOT TING-
HAM, lord High Admiral; Sir ROBERT CE-
CIL, principal Secretary; and Sir JOHN FOR-
TESCUE, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

TIE, the said David Hethrington, riding into the
edge of the county of Kildare, about the end of the
first cessation, fortuned to meet with one James Qc-

1 88 Confessions and other Evidences.

curren, one of the horsemen of Master Bowen provost
marshal of Lemster, who told him, that the said James
Occurren meeting lately with a principal follower of
Owney mac Rory, chief of the Moores, Owney's man
asked him what news he heard of the earl of Essex ?
To which James Occurren answered, that he was
gone for England : whereunto he said, Nay, if you
can tell me no news, I can tell you some ; the earl of
Essex is now in trouble for us, for . that he would do
no service upon us ; which he never meant to do, for
he is ours, and we are his.

DAVID HETHRINGTON.
Confessed in the presence of THO.BUCKHURST,

NOTTINGHAM,
Ro. CECIL,
Jo. FORTESCUE.

The first confession of Sir FERDINANDO GORGE,
knight, the 1 6th of February, 1 600, taken
before Sir THOMAS EGERTON, lord Keeper of
the great seal; the lord BUCKHURST, lord
High Treasurer; the earl of NOTTINGHAM,
lord High Admiral ; and Sir ROBERT CECIL,
principal Secretary.

HE saith, the earl of Essex wrote a letter to him in
January, complaining of his misfortune : that he de-
sired his company, and desired his repair up to him
by the second of February ; that he came to town on
Saturday seven-night before the earl's insurrection, and
that the same night late he visited the earl : who, after
compliments, told him that he stood on his guard, and
resolved not to hazard any more commandments or
restraints ; that he desired him to rest him that night,
and to repair unto him again, but in such sort as
it might not be noted.

That he had been with the earl two or three times
that week ; and on Saturday, being the seventh of
February, the earl told him that he had been sent for
by the lords, and refused to come : delivering farther,

Confessions and other Evidences. 189

that he resolved to defend himself from any more
restraint.

He farther saith, that it was in question the same
Saturday night, to have stirred in the night, and to
have attempted the court. But being demanded,
whether the earl could have had sufficient company to
have done any thing in the night : he answered, that
all the earl's company were ready at one hour's warn-
ing, and had been so before, in respect that he had
meant long before to stand upon his guard.

That it was resolved to have the court first at-
tempted 3 that the earl had three hundred gentlemen
to do it ; but that he the said Ferdinando Gorge was
a violent dissuader of him from that purpose, and the
earl most confident in the party of London, which he
meant, upon a later dispute, first to assure ; and that
he was also assured of a party in Wales, but meant
not to use them, until he had been possessed of the
court.

That the earl and Sir Christopher Blunt understand-
ing that Sir Walter Raleigh had sent to speak with
him in the morning, the said Sir Christopher Blunt
persuaded him, either to surprise Sir Walter Raleigh,
or to kill him. Which when he utterly refused, Sir
Christopher Blunt sent four shot after him in a boat.

That at the going out of Essex-house gate, many
cried out, To the court, to the court. But my lord of
Essex turned him about towards London.

That he meant, after possession of the court, to
call a parliament, and therein to proceed as cause
should require,

At that time of the consultation on Saturday night,
my lord was demanded, what assurance he had of
those he made account to be his friends in the city ?
Whereunto he replied, that there wras no question to
be made of that, for one, amongst the rest, that was
presently in one of the greatest commands amongst
them, held himself to be interested in the cause, for
so he phrased it, and was colonel of a thousand men,
which were ready at all times ; besides others that he
held himself as assured of as of him, and able to make

WO Confessions and other Evidences.

as great numbers. Some of them had at that instant,
as he reported to us, sent unto him, taking notice of
as much as he made us to know of the purpose in^
tended to have intrapped him, and made request to
know his pleasure.

FERD. GORGE.

Exam, per THO. EGERTON, C. S.
THO. BUCKHURST,
NOTTINGHAM,
Ro. CECIL.

The second confession of Sir FERDI NANDO
GORGE the 18th of February 1600, all writ-
ten of his own hand ; and acknowledged in the
presence of Sir THOMAS EGERTON, lord
Keeper of the great seal ; the lord BUCKHURST,
lord High Treasurer ; the earl of NOTTING-
HAM, lord High Admiral; and Sir ROBERT
CECIL, principal Secretary.

ON Tuesday before the insurrection, as I remem-
ber, I was sent unto by my lord of Essex, praying me
to meet my lord of Southampton, Sir Charles Davers,
Sir John Davis, and other his friends at Drury-house j
where I should see a schedule of his friends names,
and projects to be disputed upon. Whither I came
accordingly, and found the foresaid earJ, Sir Charles
Davers, Sir John Davis, and one Mr. Littleton. The
names were shewed and numbered to be sixscore ;
earls, barons, knights, and gentlemen. The projects
were these, whether to attempt the court, or the
Tower, or to stir his friends in London first, or
whether both the court and Tower at an instant ? I
disliked that counsel. My reasons were that I alledged
to them, first, to attempt both with those numbers,
was not to be thought on, because that was not suffi-
cient; and therefore advised them to think of some-
thing else. Then they would needs resolve to attempt
the court, and withal desired mine opinion. But I
prayed them first to set down the manner how it

Confessions and other Evidences. 191

might be done. Then Sir John Davis took ink and
paper, and assigned to divers principal men their se-
veral places; some to keep the gate, some to be in
the hall, some to be in the presence, some in the
lobby, some in the guard chamber, others to come in
with my lord himself, who should have had the pas-
sage given him to the privy-chamber, where he was
to have presented himself to her majesty.

FERD. GORGE. •>

Knowledged in the presence of THO. EGERTON,C. S.

THO. BUCKHURST,
NOTTINGHAM,
Ro. CECIL.

The confession of Sir JOHN DAVIS, taken the
18th of February, 1600, before the earl of
NOTTINGHAM, lord High Admiral; Sir RO-
BERT CECIL, principal Secretary; and JOHN

HERBERT, second Secretary of State.

/

SIR JOHN DAVIS being demanded, how long
before my lord Essex* tumult he knew of such his
purpose?

He answers, that he knew not directly of any mean-
ing my lord had, until the Sunday seven-night before,
or thereabout.

Being demanded, what he knew ? Then he an-
swered, that my lord consulted to possess himself of
the court, at such convenient time when he might
find least opposition. For executing of which enter-
prises, and of other affairs, he appointed my lord of
Southampton, Sir Charles Davers, Sir Ferdinando
Gorge, and himself, to meet at Drury-house, and
there to consider of the same, and such other projects
as his lordship delivered them : and principally, for
surprising of the court, and for the taking of the Tower
of London. About which business they had two
meetings, which were five or six days before the in-
surrection.

He farther saith, that Sir Christopher Blunt was not

192 Confessions and other Evidences.

at this consultation, but that he stayed and advised
with my lord himself about other things to him un-
known : for that my lord trusted several men in se-
veral businesses, and not all together.

Being demanded, what was resolved in the opi-
nions of these four before named ? He saith, that Sir
Charles Davers was appointed to the presence-cham-
ber, and himself to the hall : and that my lord was to
determine himself, who should have guarded the court-
gate and the water-gate. And that Sir Charles Davers,
upon a signal or a watch-word, should have come out
of the presence into the guard-chamber ; and then
some out of the hall to have met him, and so have
stept between the guard and their halberds ; of which
guard they hoped to have found but a dozen, or some
such small number.

Being asked, whether he heard that such as my
lord misliked should have received any violence ? He
saith, that my lord avowed the contrary, and that my
lord said, he would call them to an honourable trial,
and not use the sword.

Being demanded, whether my lord thought his ene-
mies to be Spanish, bonatfide, or no ? He saith, that
he never heard any such speech ; and if my lord used
any such, it came into his head on the sudden.

Being demanded, what party my lord had in Lon-
don ? He saith, that the sheriff Smith was his hope, as
he thinketh.

Being demanded, whether my lord promised liberty
of catholic religion ? He said, that Sir Christopher
Blunt did give hope of it.

JOHN DAVIS*

Exam, per NOTTINGHAM,
Ro. CECIL,
J. HERBERT.

Confessions and other Evidences. 193

The confession of Sir CHARLES DAVERS, taken
the 18th of February, anno 1600, before Sir
THOMAS EGERTON, lord Keeper of the great
seal; the lord BUCKHURST, lord High Trea-
surer ; the earl of NOTTINGHAM, the lord
High Admiral; lord HUNSDON, lord Cham-
berlain; and Sir ROBERT CECIL, principal
Secretary.

HE confesseth, that before Christmas the earl of
Essex had bethought himself how he might secure his
access unto the queen in such sort as he might not be
resisted ; but no resolution determinately taken until
the coming up of this examinate a little after Christmas.

And then he doth confess, that the resolution was
taken to possess himself of the court; which resolution
was taken agreeably to certain articles, which the earl
of Essex did send to the earl of Southampton, this
examinate, Sir Ferdinando Gorge, and Sir John Davis,
written with the earl's own hand. To which consul-
tation, being held at Drury-house, some four or five
days before Sunday, that was the eighth of February,
Littleton came in towards the end.

The points which the earl of Essex projected under
his hand were these :

First, whether it were fit to take the Tower of Lon-
don. The reason whereof was this : that after the
court was possessed, it was necessary to give reputa-
tion to the action, by having such a place to bridle
the city, if there should be any mislike of their pos-
sessing the court.

To the possessing of the court, these circumstances
were considered :

First, the earl of Essex should have assembled all
the noblemen and gentlemen of quality on his party ^
out of which number he should have chosen so many
as should have possessed all the places of the court,,
where there might have been any likelihood of resist-
ance: which being done, the earl of Essex, with

VOL. III. O

194 Confessions and other Evidences.

divers noblemen, should have presented himself to the
queen.

The manner how it should have been executed, was
in this sort : Sir Christopher Blunt should have had
charge of the outer gate, as he thinketh. Sir Charles
Davers, this exanimate, with his company, should
have made good the presence, and should have seized
upon the halberds of the guard. Sir John Davis
should have taken charge of the hall. All this being
set, upon a signal given, the earl should have come
into the court with his company.

Being asked, what they would have done after? he
saith, They would have sent to have satisfied the city,
and have called a parliament.

These were the resolutions set down by the earl of
Essex of his own hand, after divers consultations.

He saith, Cuffe was ever of opinion, that the earl
of Essex should come in this sort to the court.

CHARLES DAVERS.
Exam, per THO. EGERTON, C. S.
THO. BUCKHURST,
NOTTINGHAM,
G. HUNSDON,
Ro. CECIL.

The second confession of Sir CHARLES DAVERS,
taken the same day, and set down upon farther
calling himself to remembrance, under his own
hand, before Sir THO. EGERTON, lord Keeper
of the great seal; lord BUCKHURST, lord High
Treasurer; the earl of NOTTINGHAM, lord
High Admiral; Sir ROBERT CECIL, princi-
pal Secretary.

SOME points of the articles which my lord of Essex
sent unto Drury-house, as near as I can remember, were
these; whether both the court and the Tower should
be both attempted at one time ? if both, what numbers
should be thought requisite for either? if the court alone,
what places should be first possessed? by what persons?

Confessions and other Evidences. 195

And for those which were not to come into the
court beforehand, where and in what sort they might
assemble themselves, with least suspicion, to come in
with my lord ?

Whether it were not fit for my lord, and some of
the principal persons, to be armed with privy coats ?

CHARLES DAVERS.

Knowledged in the presence of THO. EGERTON,C. S.

THO. BUCKHURST,
NOTTINGHAM,
ROBERT CECIL.

The first confession of Sir CHRISTOPHER BLUNT,
examined the 18th of February 1600, before
Jo. HERBERT, second Secretary of estate, and
in the presence of NIC. KEMPE, counsellor at
law, WILLIAM WAIMARKE, WILLIAM
MARTIN, ROBERT ANDREWS, citizens,
JOHN TREVOR, surveyor of the navy, and
THOMAS THORNEY, his surgeon.

HE confesseth that the earl of Essex sent Wiseman,
about the 20th of January, to visit his wife, with let-
ters of compliment, and to require him to come up
unto him to London, to settle his estate according as
he had written unto him before some few days.

Being demanded, to what end they went to the
city, to join with such strength as they hoped for
there ? he confesseth, that it was to secure the earl of
Essex his life, against such forces as should be sent
against him. And being asked, What, against the
queen's forces? he answered, That must have been
judged afterwards.

But being farther asked, whether he did advise to
come unto the court over night ? He saith, No ; for
Sir Ferdinando Gorge did assure, that the alarm was
taken of it at the court, and the guards doubled.

Being asked, whether he thought any prince could
have endured to have any subject make the city his
mediator ? or to gather force to speak for him ? He

o 2

Confessions and other Evidences.

saith, he is not read in stories of former times ? but ne
doth not know but that in former times subjects have
used force for their mediation.

Being asked, what should have been done by any
of the persons that should have been removed from
the queen ? He answered, that he never found my
lord disposed 10 shed blood ; but that any that should
have been found, should have had indifferent trial.

Being asked upon his conscience, whether the earl
of Essex did not give him comfort, that if he came to
authority, there should be a toleration for religion ?
He confessetb, he should have been to blame to have
denied it.

CHRISTOPHER BLUNT.

This was read unto Sir Christopher Blunt, and after-
wards signed by him in the presence of us who are
under written :

Jo- HERBERT, ROB. ANDREWS,

NIC.KEMPE, Jo. TREVOR,

WIL. WAIMARKE, TH. THORNEY.
WIL. MARTIN,

The second confession of Sir CHRISTOPHER
BLUNT the same day, viz. the 18th of Fe-
bruary; taken before Mr. JOHN HERBERT,
second Secretary of estate, and subscribed by
him in the' presence of NICHOLAS KEMPE,
counsellor at law, THOMAS THORNEY, his
surgeon, and WILLIAM MARTIN, ROBERT
ANDREWS, and RANDOLPH BULL, citizens.

- SIR CHRISTOPHER BLUNT, after the signing
1 of this confession, being told, that he did not deal
hi/hurt re. plainly, excused himself by his former weakness, put-
ting us in mind that he said once before, that when
he was able to speak, he would tell all truth, doth
now confess ; That four or five days before the earl of
Essex did rise, he did set down certain articles to be
considered on, which he saw not, until afterward he

Confessions and other Evidences. 197

was made acquainted with them, when they had
amongst themselves disputed : which were these.

One of them was, whether the Tower of London
should be taken ?

Another, whether they should not possess the court,
and so secure my lord, and other men, to come to the
queen ?

For the first concerning the Tower, he did not like
it; concluding, that he that had the power of the
queen, should have that.

He confessed! that upon Saturday night, when Mr.
Secretary Herbert had been with the earl, and that he
saw some suspicion was taken, he thought it in vain
to attempt the court, and persuaded him rather to save
himself by flight, than to engage himself farther, and
all his company. And so the resolution of the earl
grew to go into the city, in hope, as he said before,
to find many friends there.

He doth also say, that the earl did usually speak of
his purpose to alter the government.

CHRISTOPHER BLUNT.
Exam, per Jo. HERBERT.

Subscribed in the presence of

NIC. KEMPE, W. MARTIN,

THO. THORNEY, RANDOLPH BULL.
ROB. ANDREWS,

The Declaration of the lord Keeper, the earl of
WORCESTER, and the lord Chief Justice of
England.

UPON Sunday, being the 8th of February last past,
about ten of the clock in the forenoon, the lord Keeper
of the great seal, the earl of Worcester, Sir William
KnoUes, comptroller of her majesty's household, and
the lord Chief Justice of England, being commanded
by direction from the queen's majesty, did repair to
the late earl of Essex his house, and finding the gate
shut against them, after a little stay they were let in at
the wicket : and as soon as they were within the gate>

198 Confessions and other Evidences.

the wicket was shut upon them, and all their servants
kept out.

At their coming thither they found the court full of
men assembled together in very tumultuous sort; the
earls of Essex, Rutland, and Southampton, and the
lord Sandys, Mr. Parker, commonly called the lord
Montegle, Sir Christopher Blunt, Sir Charles Davers,
and many other knights and gentlemen, and other
persons unknown, which flocked together about the
lord Keeper, etc. And thereupon the lord Keeper
told the earl of Essex, that they were sent from her
majesty to understand the cause of this their assembly,
and to let them know, that if they had any particular
cause of grief against any persons whatsoever, it should
be heard, and they should have justice.

Hereupon the earl of Essex with a loud voice de-
clared, That his life was sought, and that he should
have been murdered in his bed; that he had been per-
fidiously dealt with; that his hand had been counter-
feited, and letters written in his name ; and that
therefore they were assembled there together to defend
their lives; with much other speech to like effect.
Hereupon the lord Chief Justice said unto the earl,
That if they had any such matter of grief, or if any such
matter were attempted or purposed against him, he
•willed the earl to declare it, assuring him that it should
be truly related to her majesty, a'nd that it should be
indifferently heard, and justice should be done whom-
soever, it concerned.

To this the earl of Southampton objected the assault
made upon him by the lord Gray. Whereunto the
lord Chief Justice said, That in his case justice had
been done, and the party imprisoned for it. And
hereupon the lord Keeper did eftsoons will the earl of
Essex, that whatsoever private matter or offence he had
against any person whatsoever, if he would deliver it
inito them, they would faithfully and honestly deliver
it to the queen's majesty, and doubted not to procure
him honourable and equal justice, whomsoever it con-
cerned; requiring him, that if he would not declare it
openly, that he would impart it unto them privately,
and doubted not but they would satisfy him in it.

Confessions and other Evidences. 199

Upon this there was a great clamour raised among
the multitude, crying, " Away, my lord, they abuse
" you, they betray you, they undo you, you lose time."
'Whereupon the lord Keeper put on his hat, and said
with a loud voice, <c My lord, let us speak with you
" privately, and understand your griefs; and I com-
" mand you all upon your allegiance, to lay down
ec your weapons, and to depart, which you ought all
" to do, being thus commanded, if you be good sub-
" jects, and owe that duty to the queen's majesty
" which you profess." Whereupon they all brake
out into an exceeding loud shout and cry, crying,
« All, all, all."*

And whilst the lord Keeper was speaking, and
commanding them upon their allegiance, as is before
declared, the earl of Essex, and the most part of that
company did put on their hats, and so the earl of
Essex went into the house, and the lord Keeper, etc.
followed him, thinking that his purpose had been to
speak with them privately, as they had required. And
as they were going, some of that disordered company
cried, " Kill them." And as they were going into
the great chamber, some cried, " Cast the great seal
" out at the window." Some other cried there,
" Kill them;" and some other said, " Nay, let us shop
" them up."

The lord Keeper did often call to the earl of Essex
to speak with them privately, thinking still that his
meaning had been so, until the earl brought them into
his back chamber, and there gave order to have the
farther door of that chamber shut fast. And at his
going forth out of that chamber, the" lord Keeper press-
ing again to have spoken with the earl of Essex, the
earl said, " My lords, be patient a while, and stay
" here, and 1 will go into London, and take order'
cc with the mayor and sheriffs for the city, and will be
^ here again within this half hour;" and so departed
from the lord Keeper, etc. leaving the lord Keeper, etc.
and divers of the gentlemen prisoners in that chambt r,
guarded by Sir John Davis, Francis Tresham, and
Owen Salisbury, with musquet shot, where they con-

Confessions and other Evidences.

tinued until Sir Ferdinando Gorge came and delivered
them about four of the clock in the afternoon.

In the mean time, we did often require Sir John
Davis, and Francis Tresham, to suffer us to depart, or
at the least to suffer some one of us to go to the queen's
majesty, to inform her where and in what sort we were
kept. But they answered, That my lord, meaning the
earl of Essex, had commanded that we should not de-
part before his return, which, they said, would be very
shortly.

THOMAS EGERTON, C. S.

EDWARD WORCESTER, JOHN POPHAM.

The examination of ROGER earl of RUTLAND,
the 12th of February 1600, taken before Sir
THOMAS EGERTON, lord Keeper of the great
seal; the lord BUCKHURST, lord High Trea-
surer; the earl of NOTTINGHAM, lord High
Admiral; Sir ROBERT CECIL, principal Se-
cretary ; and Sir Jo. POPHAM, lord Chief
Justice of England.

HE saith, that at his coming to Essex-house on
Sunday morning last, he found there with the earl of
Essex, the lord Sandys, and the lord Chandos, and di-
vers knights and gentlemen. And the earl of Essex
told this examinate, that his life was practised to be
taken away by the lord Cobham, and Sir Walter
Raleigh, when he was sent for to the council ; and the
earl said, that now he meant by the help of his friends
to defend himself: and saith, that the detaining of the
lord Keeper and the other lords sent to the earl from the
queen, was a stratagem of war: and saith, That the
earl of Essex told him that London stood for him, and
that sheriff Smith had given him intelligence, that he
would make as many men to assist him as he could ;
and further the earl of Essex said, that he meant to
possess himself of the city, the better to enable himself
to revenge him on his enemies, the lord Cobham, Sir
Robert Cecil, and Sir Walter Raleigh. And this ex-

Confessions and other Evidences. 201

aminate confesseth, That he resolved to live and die
with the earl of Essex; and that the earl of Essex did
intend to make his forces so strong, that her majesty
should not be able to resist him in the revenge of his
enemies. And saith, That the earl of Essex was most
inward with the earl of Southampton, Sir Christopher
Blunt, and others; who have of long time shewed
themselves discontented, and have advised the earl of
Essex to take other courses, and to stand upon his
guard: and saith, That when the earl of Essex was
talking with the lord Keeper, and other the lords sent
from her majesty, divers said, " My lord, they mean
" to abuse you, and you lose time." And when the
earl came to sheriff Smith's, he desired him to send for
the lord Mayor that he might speak with him; and as
the earl went in the streets of London, this examinate
said to divers of the citizens, that it they would needs
come, that it was better for their safety to come with
weapons in their hands : and saith, That the earl of
Essex, at the end of the street where sheriff Smith
dwelt, cried out to the citizens, that they did him
harm, for that they came naked ; and willed them to get
them weapons; and the earl of Essex also cried out to
the citizens, thar/ihe crown of England was offered to
be sold to the Infanta: and saith, That the earl burned
divers papers that were in a little casket, whereof one
was, as the earl said, an history of his troubles: and
saith, That when they were assaulted in Essex-house,
after their return, they first resolved to have made a
sally out ; and the earl said, that he was determined to
die ; and yet in the end they changed their opinion, and
yielded: and saith, That the earl of Southampton, Sir
Christopher Blunt, and Sir John Davis, advised the
earl of Essex, that the lord Keeper and his company
should be detained: and this examinate saith, That
he heard divers there present cry out, " Kill them, kill
them:" and saith, That he thinketh the earl of Essex
intended, that after he had possessed himself of the
city, he would intreat the lord Keeper and his company
to accompany him to the court. He saith, he heard
Sir Christopher Blunt say openly, in the presence of

202 Confessions and other Evidences.

the earl of Essex and 'others, how fearful, and in what
several humours they should find them at the court,
when they came thither.

RUTLAND.

Exam, per TH. EGERTON, C. S. Ro. CECIL,

T. BuCKKURSr, Jo. POPHAM.

NOTTINGHAM,

The confession of WILLIAM lord SANDYS, of
the parish of Sherborne-Cowdry in the county
of Southampton, taken this 16th of February,
1600, before Sir JOHN POPHAM, lord Chief
Justice; ROGER WILBRAHAM, master of the
Requests, and EDWARD COKE, her majesty's
Attorney-general.

HE saith, That he never understood that the earl
did mean to stand upon his strength till Sunday in the
morning, being the 8th of this instant February: and
saith, that in the morning of that day this examinate
was sent for by the earl of Essex about six or seven of
the clock; and the earl sent for him by his servant
Warburton, who was married to a widow in Hamp-
shire. And at his coming to the earl, there were six
or seven gentlemen with him, but remembereth not
what they were; and next after, of a nobleman, came
my lord Chandos, and after him came the earl of
Southampton, and presently after the earl of Rutland,
and after him Mr. Parker, commonly called the lord
Montegle: and saith, That at his coming to the earl
of Essex, he complained that it was practised by Sir
Walter Raleigh tou have murdered him as he should
have gone to the lord Treasurer's house with Mr. Se-
cretary Herbert. And saith, That he was present in
the court-yard of Essex-house, when the lord Keeper,
the earl of Worcester, Sir William Knolles, and the
lord Chief Justice, came from the queen's majesty .to
the earl of Essex; and the lord Chief Justice required
the earl of Essex to have some private conference with
him ; and that if any private wrongs were offered unto

Confessions and other Evidences. 203

him, that they would make true report thereof to her
majesty, who, no doubt, would reform the same : and
saith. That this examinate went with the earl, and the
rest of his company, to London to sheriff Smith's, but
went not into the house with him, but stayed in the
street awhile ; and being sent for by the earl of Essex,
went into the house, and from thence came with him
till he came to Ludgate; which place being guarded,
and resistance being made, and perceived by the earl
of Essex, he said unto his company, " Charge;" and
thereupon Sir Christopher Blunt, and others of his
company gave the charge, and being repulsed, and
this examinate hurt in the leg, the earl retired with
this examinate and others to his house called Essex-
house. And on his retire, the earl said to this exami-
nate, That if sheriff Smith did not his part, that his
part was as far forth as the earl's own; which moved
him to think that he trusted to the city. And when
the earl was, after his retire, in Essex-house, he took
an iron casket, and broke it open, and burnt divers
papers in it; whereof there was a book, as he taketh
it, and said, as he was burning of them, that they
should tell no tales to hurt his friends: and saith, that
the earl said, that he had a black bag about his neck
that should tell no tales.

WILLIAM SANDYS.

Exam, per Jo. POPHAM, ROGER WILBRAHAM,
EDW. COKE.

The examination of the lord CROMWELL, taken
the 7th of March 1(500, by Sir J. POPHAM, lord
Chief Justice; CHRIST. YELVERTON, her
majesty's serjeant; and FR. BACON, of her
majesty's learned counsel.

* AT the sheriff's house this examinate pressed in
with the rest, and found the earls shifting themselves

* This examination, as appeareth by the date, was taken after
Essex's arraignment, but is inserted, to shew how the speech, of the
realm to be sold to the Infanta, which at his arraignment lie derived
from Mr. Secretary, at sheriff Smith's house he said was advertised
out of Ireland: and with this latter concur many other examinations.

204- Confessions and other Evidences.

in an inner chamber, where he heard my lord of
Essex certify the company, that he had been ad-
vertised out of Ireland, which he would not now hide
from them, that the realm should be delivered over to
the hands of the Infanta of Spain, and that he was
wished to look to it; farther, that he was to seek re-
dress for injuries ; and that he had left at his house for
pledges, the lord Keeper, the earl of Worcester, Sir
William Knolles, and the lord Chief Justice.

EDW. CROMWELL.

Exam, per Jo. POPHAM, CHR. YELVERTON,
FR. BACON.

Sir CHRISTOPHER BLUNT, knight, at the time of
his arraignment, did openly at the bar desire
to speak with the lord Admiral and Mr Se-
cretary ; before whom he made this confession
following; which the earl of SOUTHAMPTON
confirmed afterwards, and he himself likewise
at his death.

HE confesseth, That at the castle of Dublin, in that
lodging which was once the earl of Southampton's, the
earl of Essex purposing his return into England, ad-
vised with the earl of Southampton and himself, of his
best manner of going into England for his security,
seeing to go he was resolved.

At that time he propounded his going with a com-
petent number of soldiers, to the number of two or
three thousand, to have made good his first landing
with that force, until he could have drawn unto him-
self a sufficient strength to have proceeded farther.

From this purpose this examinate did use all forcible
persuasions, alledging not only his own ruin, which should
follow thereof, and all those which should adhere to him
in that action -, but urging it to him as a matter most foul,
because he was not only held a patron of his country,
-which by this means he should have destroyed ; but
also should have laid upon himself an irrevocable
blot, having been so deeply bound to her majesty. To
which dissuasion the earl of Southampton also inclined.

Confessions and other Evidences. 205

This design being thus dissuaded by them, then they
fell to a second consideration: and therein this exami-
nate confesseth, That he rather advised him, if needs
he would go, to take with him some competent num-
ber of choice men.

He did not name unto him any particular power
that would come to him at his landing, but assured
himself that his army would have been quickly in-
creased by all sorts of discontented people.

He did confess before his going, That he was as-
sured that many of the rebels would be advised by
him, but named none in particular.

The examination of the earl of SOUTHAMPTON
after his arraignment; taken before the earl
of NOTTINGHAM, lord High Admiral; Sir
ROBERT CECIL, principal Secretary; and Mr.
JOHN HERBERT, second Secretary of estate.

SIR CHRISTOPHER BLUNT being hurt, and
lying in the castle of Dublin, in a chamber which had
been mine, the earl of Essex one day took me thither
\vith him, where being none but we three, he told us,
He found it necessary for him to go into England, and
thought it fit to carry with him as much of the army as
he could conveniently transport, to go on shore with him
to Wales, and there to make good his landing with
those, till he could send for more; not doubting but
his army would so increase in a small time, that he
should be able to march to London, and make his
conditions as he desired.

To which project I answered, That I held it alto-
gether unfit, as well in respect of his conscience to
God, as his love to his country, as his duty to his
sovereign, of which he, of all men, ought to have
greatest regard, seeing her majesty's favours to him had
been so extraordinary : wherefore I could never give
any consent unto it. Sir Christopher Blunt joined with
me in this opinion.

Exarn. per NOTTINGHAM, Ro. CECIL,
J. HERBERT,

206 Confessions and other Evidences.

The speech of Sir CHRISTOPHER BLUNT, at the
time of his death, as near as it could be re-
membered, March 18, 1600.

MY lords, and you that be present, although I must
confess, that it were better fitting the little time I have to
breathe, to bestow the same in asking God forgiveness
for my manifold and abominable sins, than to use any
other discourse, especially having both an imperfection
of speech, and, God knows, a weak memory, by reason
of my late grievous wound: yet to satisfy all those that
are present, what course hath been held by me in
this late enterprise, because I was said to be an insti-
gator and setter on of the late earl, I will truly, and
upon the peril of my soul, speak the truth.

It is true, that the first time that ever I understood of
any dangerous discontentment in my lord of Essex,
was about three years ago, at Wanstead, upon his
coming one day from Greenwich. At that time he
spake many things unto me, but descended into no
particulars, but in general terms.

After which time, he never brake with me in any
matter tending to the alteration of the state, I protest
before God, until he came into Ireland, other than I
might conceive, that he was of an ambitious and dis-
contented mind. But when I lay at the castle of
Thomas Lee, called Reban, in Ireland, grievously hurt,
and doubted of my life, he came to visit me, and then
began to acquaint me with his intent.

[As he thus spake, the sheriff began to interrupt him,
and told him the hour was past. But my lord Gray,
and Sir Walter Raleigh captain of the guard, called
to the sheriff, and required him not to interrupt him,
but to suffer him quietly to finish his prayers and con-
fessions. Sir Christopher Blunt said, Is Sir Walter
Raleigh there? Those on the scaffold answered, Yea.
To whom Sir Christopher Blunt spake on this manner:]

Sir Walter Raleigh, I thank God that you are pre-
sent: I had an infinite desire to speak with you, to ask
you forgiveness ere I died, both for the wrong done

Confessions and oilier Evidences. 207

you, and for my particular ill intent towards you : I
beseech you forgive me.

Sir Walter Raleigh answered, That he most wil-
lingly forgave him, and besought God ,to forgive him,
and to give him his divine comfort: protesting before
the Lord, That whatsoever Sir Christopher Blunt meant
towards him, for his part he never had any ill intent
towards him: and farther said to Sir Christopher Blunt,
" I pray you without offence let me put you in mind
" that you have been esteemed, not only a principal
" provoker and persuader of the earl of Essex in all
" his undutiful courses, but especially an adviser in
" that which hath been confessed of his purpose to
" transport a great part of her majesty's army out of
" Ireland into England, to land at Milford, and thence
" to turn it against her sacred person. You shall do
" well to tell the truth, and to satisfy the world." To
which he answered thus:

Sir, if you will give me patience, I will deliver a
truth, speaking now my last, in the presence of God,
in whose mercy I trust. [And then he directed him-
self to my lord Gray and my lord Compton, and the
rest that sat on horseback near the scaffold.]

When I was brought from Reban to Dublin, and
lodged in the castle, his lordship and the earl of South-
ampton came to visit me : and to be short, he began
thus plainly with me : That he intended to transport
a choice part of the army of Ireland into England,
and land .them in Wales, at Milford or thereabouts ;
and so securing his descent thereby, would gather such
other forces as might enable him to march to London.
To which I protest before the Lord God, I made this
or the like answer : That I would that night consider
of it ; which I did.

And the next day the earls came again: I told them,
that such an enterprise, as it was most dangerous, so
would it cost much blood, as I could not like of it ;
besides many hazards, which at this time I cannot re-
member unto you, neither willthe time permit it. But
I rather advised him to go over himself with a good
train, and make sure of the court, and then make his
own conditions.

208 Confessions and other Evidences.

And although it be true, that, as we all protested
in our examinations and arraignments, we never
resolved of doing hurt to her majesty's per&on, for in
none of our consultations was there set down any such
purpose ; yet, I know, and must confess, if we had
failed of our ends, we should, rather than have been
disappointed, even have drawn blood from herself.
From henceforward he dealt no more with me herein,
until he was discharged of his keeper at Essex-house.
And then, he again asked mine advice, and disputed
the matter with me ; but resolved not. I went then
into the country, and before he sent for me, which
was some ten days before his rebellion, I never heard
more of the matter. And then he wrote unto me to
come up, upon pretence of making some assurances
of land, and the like. I will leave the rest unto my
confessions, given to that honourable lord Admiral,
and worthy Mr. Secretary, to whom I beseech you,
Sir Walter Raleigh, commend me; I can requite
their favourable and charitable dealing with me, with
nought else but my prayers for them. And I beseech
God of his mercy, to save and preserve the queen,
who hath given comfort to my soul, in that I hear she
hath forgiven me all, but the sentence of the law,
which I most worthily deserved, and do most willingly
embrace ; and hope that God will have mercy and
compassion on me, who have offended him as many
ways as ever sinful wretch did. I have led a life so
far from his precepts, as no sinner more. God forgive
it me, and forgive me my wicked thoughts, my licen-
tious life, and this right arm of mine, which I fear me
hath drawn blood in this last action. And I beseech
you all bear witness, that I die a Catholic, yet so, as
I hope to be saved only by the death and passion of
Christ, and by his merits, not ascribing any thing to
mine own works. And I trust you are all good people,
and your prayers may profit me. Farewel, my worthy
lord Gray, and my lord Compton, and to you all;
God send you both to live long in honour. I will
desire to say a few prayers, and embrace my death
most willingly.

Confessions and other Evidences. 209

With that he turned from the rail towards the exe-
cutioner ; and the minister offering to speak with him,
he came again to the rail, and besought that his con-
science might not be troubled, for he was resolved ;
which he desired for God's sake. Whereupon com-
mandment was given, that the minister should not in-
terrupt him any farther. After which he prepared
himself to the block, and so died very manfully and
resolutely.

An abstract out of the earl of ESSEX'S confession
under his own hand.

UPON Saturday the twenty-first of February, after
the late earl of Essex had desired us to come to him, as
well to deliver his knowledge of those treasons which
he had formerly denied at the bar, as also to recom-
mend his humble and earnest request, that her majesty
would be pleased, out of her grace and favour, to
suffer him to die privately in the Tower ; he did mar-
vellous earnestly desire, that we would surfer him to
speak unto Curie his secretary: against whom he vehe-
mently complained unto us, to have been a principal
instigator to these violent courses which he had under-
taken. Wherein he protested, that he chiefly desired
that he might make it appear that he was not the only
persuader of those great offences which they had com-
mitted; but that Blunt, Cuffe, Temple, besides those
other persons who were at the private conspiracy at
Drury-house, to which, though these three were not
called, yet they were privy, had most malicious and
bloody purposes to subvert the state and government :
which could not have been prevented, if his project
had gone forward.

This request being granted him, and Cuffe brought
before him, he there directly and vehemently charged
him ; and among other speeches used these words :
" Henry Cuffe, call to God for mercy, and to the
" queen, and deserve it by declaring truth. For I,
" that must now prepare for another world, have re-

VOL. III. P

210 Confessions and other Evidences.

" solved to deal clearly with God and the world : and
" must needs say this to you ; You have been one of
" thechiefest instigators of me to all these my disloyal
" courses into which I have fallen."

Testified by THO. EGERTON, C. S.
THO. BUCKHURST,
NOTTINGHAM,
Ro. CECIL.

The earl of ESSEX his confession to three minis-
ters, whose names are underwritten, the 25th
of February, 1600.

THE late earl of Essex thanked God most heartily,
That he had given him a deeper insight into his offence,
being sorry he had so stood upon his justification at his
arraignment, for he was since that become another
man.

He thanked God that his course was so prevented ;
for if his project had taken effect, God knows, said he,
what harm it had wrought in the realm.

He humbly thanked her majesty, that he should die
in so private a manner, lest the acclamation of the
people might have been a temptation unto him. To
which he added, that all popularity and trust in man
was vain : the experience whereof himself had felt.

He acknowledged with thankfulness to God, that
he was thus justly spued out of the realm.

He publicly in 'his prayer and protestation, as also
privately, aggravated the detestation of his offence;
and especially in the hearing of them that were present
at the execution, he exaggerated it with four epithets,
desiring God to forgive him his great, his bloody, his
crying, and his infectious sin : which word infectious
he privately had explained to us, that it was a leprosy
that had infected far and near.

THOMAS MONTFORD,.
WILLIAM BARLOW,
ABDY ASHTON, his chaplain.

[ 211 ]

THE

APOLOGY

or

SIR FRANCIS BACON,

IN CERTAIN IMPUTATIONS CONCERNING THK LATK

EARL OF ESSEX.

To the Right Honourable his very good Lord

THE EARL OF DEVONSHIRE,

LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND.

may please your good lordship, I cannot be igno-
rant, and ought to be sensible of the wrong which I
sustain in common speech, as if I had been false or
unthankful to that noble, but unfortunate earl, the
earl of Essex : and for satisfying the vulgar sort, I do
not so much regard it ; though I love a good name,
but yet as an handmaid and attendant of honesty and ** ;
virtue. For I am of his opinion that said pleasantly,
<e That it was a shame to him that was a suitor to the
" mistress, to make love to the waiting-woman ;" and
therefore to woo or court common fame, otherwise than
it followeth on honest courses, I, for my part, find not
myself fit or disposed. But, on the other side, there
is no worldly thing that concerneth myself, which I
hold more dear than the good opinion of certain per-
sons ; among which there is none I would more wil-
lingly give satisfaction unto, than to your lordship.
First, because you loved my lord of Essex, and there-
fore will not be partial -towards me, which is part of
that I desire : next, because it hath ever pleased you
to shew yourself to me an honourable friend, and so no

p 2

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

baseness In me to seek to satisfy you: and lastly, be-
cause I know your lordship is excellently grounded in
the true rules and habits of duties and moralities, which
must be they which shall decide this matter ; wherein,
my lord, my defence needeth to be but simple anci
brief; namely, that whatsoever I did concerning that
action and proceeding, was done in my duty and ser-
vice to the queen and the state ; in which I would
not shew myself false-hearted, nor faint-hearted, for
any man's sake living. For every honest man that hath
liis heart well planted, will forsake his king rather than
forsake God, and forsake his friend rather than forsake
his king ; and yet will forsake any earthly commodity,
yea, and his own life in some cases, rather than forsake
his friend. I hope the world hath not forgotten these
degrees, else the heathen saying, Amicus usque ad aras,
shall judge them.

And if any shall say, I did officiously intrude myself
into that business, because I had no ordinary place ; the
like may be said of all the business in 'effect that passed
the hands of the learned counsel, either of state or re-
venues, these many years, wherein I was continually
used. For, as your lordship may remember, the queen
knew her strength so well, as she looked her word
should be a warrant; and, after the manner of the
choicest princes before her, did not always tye her
trust to place, but did sometimes divide private favour
from office. And I for my part, though I was not so
unseen in the world, but I knew the condition was
subject to envy and peril ; yet because I knew again
she was constant in her favours, and made an end
•where she began : and especially because she upheld
me with extraordinary access, and other demonstra-
tions of confidence and grace, I resolved to endure it
in expectation of better. But my scope and desire is,
that your lordship would be pleased to have the ho-
nourable patience to know the truth, in some parti-
cularity, of all that passed in this cause, wherein I
had any part, that you may perceive how honest a
heart I ever bare to my sovereign, and to my country,
and to that nobleman, who had so well deserved of

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology. 213

me, and so well accepted of my deservings, whose
fortune I cannot remember without much grief. But
for any action of mine towards him, there is nothing
that passed me in my life-time, that cometh to my re-
membrance with more clearness, and less check of
conscience : for it will appear to your lordship, that I
was not only not opposite to my lord of Essex, but
that I did occupy the utmost of my wits, and adven-
ture my fortune with the queen, to have reintegrated
his, and so continued faithfully and industriously, till
his last fatal impatience, for so I will call it, after
which day there was not time tow7ork for him ; though
the same, my affection, when it could not work on the
subject proper, went to the next, writh no ill effect to-
wards some others, who, I think, do rather not know'
it, than not acknowledge it. And this I will assure
your lordship, I will leave nothing untold, that is
truth, for any enemy that I have, to add ; and on the
other side, I must reserve much which makes for me,
in many respects of duty, which I esteem above my
credit : and what I have here set down to your lord-
ship, I protest, as I hope to have any part in God's
favour, is true.

It is well known, how I did many years since dedi-
cate my travels and studies to the use, and, as I may
term if, service of my lord of Essex, which, I protest
before God, I did not, making election of him as the
likeliest mean of mine own advancement, but out of the
humour of a man, that ever from the time I had any
use of reason, whether it were reading upon good
books, or upon the example of a good father, or by
nature, I loved my country more than was answerable
to my fortune ; and I held at that time my lord to be
the fittest instrument to do good to the state, and
therefore I applied myself to him in a manner which I
think happeneth rarely among men: for I did not only
labour carefully and industriously in that he set me
about, whether it were matter of advice or otherwise,
but neglecting the queen's service, mine own fortune,
and in a sort my vocation, I did nothing but advise
and ruminate with myself, to the best of my under-

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

standing, propositions and memorials of any thing that
might concern his lordship's honour, fortune, or ser-
vice. And when, not long after I entered into
this course, my brother Mr. Anthony Bacon, came
from beyond the seas, being a gentleman whose abi-
lity the world taketh knowledge of for matters of state,
especially foreign, I did likewise knit his service to be
at my lord's disposing. And on the other side, I must
and will ever acknowledge my lord's love, trust, and
favour towards me : and last of all his liberality, hav-
ing infeoffed me of land which I sold for eighteen
hundred pounds to Mr. Reynold Nicholas, which 1 think
was more worth ; and that at such a time, and with
so kind and noble circumstances, as the manner was
as much as the matter ; which though it be but an
idle digression, yet because I am not willing to be
short in commemoration ot his benefits, I will presume
to trouble your lordship with relating to you the manner
of it. After the queen had denied me the solicitor's
place, for the which his lordship had been a long and
earnest suitor on my behalf, it pleased him to come to
me from Richmond to Twicknam Park, and brake
with me, and said : " Mr. Bacon, the queen hath de-
<c nied me the place for you, and hath placed another;
" I know you are the least part of your own matter,
" but you fare ill because you have chosen me for
cc your mean and dependence : you have spent your
" time and thoughts in my matters ; I die," these were
his very words, " if I do not somew?hat towards your
" fortune, you shall not deny to accept a piece of land
" which I will bestow upon you." My answer, I re-
member, was, that ior my fortune it was no great
matter ; but that his lordship's offer made me call to
mind what was wont to be said, when I was in France,
of the duke of Guise, that he was the greatest usurer
in France, because he had turned all his estate into
obligations: meaning, that he had left himself nothing,
but only had bound numbers of persons to him. " Now,
" my lord, said I, I would not have you imitate his
" course, nor turn your state thus by great gifts into
" obligations, for you will find many bad debtors. "

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

He bade me take no care for that, and pressed it :
whereupon I said, " My lord I see I must be your
" homager, and hold land of your gift ; but do you
" know the manner of 'doing homage in law? Always
" it is with a saving of his faith to the king and his
•" other lords ; and therefore, my lord, said I, I cannot
f< be no more yours than I was, and it must be with
" the antient savings ; and if I grow to be a rich man,
" you will give me leave to give it back again to some
" of your unrewarded followers."

But to return : sure I am, though I can arrogate
nothing to myself but that I was a faithful remem-
brancer to his lordship, that while I had most credit
with him his fortune went on best: and yet in two
main points we always directly and contradictorily dif-
fered, which I will mention to your lordship, because
it giveth light to all that followed. The one was, I
ever set this down, that the only course to be held with
the queen, was by obsequiousness and observance ;
and I remember I would usually engage confidently,
that if he would take that course constantly, and with
choice of good particulars to express it, the queen
would be brought in time to Ahasuerus's question, to
ask, What should be done to the man that the king
would honour? Meaning, that her; goodness was with-
out limit, where there was a true concurrence : which
I knew in her nature to be true. My lord, on the other
side, had a settled opinion^ that the queen could be
brought to nothing but by a kind of necessity and au-
thority ; and I well remember, when by violent courses
at any time he had got his will, he would ask me,
(f Now, Sir, whose principles be true ?" And I would
again say to him ; " My lord, these courses be like to
" hot waters, they will help at a pang ; but if you use
" them you shall spoil the stomach, and you shall be
<l fain still to make them stronger, and stronger, and
ce yet in the end they will lessen their operation j"
with much other variety, wherewith I used to touch
that string. Another point was, that I always vehe-
mently dissuaded him from seeking greatness by a
military dependence, or by a popular dependence, as

216 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

that which would breed in the queen jealousy, in him-
self presumption, and in the state perturbation : and I
did usually compare them to Icarus's two wings,
•which were joined on with wax, and would make
him venture to soar too high, and then fail him at the
height. And I would farther say unto him ; " My
" lord, stand upon two feet, and fly not upon two
" wings : the two feet are the two kinds of justice,
. " commutative, and distributive ? use your greatness for
" advancing of merit and virtue, and relieving wrongs
" and burthens; you shall need no other art or
" finesse :" but he would tell me, that opinion came
not from my mind, but from my robe. But it is very
true, that I, that never meant to inthral myself to my
lord of Essex, nor any other man, more than stood
with the public good, did, though I could little prevail,
divert him by all means possible from the courses of
the wars and popularity : for I saw plainly the queen
must either live or die ; if she lived, then the times
would be as in the declination of an old prince; if she
died, the times would be as in the beginning of a new;
and that if his lordship did rise too fast in these courses,
the times might be dangerous for him, and he for
them. Nay, I remember, I was thus plain with him
upon his voyage to the islands, when I saw every
spring put forth such actions of charge and provoca-
tion, that I said to him, " My lord, when I came first
*( unto you, I took you for a physician that desired to
" cure the diseases of the state ; but now I doubt you
" will be like those physicians which can be content to
" keep their patients low, because they would always
" be in request." Which plainness he nevertheless
took very well, as he had an excellent ear, and was
patientissiimis veri* and assured me the case of the
realm required it : and I think this speech of mine,
and the like renewed afterwards, pricked him to write
that Apology which is in many mens hands.

But this difference in two points so main and mate-
rial, bred in process of time a discontinuance of private-
ness, as it is the manner of men seldom to communicate
where they think their courses not approved, between

Sir Francis "Bacon's Apology. 217

his lordship and mvself; so as I was not called nor
advised with for some year and a half before his lord-
ship's going into Ireland, as in former time: yet, never-
theless, touching his going into Ireland, it pleased
him expresly, and in a set manner, to desire mine opi-
nion and counsel. At which time I did not only dis-
suade, but protest against his going; telling him, with
as much veheinency and asseveration as I could, that
absence in that kind would exulcerate the queen's
mind, whereby it would not be possible for him to
carry himself so as to give her sufficient contentment;
nor for her to carry herself so as to give him sufficient
countenance : which would be ill for her, ill for him, and
ill for the state. And because I would omit no argu-
ment, I remember I stood also upon the difficulty of the
action ; setting before him out ot histories, that the
Irish was such an enemy as the antient Gauls, or Bri-
tons, or Germans were; and that we saw how the
Romans, who had such discipline to govern their sol-
diers, and such donatives to encourage them, and the
whole world in a manner to levy them ; yet when
they came to deal with enemies, which placed their
felicity only in liberty, and the sharpness of their sword,
and had the natural elemental advantages of woods and
bogs, and hardness of bodies, they ever found they had
their hands full of them ; and therefore concluded, that
going over with such expectation as he did, and through
the churlishness ot the enterprise not like to answer it,
would mightily diminish his reputation: and many
other reasons I used, so as I am sure I never in any
thing in my life-time dealt with him in like earnestness
by speech, by writing, and by all the means I could
devise. For I did as plainly see his overthrow chained,
as it were by destiny, to that journey, as it is possible
for any man to ground a judgment upon future
contingents. But my lord, howsoever his ear was
open, yet his heart and resolution was shut against
that advice, whereby his ruin might have been pre-
vented. After my lord's going, I saw then how true
a prophet i was, in regard to the evident alteration
which naturally succeeded in the queen's mind -, and

218 Sir Francis Bacon s Apology.

thereupon I was still in watch to find the best occasion
that in the weakness of my power I could either take
or minister, to pull him out of the fire, if it had been
possible : and not long after, methought I saw some
overture thereof, which I apprehended readily ; a par-
ticularity wh:ch I think to be known to very few, and
the which I do the rather relate unto your lordship,
because I hearir should be talked, that while my lord
was in Ireland I revealed some matters against him,
or I cannot tell what; which if it were not a mere
slander as the rest is, but had any, though never so
little colour, was surely upon this occasion. The queen,
one day at Nonesuch, a little, as I remember, before
Cuffe's coming over, where I attended her, shewed a
passionate distaste of my lord's proceedings in Ireland,
as if they were unfortunate, without judgment, con-
temptuous, and not without some private end of his
own, and all that might be ; and was pleased, as she
spake of it to many that she trusted least so to fall into
the like speech with me. Whereupon I, who was
still awake, and true to my grounds which I thought
surest for my lord's good, said to this effect: " Madam,
** I know not the particulars of estate, and I know this,
fc that princes actions must have no abrupt periods or
<c conclusions ; but otherwise 1 W7ould think, that if
" you had my lord of Essex here with a white staff in
" in his hand, as my lord Leicester had, and conti-
" nued him still about you for society to yourself, and
" for an honour and ornament to your attendance and
ec court in the eyes of your people, and in the eyes of
" foreign ambassadors, then were he in his right ele-
<e ment ; for to discontent him as you do, and yet to
" put arms and power into his hands, may be a kind
" of temptation to make him prove cumbersome and
cc unruly. And therefore if you would imponere bo-
" nam dausulam, and send for him, and satisfy him
" with honour here near you, if your affairs, which
cc as I have said, I am not acquainted with, will per-
" mit it, I think were the best way." Which course,
your lordship knoweth, if it had been taken, then all
had been well, and no contempt in my lord's coming

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology. 219

over, nor continuance of these jealousies, which that
employment of Ireland bred, and my lord here in his
former greatness. Well, the next news that I heard
was, that my lord was come over, and that he was
committed to his chamber for leaving Ireland without
the queen's licence ; this was at Nonesuch, where, as
my duty was, I came to his lordship, and talked with
him privately about a quarter of an hour, and he
asked mine opinion of the course that was taken with
him : I told him, my lord, i£ Nubecula esf, cito tran-
" sibit ; it is but a mist. But shall I tell your lordship,
" it is as mists are: if it go upwards^ it may perhaps
"cause a shower; if downwards, it will clear up.
" And therefore, good my lord, carry it so, as you take
" away by all means all umbrages and distates from
" the queen ; and especially, if I were worthy to ad-
" vise you, as I have been by yourself thought, and
" now your question imports the continuance of that
" opinion, observe three points : first, make not this
" cessation or peace, which is concluded with Ty-
" rone, as a service wherein you glory, but as a shuf-
" fling up of a prosecution which was not very fortu-
" nate. Next, represent not to the queen any ne-
" cessity of estate, whereby, as by a coercion or
" wrench, she would think herself inforced to send
" you back into Ireland, but leave it to her. Thirdly,
" seek access importune* opportune, seriously, sport-
" ingly, every way." I remember my lord was wil-
ling to hear me, but spake very few words, and shaked
his head sometimes, as if he thought I was in the
wrong; but, sure I am, he did just contrary in every
one of these three points. After this, during the
while since my lord was committed to my lord
Keeper's, I came divers times to the queen, as I had
used to do, about causes of her revenue and law busi-
ness, as is well known ; by reason of which accesses
according to the ordinary charities of covirt, it was
given out, that ( was one of them that incensed the
queen against my lord of Kssex. These speeches I
cannot tell, nor 1 will not think, that they grew any
way from her majesty's own speeches, whose memory

22O Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

I will ever honour; if they did, she is with God, and
Miserum est ab illis laedi, de quibus non possis quaeri.
But I must give this testimony to my lord Cecil, that
one time in his house at the Savoy he dealt with me
directly, and said to me, {< Cousin, I hear it, but I
" believe it not, that you should do some ill office to
" my lord of Essex ; for my part I am merely passive,
" and not active in this action ; and I follow the
" queen, and that heavily, and I lead her not ; my
" lord of Essex is one that in nature I could consent
" with as well as with any one living ; the queen in*
" deed is my sovereign, and I am her creature, I may
" not lose her, and the same course 1 would wish you
" to take." Whereupon I satisfied him how far I was
from any such mind. And as sometimes it cometh to
pass, that mens inclinations are opened more in a toy,
than in a serious matter : a little before that time, being
about the middle of Michaelmas term, her majesty
had a purpose to dine at my lodge at Twicknam Park,
at which time I had, though I profess not to be a poet,
prepared a sonnet directly tending and alluding to
draw on her majesty's reconcilement to my lord ;
which, I remember, also, I shewed to a great person,
and one of my lord's nearest friends, who commended
it. This, though it be, as I said, but a toy, yet it
shewed plainly in what spirit I proceeded ; and that I
was ready not only to do my lord good offices, but to
publish and declare myself for him : and never was I
so ambitious of any thing in my life-time, as I was to
have carried some token or favour from her majesty to
my lord j using all the art I had, both to procure her
majesty to send, and myself to be the messenger. For
as to the former I feared not to alledge to her, that
this proceeding toward my lord was a thing towards
the people very unplausible j and therefore wished her
majesty, however she did, yet to discharge herself of
it, and lay it upon others ; and therefore that she
should intermix her proceeding with some immediate
graces from herself, that the world might take know-
ledge of her princely nature and goodness, lest it
should alienate the hearts of her people from her:

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology. 221

which I did stand upon ; knowing well that if she
once relented to send or visit, those demonstrations
would prove matter of substance for my lord's good.
And to draw that employment upon myself, I advised
her majesty, that whensoever God should move her
to turn the light of her favours towards my lord, to
make signification to him thereof; that her majesty, if
she did it not in person, would at the least use some
such mean as might not intitle themselves to any part
of the thanks, as persons that were thought mighty
with her to work her, or to bring her about ; but to
use some such as could not be thought but a mere con-
duit of her own goodness. But I could never prevail
with her, though I am persuaded she saw plainly
whereat I levelled ; and she plainly had me in jea-
lousy, that I was not hers intirely, but still had inward
and deep respects towards my lord, more than stood
at that time with her will and pleasure. About the
same time I remember an answer of mine in a matter
which had some affinity with my lord's cause, which
though it grew from me, went after about in others
names. For her majesty being mightily incensed with
that book which was dedicated to my lord of Essex,
being a story of the first year of king Henry IV. think-
ing it a seditious prelude to put into the peoples head
boldness and faction, said, She had an opinion that
there was treason in it, and asked me if I could not
find any places in it that might be drawn within case
of treason : whereto I answered ; for treason surely
I found none, but for felony very many. And when
her majesty hastily asked me, Wherein ? I told her,
the author had committed very apparent theft ; for he
had taken most of the sentences of Cornelius Tacitus,
and translated them into English, and put them into
his text. And another time, when the queen would
not be persuaded that it was his writing whose name
was to it, but that it had some more mischievous
author; and said with great indignation, That she
would have him racked to produce his author : I re-
plied ; f( Nay, madam, he is a doctor, never rack his
" person, but rack his style ; let him have pen, ink,

222 A;1 Francis Bacon's Apology.

" and paper, and help of books, and be enjoined to
" continue the story where it breaketh off, and I will
" undertake by collating the styles to judge whether he
" were the author or no." But for the main matter,
sure I am, when the queen at any time asked mine opi-
nion of my lord's case, I ever in one tenour said unto her ;
That they were faults which the law might term con-
tempts ; because they were the transgression of her
particular directions and instructions : but then what
defence might be made of them, in regard of the great
interest the person had in her majesty's favour ; in re-
gard of the greatness of his place, and the ampleness
of his commission , in regard of the nature of the busi-
ness, being action of war, which in common cases
cannot be tied to strictness of instructions; in regard
of the distance of the place, having also a sea between,
that his demands and her commands must be subject
to wind and weather ; in regard of a council of state
in Ireland, which he had at his back to avow his ac-
tions upon ; and lastly, in regard of a good intention,
that he would alledge for himself: which, I told her,
in some religions was held to be a sufficient dispensa-
tion for God's commandments, much more for princes :
in all these regards, I besought her majesty to be ad-
vised again and again, how she brought the cause into
any public question. Nay, I went farther ; for I told
her, my lord was an eloquent and well-spoken man ;
and besides his eloquence of nature or art, he had an
eloquence of accident which passed them both, which
was the pity and benevolence of his hearers ; and there-
fore, that when he should come to his answer for him-
self, I doubted his words would have so unequal a pas-
sage above theirs that should charge him, as would
not be for her majesty's honour ; and therefore wished
the conclusion might be, that they might wrap it up pri-
vately between themselves ; and that she would restore
my lord to his former attendance, with some addition
of honour to take away discontent. But this I will ne-
ver deny ; that I did shew no approbation generally of
his being sent back again into Ireland, both because it
would have carried a repugnancy with my former dis*

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology. 223

course, and because I was in mine own heart fully
persuaded that it was not good, either for the queen,
or for the state, or for himself: and yet I did not dis-
suade it neither, but left it ever as locus Inbricus. For
this particularity I do well remember, that after your
lordship was named for the place in Ireland, and not
long before your going, it pleased her majesty at
Whitehall to speak to me of that nomination : at
which time I said to her ; " Surely, madam, if you
cc mean not to employ my lord of Essex thither again,
" your majesty cannot make a better choice ;" and
was going on to shew some reason, and her 'majesty
interrupted me writh great passion : " Essex !" said
she ; " whensoever I send Essex back again into Ire-
" land, I will marry you, claim it of me." Where-
nntp I said ; " Well, madam, I will release that con-
" tract, if his going be for the good of your state."
Immediately after the queen had thought of a course,
which was also executed, to have somewhat pub-
lished in the Star-chamber, for the satisfaction of the
world, touching my lord of Essex his restraint, and
my lord not to be called to it ; but occasion to be
taken by reason of some libels then dispersed : which
when her majesty propounded unto me, I was utterly
against it -, and told her plainly, That the people would
say, that my lord was wounded upon his back, and
that Justice had her balance taken from her, which
ever consisted of an accusation and defence ; with
many other quick and significant terms to that purpose;
insomuch that, I remember, I said, that my lord in
forofamae was too hard for her; and therefore wished
her, as I had done before, to wrap it up privately.
And certainly I offended her at that time, which was
rare with me : for I call to mind, that both the Christ-
mas, Lent, and Easter term following, though I came
divers times to her upon law business, yet methought
her face and manner was not so clear and open to me
as it was at the first. And she did directly charge me,
that I was absent that day at the Star-chamber, which
was very true ; but I alledged some indisposition of
body to excuse it : and during all the time aforesaid,

224 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

there was altum silentium from her to me touching rny
lord of Essex's causes.

But towards the end of Easter term her majesty
brake with me, and told me, That she had found my
words true : for that the proceeding in the Star-cham-
ber had done no good, but rather kindled factious
bruits, as she termed them, than quenched them ;
and therefore, that she was determined now, for the
satisfaction of the world, to proceed against my lord
in the Star-chamber by an information Ore ttnus> and
to have my lord brought to his answer; howbeir, she
said, she would assure me, that whatsoever she did
should be towards my lord ad casfigationem, et non ad
destruc tionem ; as indeed she had often repeated the
same phrase before : whereunto I said, to the end ut-
terly to divert her, " Madam, if you will have me
<c speak to you in this argument, I must speak to
" you as Frier Bacon's head spake, that said first,
" Time is ; and then, Time was; and Time zvill
" never be : for certainly, said I, it is now far too late ;
" the matter is cold, and hath taken too much wind."
Whereat she seemed again offended, arid rose from
me ; and that resolution for a while continued : and
after, in the beginning of Midsummer term, I attend-
ing her, and finding her settled in that resolution,
which I heard of,also otherwise, she falling upon the
like speech ; it is true, that seeing no other remedy, I
said to her slightly, " Why, madam, if you will needs
" have a proceeding, you were best have it in some such
" sort as Ovid spake of his mistress ; est aliqmd luce
" patente minus; to make a council-table matter of
<c it, and there an end :" which speech again she
seemed to take in ill part ; but yet I think it did good
at that time, and helped to divert that course of pro-
ceeding by information in the Star-chamber. Never-
theless, afterwards it pleased her to make a more so-
lemn matter of the proceeding ; and some few days
after, an order was given that the matter should be
heard at York-house, before an assembly of counsel-
lors, peers, and judges, and some audience of men of
quality to be admitted ; and then did some principal

Sir Francis Bacon* s Apology. 225

counsellors send for us of the learned counsel, and
notify her majesty's pleasure unto us ; save that it was
said to me openly by one of them, that her majesty
was not yet resolved whether she would have me for-
born in the business or no. And hereupon might arise
that other sinister and untrue speech, that, I hear, is
raised of me, how I was a suitor to be used against
rny lord of Essex at that time : for it is very true, that
I that knew well what had passed between the queen
and me, and what occasion I had given her both of
distaste and distrust, in crossing her disposition, by
standing stedfastly for my lord of Essex, and suspect-
ing it also to be a stratagem arising from some parti-
cular emulation, I writ to her two or three words of
compliment, signifying to her majesty, " That if she
'* would be pleased to spare me in my lord of Essex's
" cause, out of the consideration she took of my obli-
" gation towards him, I should reckon it for one of
Cf her greatest favours : but otherwise desiring her ma-
" jesty to think that I knew the degrees of duties; and
" that no particular obligation whatsoever to any sub-
" ject could supplant or weaken that entireness of duty
" that I did owe and bear to her and her service."
And this was the goodly suit I made, being a respect
no man that had his wits could have omitted : but ne-
vertheless I had a farther reach in it ; for J judged that
day's work would be a full period of any bitterness or
harshness between the queen and my lord : and there-
fore, if I declared myself fully according to her mind
at that time, which could not do my lord any manner
of prejudice, I should keep my credit with her ever
after, whereby to do my lord service. Hereupon the
next news that I heard was, that we were all sent for
again ; and that her majesty's pleasure was, we all
should have parts in the business ; and the lords falling
into distribution of our parts, it was allotted to me, that
I should set forth some undutiful carriage of my lord,
in giving occasion and countenance to a seditious
pamphlet as it was termed, which was dedicated unto
him, which was the book before mentioned of king
Henry IV. Whereupon I replied to that allotment,

VOL, III. Q

226 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

and said to their lordships, That it was an old matter*
and had no manner of coherence with the rest of the
charge, being matters of Ireland : and therefore, that
I having been wronged by bruits before, this would
expose me to them more; and it would be said I gave
in evidence my own tales. It was answered again
with good shew, That because it was considered how
I stood tied to my lord of Essex, therefore that part
was thought fittest for me, which did him least hurt :
for that whereas all the rest was matter of charge and
accusation, this only was but matter of caveat and ad-
monition. Wherewith though I was in mine own
mind little satisfied, because I knew well a man were
better to be charged with some faults, than admo-
nished of some others: yet the conclusion binding upon
the queen's pleasure directly, nolens nolens, I could
not avoid that part that was laid upon me : which part,
if in the delivery I did handle not tenderly, though no
man before me did in so clear terms free my lord from
all disloyalty as I did, that, your lordship knoweth,
must be ascribed to the superior duty I did owe to the
queen's fame and honour in a public proceeding, and
partly to the intention I had to uphold myself in credit
and strength with the queen, the better to be able to
do my lord good offices afterwards : for as soon as this
day was past, I lost no time ; but the very next day
following, as I remember, I attended her majesty,
fully resolved to try and put in use my utmost endea-
vour, so far as I in my weakness could give fur-
therance, to bring my lord again speedily into court
and favour ; and knowing, as I supposed at least, how
the queen was to be used, I thought that to make her
conceive that the matter went well then, was the way
to make her leave off there : and I remember well, I
said to her, " You have now, madam, obtained vic-
" tory over two things, which the greatest princes in
" the world cannot at their wills subdue ; the one is
" over fame ; the other is over a great mind : for
" surely the world is now, I hope, reasonably well
" satisfied ; and for my lord, he did shew that humi-
" liation towards your majesty, as I am persuaded he

Sir Francis "Bacon's Apology* 227

cc was never in his life-time more fit for your majesty's
" favour than he is now : therefore if your majesty will
<c not mar it by lingering, but give over at the best,
*c and now you have made so good a full point, receive
" him again with tenderness, I shall then think, that all
" that is past is for the best.'' Whereat, I remember,
she took exceeding great contentment, and did often
iterate and put me in mind, that she had ever said, That
her proceedings should be ad reparatiojiem, and not ad
ruinam ; as who saith, that now was the time I should
well perceive, that that saying of hers should prove true.
And farther she willed me to set down in writing all
that passed that day. I obeyed her commandment,
and within some few days after brought her again the
narration, which I did read unto her in two several
afternoons: and when I came to that part that set forth
my lord's own answer, which was- my principal care,
I do well bear in mind, that she was extraordinarily
moved with it, in kindness and relenting towards my
lord ; and told me afterwards, speaking how well I
had expressed my lord's part, That she perceived old
love would not easily be forgotten : whereunto I an-
swered suddenly, that I hoped she meant that by her-
self. But in conclusion I did advise her, That now
she had taken a representation of the matter to herself,
that she would let it go no farther : tc For, madam,"
said I, " the fire blazeth well already, why should
" you tumble it ? And besides, it may please you to
" keep a convenience with yourself in this case ; for
" since your express direction was, there should be
" no register nor clerk to take this sentence, nor no
<c record or memorial made up of the proceeding, why
" should you now do that popularly, which you would
" not admit to be done judicially ?" Whereupon she
did agree that that writing should be suppressed ; and
I think there were not five persons that ever saw it.
But from this time forth, during the whole latter end
of that summer, while the court was at Nonesuch and
Oatlands, I made it my task and scope to take and
give occasions for my lord's redintegration in his for-
tunes : which my intention I did also signify to my lord

Q 2

223 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

as soon as ever be was at his liberty; whereby I might
without peril of the queen's indignation write to him :
and having received from his lordship a courteous and
loving acception of my good will and endeavours, I
did apply it in all my accesses to the queen, which
\vere very many at that time ; and purposely sought
and wrought upon other variable pretences, but only
and chiefly for that purpose. And on the other side, I
did not forbear to give my lord from time to time faith-
ful advertisement what I found, and what I wished.
And I drew for him, by his appointment, some letters
to her majesty ; which though I knew well his lord-
ship's gift and stile was far better than mine own, yet,
because he required it, alledging, that by his long re-
straint he was grown almost a stranger to the queen's
present conceits, I was ready to perfoim it: and sure
I am, that for the space of six weeks or two months,
it prospered so well, as I expected continually his re-
storing to his attendance. And I was never better
Vv'elcome to the queen, nor more made of than when
I spake fullest and boldest for him : in which kind
the particulars were exceeding many ; whereof, for
an example, I will remember to your lordship one or
two. As at one time, I call to mind, her majesty was
speaking of a fellow that undertook to cure, or at least
to ease my brother of his gout, and asked me how it
•went forward : and I told her majesty, That at the first
he received good by it ; but after in the course of his
cure he found himself at a stay, or rather worse : the
queen said again, " I will tell you, Bacon, the error
" of it : the manner of these physicians, and especially
" these empirics, is to continue one kind of medicine;
" which at the first is proper, being to draw out the
" ill humour; but, after, they have not the discretion
<c to change the medicine, but apply still drawing me-
*f dicines, when they should rather intend to cure and
" corroborate the part." "Good Lord! madam," said
I, " how wisely and aptly can you speak and discern
" of physic ministered tor the body, and consider not
" that there is the like occasion of physic ministered to
« the mind : as now in the case of my lord of Essex,

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology. 229

ff your princely word ever was, that you intended ever
" to reform his mind, and not ruin his fortune : I know
<e well you cannot but think that you have drawn the
cc humour sufficiently; and therefore it were more than
" time, and it were but for doubt of mortifying or exnl-
<f cerating, that you did apply and minister strength
<e and comfort unto him : for these same gradations of
" yours are fitter to corrupt than correct any mind of
" greatness." And another time I remember she told
me for news, That my lord had written unto her
some very dutiful letters, and that she had been moved
by them ; and when she took it to be the abundance
of his heart, she found it to be but a preparative to a
suit for the renewing of his farm of sweet wines.
Whereunto I replied, " O madam, how doth your
" majesty construe these things, as if these two could
" not stand well together, which indeed nature hath
<f planted in all creatures ! For there are but two sym-
c< pathies, the one towards perfection, the other to-
" wards preservation ; that to perfection, as the iron
<e tendeth to the loadstone ; that to preservation, as
" the vine will creep towards a stake or prop that ,
" stands by it ; not for any love to the stake, but to
" uphold itself. And therefore, madam, you must
" distinguish, my lord's desire to do you service is, as
" to his perfection, that which he thinks himself to be
" born for; whereas his desire to obtain this thing of
" you, is but for a sustentation."

And not to trouble your lordship with many other
particulars like unto these, it was at the self-same time
that I did draw, with my lord's privity, and by his ap-
pointment, two letters, the one written as from my
brother, the other as an answer returned from my
lord, both to be by me in secret manner shewed to
the queen, which it pleased my lord very strangely to
mention at the bar; the scope of which were but to
represent and picture forth unto her majesty my lord's
mind to be such, as I knew her majesty would fainest
have had it: which letters whosoever shall see, for
they cannot now be retracted or altered, being by
reason of my brother's or his lordship's servants deli-

230 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

very long since come into divers hands, let him judge,
especially if he knew the queen, and do remember
those times, whether they were not the labours of one
that sought to bring the queen about for my lord of
Essex his good. The truth is, that the issue of all his
dealing grew to this, that the queen, by some slack-
ness of my lord's, as I imagine, liked him worse and
worse, and grew more incensed towards him. Then
she remembering belike the continual, and incessant,
» and confident speeches and courses that I had held on
my lord's side, became utterly alienated from me, and
for the space of, at least, three months, which was
between Michaelmas and New-year's-tide following,
would not so much as look on me, but turned away
from me with express and purpose like discountenance
wheresoever she saw me ; and at such time as I de-
sired to speak with her about law-business, ever sent
me forth very slight refusals, insomuch as it is most
true, that immediately after New-year's-tide I desired
x to speak with her, and being admitted to her, I dealt
with her plainly ; and said, " Madam, I see you with-
" draw your favour from me, and now I have lost
" many friends for your sake, I shall lose you too :
" you have put me like one of those that the French-
<c men call enfans perdus, that serve on foot before
" horsemen ; so have you put me into matters of envy
<c without place, or without strength ; and I know at
*c chess a pawn before the king is ever much played
" upon ; a great many love me not, because they
" think I have been against my lord of Essex ; and
ft you love me not, because you know I have been for
" him ; yet will I never repent me, that 1 have dealt
te in simplicity of heart toward you both, without re-
<c spect of cautions to myself; and therefore vivus
<e vidensque pereo : if I do break my neck, I shall do
*c it in a manner as Mr. Dorrington did it, which
" walked on the battlements of the church many
<c days, and took a view and survey where he should
" fall. And so, madam, said I, I am not so simple
" but that I take a prospect of mine overthrow; only
" J thought I would tell you so much, that you may

Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

c< know that it was faith, and not folly that brought
" me into it, and so I will pray for you." Upon
which speeches of mine uttered with some passion,
it is true her majesty was exceedingly moved; and
accumulated a number of kind and gracious words
upon me, and willed me to rest upon this, Gratia
mea sufficit, and a number of other sensible and
tender words and demonstrations, such as more
could not be ; but as touching my lord of Essex,
ne verbum git idem. Whereupon I departed, resting
then determined to meddle no more in the matter; as
that, that I saw would overthrow me, and not be able
to do him any good. And thus I made mine own,
peace with mine own confidence at that time ; and
this was the last time I saw her majesty before the
eighth of February, which was the day of my lord of
Essex his misfortune ; after which time, for that I
performed at the bar in my public service, your lord-
ship knoweth, by the rules of duty that I was to do it
honestly, and without prevarication ; but for any put-
ting myself into it, I protest before God, I never
moved either the queen, or any person living, con-
cerning my being used in the serv ice, either of evi-
dence or examination ; but it was merely laid upon
me with the rest of my fellows. And for the time
which passed, I mean between the arraignment and
my lord's suffering, I well remember I was but once
with the queen, at which time, though I durst not
deal directly for my lord as things then stood , yet
generally I did both commend her majesty's mercy,
terming it to her as an excellent balm that did conti-
nually distil from her sovereign hands, and made an
excellent odour in the senses of her people ; and not
only so, but I took hardiness to extenuate, not the
fact, for that I durst not, but the clanger, telling her,
that if some base or cruel-minded persons had entered
into such an action, it might have caused much blood
and combustion : but it appeared well, they were such
as knew not how to play the majefactors ; and some
other words which I now omit. And as for the rest
of the carriage of myself in that service, 1 have many

232 Sir Francis Bacon's Apology.

honourable witnesses that can tell, that the next day
after my lord's arraignment, by my diligence and in-
formation touching the quality and nature of the
offenders, six of nine were stayed, which otherwise
had been attainted, I bringing their lordships letter
for their stay, after the jury was sworn to pass upon
them ; so near it went: and how careful I was, and
made it my part, that whosoever was in trouble about
that matter, as soon as ever his case was sufficiently
known and defined of, might not continue in restraint,
but be set at liberty ; and many other parts, which,
I am well assured of, stood with the duty of an honest
man. But indeed I will not deny for the case of Sir
Thomas Smith of London, the queen demanding my
opinion of it, I told her, I thought it was as hard as
many of the rest. But what was the reason ? Be-
cause at that time I had seen only his accusation, and
had never been present at any examination of his;
and the matter so standing, I had been very untrue to
my service, if I had not delivered that opinion. But
afterwards upon a re-examination of some that charged
him, who weakened their own testimony, and espe-
cially hearing himself viva voce, I went instantly to
the queen, out of the soundness of my conscience,
not regarding what opinion I had formerly delivered,
and told her majesty, ! was satisfied and resolved in
my conscience, that for the reputation of the action,
the plot was to countenance the action farther by him
in respect of his place, than they had indeed any in-
terest or intelligence with him. It is very true also,
about that time her majesty taking a liking of my pen,
upon that which I formerly had done concerning the
proceeding at York-house, and likewise upon some
other declarations, which in former times by her ap-
pointment I put in writing, commanded me to pen
that book, which was published for the better satis-
faction of the world ; which I did, but so, as never
secretary had more particular and express directions
and instructions in every point how to guide my hand
in it; and not only so, but after that J had made a
first draught thereof, and propounded it to certain
principal counsellors by her majesty's appointment, it

Sir Francis Bacoji's Apology. 233

Was perused, weighed, censured, altered, and made
almost a new writing, according to their lordships
better consideration ; wherein their lordships and my-
self both were as religious and curious of truth, as
desirous of satisfaction: and myself indeed gave only
words and form of style in pursuing their direction.
And after it had passed their allowance, it was again
exactly perused by the queen herself, and some alte-
rations made again by her appointment: nay, and after
it was set to print, the queen, who, as your lordship
knoweth, as she was excellent in great matters, so she
was exquisite in small, and noted that I could not
forget my ancient respect to my lord of Essex, in
terming him ever my lord of Essex, my lord of Essex,
almost in every page of the book, which she thought
not fit, but would have it made Essex, or the late earl
of Essex : whereupon of force it was printed de novo,
and the first copies suppressed by her peremptory
commandment.

And this, my good lord, to my farthest remembrance,
is all that passed wherein 1 had part; which I have
set down as near as I could in the very words and
speeches that were used, not because they are worthy
the repetition, I mean those of mine own ; but to the
end your lordship may lively and plainly discern be-
tween the face of truth, and a smooth tale ; and the
rather also, because in things that passed a good while
since, the very words and phrases did sometimes bring
to my remembrance the matters : wherein I report me
to your honourable judgment, whether you do not see
the traces of an honest man : and had I been as well
believed either by the queen or by my lord, as I was
well heard by them both, both my lord had been for-
tunate, and so had myself in his fortune.

To conclude therefore, I humbly pray your lordship
to pardon me for troubling you with this long nar-
ration; and that you will vouchsafe to hold me in your
good opinion, till you know I have deserved, or find
that I shall deserve the contrary ; and so ever I con-
tinue

At your Lordship's honourable commandments very
humbly, F. B.

[ 234 ]

A

SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT,

39 OF ELIZABETH,

UPON THE MOTION OF SUBSIDY.

please you, Mr. Speaker, I must consider the
time which is spent; but yet so, as I must consider
also the matter, which is great. This great cause was,
at the first, so materially and weightily propounded;
and after in such sort persuaded and enforced; and by
him that last spake, so much time taken, and yet to
good purpose ; as I shall speak at a great disadvantage :
but because it hath been always used, and the mixture
of this house doth so require it, that in causes of this
nature there be some speech and opinion, as well from
persons of generality, as by persons of authority, I will
say somewhat, and not much : wherein it shall not be
fit for me to enter into, or to insist upon secrets, either
of her majesty's coffers, or of her council; but my
speech must be of a more vulgar nature.

I will not enter, Mr. Speaker, into a laudative speech
of the high and singular benefits, which by her majesty's
most politic and happy government we receive, thereby
to incite you to a retribution ; partly because no breath
of man can set them forth worthily ; and partly because,
I know, her majesty in her magnanimity doth bestow
her benefits like her freest patents, absque aliquo inde
reddendo ,• not looking for any thing again, if it were
in respect only of her particular, but love and loyalty.
Neither will 1 now at this time put the case of this
realm of England too precisely; how it standeth
with the subject in point of payments to the crown ;
though I could make it appear by demonstration,
what opinion soever be conceived, that never subjects

A Speech on the Motion of a Subsidy. 235

were partakers of greater freedom and ease; and that
whether you look abroad into other countries at this
present time, or look hack to former times in this our
own country, we shall find an exceeding difference in
matter of taxes; which now I reserve to mention; not
so much in doubt to acquaint your ears with foreign
strains, or to dig up the sepulchres of buried and for-
gotten impositions, which in this case, as by way of
comparison, it is necessary you understand ; but be-
cause speech in the house is fit to persuade the general
point, and particularly is more proper and seasonable
for the committee : neither will I make any observa-
tions upon her majesty's manner of expending and
issuing treasure; being not upon excessive and ex-
orbitant donatives ; nor upon sumptuous and unneces-
sary triumphs, buildings, or like magnificence ; but
upon the preservation, protection, and honour of the
realm : for I dare not scan upon her majesty's actions,
which it becometh me rather to admire in silence, than
to gloss or discourse upon them, though with never so
good a meaning. Sure I am that the treasure that
cometh from you to her majesty is but a vapour which
riseth from the earth, and gathereth into a cloud, and
stayeth not there long ; but upon the same earth it
falleth again : and what if some drops of this do tall
upon France or Flanders ? It is like a sweet odour of
honour and reputation to our nation throughout the
world. But I will only insist upon the natural and
inviolate law of preservation.

It is a truth, Mr. Speaker, and a familiar truth, that
safety and preservation are to be preferred before be-
nefit or increase, inasmuch as those counsels which
tend to preservation seem to be attended with necessity:
whereas, those deliberations which tend tc5 benefit,
seem only accompanied with persuasion. And it is
ever gain and no loss, when at the foot of the account
there remains the purchase of safety. The prints of
this are every where to be found: the patient will ever
part with some of his blood to save and clear the rest:
the sea-faring man will, in a storm, cast over some of
his goods to save and assure the rest: the husbandman

A Speech on the Motion of a Subsidy.

will afford some foot of ground for his hedge and ditch,
to fortify and defend the rest. Why, Mr. Speaker, the
disputer will, if he be wise and cunning, grant some-
what that seemeth to make against him, because he
will keep himself within the strength of his opinion,
and the better maintain the rest. But this place
advertiseth me not to handle the matter in a common
place. I will now deliver unto you that, which, upon
a probatum esf, hath wrought upon myself, knowing
your affections to be like my own. There hath fallen
out, since the last parliament, four accidents or occur-
rents of state; things published and known to you all;
by every one whereof it seemeth to me, in my vulgar
understanding, that the danger of this realm is in-
creased: which I speak not by wray of apprehending
fear, for I know I speak to English courages; but by
way of pressing provision : for I do find, Mr. Speaker,
that when kingdoms and states are entered into terms
and resolutions of hostility one against the other; yet
they are many times restrained from their attempts by
four impediments :

The first is by this same alhid agere ; when they
have their hands full of other matters, which they have
embraced, and serveth for a diversion of their hostile
purposes.

The next is, when they want the commodity or op-
portunity of some places of near approach.

The third, when they have conceived an apprehen-
sion of the difficulty and churlishness of the enterprise,
and that it is not prepared to their hand.

And the fourth is, when a state, through the age of
the monarch, groweth heavy and indisposed to actions
of great peril and motion; and this dull humour is not
sharpened nor inflamed by any provocations or scorns.
Now if it please you to examine, whether by removing
the impediments, in these four kinds, the danger be
not grown so many degrees nearer us by accidents, as
I said, fresh, and all dated since the last parliament.

Soon after the last parliament, you may be pleased
to remember how the French king revolted from his
religion ; whereby every man of common understand-

A Speech on the Motion of a Subsidy. 237

Ing may infer, that the quarrel between France and
Spain is more reconcileable, and a greater inclination
of affairs to a peace than before: which supposed, it
followeth, Spain shall be more free to intend his malice
against this realm.

Since the last parliament, it is also notorious in every
man's knowledge and remembrance, that the Spaniards
have possessed themselves of that avenue and place of
approach for England, which was never in the hands
of any king of Spain before; and that is Calais; which
in true reason and consideration of estate of what value
or service it is, I know not; but in common under-
standing, it is a knocking at our doors.

Since the last parliament also that ulcer of Ireland,
which indeed brake forth before, hath run on and
raged more: which cannot but be a great attractive to
the ambition of the council of Spain, who by former
experience know of how tough a complexion this
realm of England is to be assailed ; and therefore, as
rheums and fluxes of humours, is like to resort to that
part which is weak and distempered.

And lastly, it is famous now, and so will be many
ages hence, how by these two sea-journeys we have
braved him, and objected him to scorn : so that no
blood can be so frozen or mortified, but must needs
take flames of revenge upon so mighty a disgrace.

So as this concurrence of occurrents, all since our
last assembly, some to deliver and free our enemies,
some to advance and bring him on his way, some to
tempt and allure him, some to spur on and provoke
him, but cannot threaten an increase of our peril in
great proportion.

Lastly, Mr. Speaker, I will but reduce to the me-
mory of this house one other argument, for ample and
large providing and supplying treasure; and this it is:

I see men do, with great alacrity and spirit proceed
when they have obtained a course they long wished for
and were restrained from. Myself can remember
both in this honourable assembly, and in all other
places of this realm, how forward and affectionate men
were to have an invasive war, Then we would say, a

238 A Speech on the Motion of a Subsidy.

defensive war was like eating and consuming interest,
and needs we would be adventurers and assailants ;
Habes quod lota mente petisti: shall we not now make
it good, especially when we have tasted so prosperous
fruit of our desires?

The first of these expeditions invasive was atchieved
with great felicity, ravished a strong and famous port
in the lap and bosom of their high countries; brought
them to such despair as they fired themselves and their
Indian fleet in sacrifice, as a good odour and incense
unto God for the. great and barbarous cruelties which
they have committed upon the poor Indians, whither
that fleet was sailing ; disordered their reckoning so,
as the next news we heard of was nothing but protest-
ing of bills and breaking credit.

The second journey was with notable resolution
born up against weather and all difficulties ;• and be-
sides the success in amusing him and putting him to
infinite charge, sure I am it was like a Tartar's or
Parthian's bow, which shooteth backward, and had a
most strong and violent effect and operation both in
France and Flanders ; so that our neighbours and con-
federates have reaped the harvest of it ; and while the
life-blood of Spain wrent inward to the heart, the out-
ward limbs and members trembled, and could not re-
sist. And lastly, we have a perfect account of all the
noble and good blood that was carried forth, and of
all our sea-walls and good shipping, without mortality
of persons, wreck of vessels, or any manner of diminu-
tion. And these have been the happy effects of our
so long and so much desired invasive war.

To conclude, Mr. Speaker, therefore, I doubt not
but every man will consent that our gift must bear
these two marks and badges: the one, of the danger
of the realm by so great a proportion, since the last
parliament, increased; the other, the satisfaction we
receive in having obtained our so earnest and ardent
desire of an invasive war.

[ 239 ]

A

PROCLAMATION

DRAWN

For his MAJESTY'S first coming in,

PREPARED^ BUT NOT USED.

.HAVING great cause, at this time, to be moved
with the diversity of affections, we do in first place
condole with all our loving subjects of England, for the
loss of their so virtuous and excellent queen ; being a
prince that we always found a dear sister, yea a mo-
ther to ourself in many her actions and advices. A
prince, whom we hold and behold as an excellent
pattern and example to imitate in many her royal vir-
tues and parts of government ; and a prince whose
days we could have wished to have been prolonged ;
we reporting ourselves not only to the testimony of our
royal heart, but to the judgment of all the world,
whether there ever appeared in us any ambitious or
impatient desire to prevent God's appointed time.
Neither are we so partial to our own honour, but that
we do in great part ascribe this our most peaceable and
quiet entrance and coming to these our crowns, next
under the blessing of almighty God, and our undoubted
right, to the fruit of her majesty's peaceable and quiet
government, accustoming the people to all loyalty and
obedience. As for that which concerneth ourselves,
we would have all our loving subjects know, that we
do not take so much gladness and contentment in the
devolving of these kingdoms unto our royal person,
for any addition or increase of glory, power, or riches,
as in this, that it is so manifest an evidence unto us,
especially the manner of it considered, that we stand,
though unworthy, in God's favour, who hath put more
means into our hands" to reward our friends and ser-

24O A Proclamation drawn for

vants, and to pardon and obliterate injuries, and to
comfort and relieve the hearts and estates of our peo-
ple and loving subjects, and chiefly to advance the
holy religion and church of almighty God, and to de-
serve well of the Christian commonwealth. And more
especially we cannot but gratulate and rejoice in this
one point, that it hath pleased God to make us the
instrument, and, as it were, the corner stone, to unite
these two mighty and warlike nations of England and
Scotland into one kingdom. For although these two
nations are situate upon the continent of one island,
and are undivided either by seas or mountains, or by
diversity of language; and although our neighbour
kingdoms of Spain and France have already had the
happiness to be re-united in the several members of
those kingdoms formerly disjoined; yet in this island it
appeareth not in the records of any true history, no
nor scarcely in the conceit of any fabulous narration or
tradition, that this whole island of Great Britain was
ever united under one sovereign prince before this day.
Which as we cannot but take as a singular honour and
favour of God unto ourselves ; so we may conceive
good hope that the kingdoms of Christendom standing
distributed and counter-poised, as by this last union
they now are, it will be a foundation of the universal
peace of all christiaa princes ; and that now the strife
that shall remain between them, shall be but an emu-
lation who shall govern best, and most to the weal and
good of his people.

Another great cause of our just rejoicing is, the as-
sured hope that we conceive, that whereas our king-
dom of Ireland hath been so long time torn and afflicted
•with the miseries of wars, the making and prosecuting
of which wars hath cost such an infinite deal of blood
and treasure of our realm of England to be spilt and
consumed thereupon j we shall be able, through God's
favour and assistance, to put a speedy and an honour-
able end to those wars. And it is our princely design
and full purpose and resolution, not only to reduce that
nation from their rebellion and revolt, but also to re-
claim them from their barbarous manners to justice

his Majesty's first coming in. 241

and the fear of God ; and to populate,, plant, and
make civil all the provinces in that kingdom : which
also being an action that not any of our noble proge-
nitors, kings of England, have ever had the happiness
thoroughly to prosecute and accomplish, we take so
much to heart, as we are persuaded it is one of the
chief causes, for the which God hath brought us to the
imperial crown of these kingdoms.

Further, we cannot but take great comfort in the
state and correspondence which we now stand in of
peace and unity with all Christian princes, and other-
wise, of quietness and obedience of our own people at
home : whereby we shall not need to expose^ that our
kingdom of England to any quarrel or war, but rather
have occasion to preserve them in peace and tranquil-
lity, and openness of trade with all foreign nations.

Lastly and principally, we cannot but take unspeak-
able comfort in the great and wonderful consent and
unity, joy and alacrity, wherewith our loving subjects
of our kingdom of England have received and acknow-
ledged us their natural and lawful king and governor,
according to our most clear and undoubted right, in
so quiet and settled manner, as, if we had been long
ago declared and established successor, and had taken
all mens oaths and homages, greater and more perfect
unity and readiness could not have been. For consi-
dering with ourselves, that notwithstanding difference
of religion, or any other faction, and notwithstanding
our absence so far off, and notwithstanding the sparing
and reserved communicating of one another's minds;
yet all our loving subjects met in one thought and
voice, without any the least disturbance or interruption,
yea, hesitation or doubtfulness, or any shew thereof;
we cannot but acknowledge it is a great work of God,
who hath an immediate and extraordinary direction in
the disposing of kingdoms and flows of peoples hearts.

Wherefore, after our most humble and devout thanks
to Almighty God, by whom kings reign? who hath
established us King and Governor of these kingdoms ;
we return our hearty and affectionate thanks unto the
lords spiritual and temporal, the knights and gentle-

VOL. III. R

A Proclamation drawn for

men, the cities and towns, and generally unto our
commons, and all estates and degrees of that our king-
dom of England, for their so acceptable first fruits of
their obedience and loyalties offered and performed in
our absence ; much commending the great wisdom,
courage, and watchfulness used by the peers of that our
kingdom, according to the nobility of their bloods and
lineages, many of them mingled with the blood royal;
and therefore in nature affectionate to their rightful
king; and likewise of the counsellors of the late queen.,
according to their gravity and oath, and the spirit of
their good mistress, now a glorious saint in heaven,
in carrying and ordering our affairs with that fidelity.,
moderation, and consent, which in them hath well
appeared : and also the great readiness, concord, and
cheerfulness in the principal knights and gentlemen of
several counties, with the head officers of great cities,
corporations, and towns : and do take knowledge by
name of the readiness and good zeal of that our chief-
'est and most famous city, the city of London, the
chamber of that our kingdom : assuring them, that we
will be unto that city, by all means of confirming and
increasing their happy and wealthy estate, not only a
just and gracious sovereign lord and king, but a special
and bountiful patron and benefactor.

And we on our part, as well in remuneration of
all their loyal and loving affections, as in discharge of
our princely office, do promise and assure them, that
as all manner of estates have concurred and consented
in their duty and zeal towards us,, so it shall be our
continual care and resolution to preserve and maintain
every several estate in a happy and flourishing condi-
tion, without confusion or over-growing of any one to
the .prejudice, discontentment, or discouragement of
the rest : and generally in all estates we hope God will
strengthen and assist us, not only to extirpate all gross
and notorious abuses and corruptions, of simonies,
briberies, extortions,, exactions,, oppressions, vexa-
tions, burthensome payments, and overcharges, and
the like ; but further to extend our princely care to
the supply of the very neglects and omissions of any

his Majesty' s first coming in. 243

thing that may tend to the good of our people. So that
every place and service that is fit for the honour or
good of the commonwealth shall be filled, and no man's
virtue left idle, unimployed, or unrewarded ; and every
good ordinance and constitution, for the amendment of
the estate and times, be revived and put in execution.
In the mean time, minding by God's leave, all delay
set apart, to comfort and secure our loving subjects in
our kingdom of England by our personal presence
there, we require all our loving subjects joyfully to
expect the same : and yet so, as we signify our will
and pleasure to be, that all such ceremonies and pre-
parations as shall be made and used to do us honour,
or to express gratulation, be rather comely and orderly,
than sumptuous and glorious ; and for the expressing
of magnificence, that it be rather imployed and be-
stowed upon the funeral of the late queen, to whose
memory, we are of opinion, too much honour cannot
be done or performed.

n 2

A

DRAUGHT

OF A

PROCLAMATION

TOUCHING

HIS MAJESTY'S STILE.
S^o JACOBI. [PREPARED, NOT USED.]

it is a manifest token, or rather a substantial
effect, of the wrath and indignation of God, when
kingdoms are rent and divided, which have formerly
been entire and united under one monarch and go-
vernor : so, on the contrary part, when it shall please
the Almighty, by whom kings reign as his deputies and
lieutenants, to enlarge his commissions of empire and
sovereignty, and to commit those nations to one king*
to govern, which he hath formerly committed to several
kings, it is an evident argument of his great favour
both upon king and upon people ; upon the king, in-
asmuch as he may with comfort conceive that he is one
of those servants to whom it was said, Thou hast been
faithful in the less, I will make thee lord of more;
upon the people, because the greatness of kingdoms
and dominions, especially not being scattered, but ad-
jacent and compact, doth ever bring with it greater
security from outward enemies, and greater freedom
from inward burdens, unto both which, people under
petty and weak estates are more exposed ; which so
happy fruit of the union of kingdoms is chiefly to be
understood, when such conjunction or augmentation is-
not wrought by conquest and violence, or by pact and
submission, but by the law of nature and hereditary
descent. For in conquest it is commonly seen, although
the bulk and quantity of territory be increased, yet the
strength of kingdoms is diminished^ as well by the
wasting of the forces of both parts in the conflict, as

A Draught of a Proclamation, Kc. 245

by the evil coherence of the nation conquering and
conquered, the one being apt to be insolent, and the
other discontent; and so both full of jealousies and dis-
cord. And where countries are annexed only by act
of estates and submissions, such submissions are com-
monly grounded upon fear, which is no good author
of continuance, besides the quarrels and revolts which
do ensue upon conditional and articulate subjections :
but when the lines of two kingdoms do meet in the
person of one monarch, as in a true point or perfect
angle ; and that from marriage, which is the first con-
junction in human society, there shall proceed one in-
heritor in blood to several kingdoms, whereby they
are actually united and incorporated under one head ;
it is the work of God and nature, whereunto the works
offeree and policy cannot attain; and it is that which
hath not in itself any manner of seeds of discord or dis-
union, other than such as envy and malignity shall
sow, and which groundeth an union, not only indisso-
luble, but also most comfortable and happy amongst
the people.

We therefore in all humbleness acknowledge, that it
is the great and blessed work of Almighty God, that
these two ancient and mighty realms of England and
Scotland, which by nature have no true but an ima-
ginary separation, being both situate and compre-
hended in one most famous and renowned island of
Great-Britany, compassed by the ocean, without any
mountains, seas,- or other boundaries of nature, to
make any partition, wall, or trench, between them, and
being also exempted from the first curse of disunion,
which was the confusion of tongues, and being people
.of a like constitution of mind and body, especially in
warlike prowess and disposition : and yet nevertheless
have in so many ages been disjoined under several kings
and governors, are now at the last, by right inherent
in the commixture of our blood, united in our person
and generation; wherein it hath pleased God to anoint
us with the oil of gladness and gratulation above our
progenitors, kings of either nation. Neither can we
sufficiently comtetnplate and behold the passages, de-

246 A Draught of a Proclamation

grees, and insinuations, whereby it hath pleased the
eternal God, to whom all his works are from the be-
ginning known and present, to open and prepare a
way to this excellent work ; having first ordained that
both nations should be knit in one true and reformed
religion, which is the perfectest band of all unity and
union ; and secondly, that there should precede so
long a peace continued between the nations for so many
years last past, whereby all seeds and sparks of ancient
discord have been laid asleep, and grown to an obli-
teration aipd oblivipn ; and lastly, that ourselves, in the
true measure of our affections, should have so just
cause to embrace both nations with equal and indiffe-
rent love and inclination, inasmuch as our birth and
the passing of the first part of our age hath been in the
one nation, and our principal seat and mansion, and
the passing of the latter part of our days is like to be
in the other. Which our equal and upright holding of
the balance between both nations, being the highest
point of all others in our distributive justice, we give
the world to know, that we are constantly resolved to
preserve inviolate against all emulations and partiali-
ties, not making any difference at all between the sub-
jects of either nation, in affection, honours, favours,
gifts, employments, confidences, or the like , but only
such as the true distinctions of the persons, being ca-
pable or not capable, fit or not fit, acquainted with af-
fairs or not acquainted with affairs, needing our
princely bounty or not needing the same, approved to
us by our experience or not approved, meriting or not
meriting, and the several degrees of these and the like
conditions shall in right reason tie us unto, without
any manner of regard to the country in itself -, to the
end that they may well perceive, that in our mind and
apprehension, they are all one and the same nation ;
and that our heart is truly placed in the centre of go-
vernment, from whence all lines to the circumference
are equal and of one space and distance.

But for the further advancing and perfecting of this
work, we have taken into our princely care and cogi-
tations, what it is that may appertain to our own im-

touching his Majesty's Stile. 24-7

perial pcnver, right, and authority; and what requireth
votes and assents of our parliaments or estates; and
again, what may presently be done, and what must be
left to further time, that our proceeding may be void
of all inconvenience and informality ; wherein by the
example of Almighty God, who is accustomed to be-
gin all his great works and designments by alterations
or impositions of names, as the fittest means to imprint
in the hearts of people a character and expectation of
that which is to follow ; we have thought good to with-
draw and discontinue the divided names of England
and Scotland out of our regal stile and title, and to use
in place of them the common and contracted name of
Great Britany: not upon any vain glory, whereof, we
persuade ourselves, our actions do sufficiently free us
in the judgment of all the world ; and if any such hu-
mour should reign in us, it were better satisfied by
length of stile and enumeration of kingdoms : but only
as a fit signification of that which is already done, and
a significant prefiguration of that which we further in-
tend. For as in giving names to natural persons, it
is used to impose them in infancy, and not to stay till
fulness of growth; so it seemed to us not unseasonable
to bring in further use this name at the first, and to
proceed to the more substantial points of the union
after, as fast and as far as the common good of both
the realms should permit, especially considering the
name of Britany was no coined, or new-devised, or af-
fected name at pleasure, but the true and ancient name
which God and time hath imposed, extant, and re-
ceived in histories, in cards, and in ordinary speech
and writing, where the whole island is meant to be
denominate ; so as it is not accompanied with so much
as any strangeness in common speech. And although
we never doubted, neither ever heard that any other
presumed to doubt, but that the form and tenor of our
regal stile and title, and the delineation of the same,
did only and wholly of mere right appertain to our
supreme and absolute prerogative to express the same
in such words or sort, as seemed good to our royal
pleasure : yet because we were to have the advice and

248 A Draught of a Proclamation

assent of our parliament concerning other points of the
union, we were pleased our said parliament should,
amongst the rest, take also the same into their consi-
deration. But finding by the grave opinion of our
judges, who are the interpreters of our laws, that in
case that alteration of stile, which seemed to us but
verbal, should be established and enacted by parlia-
ment, it might involve, by implication and conse-
quence, not only a more present alteration, but also a
further innovation than we any ways intended ; or at
least might be subject to some colourable scruple of
such a perilous construction : we rested well satisfied
to respite the same, as to require it by act of parlia-
ment. But being still resolved and fixed that it may
conduce towards this happy end of the better uniting
of the nations, we have thought good by the advice of
our council to take the same upon us by our proclama-
tion, being a course safe and free from any of the perils
or scruples aforesaid. And therefore we do by these
presents publish, proclaim, and assume to ourselves
from henceforth, according to our undoubted right,
the stile and title of King of Great Britany, France, and
Ireland, and otherwise as followeth in our stile formerly
used, And we do hereby straitly charge and com-
mand our chancellor, and all such as have the custody
of any of our seals ; and all other our officers and sub-
jects whatsoever, to whom it may in any wise apper-
tain, that from henceforth in all commissions, patents,
v/rits, processes, grants, records, instruments, impres-
sions, sermons, and all other writings and speeches
whatsoever, wherein our stile is used to be set forth or
recited, that our said stile, as is before by these pre-
sents declared and prescribed, be only used, and no
other. And because we do but now declare that which
in truth was before, our will and pleasure is, that in
the computation of our reign, as to all writings or in-
struments hereafter to be made, the same computation
be taken and made, as if we had taken upon us the
stile aforesaid immediately after the decease of our late
dear sister. And we do notify to all our subjects, that if
any person, of what degree or condition sc-ever he be,

touching his Majesty's Stile.

shall impugn our said stile, or derogate and detract
from the same by any arguments, speeches, words, or
otherwise ; we shall proceed against him, as against
an offender against our crown and dignity, and a dis-
turber of the quiet and peace of our kingdom, accord-
ing to the utmost severity of our laws in that behalf.
Nevertheless, our meaning is not, that where in any
writ, pleading, or other record, writing, instrument
of speech, it hath been used for mention to be made
of England or the realm of England, or any other word
or words derived from the same, and not of our whole
and entire stile and title ; that therein any alteration
at all be used by pretext of this our proclamation,
which we intend to take place only where our whole
stile shall be recited, and not otherwise; and in the
other cases the ancient form to be used and observed.

[ 250 ]

SPEECH

MADE BY

SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT,

Chofenby the COMMONS to prefent

A PETITION TOUCHING PURVEYORS.

Delivered to his Majesty in theWithdrawing-chamber
at Whitehall, in the Parliament held primo et secundo
JACOBI, the first Session.

AT it well known to your majesty, excellent king,
that the emperors of Rome, for their better glory and
ornament, did use in their titles the additions of the
countries and nations where they had obtained victo-
ries : as Germanicus, Brifanmcus, and the like. But
after all those names, as in the higher place, followed
the name of Pate?' Patriae, as the greatest name of
all human honour immediately preceding that name of
Augustus j whereby they took themselves to express
some affinity that they had, in respect of their office,
with divine honour. Your majesty might, with good
reason, assume unto yourself many of those other
names ; as Germanicus, Saxonicus> Britannicus, Fran-
cicusy Danicus, Gothicus, and others, as appertaining
to you not by bloodshed, as they bare them, but by
blood ; your majesty's royal person being a noble con-
fluence of streams and veins wherein the royal blood of
many kingdoms of Europe are met and united. But
no name is more worthy of you, nor may more truly
be ascribed unto you, than that name of father of your
people, which you bare and express not in the formality
of your stile, but in the real course of your government.

A Speech touching Purveyors. 251

We ought not to say unto you as was said to Julius
Caesar, Quae miremnr, habemns ; quae laudemns, ex-
pectamus: that we have already wherefore to admire
you, and that now we expect somewhat for which to
commend you ; for we may, without suspicion of flat-
tery, acknowledge, that we have found in your majesty-
great cause, both of admiration and commendation.
For great is the admiration, wherewith you have pos-
sessed us since this parliament began in those two
causes wherein we have had access unto you, and
heard your voice , that of the return of Sir Francis
Goodwin, and that of the union ; whereby it seemeth
unto us, the one of these being so subtle a question of
law ; and the other so high a cause of estate, that as
the Scripture saith of the wisest king, that his heart was
as the sands of the sea ; which though it be one of the
largest and vastest bodies, yet it consisteth of the
smallest motes and portions; so, I say, it appeareth
unto us in these two examples, that God hath given
your majesty a rare sufficiency, both to compass and
fathom the greatest matters, and to discern ,the least.
And for matter of praise and commendation, which
chiefly belongeth to goodness, we cannot but with
great thankfulness profess, that your majesty, within
the circle of one year of your reign, infra orbem anni
vertentis, hath endeavoured to unite your church,
which was divided; to supply your nobility, which
was diminished ; and to ease your people in cases
where they were burdened and oppressed.

In the last of these, your high merits, that is, the -
ease and comfort of your people, doth fall out to be
comprehended ; the message which I now bring unto
your majesty, concerning the great grievance arising
by the manifold abuses of purveyors, differing in some
'degree from most of the things wherein we deal and
consult: for it is true, that the knights, citizens, and
burgesses in parliament assembled, are a representative
body of your Commons and third estate ; and in many
matters although we apply ourselves to perform the
trust of those that choose us, yet it may be, we do
speak much out of our own senses and discourses.

252 A Speech touching Purveyors.

But in this grievance, being of that nature whereunto
the poor people is most exposed, and men of quality
less, we shall most humbly desire your majesty to con-
ceive, that your majesty doth not hear our opinions
or senses, but the very groans and complaints them-
selves of your Commons more truly and vively, than
by representation. For there is no grievance in your
kingdom so general, so continual, so sensible, and so
bitter unto the common subject, as this whereof we
now speak; wherein it may please your majesty to
vouchsafe me leave, first, to set forth unto you the
dutiful and respective carriage of our proceeding ;
next, the substance of our petition ; and thirdly, some
reasons and motives which in all humbleness we do
offer to your majesty's royal consideration or com-
miseration y we assuring ourselves that never king
reigned that had better notions of head and motions of
heart, for the good and comfort of his loving subjects.

For the first : in the course of remedy which we
desire, we pretend not nor intend not, in any sort, to
derogate from your majesty's prerogative, nor to touch,
diminish, or question any of your majesty's regalities
or rights. For we seek nothing but the reformation of
abuses, and the execution of former laws whereunto
we are born. And although it be no strange thing in
parliament for new abuses to crave new remedies, yet
nevertheless in these abuses, wrhich if not in nature,
yet in extremity and height of them, are most of them
new, we content ourselves with the old laws : only we
„ desire a confirmation and quickening of them in their
execution; so far are we from any humour of innova-
tion or encroachment.

As to the court of the green-cloth, ordained for the
provision of your majesty's most honourable household,
we hold it ancient, we hold it reverend. Other courts
respect your politic person, but that respects your na-
tural person. But yet, notwithstanding, most excellent
king, to use that freedom which to subjects that pour
out their griefs before so gracious a king, is allowable,
we may very well alledge unto your majesty, a com-
parison or similitude used by one of the fathers in

A Speech touching Purveyors. 253

another matter, and not unfitly representing our case
in this point: and it is of the leaves and roots of net-
tles; the leaves are venomous and stinging where they
touch; the root is not so, but is without venom or ma-
lignity; and yet it is that root that bears and supports
all the leaves. This needs no farther application.

To come now to the substance of our petition/ It
is no other than by the benefit of your majesty's laws
to be relieved of the abuses of purveyors ; which
abuses do naturally divide themselves into three sorts:
the first, they take in kind that they ought not to take;
the second, they take in quantity a far greater propor-
tion than cometh to your majesty's use ; the third, they
take in an unlawful manner, in a manner, I say, di-
rectly and expressly prohibited by divers laws.

For the first of these, I am a little to alter their
name ; for instead of takers, they become taxers ; in-
stead of taking provision for your majesty's service,
they tax your people ad redimendam vexat.ionem: im-
posing upon them, and extorting from them, divers sums
of money, sometimes in gross, sometimes in the nature
of stipends annually paid, ne noceant, to be freed and
eased of their oppression. Again, they take trees,
which by law they cannot do; timber trees, which are
the beauty, countenance, and shelter of men's houses ;
that men have long spared from their own purse and
profit ; that men esteem for their use and delight,
above ten times the value; that are a loss which men
cannot repair or recover. These do they take, to -the
defacing and spoiling of your subjects mansions and
dwellings, except they may be compounded with ac-
cording to their own appetites. And if a gentleman
be too hard for them while he is at home, they will
watch their time when there is but a bailiff or a servant
remaining, and put the ax to the root of the tree, ere
ever the master can stop it. Again, they use a strange
and most unjust exaction, in causing the subjects to
pay poundage of their own debts, due from your ma-
jesty unto them; so as a poor man, when he hath had
his hay, or his wood, or his poultry, which perchance
he was full loth to part with, and had for the provision

254 A Speech touching Purveyors.

of his own family, and not to put to sale, taken from
him, and that not at a just price, but under the value,
and cometh to receive his money, he shall have after
the rate of twelve pence in the pound abated for
poundage of his due payment, growing upon so hard
conditions. Nay farther, they are grown to that ex-
tremity, as is affirmed, though it be scarce credible,
save that in such persons all things are credible, that
they will take double poundage, once when the de-
benture is made, and again the second time when the
money is paid.

For the second point, most gracious sovereign, touch-
ing the quantity which they take, far above that which
is answered to your majesty's use: they are the only
multipliers in the world, they have the art of multipli-
cation. For it is affirmed unto me by divers gentlemen
of good regard, and experience in these causes, as a
matter which I may safely avouch before your majesty,
to whom we owe all truth, as well of information as
subjection, that there is no pound profit which re-
doundeth to your majesty in this course, but induceth
and begetteth three pound damage upon your subjects,
besides the discontentment. And to the end they may
make this spoil, what do they ? Whereas divers statutes
do strictly provide, that whatsoever they take, shall be
registered and attested, to the end, that by making a
collation of that which is taken from the country, and
that which is answered above, their deceits might ap-
v pear; they, to the end to obscure their deceits, utterly
omit the observation of this, which the law prescribeth.
And therefore to descend, if it may please your ma-
jesty, to the third sort of abuse, which is of the unlaw-
ful manner of their taking, whereof this omission is a
branch : it is so manifold, as it rather asketh an enu-
meration of some of the particulars, than a prosecution
of all. For their price: by law they ought to take as
they can agree with the subject; by abuse they take
at an imposed and enforced price: by law they
ought to make but one appraisement by neigh-
bours in the country; by abuse they make a second
appraisement at the court-gate 3 and when the subject's

A Speech touching Purveyors. 255

cattle come up many miles lean, and out of plight, by
reason of their great travel, then they prize them anew
at an abated price: by law they ought to take between
sun and sun ; by abuse they take by twilight, and in
the night-time, a time well chosen for malefactors: by
law they ought not to take in the highways, a place by
your majesty's high prerogative protected, and by sta-
tute by special words excepted, by abuse they take in
the ways, in contempt of your majesty's prerogative
and laws: by law they ought to shew their commission,
and the form of commission is by law set down; the
commissions they bring down, are against the law, and
because they know so much, they will not shew them,
A number of other particulars there are, whereof as I
have given your majesty a taste, so the chief of them
upon deliberate advice are. set down in writing by the
labour of certain committees, and approbation of the
whole house, more particularly and lively than I can
express them, myself having them but at the second
hand by reason of my abode above. But this writing
is a collection of theirs who dwell amongst the abuses
of these offenders, and complaints of the people; and
therefore must needs have a more perfect understanding
of all the circumstances of them.

It remaineth only that I use a few words, the rather
to move your majesty in this cause : a few words, I
say, a very few; for neither need so great enormities
any aggravating, neither needeth so great grace, as
useth of itself to flow from your majesty's princely
goodness, any artificial persuading. There be two
things only which I think good to set before your ma-
jesty ; the one the example of your most noble proge-
nitors kings of this realm, who from the first king that
endowed this kingdom with the great charter of their
liberties, until the last, all save one, who as he was
singular in many excellent things, so I would he had
not been alone in this, have ordained, every one of
them in their several reigns, some laws or law against
this kind of offenders ; and especially the example of
one of them, that king, who for his greatness, wisdom,
glory, and union of several kingdoms, resemblcth your

256 A Speech touching Purveyors.

majesty most,, both in virtue and fortune, King Edward
III. who, in his time only, made ten several laws against
this mischief The second is the example of God him-
self; who hath said and pronounced, That he will not
hold him guiltless that takcth his name in vain. For-
all these great misdemeanors are committed in and
under your majesty's name : and therefore we hope
your majesty will hold them twice guilty that commit
these offences; once for the oppressing of the people,
and once more for doing it under the colour and abuse
of your majesty's dreaded and beloved name. So then
I will conclude with the saying of Pindarus, Optima
res aqua ; not for the excellency, but for the common
use of it ; and so contrariwise this matter of abuse of
purveyance, if it be not the most heinous abuse, yet
certainly it is the most common and general abuse of
all others in the kingdom.

It resteth, that, according to the commandment laid
upon me, I do in all humbleness present this writing
to your majesty's royal hands, with most humble pe-
tition on the behalf of your Commons, that as your
majesty hath been pleased to vouchsafe your gracious
audience to hear me speak, so you would be pleased
to enlarge your patience to hear this writing readA
which is more material,

[ 257 J

t

A BRIEF

DISCOURSE

OF THE

HAPPY UNION

OF THE KINGDOMS OF

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

Dedicated in private to his Majesty*.

J[ DO not find it strange, excellent king, that when
Heraclitus, he that was surnamed the obscure, had
set forth a certain book which is not now extant, many
men took it for a discourse of nature, and many others
took it for a treatise of policy. For there is a great
affinity and consent between the rules of nature, and
the true rules of policy: the one being nothing else but
an order in the government of the world; and the
other an order in the government of an estate. And
therefore the education and erudition of the kings of
Persia was in a science which was termed by a name
then of great reverence, but now degenerate and taken
in the ill part. For the Persian magic, which was the
secret literature of their kings, was an application of
the contemplations and observations of nature unto a
sense politic; taking the fundamental laws of nature,
and the branches and passages of them, as an original
or first model, whence to take and describe a copy and
imitation for government.

After this manner the foresaid instructors set before
their kings the examples of the celestial bodies, the
sun, the moon, and the rest, which have great glory
and veneration, but no rest or intermission ; being in
a perpetual office of motion, for the cherishing, in turn
and in course, of inferior bodies: expressing likewise
the true manner of the motions of government, which
though they ought to be swift and rapid in respect of

* Printed in 1603, in 121110.
VOL. III. S

Union of England and Scotland.

dispatch and occasions, yet are they to be constant and
regular, without wavering or confusion.

So did they represent unto them how the heavens do
not enrich themselves by the earth and the seas, nor
keep no dead stock, nor untouched treasures of that
they draw to them from below; but whatsoever mois-
ture they do levy and take from both elements in
vapours, they do spend and turn back again in showers,
only holding and storing them up for a time, to the
end to issue and distribute them in season.

But chiefly, they did express and expound unto them
that fundamental law of nature, whereby all things do
subsist and are preserved; which is, that every thing
in nature, although it hath its private and particular
affection and appetite, and doth follow and pursue the
same in small moments, and when it is free and de-
livered from more general and common respects; yet,
nevertheless, when there is question or case for sus-
taining of the more general, they forsake their own
particularities, and attend and conpire to uphold the
public.

So we see the iron in small quantity will ascend and
approach to the loadstone upon a particular sympathy:
but if it be any quantity of moment, it leaveth its ap-
petite of amity to the loadstone, and, like a good
patriot, falleth to the earth, which is the place and
region of massy bodies.

So again the water and other like bodies do fall to-
wards the centre of the earth, which is, as was said,
their region or country: and yet we see nothing more
usual in all water-works and engines, than that the
water, rather than to suffer any distraction or disunion
in nature, will ascend, forsaking the love to its own
region or country, and applying itself to the body next
adjoining.

But it were too long a digression to proceed to more
examples sof this kind. Your majesty yourself did fall
upon a passage of this nature in your gracious speech
of thanks unto your council, when acknowledging
princely their vigilancies and well-deservings, it pleased
you to note, that it was a success and event above the
course of nature, to have so great change with so great

Union of England and Scotland. 259

a quiet: forasmuch as sudden mutations, as well in
state as in nature, are rarely without violence and per-
turbation : so as still I conclude there is, as was said,
a congruity between the principles of nature and policy.
And lest that instance may seem to oppone to this
assertion, I may even in that particular, with your ma-
jesty's favour, offer unto you a type or pattern in nature,
much resembling this event in your state ; namely,
earthquakes, which many of them bring ever much
terror and wonder, but no actual hurt ; the earth trem-
bling for a moment, and suddenly stablishing in perfect
quiet as it was before.

This knowledge then of making the government of
the world a mirror for the government of a state, being
a wisdom almost lost, whereof the reason I take to be
because of the difficulty for one man to embrace both
philosophies, I have thought good to make some proof,
as far as my weakness and the straits of time will suffer,
to revive in the handling of one particular, wherewith
now I most humbly present your majesty : for surely,
as hath been said, it is a form of discourse anciently
used towards kings ; and to wrhat king should it be
more proper than to a king that is studious to conjoin
contemplative virtue and active virtue together ?

Your majesty is the first king that had the honour to
be lapis angularis, to unite these two mighty and
warlike nations of England and Scotland under one
sovereignty and monarchy. It doth not appear by the
records and memoirs of any true history, or scarcely
by the fiction and pleasure of any fabulous narration
or tradition, that ever, of any antiquity, this island of
Great Britain was united under one king before this
day. And yet there be no mountains nor races of hills,
there be no seas or great rivers, there is no diversity
cf tongue or language that hath invited or provoked
this ancient separation or divorce. Hie lot of Spain
was to have the several kingdoms of that continent,
Portugal only excepted, to be united in an age not
long past; and now in our age that of Portugal also,
which was the last that held out, to be incorporated
with the rest. The lot of France hath been, much

s 2

260 Union of England and Scotland.

about the same time likewise, to have re-annexed unto
that crown the several dutchies and portions which
were in former times dismembered. The lot of this
island is the last reserved for your majesty's happy
times, by the special providence and favour of God,
\vho hath brought your majesty to this happy conjunc-
tion with the great consent of hearts, and in the
strength of your years, and in the maturity of your
experience. It resteth but that, as I promised, I
set before your majesty's princely consideration, the
grounds of nature touching the union and commix-
ture of bodies, and the correspondence which they
have with the grounds of policy in the conjunction of
states and kingdoms.

First, therefore, that position, Vis unita fortior,
being one of the common notions of the mind, need-
eth not much to be induced or illustrated.

We see the sun when he entereth, and while he
continueth under the sign of Leo, causeth more vehe-
ment heats than when he is in Cancer, what time his
beams are nevertheless more perpendicular. The
reason whereof, in great part, hath been truly ascribed
to the conjunction and corradiation, in that place of
heaven, of the sun with the four stars of the first mag-
nitude, Sirius, Canicula, Cor Leonis, and Cauda Leonis.

So the moon likewise, by ancient tradition, while
she is in the same sign of Leo, is said to be at the
heart, which is not for any affinity which that place
of heaven can have with that part of man's body, but
only because the moon is then, by reason of the con-
junction and nearness with the stars aforenamed, in
greatest strength of influence, and so worketh upon that
part in inferior bodies, which is most vital and principal.

So we see waters and liquors, in small quantity, do
easily putrify and corrupt ; but in large quantity subsist
long, by reason of the strength they receive by union.

So in earthquakes, the more general do little hurt,
by reason of the united weight which they offer to
subvert ; but narrow and particular earthquakes have
many times overturned whole towns and cities.

So then this point touching the force of union is
evident : and therefore it is more fit to speak of the

Union of England and Scotland. 261

manner of union ; wherein again it will not be perti-
nent to handle one kind of union, which is union by
victory, when one body doth merely subdue another,
and converteth the same into its own nature, extin-
guishing and expulsing what part soever of it it cannot
overcome. As when the fire converteth the wood into
fire, purging away the smoke and the ashes as unapt
matter to inflame : or when the body of a living crea-
ture doth convert and assimilate food and nourishment,
purging and expelling whatsoever it cannot convert.
For these representations do answer in matter of po*
licy to union of countries by conquest, where the con-
quering state doth extinguish, extirpate, and expulse
any part of the state conquered, which it findeth so
contrary -as it cannot alter and convert it. And there-
fore, leaving violent unions, we will consider only of
natural unions.

The difference is excellent which the best observers
in nature do take between compositio and inislio, put-
ting together, and mingling: the one being but a con-
junction of bodies in place, the other in quality and
consent: the one the mother of sedition and alteration,
the other of peace and continuance : the one rather a
confusion than an union, the other properly an union.
Therefore we see those bodies, which they call imper-
fecte mista, last not, but are speedily dissolved. For
take, for example, snow or froth, which" are compo-
sitions of air and water, and in them you may behold
how easily they sever and dissolve, the water closing
together and excluding the air.

So. those three bodies which the alchemists do so
much celebrate as the three principles ot things; that
is to say, earth, water, and oil, which it pleaseth them
to term salt, mercury, and sulphur, we see, if they be
united only by composition or putting together, how-
weakly and rudely they do incorporate : for water and
earth make but an imperfect slime ; and if they be
forced together by agitation, yet upon a little settling,
the earth resideth in the bottom. So water and oil,
though by agitation it be brought into an ointment,
yet after a little settling the oil will float on the top.
So as such imperfect mixtures continue no longer than

262 Union of England and Scotland.

they are forced; and still in the end the worthiest
getteth above.

But otherwise it is of perfect mixtures. For we see
ihese three bodies, of earth, water, and oil, when
they are joined in a vegetable or mineral, they are so
united, as without great subtlety of art and force of
extraction, they cannot be separated and reduced in-
to the same simple bodies again. So as the difference
between compositio and mistio clearly set down is this ;
that compositio is the joining or putting together of
bodies without a new form : and mistio is the joining
or putting together of bodies under a new form : for
the new form is commune vinculum, and without that
the old forms will be at strife and discord.

Now to reflect this light of nature upon matter of
estate ; there hath been put in practice in government
these two several kinds of policy in uniting and con-
joining of states and kingdoms ; the one to retain the
ancient form still severed, and only conjoined in so-
vereignty ; the other to superinduce a new form agree-
able and convenient to the entire estate. The former
of these hath been more usual, and is more easy ; but
the latter is more happy.. For if a man do attentively
revolve histories of all nations, and judge truly there-
upon, he will make this conclusion, that there was
never any states that were good commixtures but the
Romans ; which because it was the best state of the
world, and is the best example of this point, we will
chiefly insist thereupon.

In the antiquities of Rome, Virgil bringeth in Ju-
piter by way of oracle or prediction speaking of the
mixture of the Trojans and the Italians:

Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tendnint:
Utque est, nomen erit : commixti corpore tantum
Subsident Teucri ; morem ritusque sacrorum
Adjiciam : faciamque omnes uno ore Latinos.
Hinc genus 9 Ausonio mix turn quod sanguine surgety
Supra homines , supra ire Dcos pietate videbis.

^En. xii. 834.

Wherein Jupiter maketh a kind of partition or distri-
bution : that Italy should give the language and the

Union of England and Scotland. 263

laws ; Troy should give a mixture of men, and some
religious rites ; and both people should meet in one
name of Latins.

Soon after the foundation of the city of Rome, the
people of the Romans and the Sabines mingled upon
equal terms : wherein the interchange went so even,
that, as Livy noteth, the one nation gave the name to
the place, the other to the people. For Rome conti-
nued the name, but the people were called Quirites,
which was the Sabine word, derived of Cures the
country of Tatius.

But that which is chiefly to be noted in the whole
continuance of the Roman government ; they were so
liberal of their naturalizations, as in effect they made
perpetual mixtures. For the manner was to grant the
same, not only to particular persons, but to families
and lineages ; and not only so, but to whole cities and
countries. So as in the end it came to that, that
Rome was communis patria, as some of the civilians
call it.

So we read of St. Paul, after he had been beaten
with rods, and thereupon charged the officer with the
violation of the privilege of a citizen of Rome ; the
captain said to him, Art thou then a Roman / That
privilege hath cost me dear. To whom St. Paul re-
plied, But I was so horn:, and yet, in another place,
St. Paul professeth himself, that he was a Jew by
tribe : so as it is manifest that some of his ancestors
were naturalized ; and so it was conveyed to him and
their other descendents.

So we read, that it was one of the first despites that
was done to Julius Cassar, that whereas he had ob-
tained naturalization for a city in Gaul, one of the
city was beaten with rods of the consul Marcellus.

So we read in Tacitus, that in the emperor Clau-
dius's time, the nation of Gaul, that part which is
called Comata, the wilder part, were suitors to be
made capable of the honour of being senators and
officers of Rome. His words are these ; Cum dc sup-
plendo senatu agilaretur primoresgue Galliae, quae
Comata appellatury foedera et civitatem Rom an am
pridem assecuti, jus adipiscendorum in urbe honorum

Union of England and Scotland.

expeterent ; mullus ea super re variusque rumor 9 et
sludiis diversis, apud principem certabatur. And in
the end, after long debate, it was ruled they should be
admitted.

So like wise, the authority of Nicholas Machiavel seem-
eth not to be contemned ; who enquiring the causes of
the growth of the Roman empire, doth give judgment;
there was not one greater than this, that the state did
so easily compound and incorporate with strangers.

It is true, that most estates and kingdoms have
taken the other course: of which this effect hath fol-
lowed, that the addition of further empire and territo-
tory hath been rather matter of burden, than matter of
strength unto them : yea, and farther it hath kept alive
the seeds and roots of revolts and rebellions for many
ages ; as we may see in a fresh and notable example
of the kingdom of Arragon : which, though it were
united to Castile by marriage, and not by conquest ;
and so descended in hereditary union by the space of
more than an hundred years; yet because it was con-
tinued in a divided government, and not well incor-
porated and cemented with the other crowns, entered
into a rebellion upon point of their /weroj', or liberties,
now of very late years.

Now to speak briefly of .the several parts of that
form, whereby states and kingdoms are perfectly
united, they are, besides the sovereignty itself, four in
number ; union in name, union in language, union in
laws, union in employments.

For name, though it seem but a superficial and out-
ward matter, yet it carrieth much impression and en-
chantment: the general and common name of Graecia
made the Greeks always apt to unite, though other-
wise full of divisions amongst themselves, against other
nations- whom they called barbarous. The Helvetian
name is no small band to knit together their leagues
and confederacies the faster. The common name of
Spain, no doubt, hath been a special means of the
better union and conglutination of the several king-
doms of Castile, Arragon, Granada, Navarre, Va-
lentia, Cataloniai and the rest, comprehending also
no\y lately Portugal.

Union of England and Scotland. 265

For language, it is not needful to insist upon it ;
because both your majesty's kingdoms are of one lan-
guage, though of several dialects ; and the difference
is so small between them, as promiseth rather an ra-
nching of one language than a continuance of two. '

For laws, which are the principal sinews of govern-
ment, they be of three nations ; jura, which 1 will
term freedoms or abilities, leges and marts.

For abilities and freedoms, they were amongst the
Romans of four kinds, or rather degrees. Jus con-
nubii, jus civitatis., jus suffragii, and jus petitionis or
honorum. Jus connubii is a thing in these times out
of use : for marriage is open between all diversities of
nations. Jus ciri/afis answereth to that we call deni-
zation or naturalization. Jus siiffragii answereth to
the voice in parliament. Jus petitionis answereth to
place in council or office. And the Romans did many
times sever these freedoms ; granting Jus connubii,
sine civitate, and civitatem, sine suffragio, and suffra-
gium sine jure petitionis, which was commonly with
them the last.

For those we called leges, it is a matter of curiosity
and inconveniency, to seek either to extirpate all par-
ticular customs, or to draw all subjects to one place or
resort of judicature and session. It sufficeth there be
an uniformity in the principal and fundamental laws,
both ecclesiastical and civil : for in this point the rule
hcldeth which was pronounced by an ancient father,
touching the diversity of rites in the church; for rind-
ing the vesture of the queen in the psalm, which did
prefigure the church, was of divers colours -, and
finding again that Christ's coat was without a seam,
he concluded well, in veste varietas sit, scissura
non 'sit.

For manners : a consent in them is to be sought in-
dustriously, but not to be enforced : for nothing
amongst people breedeth so much pertinacy in hold-
ing their customs, as sudden and violent offer to re-
move them.

And as for employments, it is no more, but an in-
different hand, and execution of that verse :

Tros> Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agelu?\

Union of England and Scotland.

There remaineth only to remember out of the
grounds of nature the two conditions of perfect mix-
ture ; whereof the former is time : for the natural phi-
losophers say well, that compost tip is opus hominis, and
mistio opus naturae. For it is the duty of man to
make a fit application of bodies together : but the per-
fect fermentation and incorporation of them must be
left to time and nature ; and unnatural hasting thereof
doth disturb the work, and not dispatch it.

So we see, after the graft is put into the stock and
bound, it must be left to time and nature to make that
continuum, which at the first was but contiguurn. And
it is not any continual pressing or thrusting together
that will prevent nature's season, but rather hinder it.
And so in liquors, those commixtures which are at
the first troubled, grow after clear and settled by the
benefit of rest and time.

The second condition is, that the greater draw the
less. So we see when two lights do meet, the greater
doth darken and dim the less. And when a smaller
river runneth into a greater, it loseth both its name
and stream. And hereof, to conclude, we see an ex-
cellent example in the kingdoms of Judah and Israel.
The kingdom of Judah contained two tribes ; the
kingdom of Israel contained ten. King David reigned
over Judah for certain years; and, after the death of
Ishbosheth the son of Saul, obtained likewise the
kingdom of Israel. This union continued in him, and
likewise in his son Solomon, by the space of seventy
years, at least, between them both : but yet, because
the seat of the kingdom was kept still in Judah, and
so the less sought to draw the greater : upon the first
occasion offered, the kingdoms brake again, and so
continued ever after.

Thus having in all humbleness made oblation to your
majesty of these simple fruits of my devotion and stu-
dies, I do wish, and do wish it not in the nature of an
impossibility, to my apprehension, that this happy
union of your majesty's two kingdoms of England and
Scotland, may be in as good an hour, and under the
like divine providence, as that was between the Ro-
mans and the Sabincs.

[ 267 ]

CERTAIN

ARTICLES OR CONSIDERATIONS

TOUCHING THE

UNION OF THE KINGDOMS

OF

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.

COLLECTED AND DISPERSED FOR HIS MAJESTIES
BETTER SERVICE.

JL OUR majesty, being, I doubt not, directed and
conducted by a better oracle than that which was
given for light to /Eneas in his peregrination, Antiquam
exquirite matrem, hath a royal, arid indeed an heroical
desire to reduce these two kingdoms of England and
Scotland into the unity of their ancient mother king-
dom of Britain. Wherein as I would gladly applaud
unto your majesty, or sing aloud that hymn or anthem,
Sic itur ad astra ; so in a more soft and submissive
voice, I must necessarily remember unto your majesty
that warning or caveat, Ardua quae pulchra : it is an
action that requireth, yea, and needed much, not only
of your majesty's wisdom, but of your felicity. In
this argument, I presumed at your majesty's first en-
trance to write a few lines, indeed scholastically and
speculatively, and not actively or politicly, as I held it
fit for me at that time ; when neither your majesty was
in that your desire declared, nor myself in that service
used or trusted. But now that both your majesty hath
opened your desire and purpose with much admiration,
even of those who give it not so full an approbation,
and that myself was by the Commons graced with the
first vote of all the Commons selected tor that cause ;
not in any estimation of my ability, for therein so wise
an assembly could not be so much deceived, but in an
acknowledgment of my extreme labours and integrity;

268 Un io n of Eng land and Scotia n d.

in that business I thought myself every way bound,
both in duty to your majesty, and in trust to that house
of parliament, and in consent to the matter itself, and
in conformity to mine own travels and beginnings, not
to neglect any pains that may tend to the furtherance
of so excellent a work ; wherein I will endeavour that
that which I shall set down be nihil minus quam verb a:
for length and ornament of speech are to be used for
persuasion of multitudes, and not for information of
kings ; especially such a king as is the only instance
that ever J knew to make a man of Plato's opinion,
" that all knowledge is but remembrance, and that
" the mind of man knoweth all things, and demandeth
cc only to have her own notions excited and awaked :"
which your majesty's rare and indeed singular gift and
faculty of swift apprehension, and infinite expansion
or multiplication of another man's knowledge by your
own, as 1 have often observed, so I did extremely
admire in Goodwin's cause, being a matter full of
secrets and mysteries of our laws, merely new unto
you, and quite out of the path of your education,
reading, and conference : wherein, nevertheless, upon
a spark of light given, your majesty took in so dex-
trously and profoundly, as if you had been indeed
anima legis, not only in execution, but in understand-
ing : the remembrance whereof, as it will never be out
of my mind, so it will always be a warning to me to seek
rather to excite your judgment briefly, than to inform
it tediously ; and if in a matter of that nature, how
much more in this, wherein your princely cogitations
have wrought themselves, and been conversant, and
wherein the principal light proceeded from yourself.

And therefore my purpose is only to break this mat-
* ter of the union into certain short articles and ques-

tions, and to make a certain kind of anatomy or ana-
lysis of the parts and members thereof: not that I am
of opinion that all the questions which I now shall
open, wrere fit to be in the consultation of the com-
missioners propounded. For I hold nothing so great
an enemy to good resolution, as the making of two
many questions 5 especially in assemblies which con-

Union of England and Scotland. 269

sist of many. For princes, for avoiding of distraction,
must take many things by way of admittance ; and if
questions must be made of them, rather to suffer them
to arise from others, than to grace them and authorise
them as propounded from themselves. But unto your
majesty's private consideration, to whom it may better
sort with me rather to speak as a remembrancer than
as a counseller, I have thought good to lay before you
all the branches, lineaments, and degrees of this union,
that upon the view and consideration of them and
their circumstances, your majesty may the more clearly
discern, and more readily call to mind which of them
is to be embraced, and which to be rejected : and of
these, which are to be accepted, which of them is
presently to be proceeded in, and which to be put
over to farther time. And again, which of them shall
require authority of parliament, and which are fitter to
be effected by your majesty's royal power and prero-
gative, or by other policies or means; and lastly, which
of them is liker to pass with difficulty and contradic-
tion, and which with more facility and smoothness.

First, therefore, to begin with that question, that,
I suppose, will be out of question.

Whether it be not meet, that the statutes, which statutes
were made touching Scotland or the Scotish nation, s°"S"S
while the kingdoms stood severed, be repealed? and the

T . ........... r Scotisli ua-

It is true, there is a diversity in these ; for some of m>
these laws consider Scotland as an enemy's country;
other laws consider it as a foreign country only : as for
example; the law of Rich. II. anno 7. which prohi-
biteth all armour or victual to be carried to Scotland ; ,
and the law of 7 of K. Henry VII. that enacteth all
the Scotish men to depart the realm within a time
prefixed. Both these laws, and some others, respect
Scotland as a country of hostility : but the law of 22 of
Edward IV. that enclueth Berwick with the liberty
of a staple, where all Scotish merchandises should
resort that should be uttered for England, and likewise
all English merchandises that should be uttered for
Scotland ; this law beholdeth Scotland only as a fo-
reign nation ; and not so much neither ; for there have

lion,

270 Union of England and Scotland.

been erected staples in towns of England for some
commodities, with an exclusion and restriction of other
parts of England.

But this is a matter of the least difficulty ; your
majesty shall have a calendar made of the laws, and
a brief of the effect; and so you may judge of them:
and the like or reciprocally is to be done by Scotland
for such laws as they have concerning England and the
English nation.

Laws,cus- The second question is, what laws, customs, com-
Srio^T" missi00^ officers, garrisons, and the like, are to be
officers oV put down, discontinued or taken away upon the bor-
ders of both realms?

To this point, because I am not acquainted with
the orders of the marches, I can say the less.

Herein falleth that question, whether that the te-
nants, who hold their tenants rights in a greater free-
dom and exemption, in consideration of their service
upon the borders, and that the countries themselves,
which are in the same respect discharged of subsidies
and taxes, should not now be brought to be in one
degree with other tenants and countries ; nam ces-
sante causa, tollitur effectus? Wherein, in my opi-
nion, some time would be given ; quia adhuc eorum
messis in herba esl : but some present ordinance should
be made to take effect at a future time, considering it
is one of the greatest points and marks of the division
of the kingdoms. And because reason doth dictate,
that where the principal solution of continuity was,
there the healing and consolidating plaister should be
chiefly applied ; there would be some farther device
for the utter and perpetual confounding of those
imaginary bounds, as your majesty termeth them :
and therefore it should be considered, whether it were
not convenient to plant and erect at Carlisle or Ber-
wick some council or court of justice, the jurisdiction
whereof might extend part into England and part into
Scotland, with a commission not to proceed precisely,
or merely according to the laws and customs either of
England or Scotland, but mixtly, according to in-
structions by your majesty to be set down, after the

Union of England and Scotland. 271

imitation and precedent of the council of the marches
here in England, erected upon the union of Wales?

The third question is that which many will make a Farther uni-
great question of, though perhaps your majesty will °hnebree"des
make no question of it; and that is, whether your ma- Coving Of
jesty should not make a stop or stand here, and not to 13 and
proceed to any farther union, contenting yourself with Jai"ei^lnIJJs
the two former articles or points. usages.

Far it will be said, that wre are now well, thanks
be to God and your majesty, and the state of neither
kingdom is to be repented of; and that it is true
which Hippocrates saith, that Sana corpora difficile
medic atione s ferunt, it is better to make alterations in
sick bodies than in sound. The consideration of which
point will rest upon these two branches : what incon-
veniences will insue with time, if the realms stand as
they are divided, which are yet not found or sprang
up. For it may be the sweetness of your majesty's
first entrance, and the great benefit that both nations
have felt thereby, have covered many inconveniences:
which, nevertheless, be your majesty's government
never so gracious and politic, continuance ot time and
the accidents of time may breed and discover, if the
kingdoms stand divided.

The second branch is ; allow no manifest or im-
portant peril or inconvenience should ensue of the con-
tinuing of the kingdoms divided, yet on the other side,
whether that upon the farther uniting of them, there
be not like to follow that addition and increase of
wealth and reputation, as is worthy your majesty's vir-
tues and fortune, to be the author and founder of, for
the advancement and exaltation of your majesty's royal
posterity in time to come ?

But admitting that your majesty should proceed to Points
this more perfect and intire union, wherein your nia-^a^snth
jesty may say, Majus opus moveo ; to enter into the stand ai-
parts and degrees thereof, I think fit first to set down
as in a brief table, in what points the nations stand
now at this present time already united, and in what
points yet still severed and divided, that your majesty
may the better see what is done, and what is to be

272 Union of England and Scotland.

done ; and how that which is to be done is to be in-
ferred upon that which is done.

The points wherein the nations stand already united
are :

In sovereignty.

In the relative thereof, which is subjection.

In religion.

In continent.

In language.

And now lastly, by the peace by your majesty con-
cluded with Spain, in leagues and confederacies ; for
now both nations have the same friends and the same
enemies.

Yet notwithstanding there is none of these six points,
wherein the union is perfect and consummate ; but
every of them hath some scruple or rather grain of se-
paration in wrapped or included in them.

Sovereign- For the sovereignty, the union is absolute in your
majesty and your generation ; but if it should so be,
which God of his infinite mercy defend, that your issue
should fail, then the descent of both realms doth
resort to the several lines of the several bloods royal.
Subjection, For subjection, I take the law of England to be
obedience. ^^ ^^ ^ kw of Scotland is I know not, that all
Scotsmen from the very instant of your majesty's reign
Ahen nam- be^un are become denizens, and the post-nati are na-

rahzation. »DT. ,. - „ , r L . r

turalized subjects of England for the tune forwards :
for by our laws none can be an alien but he that is of
another allegiance than our sovereign lord the king's :
for there be but two sorts of aliens, whereof we find
mention in our law, an alien ami, and an alien enemy ;
whereof the former is a subject of a state in amity with
the king, and the latter a subject of a state in hostility :
but whether he be one or other, it is an essential dif-
ference unto the definition of an alien, if he be not of
the king's allegiance j as w7e see it evidently in the
precedent of Ireland, who, since they were subjects
to the crown of England, have ever been inheritable
and capable as natural subjects ; and yet not by any
statute or act of parliament, but merely by the com-
mon-law, and the reason thereof. So as there is no

Union of England and Scotland. 273

doubt, that every subject of Scotland was, and is in
like plight or degree, since your majesty's coming in,
as if your majesty had granted particularly your letters
of denization or naturalization to every of them, and the
post-nati wholly natural. But then on the other side,
for the time backwards, and for those that were ante-
nati, the blood is not by law naturalized, so as they
cannot take it by descent from their ancestors without
act of parliament : and therefore in this point there is
a defect in the union of subjection.

For matter of religion, the union is perfect in points Religion,
of doctrine ; but in matter of discipline and government ^men?,'
it is imperfect. Continent

For the continent it is true there are no natural boun- bc
daries of mountains or seas, or navigable rivers ; but
yet there are badges and memorials of borders ; of
which point I have spoken before.

For the language, it is true the nations are unius Language,
labii, and have not the first curse of disunion, which dialect-
was confusion of tongues, whereby one understood not
another. But yet the dialect is differing, and it re-
maineth a kind of mark of distinction. But for that,
tempori permittendum, it is to be left to time. For
considering that both languages do concur in the prin-
cipal office and duty of a language, which is to make
a man's self understood : for the rest it is rather to be
accounted, as was said, a diversity of dialect than of
language: and as I said in my first writing, it is like
to bring forth the enriching of one language, by com-
pounding and taking in the proper and significant
words of either tongue, rather than a continuance of
two languages.

For leagues and confederacies, it is true, that nei- Leagues,
ther nation is now in hostility with any state, where- SSf*
with the other nation is in amity: but yet so, as the ties.'
leagues and treaties have been concluded with either
nation respectively, and not with both jointly ; which
may contain some diversity of articles of straitness of
amity with one more than with the other.

But many of these matters may perhaps be of that

VOL. III. T

274

Union of England and Scotland.

separation
and union.

kind, as may fall within that rule, In veste varietas
sit, scissura non sit.

Now to descend to the particular points wherein the
realms stand severed and divided, over and besides the
former six points of separation, which I have noted
and placed as defects or abatements of the six points
of the union, and therefore shall not need to be repeat-
ed : the points, I say, yet. remaining, I will divide
into external and internal.
External The external points therefore of the separation are

points of the r

spnarafmn IwUl *

1. The several crowns, I mean the ceremonial and
material crowns.

2. The second is the several names, stiles, or appel-
lations.

3. The third is the several prints of the seals.

4. The fourth is the several stamps or marks of the
coins or moneys.

It is true, that the external are in some respect and
parts much mingled and interlaced with considerations
internal ; and that they may be as effectual to the true
union, which must be the work of time, as the inter-
nal, because they are operative upon the conceits and
opinions of the people ; the uniting of whose hearts
and affections is the life and true end of this work.

For the ceremonial crowns, the question will be,
whether there shall be framed one new imperial crown
of Britain to be used for the times to come ? Also ad-
mitting that to be thought convenient, whether in the
frame thereof there shall not be some reference to the
crowns of Ireland and France ?

Also whether your majesty should repeat or iterate
your own coronation and your queen's, or only ordain
that such new crown shall be used by your posterity
hereafter ?

The difficulties will be' in the conceit of some ine-
quality, whereby the realm of Scotland may be thought
to be made an accession unto the realm of England.
But that resteth in some circumstances; for the com-
pounding of the two crowns is equal ; the calling of
the new crown the crown of Britain is equal. Only

The cere-
monial or
mateiial
crowns.

Union of England and Scotland. 27 5

the place of coronation, if it shall be at Westminster,
which is the ancient, august, and sacred place for the
kings of England, may seem to make an inequality. > .
And again, if the crown of Scotland be discontinued,
then that ceremony, which I hear is used in the par-
liament of Scotland in the absence of the kings, to
have the crowns carried in solemnity, must likewise
cease.

For the name, the main question is, whether the The st'les
contracted name of Britain shall be by your majesty an
used, or the divided names of England and Scotland?

Admitting there shall be an alteration, then the case
will require these inferior questions :

First, whether the name of Britain shall only be
used in your majesty's stile, where the intire stile is
recited; and in all other forms the divided names to
remain both of the realms and of the people? or other-
wise, that the very divided names of realms and peo-
ple shall likewise be changed or turned into special or
subdivided names of the general name ; that is to say
for example, whether your majesty in your stile shall
denominate yourself king of Britain,. France, and Ire-
land, etc. and yet nevertheless, in any commission,
writ, or otherwise, where your majesty mentions Eng-
land or Scotland, you shall retain the ancient names,
as secundum consuetudinem regni nostri Angliae ; or
whether those divided names shall be for ever lost and
taken away, and turned into the subdivisions of South-
Britain and North-Britain, and the people to be South-
Britons and North-Britons? And so in the example
aforesaid, the tenourof the like clause to run secundum
consuetudinem Britanniae aus trails.

Also, if the former of these shall be thought conve-
nient, whether it were not better for your majesty to
take that alteration of stile upon \ou by proclamation,
as Edward the third did the stile of France, than to
have it enacted by parliament ?

Also, in the alteration of the stile, whether it were
not better to transpose the kingdom of Ireland, and put
it immediately after Britain, aisd so place the islands
together 5 and the kingdom of France, being upon the

t 2

Union of England and Scotland.

continent, last; in regard that these islands of the wes-
tern ocean seem by nature and providence an entire
empire in themselves ; and also, that there was never
king of England so entirely possest of Ireland as your
majesty is : so your stile to run king of Britain, Ire-
land, and the islands adjacent, and of France, etc.

The difficulties in this have been already thoroughly
beaten over ; but they gather but to two heads.

The one, point of honour and love to the former
names.

The other, doubt, lest the alteration of the names
may induce and involve an alteration of the laws and
policies of the kingdom ; both which, if your majesty
shall assume the stile by proclamation, and not by
parliament, are in themselves satisfied: for then the
usual names must needs remain in writs and records,
the forms whereof cannot be altered but by act of par-
liament, and so the point of honour satisfied : And
again, your proclamation altereth no law, and so the
scruple of a tacit or implied alteration of laws likewise
satisfied. But then it may be considered whether it
were not a form of the greatest honour, if the parlia-
ment, though they did not enact it, yet should be-
come suitors and petitioners to your majesty to assume
it?

For the seals, that there should be but one great
seal of Britain, and one chancellor, and that there
should only be a seal in Scotland for processes and or-
dinary justice 3 and that all patents of grants of lands
or otherwise, as well in Scotland as in England, should
pass under the great seal here, kept about your per-
son ; it is an alteration internal, whereof I do not now
speak.

But the question in this place is, whether the great
seals of England and Scotland should not be changed
into one and the same form of image and superscription
of Britain, which, nevertheless, is requisite should be
with some one plain or manifest alteration, lest there
be a buz, and suspect, that grants of things in Eng-
land may be passed by the seal of Scotland, or e con-
verso I1

Union of England and Scotland. 277

Also, whether this alteration of form may not be
done without act of parliament, as the great seals
have used to be heretofore changed as to their impres-
sions ?

For the moneys, as to the real and internal consi-
deration thereof, the question will be, whether your
majesty shall not continue two mints? which, the
distance of territory considered, I suppose will be of
necessity.

Secondly, how the standards, if it be not already The stand.
done, as I hear some doubt made of it in popular ru-^mpsf
mour, may be reduced into an exact proportion for the moneys.
time to come; and likewise the computation, tale, or
valuation to be made exact for the moneys already
beaten ?

That done, the last question is, which is only proper
to this place, whether the stamp or image and super-
scription of Britain for the time forwards should not
be made the self-same in both places, without any
difference at all ? A matter also which may be done,
as our law is, by your majesty's prerogative without
act of parliament.

These points are points of demonstration, ad facien-
dum populum, but so much the more they go to the
root of your majesty's intention, which is to imprint
and inculcate into the hearts and heads of the people,
that they are one people and one nation.

In this kind also I have heard it pass abroad in speech
of the erection of some new order of knighthood, with
a reference to the union, and an oath appropriate
thereunto, which is a point likewise deserves a consi-
deration. So much for the external points.

The internal points of separation are as followeth. internal

1. Several parliaments.

2. Several councils of state.

3. Several officers of the crown.

4. Several nobilities.

5. Several laws.

6. Several courts of justice, trials, and processes.

7. Several receits and finances.

8. Several admiralties and merchandizings.

278 Union of England and Scotland.

9. Several freedoms and liberties.

10. Several taxes and imposts.

As touching the several states ecclesiastical, and the
several mints and standards, and the several articles
and treaties of intercourse with foreign nations, I
touched them before.

In these points of the strait and more inward union,
there will intervene one principal difficulty and impedi-
ment, growing from that root, which Aristotle in his
Politics maketh to be the root of all division and dis-
sention in commonwealths, and that is equality and
inequality. For the realm of Scotland is now an anci-
ent and noble realm, substantive of itself. But when
this island shall be made Britain, then Scotland is no
more to be considered as Scotland, but as a part of Bri-
tain ; no more than England is to be considered as
England, but as a part likewise of Britain; and conse-
quently neither of these are to be considered as things
intire of themselves, but in the proportion that they
bear to the whole. And therefore let us imagine, Nam
id mentc possumus, quod actu non possnmus, that Bri-
tain had never been divided, but had ever been one
kingdom ; then that part of soil or territory, which is
comprehended under the name of Scotland, is in quan-
tity, as I have heard it esteemed, how truly I know
not, not past a third part of Britain ; and that part of
soil or territory which is comprehended under the name
of England, is two parts of Britain, leaving to speak of
any difference of wealth or population, and speaking
only of quantity. So then if, for example, Scotland
should bring to parliament as much nobility as Eng-
land, then a third part should countervail two parts;
nam si inaequalibus acqualia addas, omnia erunt inae-
qualia. And this, I protest before God and your ma-
jesty, I do speak not as a man born in England, but
as a man born in Britain. And therefore to descend
to the particulars ;

For the parliaments, the consideration of that point
wj|j fa]j jnto fpur questions.

] . The first, what proportion shall be kept between
the votes of England and the votes of Scotland?

Union of England and Scotland. 219

2. The second, touching the manner of proposition,
or possessing of the parliament of causes there to be
handled ; which in England is used to be done imme-
diately by any memberof the parliament, or by the prolo-
cutor; andinScotlandisused to be done immediatelyby
the lords of the articles ; whereof the one form seemeth to
have more liberty, and the other more gravity and ma-
turity • and therefore the question will be, whether of
these shall yield to other, or whether there should not
be a mixture of both, by some commissions precedent
to every parliament, in the nature of lords of the arti-
cles, and yet not excluding the liberty of propounding
in full parliament afterwards ?

3. The third, touching the orders of parliament,
how they may be compounded, and the best of either
taken ?

4. The fourth, how those, which by inheritance or
otherwise have officers of honour and ceremony in both
the parliaments, as the lord steward with us, etc. may
be satisfied, and duplicity accommodated?

For the councils of estate, while the kingdoms stand 2- Council
divided, it should seem necessary to continue several0
councils; but if your majesty should proceed to a
strict union, then howsoever your majesty may esta-
blish some provincial councils in Scotland as there is
here of York, and in the marches of Wales, yet the
question will be, whether it will not be more conve-
nient for your majesty, to have but one privy council
about your person, whereof the principal officers of
the crown of Scotland to be for dignity sake, howso-
ever their abiding and remaining may be as your ma-
jesty shall employ their service: But this point belong-
eth merely and wholly to your majesty's royal will and
pleasure.

For the officers of the crown, the consideration
thereof will fall into these questions. t

First, in regard of the latitude of your kingdom and
the distance of place, whether it will not be matter of
necessity to continue the several officers, because of
the impossibility for the service to be performed by one?

The second, admitting the duplicity of officers should

Union of England and Scotland.

be continued, yet whether there should not be a dif-
ference, that one should be the principal officer, and
the other to be but special and subaltern? As -for ex-
ample, one to be chancellor of Britain, and the other
to be chancellor with some special addition, as here
of the dutchy, etc.

The third, if no such specialty or inferiority be thought
fit, then whether both officers should not have the title
and the name of the whole island, and precincts? as
the lord Chancellor of England to be lord Chancellor
of Britain, and the lord Chancellor of Scotland to be
lord Chancellor of Britain, but with several provisos
that they shall not intromit themselves but within their
several precincts.

For the nobilities, the consideration thereof will fall
into these questions.

The first, of their votes in parliament, which was
touched before, what proportion they shall bear to the
nobility of England? wherein if the proportion which
shall be thought fit be not full, yet your majesty may,
out of your prerogative, supply it; for although you
cannot make fewer of Scotland, yet you may make
more of England.

The second is touching the place and precedence
wherein to marshal them according to the precedence
of England in your majesty's stile, and according to
the nobility of Ireland; that is, all English earls first,
and then Scotish, will be thought unequal for Scotland.
To marshal them according to antiquity, will be
thought unequal for England. Because I hear their
nobility is generally more ancient: and therefore the
question will be, whether the most .indifferent way
were not to take them interchangeably; as for example,
first, the ancient earl of England; and then the ancient
earl of Scotland, and so alttrnis vicibus ?

For the laws to make an entire and perfect union,
it is a matter of great difficulty and length, both in the
collecting of them, and in the passing of them.

For first, as to the collecting of them, there must be
m.ade by the lawyers of either nation, a digest under
titles of their several laws and customs, as well com*

Union of England and Scotland. 28 i

mon laws as statutes, that they may be collated and
compared, and that the diversities may appear and be
discerned of. And for the passing of them, we see by
experience Ihat/Mfrzkf mos is dear to all men, and that
m^n are bred and nourished up in the love of it ; and
therefore how harsh changes and innovations are. And
we see likewise what disputation and argument the
alteration of some one law doth cause and bring forth,
how much more the alteration of the whole corps of
the law? Therefore the first question will be, whether
it will not be good to proceed by parts, and to take
that that is most necessary, and leave the rest to time?
The parts therefore or subject of laws, are for this
purpose fitl'iest distributed according to that ordinary
division of criminal and civil, and those of criminal
causes into capital and penal.

The second question therefore is, allowing the ge-
neral union of laws to be too great a work to embrace;
whether it were not convenient that cases capital were
the same in both nations; J say the cases, I do not
speak of the proceedings of trials ; that is to say,
whether the same offences were not fit to be made
treason or felony in both places?

The third question is, whether cases penal, though
not capital, yet if they concern the public state, or
otherwise the discipline of manners, were not fit like-
wise to be brought into one degree, as the case of
misprision of treason, the case of praemunire, the case
of fugitives, the case of incest, the case of simony, and
the rest?

But the question that is more urgent than'any of these
is, whether these cases at the least, be they of an higher
or inferior degree, wherein the fact committed, or act
done in Scotland, may prejudice the state and subjects
of England, or e converso, are not to be reduced into
one uniformity of law and punishment? As for ex-
ample, a perjury committed in a court of justice in
Scotland, cannot be prejudicial in England, because
depositions taken in Scotland cannot be produced and
used here in England. But a forgery of a deed in
Scotland, I mean with a false date of England, may

282 Union of England and Scotland.

be used and given in evidence in England. So like-
wise the depopulating of a town in Scotland doth not
directly prejudice the state of England: but if an
English merchant shall carry silver and gold into Scot-
land, as he may, and thence transport it into foreign
parts, this prejudiceth the case; and therefore had
need to be bridled with as severe a law in Scotland, as
it is here in England. •

Of this kind there are many laws.

The law of the 5th of Richard II. of going over
without licence, if there be not the like law in Scot-
Jand, will be frustrated and evaded : for any subject of
England may go first into Scotland, and thence into
foreign parts.

So the Jaws prohibiting transportation of sundry
commodities, as gold and silver, ordnance, artillery,
corn, etc. if there be not a correspondence of laws in
Scotland, will in like manner be eluded and frustrated ;
for any English merchant or subject may carry such
commodities first into Scotland, as well as he may carry
them from port to port in England ; and out of Scot-
land into foreign parts, without any peril of law.

So libels may be devised and written in Scotland,
and published and scattered in England.

Treasons may be plotted in Scotland and executed
in England.

And so in many other cases, if there be not the like
severity of law in Scotland to restrain offences that
there is in England, whereof we are here ignorant
whether there be or no, it will be a gap or stop even
for English subjects to escape and avoid the laws of
England.

But for treasons, the best is that by the statute of

26 K. Henry VIII. cap. 13. any treason committed in

Scotland may be proceeded with in England, as well

as treasons committed in France, Rome, or elsewhere.

6. Courts of j?or courts of justice, trials, processes, and other ad-

justice, and ... /* •; , . . . .

. ministration or laws, to make any alteration in either
. natjollj jt wjjj \^Q a thing so new and unwonted to
either people, that it may be doubted it will make the
administration of justice, which of all other things

Union of England and Scotland. 283

ought to be known and certain as a beaten way, to
become intricate and uncertain. And besides, I do
not see that the severalty of administration of justice,
though it be by court sovereign of last resort, I mean
without appeal or error, is any impediment at all to
the union of a kingdom : as we see by experience in
the several courts of parliament in the kingdom of
France. And I have been always of opinion, that the
subjects of England do already fetch justice somewhat
far off, more than in any nation that I know, the large-
ness of the kingdom considered, though it be holpen
in some part by the circuits of the judges; and the
two councils established at York, and in the marches
of Wales.

But it may be a good question, whether, as commune
vinculum of the justice of both nations, your majesty
should not erect some court about your person, in the
nature of the grand council of France: to which court
you might, by way of avocation, draw causes from the
ordinary judges of both nations; for so doth the French
king from all the courts of parliament in France; many
of which are more remote from Paris than any part of
Scotland is from London.

For receits and finances, I see no question will arise, 7. Rcceia,
in regard it will be matter of necessity to establish inFinances»

o ..i \ • •*.* c \ and Patri-

Scotland a receit of treasure for payments and eroga- monies of
tions to be made in those parts : and for the treasure theCrowa>
of spare, in either receits, the custodies thereof may well
be several ; considering by your majesty's commandment
they may be at all times removed or disposed accord-
ing to your majesty's occasions.

For the patrimonies of both crowns, I see no question
will arise, except your majesty would be pleased to
make one compounded annexation, for an inseparable
patrimony to the crown out of the lands of both na-
tions: and so the like for the principality of Britain,
and for other appennages of the rest of your children;
erecting likewise such duchies and honours, com-
pounded of the possessions of both nations, as shall be
thought fit,

284 Union of England and Scotland.

?'ANwiral" ^or admiralty or navy, I see no great question will
and Her' rise ; for I see no inconvenience For your majesty to
continue shipping in Scotland. And for the jurisdic-
tions of the admiralties, and the profits and casualties
of them, they will be respective unto the coasts, over-
against which the seas lie and are situated 5 as it is here
with the admiralties of England.

And for merchandising, it may be a question, whe-
ther that the companies of the merchant adventurers,
of the Turkey merchants, and the Muscovy merchants,
if they shall be continued, should not be compounded
of merchants of both nations, English and Scotish.
For to leave trade free in the one nation, and to have
it restrained in the other, may percase breed some
inconvenience.

^.Freedoms For freedoms and liberties, the charters of both na-
ties. ' " tions may be reviewed; and of such liberties as are
agreeable and convenient for the subjects and people
of both nations, one great charter may be made and
confirmed to the subjects of Britain; and those liberties
which are peculiar or proper to either nation, to stand
in state as they do.

10. Taxes But for imposts and customs, it will be a great
St question how to accommodate them and reconcile
them: for if they be much easier in Scotland, than
they be here in England, which is a thing I know not,
then this inconvenience will follow ; that the merchants
of England may unlade in the ports of Scotland: and
this kingdom to be served from thence, and your ma-
jesty's customs abated.

And for the question, whether the Scotish mer-
chants should pay strangers custom in England? that
resteth upon the point of naturalization, which I
touched before.

Thus have I made your majesty a brief and naked
memorial of the articles and points of this great cause,
which may serve only to excite and stir up your ma-
jesty's royal judgment, and the judgment of wiser
men whom you will be pleased to call to it; wherein
I will not presume to persuade or dissuade any thing ;
nor to interpose mine own opinion, but do expect light

Union of England and Scotland. 285

from your majesty's royal directions; unto the which I
shall ever submit my judgment, and apply my travails.
And I most humbly pray your majesty, in this which
is done to pardon my errors, and to cover them with
my good intention and meaning, and desire I have
to do your majesty service, and to acquit the trust that
was reposed in me, and chiefly in your majesty's be-
nign and gracious acceptation.

[ 286 ]

THE MOST HUMBLE

CERTIFICATE OR RETURN

OF THE

Commissioners of England and Scotland,

AUTHORISED TO TREAT OF

An Union for the Weal of both Realms:
2 JAC. I. [PREPARED, BUT ALTERED.]

W E the commissioners for England and Scotland
respectively named and appointed, in all humbleness
do signify to his most excellent majesty, and to the
most honourable high courts of Parliament of both
realms, that we have assembled ourselves, consulted
and treated according to the nature and limits of our
commission; and forasmuch as we do find that hardly
within the memory of all times, or within the compass
of the universal world, there can be shewed forth a fit
example or precedent of the work we have in hand
concurring in all points material, we thought ourselves
so much the more bound to resort to the infallible and
original grounds of nature and common reason, and
freeing ourselves from the leading or misleading of ex-
amples, to insist and fix our considerations upon the
individual business in hand, without wandering or
discourses.

It seemed therefore unto us a matter demonstrative
by the light of reason, that we were in first place to
begin with the remotion and abolition of all manner of
hostile, envious, or malign laws on either side, being in
themselves mere temporary, and now by time become
directly contrary to our present most happy estate ;
which laws, as they are already dead in force and
vigour, so we thought fit nowr to wish them buried
in oblivion; that by the utter extinguishment of the
memory of discords past, we may avoid all seeds of
relapse into discords to come.

Certificate touching the Union. 287

Secondly, as matter of nature not unlike the for-
mer, we entered into consideration of such limited
constitutions as served but for to obtain a form of jus-
tice between subjects under several monarchs, and
did in the very grounds and motives of them presup-
pose incursions, and intermixture of hostility: all which
occasions, as they are in themselves now vanished and.
done away, so we wish the abolition and cessation
thereof to be declared.

Thirdly, for so much as the principal degree to union
is communion and participation of mutual commodi-
ties and benefits, it appeared to us to follow next in,
order, that the commerce between both nations be set
open and free, so as the commoxiities and provisions of
either may pass and flow to and fro, without any stops
or obstructions, into the veins of the whole body, for
the better sustentation and comfort of all the parts :
with caution nevertheless, that the vital nourishment
be not so drawn into one part, as it may endanger a
consumption and withering of the other.

Fourthly, after the communion and participation by
commerce, which can extend but to the transmission
of such commodities as are moveable, personal, and
transitory, there succeeded naturally that other degree,
that there be made a mutual endowment and donation
of either realm towards other of the abilities and ca-
pacities to take and enjoy things which are perma-
nent, real, and fixed ; as namely, freehold and inhe-
ritance, and the like: and that as well the internal
and vital veins of blood be opened from interruption
and obstruction in making pedigree, and claiming by
descent, as the external and elemental veins of pas-
sage and commerce ; with reservation nevertheless
unto the due time of such abilities and capacities only,
as no power on earth can confer without time and
education.

And lastly, because the perfection of this blessed
work consisteth in the union, not only of the solid
parts of the estate, but also in the spirit and sinews of
the same, which are the laws and government, which
nevertheless are already perfectly united in the head,

288 Certificate touching the Union.

but require a further time to be united in the bulk and
frame of the whole body; in contemplation hereof we
did conceive that the first step thereunto was to pro-
vide, that the justice of either realm should aid and
assist, and not frustrate and interrupt the justice of the
other, specially in sundry cases criminal ; so that
either realm may not be abused by malefactors as a
sanctuary or place of refuge, to avoid the condign pu-
nishment of their crimes and offences.

All which several points, as we account them, sum-
med up and put together, but as a degree or middle
term to the perfection of this blessed work j so yet we
conceived them to make a just and fit period for our
present consultation and proceeding.

And for so much as concerneth the manner of our
proceedings, we may truly make this attestation unto
ourselves, that as the mark we shot at was union and
unity, so it pleased God in the handling thereof to
bless us with the spirit of unity, insomuch as from our
first sitting unto the breaking up of our assembly, a
thing most rare, the circumstance of the cause and
persons considered, there did not happen or intervene,
neither in our debates or arguments, any manner of
altercation or strife of words ; nor in our resolutions
any variety or division of votes, but the whole passed
with an unanimity and uniformity of consent : and yet
so, as we suppose, there was never in any consulta-
tion greater plainness and liberty of speech, argu-
ment and debate, replying, contradicting, recalling
any thing spoken where cause was, expounding any
matter ambiguous or mistaken ; and all other points
of free and friendly interlocution and conference, with-
out cavillations, advantages, or overtakings : a matter
that we cannot ascribe to the skill or temper of our
own carnage, but to the guiding and conducting of
God's holy providence and will, the true author of all
unity and agreement. Neither did we, where the
business required, rest so upon our own sense and
opinions, but we did also aid and assist ourselves, as
well with the reverend opinion of judges and persons
of great science and authority in the laws, and also

Certificate touching the Union. 289

with the wisdom and experience of merchants, and men
expert in commerce. In all which our proceedings,
notwithstanding, we are so far from pretending or aim-
ing at any prejudication, either of his royal majesty's
sovereign and high wisdom, which we do most duti-
fully acknowledge to be able to pierce and penetrate far
beyond the reach of our capacities ; or of the solid and
profound judgment of the high courts of parliament of
both realms, as we do in all humbleness submit our
judgments and doings to his sacred majesty, and to
the parliaments, protesting our sincerity, and craving
gracious and benign construction and acceptation of
our travails.

We therefore with one mind and consent have
agreed and concluded, that there be propounded and
presented to his majesty and the parliament of both
realms, these articles and propositions following. . . .

VOL. Ill,

[ 290 ]

A

SPEECH

SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT,

IN THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COMMONS, QUINTO

JACOBI,

CONCERNING THE ARTICLE OF THE

GENERAL NATURALIZATION

OF THE

SCOT1SH NATION.

AT may please you, Mr. Speaker, preface I will use
none, but put myself upon your good opinion, to
which I have been accustomed beyond my deservings ;
neither will I hold you in suspense what way I will
choose, but now at the first declare myself, that I
mean to counsel the house to naturalize this nation :
wherein, nevertheless, I have a request to make unto
you, which is of more efficacy to the purpose I have
in hand than all that I shall say afterwards. And it is
the same request, which Demosthenes did more than
once, in great causes of estate, make to the people of
Athens, that when they took into their hands the balls,
whereby to give their voices, according as the manner
of them was, they would raise their thoughts, and Jay
aside those considerations which their private voca-
tions and degrees might minister and represent unto
them, and would take upon them cogitations and
minds agreeable to the dignity and honour of the
estate.

For, Mr. Speaker, as it was aptly and sharply said
by Alexander to Pannenio, when upon their recital of

Of General Naturalization. 29 1

the great offers which Darius made, Parmenio said
unto him, 7 would accept these offers, were I as Alex-
ander: he turned it upon him again, So icould 7, saith
he, were I as Parmenio. So in this cause, if an honest
English merchant, I do not single out that state in
disgrace, for this island ever held it honourable, but
onl -7 for an instance of a private profession, if an Eng-
lish merchant should say, " Surely I would proceed no
" farther in the union, were I as the king ;" it might
be reasonably answered, u No more would the king,
" were he as an English merchant." And the like
may be said of a gentleman in the country, be he
never so worthy or sufficient 5 or of a lawyer, be he
never so wise or learned ; or of any other particular
condition of men in this kingdom : for certainly, Mr.
Speaker, if a man shall be only or chiefly sensible of
those respects which his particular vocation and de-
gree shall suggest and infuse into his brain, and not
enter into true and worthy considerations of estates,
he shall never be able aright to give counsel, or take
counsel in this matter. So that if this request be
granted, I account the cause obtained.

But to proceed to the matter itself: all consultations
do rest upon questions comparative -y for when a ques-
tion is de vero, it is simple, for there is but one truth ;
but when a question is de bono, it is for the most part
comparative ; for there be differing degrees of good
and evil, and the best of the good is to be preferred
and chosen, and the worst of the evil is to be declined
and avoided ; and therefore in questions of this nature
you may not look for answer proper to every inconve-
nience alleged > for somewhat that cannot be espe-
cially answered may, nevertheless, be encountered
and over-weighed by matter of greater moment, and
therefore the matter which I shall set forth unto you
will naturally receive the distribution of three parts.

First, an answer to those inconveniences which have The answer
been alleged to ensue, if we should give way to this tolheincon*

°. T ?* ... * „ veniences

naturalization; which, 1 suppose, you will not find to objected
be so great as they have been made: but that much ^
dross is put into the balance to help to make weight,

u 2

292 Of General Naturalization.

Secondly, an encounter against the remainder of

these inconveniences which cannot properly be an-

, swered, by much greater inconveniences, which we

shall incur if we do not proceed to this naturalization.

Thirdly, an encounter likewise, but of another na-
ture, that is, by the gain and benefit which we shall
draw and purchase to ourselves by proceeding to this
naturalization. And yet, to avoid confusion, which
ever rolloweth upon too much generality, it is neces-
sary for me, before I proceed to persuasion, to use
some distribution of the points or parts of naturaliza-
tion, which certainly can be no better, or none other,
than the ancient distinction of jus civitatis, jus suffra-
gii vcl tribus, et jus petitionis sire honoris : for all abi-
lity and capacity is either of private interest of meum
et tuiim, or of public service ; and the public con-
sisteth chiefly either in voice, or in office. Now it is
the first of these, Mr. Speaker, that 1 will only handle
at this time and in this place, and refer the other two
for a committee, because they receive more distinc-
tion and restriction.

To come therefore to the inconveniences alleged
on the other part, the first of them is, that there may
ensue of this naturalization a surcharge of people upon
this realm of England, which is supposed already to
have the full charge and content ; and therefore there
cannot be an admission of the adoptive without a di-
minution of the fortunes and conditions of those that
are native subjects of this realm. A grave objection,
Mr. Speaker, and dutiful ; for it proceeds not of any
unkindness to the Scotish nation, but of natural fast-
ness to ourselves ; for that answer of the virgins, Nc
forte non sufficiat vobis et nobis, proceeded not out of
any envy or malign humour, but out of providence,
and the original chanty which begins with ourselves.
And I must confess, Mr. Speaker, that as the gentle-
man said, when Abraham and Lot, in regard of the
greatness of their families, grew pent and straitned, it
is true, that, though they v/ere brethren, they grew
to difference, and to those words, Vade tu ad dex-

Of General Naturalization. 293

teram, et ego ad sinistram9 etc. But, certainly, I
should never have brought that example on that side;
for we see what followed of it, how that this separa-
tion ad dexter am et ad sinistram caused the miserable
captivity of the one brother, and the dangerous, though
prosperous war of the other, for his rescue and re-
covery.

But to this objection, Mr. Speaker, being so weighty
and so principal, I mean to give three several answers,
every one of them being, to my understanding, by it-
self sufficient.

The first is, that this opinion of the number of the
Scotish nation, that should be likely to plant them-
selves here amongst us, will be found to be a thing
rather in conceit than in event ; for, Mr. Speaker, you
shall find those plausible similitudes, of a tree that will
thrive the better if it be removed into the more fruitful
soil ; and of sheep or cattle, that if they find a gap or
passage open will leave the more barren pasture, and
get into the more rich and plentiful, to be but argu-
ments merely superficial, and to have no sound resem-
blance with the transplanting or transferring of fami-
lies ; for the tree, we know, by nature, as soon as it
is set in the better ground, can fasten upon it, and
take nutriment from it ; and a sheep, as soon as he
gets into the better pasture, what should let him to
graze and feed ? But there belongeth more, I take it,
to a family or particular person, that shall remove from
one nation to another": for if, Mr. Speaker, they have
not stock, means, acquaintance, and custom, habita-
tion, trades, countenance, and the like, I hope you
doubt not but they will starve in the midst of the rich
pasture, and are far enough off from grazing at their
pleasure : and therefore in this point, which is conjec-
tural, experience is the best guide ; for the time past
is a pattern of the time to come. I think no man
doubteth, Mr. Speaker, but his majesty's first coming
in was the greatest spring-tide for the confluence and
entrance of that nation. Now 1 would fain under-
stand, in these four years space, and in the fulness and

294 Of General Naturalization.

strength of the current and tide, how many families of
the Scotsmen are planted in the cities, boroughs, and
towns of this kingdom ; f>r I do assure myself, that,
more than some persons of quality about his majesty 's
person here at the court, and in London, and some
other inferior persons, that have' a dependence upon
them, the return and certificate, if such a survey
should be made, would be of a number extremely
small : I report me to all your private knowledges of
the places where you inhahit.

Now, Mr. Speaker, as I vsaid, Si in ligno viridiita
fit, quidfcl in arido ? I. am sure there wiil be no more
such spring tides. But you will tell me of a multitude
of families of the Scotish nation in Polonia ; and if
they multiply in a country so far off, how much more
here at hand ? For that, Mr. Speaker, you must im-
pute it of necessity to some special accident of time
and place that draws them thither : for you see plainly
before your eyes, that in Germany, which is much
nearer, and in France, where they are invited with
privileges, and with this very privilege of naturaliza-
tion, yet no such number can be found ; so as it can-
not either be nearness of place, or privilege of person,
that is the cause. But shall I tell you, Mr. Speaker,
•what I think? Of all the places in the world, near or
far off, they will never take that course of life in this
kingdom, which they content themselves with in
Poland ; for we see it to be the nature of all men
that they will rather discover poverty abroad, than at
home. There is never a gentleman that hath over-
reached himself in expence, and thereby must abate
his countenance, but he will rather travel, and do it
abroad than at home: and we know well they have
good high stomachs, and have ever stood in some terms
and emulation with us: and therefore they will never
live here, except they can live in good fashion. So as
I assure you, Mr. Speaker, I am of opinion that the
fear which we now have to admit them, will have like
success as that contention had between the nobility
and people of Rome for the admitting of a plebeian
consul j which whilst it was in passage was very vehe-

Of General Naturalization.

merit, and mightily stood upon, and when the people
had obtained it, they never made any plebeian consul,
not in sixty years after : and so will this be for many
years, as I am persuaded, rather a matter in opinion
and reputation, than in use or effect. And this is the
first answer that I give to this main inconvenience pre-
tended, of surcharge of people.

The second answer which I give to this obiection,
is this: I must have leave to doubt. Mr. Speaker, that
this realm of England is not yet peopled to the full ;
for certain it is, that the territories of France, Italy,
Flanders, and some parts of Germany, do in equal
space of ground bear and contain a far greater quantity
of people, if they wrere mustered by the poll; neither
can I see, that this kingdom is so much inferior unto
those foreign parts in fruitfulness, as it is in population;
which ma Ices me conceive we have not our full charge.
Besides, I do see manifestly among us the badges and
tokens rather of scarceness, than of press of people,
as drowned grounds, commons, wastes, and the like,
which is a plain demonstration, that howsoever there
may be an over-swelling throng and press of people
here about London, which is most in our eye, yet the
body of the kingdom is but thin sown with people:
and whosoever shall compare the ruins and decays of
ancient towns in this realm, with the erections and
augmentations of new, cannot but judge that this
realm hath been far better peopled in former times ; it
may be, in the heptarchy, or otherwise : for generally
the rule hokleth, the smaller the state, the greater the
population, pro rata. And whether this be true or
no, we need not seek farther, than to call to our re-
membrance how many of us serve here in this place
for desolate and decayed boroughs.

Again, Mr. Speaker, whosoever looketh into the
principles of estate, must hold that it is the mediterrane
countries and not the maritime, which need to fear
surcharge of the people ; for all sea provinces, and
^ especially islands, have another element besides the
earth and soil, for their sustentation. For what an
infinite number of people are, and may be, sustained

Of General Naturalization.

by fishing, carriage by sea, and merchandising?
Wherein again I do discover, that we are not at all
pinched by multitude of people -, for if we were, it
were not possible that we should relinquish and resign
such an infinite benefit of fishing to the Flemings, as
it is well known we do. And therefore I see, that we
have wastes by sea, as well as by land -, which still is
an infallible argument that our industry is not awakened
to seek maintenance by any over great press or charge
of people. And lastly, Mr. Speaker, there was never
any kingdom in the ages of the world had, I think, so
fair and happy a means to issue and discharge the mul-
titude of their people, if it were too great, as this king-
dom hath, in regard of that desolate and wasted king-
dom of Ireland ; which being a country blessed with
almost all the dowries of nature, as rivers, havens,
woods, quarries, good soil, and temperate climate,
and now at last under his majesty blessed also with
obedience, doth, as it were, continually call unto us
for our colonies and plantations. And so I conclude
my second answer to this pretended inconvenience, of
surcharge of people.

The third answer, Mr. Speaker, which I give, is
this : I demand what is the worst effect that can fol-
low of surcharge of people ? Look into all stories, and
you shall find it none other than some honourable war
for the enlargement of their borders, which find them-
selves pent, upon foreign parts ; which inconvenience,
in a valorous and warlike nation, I know not whether
I should term an inconvenience or no ; for the saying
is most true, though in another sense, Omne solum
forti palria. It was spoken indeed of the patience
of an exiled man, but it is no less true of the va-
lour of a warlike nation. And certainly, Mr. Speaker,
I hope I may speak it without offence, that if we
did hold ourselves worthy, whensoever just cause
should be given, either to recover our ancient rights,
or to revenge our late wrongs, or to attain the ho-
nour of our ancestors, or to enlarge the patrimony
of our posterity, we should never in this manner forget

Of General Naturalization. 297

considerations of amplitude and greatness, and fall at
variance about profit and reckonings ; fitter a great
deal for private persons than for parliaments and king-
doms. And thus, Mr. Speaker, I leave this first ob-
jection to such satisfaction as you have heard.

The second objection is, that the fundamental laws
of both these kingdoms of England and Scotland are
yet divers and several ; nay more, that it is declared
by the instrument, that they shall so continue, and
that there is no intent in his majesty to make innova-
tion in them : and therefore that it should not be sea-
sonable to proceed to this naturalization, whereby to
endow them with our rights and privileges, except
they should likewise receive and submit themselves to
our laws ; and this objection likewise, Mr. Speaker, 1
allow to be a weighty objection, and worthy to be
well answered and discussed.

The answer which I shall offer is this; it is true, for
my own part, Mr. Speaker, that I wish the Scotish
nation governed by our laws; for I hold our laws with
some reducement worthy to govern, and it were the
world : but this is that which I say, and I desire therein
your attention, that according to true reason of estate,
naturalization is in order first and precedent to union
of laws ; in degree a less matter than union of laws ;
and in nature separable, not inseparable from union of
laws; for naturalization doth but take out the marks
of a foreigner, but union of laws make them entirely
as ourselves. Naturalization taketh away separation ;
but union of laws doth take away distinction. Do we
not see, Mr. Speaker, that in the administration of the
world under the great monarch God himself, that his
laws are diverse; one law in spirits, another in bodies;
one law in regions celestial, another in elementary;
and yet the creatures are all one mass or lump, without
any vacuum or separation ? Do we not likewise see in
the state of the church, that amongst people of all lan-
guages and lineages there is one communion of saints,
and that we are all fellow-citizens and naturalized of
the heavenly Jerusalem ; and yet nevertheless divers
and several ecclesiastical laws, policies, and hierarchies,

298 Of General Naturalization.

according to the speech of that worthy father, Investe
rarivtas sif,. scissura non sit ? And therefore certainly,
Mr. Speaker, the bond of law is the more special and
private bond, and the bond of naturalization the more
common and general ; for the laws, are rather fig?/ra
reipublicae than./brwfl, and rather bonds of perfection
than bonds of entireness : and therefore we see in the
experience of our own government, tl.at In the king-
dom of Ireland, all our statute laws, since Poyning's
law, are not in force; and yet we deny them not the
benefit of naturalization. In jei cy and Guernsey and
the isle of Man, our common laws are not in force,
and yet they have the benefit of naturalization ; neither
need any man doubt but that our laws and customs
must in small time gather and win upon theirs; for
here is the scat of the kingdom, whence come the
supreme directions of estate : here is the king's person
and example, of which the verse saith, Regis ad
exemplum totus componitur orbis. And therefore it is
not possible, although not by solemn and formal act of
estates, yet by the secret operation of no long time,
but they will come under the yoke of our laws, and so
dulcis tractus pari jugo. And this is the answer I give
to the second objection.

The third objection is, some inequality in the for-
tunes of these two nations, England and Scotland, by
the commixture whereof there may ensue advantage to
them and loss to us. Wherein, Mr. Speaker, it is well
that this difference or disparity consisteth but in the
external goods of fortune : for indeed it must be con-
fessed, that for the goods of the mind and the body,
they are alteri nos, other ourselves ; for to do them but
right, we know in their capacity and understanding
they are a people ingenious, in labour industrious, in
courage valiant, in body hard, active, and comely.
More might be said, but in commending them we do
but in effect commend ourselves: for they are of one
piece and continent with us ; and the truth is, we are
participant both of their virtues and vices. For if they
have been noted to be a people not so tractable in go-
vernment, we cannota without flattering ourselves, free

Of General Naturalization* 299

ourselves altogether from that fault, being a thing in-
deed incident to all martial people ; as we see it evi-
dent by the example of the Romans and others ; even
like unto fierce horses, that though they be of better
service than others, yet are they harder to guide and

manage.

But for this objection, Mr. Speaker, I propose to
answer it, not by authority of Scriptures, which saith,
Bcatius cst dare qumn accipere, but by an authority
framed and derived from the judgment of ourselves and
our ancestors in the same case as to this point. For,
Mr. Speaker, in all the line of our kings none used to
carry greater commendation than his majesty's noble
progenitor king Edward the first of that name ; and
amongst his other commendations, both of war and
policy, none is more celebrated than his purpose and
enterprise for the conquest of Scotland, as not bending
his designs to glorious acquests abroad, but to solid
strength at home 5 which, nevertheless, if it had suc-
ceeded well, could not but have brought in all those
inconveniences of the commixture of a more opulent
kingdom with a less, that are now alleged. For it is
not the yoke, either of our hws or arms, that can alter
the nature of the climate or the nature of the soil; nei-
ther is it the manner of the commixture that can alter
the matter of the commixture: and therefore, Mr.
Speaker, if it were good for us then, it is good for us
now, and not to be prised the less because we paid
not so dear for it. But a more full answer to this ob-
jection I refer over to that which will come after, to
be spoken touching surety and greatness.

The fourth objection, Mr. Speaker, is not properly
an objection, but rather a pro-occupation of an objec-
tion of the other side; for it may be said, and very ma-
terially, Whereabout do we contend ?' The benefit of
naturalization is by the law, in as many as have been
or shall be born since his majesty's coming to the
crown, already settled and invested. There is no more
then but to bring the ante-nati into the degree of the
post-nati, that men grown that have well deserved,
may be in no worse case than children which nave not

300 Of General Naturalization.

deserved, and elder brothers in no worse case than
younger brothers ; so as we stand upon guiddam, not
quantum^ being but a little difference of time of one
generation from another. To this, Mr. Speaker, it is
said by some, that the law is not so, but that tkepost-
nati are aliens as the rest. A point that I mean not
much to argue, both because it hath been well spoken
to by the gentlemen that spoke last before me ; and
because I do desire in this case and in this place to
speak rather of conveniency than of law : only this I
\vill say, that that opinion seems to me contrary to
reason of law, contrary to form of pleading in law,
and contrary to authority and experience of Jaw. For
reason of law, when I meditate of it, me thinks the
wisdom of the common laws of England well observed,
is admirable in the distribution of the benefit and pro-
tection of the laws, according to the several conditions
of persons, in an excellent proportion. The degrees
are four, but bipartite, two of aliens and two of sub-
jects.

The first degree is of an alien born under a king or
estate, that is an enemy. If such an one come into
this kingdom without safe-conduct, it is at his peril ;
the law giveth him no protection, neither for body,
lands, nor goods ; so as if he be slain there is no re-
medy by any appeal at the party's suit, although his
wife were an English woman : marry at the king's
suit, the case may be- otherwise in regard of the of-
fence to the peace.

The second degree is of an alien that is born under
the faith and allegiance of a king or state that is a
friend. Unto such a person the law doth impart a
greater benefit and protection, that is, concerning
things personal, transitory, and moveable, as goods
and chattels, contracts, and the like, but not concern-
ing freehold and inheritance. And the reason is, be-
cause he may be an enemy, though he be not ; for the
state under the obeisance of which he is, may enter
into quarrel and hostility ; and therefore as the law-
hath but a transitory assurance of him, so it rewards
him but with transitory benefits.

Of General Naturalization. 301

The third degree is of a subject, who having been art
alien, is by charter made denizen. To such an one
the law doth impart yet a more ample benefit ; for it
gives him power to purchase freehold and inheri-
tance to his own use, and likewise enables the chil-
dren born after his dentzation to inherit. But yet ne-
vertheless he cannot make title or convey pedigree
from any ancestor paramount; for the law thinks not
good to make him in the same degree with a subject
born, because he was once an alien, and so might
once have been an enemy : and nemo sulrito tfingitnr9
mens affections cannot be so settled by any benefit, as
when from their nativity they are inbred and inherent.

And the fourth degree, which is the perfect degree,
is of such a person as neither is enemy, nor could have
been enemy in time past, nor can be enemy in time to
come ; and therefore the law gives unto him the full
benefit of naturalization.

Now, Mr. Speaker, if these be the true steps and
paces of the law, no man can deny but whosoever is
born under the king's obedience, never could in aliqito
puncto temporis be an enemy, a rebel he might be,
but no enemy, and therefore in reason of law is natu-
ralized. Nay, contrariwise, he is bound J^rc' nativi-
tatis to defend this kingdom of England against all
invaders or rebels; and therefore as he is obliged to
the protection of arms, and that perpetually and uni-
versally, so he is to have the perpetual and universal
benefit and protection of laws which is naturalization.

For form of pleading, it is true that hath been said,
that if a man would plead another to be an alien, he
must not only set forth negatively and privately, that
he was born out of the obedience of our sovereign lord
the king, but affirmatively, under the obedience of a
foreign king or state in particular, which can never be
done in this case.

As for authority I will not press it; you know all
what hath been published by the king's proclamation.
And for experience of law we see it in the subjects of -
Ireland, in the subjects of Guernsey and Jersey, par-
cels of the duchy of Normandy ; in the subjects of Ca-

3O2 Of General Naturalization.

lais, when it was English, which was parcel of the
crown of France. But as I said, I am not willing to
enter into an argument of law, but to hold myself to
point of conveniency, so as for my part I hold all post-
nati naturalized ipso jure; but yet I am far from opi-
nion, that it should be a thing superfluous to have it
done by parliament ; chiefly in respect of that true
principle of estate, Principum acliones praecipue ad
f amain sunt componendae. It will lift up a sign to all
the world of our love towards them, and good agree-
ment with them. And these are, Mr. Speaker, the
material objections which have been made on the
other side, whereunto you have heard my answers ;
weigh them in your wisdoms, and so I conclude that
general part.

Now, Mr. Speaker, according as I promised, I must
fill the other balance in expressing unto you the in-
conveniences which we shall incur, if we shall not
proceed to this naturalization : wherein that inconve-
nience, which of all others, and alone by itself, if
there were none other, doth exceedingly move me,
and may move you, is a position of estate, collected
out of the records of time, which is this: that where-
soever several kingdoms or estates have been united
in sovereignty, if that union hath not been fortified
and bound in with a farther union, and namely, that
which is now in question, of naturalization, this hath
followed, that at one time or other they have broken
again, being upon all occasions apt to revolt and re-
lapse to the former separation.

Of this assertion the first example which I will set
before you, is of that memorable union which was
between the Romans and the Latins, which conti-
nued from the battle at the lake of Regilla, for many-
years, unto the consulships. At what time there
began, about this very point of naturalization, that
war which was called Bellum sociale, being the most
bloody and pernicious war that ever the Roman state
endured : wherein, after a number of battles and in-
finite sieges and surprises of towns, the Romans in
the end prevailed and mastered the Latins : but as

Of General Naturalization. 303

Soon as ever they had the honour of the war, looking
back into what perdition and confusion they were
near to have been brought, they presently naturalized
them alJ. You speak of a naturalization in blood;
there was a naturalization indeed in blood.

Let me set before you again the example of Sparta
and the rest of Peloponnesus their associates. The
state of Sparta was a nice and jealous state in this
point of imparting naturalization to their confederates.
But what was the issue of it ? After they had held
them in a kind of society and amity for divers years,
upon the first occasion given, which was no more than
the surprise of the castle of Thebes, by certain despe-
rate conspirators in the habit of maskers, there ensued
immediately a general revolt and defection of their as-
sociates ; which was the ruin of their state never after-
wards to be recovered.

Of latter times let me lead your consideration to
behold the like events in the kingdom of Arragon ;
which kingdom was united with Castile and the rest
of Spain in the persons of Ferdinando and Isabella,
and so continued many years ; but yet so as it stood a
kingdom severed and divided from the rest of the body
of Spain in privileges, and directly in this point of
naturalization, or capacity of inheritance. What
came of this? Thus much, that now of fresh me-
mory, not past twelve years since, only upon the voice
of a condemned man out of the grate of a prison to-
wards the street, that cried Fueros, which is as much
as, liberties or privileges, there was raised a dangerous
rebellion, which was suppressed with great difficulty
with an army royal. After which victory nevertheless,
to shun farther inconvenience, their privileges were
disannulled, and they were incorporated with the rest
of Spain. Upon so small a spark, notwithstanding so
long a continuance, were they ready to break and
sever again.

The like may be said of the states of Florence and
Pisa, which city of Pisa being united unto Florence,
but not endowed with the benefit of naturalization,
upon the first light of foreign assistance, by the expe-

304- Of General Naturalization.

dition of Charles VIII. of France into Italy, did re-
volt; though it be since again re-united and incor-
porated.

The same effect we see in the most barbarous
government, which shews it the rather to be an effect
of nature ; for it was thought a fit policy by the
council of Constantinople, to retain the three pro-
vinces of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia,
which were as the very nurses of Constantinople, in
respect of their provisions, to the end they might be
the less wasted, only under Way woods as vassals and
homagers, and not under Bashaws, as provinces of the
Turkish empire: which policy we see by late expe-
rience proved unfortunate, as appeared by the revolt
of the same three provinces, under the arms and con-
duct of Sigismond prince of Transylvania ; a leader
very famous for a time ; which revolt is not yet fully
recovered. Whereas we seldom or never hear of re-
volts of provinces incorporated with the Turkish
empire.

On the other part, Mr. Speaker, because it is true
what the logicians say, Opposita juxta se posita
magis elitcescunt: let us take a view, and we shall
find that wheresoever kingdoms and states have been
united, and that union corroborated by the bond of
mutual naturalization, you shall never observe them
afterwards, upon any occasion of trouble or otherwise,
to break and sever again: as we see most evidently
before our eyes, in divers provinces of France, that is
to say, Guienne, Provence, Normandy, Britain, which
notwithstanding the infinite infesting troubles of that
kingdom, never offered to break again.

We see the like effect in all the kingdoms of Spain,
which are mutually naturalized, as Leon, Castile,
Valentia, Andalusia, Granada, and the rest, except
Arragon, which held the contrary course, and there-
fore had the contrary success, as was said, and Por-
tugal, of which there is not yet sufficient trial. And
lastly, we see the like effect in our own nation, which
never rent asunder after it was once united; so as we
now scarce know whether the heptarchy were a true

\

Of General Naturalization. 303

story or a fable. And therefore, Mr. Speaker, when I
revolve with myself these examples and others, so
lively expressing the necessity of a naturalization to
avoid a relapse into a separation ; and do hear so many
arguments and scruples made on the other side; it
makes me think on the old bishop, which, upon a
public disputation of certain Christian divints with
some learned men of the heathen, did extremely press
to be heard ; and they were loth to suffer him, because
they knew he was unlearned, though otherwise an
holy and well-meaning man : but at last, with much
ado, he got to be heard ; and when he came to speak,
instead of using argument, he did only say over his
belief: but did it with such assurance and constancy,
as it did strike the minds of those that heard him more
than any argument had done. And so, Mr. Speaker,
against all these witty and subtle arguments, I say,
that I do believe, and I would be sorry to be found a
prophet in it, that except we proceed with this natu-
ralization, though perhaps not in his majesty's time,
who hath such interest in both nations, yet in the time
of his descendents these realms will be in continual
danger to divide and break again. Now if any man
be of that careless mind, Maneat nosfros ea cur a ne-
potes; or of that hard mind, to leave things to be tried
by the sharpest sword : sure I am, he is not of St.
Paul's opinion, who affirmeth, that whosoever useth
not a fore-sight and provision for his family, is worse
than an unbeliever; much more if we shall not use
fore-sight for these two kingdoms, that comprehend in
them so many families, but leave things open to the
peril of future divisions. And thus have I expressed
unto you that inconvenience, which, of all others,
sinketh deepest with me as the most weighty : neither
do there want other inconveniences, Mr. Speaker, the
effects and influence whereof I fear will not be ad-
journed to so long a day as this that I have spoken of:
for I leave it to your wisdoms to consider whether you
do not think, in case, by the denial of this naturali-
zation, any pique, or alienation, or unkindness, I do
not say should be, but should be thought to be, or

VOL. III. X

306 Of General Naturalization.

noised to be between these two nations, whether it
will not quicken and excite all the envious and mali-
cious humours, wheresoever, which are now covered,
against us, either foreign or at home ; and so open the
way to practices and other engines and machinations,
to the disturbance of this state ? As for that other
inconvenience of his majesty's engagement into this
action, it is too binding and pressing to be spoken of,
and may do better a great deal in your minds than in
my mouth, or in the mouth of any man else ; because,
as I say, it doth press our liberty too far. And there-
fore, Mr. Speaker, I come now to the third general
part of my division, concerning the benefits which we
shall purchase by this knitting of the knot surer and
straiter between these two kingdoms, by the commu-
nicating of naturalization : the benefits may appear to
be two, the one surety, the other greatness.

Touching surety, Mr. Speaker, it was well said by
Titus Quintius the Roman, touching the state of Pe-
loponnesus, that the tortoise is safe within her shell,
Testudo intra tegumen tufa est; but if there be any
parts that lie open, they endanger all the rest. We
know well, that although the state at this time be in a
happy peace, ye,t for the time past, the more ancient
enemy to this kingdom hath been the French, and the
more late the Spaniard ; and both these had as it were
their several postern gates, whereby they might have
approach and entrance to annoy us. France had
Scotland, and Spain had Ireland; for these were the
two accesses which did comfort and encourage both
these enemies to assail and trouble us. We see that
of Scotland is cut off by the union of these two king-
doms, if that it shall be now made constant and per-
manent; that of Ireland is cut off likewise by the
convenient situation of the north of Scotland towards
the north of Ireland, where the sore was : which we
see, being suddenly closed, hath continued closed by
means of this salve; so that as now there arc no parts
of this state exposed to danger to be a temptation to
the ambition of foreigners, but their approaches and
Avenues are taken away : for I do little doubt but

Of General Naturalization. 3O7

those foreigners which had so little success when they
had those advantages, will have much less comfort
now that they be taken from them : and so much for
surety.

For greatness, Mr. Speaker, I think a man may
speak it soberly and without bravery that this kingdom
of England, having Scotland united, Ireland reduced,
the sea provinces of the Low Countries contracted,
and shipping maintained, is one of the greatest mo-
narchies, in forces truly esteemed, that hath been in
the world. For certainly the kingdoms here on earth
have a resemblance with the kingdom of heaven,
which our Saviour compareth, not to any great kernel
or nut, but to a very small grain, yet such an one as is
apt to grow and spread ; and such do I take to be the
constitution of this kingdom ; if indeed we shall refer
our counsels to greatness and power, and not quench
them too much with the consideration of utility and
wealth. For Mr. Speaker, was it not, think you, a
true answer that Solon of Greece made to the rich
king Croesus of Lydia, when he shewed unto him a
great quantity of gold that he had gathered together,
in ostentation of his greatness and might? But Solon
said to him, contrary to his expectation, " Why, Sir,
" if another come that hath better iron than you, he
" will be lord of all your gold." Neither is the au-
thority of Machiavel to be despised, who scorneth
that proverb of state, taken first from a speech of
Mucianus, That moneys are the sinews of wars; and
saith, " there are no true sinews of wars, but the very
" sinews of the arms of valiant men."

Nay more, Mr. Speaker, whosoever shall look into
the seminaries and beginnings of the monarchies of
the world, he shall find them founded in poverty.

Persia, a country barren and poor, in respect of the
Medes, whom they subdued.

Macedon, a kingdom ignoble and mercenary until
the time of Philip the son of Amyntas.

Rome had poor and pastoral beginnings.

The Turks, a band of Sarmatian Scythes, that in a
vagabond manner made incursion upon that part of

x 2

Of General Naturalization.

Asia, which is yet called Turcomania ; out of which,
after much variety of fortune, sprung the Ottoman
family, now the terror of the world.

So, we know, the Goths, Vandals, Alans, Huns,
Lombards, Normans, and the rest of the northern
people, in one age of the world made their descent or
expedition upon the Roman empire, and came not, as
rovers, to carry away prey, and be gone again ; but
planted themselves in a number of rich and fruitful
provinces, where not only their generations, but their
names remain to this day ; witness Lombardy, Cata-
lonia, a name compounded of Goth and Alan, Anda-
lusia, a name corrupted from Vandalitia, Hungaria,
Normandy, and others.

Nay, the fortune of the Swisses of late years, which
are bred in a barren and mountainous country, is not
to be forgotten ; who first ruined the duke of Bur-
gundy, the same who had almost ruined the kingdom
of France, what time, after the battle near Granson,
the rich jewel of Burgundy, prized at many thousands,
was sold for a few pence by a common Swiss, that
knew no more what a jewel meant than did ^Esop's
cock. And again, the same nation in revenge of a
scorn, was the ruin of the French king's affairs in
Italy, Lewis XII. For that king, when he was pressed
somewhat rudely by an agent of the Switzers to raise
their pensions, brake into words ^of choler : " What,"
said he, " will these villains of the mountains put a
*e tax upon me?'* Which words lost him his dutchy
of Milan, and chased him out of Italy.

All which examples, Mr. Speaker, do well prove
Solon's opinion of the authority and mastery that iron
hath over gold. And therefore, if I shall speak unto
you mine own heart, methinks, we should a little dis-
dain that the nation of Spain, which howsoever of
late it hath grown to rule, yet of ancient time served
many ages ; first under Carthage, then under Rome,
after under Saracens, Goths, and others, should of late
years take unto themselves that spirit as to dream of
a monarchy in the west, according to that device,
Video solem orientem in occidentey only because they

Of General Naturalization. 309

have ravished from some wild and unarmed people
mines and store of gold ; and on the other side that
this island of Britain, seated and manned as it is, and
that hath, I make no question, the best iron in the
world, that is, the best soldiers in the world, shall
think of nothing but reckonings and audits, and meum
et tuum, and I cannot tell what.

Mr. Speaker, I have, I take it, gone through the
parts which I propounded to myself wherein if any
man shall think that I have sung a placebo, for mine
own particular, I would have him know that I am not
so unseen in the world, but that I discern it were much
alike for my private fortune to rest a tacebo, as to sing
a placebo in this business : but I have spoken out of
the fountain of my heart. Credidi propter quod locutus
sum : I believed, therefore I spake. So as my duty
is performed: the judgment is yours ; God direct it
for the best.

[ 310 ]

A

SPEECH

USED BY

SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT,

IN THE LOWER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT.

By Occasion of a Motion concerning the

UNION OF LAWS.

,/A.ND it please you, Mr. Speaker, were it now a time
to wisbj as it is to advise, no man should be more for-
ward or more earnest than myself in this wish, that
his majesty's subjects of England and Scotland were
governed by one law : and that for many reasons*

First, Because it will be an infallible assurance that
there will never be any relapse in succeeding ages to
a separation.

Secondly, Dulcis tractus parijugo. If the draught
lie most upon us, and the yoke lie lightest on them,
it is not equal.

Thirdly, the qualities, and as I may term it, the
elements of their laws and ours are such, as do pro-
mise an excellent temperature in the compounded
body : for if the prerogative here be too indefinite, it
may be the liberty there is too unbounded ; if our
laws and proceedings be too prolix and formal, it may
be theirs are too informal and summary.

Fourthly, I do discern to my understanding, there
will be no great difficulty in this work ; for their laws,
by that I can learn, compared with ours, are like their
language compared with ours : for as their language
hath the same roots that ours hath, but hath a little
more mixture of Latin and French ; so their laws and
customs have the like grounds that ours have, with

Of the Union of Laws. 3 1 1

a little more mixture of the civil law and French
customs.

Lastly, The mean to this work seemeth to me no
less excellent than the work itself: for if both laws
shall be united, it is of necessity for preparation
and inducement thereunto, that our own laws be
reviewed and re-compiled ; than the which I think
there cannot be a work, that his majesty can under-
take in these his times of peace, more politic, more
honourable, and more beneficial to his subjects for all
ages:

Pace data terris, animum ad civilia vertit
Jura suum, legesque tulii justissimus auctor.

For this continual heaping up of laws without di-
gesting them, maketh but a chaos and confusion, and
turneth the laws many times to become but snares for
the people, as it is said in the Scripture, Pluet super
eos Laqueos. Now Non sunt pejores laquei, quam la-
quei legum. And therefore this work 1 esteem to be
indeed a work, rightly to term it, heroical. So that
for this good wish of union of laws I do consent to
the full: And I think you may perceive by that which
I have said, that I come not in this to the opinion of
others, but that I was long ago settled in it myself:
nevertheless, as this is moved out of zeal, so 1 take it
to be moved out of time, as commonly zealous mo-
tions are, while men are so fast carried on to the end,
as they give no attention to the mean : for if it be
time to talk of this now, it is either because the bust-
ness now in hand carjnot proceed without it, or be-
cause in time and order this matter should be prece-
dent, or because we shall lose some advantage towards
this effect so much desired, if we should go on in the
course we are about. But none of these three in my
judgment are true; and therefore the motion, as I said,
unseasonable.

For first, that there may not be a naturalization
without an union in laws, cannot be maintained. Look
into the example of the church and the union thereof,
You shall see several churches, that join in one faith.

312 Of the Union of Laws.

one baptism, which are the points of spiritual natural-
ization, do many times in policy, constitutions, and
customs differ: and therefore one of the fathers made
an excellent observation upon the two mysteries ; the
one, that in the gospel the garment of Christ is said to
have been without seam ; the other, that in the psalm,
•where the garment of the queen is said to have been
of divers colours ; and concludeth, In veste varietas
sit, scissura non sit. So in this case, Mr. Speaker, we
are now in hand to make this monarchy of one piece,
and not of one colour. Look again into the example
of foreign countries, and take that next us of France,
and there you shall find that they have this distribution,
pais du droit escrit, and pais du droit coustumier. For
Gascoigne, Languedoc, Provence, Dauphiny, are
countries governed by the letter or text of the civil
law : but the isle of France, Tourain, Berry, Anjou,
and the rest, and most of all Britainy, and Normandy,
are governed by customs, which amount to a muni-
cipal law, and use the civil law but only for grounds,
and to decide new and rare cases ; and yet neverthe-
less naturalization passeth through all.

Secondly, that this union of laws should precede the
naturalization, or that it should go on pari passu, hand
in hand, I suppose likewise, can hardly be main-
tained : but the contrary, that naturalization ought to
precede : of which my opinion, as I could yield many
reasons, so because all this is but a digression, and
therefore ought to be short, I will hold myself now
only to one, which is briefly and plainly this ; that the
union of laws will ask a great time to be perfected,
both for the compiling and for the passing. During
all which time, if this mark of strangers should be
denied to be taken away, I fear it may induce such a
habit of strangeness, as will rather be an impediment
than a preparation to farther proceeding: for he was a
wise man that said, Opportuni magnis conatibus tran-
situs rerum, and in these cases, non progredi, est re-
gredi. And like as in a pair of tables, you must put
out the former writing before you can put in new ;
and again that which you write in, you write letter by

Of the Union of Laws. 3 1 3

letter; but that which you put out, you put out at
once: so we have now to deal with the tables of
men's hearts, wherein it is vain to think you can
enter the willing acceptance of our laws and cus-
toms, except you first put forth all notes either of hosti-
lity or foreign condition: and these are to be put out
simul et semel, at once without gradations; whereas
the other points are to be imprinted and engraven
distinctly and by degrees.

Thirdly, Whereas it is conceived by some, that the
communication of our benefits and privileges is a good
hold that we have over them to draw them to submit
themselves to our laws, it is an argument of some pro-
bability, but yet to be answered many ways. For first,
the intent is mistaken, which is not, as I conceive it,
to draw them wholly to a subjection to our laws, but
to draw both nations to one uniformity of law. Again,
to think that there should be a kind of articulate and
indented contract, that they should receive our laws to
obtain our privileges, it is a matter in reason of estate
not to be expected, being that which scarcely a private
man will acknowledge, if it come to that whereof
Seneca speaketh, Beneficium accipere est libertatem
vendere. No, but courses of estate do describe and
delineate another way, which is, to win them either
by benefit or by custom : for we see in all creatures
that men do feed them first, and reclaim them after.
And so in the first institution of kingdoms, kings did
first win people by many benefits and protections,
before they pressed any yoke. And for custom, which
the poet calls imponcre morem; who doubts but that
the seat of the kingdom, and the example of the king
resting here with us, our manners will quickly be there,
to make all things ready for our laws? And lastly, the
naturalization, which is now propounded, is qualified
with such restrictions as there will be enough kept
back to be used at all times for an adamant of draw-
ing them farther on to our desires. And therefore to
conclude, I hold this motion of union of laws very
worthy, and arising from very good minds ; but yet
not proper for this time.

314 Of the Union of Law$.

To come therefore to that, which is now in question,
it is no more but whether there should be a difference
made, in this privilege of naturalization, between the
ante-nati and the post-nati, not in point of law, for that
will otherwise be decided, but only in point of con-
venience; as if a law were now to be made dc novo.
In which question I will at this time only answer two
objections, and use two arguments, and so leave it to
your judgment.

The first objection hath been, that if a difference
should be, it ought to be in favour of the ante-?iati,
because they are persons of merit, service, and proof;
whereas the post nati are infants, that, as the Scripture
sairh, know not the right hand from the left.

This were a good reason, Mr. Speaker, if the ques-
tion were of naturalizing some particular persons by
private bill; but it hath no proportion with the general
case ; for now we are not to look to respects that are pro-
perto some, but to those which are common to all. Now
then how can it be imagined, but that those which took
their first breath since this happy union, inherent in his
majesty 's person, must be more assured and affectionate
to this kingdom, than those generally can be presumed
to be, which were sometimes strangers; for Nemo su-
bito fingiiur : the conversions of minds are not so swift
as the conversions of times. Nay in effects of grace,
which exceed farther the effects of nature, we see St.
Paul makes a difference between those he calls Neo-
phites, that is, newly grafted into Christianity, and
those that are brought up in the faith. And so we see
by the laws of the church that the children of Christians
shall be baptized in regard of the faith of their parents :
but the child of an ethnic may not receive baptism till
he be able to make an understanding profession of his
faith.

Another objection hath been made, that we ought
to be more provident and reserved to restrain the post-
nati than the ante-nati ; because during his majesty 's
time, being a prince of so approved wisdom and judg-
ment, we need no better caution than the confidence

Of the Union of Laws. 315

we may repose in him; but in the future reigns of
succeeding ages, our caution must be in re, and not
in persona.

But, Mr. Speaker, this I answer, that as we cannot
expect a prince hereafter less like to err in respect of
his judgment; so again, we cannot expect a prince so
like to exceed, if I may so term it, in this point of
beneficence to that nation, in respect of the occasion.
For whereas all princes and all men are won either by
merit or conversation, there is no appearance, that any
of his majesty's descendants can have either of these
causes of bounty towards that nation in so ample
degree as his majesty hath. And these be the two
objections, which seemed to me most material, why
the pofi-nati shou!4 be left free, and not be concluded
in the same restrictions with the ante-nati; whereunto
you have heard the answers.

The two reasons, which I will use on the other side,
are briefly these; the one being a reason of common
sense ; the other, a reason of estate.

We see, Mr. Speaker, the time of the nativity is in
most cases principally regarded. In nature the time
of planting and setting is chiefly observed ; and we see
the astrologers pretend to judge of the fortune of the
party by the time of the nativity. In laws, we may
not unfitly apply the case of legitimation to the case
of naturalization ; for it is true that the common canon
law doth put the anle-nalus and the post-nalus in one
degree. But when it was moved to the parliament of
England, Bar ones una voce responderunf, Columns
leges Angliae mutarc. And though it must be con-
fessed that the ante-nati and post-nail are in the same
degree in dignities ; yet were they never so in abilities:
for no man doubts, but the son of an earl or baron,
before his creation or call, shall inherit the dignity, as
well as the son born after. But the son of an attainted
person, born before the attainder, shall not inherit,
as the after-born shall, notwithstanding charter of
pardon.

The reason of estate is, that any restriction of the

31(5 Of the Union of Laws.

ante-nail is temporary, and expireth with this genera-
tion; but if you make it in the posf-nati also, you do
but in substance pen a perpetuity of separation.

Mr. Speaker, in this point I have been short, because
I little expected this doubt, as to point of convenience;
and therefore will not much labour, where I suppose
there is no greater opposition.

[ 317 ]

CERTAIN

CONSIDERATIONS

TOUCHING THE

PLANTATIONS IN IRELAND.

PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY, 1606.

TO THE KING.

XT seemeth, God hath reserved to your majesty's times
two works, which amongst the acts of kings have the
supreme pre-eminence ; the union, and the plantation
of kingdoms. For although it be a great fortune for a
king to deliver or recover his kingdom from long con-
tinued calamities: yet in the judgment of those that
have distinguished of the degrees of sovereign honour,
to be a founder of estates or kingdoms, excelleth. all
the rest. For, as in arts and sciences, to be the first
inventor is more than to illustrate or amplify: and as
in the works of God, the creation is greater than the
preservation; and as in the works of nature, the birth
and nativity is more than the continuance: so in king-
doms, the first foundation or plantation is of more noble
dignity and merit than all that followeth. Of which
foundations there being but two kinds; the first, that
maketh one of more; and the second, that maketh
one of none : the latter resembling the creation of the
world, which was de ni/iilo ad quid; and the former, the
edification of the church, which was, de multiplici ad
simplex, vel ad utium. It hath pleased the divine pro-
vidence, in singular favour to your majesty, to put
both these kinds of foundations or regenerations into
your hand. The one, in the union of the island of
Britain ; the other, in the plantation of great and noble
parts of the island of Ireland. Which enterprises hap-
pily accomplished, then that which was uttered by one
of the best orators, in one of the worst verses, Ofortu-

318 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

natam natam me console Romam! may be far more
truly and properly applied to your majesty's acts;
natam te rege Britanniam; natam Hiberniam. For
he spake improperly of deliverance and preservation^
But in these acts of yours it may be verified more na-
turally. For indeed unions and plantations are the
very nativities or birth-days of kingdoms. Wherein
likewise your majesty hath yet a fortune extraordinary
and differing from former examples in the same kind.
For most part of unions and plantations of kingdoms
have been founded in the effusion of blood. But your
majesty shall build in solo puro, et in area pur a, that
shall need no sacrifices expiatory for blood; and there-
fore, no doubt, under an higher and more assured
blessing. Wherefore, as I adventured, when I was
less known and less particularly bound to your majesty,
than since by your undeserved favour I have been, to
write somewhat touching the union^ which your ma-
jesty was pleased graciously to accept, and which since
I have to my power seconded by my travails, not only
in discourse, but in action: so I am thereby encouraged
to do the like, touching this matter of plantation;
hoping that your majesty will, through the weakness
of mine ability, discern the strength of mine affection,
and the honest and fervent desire I have to see your
majesty's person, name, and times, blessed and exalted
above those of your royal progenitors. And I was the
rather invited this to do, by the remembrance, that
when the lord Chief Justice deceased Popham, served
in this place wherein I now serve, and afterwards in
the attorney's place; he laboured greatly in the last
project touching the plantation of Munster: which
nevertheless, as it seemeth, hath given more light by
the errors thereof, what to avoid, than by the direction
of the same, what to follow.

First therefore, I will speak somewhat of the ex-
cellency of the work, and then, of the means to
compass and effect it.

For the excellency of the work, I will divide it into
four noble and worthy consequences that will follow
thereupon.

Of the Plantations in Ireland. 319

The first of the four, is honour; whereof I have
spoken enough already, were it not that the harp of
Ireland puts me in mind of that glorious emblem or
allegory, wherein the wisdom of antiquity did rigure
and shadow out works of this nature. For the poets
feigned that Orpheus, by the virtue and sweetness of
his harp, did call and assemble the beasts and birds,
of their nature savage and wild, to stand about him as
in a theatre ; forgetting their affections of fierceness,
of lust, and of prey ; and listening to the tunes and
harmonies of the harp; and soon after called likewise
the stones and woods to remove, and stand in order
about him : which fable was anciently interpreted of
the reducing and plantation of kingdoms ; when peo-
ple of barbarous manners are brought to give over and
discontinue their customs of revenge and blood, and
of dissolute life, and of theft, and rapine ; and to give
ear to the wisdom of laws and governments; where-
upon immediately followed the calling of stones tor
building and habitation ; and of trees for the seats of
houses, orchards, and inclosures, and the like. This
work therefore, of all other most memorable and ho-
nourable, your majesty hath now in hand ; especially,
if your majesty join the harp of David, in casting out
the evil spirit of superstition, with the harp of Or-
pheus, in casting out desolation and barbarism.

The second consequence of this enterprise, is the
avoiding of an inconvenience, which commonly at-
tendeth upon happy times, and is an ill effect of a
good cause.. The revolution of this present age
seemeth tojncline to peace, almost generally in those
parts ; and your majesty's most Christian and virtuous
affections do promise the same more especially to these
your kingdoms. An effect of peace in fruitful king-
doms, where the stock of people, receiving no con-
sumption nor diminution by war, doth continually
multiply and increase, must in the end be a surcharge
or overflow of people more than'the territory can well
maintain ; which many times, insinuating a general
necessity and want of means into ail estates, doth turn
external peace into internal troubles and seditions.

S20 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

Now what an excellent diversion of this inconvenience
5s ministred, by God's providence, to your majesty, in
this plantation of Ireland ? wherein so many families
may receive sustentation and fortunes ; and the dis-
charge of them also out of England and Scotland may
prevent many seeds of future perturbations : so that it
is, as if a man were troubled for the avoidance of wa-
ter from the place where he hath built his house, and
afterwards should advise with himself to cast those
waters, and to turn them into fair pools or streams,
for pleasure, provision, or use. So shall your majesty
in this work have a double commodity, in the avoid-
ance of people here, and in making use of them there.

The third consequence is the great safety that is
like to grow to your majesty's estate in general by this
act ; in discomfiting all hostile attempts of foreigners,
which the weakness of that kingdom hath heretofore
invited : wherein I shall not need to fetch reasons afar
off, either for the general or particular. For the ge-
neral, because nothing is more evident than that,
which one of the Romans said of Peloponnesus : Tes-
tudo infra tegumen tuta est ; the tortoise is safe within
her shell : but if she put forth any part of her body,
then it endangereth not only the part that is so put
forth, but all the rest. And so we see in armour, if
any part be left naked, it puts in hazard the whole
person. And in the natural body of man, if there be
any weak or affected part, it is enough to draw rheums
or malign humours unto it, to the interruption of the
health of the whole body.

And for the particular, the example is too fresh,
that the indisposition of that kingdom hath been a con-
tinual attractive of troubles and infestations upon this
estate ; and though your majesty's greatness doth in
some sort discharge this fear, yet with your increase
of power it cannot be, but envy is likewise encreased.

The fourth and last consequence is the great profit
and strength which is like to redound to your crown,
by the working upon this unpolished part thereof:
whereof your majesty, being in the strength of your
years, are like, by the good pleasure of almighty God

Of the Plantations in Ireland.

to receive more than the first-fruits ; and your posterity
a growing and springing vein of riches and power.
For this island being another Britain, as Britain was said
to be another world, is endowed with so many dowries
of nature, considering the fruitfulness of the soil, the
ports, the rivers, the fishings, the quarries, the woods,
and other materials ; and specially the race and gene-
ration of men, valiant, hard, and active, as it is not
easy, no not upon the continent, to find such con-
fluence of commodities, if the, hand of man did join
with the hand of nature. So then for the excellency
of the work, in point of honour, policy, safety, and
utility, here I cease.

For the means to effect this work, I know your
majesty shall not want the information of persons ex-
pert and industrious, which have served you there,
and know the region : nor the advice of a grave and
prudent council of estate here ; which know the pulses
of the hearts of people, and the ways and passages of
conducting great actions : besides that which is above
all, which is that fountain of wisdom and universality
which is in yourself; yet notwithstanding in a thing of
so public a nature, it is not amiss for your majesty to
hear variety of opinion : for, as Demosthenes saith
well, the good fortune of a prince or state doth some-
times put a good motion into a fool's mouth. I do
think therefore the means of accomplishing this work
consisteth of two principal parts. The first, the invi-
tation and encouragement of undertakers ; the second,
the order and policy of the project itself7. For as in
all engines of the hand there is somewhat that giveth
the motion and force, and the rest serveth to guide
and govern the same : so it is in these enterprises or
engines of estate. As for the former of these, there is no
doubt, but next unto the providence and finger of God,
which writeth these virtuous and excellent desires in
the tables of your majesty's heart ; your authority and
affection is primus motor in this cause ; and therefore
the more strongly and fully your majesty shall declare
yourself in it, the more shall you animate and quicken

VOL. III. Y

322 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

the whole proceedings. For this is an action, which
as the worthiness of it doth bear it, so the nature of it
requireth it to be carried in some height of reputation,
and fit, in mine opinion, for pulpits and parliaments,
and all places to ring and resound of it. For that
which may seem vanity in some things, I mean matter
of fame, is of great efficacy in this case.

But now let me descend to the inferior spheres, and
speak what co-operation in the subjects or undertakers
may be raised and kindled, and by what means.
Therefore to take plain grounds, which are the surest:
all men are drawn into actions by three things, plea-
sure, honour, and profit. But before I pursue these
three motives, it is fit in this place to interlace a word
or two of the quality of the undertakers : wherein
mine opinion simply is, that if your majesty shall make
these portions of land, which are to be planted, as re-
wards or as suits, or as fortunes for those that are in
want, and are likest to seek them ; that they will not
be able to go through with the charge of good and
substantial plantations, but will dcficere in opere me*
clio ; and then this work will succeed, as Tacitus saith,
acribus initiis, fine incur ioso. So that this must rather
be an adventure for such as are full, than a setting up
of those that are low of means : for those men indeed
are fit to perform these undertakings, which were fit
to purchase dry reversions after lives or years, or such
as were fit to put out money upon long returns.

I do not say, but that I think the undertakers them-
selves will be glad to have some captains, or men of
service intermixed among them for their safety ; but I
speak of the generality of undertakers, which I wish
were men of estate and plenty.

Now therefore it followeth well to speak of the
aforesaid three motives. For it will appear the more,
how necessary it is to allure by all means undertakers :
since those men will be least fit, which are like to be
most in appetite of themselves : and those most fit,
which are like least to desire it.

First, therefore, for pleasure : in this region or tract
of soil, there are no warm winters, nor orange-trees.

Of the Plantations in Ireland. 323

nor strange beasts, or birds, or other points of curiosity
or pleasure, as there are in the Indies and the like : so
as there can be found no foundation made upon matter
of pleasure, otherwise than that the very general de-
sire of novelty and experiment in some stirring natures
may work somewhat ; and therefore it is the other two
points, of honour and profit, whereupon we are wholly
to rest.

For honour or countenance, if I should mention to
your majesty, whether in wisdom you shall think con-
venient, the better to express your affection to the en-
terprise, and for a pledge thereof, to add the earldom
of Ulster to the prince's titles, I shall but learn it out
of the practice of king Edward I. who first used the
like course, as a mean the better to reclaim the coun-
try of Wales : and I take it-, the prince of Spain hath
an addition of a province in the kingdom of Naples.
And other precedents I think there are, and it is like
to put more lite and encouragement into the under-
takers.

Also, considering the large territories which are to
be planted, it is not unlike your majesty will think of
raising some nobility there ; which, if it be done merely
upon new titles of dignity, having no manner of re-
ference to the old : and if it be done also without put-
ting too many portions into one hand ; and lastly, if it
be done without any great franchises or commands, I
do not see any peril can ensue thereof. As on the
other side, it is like it may draw some persons of great
estate and means into the action, to the great further-
ance and supply of the charges thereof.

And lastly for knighthood, to such persons as have
not attainted it , or otherwise knighthood, with some
new difference and precedence, it may, no doubt,
work with many. And if any man think, that these
things which I propounded, are aliquid nimis for the
proportion of this action, 1 confess plainly, that if your
majesty will have it really and effectually performed,
mine opinion is, you cannot bestow too much sunshine
upon it. For lunae radiis non maiurescit botrus. Thus
much for honour,

Y 2

524 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

For profit, it will consist in three parts :

First, The easy rates that your majesty shall be
pleased to give the undertakers of the land they shall
receive.

Secondly, the liberties which you may be pleased to
confer upon them. When I speak of liberties, I mean
not liberties of jurisdiction ; as counties palatine, or
the like, which as it seemeth hath been the error of the
ancient donations and plantations in that country, but
I mean only liberties tending to commodity ; as li-
berty to transport any of the commodities growing upon
the countries now planted ; liberty to import from
hence all things appertaining to their necessary use,
custom-free ; liberty to take timber and other materials
in your majesty's woods there, and the like.

The third is, ease of charge ; that the whole mass
of charge do not rest upon the private purse of the
undertakers.

For the two former of these, I will pass them over;
because in that project, which with good diligence
and providence hath been presented to your majesty
by your ministers of that kingdom, they are in mine
opinion well handled.

For the third, I will never despair, but that the par-
liament of England, if it may perceive, that this action
is not a flash, but is a solid and settled pursuit, will

five aid to a work so religious, so politic, and so pro-
table. And the distribution of charge, if it be ob-
served, falleth naturally into three kinds of charge, and
every of those charges respectively ought to have his
proper fountain and issue. For as there proceedeth
from your majesty's royal bounty and munificence, the
gift of the land, and the other materials; together
with the endowment of liberties; and as the charge
which is private, as building of houses, stocking of
grounds, victual, and the like, is to rest upon the par-
ticular undertakers : so whatsoever is public, as build-
ing of churches, walling of towns, town-houses,
bridges, cause-ways, or highways, and the like, ought
not so properly to lie upon particular persons, but to

Of the Plantations in Ireland. 325

come from the public estate of this kingdom ; to
which this work is like to return so great an addition
of glory, strength, and commodity.

For the project itself, I shall need to speak the less,
in regard it is so considerately digested already for the
county of Tyrone : and therefore my labour shall be
but in those things wherein I shall either add to, or
dissent from that which is set down; which will in-
clude five points or articles.

First, they mention a commission for this planta-
tion : which of all things is most necessary, both to
direct, and appease controversies, and the like.

To this I add two propositions : the one, that which
perhaps is meant, though not expressed, that the com-
missioners should for certain times reside and abide in
some habitable town in Ireland, near in distance to
the country where the plantation shall be ; to the end,
both that they may be more at hand, for the execution
of the parts of their commission ; and withal it is like,
by drawing a concourse of people and tradesmen to
such towns, it will be some help and commodity to
the undertakers for things they shall stand in need of:
and likewise, it will be a more safe place of receit
and store, wherein to unlade and deposite such provi-
sions as are after to be employed.

The second is, that your majesty would make a cor-
respondency between the commission there, and a
council of plantation here : wherein I warrant myself
by the precedent of the like council of plantation for
Virginia ; an enterprise in mine opinion differing as
much from this, as Amadis de Gaul differs from
Caesar's Commentaries. But when I speak of a coun-
cil of plantation, I mean some persons chosen by way
of reference, upon whom the labour may rest, to pre-
pare and so report things to the council of estate here,
that concern that business. For although your majesty
have a grave and sufficient council in Ireland ; from
whom, and upon whom, the commissioners are to
have assistance and dependence ; yet that supplies not
the purpose whereof 1 speak. For, considering, that
upon advertisements, as well of the commissioners, as

326 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

of the council of Ireland itself, there will be many oc-
casions to crave directions from your majesty and your
privy council here, which are busied with a world of
affairs ; it cannot but give greater expedition, and
some better perfection unto such directions and reso-
lutions, if the matters may be considered of aforehand
by such as may have a continual care of the cause.
And it will be likewise a comfort and satisfaction to
some principal undertakers, if they may be admitted
of that council.

Secondly, ^ There is a clause wherein the undertakers
are restrained, that they shall execute the plantation
in person ; from which I must dissent, if I will con-
sent with the grounds I have already taken. For it is
not probable that men of great means and plentiful
estate will endure the travel, diseasements, and ad-
ventures of going thither in person ; but rather, I sup-
pose, many will undertake portions as an advancement
for their younger children or kinsfolks ; or for the
sweetness of the expectation of a great bargain in the
end, when it is overcome. And therefore, it is like they
will employ sons, kinsfolks, servants, or tenants, and
yet be glad to have the estate in themselves. And it
may be,psome again will join their purses together, and
make as it were a partnership or joint-adventure ; and
yet man forth some one person by consent, for the
executing of the plantation.

Thirdly, There is a main point, wherein I fear the
project made hath too much of the line and compass,
and will not be so natural and easy to execute, nor yet
so politic and convenient : and that is, that the build-
ings should be sparsim upon every portion ; and the
castle or principal house should draw the tenements and
farms about it as it were into villages, hamlets, or end-
ships 5 and that there should be only four corporate
towns for the artificers and tradesmen.

My opinion is, that the buildings be altogether in
towns, to be compounded as well of husbandries as
of arts. My reasons are,

First, When men come into a country waste and
void of all things necessary for the use of man's life,

Of the Plantations in Ireland. 327

if they set up together in a place, one of them will the
better supply the wants of another: work-folks of all
sorts will be the more continually set at work without
Joss of time ; when, if work fail in one place, they
may have it fast by ; the ways will be made more
passable for carriages to those seats or towns, than
they can be to a number of dispersed solitary places ;
and infinite other helps and easements, scarcely to be
comprehended in cogitation, will ensue of vicinity
and society of people ; whereas if they build scattered",
as is projected, every man must have a cornucopia in
himself, for all things he must use ; which cannot but
breed much difficulty, and no less waste.

Secondly, it will draw out of the inhabited country
of Ireland provisions and victuals, and many necessa-
ries; because they should be sure of utterance. Whereas
in the dispersed habitations, every man must reckon
only upon that that he brings with him, as they do in
provisions of ships.

Thirdly, the charge of bawnes as they call them,
to be made about every castle or house may be
spared, when the habitation shall be congregated into
towns.

And lastly, it will be a means to secure the country
against future perils, in case of any revolt and defec-
tion : for by a slight fortification of no great charge, the
danger of any attempts of kierns and sword-men may
be prevented ; the omission of which point in the last
plantation of Munster, made the work of years to be
but the spoil of days. And if any man think it will
draw people too far off from the grounds they are to
labour, it is to be understood, that the number of the
towns be increased accordingly; and likewise, the si-
tuation of them be as in the center, in respect of the
portions assigned to them : for in the champian coun-
tries of England, where the habitation useth to be
in towns, and not dispersed, it is no new thing to
go two miles off to plough part of their grounds ;
and two miles compass will take up a good deal of
country.

328 Of the Plantations in Ireland.

The fourth point, is a point wherein I shall differ
from the project rather in quantity and proportion, than
in matter. There is allowed to the undertaker, within
the five years of restraint, to alien a third part in fee
farm, and to demise another third -for forty years:
whichl fear will mangle the portions, and will be but
a shift to make money of two parts; whereas, I am of
opinion, the more the first undertaker is forced to keep
in his own hands, the more the work is like to prosper.
For first, the person liable to the state here to perform
the plantation, is the immediate undertaker. Secondly,
the more his profit dependeth upon the annual and
springing commodity, the more sweetness he will find
in putting forward manurance and husbanding of the
grounds, and therefore is like to take more care of it.
Thirdly, since the natives are excluded, 1 do not see
that any persons are like to be drawn over of that con-
dition, as are like to give fines, and undertake the
charge of building. For I am persuaded, that the
people transported, will consist of gentlemen and
their servants, and of labourers and hinds, and not
of yeomen of any wealth. And therefore the charge
of buildings, as well of the tenements, and of the
farms, as of the capital houses themselves, is like
to rest upon the principal undertakers. Which will
be recompensed in the end to the full, and with
much advantage, if they make no long estates or
leases. And therefore this article to receive some
qualification.

Fifthly, I should think it requisite that men of expe-
rience in that kingdom should enter into some parti-
cular consideration of the charges and provisions of all
kinds, that will be incident to the plantation ; to the
end, that thereupon some advice may be taken for the
furnishing and accommodating them most conveniently,
aiding private industry and charge, with public care
and order.

Thus I have expressed to your majesty, those simple
and weak cogitations, which I have had in myself
touching this cause, wherein I most humbly desire your

Of the Plantations in Ireland. 329

pardon, and gracious acceptance of my good affection
and attention. For I hold it for a rule, that there be-
longeth to great monarchs, from faithful servants, not
only the tribute of duty, but the oblations of chearful-
ness of heart. And so I pray the Almighty to bless
this great action, with your majesty's care, and your
care with happy success.

[ 330 ]

A

REPORT

MADE BY

SIR FRANCIS BACON, KNIGHT,

IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

Of a speech delivered by the earl of Salisbury in par-
liament ; and another speech delivered by the earl
of Northampton, at a conference concerning

THE PETITION OF THE MERCHANTS UPON THE
SPANISH GRIEVANCES.

Parliament 5 JACOBI.

,/\ND it please you, Mr. Speaker, I do not find my-
self any ways bound to report that which passed at the
last conference touching the Spanish grievances, hav-
ing been neither employed to speak, nor appointed to
report in that cause. But because it is put upon me
by a silent expectation, grounded upon nothing, that
I know, more than that I was observed diligently to
take notes ; I am content, if that provision which I
made for mine own remembrance may serve this house
for a report, not to deny you that sheaf that I have in
haste bound up. It is true, that one of his majesty's
principal counsellors in causes of estate did use a speech
that contained a world of matter ; but how I shall be
able to make a globe of that world, wherein I fear
mine own strength.

His lordship took the occasion of this, which I shall
now report, upon the answer which was by us made
to the amendments propounded upon the bill of hostile
laws; quitting that business with these few words;
that he would discharge our expectation of reply be-
cause their lordships had no .warrant to dispute. Then

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 33 1

continuing his speech, he fell into this other cause,
and said ; that being now to make answer to a propo-
sition of ours, as we had done to one of theirs, he
wished it could be passed over with like brevity. But
he did foresee his way, that it would prove not only
long, but likewise hard to find, and hard to keep ;
this cause being so to be carried, as above all no wrong
be done to the king's sovereignty and authority : and in
the second place no misunderstandingdo ensue between
the two houses. And therefore that he hoped that his
words should receive a benign interpretation ; know-
ing well that pursuit and drift of speech, and multi-
tude of matter, might breed words to pass from beyond
the compass of his intention: and therefore he placed
more assurance and caution in the innocency of his
own meaning, and in the experience of our favours,
that in any his wariness or watchfulness over his own
speech.

This respective preface used, his lordship descended
to the matter itself; which he divided into three con-
siderations : for he said he would consider of the pe-
tition,

First, As it proceeded from the merchants.

Secondly, As from them it was offered to the lower
house.

And thirdly, As from the lower house it was recom-
mended to the higher house.

In the first of these considerations there fell out na-
turally a subdivision into the persons of the petitioners,
and the matter and parts of the petition. In the per-
sons of the merchants his lordship made, as I have
collected them, in number, eight observations, whereof
the three first respected the general condition of mer-
chants ; and the five following wrere applied to the
particular circumstances of the merchants now com-
plaining.

His lordship's first general observation was, that
merchants were of two sorts ; the one sought their for-
tunes, as the verse saith, per sa.va, per ignes ; and, as
it is said in the same place, extremes currit mercator
ad Lidos; subjecting themselves to weather and tern-

332 A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

pest; to absence, and, as it were, exile, out of
their native countries; to arrest in entrances of war;
to foreign injustice and rigour in times of peace ; and
many other suffrances and adventures. But that there
were others that took a more safe, but a less generous
course in raising their fortunes. He taxed none, but
did attribute much more respect to the former.

The second general observation which his lordship
made was, that the complaints of merchants were
usually subject to much error, in regard that they
spake, for the most part, but upon information ; and
that carried through many hands ; and of matters done
in remote parts ; so as a false or factious factor might
oftentimes make great tragedies upon no great ground.
Whereof, towards the end of his speech he brought an
instance of one trading into the Levant, that com-
plained of an arrest of his ship, and possessed the
council-table with the same complaint in a vehement
and bitter fashion ; desiring and pressing some present
expostulatory letters touching the same. Whereupon
some counsellors, well acquainted with the like heats,
and forwardness in complaints, happened to say to
him out of conjecture, and not out of any intelligence,
" What will you say if your ship, which you complain
" to be under arrest, be now under sail in way home-
" wards?" Which fell out accordingly : the same per-
son confessing, six days after, to the lords, that she
was indeed in her way homewards.

M>,e third general observation which his lordship
made was this, in effect ; that although he granted
that the wealth and welfare of the merchant was not
without a sympathy with the general stock and state
of a nation, especially an island; yet nevertheless, it
was a thing too familiar with the merchant, to make
the case ofhis particular profit, the public case of the
kingdom.

There follow the particular observations, which have
a reference and application to the merchants that trade
to Spain and the Levant; wherein his lordship did
first honourably and tenderly acknowledge, that their
grievances were great, that they did multiply, and that

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 333

they do deserve compassion and help ; but yet never-
theless, that he must use that loving plainness to them
as to tell them, that in many things they were authors
of their own miseries. For since the dissolving of the
company, which was termed the monopoly, and was
set free by the special instance of this house, there hath
followed such a confusion and relaxation in order and
government amongst them, as they do not only incur
many inconveniences, and commit many errors; but in
the pursuit of their own remedies and suits they do it
so impoliticly, and after such a fashion, as, except
lieger ambassadors, which are the eyes of kings in fo-
reign parts, should leave their centinel, and become
merchants, factors, and solicitors, their causes can
hardly prosper. And, which is more, such is now the
confusion in the trade, as shop-keepers and handy-
craftsmen become merchants there ; who being bound
to no orders, seek base means, by gifts and bribery,
to procure favours at the hands of officers there. So
as the honest merchant, that trades like a substantial
merchant, and loves not to take servile courses to buy
the right due to him by the amity of the princes, cart
have no justice without treading in their steps.

Secondly, his lordship did observe some improba-
bility that the wrongs should be so great, considering
trading into those parts was never greater ; whereas if
the wrongs and griefs were so intolerable and con-
tinual, as they propound them and voiced them, it
would rather work a general discouragement and cold-
ness of trade in fact, than an earnest and not complaint
in words.

Thirdly, His lordship did observe, that it is a course
howsoever it may be with a good intent, yet, of no
small presumption, for merchants upon their particular
grievances to urge things tending to a direct war, con-
sidering that nothing is more usual in treaties, than
that such particular damages and molestations of sub-
jects are left to a form of justice to be righted: and
that the more high articles do retain nevertheless their
vigour inviolably ; and that the great bargain of the
kingdom for war and peace may in no wise depend

334- A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

upon such petty forfeitures, no more than in common
assurance between man and man it were fit that, upon
every breach of covenants, there should be limited a
re-entry.

Fourthly, His lordship did observe, in the manner
of preferring their petition, they had inverted due order,
addressing themselves to the foot, and not to the head.
For considering that they prayed no new law for their
relief, and that it concerned matter of inducement to
war or peace, they ought to have begun with his ma-
jesty 5 unto whose royal judgment, power, and office,
did properly belong the discerning of that which was
desired, the putting in act of that which might be
granted, and the thanks for that which might be ob-
tained.

Fifthly, His Jordship did observe that as they had
not preferred their petition as it should be, so they had
, not pursued their own direction as it was. For having
directed their petition to the king, the lords spiritual
and temporal, and the commons in parliament assem-
bled, it imported, as if they had offered the like peti-
tion to the lords ; which they never did : contrary not
only to their own direction, but likewise to our con-
ceit, who pre-supposed as it should seem by some
speech that passed from us at a former conference,
that they had offered several petitions of like tenor to
both houses. So have you now those eight observa-
tions, part general, part special, which his lordship
made touching the persons of those which exhibited
the petition, and the circumstances of the same.

For the matter of the petition, itself, his lordship
made this division, that it consisteth of three parts.

First, Of the complaints of the wrongs in fact.

Secondly, Of the complaints of the wrongs in law,
as they may be truly termed, that is, of the inequality
of laws which do regulate the trade.

And thirdly, The remedy desired by letters of mart.

The wrongs in fact receive a local distribution of
three. In the trade to Spain, in the trade to the West-
Indies, and in 'the trade to the Levant.

Concerning the trade to Spain , although his lord-

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 335

ship did use much signification of compassion of the
injuries which the merchants received ; and attributed
so much to their profession and estate, as from such a
mouth in such a presence they ought to receive for a
great deal of honour and comfort, which kind of de-
monstration he did interlace throughout his whole
speech, as proceeding ex abundantia cordis, yet never-
theless he did remember four excusations, or rather
extenuations of those wrongs.

The first was, that the injustices complained of were
not in the highest degree, because they were delays
and hard proceedings, and not inique sentences or de-
finitive condemnations: wherein I call to mind what
I heard a great bishop say, that courts of justice, though
they did not turn justice into wrormwood by corrup-
tion, yet they turned it into vinegar by delays, which
soured it. Such a difference did his lordship make,
which, no question, is a difference secundum majus et
minus.

Secondly, His lordship ascribed these delays, not so
much to malice or alienation of mind towards us, as
to the nature of the people and nation, which is proud
and therefore dilatory: for all proud men are full of
delays, and must be waited -on ; and especially to the
multitudes and diversities of tribunals and places of
justice, and the number of the king's councils full of
referrings, which ever prove of necessity to be defer-
rings ; besides the great distance of territories : ali
which have made the delays of Spain to come into a
by-word through the world. Wherein I think his
lordship might allude to the proverb of Italy, .Mi venga
la morte di Spagna, Let my death come from Spain,
for then it is sure to be long a coming.

Thirdly, His lordship did use an extenuation of these
wrongs, drawn from the nature of man, nemo subito
jingitur. For that we must make an account, that
though the fire of enmity be out between Spain and
us, yet it vapoureth: the utter extinction whereof
must be the work of time.

But lastly, his lordship did fall upon that extenuation,
which of all the rest was the most forcible 3 which

336 A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

was, that many of these wrongs were not sustained
without some aspersion of the merchants own fault in
ministering the occasion, which grew chiefly in this
manner.

There is contained an article in the treaty between
Spian and us, that we shall not transport any native
commodities of the Low Countries into Spain; nay,
more, that we shall not transport any opificia, manu-
factures of the same countries : so that if an English
cloth take but a dye in the Low Countries, it may not
be transported by the English. And the reason is, be-
cause even those manufactures, although the materials
come from other places, do yield unto them a profit
and sustentation, in regard their people are set on
work by them ; they have a gain likewise in the price ;
and they have a custom in the transporting. All which
the policy of Spain is to debar them of; being no less
desirous to suffocate the trade of the Low Countries,
than reduce their obedience. This article the Eng-
lish merchant either doth not or will not understand :
but being drawn with his threefold cord of love, hate,
and gain, they do venture to transport the Low Coun-
try commodities of these natures, and so draw upon
themselves these arrests and troubles.

For the trade to the Indies, his lordship did dis-
cover unto us the state of it to be thus: the po-
licy of Spain doth keep that treasury of theirs under
such lock and key, as both confederates, yea, and sub-
jects, are excluded of trade into those countries ; in-
somuch as the French king, who hath reason to stand
upon equal terms with Spain, yet nevertheless is by
express capitulation debarred. The subjects of Por-
tugal, Vhom the state of Spain hath studied by all
means to content, are likewise debarred : such a vigi-
lant dragon is there that keepeth this golden fleece ;
yet nevertheless, such was his majesty's magnanimity
in the debate and conclusion" of the last treaty, as he
would never condescend to any article, importing the
exclusion of his subjects from that trade : as a prince
that would not acknowledge that any such right could
grow to the crown of Spain by the donative of the

1

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 337

pope, whose authority he disclaimeth ; or by the title
of a dispersed and punctual occupation of certain ter-
ritories in the name of the rest ; but stood firm to re-
serve that point in full question to farther times and oc-
casions ; so as it is left by the treaty in suspence, nei-
ther debarred nor permitted : the tenderness and point
of honour whereof was such, as they that went thither
must run their own peril. Nay, farther, his lordship
affirmed, that if yet at this time his majesty would
descend to a course of intreaty for the release of the
arrests in those parts, and so confess an exclusion, and
quit the point of honour, his majesty might have them
forthwith released. And yet his lordship added, that
the offences and scandals of some had made this point
worse than it was, in regard that this very last voyage
to Virginia, intended for trade and plantation, where
the Spaniard hath no people nor possession, is already
become infamed for piracy. Witness Bingley, who
first insinuating his purpose to be an actor in that
worthy action of enlarging trade and plantations, is
become a pirate, and hath been so pursued, as his
ship is taken in Ireland, though his person is not yet in
hold.

For the trade to the Levant, his lordship opened unto
us that the complaint consisted in effect but of two
particulars : the one, touching the arrest of a ship
called the Trial, in Sicily ; the other, of a ship called
the Vineyard, in Sardinia. The first of which arrests
was upon pretence of piracy ; the second, upon pre-
tence of carrying ordnance and powder to the Turk.
That process concerning the Trial had been at the mer-
chants instance drawn to a review in Spain, which is
a favour of exceeding rare precedent, being directly
against the liberties and privileges of Sicily. That of
the Vineyard, notwithstanding it be of that nature, as,
if it should be true, tendeth to the great dishonour of
our nation, whereof hold hath been already taken by
the French ambassador residing at Constantinople,
who entered into a scandalous expostulation with his
majesty's ambassador there, upon that and the like
transportations of munition to the Turk, yet never-

VOL. III. Z

S3 8 A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

theless there is an aswer given, by letters from the
king's ambassador lieger in Spain, that there shall be
some course taken to give reasonable contentment in
that cause, as far as may be : in both which ships, to
speak truly, the greatest mass of loss may be included 5
for the rest are mean, in respect of the value of those
two vessels. And thus much his lordship's speech
comprehended concerning the wrongs in fact.

Concerning the wrongs in law ; that is to say, the
rigour of the Spanish laws extended upon his majesty's
subjects that traffick thither, his lordship gave this
answer. That they were no new statutes or edicts de-
vised for our people, or our times ; but were the an-
cient laws of that kingdom : Suus cuique mos. And
therefore, as travellers must endure the extremities of
the climate, and temper of the air where they travel ;
so merchants must bear with the extremities of the
laws, and temper of the estate where they trade.
Whereunto his lordship added, That even our own
laws here in England were not exempted from the
like complaints in foreign parts ; especially in point of
marine causes and depredations, and that same swift
alteration of property, which is claimed by the admi-
ralty in case of goods taken in pirates. But yet
we were to understand thus much of the king of
Spain's care and regard of our nation ; that he had
written his letters to all corregidors, officers of ports,
and other his ministers, declaring his will and pleasure
to have his majesty's subjects u^ed with all freedom
and favour; and with this addition, that they should
have more favour, when it might be shewed, than any
• other. Which words, howsoever the effects prove,
are not suddenly to be requited with peremptory reso-
lutions, till time declare the direct issue.

For the third part of the matter of the petition,
which was the remedy sought by letters of mart, his
lordship seemed desirous to make us capable of the in-
convenience of that which was desired, by setting be-
fore us two notable exceptions thereunto : the one,
that the remedy was utterly incompetent and vain \ the

A Report of the Spanish Grievances* 339

other, that it was dangerous and pernicious to our mer-
chants, and in consequence to the whole state.

For the weakness of the remedy, his lordship wished
us to enter into consideration what the remedy was,
which the statute of Henry the fifth, which was now
sought to be put in execution, gave in this case : which
was thus; That the party grieved should first complain
to the keeper of the privy seal, and from him should
take letters unto the party that had committed the
spoil, for restitution ; and in default of restitution to be
made upon such letters served, then to obtain of the
chancellor letters of mart or reprisal : which circuit of
remedy promised nothing but endless and fruitless
delay, in regard that the first degree prescribed was
never likely to be effected : it being so wild a chace,
as to serve process upon the wrong doer in foreign
parts. Wherefore his lordship said, that it must be
the remedy of state, and not the remedy of statute,
that must do good in this case ; which useth to pro-
ceed by certificates, attestations, and other means of
information ; not depending upon a privy seal to be
served upon the party, whom haply they must seek
out in the West-Indies.

For the danger of the remedy, his lordship directed
our considerations to take notice of the proportions of
the merchants goods in either kingdom : as that the
stock of goods of the Spaniard, which is within his
majesty's power and distress, is a trifle; whereas the
stock of English goods in Spain is a mass of mighty
value. So if this course of letters of mart should be
taken to satisfy a few hot pursuitors here, all the goods
of the English subjects in Spain shall be exposed to
seizure and arrest ; and we have little or nothing in
our hands on this side to mend ourselves upon. And
thus, Mr. Speaker, is that which I have collected put
of that excellent speech, concerning the first main part,
which was the consideration of the petition as it pro-
ceeded from the merchants.

There followeth the second part, considering the
petition as it was offered in this house. Wherein his
lordship, after an affectionate commemoration of the

A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

gravity, capacity, and duty, which he generally found
in the proceedings of this house, desired us neverthe-
less to consider with him, how it was possible that the
entertaining petition concerning private injuries, and
of this nature, could avoid these three inconveniences :
the first, of injustice; the second, of derogation from
his majesty's supreme and absolute power of con-
cluding war or peace ; and the third, of some preju-
dice in reason of estate.

For injustice it is plain, and cannot be denied, that
we hear but the one part : whereas the rule, Audi
alter am partem, is not of the formality, but of the
essence of justice : which is therefore figured with
both eyes shut and both ears open; because she should
hear both sides, and respect neither. So that if we
should hap to give a right judgment, it might be jus-
turn, but not juste, without hearing both parties.

For the point of derogation, his lordship said, he
knew well we were no less ready to acknowledge than
himself, that the crown of England was ever invested,
amongst other prerogatives not disputable, of an abso-
lute determination and power of concluding and
making war and peace : which that it was no new
dotation, but of an ancient foundation in the crown,
lie would recite unto us a number of precedents in the
reigns of several kings, and chiefly of those kings
which come nearest his majesty's own worthiness;
wherein he said, that he would not put his credit upon
cyphers and dates; because it was easy to mistake
the year of a reign, or number of a roll, but he would
avouch them in substance to be perfect and true, as
they are taken out of the records. By which prece-
dents it will appear, that petitions made in parliament
to kings of this realm, his majesty's progenitors, inter-
meddling with matter of war or peace, or inducement
thereunto, received small allowance or success, but
were -always put off with dilatory answers ; sometimes
referring the matter to their council, sometimes to
their letters, sometimes to their farther pleasure and
advice, and such other forms ; expressing plainly, that
the kings meant to reserve matter of that nature en-
tirely to their own power and pleasure.

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 341

In the eighteenth year of king Edward I. complaint
was made by the commons, against the subjects of
the earl of Flanders, with petition of redress. The
king's answer was, Bex nihil aliud potesf, quam eodem
modo petere : that is, That the king could do no more
but mike request to the earl of Flanders, as request
had been made to him ; and yet nobody will imagine
but king Edward the first was potent enough to have
had his reason of a count of Flanders by a war ; and
yet his answer was, Nihit aliud potest ; as giving them
to understand, that the entering into a war was a mat-
ter transcendent, that must not depend upon such
controversies.

In the fourteenth year of king Edward III. the com-
mons petitioned, that the king would enter into cer-
tain covenants and capitulations with the duke of Bra-
bant; in which petition there was also inserted some-
what touching a money matter. The king's answer
was, That for that that concerned the monies, they
might handle it and examine it ; but touching the
peace, he would do as to himself seemed good.

In the eighteenth year of king Edward III. the
commons petitioned, that they might have the trial
and proceeding with certain merchants strangers as
enemies to the state. The king's answer was, It
should remain as it did till the king had taken farther
order.

In the forty-fifth year of king Edward III. the com-
mons complained that their trade with the Easterlings
was not upon equal terms, which is one of the points
insisted upon in the present petition, and prayed an
alteration and reducement. The king's answer was,
It shall be so as occasion shall require.

In the fiftieth year of the same king, the commons
petitioned to the king for remedy against the subjects
of Spain, as they now do. The king's answer was,
That he would write his letter for remedy. Here are
letters of request, no letters of mart : Nikil potest nisi
eodem modo petere.

In the same year, the merchants of York petitioned
in parliament against the Hollanders, and desired their

A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

ships might be stayed both in England and at Calais.
The king's answer was, Let it be declared unto the
king's council, and they shall have such remedy as is
according to reason.

In the second year of king Richard II. the mer-
chants of the sea-coasts did complain of divers spoils
upon their ships and goods by the Spaniard. The
king's anwer was, That with the advice of his council
he would procure remedy.

His lordship cited two other precedents; throne,
in the second year of king Henry IV. of a petition
against the merchants of Genoa ; the other, in the
eleventh year of king Henry VI. of a petition against
the merchants of the still-yard, which I omit, because
they contain no variety of answer.

His lordship farther cited two precedents concern-
ing other points of prerogative, which are likewise
flowers of the crown ; the one touching the king's su-
premacy ecclesiastical, the other, touching the order
of weights and measures. The former of them was in
the time of king Richard II. at what time the com-
mons complained against certain encroachments and
usurpations of the pope ; and the king's answer was,
<c The king hath given order to his council to treat
Cf with the bishops thereof." The other was in the
eighteenth year of king Edward I. at which time com-
plaint was made against uneven weights : and the
king's answer was, Vocentur paries ad placita regis,
et, fiat jus tit ia : whereby it appeared, that the kings
of this realm still used to refer causes petitioned in par-
liament to the proper places of cognizance and deci-
sion. But for the matter of war and peace, as ap-
pears in all the former precedents, the kings ever kept
it in scrinio pectoris, in the shrines of their own breast,
assisted and advised by their council of state.

Inasmuch as his lordship did conclude his enume-
ration of precedents with a notable precedent in the
seventeenth year of king Richard II. a prince of no
such glory nor strength ; and yet when he made offer
to the commons in parliament that they should take
into their considerations matter of war and peace then

A Report of the Spanish Grievances, 843

in hand ; the commons, in modesty, excused them-
selves, and answered, " The commons will not pre-
" sume to treat of so high a charge." Out of all
which precedents his lordship made this inference,
that as dies diem docet, so by these examples wise
men will be admonished to forbear those petitions to
princes, which are not likely to have either a welcome
hearing, or an effectual answer.

And for prejudice that might come of handling and
debating matter of war and peace in parliament, he
doubted not, but that the wisdom of this house did
conceive upon what secret considerations and motives
that point did depend. For that there is no king
which will providently and maturely enter into a war,
but will first balance his own forces ; seek to antici-
pate confederacies and alliances, revoke his merchants,
find an opportunity of the first breach, and many other
points, which, if they once do but take wind, will
prove vain and frustrate. And therefore that this
matter, which is arcanum imperil', one of the highest
mysteries, must be suffered to be kept within the veil:
his lordship adding, that he knew not well whether in
that which he had already said out of an extreme desire
to give us satisfaction, he had not communicated more
particulars than perhaps was requisite. Nevertheless,
he confessed, that sometimes parliaments have been
made acquainted with matters of war and peace in a
generality ; but it was upon one .of these two motives;
when the king and council conceived that either it was
material to have some declaration of the zeal and af-
fection of the people ; or else when the king needed
to demand moneys and aids for the charge of the wars;
wherein if things did sort to war, we were sure enough
to hear of it : his lordship hoping that his majesty would
find in us no less readiness to support it than to per-
suade it.

Now, Mr. Speaker, for the last part; wherein his
lordship considered the petition, as it was recom-
mended from us to the upper house , his lordship deli-
vered thus much from their lordships; that they would
a good construction of our desires^ as those

A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

which they conceived did rather spring out of a feel-
ing of the king's strength, and out of a feeling of the
subjects wrongs ; nay more, out of a wisdom and
depth, to declare our forwardness, if need were, to
assist his majesty's future resolutions, which declara-
tion might be of good use for his majesty's service,
when it should be blown abroad; rather,! say, than that
wre did in any sort determine by this their overture, to
do that wrong to his highness's supreme power, which
haply might be inferred by those that were feather apt
to make evil than good illations of our proceedings.
And yet, that their lordships, for the reasons before
made, must plainly tell us, that they neither could
nor would concur with us, nor approve the course ;
and therefore concluded, that it would not be amiss
for us, for our better contentment, to behold the con-
ditions of the last peace writh Spain, which were of a
strange nature to him that duly observes them ; no
forces recalled out of the Low Countries ; no new
forces, as to voluntaries, restrained to go thither ; so
as the king may be in peace, and never a subject in
England but may be in war: and then to think thus
with ourselves, that that king, which would give no
ground in making his peace, will not lose any ground
upon just provocation, to enter into an honourable
war. And that in the mean time we should know
thus much, that there could not be more forcible nego-
ciation on the king's part, but blows, to procure re-
medy of those wrongs ; nor more fair promises on the
king of Spain's part, to give contentment concerning
the same ; and therefore that the event must be ex-
pected.

And thus, Mr. Speaker, have I passed over the
speech of this worthy lord, whose speeches, as I have
often said, in regard of his place and judgment, are
extraordinary lights to this house ; and have both the
properties of light, that is, conducting, and comfort-
ing. And although, Mr. Speaker, a man would have
thought nothing had been left to be said, yet I shall
now give you account of another speech, full of ex-
cellent matter and ornaments, and without iteration ;

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 34-5

which, nevertheless, I shall report more compen-
diously, because I will not offer the speech that wrong,
as to report it at large, when your minds percase and
attentions are already wearied.

The other earl, who usually doth bear a principal
part upon all important occasions, used a speech, first
of preface, then of argument. In his preface he did
deliver, that he was persuaded that both houses did
differ rather in credulity and belief, than in intention
and desire : for it might be their lordships did not
believe the information so far, but yet desired the re-
formation as much.

His lordship said farther, that the merchants were a
state and degree of persons, not only to be respected,
but to be prayed for, and graced them with the best
additions ; that they were the convoys of our supplies,
the vents of our abundance, Neptune's alms-men, and
fortune's adventurers. His lordship proceeded and
said, this question was new to us, but ancient to them ;
assuring us, that the king did not bear in vain the de-
vice of the thistle, with the words, 'Nemo me lacttsit
impune ; and that as the multiplying of his kingdoms
maketh him feel his own power; so the multiplying of
our loves and affections made him to feel our griefs.

For the arguments or reasons, they were five in
number, which his lordship used for satisfying us why
their lordships might not concur with us in this peti-
tion. The first was the composition of our house,
which he took in the first foundation thereof to be
merely democratical, consisting of knights of shires and
burgesses of towns, and intended to be of those that
have their residence, vocation, and employment in the
places for which they serve : and therefore to have a
private and local wisdom according to that compass,
and so not fit to examine or determine secrets of estate,
which depend upon such variety of circumstances ;
and therefore added to the precedent formerly vouched,
of the seventeenth of king Richard II. when the com-
mons disclaimed to intermeddle in matters ot war and
peace ; that their answer was, that they would not
presume to treat of so high and variable a matter.

346 A Report of the Spanish Grievances.

And although his lordship acknowledged that there be
divers gentlemen, in the mixture of our house, that
are of good capacity and insight in matters of estate ;
yet that was the accident of the person, and not the
intention of the place ; and things were to be taken in
the institution, not in the practice.

His lordship's second reason was, that both by phi-
losophy and civil law, ordinatio belli et pads est also-
luti imperil, a principal flower of the crown ; which
flowers ought to be so dear unto us, as we ought, if
need were, to water them with our blood : for if those
flowers should, by neglect, or upon facility and good
affection, wither and fall, the garland would not be
worth the wearing.

His lordship's third reason was, that kings did so
love to imitate prhnum mobile, as that they do not like
to move in borrowed motions : so that in those things
that they do most willingly intend, yet they endure
not to be prevented by request : whereof he did alledge
a notable example in king Edward III. who would
not hearken to the petition of his commons, that be-
sought him to make the black prince prince of Wales:
but yet, after that repulse of their petition, out of his
own mere motion he created him.

His lordship's fourth reason was, that it might be
some scandal to step between the king and his own vir^
tue: and that it was the duty of subjects rather to take
honours from kings servants and give them to kings,
than to take honours from kings and give them to their
servants : which he did very elegantly set forth in the
example of Joab, who, lying at the siege of Rabbah,
and finding it could not hold out, writ to David to
come and take the honour of taking the town.

His lordship's last reason was, that it may cast some
aspersion upon his majesty ; implying, as if the king
slept out of the sobs of his subjects, until he was
awaked with the thunderbolt of a parliament.

But his lordship's conclusion was very noble, which
was with a protestation, that what civil threats, con-
testation, art, and argument can do, hath been used
already to procure remedy in this cause; and a

A Report of the Spanish Grievances. 347

mise, that if reason of state did permit, as their
lordships were ready to spend their breath in the
pleading of that we desire, so they would be ready to
spend their bloods in the execution thereof.
This was the substance of that which passed.

[ 348 ]

CERTIFICATE TO HIS MAJESTY,

TOUCHING THE PROJECTS OF

SIR STEPHEN PROCTOR,

RELATING TO THE

PENAL LAWS.

It may please your sacred Majesty,

VV ITII the first free time from your majesty's sei>
vice of more present dispatch, I have perused the pro-
jects of Sir Stephen Proctor, and do find it a collection
of extreme diligence and inquisition, and more than I
thought could have met in one man's knowledge. For
though it be an easy matter to run over mnny offices
and professions, and to note in them general abuses
or deceits ; yet, nevertheless, to point at and trace out
the particular and covert practices, shifts, devices,
tricks, and, as it were stratagems in the meaner sort
of the ministers of justice or public service, and to do
it truly and understandingly, is a discovery whereof
great good use may be made for your majesty's service
and good of your people. But because this work, I
doubt not, hath been to the gentleman the work of
years, whereas my certificate must be the work but of
hours or days, and that it is commonly and truly said,
that he that embraceth much, straineth and holdeth
the less, and that propositions have wings, but opera-
tion and execution have leaden feet; I must humbly
desire pardon of your majesty, if I do for the present
only select some one or two principal points, and cer-
tify my opinion thereof; reserving the rest as a sheaf
by me to draw out, at further time, further matter for

Certificate touching the Penal Laics. 349

-your majesty's information for so much as I shall con-
ceive to be fit or worthy the consideration.

For that part, therefore, of these projects which
concerneth penal laws, I do find the purpose and scope
to be, not to press a greater rigour or severity in the
execution of penal laws ; but to repress the abuses in
common informers, and some clerks and under-minis-
ters, that for common gain partake with them : for if
it had tended to the other point, I for my part should
be very far from advising your majesty to give ear
unto it. For as it is said in the psalm, If thou, Lord,
should be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who may
abide it ? So it is most certain, that your people are so
ensnared in a multitude of penal laws, that the execu-
tion of them cannot be borne. And as it followeth ;
But with thee is mercy, thai thou mayest be feared: so
it is an intermixture of mercy and justice that will
bring you fear and obedience : for too much rigour
makes people desperate. And therefore to leave this,
which was the only blemish of king Henry VIL's
reign, and the unfortunate service of vEmpsom and
Dudley, whom the peoples curses rather than any law,
brought to overthrow ; the other work is a work not
only of profit to your majesty, but of piety towards your
people. For if it be true in any proportion, that within*
these five years of your majesty's happy reign, there hath
not five hundred pounds benefit come to your majesty
by penal laws, the fines of the Star-chamber, which
are of a higher kind, only excepted, and yet, never-
theless, there hath been a charge of at least fifty thou-
sand pounds, which hath been laid upon your people,
it were more than time it received a remedy.

This remedy hath been sought by divers statutes, as
principally by a statute in 18, and another of 31, of
the late queen of happy memory. But I am of opinion
that the appointing of an officer proper for that pur-
pose, will do more good than twenty statutes, and
will do that good effectually, which these statutes aim
at intentionally.

And this I do allow of the better, because it is none
of those new superintendenciesj which I 'see many

350 Certificate touching the Penal Laws.

times offered upon pretence of reformation, as if judges
did not their duty, or ancient and sworn officers did
not their duty and the like : but it is only to set a aistos
or watchman, neither over judges nor clerks, but only
over a kind of people that cannot be sufficiently
watched or overlooked, and that is, the common pro-
moters or informers ; the very awe and noise whereof
will do much good, and the practice much more.

I will therefore set down first, what is the abuse or
inconvenience, and then what is the remedy which
may be expected from the industry of this officer. And
I will divide it into two parts, the one, for that that
may concern the ease of your people, for with that I
will crave leave to begin, as knowing it to be principal
in your majesty's intention, and the other for that, that
may concern your majesty's benefit.

Concerning the ease of his Majesty's subjects,
polled and vexed by common informers.

The abuses or uiconveni- The remedies by the Indus-
encies. try of the officer.

1. An informer exhibits 1. The officer by his di-
an information, and in that ligence finding this case,
one information he will put is to inform the court
an hundred several sub- thereof, who thereupon
jects of this information, may grant good costs
Every one shall take out against the informer, to
copies, and every one shall every of the subjects vex-
put in his several answer, ed : and withal not suffer
This will cost perhaps an the same informer to re-
hundred marks : that done, vivehis information against
no farther proceeding. But any of them ; and lastly,
the clerks have their fees, fine him, as for a misde-
and the informer hath his meaner and abuse of jus-
dividend for bringing the tice : and by that time a
water to the mill. few of such examples be

It is to be noted, that made, they will be soon

this vexation is not met weary of that practice.

Certificate touching the Penal Laws.

351

with by any statute. For
it is no composition, but
a discontinuance 3 and in
that case there is no pe-
nalty, but costs : and the
poor subject will never
sue for his costs, lest it
awake the informer to re-
vive his information, and
so it escapeth clearly.

2. Informers receive pen-
sions of divers persons to
forbear them. And this
is commonly of principal
offenders, and of the weal-
thiest sort of tradesmen.
For if one tradesman may
presume to break the law,
and another not, he will
be soon richer than his fel-
lows. As for example, if
one draper may use ten-
ters, because he is in fee
with an informer, and
others not, he will soon
outstrip the good trades-
man that keeps the law.

And if it be thought
strange that any man
should seek his peace by
one informer, when he
lieth open to all, the ex-
perience is otherwise : for
one informer will bear
with the friend of another,
looking for the like mea-
sure.

And besides, they have
devices to get priority of
information, and to put in
an information de bene

2. This is an abuse that
appeareth not by any pro-
ceeding in court, because
it is before suit commenc-
ed, and therefore requireth
a particular enquiry.

But when it shall be
the care and cogitation of
one man to overlook in-
formers, these things are
easily discovered : for let
him but look who they be
that the informer calls in
question, and hearken who
are of the same trade in
the same place and are
spared, and it will be easy
to trace a bargain.

In this case, having dis-
covered the abuse, he
ought to inform the barons
of the exchequer, and the
king'slearned-counsel,that
by the Star-chamber, or
otherwise, such taxers of
the king's subjects may be
punished.

352

Certificate touching the Penal Laws*

esse, to prevent others, and
to protect their pensioners.

And if it be said this is
a pillory matter to the in-
former, and therefore he
will not attempt it ; al-
though therein the statute
is a little doubtful : yet if
hanging will not keep
thieves from stealing, it is
not pillory will keep in-
formers from polling.

And herein Sir Stephen
addeth a notable circum-
stance : that they will pe-
ruse a trade, as of brewers
or victuallers, and if any
stand out, and will not be
In fee, they will find
means to have a dozen
informations come upon
him at once.

3. The subject is often
for the same offence vexed
by several informations:
sometimes the one infor-
mer not knowing of the
other ; and often by con-
federacy, to weary the
party with charge : upon
every of which goeth pro-
cess, and of every of them
he must take copies, and
make answers, and so re-
lieve himself by motion of
the^court if he can; all
which multiplieth charge
and trouble.

3. The officer keeping
a book of all the informa-
tions put in, with a brief
note of the matter, may
be made acquainted with
all informations to come
in : and if he find a pre-
cedent for the same cause,
he may inform some of the
barons, that by their order
the receiving of the latter
may be stayed without
any charge to the party at
all; so as it appear by the
due prosecution of the for-
mer, that it is not a suit
by collusion to protect the
party.

Certificate touching the Penal Laws.

353

Concerning the King's benefit, which may grow
by a moderate prosecution of some penal laws.

The abuses or inconveni-

ences.

1. After an information
is exhibited and answered,
for so the statute requires,
the informer for, the most
part groweth to composi-
tion with the defendant ;
which he cannot do with-
out peril of the statute,
except he have licence
from the court, which li-
cence he ought to return
by order and course of the
court, together with a de-
claration upon his oath of
the true sum that he takes
for the composition. Upon
which licence so returned,
the court is to tax a fine
for the king.

This ought to be, but
as it is now used, the li-
cence is seldom returned.
And although it contain a
clause that the licence shall
be void, if it be not duly
returned ; yet the manner
is to suggest that they are
still in terms of composi-
tion, and so to obtain new
days and to linger it on
till a parliament and a
pardon come.

Also, when the licence
is returned, and thereupon
the judge or baron to sesse

VOL. III.

remedies,

1. The officer in this
point is to perform his
greatest service to the
king, in soliciting for the
king in such sort as licences
be duly returned, the de-
ceits of these fraudulent
compositions discovered,
and fines may be set for
the king in some good pro-
portion, having respect to
the values both of the mat-
ter and the person : for the
king's fines are not to be
delivered, as moneys given
by the party, ad rtdimen-
dam vexationem, but as
moneys given ad redimen-
dam culpam et poenam
legis ; and ought to be in
such quantity, as may not
make the laws altogether
trampled down and con-
temned. Therefore the
officer ought first to be
made acquainted with
every licence, that he may
have an eye to the sequel
of it : then ought he to be
the person that ought to
prefer unto the judges or
barons, as well the bills
for the taxations of the
fines, as the orders for giv-
ing further days, to the
a

354 Certificate touching the Penal Laws.

a fine ; there is none for end that the court may be
the king to inform them of duly informed both of the
the nature of the offence ; weight of causes, and the
of the value to grow to the delays therein used; and
king if the suit prevail ; lastly, he is to see that the
of the ability of the person, fines sessed be duly put in
and the like. By reason process, and answered,
whereof, the fine that is
set is but a trifle, as 20,
SO, or 40s. and it runs in
a form likewise which I
do not well like : for it is
ut parcatur misis, which
purporteth, as if the party
did not any way submit
himself, and take the com-
position as of grace of the
court, but as if he did
justify himself, and were
content to give a trifle to
avoid charge.

Which point of form
hath a shrewd conse-
quence : for it is some
ground that the fine is set
too weak.

And as for the infor-
mer's oath touching his
composition, which is
commonly a trifle, and is
the other ground of the
smallness of 'the fine, it is
no doubt taken with an
equivocation : as taking
such a sum in name of a
composition, and some
greater matter by some in-
direct or collateral mean.

Also, these fines, light
as they be, are seldom an-
swered and put in process.

Certificate touching the Penal Lazes.

355

2. An information goeth
on to trial, and passeth for
the king. In this case of
recovery, the informer will
be satisfied, and will take
his whole moiety, for that
he accounts to be no com-
position : that done, none
will be at charge to return
the postea, and to procure
judgment and execution
for the king. For the in-
former hath that which he
sought for, the clerks will
do nothing without fees
paid, which there being
no man to prosecute, there
can be no man likewise
to pay ; and so the king
loseth his moiety, when
his title appears by verdict.

3. It falleth out some-
times in informations of
weight, and worthy to be
prosecuted, the informer
dieth, or falls to poverty,
or his mouth is stopped,
and yet so as no man can
charge him with composi-
tion, and so the matter
dieth.

4. There be sundry sei-
zures, made in case where
the laws give seizures,
which are released by
agreements underhand,
and so money wrested
from the subject, and no
benefit to the king.

All seizures once made
ought not to be discharged,

A

2. The officer is to fol-
low for the king, that the
posteas be returned*

3. The officer in such
case is to inform the king's
learned council, that they
may prosecute if they think
fit.

4. The officer is to take
knowledge of such sei-
zures, and to give infor-
mation to the court con-
cerning them.

This is of more difficulty,
because seizures are mat-
ter in fact, whereas suits
are matter of record : and
it may require more per*
a2

356 Certificate touching the Penal Laws.

but by order of the court, sons to be employed, as at
and therefore some entry the ports, where is much
ought to be made of them, abuse.

THERE be other points wherein the officer may be
of good use, which may be comprehended in his grant
or instructions, wherewith I will not now trouble
your majesty, for I hold these to be the principal.

Thus have I, according to your majesty's reference,
certified my opinion of that part of Sir Stephen Proctor's
projects, which concerneth penal laws : which I do
wholly and most humbly submit to your majesty's high
wisdom and judgment, wishing withal that some Con-
ference may be had by Mr. Chancellor and the barons,
and the rest of the learned counsel, to draw the service
to a better perfectio'n. And most specially that the
travels therein taken may be considered and discerned
of by the lord Treasurer, whose care and capacity is
such, as he doth always either find or choose that
which is best for your majesty's service.

The recompense unto the gentleman, it is not my
part to presume to touch, otherwise that to put your
majesty in remembrance of that proportion, which your
majesty is pleased to give to others out of the profits
they bring in, and perhaps with a great deal less la-
bour and charge.

[ 357 ]

A

SPEECH

USED TO

THE KING,

BY

HIS MAJESTY'S SOLICITOR,

Being chosen by the COMMONS as their Mouth and
Messenger, for the presenting to his Majesty the
Instrument or Writing of

THEIR GRIEVANCES.

In the Parliament 7 JACOB i.

Most gracious Sovereign,

JL HE knights, citizens, and burgesses assembled in
parliament, in the house of your commons, in all hum-
bleness do exhibit and present unto your most sacred
majesty, in their own words though by my hand, their
petitions and grievances. They are here conceived
and set down in writing, according to ancient custom
of parliament : they are also prefaced according to the
manner and taste of these later times. Therefore for
me to make any additional preface, were neither war-
ranted nor convenient ; especially speaking before a
king, the exactness of whose judgment ought to scat-
ter and chase away all unnecessary speech as the sun
doth a vapour. This only I must say ; since this
session of parliament we have seen your glory in the
solemnity of the creation of this most noble prince ;
we have heard your wisdom in sundry excellent
speeches which you have delivered amongst us : now
we hope to find and feel the effects of your goodness,
in your gracious answer to these our petitions. For
this we are persuaded, that the attribute which was
given by one of the wisest writers to two of the best
emperors, Dibits Nerva et divus Trajanus, so saith

358 A Speech used to the King.

Tacitus res olim insociabiles misciierunt, irnperium et
libcrtatem; may be truly applied to your majesty.
For never was there such a conservator of regality in
a crown, nor ever such a protector of lawful freedom
in a subject.

Only this, excellent sovereign, let not the sound of
grievances, though it be sad, seem harsh to your
princely ears : it is but gemitus columbae, the mourn-
ing of a dove: with that patience and humility of
heart which appertaineth to loving and loyal subjects.
And far be it from us, but that in the midst of the
sense of our grievances we should remember and ac-,
knowledge the infinite benefits, which by your ma-
jesty, next under God, we do enjoy; which bind us
to wish unto your life fulness of days ; and unto your
line royal, a succession and continuance even unto
the world's end.

It resteth, that unto these petitions here included I
do add one more that goeth to them all : which is, that
if in the words and frame of them there be any thing
offensive ; or that we have expressed ourselves other-
wise than we should or would ; that your majesty
would cover it and cast the veil of your grace upon it;
and accept of our good intentions, and help them by
your benign interpretation.

Lastly, I am most humbly to crave a particular
pardon for myself that have used these few words 5
and scarcely should have been able to have used any
at all, in respect of the reverence which I bear to
your person and judgment, had I not been somewhat
relieved and comforted by the experience, which in
my service and access I have had of your continual
grace and favour.

[ 359 ]

A

SPEECH

OF THE

KING'S SOLICITOR,

Used unto the Lords at a conference by commission
from the Commons, moving and persuading the
Lords to join with the Commons in petition to the
King, to obtain liberty to treat of a composition
with his Majesty for

WARDS AND TENURES,

In the Parliament 7 JACOBI,

-I HE knights, citizens, and burgesses of the house
of commons have commanded me to deliver to your
lordships the causes of the conference by them prayed,
and by your lordships assented, for the second business
of this day. They have had report made unto them
faithfully of his majesty's answer declared by my lord
Treasurer, touching their humble desire to obtain
liberty from his majesty to treat of compounding for
tenures. And first, they think themselves much bound
unto his majesty, that in re nova, in which case princes
use to be apprehensive, he hath made a gracious con-
struction of their proposition. And so much they
know of that, that belongs to the greatness of his
majesty, and the greatness of the cause, as themselves
acknowledge they ought not to have expected a pre-
sent resolution, though the wise man saith, Hope de-
ferred is the fainting of the soul. But they know their
duty to be to attend his majesty's times at his good
pleasure. And this they do with the more comfort,
because in that his majesty's answer, matching the
times, and weighing the passages thereof they con-

Wards and Tenures.

ceive, in their opinion, rather hope than discourage-
ment.

But the principal causes of the conference now
prayed, besides these significations of duty not to be
omitted, are two propositions. The one matter of
excuse of themselves ; the other, matter of petition.
The former of which grows thus. Your lordship, my
lord Treasurer, in your last declaration of his majesty's
answer, which, according to the attribute then given
unto it by a great counsellor, had imaginem Casaris
fair and lively graven, made this true and effectual
distribution, that there depended upon tenures, consi-
• derations of honour, of conscience, and of utility. Of
these three, utility, as his majesty set it by for the pre-
sent, out of the greatness of his mind, so we set it by,
out of the justness of our desires : for we never meant
but a goodly and worthy augmentation of the profit
now received, and not a diminution. But, to speak
truly, that consideration falleth naturally to be exa-
mined when liberty of treaty is granted : but the for-
mer two indeed may exclude treaty, and cut it off
before it be admitted.

Nevertheless, in this that we shall say concerning
those two, we desire to be conceived rightly : we
mean not to dispute with his majesty what belongeth
to sovereign honour or his princely conscience ; because
we know we are not capable to discern of them other-
wise, than :-s men use sometimes to see the image of
the sun in a pail of water. But this we say for our-
selves, God forbid that we, knowingly, should have
propounded any thing, that might in our sense and
persuasion touch either or both ; and therefore herein
we desire to be heard, not to inform or persuade his
majesty, but to free and excuse ourselves.

And first, in general, we acknowledge, that this tree
of tenures was planted into the prerogative by the
antient common law of this land : that it hath been
fenced in and preserved by many statutes, and that it
yieldeth at this day to the king the fruit of a great
revenue. But yet notwithstanding, if upon the stem
of this tree may be raised a pillar of support to the

Wa rds a nd Ten u res . 361

crown permanent and durable as the marble, by in-
vesting the crown with a more ample, more certain,
and more loving dowry, than this of tenures 5 we hope
we propound no matter of disservice.

But to speak distinctly of both, and first of honour:
wherein I pray your lordships, give me leave, in a sub-
ject that may seem supra ?ws, to handle it rather as
we are capable, than as the matter perhaps may re-
quire. Your lordships well know the various mix-
tures and composition of our house. We have in our
house learned civilians that profess a law, that we re-
verence and sometimes consult with : they can tell us,
that all the lawrs, defeodis, are but additionals to the
antient civil law ; and that the Roman emperors, in
the full height of their monarchy, never knew them ;
so that they are not imperial. We have grave pro-
fessors of the common law, who will define unto us
that those are parts of sovereignty, and of the regai
prerogative, which cannot be communicated with sub-
jects : but for tenures in substance, there is none of
your lordships but have them, and few of us but have
them. The king, indeed, hath a priority or first ser-
vice of his tenures ; and some more amplitude of
profit in that we call tenure in chief: but the subject
is capable of tenures; which shews that they are not
regal, nor any point of sovereignty. We have gen-
tlemen of honourable service in the wars both by sea
and land, who can inform us, that when it .is in ques-
tion, who shall set his foot foremost towards the enemy :
it is never asked, Whether he holds in knight's service
or in socage ? So have we many deputy lieutenants to
your lordships, and many commissioners that have
been for musters and levies, that can tell us, that the
service and defence of the realm hath in these days
little dependence upon tenures. So then we perceive
that it is no bond or ligament of government ; no spur
of honour, no bridle of obedience, Time was, when
it had other uses, and the name of knight's service
imports it : but vocabula manent, resfuginnt. But ail
this which we have spoken we confess to be but in a

Wards and Tenures.

vulgar capacity ; which nevertheless may serve for our
excuse, though we submit the thing itself wholly to
his majesty's judgment.

For matter of conscience, far be 'it from us to cast
in any thins willingly, that may trouble that clear
fountain of his majesty's conscience. We do confess
it is a noble protection, that these young birds of the
nobility and good families should be gathered and
clucked under the wings of the crown. But yet Na~
turac tv> maxima : and Suus cuique discretiis sanguis.
Your lordships will favour me, to observe my former
method. The common law itself, which is the best
bounds of our wisdom, doth, even in hoc individuo,
prefer the prerogative of the father before the prero-
gative of the king: for if lands descend, held in chief
from an ancestor on the part of a mother, to a man's
eldest son, the father being alive, the father shall have
the custody of the body, and not the king. It is true
that this is only for the father, and not any other pa-
rent or ancestor: but then if you look to the high law
of tutelage and protection, and of obedience and duty,
which is the relative thereunto ; it is not said, u Ho-
nour thy father alone," but Honour thy father and thy
mother,, etc. Again, the civilians can tell us, that there
wras a special use of the pretofian power for pupils,
and yet no tenures. The citizens of London can tell
us, there be courts of orphans, and yet no tenures. But
all this while we pray your lordships to conceive, that
we think ourselves not competent to discern of the
honour of his majesty's crown, or the shrine of his
conscience ; but leave it wholly unto him, and alledge
these things but in our own excuse.

For matter of petition, we do continue our most
humble suit, by your lordship's loving conjunction,
that his majesty will be pleased to open1 unto us this
entrance of his bounty and grace, as to give us liberty
to treat. And lastly, we know his majesty's times are
not subordinate at all but to the globe above. About
this time the sun hath got even with the night, and
will rise apace; and we know Solomon's temple,

Wards and Tenures. 363

whereof your lordship, my lord Treasurer, spake, was
not built in a day: and if we shall be so happy as to
take the ax to hew, and the hammer to frame, in this
case, we know it cannot be without time ; and there-
fore, as far as we may with duty, and without impor-
tunity, we most humbly desire an acceleration ot his
majesty's answer, according to his good time and royal
pleasure,

[ 364 ]

A

FRAME OF DECLARATION

FOR THE

MASTER OF THE WARDS,

AT

HIS FIRST SITTING.

1 HE king, whose virtues are such, as if we, that
are his ministers, were able duly to correspond unto
them, it were enough to make a golden time, hath
commanded certain of his intentions to be published,
touching the administration of this place, because they
are somewhat differing from the usage of former times,
and yet not by wray of novelty, but by way of refor-
mation, and reduction of things to their ancient and
true institusion.

Wherein, nevertheless, it is his majesty's express
pleasure it be signified, that he understands this to be
done, without any derogation from the memory or
service of those great persons, which have formerly
held this place, of whose doings his majesty retaineth
a good and gracious remembrance, especially touching
the sincerity of their own minds.

But now that his majesty meaneth to be as it were
master of the wards himself, and that those that he
useth be as his substitutes, and move wholly in his
motion; he doth expect things be carried in a sort
worthy his own care.

First, therefore, his majesty hath had this princely
consideration with himself, that as he is paler patriaey
so he is by the ancient law of this kingdom pater pu-
pillorum, where there is any tenure of knight's service
of himself; which extendeth almost to all the great
families noble and generous of this kingdom ; and

Directions for the Master of the Wards. 365

therefore being a representative father, his purpose is
to imitate, and approach as near as may be to the
duties and offices of a natural father, in the good edu-
cation, well bestowing in marriage, and preservation
of the houses, woods, lands, and estates of his wards.

For as it is his majesty's direction, that that part
which concerns his own profit and right, be executed
with moderation ; so on the other side, it is his princely
will that that other part, which concerneth protection,
be overspread and extended to the utmost.

Wherein his majesty hath three persons in his eye,
the wards themselves, idiots, and the rest of like na-
ture ; the suitors in this court ; and the subjects at
large.

For the first, his majesty hath commanded special
care to be taken in the choice of the persons, to whom
they be committed, that the same be found in religion,
such whose houses and families are not noted for dis-
solute, no greedy persons, no step-mothers, nor the
like; and with these qualifications, of the nearest
friends : nay, further, his majesty is minded not to
delegate his trust to the committees, but that he will
have once in the year at least, by persons of credit in
every county, a view and inspection taken of the per-
sons, houses, woods, and lands of the wards, and other
persons under the protection of this court, and certi-
ficate to be made thereof accordingly.

For the suitors, which is the second ; his majesty's
princely care falls upon two points of reformation ;
the first, that there be an examination of fees, what
are due and ancient, and what are new and exacted ;
and those of the latter kind put down : the other, that
the court do not entertain causes too long upon con-
tinuances of liveries after the parties are come of full
age, which serveth but to waste the parties in suit,
considering the decrees cannot be perpetual, but tem-
porary ; and therefore controversies here handled, are
seldom put in peace, till they have past a trial and
decision in other courts.

For the third, which is the subject at large ; his
majesty hath taken into his princely care the unne-

366 Directions for the Master of the Wards.

cessary vexations of his people by feodaries, and other
inferior ministers of like nature, by colour of his te-
nures; of which part I. say nothing for the present,
because the parties whom it concerns are for the most
part absent: but order shall be given, that they shall
give their attendance the last day of the term, then to
understand further his majesty's gracious pleasure.

Thus much by his majesty's commandment; now
we may proceed to the business of the court.

DIRECTIONS

For the MASTER of the WARDS to observe,

For his Majesty's better Service, and the
general Good.

FIRST, that he take an account how his majesty's
last instructions have been -pursued ; and of the in-
crease of benefit accrued to his majesty thereby, and
the proportion thereof.

Wherein first, in general, it will be good to cast up
a year's benefit, viz. from February, 1610, which is the
date of the instructions under the great seal, to Fe-
bruary, 161] ; and to compare the total with former
years before the instructions, that the tree may appear
by the fruit, and it may be seen how much his ma-
jesty's profit is redoubled or increased by that course.

Secondly, It will not be amiss to compute not only
the yearly benefit, but the number of wardships granted
that year, and to compare that with the number of
former years; for though the number be a thing casual,
yet if it be apparently less than in former years, then
it may be justly doubted, that men take advantage
upon the last clause in the instructions, of exceptions
of wards concealed, to practise delays and misfinding
of offices, which is a thing most dangerous.

Thirdly, in particular it behoveth to peruse and
review the bargains made, and to consider the rates,
mens estates being things which for the most part
cannot be hid, and thereby to discern what improve-
ments and good husbandry have been used, and how

Directions for the blaster of the Wards. 367

much the king hath more now when the whole benefit
is supposed to go to him, than he had when three
parts of the benefit went to the committee.

Fourthly, It is requisite to take consideration what
commissions have been granted for copyholds for lives,
which are excepted by the instructions rrom being
leased, and what profit hath been raised thereby.

Thus much for the time past, and upon view of
these accounts, res dahit consilium for further order to
be taken.

For the time to come, first, it is fit that the master
of the wards, being a meaner person, be usually pre-
sent as well at the treaty and beating of the bargain,
as at the concluding, and that he take not the business
by report.

Secondly, when suit is made, the information by
survey and commission is but one image, but the way
were by private diligence to be really informed : nei-
ther is it hard for a person that liveth in an inn of
court, where there be understanding men of every
county of England, to obtain by care certain in-
formation.

Thirdly, This kind of promise of preferring the next
akin, doth much obscure the information, which be-
fore by competition of divers did better appear ; and
therefore it may be necessary for the master of the
wards sometimes to direct letters to some persons near
the ward living, and to take certificate from them : it
being always intended the subject be not racked too
high, and that the nearest friends that be sound in re-
ligion, and like to give the ward good education, be
preferred.

Fourthly, That it be examined carefully whether
the ward's revenues consist of copyholds for lives,
which are not to be comprised in the lease, and that
there be no neglect to grant commissions for the same,
and that the master take order to be certified of the
profits of former courts held by the ward's ancestor,
that it may be a precedent and direction for the com-
missioners.

Fifthly, That the master make account every six

368 Directions for the Master of the Wards.

months, the state appoints one in the year to his ma-
jesty ; and that when he bringeth the bill of grants of
the body for his majesty's signature, he bring a sche-
dule of the truth of the state of every one of them, as
it hath appeared to him by information, and acquaint
his majesty both with the rates and states.

Thus much concerning the improvement of the
king's profit, which concerneth the king as pater j ami-
lias j now as pater patriae.

First, for the wards themselves, that there be spe-
cial care taken in the choice of the committee, that he
be sound in religion, his house and family not disso-
lute, no greedy person, no step-mother, nor the like.

Further, that there be letters written once every
year to certain principal gentlemen of credit in every
county, to take view not only of the person of the
wards in every county, and their education; but of
their houses, woods, grounds, and estate, and the
same to certify ; that the committees may be held in
some awe, and that the blessing of the poor orphans
and the pupils may come upon his majesty and his
children.

Secondly, for the suitors ; that there be a strait ex-
x animation concerning the raising and multiplication of
fees in that court, which is much scandalized with
opinion thereof, and all exacted fees put down.

Thirdly, for the subjects at large ; that the vexation
of escheators and feodaries be repressed, which, upon
no substantial ground of record, vex the country with
inquisitions and other extortions r and for that purpose
that there be one set day at the end of every term ap-
pointed for examining the abuses of such inferior of-
ficers, and that the master of wards take special care
to receive private information from gentlemen of qua-
lity and conscience in every shire touching the same.

[ 369 ]

•4

A

SPEECH of the KING'S SOLICITOR,

PERSUADING

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

TO DESIST FROM FARTHER QUESTION OF

RECEIVING THE KING's MESSAGES,

By their Speaker, and from the body of the Council,
as well as from the Ki?ig's person.

In the Parliament 7 JACOBI.

IT is my desire, that if any the king's business, either
of honour or profit, shall pass the house, it may be not
only with external prevailing, but with satisfaction of
the inward man. For in consent, where tongue-
strings, not heart-strings, make the music, that har-
mony may end in discord. To this I shall always
bend my endeavours.

The king's sovereignty, and the liberty of parlia-
ment, are as the two elements and principles of this
estate ; which, though the one be more active, the
other more passive, yet they do not cross or destroy
the one the other ; but they strengthen and maintain
the one the other. Take away liberty of parliament,
the griefs of the subject will bleed inwards : sharp and
eager humours will not evaporate ; and then they must
exulcerate ; and so may indanger the sovereignty it-
self. On the other side, if the king's sovereignty re-
ceive diminution, or any degree of contempt with us
that are bom under an hereditary monarchy, so as the.
motions of our estate cannot work in any other frame
or engine, it must follow, that we shall be a meteor,
or corpus imperfecte mis turn s which kind of bodies
come speedily to confusion or dissolution. And here-;

VOL. III. B b

370 Of Receiving tlie King's Messages.

in it is our happiness, that we may make the same
judgment of the king, which Tacitus made of Nerva :
Divus Nerva res olhn dissociabiles miscnit, imperium
et liber fa tern. Nerva did temper things, that before
were thought incompatible, or insociable, sovereignty
and liberty. And it is not amiss in a great council and
a great cause to put the other part of the difference,
which was significantly expressed by the judgment
•which Apollonius made of Nero ; which was thus :
when Vespasian came out of Judaea towards Italy, to
receive the empire, as he passed by Alexandria he
spake with Apollonius, a man much admired, and
asked him a question of state: " What was the cause
" of Nero's fall or overthrow ?" Apollonius answered
again, " Nero could tune the harp well : but in go-
" vernment he always either wound up the pins too
" high, and strained the strings too far ; or let them
<f down too low, and slackened the strings too much.'*
Here we see the difference between regular and able
princes, and irregular and incapable, Nerva and Nero.
The one tempers and mingles the sovereignty with the
liberty of the subject wisely; and the other doth in-
terchange it, and vary it unequally and absurdly.
Since therefore we have a prince of so excellent wis-
dom and moderation, of whose authority we ought to
be tender, as he is likewise of our liberty, let us enter
into a true and indifferent consideration, how far forth
the case in question may touch his authority, and how
far forth our liberty : and, to speak clearly, in my opi-
nion it concerns his authority much, and our liberty
nothing. at all.

The questions are two : the one, whether our speaker
be exempted from delivery of a message from the king
without our licence? The other, whether it is not all
one whether he receive it from the body of the coun-
cil, as if he received it immediately from the king?
And I yvill speak of the last first, because it is the cir-
cumstance of the present case.

First, I say, let us see how it concerns the king, and
then how it concerns us. For the king, certainly, if
it be observed, it cannot be denied, but if you may

Of Receiving the King's Messages. 371

not receive his pleasure by his representative body,
which is his council of his estate, you both straiten his
majesty in point of conveniency, and weaken the re-
putation of his council. All kings, though they be
Gods on earth, yet, as he said, they are Gods of
earth, frail as other men ; they may be children ; they
may be of extreme age ; they may be indisposed in
health ; they may be absent. Jn these cases, if their
council may not supply their persons, to what infinite
accidents do you expose them? Nay, more, sometimes
in policy kings will not be seen, but cover themselves
with their council ; and if this be taken from them, a
great part of their safety is taken away. For the other
point, of weakening the council ; you know they are
nothing without the king : they are no body-politic ;
they have no commission under seal. So as, if you
begin to distinguish and disjoin them from the king,
they are corpus opacum\ for they have lumen de lit-
mine : and so by distinguishing you extinguish the
principal engine of the estate. For it is truly affirmed,
that Concilium non habct potestatem delegata??i, sed in-
haerentem: and it is but Rex in cathedra, the king in
his chair or consistory, where his will and decrees,
which are in privacy more changeable, are settled and
fixed.

Now for that which concerns ourselves. First, for
dignity ; no man must think this a disparagement to
us : for the greatest kings in Europe, by their ambas-
sadors, receive answers and directions from the coun-
cil in the king's absence ; and if that negociation be
fit for the fraternity and parity of kings, it may much
less be excepted to by subjects.

For use or benefit, no man can be so raw and un-
acquainted in the affairs of the world, as to conceive
'there should be any disadvantage in it, as if such an-
swers were less firm and certain. For it cannot be sup-
posed, that men of so great caution, as counsellors of
estate commonly are, whether you take caution for
wisdom or providence, or for pledge of estate or for-
tune, will ever err, or adventure so far as to exceed
their warrant. And therefore I conclude, that in this

B b 2

372 Of Receiving the King's Messages.

point there can be unto us neither disgrace nor disad-
vantage.

For the point of the speaker. First, on the king's
part, it may have a shrewd illation : for it hath a
shew, as if there could be a stronger duty, than the
duty of a subject to a king. We see the decrees and
diiferences of duties in families, between father and
son, master and servant ; in corporate bodies, between
commonalties and their officers, recorders, stewards,
and the like ; yet all these give place to the king's
commandments. The bonds are more special, but
not so forcible. On our part, it concerns us nothing.
For first it is but de canali, of the pipe ; how the king's
message shall be conveyed to us, and not of the mat-
ter. Neither hath the speaker any such great domi-
nion, as that coming out of his mouth, it presseth us
more than out of a privy counsellor's. Nay, it seems
to be a great trust of the king's towards the house,
when the king doubteth not to put his message into
their mouth, as if he should speak to the city by their
recorder: therefore, methinks, we should not enter-
tain this unnecessary doubt. It is one use of wit to
make clear 'things doubtful ; but it is a much better
use of wit to make doubtful things clear $ and to that
I would men would bend themselves.

[ 373 ]

AN

ARGUMENT

OF

SIR FRANCIS BACON,

THE KING'S SOLICITOR,

IN THE

LOWER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT,

DROVING

The KIN G'S Right of Impositions on Merchandises
imported and exported.*

it please you, Mr. Speaker, this question
touching the right of impositions is very great ; ex-
tending to the prerogative of the king on the one part,
and the liberty of the subject on the other ; and that
in a point of profit and value, and not of conceit or
fancy. And therefore, as weight in all motions in-
creaseth force, so I do not marvel to see men gather
the greatest strength of argument they can to make
good their opinions. And so you will give me leave
likewise, being strong in mine own persuasson that it
is the king's right, to shew my voice as free as my
thought. And for my part, I mean to observe the
true course to give strength to this cause, which is, by
yielding those things which are not tenable, and
keeping the question within the true state and com-
pass ; which will discharge many popular arguments,
and contract the debate into a less room.

Wherefore I do deliver the question, and exclude
or set by, as not in question, five things. First, the

* This matter was much debated by the lawyers and gentlemen
in the parliament 1610, and 1614, etc* and afterwards given up by
the crown in 1641.

Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises.

question is de portorio, and not de tribute > to use the
Roman words for explanation sake ; it is not, I say,
touching any taxes within the land, but of payments
at the ports. Secondly, it is not touching any impost
from port to port, but where claves reg?ii, the keys of
the kingdom, are turned to let in from foreign parts, or
to send forth to foreign parts ; in a word, matter of
commerce and intercourse, not simply of carriage or
vecture. Thirdly, the question is, as the distinction
was used above in another case, fie vero etfalso, and
not de bono et malo> of the legal point, and not of the
inconvenience, otherwise than as it serves to decide
the law. Fourthly, I do set apart three commodities,
wools, wool-fells, and leather, as being in different
case from the rest ; because the custom upon them is
anliqua custuma. Lastly, the question is not, whether
in matter of imposing the king may alter the law by
his prerogative, bufwhether the king have not such a
prerogative by lawT.

The state of the question being thus cleared and
freed, my proposition is, that the king by the funda-
mental laws of this kingdom hath a power to impose
upon merchandise and commodities both navive and
foreign. In my proof of this proposition all that I
shall say, be it to confirm or confute, I will draw into
certain distinct heads or considerations which move me,
and may move you.

The first is an universal negative : there appeareth
not in any of the king's courts any one record, wherein
an imposition laid at the ports hath been overthrown
by judgment; nay more, where it hath been questioned
by pleading. This plea, quod summa praedicta minus,
juste imposita fuit, et contra leges et consuetudines
regni hujus /higliae, wide idem Bates illam solvere
recusavit, prout ei bene licuit s isprimae impressionis.
Bates was the first man ab origine mundi, for any thing
that appeareth, that ministered that plea ; whereupon
I offer this to consideration : the king's acts that grieve
the subject are either against law, and so void, or ac-
cording to strictness of law, and yet grievous. And
according to these several natures of • grievance, there

Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises. 37

be several remedies : Be they against law ? Overthrow
them by judgment: Be they too strait and extreme,
though legal ? propound them in parliament. Foras-
much then as impositions at the ports, having been so
often laid, were never brought into the king's courts of
justice, but still brought to parliament, 1 may most
certainly conclude, that they were conceived not to be
against law. And if any man shall think that it was
too high a point to question by law before the judges,
or that there should want fortitude in them to aid the
subject ; no, it shall appear from time to time, in cases
of equal reach, where the king's acts have been indeed
against law, the course of law hath run, and the judges
have worthily done their duty.

As in the case of an imposition upon linen cloth for 12 H. 4.
the alnage ; overthrown by judgment.

The case of a commission or arrest and committing 40Assis.
of subjects upon examination without conviction by
jury, disallowed by the judges.

A commission to determine the right of the exigen- SEIJZ.
ter's place, secundum sanam discrctioncm* disallowed ^f8 *
by the judges.

The case of the monopoly of cards overthrown and 43Eiiz.
condemned by judgment.

I might make mention of the jurisdiction of some
courts of discretion, wherein the judges did not decline
to give opinion. Therefore, had this been against
law, there would not have been all urn silentium in the
king's courts. Of the contrary judgments I will not
yet speak ; thus much now, that there is no judgment,
no nor plea against it. Though I said no more, it were
enough, in my opinion, to induce you to a non liquet^
to leave it a doubt.

The second consideration is, the force and continu-
ance of payments made by grants of merchants, both
strangers and English, without consent of parliament.
Herein I lay this ground, that such grants considered
in themselves are void in law: for merchants, either
strangers or subjects, they are no body corporate, but
singular and dispersed persons ; they cannot bind suc-
cession, neither can the major part bind the residue :

376 Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises.

how then should their grants have force ? No otherwise
but thus : that the king's power of imposing was only
the legal viitue and strength of those grants; and that
the consent of a merchant is but a concurrence, the
king is principale agens, and they are but as the pa-
tient, and so it becomes a binding act out of the king's
power.

Now if any man doubt that such grants of merchants
should not be of force, I will alledge but two memo-
rable records, the one for the merchants strangers, the
other for the merchants English. That for the strangers
si Ed. i. Js upon the grant of chart, mercator. of three pence in

Chart. 7y & . , • , 4. • •

mercator. value ultra ontiqucis custumas j which grant is in use
and practice at this day. For it is well known to the
merchants, that that which they call stranger's custom,
and erroneously double custom, is but three pence in
the pound more than English. Now look into the sta-
tutes of subsidy of tonnage and poundage, and you
shall find, a few merchandise only excepted, the poun-
dage equal upon alien and subject ; so that this differ-
ence or excess of three pence hath no other ground
than that grant. It falleth to be the same in quantity;
there is no statute for it, and therefore it can have no
strength but from the merchants grants ; and the mer-
chants grants can have no strength but from the king's
power to impose.

rt Ed. 3. For the merchants English, take the notable record
in 17 E. III. where the commons complained of the
forty shillings upon the sack of wool as a mal-toll set
by the assent of the merchants without consent of par-
liament ; nay, they dispute and say it were hard that
the merchants consent should be in damage of the com-
mons. What saith the king to them ? doth he grant
it or give way to it ? No ; but replies upon them, and
saith, It cannot be rightly construed to be in prejudice
of the commons, the rather because provision was
made, that the merchants should not work upon them,
by colour of that payment to increase their price ; in
that there was a price certain set upon the wools. And
there was an end of that matter : which plainly affirm -
eth the force of the merchants grants. So then the

Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises. 377

force of the grants of merchants both English and
strangers appeareth, and their grants being not cor-
porate, are but noun adjectives without the king's
power to impose.

The third consideration is, of the first and most an-
cient commencement of customs ; wherein I am some-
what to seek ; for, as the poet saith, Ingrediturque
solo,, et caput inter nubila cojidif, the beginning of it is
obscure : but I rather conceive that it is by common
law, than by grant in parliament. For, first, Mr.
Dyer's opinion was, that the ancient custom for expor-
tation was by the common laws ; and goeih further,
that that ancient custom was the custom upon wools,
woolfells, and leather : he was deceived in the parti-
cular, and the diligence of your search hath revealed
it ; for that custom upon these three merchandises
grew by grant of parliament 3 E. I. but the opinion in.
general was sound ; for there was a custom before
that : for the records themselves which speak of that
custom do term it a new custom, Alentour del novel
custome, As concerning the new custom granted, etc.
this is pregnant, there was yet a more ancient. So
for the strangers, the grant in 31 E. I. chart, mercator.
is, that the three pence granted by the strangers should
be ultra antiqiuis citstumasy which hath no affinity
with that custom upon the three species, but presup-
poseth more ancient customs in general. Now if any
man think that those more ancient customs were like-
wise by act of parliament, it is but a conjecture : it is
never recited ultra antiquas ciistumas prius conctssas,
and acts of parliament were not much stirring before
the great charter, which was 9 H. Ill And therefore
I conceive with Mr. Dyer, that whatsoever was the
ancient custom, was by the common law. And if by
the common law, then what other means can be ima-
gined of the commencement of it but by the king's
imposing ?

The fourth consideration is, of the manner that was
held in parliament in the abolishing of impositions
laid: wherein I will consider, first, the manner of the
petitions exhibited in parliament 3 and more especially

378 Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises.

the nature of the king's answers. For the petitions I
note two things; first, that to my remembrance there
was never any petition made for the revoking of any
imposition upon foreign merchants only. It pleased
the Decemviri in 5 E. II. to deface chart, mercator, and
so the imposition upon strangers, as against law : but
the opinion of these reformers I do not much trust, for
they of their gentleness did likewise bring in doubt the
demy-mark, which it is manifest was granted by par-
liament, and pronounced by them the king should have
it, s'il avoit le doit : but this is declared void by 1 E.
III. which reneweth chart, mercator. and void must it
needs be, because it was an ordinance by commission
only, and that in the time of a weak king, and never
either warranted or confirmed by parliament. Secondly^
I note that petitions were made promiscuously for tak-
ing away impositions set by parliament as well as with-
out parliament; nay, that very tax of the neiifiesmey
the ninth sheaf or fleece, which is recited to be against
the king's oath and in blemishment of his crown, was
an act of parliament, 14 E. III. So then to infer that
impositions were against law, because they are taken
awray by succeeding parliaments, it is no argument at
all ; because the impositions set by the parliaments
themselves, which no man will say were against law,
were nevertheless afterwards pulled down by parlia-
ment. But indeed the argument holdeth rather the
other way, that because they took not their remedy in
the king's courts of justice, but did fly to the parlia-
ment, therefore they were thought to stand with law.

Now for the king's answers : if the impositions com-
plained of had been against law, then the king's an-
swer ought to have been simple, tanquam responsio
categorica, non hijpothetica ; as, Let them be repealed,
or, Let the law run : but contrariwise, they admit all
manner of diversities and qualifications : for

Sometimes the king disputeth the matter and doth
nothing ; as 17 E. III.

Sometimes the king distinguished of reasonable and
not reasonable, as 38 E. III.

Sometimes he abolisheth them in part, and letteth

Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises. 379

them stand in part, as 1 1 E. II. the record of the
mutuum, and 14 E. III. the printed statute,
whereof I shall speak more anon.
Sometimes that no imposition shall be set during the
time that the grants made of subsidies by parlia-
ment shall continue, as 47 E. III.
Sometimes that they shall cease ad voluntatem

nostrum.
And sometimes that they shall hold over their term

prefixed or asseissed.

All which sheweth that the king did not disclaim
them as unlawful, for actus legitimus non recipit tern-
pus aut conditioner*. I it had been a disaffirmance by
law, they must have gone down in solido, but now you
see they have been tempered and qualified as the king
saw convenient.

The fifth consideration is of that which is offered by
way of objection ; which is, first, that such grants have
been usually made by consent of parliament ; and se-
condly, that the statutes of subsidies of tonnage and
poundage have been made as a kind-of stint and limi-
tation, that the king should hold himself unto the pro-
portion so granted and not imposed further ; the rather
because it is expressed in some of these statutes of ton-
nage and poundage, sometimes by way ot protestation,
and sometimes by way of condition, that they shall not
be taken in precedent, or that the king shall not im-
pose any further rates or novelties, as 6 R. II. 9 R. II.
13 H. IV. 1 H. V. which subsidies of tonnage and
poundage have such clauses and cautions.

To this objection I gave this answer. First, that it '.
is not strange with kings, for their own better strength,
and the better contentment of their people, to do those
things by parliament, which nevertheless have perfec-
tion enough without parliament. We see their own
rights to the crown which are inherent, yet they take
recognition of them by parliament. And there was a
special reason why they should do it in this case, for
they had found by experience that if they had not con-
sent in parliament to the setting of them up, they could
not have avoided suit in parliament for the taking of

380 Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises.

them down. Besides, there were some things requi-
site in the manner of the levy for the better strengthen-
ing of the same, which percase could not be done
"without parliament, as the taking the oath of the party
touching the value, the inviting of the discovery of
concealment of custom by giving the moiety to the in-
former, and the like.

Now in special for the statutes of subsidies of ton-
nage and poundage, I note three things. First, that
the consideration of the grant is not laid to be for the
restraining of impositions, but expressly for the guard-
ing of the sea. Secondly, that it is true that the an-
cient form is more peremptory, and the modern more
submiss; for in the ancient form sometimes they in-
sert a flat. condition that the king shall not further im-
pose; in the latter they humbly pray that the mer-
chants may be demeaned without oppression, paying
those rates ; but whether it be supplication, or whe-
ther it be condition, it rather implieth the king hath a
power ; for else both were needless, for conditio annec-
tiiur ubi libertas praesumititr, and the word oppression
seemeth to refer to excessive impositions. And thirdly,
that the statutes of tonnage and poundage are but
cumulative and not privative of the king's power pre-
cedent, appeareth notably in the three pence overplus,
which is paid by the merchants strangers, which should
be taken away quite, if those statutes were taken to
be limitations ; for in that, as was touched before, the
rates are equal in the generality between subjects and
strangers, and yet that imposition, notwithstanding any
supposed restriction of these acts of subsidies of ton-
nage and poundage, remaineth at this day.

The sixth consideration is likewise to an objection,
which is matter of practice, viz. that from R. II. 's time
to Q. Mary, which is almost 200 years, there was an
intermission of impositions, as appeareth both by re-
cords and the custom books.

To which I answer ; both that we have in effect an
equal number of years to countervail them, namely,
100 years in the times of the three kings Edwards
added to 60 of our last years ; and extrema obruunt

Argument concerning Impositions on Merchandises. 381

media ; for we have both the reverence of antiquity
and the possession of the present times, and they but
the middle times; and besides, in all true judgment
there is a very great difference between an usage to
prove a thing lawful, and anon usage to prove it un-
lawful: for the practice plainly implieth consent 3 but
the discontinuance may be either because it was not
needful, though lawful ; or because there was found
a better means, as I think it was indeed in respect of
the double customs by means of the staple at Calais.

[ 382 ]

A BRIEF SPEECH

In the End of the Session of Parliament 7 JACOBI,
Persuading some supply to be given to bis MAJESTY ;
which seemed then to stand in doubtful Terms, and
passed upon this Speech.

A HE proportion of the king's supply is not now in
question: for when that shall be, it may be I shall be
of opinion, that we should give so now, as we may the
better give again. But as things stand for the pre-
sent, I think the point of honour and reputation is that
which his majesty standeth most upon, that our gift
may at least be like those showers, that may serve to
lay the winds, though they do not sufficiently water
the earth.

To labour to persuade you, I will not : for I know
not into what form to cast rny speech. If I should
enter into a laudative, though never so due and just,
of the king's great merits, it may be taken for flat-
tery : if I should speak of the strait obligations which
intercede between the king ari8 the subject, in case
of the king's want, it were a kind of concluding the
house : if I should speak of the dangerous conse-
quence which want may reverberate upon subjects,
it might have a shew of a secret menace.

These arguments are, I hope, needless, and do
better in your minds than in my mouth. But this give
me leave to say, that whereas the example of Cyrus
was used, who sought his supply from those upon
whom he had bestowed his benefits ; we must always
remember, that there are as well benefits of the scepter
as benefits of the hand, as well of government as
liberality. These, I am sure, we will acknowledge
to have come plena manu amongst us all, and all those
whom we represent ; and therefore it is every man's
head in this case that must be his councellor, and
every man's heart his orator; and to those inward
powers more forcible than any man's speech, I leave
it, and wish it may go to the question.

[ 383 ]

A

CERTIFICATE

LORDS OF THE COUNCIL,

UPON INFORMATION GIVEN

Touching the Scarcity of Silver at the Mint, and Re-
ference to the two Chancellors, and the King's Soli-
citor.

It may please your Lordships,

ACCORDING unto your lordships letters unto us
directed, grounded upon the information which his
majesty hath received concerning the scarcity of silver
at the Mint, we have called before us as well the officers
of the Mint} as some principal merchants, and spent
two whole afternoons in the examination of the busi-
ness ; wherein we kept this order, first to examine the
fact, then the causes, with the remedies.

And for the fact, we directed the officers of the
Mint to give unto us a distinguished account how
much gold and silver hath yearly been brought into
the Mint, by the space of six whole years last past,
more especially for the last three months succeeding
the last proclamation touching the price of gold ; to
the end we might by the suddenness of the fall dis-
cern, whether that proclamation might be thought the
efficient cause of the present scarcity. Upon which
account it appears to us, that during the space of six
years aforesaid, there have been still degrees of decay
in quantity of the silver brought to the Mint, but yet
so, as within these last three months it hath grown
far beyond the proportion of the former time, inso-
much as there comes in now little or none at all.
And yet, notwithstanding, it is some opinion, as well
amongst the officers of the Mint as the merchants,
that the state need be the less apprehensive of this

384- Certificate relating to the. Mint.

effect, because it is like to be but temporary, and
neither the great flush of gold that is come into the
Mint since the proclamation, nor on the other side the
great scarcity of silver, can continue in proportion as
it now doth.

Another point of the fact, which we thought fit to
examine, was, whether the scarcity of silver appeared
generally in the realm, or only at the Mint ; wherein
it was confessed by the merchants, that silver is con-
tinually imported into the realm, and is found stirring
amongst the goldsmiths, and otherwise, much like as
in former times, although, in respect of the greater
price which it hath with the goldsmith, it cannot find
the way to the Mint. And thus much for the fact.

For the causes with the remedies, we have heard
many propositions made, as well by the lord Knevet,
who assisted us in this conference, as by the merchants j
of which propositions few were new unto us, and
much less can be new to your lordships; but yet al-
though upon former consultations, we are not unac-
quainted what is more or less likely to stand with your
lordships grounds and opinions, we thought it never-
theless the best fruit of our diligence to set them down
in articles, that your lordships with more ease may
discard or entertain the particulars, beginning with
those which your lordships do point at in your letters,
and so descending to the rest.

The first proposition is, touching the disproportion
of the price between gold and silver, which is now
brought to bed, upon the point of fourteen to one,
being before but twelve to one. This we take to be
an evident cause of scarcity of silver at the Mint, but
such a cause as will hardly receive a remedy ; for
either your lordships must draw down again the price
of gold, or advance the price of silver j whereof the
one is going back from that which is so lately done,
and whereof you have found good effect, and the other
is a thing of dangerous consequence in respect of the
loss to all moneyed men in their debts, gentlemen in
their rents, the king in his customs, and the common
subject in raising the price of things vendible. And

Certificate relating to the Mint.

Upon this point it is fit we give your lordships under-
standing what the merchants intimated unto us, that
the very voicing or suspect of the raising of the price
of silver, if it be not cleared, would make such a dead-
ness and retention of money this vacation, as, to use
their own words, will be a misery to the merchants :
so that we were forced to use protestation, that there
was no such intent.

The second proposition is touching the charge of
coinage; wherein it was confidently avouched by the
merchants, that if the coinage were brought from two
shillings unto eighteen pence, as it was in queen Eli-
zabeth's time, the king would gain more in the quan-
tity than he should lose in the price : and they aided
themselves with that argument, that the king had been
pleased to abate his coinage in the other metal, and
found good of it: which argument, though it doth
admit a difference, because that abatement was cou-
pled with the raising of the price, whereas this is to go
alone ; yet nevertheless it seemed the officers of the
Mint were not unwilling to give way to some abate-
ment, although they presumed it would be of small
effect, because that abatement would not be equiva-
lent to that price which Spanish silver bears with the
goldsmith 5 but yet it may be used as an experiment
of state, being recoverable at his majesty's pleasure.

The third proposition is, concerning the exportation
of silver more than in former times3 wherein \ve fell
first upon the trade into the East Indies ; concerning
which it was materially in our opinions answered by the
merchants of that company, that the silver which sup-
plies that trade, being generally Spanish moneys, would
not be brought in but for that trade, so that it sucks in
as well as it draws forth. And it was added likewise*
that as long as the Low Countries maintained that
trade in the Indies, it would help little though our
trade were dissolved, because that silver which is ex-
ported immediately by us to the Indies would be
drawn out of this kingdom for the Indies immediately
by the Dutch : and for the silver exported to the Le-
vant, it was thought to be no great matter. As for
VOL. in. cc

386 Certificate relating to the Mint.

other exportation, we saw no remedy but the execu-
tion of the laws, specially those of employment being
by some mitigation made agreeable to the times. And
these three remedies are of that nature, as they serve
to remove the causes of this scarcity. There were
other propositions of policies and means, directly to
draw silver from the Mint.

The fourth point thereof was this: It is agreed that
the silver which hath heretofore fed the Mint, princi-
pally hath been Spanish money. This now comes into
the realm plentifully, but not into the Mint. It was
propounded in imitation of some precedent in France,
that his majesty would by proclamation restrain the
coming in of this money sub modo, that is, that either
it be brought to the Mint, or otherwise to be cut and
defaced, because that now it passeth in payments in a
kind of currency. To which it was colourably ob-
jected, that this would be the way to have none
brought in at all, because the gain ceasing, the im-
portation would cease ; but this objection was well
answered, that it is not gain altogether, but a neces-
sity of speedy payment, that causeth the merchant to
bring in silver to keep his credit, and to drive his trade:
so that if the king keep his fourteen days payment at
the Mint, as he always hath done, and have likewise
his exchangers for those moneys in some principal
parts, it is supposed that all Spanish moneys, which is
the bulk of silver brought into this realm, would by
means of such a proclamation come into the Mint 5
which may be a thing considerable.

The fifth proposition was this: It was warranted by
the laws of Spain to bring in silver for corn or vic-
tuals ; it was propounded that his majesty would re-
strain exportation of corn sub modo, except. they bring
the silver which resulted thereof unto his mint ; that
trade being commonly so beneficial, as the merchant
may well endure the bringing of the silver to the
Mint, although it were at the charge of coinage, which
it now beareth further, as incident to this matter,
There was revived by the merchants, with some in-
stance, the ancient proposition concerning the erection

Certificate relating to the Mint.

of granaries for foreign corn, forasmuch as by that in-
crease of trade in corn, the importation of silver would
likewise be multiplied.

The sixth proposition was, That upon all licence of
forbidden commodities, there shall be a rate set of
silver to be brought into the Mint: which nevertheless
may seem somewhat hard, because it imposeth upon
the subject that which causeth him to incur peril of ^
confiscation in foreign parts. To trouble your lord-
ships further with discourses which we had of making
foreign coins current, and of varying the king's stand-
ard to weight, upon the variations in other states, and
repressing surfeit of foreign commodities, that our
native commodities, surmounting the foreign, may
draw in treasure by way of overplus; they be common
places so well known to your lordships, as it is enough
to mention them only.

There is only one thing more, which is, to put your
lordships in mind of the extreme excess in the wasting
of both metals, both of gold and silver foliate, which
turns the nature of these metals, which ought to be
perdurable, and makes them perishable, and by con-
sumption must be a principal cause of scarcity in them
both; which we conceive may receive a speedy remedy
by his majesty's proclamation.

Lastly, We are humble suitors to your lordships,
that for any of these propositions^ that your lordships
should think fit to entertain in consultations, your lord-
ships would be pleased to hear them debated before
yourselves, as being matters of greater weight than
we are able to judge of. And so craving your lord-
ships pardon for troubling you so long, we commend
your lordships to God's goodness.

c c

t S88 ]

ADVICE TO THE KING,

TOUCHING

MR. SUTTON's ESTATE.

May it please your Majesty,

1 FIND it a positive precept of the old law, that
there should be no sacrifice without salt: the moral
whereof, besides the ceremony, may be, that God is
not pleased with the body of a good intention, except
it be seasoned with that spiritual wisdom and judg*
rnent, as it be not easily subject to be corrupted and
perverted: for salt, in the Scripture, is a figure both of
wisdom and lasting. This cometh into my mind upon
this act of Mr. Sutton, which seemeth to me as a
sacrifice without salt; having the materials of a good
intention, but not powdered with any such ordinances
and institutions as may preserve the same from turning
corrupt, or at least from becoming unsavory, and of
little use. For though the choice of the feoffees be of
the best, yet neither can they always live ; and the
very nature of the work itself, in the vast and unfit
proportions thereof, being apt to provoke a mis-em-
ployment ; it is no diligence of theirs, except there be
a digression from that model, that can excuse it from
running the same way that gifts of like condition have
heretofore done. For to design the Charterhouse, a
building fit for a prince's habitation, for an hospital, is
all one as if one should give in alms a rich embroi-
dered cloak to a beggar. And certainly a man may
see, tanquam quae oculis cernuntur, that if such an
edifice, with six thousand pounds revenue, be erected
into one hospital, it will in small time degenerate to be
made a preferment of some great person to be master,
and he to take all the sweet, and the poor to be stinted,
and take butt he crumbs ; as it comes to pass in divers

Advice about the Charterhouse.

hospitals of this realm, which have but the names of
hospitals, and are only wealthy benefices in respect
of the mastership ; but the poor, which is the proptcr
quid, little relieved. And the like hath been the for-
tune of much of the alms of the Roman religion in
their great foundations, which being begun in vain
glory and ostentation, have had their judgment upon
them, to end in corruption and abuse. This medita-
tion hath made me presume to write these few lines to
your majesty ; being no better than good wishes, which
your majesty's great wisdom may make something or
nothing of. '

Wherein I desire to be thus understood, that if this
foundation, such as it is, be perfect and good in law,
then I am too well acquainted with your majesty's dis-
position, to advise any course of power or profit that
is not grounded upon a right : nay farther, if the de-
fects be such as a court of equity may remedy and cure,
then I wish that as St. Peter's shadow did cure diseases,
so the very shadow of a good intention may cure de-
fects of that nature. But if there be a right, and birth
right planted in the heir, and not remediable by courts
of equity, and that right be submitted to your majesty,
whereby it is both in your power and grace what to
do ; then I do wish that this rude mass and chaos of a
good deed were directed rather to a solid merit, and
durable charity, than to a blaze of glory, that will but
crackle a little in talk, and quickly extinguish.

And this may be done, observing the species of Mr.
Sutton's intent, though varying in indiuiduo : for it ap-
pears that he had in notion a triple good, an hospital,
and a school, and maintaining of a preacher : which
individuals refer to these three general heads ; relief
of poor, advancement of learning, and propagation of
religion. Now then if I shall set before your majesty,
in every of these three kinds, what it is that is most
wanting in your kingdom ; and what is like to be the
most fruitful and effectual use of such a beneficence,
and least like to T)e perverted ; that, I think, shall be
no ill scope of 4ny labour, how meanly soever per-

)0 Advice about the Charterhouse.

formed; for out of variety represented, election may
be best grounded.

Concerning the relief of the. poor; I hold some
number of hospitals, with competent endowments,
will do tar more good than one hospital of an exorbi-
tant greatness : for though the one course will be more
seen, yet the other will be the more felt. For if your
majesty erect many, besides the observing the ordinary
maxim, Bonum, quo communius, eo mdius, choice
may be made of those towns and places where there
is most need, and so the remedy may be distributed
as the disease is dispersed. Again, greatness of re-
lief, accumulated in one place, doth rather invite a
§warm and surcharge of poor, than relieve those
that are naturally bred in that place; like to ill-tem-
pered medicines, that draw more humour to the part
thui they evacuate from it. But chiefly I rely upon
the reason that I touched in the beginning, that in
these great hospitals the revenues will draw the use,
and not the use the revenues ; and so, through the
mass of the wealth, they will swiftly tumble down to
a mis-employment. And if any man say, that in the
two hospitals in London there is a precedent of great-
ness concurring with good employment ; let him con-
sider that those hospitals have annual governors, that
they are under the superior care and policy of such a
state as the city of London ; and chiefly, that their re-
venues consist not upon certainties, but upon casual-
ties and free gifts ; which gifts would be withheld, if
they appeared once to be perverted ; so as it keepeth
them in a continual good behaviour and awe to employ
them aright ; none of which points do match with the
present case.

The next consideration may be, whether this in-
tended hospital, as it hath a more ample endowment
than other hospitals, should not likewise work upon a
better subject than other poor; as that it should be
converted to the relief of maimed soldiers, decayed mer-
chants, and housholders aged, and destitute church-
men, and the like; whose condition^ being of a better

Advice about the Charterhouse. 391

sort than loose people and beggars, deserveth both a
more liberal stipend and allowance, and some proper
place of relief, not intermingled or coupled with the
basest sort of poor , which project, though specious,
yet in my judgment, will not answer the designment
in the event, in these our times. For certainly few
men in any vocation, which have been somebody,
and bear a mind somewhat according to the conscience
and remembrance of that they have been, wrill ever
descend to that condition, as to profess to live upon
alms, and to become a corporation of declared beg*
gars ; but rather will choose to live obscurely, and as
it were to hide themselves with some private friends :
so that the end of such an institution will be, that it
will make the place a receptacle of the worst, idlest,
and most dissolute persons of every profession, and to
become a cell of loiterers, and cast serving-men, and
drunkards, with scandal rather than fruit to the com-
monwealth. And of this kind I can find but one ex-
ample with us, which is the alms knights of Windsor;
which particular would give a man small encourage-
ment to follow that precedent.

Therefore the best effect of hospitals is, to make the
kingdom, if it were possible, capable of that law, that
there be no beggar in Israel : for it is that kind of peo-
ple that is a burden, an eye sore, a scandal, and a seed
of peril and tumult in a state. But chiefly it were to
be wished, such a beneficence towards the relief of
the poor were so bestowed, as not only the mere and
naked poor should be sustained, but also, that the
honest person which hath hard means to live, upon
whom the poor are now charged, should be in some
sort eased : for that were a work generally acceptable
to the kingdom, if the public hand of alms might spare
the private hand of tax : and therefore, of all other
employments of that kind, I commend most houses of
relief and correction, which are mixt hospitals ; where
the impotent person is Relieved, and the sturdy beggar
buckled to work ; and the unable person also not main*
tained to be idle, which is ever joined with drunken-
ness and impurity, but is sorted with such work as he

392 Advice about the Charterhouse.

can manage and perform ; and where the uses are not
distinguished, as in other hospitals ; whereof some are
for aged and impotent, and some for children, and
some for correction of vagabonds ; but are general and
promiscuous : that may take off poor of every sort
from the country as the country breeds them; and thus
the poor themselves shall find the provision, and other
people the sweetness of the abatement of the tax. Now
if it be objected, that houses of correction in all places
have not done the good expected, as it cannot be de-
nied, but in most places they have done much good,
it must be remembered that there is a great difference
between that which is done by the distracted govern-
ment of justices of peace, and that which may be
done by a settled ordinance, subject to a regular visi-
tation, as this may be. And besides, the want hath
been commonly in houses of correction of a competent
and certain stock, for the materials of the labour,
which in this case may be likewise supplied.

Concerning the advancement of learning, I do sub-
scribe to the opinion of one of the wisest and greatest
men of your kingdom : That for grammar schools there
are already too many, and therefore no providence to
add where there is excess : for the great number of
schools which are in your highness's realm, doth cause
a want, and doth cause likewise an overflow ; both of
them inconvenient, and one of them dangerous. For
by means thereof they find want in the country and
towns, both of servants for husbandry, and apprentices
for trade : and on the other side, there being more
scholars bred, than the state can prefer and employ \
and the active part of that life not bearing a proportion
to the preparative, it must needs fall out, that many
persons will be bred unfit for other vocations, and un-
profitable for that in which they are brought up ; which
fills the realm full of indigent, idle, and wanton peo-:
pie, which are but materia rerum novanun.

Therefore, in this point, I wish Mr. Button's inten-r
tion were exalted a degree; that that which he meant
for teachers of children, your majesty should make for
teachers of men ; wherein it hath been my

Advice about the Charterhouse. 393

opinion and observation, that in the universities of this
realm, which I take to be of the best endowed universi-
ties of Europe, there is nothing more wanting towards
the flourishing state of learning, than the honourable
and plentiful salaries of readers in arts and professions.
In which point, as your majesty's bounty already hath
made a beginning, so this occasion is offered of God
to make a proceeding. Surely, readers in the chair
are as the parents in sciences, and deserve to enjoy a
condition not inferior to their children that embrace
the practical part ; else no man will sit longer in the
chair, than till he can walk to a better preferment :
and it will come to pass as Virgil saith,

Ef palnim imalidi referant jejunia nail.

For if the principal readers, through the meanness of
their entertainment, be but men of superficial learn-
ing, and that they shall take their place but in pas-
sage, it will make the mass of sciences want the chief
and solid dimension, which is depth ; and to become
but pretty and compendious habits of practice. There-
fora I could wish that in both the universities, the lec-
tures as well of the three professions, divinity, law,
and physic ; as of the three heads of science, philo-
sophy, arts of speech, and the mathematics ; were
raised in their pensions unto 100/. per annum apiece :
which though it be not near so great as they are in
s(5me other places, where the greatness of the reward
doth whistle for the ablest men out of all foreign parts
to supply the chair; yet it may be a portion to content
a worthy and able man ; if he be likewise contem-
plative in nature, as those spirits are that are fittest for
lectures. Thus may learning in your kingdom be ad-
vanced to a farther height ; learning, I say, which
under your majesty, the most learned of kings, may
claim some degree of elevation.

Concerning propagation of religion, I shall in few
words set befofe your majesty three propositions ; none
of them devices of mine own, otherwise then I ever ap-
proved them ; two of which have been in agitation of
speech and the third acted.

394 Advice about, the Charterhouse.

The first a college for controversies, whereby' we
shall not still proceed single, but shall, as it were,
double our files ; which certainly will be found in the
encounter.

The second a receipt, I like not the word seminary,
in respect of the vain vows, and implicit obedience,
and other things tending to the perturbation of states,
involved in. that term, for converts to the reformed re-
ligion, either of youth or otherwise; for I doubt not
but there are in Spain, Italy, and other countries of
the papists, many whose hearts are touched with a
sense of those corruptions, and an acknowledgment
of a better way ; which grace is many times smothered
and choked, through a worldly consideration of neces-
sity ; men not knowing where to have succour and re-
fuge. This likewise I hold a work of great piety, and
a work of great consequence ; that we also may be
wise in our generation ; and that the watchful and
silent night may be used as well for sowing of good
seed, as of tares.

The third is, the imitation of a memorable and reli-
gious act of queen Elizabeth ; who finding a part of
Lancashire to be extremely backward in religion, and
the benefices swallowed up in impropriations, did by
decree in the duchy, erect four stipends of JOO/. per
annum apiece for preachers well chosen to help the
harvest, which have done a great deal of good in
the parts where they have laboured. Neither do there
want other corners in the realm, that would require
for a time the like extraordinary help.

Thus have I briefly delivered unto your majesty
mine opinion touching the employment of this charity ;
whereby that mass of wealth, which was in the owrner
little better than a stack or heap of muck, may be
spread over your kingdom to many fruitful purposes ;
your majesty planting and watering, and God giving
the increase.

t 395 ]

A

SPEECH

DELIVERED BY THE KING'S ATTORNET,

SIR FRANCIS BACON,

IN THE JLOWER HOUSE,
When the House was in great hcat^ and much troubled atout ths

UNDERTAKERS;

Which were thought to be some able and forward
gentlemen; who, to ingratiate themselves with the
King, were said to have undertaken, that the King's
business should pass in that house as his majesty
could wish.

[In the Parliament 12 JACOBI.]

Mr. Speaker y

JL HAVE been hitherto silent in this matter of under-
taking, wherein, as I perceive, the house is much
enwrapped.

First, because, to be plain with you, I did not well
understand what it meant, or what it was ; and I do
not love to offer at that, that I do not thoroughly con-
ceive. That private men should undertake for the
commons of England! why, a man might as well un-
dertake for the four elements. It is a thing so giddy,
and so vast, as cannot enter into the brain of a sober
man : and especially in a new parliament ; when it
was impossible to know who should be of the parlia-
ment : and when all men, that know never so little the
constitution of this house, do know it to be so open to
reason, as men do not know when they enter into these
doors what mind themselves will be of, until they hear
things argued and debated. Much less can any man-
make a policy of assurance, what ship shall come safe

396 d Speech about Undertakers.

home into the harbour in these seas. I had heard of un-
dertakings in several kinds. There were undertakers
for the plantations of Derry and Colerane in Ireland,
the better to command and bridle those parts. There
"were, not long ago, some undertakers for the north-
west passage : and now there are some undertakers
for the project of dyed and dressed cloths; and, in short,
every novelty useth to be strengthened and made good
by a kind of undertaking; but for the ancient parlia-
ment of England, which moves in a certain manner
and sphere, to be undertaken, it passes my reach to
conceive what it should be. Must we be all dyed
and dressed, and no pure whites amongst us ? Or
must there be a new passage found for the king's busi-
ness by a point of the compass that was never sailed
by before? Or must there be some forts built in thishouse
that may command and contain the rest? Mr. Speaker,
I know but two forts in this house which the king ever
hath ; the fort of affection and the fort of reason: the
one commands the hearts, and the other commands
the heads ; and others I know none. I think /Esop
was a wise man that described the nature of the fly
that sat upon the spoke of the chariot wheel and said
to herself, " What a dust do I raise ?" So, for my part, I
think that all this dust is raised by light rumours and
buzzes, and not upon any solid ground.

The second reason that made me silent was, because
this suspicion and rumour of undertaking settles upon
no person certain. It is like the birds of Paradise that
they have in the Indies, that have no feet ; and there-
fore they never light upon any place, but the wind
carries them away : and such a thing do I take this
rumour to be.

And lastly, when that the king had in his two several
speeches freed us from the main of our fears, in affirm-
ing directly that there was no undertaking to him ;
, and that he would have taken it to be no less deroga-
tion to his own majesty than to our merits, to have the
acts of his people transferred to particular persons ;
that did quiet me thus far, that these vapours were

A Speech about Undertakers. 397

not gone up to the head, howsoever they might glow
and estuate in the body.

Nevertheless, since 1 perceive that this cloud still
hangs over the house, and that it may do hurt, as well
in fame abroad as in the king's ear, I resolved with
myself to do the part of an honest voice in this house,
to counsel you what I think to be for the best,

Wherein first, I will speak plainly of the pernicious
effects of the accident of this bruit and opinion of un-
dertaking, towards particulars, towards the house, to-
wards the king, and towards the people.

Secondly, I will tell you in mine opinion, what un-
dertaking is tolerable, and how far it may be justified
with a good mind ; and on the other side, this same
ripping up of the question of undertakers, how far it
may proceed from a good mind, and in what kind it
may be thought malicious and dangerous.

Thirdly, I will give you my poor advice, what
means there are to put an end to this question of un-
dertaking not falling for the" present upon a precise
opinion, but breaking it, how many ways there be by
which you may get out of it, and leaving a choice of
them to a debate at the committee.

And lastly, I will advise you how things are to be
handled at the committee, to avoid distraction and loss
of time.

For the first of these, I can say to you but as the
Scripture saith, Si mvicem mordetis, ab inriccm con-
swnemini ; if ye fret and gall one another's reputation,
the end will be, that every man shall go hence, like
coin cried down, of less price than he carne hither.
If some shall be thought to fawn upon the king's busi-
ness openly, and others to cross it secretly, some shall
be thought practisers that would pluck the cards, and
others shall be thought papists that would shuffle the
cards : what a misery is this, that we should come to-
gether to fool one another, instead of procuring the
public good !

And this ends not in particulars, but will make the
whole house contemptible : for now I hear men say,
that this question of undertaking is the predominant

39S d Speech about Undertakers.

matter of this house. So that we are now according
to the parable of Jotham in the case of the trees of the
forest, that when question was, Whether the vine
should reign over them r that might not be : and
whether the olive should reign over them ? that might
not be : but we have accepted the bramble to reign
over us. For it seems that the good vine of the king's
graces, that is not so much in esteem ; and the good
oil, whereby we should salve and relieve the wants of
the estate and crown, that is laid aside too : and this
bramble of contention and emulation ; this Abimelech,
which, as was truly said by an understanding gentle-
man, is a bastard, for every fame that wants.a head,
istfillus populi, this must reign and rule amongst us.

Then for the king, nothing can be more opposite,
ex diametro, to his ends and hopes, than this: for you
have heard -him profess like a king, and like a gra-
cious king, that he doth not so much respect his pre-
sent supply, as this demonstration that the peoples
hearts are more knit to him than before. Now then if
. the issue shall be this, that whatsoever shall be done
for him shall be thought to be done but by a number
of persons that shall be laboured and packed ; this will
rather be a sign of diffidence and alienation, than of a
natural benevolence and affection in his people at
home , and rather matter of disreputation, than of ho-
nour abroad. So that, to speak plainly to you, the
king were better call for a new pair of cards, than
play upon these if they be packed.

And then for the people, it is my manner ever to
look as well beyond a parliament as upon a parlia-
ment ; and if they abroad shall think themselves be-
trayed by those that are their deputies and attorneys
here, it is true we may bind them and conclude them,
but it will be with such murmur and dissatisfaction as
I would be loth to see.

- These things might be dissembled; and so things
left to bleed inwards ; but that is not the way to cura
them. And therefore I have searched the sore, in
hope that you will endeavour the medicine.

But this to do more thoroughly, I must proceed to

A Speech about Undertakers. 399

my second part, to tell you clearly and distinctly what
is to be set on the right hand, and what on the left in
this business.

First, if any man hath done good offices to advise the
king to call a parliament, and to increase the good affec-
tion and confidence of his majesty towards his people ;
I say that such a person doth rather merit well, than
commit any error. Nay farther, if any man hath, out
of his own good mind, given an opinion touching the
minds of the parliament in general ; how it is probable
they are like to be found, and that they will have a
due feeling of the king's wants, and will not deal
drily or illiberally with him ; this man, that doth but
think of other mens minds, as he finds his own, is not
to be blamed. Nay farther,, if any man hath coupled
this with good wishes and propositions, that the king
do comfort the hearts of his people, and testify his own
love to them, by filing off the harshness of his preroga-
tive, retaining the substance and strength ; and to that
purpose, like the good housholder in the Scripture, that
brought forth old store and new, hath revolved the peti-
tions and propositions of the last parliament, and added
new ; I say, this man hath sown good seed ; and he
that shall draw him into envy for it, sows tares. Thus
much of the right hand. But on the other side, if
any shall mediately or immediately infuse into his ma-
jesty, or to others, that the parliament is, as Cato said
of the Romans, " like sheep, that a man were better
" drive a flock of them than one-of thorn:" and how-
ever they may be wise men severally, yet in this as-
sembly they are guided by some few, which if they
be made and assured, the rest will easily follow : this
is a plain robbery of the king of honour, and his sub-
jects of thanks, and it is to make the parliament vile
and servile in the eyes of their sovereign ; and I count
it no better than a supplanting of the king and king-
dom. Again, if a man shall make this impression,
that it shall be enough for the king to send us same
things of shew that may serve for colours, and let some
eloquent tales be told of them, and that will serve
ad faciendum populum ; any such person will find that

40O A Speech about Undertaker^.

his house can well skill of false lights, and that it is
no wooing tokens, but the true love already planted
in the breasts of the subjects, that will make them do
for the king. And this is my opinion touching those
that may have persuaded a parliament. Take it on
the other side, for I mean in all things to deal plainly,
if any man hath been diffident touching the call of a
parliament, thinking that the best means were first for
the king to make his utmost trial to subsist of himself,
and his own means ; I say an honest and faithful heart
might consent to that opinion, and the event, it seems,
doth not greatly discredit it hitherto. Again, if any
man shall have been of opinion, that it is not a parti-
cular party that can bind the house ; nor that it is not
shews or colours can please the house ; I say, that man,
though his speech tend to discouragement, yet it is
coupled with providence. But, by your leave, if any
man since the parliament was called, or when it was
in speech, shall have laid plots to cross the good will
of the parliament to the king, by possessing them that
a few shall have the thanks, and that they are, as it
were, bought and sold, and betrayed ; and that that
which the king offers them are but baits prepared by
particular persons; or have raised rumours that it is a
packed parliament; to the end nothing may be done,
but that the parliament may be dissolved, as game-
sters used to call for new cards, when they mistrust a
pack: I say, these are engines and devices naught,
malign, and seditious.

Now for the remedy, I shall rather break the matter,
as I said in the beginning, than advise positively. I
know but three ways. Some message of declaration
to the king ; some entry or protestation amongst our-
selves; or some strict and punctual examination. As
for the last of these I assure you I am not against it,
if I could tell where to begin, or where to end. For
certainly I have often seen it, that things when they
are in smother trouble more than when they break out.
Smoke blinds the eyes, but when it blazeth forth into
flame it gives light to the eyes. But then if you fall
to an examination, some person must be charged,

A Speech about Undertakers. 401

some matter must be charged ; and the manner of
that matter must be likewise charged ; for it may be
in a good fashion, and it may be in a bad, in as much
difference as between black and white : and then how
far men will ingenuously confess, how far they will
politicly deny, and what we can make and gather
upon their confession, and how we shall prove against
their denial ; it is an endless piece of work, and I doubt
that we shall grow weary of it.

For a message to the king, it is the course I like
best, so it be carefully and considerately handled : for
if we shall represent to the king the nature of this body
as it is, without the veils or shadows that have been
cast upon it, I think we shall do him honour, and
ourselves right.

For any thing that is to be done amongst ourselves, I
do not see much gained by it, because it goes no far-
ther than ourselves ; yet if any thing can be wisely con-
ceived to that end, I shall not be against it; but I
think the purpose of it is fittest to be, rather that the
house conceives that all this is but a misunderstanding,
than to take knowledge that there is indeed a just
ground, and then to seek by a protestation, to give it a
remedy. For protestations, and professions, and apo-
logies, I never found them very fortunate ; but they
rather increase suspicion than clear it.

Why then the last part is, that these things be han-
dled at the committee seriously and temperately;
wherein I wish that these four degrees of questions
were handled in order.

First, whether we shall do any thing at all in it, or
pass by it, and Jet it sleep ?

Secondly, whether we shall enter into a particular
examination of it ?

Thirdly, whether we shall content ourselves with
some entry or protestation among ourselves ?

And fourthly, whether we shall proceed to a mes-
sage to the king ; and what ?

Thus I have told you my opinion. I know it had
been more safe and politic to have been silent; but it
is perhaps more honest and loving to speak. The old

VOL. III. D d

402 A Speech about Undertakers.

verse is Nam nulli tacuisse nocef, nocet esse locutum.
But, by your leave, David saith, Silui a bonis, et do-
'lor meus renovatus est. When a man speaketh he
may be wounded by others ; but if he hold his peace
from good things, he wounds himself. So I have done
rny part, and leave it to you to do that which you shall
judge to be the best.

[ 403 ]

HIS LORDSHIP'S SPEECH

IN THE PARLIAMENT,

BEING

LORD CHANCELLOR,

TO

THE SPEAKER'S EXCUSE.

Mr. Serjeant RICHARDSON,

A HE king bath beard and observed your grave and
decent speech, tending to the excuse and disablement
of yourself for the place of Speaker. In answer where-
of, bis majesty bath commanded me to say to you,
that be doth in no sort admit the same.

First, Because if the party's own judgment should
be admitted in case of elections, touching himself, it
would follow, that the most confident and overweaning
persons would be received ; and the most considerate
men, and those that understand themselves best,
would be rejected.

Secondly, His Majesty doth so much rely upon the
wisdoms and discretions of those of the house of com-
mons, that have chosen you with an unanimous con-
sent, that his majesty thinks not good to swerve from
their opinion in that wherein themselves are principally
interested.

Thirdly, You have disabled yourself in so good and
decent a fashion, as the manner of your speech hath
destroyed the matter of it.

And therefore the king doth allow of the election*
and admit you for speaker.

Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse.

To the SPEAKER'S ORATION.

Mr. SPEAKER,

THE king hath heard and observed your eloquent
discourse, containing much good matter, and much
good will: wherein you must expect from me such an
answer only as is pertinent to the occasion, and com-
passed by due respect of time.

I may divide that which you have said into four
parts.

The first was a commendation, or laudative of mo-
narchy.

The second was indeed a large field, containing a
thankful acknowledgment of his majesty's benefits,
attributes, and acts of government.

The third was some passages touching the institution
and use of parliaments.

The fourth and last was certain petitions to his ma-
jesty on the behalf of the house and yourself.

For your commendation of monarchy, and preferring
it before other estates, it needs no answer : the schools
may dispute it; but time hath tried it, and we find it
to be the best. Other states have curious frames soon
put out of order : and they that are made fit to last, are
not commonly fit to grow or spread : and contrariwise
those that are made fit to spread and enlarge, are not
fit to continue and endure. But monarchy is like a
\vork of nature, well composed both to grow and to
continue. From this I pass.

For the second part of your speech, wherein you
did with no less truth than affection acknowledge the
great felicity which we enjoy by his majesty's reign and
government, his majesty hath commanded me to say
unto you, that praises and thanksgivings he knoweth
to be the true oblations of hearts and loving affections:
but that which you offer him he will join with you, in
offering it up to God, who is the author of all good ;
who knoweth also the uprightness of his heart ; who
he hopeth will continue and increase his blessings both
upon himself and his posterity, and likewise upon his
kingdoms and the generations of them.

Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse. 405

But I for my part must say unto you, as the Grecian
orator said long since in the like case : Sotus dignus
harum rerum laudator tempus ; Time is the only corn-
mender and encomiastic worthy of his majesty and his
government.

Why time? For that in the revolution of so many
years and ages as have passed over this kingdom, not-
withstanding, many noble and excellent effects were
never produced until his majesty's days, but have been
reserved as proper and peculiar unto them.

And because this is no part of a panegyric, but
merely story, and that they be so many articles of
honour fit to be recorded, I will only mention them,
extracting part of them out of what you, Mr. Speaker,
have said : they be in number eight.

First, His majesty is the first, as you noted it well,
that hath laid lapis angularis, the corner-stone of these
two mighty kingdoms of England and Scotland, and
taken away the wall of separation : whereby his majesty
is become the monarch of the most puissant and mili-
tary nations of the world ; and, if one of the ancient
wise men was not deceived, iron commands gold.

Secondly, The plantation and reduction to civility
of Ireland, the second island of the ocean Atlantic,
did by God's providence wait for his majesty's times ;
being a work resembling indeed the works of the
ancient heroes : no new piece of that kind in modern
times.

Thirdly, This kingdom now first in his majesty's
times hath gotten a lot or portion in the new world by
the plantation of Virginia and the Summer Islands.
And certainly it is with the kingdoms on earth as it is
in the kingdom of heaven : sometimes a grain of mus-
tard seed proves a great tree. Who call tell ?

Fourthly, His majesty hath made that truth which
was before titularly, in that he hath verified the stile
of Defender of the Faith: wherein his majesty's pen
had been so happy, as though the deaf adder will not
hear, yet he is charmed that he doth not hiss. I mean
in the graver sort of those that have answered his ma-
jesty's writings.

Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse.

Fifthly^ It is most certain, that since the conquest,
ye cannot assign twenty years, which is the time that
his majesty's reign now draws fast upon, of inward
and outward peace. Insomuch, as the time of Queen
Elizabeth, of happy memory, and always magnified
for a peaceable reign, was nevertheless interrupted
the first twenty years with a rebellion in England ; and
both first and last twenty years with rebellions in Ire-
land. And yet I know, that his majesty will make
good both his words, as well that of Nemo me lacessit
impune* as that other of Beati pacifici.

Sixthly, That true and primitive office of kings,
which is, to sit in the gate and to judge the people,
was never performed in like perfection by any of the
king's progenitors : whereby his majesty hath shewed
himself to be lex loquens, and to sit upon the throne,
not as a dumb statue, but as a speaking oracle.

Seventhly, For his majesty's mercy, as you noted it
well, shew me a time wherein a king of this realm
hath reigned almost twenty years, as I said, in his
white robes without the blood of any peer of this king-
dom ; the ax turned once or twice towards a peer but
/ never struck.

Lastly, The flourishing of arts and sciences re-created
by his majesty's countenance and bounty, was never
in that height, especially that art of arts, divinity ; for
that we may truly to God's great glory confess, that
since the primitive times, there were never so many
stars, for so the Scripture calleth them, in that firma-
ment.

These things, Mr. Speaker, I have partly chosen out
of your heap, and are so far from being vulgar, as they
are in effect singular and proper to his majesty and
his times. So that I have made good, as I take it, my
first assertion ; that the only worthy commender of his
majesty is time : which hath so set off his majesty's
merits by the shadow of comparison, as it passeth the
lustre or commendation of words.

How then shall I conclude? Sha I say, O fortu-
natos imnium sua si bona ndrint? No, for I see ye are
happy in enjoying them, and happy again in knowing

Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse. 407

them. But I will conclude this part with that saying,
turned to the right hand: Si gratum dixeris, omnia
dixcris. Your gratitude contains in a word all that I
can say to you touching this parliament.

Touching the third point of your speech, concerning
parliaments, I shall need to say little : for there was
never that honour done to the institution of a parlia-
ment, that his majesty did it in his last speech, making
it in effect the perfection of monarchy ; for that al-
though monarchy was the more ancient, and be inde-
pendent, yet by the advice and assistance of parlia-
ment it is the stronger and the surer built.

And therefore I shall say no more of this point ; but
as you, Mr. Speaker, did well note, that when the
king sits in parliament, and his prelates, peers, and
commons. attend him, he is in the exaltation of his orb:
so I wish things may be so carried, that he may be
then in greatest serenity and benignity of aspect; shin-
ing upon his people both in glory and grace. Now
you know well, that the shining of the sun fair upon
the ground, whereby all things exhilarate and do
fructify, is either hindered by clouds above or mists
below ; perhaps by brambles and briers that grow
upon the ground itself. All which I hope at this time
will be dispelled and removed.

I come now to the last part of your speech, con-
cerning the petitions : but before I deliver his majesty's
answer respectively in particular, I am to speak to you
some few words in general ; wherein, in effect, I shall
but glean, his majesty having so excellently and fully
.expressed himself.

For that, that can be spoken pertinently, must be
either touching the subject or matter of parliament bu-
siness -, or of the manner and carriage of the same ; or
lastly of the time, and the husbanding and marshalling
of time.

For the matters to be handled in parliament, they
are either of church, state, laws, or grievances.

For the first two, concerning church or state, ye
Jiave heard the king himself speak ; and as the Scrip-
ture saith, Who is he that in such things shall come

408 Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse.

after the king ? For the other two, I shall say some-
what, but very shortly.

For laws, they are things proper for your own ele-
ment ; and therefore therein ye are rather to lead than
to be led. Only it is not amiss to put you in mind of
two things : the one, that ye do not multiply or accu-
mulate laws more than ye need. There is a wise and
learned Civilian that applies the curse of the prophet,
Pluet super eos laqueos, to multiplicity of laws : for
they do but ensnare and entangle the people. I wish
rather, that ye should either revive good laws that are
fallen and discontinued, or provide against the slack
execution of laws which are already in force ; or meet
with the subtile evasions from laws which time and
craft hath undermined, than to make novas creaturas
legum, laws upon a new mould.

The other point, touching laws, is, that ye busy not
yourselves too much in private bills, except it be in
cases wherein the help and arm of ordinary justice is
too short.

For grievances, his majesty hath with great grace
and benignity opened himself. Nevertheless, the li-
mitations, which may make up your grievances, not
to beat the air only but to sort to a desired effect, are
principally two. The one, to use his majesty's term,
that ye do not hunt after grievances, such as may seem
rather to be stirred here when ye are met, than to have
sprung from the desires of the country : ye are to re-
present the people : ye are not to personate them.

The other, that ye do not heap up grievances, as if
numbers should make a shew where the weight is
small ; or, as if all things amiss, like Plato's common-
wealth, should be remedied at once. It is certain, that
the best governments, yea, and the best men, are like
the best precious stones, wherein every flaw or icicle
or grain are seen and noted more than in those that
are generally foul and corrupted.

Therefore contain yourselves within that moderation
as may appear to bend rather to the effectual ease of
the people, than to a discursive envy, or scandal upon
the state.

Chancellor's Speech to the Speaker's Excuse. 409

As for the manner of carriage of parliament busi-
ness, ye must know, that ye deal with a king that hath
been longer king than any of you have been parlia-
ment men; and a king that is no less sensible of forms
than of matter; and is as far from induring diminution
of majesty, as from regarding flattery or vain-glory ;
and a king that understandeih as well the pulse of
the hearts of people as his own orb. And therefore,
both let your grievances have a decent and reverend
form and stile ; and to use the words of former parlia-
ments, let them be tanqnam gemitus columbae, without
pique or harshness : and on the other side, in that ye
do for the king, let it have a mark of unity, alacrity,
and affection ; which will be of this force, that what-
soever ye do in substance, will be doubled in reputation
abroad, as in a crystal glass.

For the time, if ever parliament was to be measured
by the hour glass, it is this; in regard of the instant
occasion flying away irrecoverably. Therefore let
your speeches in the house be the speeches of coun-
sellors, and not of orators ; let your committees tend
to dispatch, not to dispute ; and so marshal the times
as the public business, especially the proper business
of the parliament be put first, and private bills be put
last, as time shall give leave, or within the spaces of
the public.

For the four petitions, his majesty is pleased to grant
them all as liberally as the ancient and true custom of
parliament doth warrant, and with the cautions that
have ever gone with them ; that is to say, That the
privilege be not used for defrauding of creditors and
defeating of ordinary justice: that liberty of speech
turn not into licence, but be joined with that gravity
and discretion, as may taste of duty and love to your
sovereign, reverence to your own assembly, and
respect to the matters ye handle: that your accesses
be at such fit times, as may stand best with his ma-
jesty's pleasure and occasions: that mistakings and
misunderstandings be rather avoided and prevented,
as much as may be, than salved or cleared.

.

[ 410 ]

OF THE

TRUE GREATNESS

OP THE

KINGDOM OF BRITAIN,

TO KING JAMES.

Fortunatos nimium sua si bona ndrint.

JL HE greatness of kingdoms and dominions in bulk
and territory doth fall under measure and demonstra-
tion that cannot err: but the just measure and estimate
of the forces and power of an estate is a matter, than
the which there is nothing among civil affairs more
subject to error, nor that error more subject to perilous
consequence. For hence may proceed many inconsi-
derate attempts and insolent provocations in states
that have too high an imagination of their own forces:
and hence may proceed, on the other side, a toleration
of many fair grievances and indignities, and a loss of
many opportunities, in states that are not sensible
enough of their own strength. Therefore, that it may
the better appear what greatness your maj-esty hath
obtained of God, and what greatness this island hath
obtained by you, and what greatness it is, that by the
gracious pleasure of Almighty God you shall leave
and transmit to your children and generations as the
first founder; I have thought good, as far as I can
comprehend, to make a true survey and representation
of the greatness of this your kingdom of Britain;
being for mine own part persuaded, that the supposed
prediction, Video solem orientem in occidente, may be
no less a true vision applied to Britain, than to any
other kingdom of Europe ; and being out of doubt
that none of the great monarchies, which in the me-
mory of times have risen in the habitable world, had
so fair seeds and beginnings as hath this your estate

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 411

and kingdom, whatsoever the event shall be, which
must depend upon the dispensation of God's will and
providence, and his blessing upon your descendants.
And because I have no purpose vainly or assentatorily
to represent this greatness, as in water, which shews
things bigger than they are, but rather, as by an in-
strument of art, helping the sense to take a true mag-
nitude and dimension : therefore I will use no hidden
order, which is fitter for insinuations than sound
proofs, but a clear and open order. First by confuting
the errors, or rather correcting the excesses of certain
immoderate opinions, which ascribe too much to some
points of greatness, which are not so essential, and by
reducing those points to a true value and estima-
tion: then by propounding and confirming those other
points of greatness which are more solid and prin-
cipal, though in popular discourse less observed : and
incidently by making a brief application, in both these
parts, of the general principles and positions of policy
unto the state and condition of these your kingdoms.
Of these the former part will branch itself into these
articles.

First, That in the measuring or balancing of great-
ness, there is commonly too much ascribed to
largeness of territory.

Secondly, That there is too much ascribed to trea-
sure or riches.

Thirdly, That there is too much ascribed to the fruit-
fulness of the soil, or affluence of commodities.
And fourthly, That there is too much ascribed to the
strength and fortification of towns or holds.
The latter will fall into this distribution :
First, That true greatness doth require a fit situation

of the place or region.
Secondly, That true greatness consisteth essentially

in population and breed of men.
Thirdly, That it consisteth also in the valour and
military disposition of the people it breedeth ;
and in this, that they make profession of arms.
Fourthly, That it consisteth in this point, that every
common subject by the poll be fit to make a sol-

4*12 Of the true Greatness of Britain.

dier, and not only certain conditions or degrees
of men.

Fifthly, That it consisteth in the temper of the go-
vernment fit to keep the subjects in good heart
and courage, and not to keep them in the condi-
tion of servile vassals.

And sixthly, That it consisteth in the command-
ment of the sea.

AND let no man so much forget the subject pro-
pounded, as to find strange, that here is no mention of
religion, laws, or policy. For we speak of that which
is proper to the amplitude and growth of states, and
fiot of that which is common to their preservation,
happiness, and all other points of well-being. First,
therefore, touching largeness of territories, the true
greatness of kingdoms upon earth is not without some
analogy with the kingdom of heaven, as our Saviour
describes it : which he doth resemble, not to any great
kernel or nut, but to one of the least grains ; but yet
such a one, as hath a property to grow and spread.
For as for large countries and multitude of provinces,
they are many times rather matters of burden than of
strength, as may manifestly appear both by reason and
example. By reason thus. There be two manners of
securing of large territories, the one by the natural
arms of every province, and the other by the protect-
ing arms of the principal estate, in which case com-
monly the provincials are held disarmed. So are there
two dangers incident unto every estate, foreign inva-
sion, and inward rebellion. Now such is the nature
of things, that these two remedies of estate do fall
respectively into these two dangers, in case of remote
provinces. For if such an estate rest upon the na-
tural arms of the provinces, it is sure to be subject to
rebellion or revolt; if upon protecting arms, it is sure to
be weak against invasion : neither can this be avoided.

Now for examples, proving the weakness of states
possessed of large territories, I will use only two,
eminent and selected. The first shall be of the king-
dom of Persia, which extended from Egypt, inclusive,

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 413

unto Bactria, and the borders of the East India ; and yet
nevertheless was overrun and conquered, in the space
of seven years, by a nation not much bigger than this
isle of Britain, and newly grown into name, having
been utterly obscure till the time of Philip the son of
Amyntas. Neither was this effected by any rare or
heroical prowess in the conqueror, as is vulgarly con-
ceived, for that Alexander the Great goeth now for
one of the wonders of the world ; for those that have
made a judgment grounded upon reason of estate, do
find that conceit to be merely popular, for so Livy
pronounceth of him, Nihil aUudquam bene ausus vana
concemnerc. Wherein he judgeth of vastness of ter-
ritory as a vanity that may astonish a weak mind, but
no ways trouble a sound resolution. And those that
are conversant attentively in the histories of those
times, shall find that this purchase which Alexander
made and compassed, was offered by fortune twice
before to others, though by accident they went not
through with it ; namely, to Agesilaus, and Jason of
Thessalv: for Agesilaus, after he had made himself
master of most of the low provinces of Asia, and had
both design and commission to invade the higher
countries, was diverted and called home upon a war
excited against his country by the states of Athens
and Thebes, being incensed by their orators and coun-
sellors, which were bribed and corrupted from Persia;
as Agesilaus himself avouched pleasantly, when he
said, 'lhat an hundred thousand archers of the king
of Persia had driven him home : understanding it, be-
cause an archer was the stamp upon the Persian coin
of gold. And Jason of Thessaly, being a man born
to no greatness, but one that made a fortune of him-
self, and had obtained by his own vivacity of spirit,
joined with the opportunities of time, a great army
compounded of voluntaries and adventurers, to the
terror of all Graecia, that continually expected where
that cloud would fall ; disclosed himself in the end,
that his design was for an expedition into Persia, the
same which Alexander not many years after atchieved,
wherein he was interrupted by a private conspiracy

414 Of the true Greatness of 'Britain.

against his life, which took effect. So that it appearetb,
as was said, that it was not any miracle of accident
that raised the Macedonian monarchy, but only the
weak composition of that vast state of Persia, which
was prepared for a prey to the first resolute invader.

The second example that I will produce, is of the
Roman empire, which had received no diminution in
territory, though great in virtue and forces, till the
time of Jovianus. For so it was alleged by such as op-
• posed themselves to the rendering Nisibis upon the
dishonourable retreat of the Roman army out of Per-
sia. At which time it was avouched, that the Romans
by the space of 8OO years, had never, before that day,
made any cession or renunciation of any part of their
territory, whereof they had once had a constant and
quiet possession. And yet, nevertheless, immediately
after the short reign of Jovianus, and towards the end
of the joint reign of Valentianus and Valens, which
were his immediate successors, and much more in the
times succeeding, the Roman empire, notwithstanding
the magnitude thereof, became no better than a car-
case w hereupon all the vultures and birds of prey of the
world did seize and ravine for many ages, for a per-
petual monument of the essential difference between
the scale of miles, and the scale of forces. And there-
fore, upon these reasons and examples, we may safely
conclude, that largeness of territory is so far from being
a thing inseparable from greatness of power, as it is
many times contrary and incompatible with the same.
But to make a reduction of that error to a truth, it
will stand thus, that then greatness of territory added
strength, when it hath these four conditions :

First, That the territories be compacted, , and not

dispersed.
Secondly, That the region which is the heart and

seat of the estate, be sufficient to support those

parts, which are but provinces and additions.
Thirdly, That the arms or martial virtue of the state

be in some degree answerable to the greaness of

dominion.
And lastly, That no part or province of the state be

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 415

utterly unprofitable, but do confer some use or
service to the state.

The first of these is manifestly true, and scarcely
needeth any explication. For if there be a state that
consisteth of scattered points instead of lines, and
slender lines instead of latitudes, it can never be solid,
and in the solid figure is strength. But what speak
we of mathematical principles ? The reason of state
is evident, that if the parts of an estate be disjoined
and remote, and so be interrupted with the provinces
of another sovereignty ; they cannot possibly have
ready succours in case of invasion, nor ready suppres-
sion in case of rebellion, nor ready recovery in case of
loss or alienation by either or both means. And there-
fore we see what an endless work the king of Spain
hath had to recover the Low Countries, although it
were to him patrimony and not purchase; and that
chiefly in regard of the great distance. So we see
that our nation kept Calais a hundred years space after
it lost the rest of France in regard of the near situ-
ation ; and yet in the end they that were nearer car-
ried it by surprise, and over-ran succour.

Therefore Titus Quintius made a good comparison
of the state of the Acharans to a tortoise, which is
safe when it is retired within the shell, but if any part
be put forth, then the part exposed endangereth all
the rest. For so it is with states that have provinces
dispersed, the defence whereof doth commonly con-
sume and decay, and sometimes ruin the rest of the
estate. And so likewise we may observe, that in all
the great monarchies, the Persians, the Romans, and
the like of the Turks, they had not any provinces to
the which they needed to demand access through the
country of another: neither had they any long races
or narrow angles of territory, which were environed
or clasped in with foreign states ; but their dominions
were continued and entire, and had thickness and
squareness in their orb or contents. But these things
are without contradiction.

For the second, concerning the proportion between
the principal region, and those which are bat secon-

416 Of the true Greatness of Britain.

dary, there must evermore distinction be made be-
tween the body or stem of the tree, and the boughs
and branches. For if the top be over great, and the
stalk too slender, there can be no strength. Now, the
body is to be accounted so much of an estate, as is
not separated or distinguished with any mark of fo-
reigners, but is united specially with the bond of na-
turalization i and therefore we see that when the state
of Rome grew great, they were enforced to naturalize
the Latins or Italians, because the Roman stem could
not bear the provinces and Italy both as branches :
and the like they were contented after to do to most
of the Gnuls. So on the contrary part, we see in the
state of Lacedaemon, which was nice in that point,
and would not admit their confederates to be incor-
porate with them, but rested upon the natural-born
subjects of Sparta, how that a small time after they had
embraced a larger empire, they were presently sur-
charged, in respect to the slenderness of the stem.
For so in the defection of the Thebans and the rest
against them, one of the principal revolters spake
most aptly, and with great efficacy in the assembly of
the associates, telling them, That the state of Sparta
was like a river, which after that it had run a great
\vay, and taken other rivers and streams into it, ran
strong and mighty, but about the head and fountain
of it was shallow and weak ; and therefore advised
them to assail and invade the main of Sparta, knowing
they should there find weak resistance either of towns
or in the field : of towns, because upon confidence of
their greatness they fortified not upon the main ; in
the field, because their people was exhausted by garri-
sons and services far off. Which counsel proved sound,
to the astonishment of all Graecia at that time.

For the third, concerning the proportion of the mili-
tary forces of a state to the amplitude of empire, it
cannot be better demonstrated than by the two first
examples which we produced of the weakness of large
territory, if they be compared within themselves ac-
cording to difference of time. For Persia at a time
tvas strengthened with large territory, and at another

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 4- It

time weakened ; and so was Rome. For while they
nourished in arms, the largeness of territory was a
strength to them, and added forces, added treasures,
added reputation : but when they decayed in arms,
then greatness became a burden. For their protect-
ing forces did corrupt, supplant, and enervate the
natural and proper forces of all their provinces, which
relied and depended upon the succours and directions
of the state above. And when that waxed impotent
and slothful, then the whole state laboured with her
own magnitude, and in the end fell with her own
weight. And that no question was the reason of the
strange inundations of people which both from the east
and north-west overwhelmed the Roman empire in
one age of the world, which a man upon the sudden
would attribute to some constellation or fatal revolu-
tion of time, being indeed nothing else but the decli-
nation of the Roman empire, which having effemi-
nated and made vile the natural strength of the pro-
vinces, and not being able to supply it by the strength
imperial and sovereign, did, as a lure cast abroad,
invite and entice all the nations adjacent, to make
their fortunes upon her decays. And by the same
reason, there cannot but ensue a dissolution to the
state of the Turk, in regard of the largeness of em-
pire, whensoever their martial virtue and discipline
shall be further relaxed, whereof the time seemeth to
approach. For certainly like as great stature in a
natural body is some advantage in youth, but is but
burden in age ; so it is with great territory, which
when a state beginneth to decline, doth make it stoop
and buckle so much the faster.

For the fourth and last, it is true, that there is to
be required and expected as in the parts of a body, so
in the members of a state, rather propriety of service,
than equality of benefit. Some provinces are more
wealthy, some more populous, and some more war-
like ; some situate aptly for the exclusion or expulsion
of foreigners, and some for the annoying and bridling
suspected and tumultuous subjects; some are profit-
able in present, and some may be converted and inv

VOL. in. E e

418 Of the true Greatness of Britain.

proved to profit by plantations and good policy. And
therefore true consideration of estate can hardly find
what to reject, in matter1 of territory, in any empire,
except it be some glorious acquests obtained some-
times in the bravery of wars, which cannot be kept
without excessive charge and trouble ; of which kind
were the purchases of king Henry VIIL that of Tour-
nay; and that of Bologne ; and of the same kind are
infinite other the like examples almost in every war,
which for the most part upon treaties of peace are
restored.

Thus have we now defined where the largeness of
the territory addeth true greatness, and where not.
The application of these positions unto the particular
or supposition of this your majesty's kingdom of Bri-
tain, requireth few words. For, as I professed in the
beginning, I mean not to blazon or amplify, but only
to observe and express matter.

First, Your majesty's dominion and empire compre-
hendeth all the islands of the north-west ocean,
where it is open, until you come to the imbarred or
frozen sea, towards Iceland; in all which tract it
hath no intermixture or interposition of any foreign
land, but only of the sea, whereof you are also abso-
lutely master.

Secondly, the quantity and content of these coun-
tries is far greater than have been the principal or fun-
damental regions of the greatest monarchies, greater
than Persia proper, greater than Macedon, greater
than Italy: So as here is potentially body and stem
enough for Nabuchodonosor's tree, if God should have
so ordained.

Thirdly, the prowess and valour of your subjects is
able to master and wield far more territory than falleth
to their lot. But that followeth to be spoken of in
the proper place.

And lastly, it must be confessed, that whatsoever part
of your countries and regions shall be counted the mean-
est, yet it is not inferior to those countries and regions,
the people whereof some ages since over-ran the world.
We see further by the uniting of the continent of this

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 419

island, and the shutting up of the postern, as it was
not unfitly termed, all entrance of foreigners is exclud-
ed : and we see again, that by the fit situation and
configuration of the north of Scotland toward the north
of Ireland, and the reputation, commodity, and terror
thereof, what good effects have ensued for the better
quieting of the troubles of Ireland. And so we conclude
this first branch touching largeness of territory.

THE second article was,

That there is too much ascribed to treasure or riches
in the balancing of greatness.

Wherein no man can be ignorant of the idolatry that
is generally committed in these degenerate times to
money, as if it could do all things public and private :
but leaving popular errors, this is likewise to be exa-
mined by reason and examples, and such reason, as is
no new conceit or invention, but hath formerly been
discerned by the sounder sort of judgments. For. we
see that Solon, who was no contemplative wise man,
but a statesman and a lawgiver, used a memorable
censure to Croesus, when he shewed him great trea-
sures, and store of gold and silver that he had gather-
ed, telling him, that whensoever another should come
that had better iron than he, he would be master of
all his gold and silver. Neither is the authority of
Machiavel to be despised, especially in a matter
whereof he saw the evident experience before his eyes
in his own times and country, who derideth the receiv-
ed and current opinion and principle of estate taken
first from a speech of Mutianus the lieutenant of Ves-
pasian, That money was the sinews of war , affirming,
that it is a mockery, and that there are no other true
sinews of war, but the sinews and muscles of mens
arms : and that there was never any war, wherein the
more valiant people had to deal with the more wealthy,
but that the war, if it were well conducted, did nou-
rish and pay itself. And had he not reason so to think,
when he saw a needy and ill-provided army of the
French, though needy rather by negligence, than
want of means, as the French manner oftentimes is,

E e 2

Of the trite Greatness of Britain.

make their passage only by the reputation of their
swords by their sides undrawn, thorough the whole
length of Italy, at that time abounding in wealth after
a long peace, and that without resistance, and to
seize and leave what countries and places it pleased
them ? But it was not the experience of that time
alone, but the records of all times that do concur to
falsify that conceit, that wars are decided not by the
sharpest sword, but by the greatest purse. And that
very text or saying of Mutianus which was the original
of this opinion, is misvouched, for his speech was,
Pecuniae sunt nervi belli civilis, which is true, for that
civil wars cannot be between people of differing va-
lour ; and again because in them men are as oft bought
as vanquished. But in case of foreign wars, you shall
scarcely find any of the great monarchies of the world,
but have had their foundations in poverty and con-
temptible beginnings, being in that point also conform
to the heavenly kingdom, of which is is pronounced,
Regjium Dei non venit cum observation. Persia a
mountainous country, and a poor people in comparison
of theMedes and other provinces which they subdued.
The state of Sparta, a state wherein poverty was enact-
ed by law and ordinance ; all use of gold and silver
and rich furniture being interdicted. The state of
Macedonia, a state mercenary and ignoble until the
time of Philip. The state of Rome, a state that had
poor and pastoral beginnings. The state of the Turks,
which hath been since the terror of the world, founded
upon transmigration of some bands of Sarmatian Scythes,
that descended in a vagabond manner upon the pro-
vince that is now termed Turcomannia ; out of the
remnants whereof, after great variety of fortune, sprang
the Otoman family. But never was any position of
estate so visibly and substantially confirmed as this,
touching the pre-eminence, yea and predominancy of
valour above treasure, as by the true descents and
inundations of necessitous and indigent people, the one
from the east, and the other from the west, that of the
Arabians or Saracens, and that of the Goths, Vandals,
and the rest : who, as if they had been the true inhe-

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 421

ritors of the Roman empire, then dying, or at least
grown impotent and aged, entered upon Egypt, Asia,
Grsecia, Africk, Spain, France, coming to these na-
tions, not as to a prey, but as to a patrimony ; not re-
turning with spoil, but seating and planting themselves
in a number of provinces, which continue their pro-
geny, and bear their names till this day. And all these
men had no other wealth but their adventures, nor no
other title but their swords, nor no other press but their
poverty. For it was not with most of these people as
it is in countries reduced to a regular civility, that no
man almost marrieth except he see he have means to
live ; but population went on, howsoever sustentation
followed, and taught by necessity, as some writers re-
port, when they found themselves surcharged with
people, they divided their inhabitants into three parts,
and one third, as the lot fell, was sent abroad and left
to their adventures. Neither is the reason much un-
like, though the effect hath not followed in regard of
a special diversion, in the nation of the Swisses, inha-
biting a country, which in regard of the mountainous
situation, and the popular estate, doth generate faster
than it can sustain. In which people, it well appear-
ed what an authority iron had over gold at the battle of
Granson, at what time one of the principal jewels of
Burgundy was sold for twelve pence, by a poor Swiss,
thatknew no more of a precious stone than did /Esop's
cock. And although this people have made no plan-
tations with their arms, yet we see the reputation of
them such, as not only their forces have been employ-
ed and waged, but their alliance sought and purchas-
ed, by the greatest kings and states of Europe. So as
though fortune, as it fares sometimes with princes to
their servants, hath denied them a grant of lands, yet
she hath granted them liberal pensions, which are made
memorable and renowned to all posterity, by the event
which ensued to Lewis the twelfth ; who, being pres-
sed uncivilly by message from them tor the inhauncing
their pensions, entered into choler and broke out into
these words, " What ! will these villains of the moun-
" tains put a tax upon me ? which words cost him his

Of the true Greatness of Britain.

dutchy of Milan, and utterly ruined his affairs in Italy.
Neither was it indeed possible at this day, that that
nation should subsist without descents and impressions
upon their neighbours, were it not for the great utter-
ance of people which they make into the services of fo-
reign princes and estates, thereby discharging not only
number, but in that number such spirits as are most
stirring and turbulent.

And therefore we may conclude, that as largeness
of territory, severed from military virtue, is but a bur-
den y so that treasure and riches severed from the same,
is but a prey. It resteth therefore to make a reduc-
tion of this error also unto a truth by distinction and
limitation, which will be in this manner :

Treasure and moneys do then add true greatness and
strength to a state, when they are accompanied with
these three conditions :

First, The same condition which hath been annexed
to largeness of territory, that is, that they be joined
with martial prowess and valour.
Secondly, That treasure doth then advance greatness,
when it is rather in mediocrity than in great abun-
dance. And again better, when some part of
the state is poor, than when all parts of it are
rich.

And lastly, That treasure in a state is more or less
serviceable, as the hands are in which the wealth
chiefly resteth.

For the first of these, it is a thing that cannot be
denied, that in equality of valour the better purse is an
advantage. For like as in wrestling between man
and man, if there be a great overmatch in strength, it
is to little purpose though one have the better breath ;
but, if the strength be near equal, then he that is
shorter winded will, if the wager consist of many falls,
in the end have the worst : so it is in the wars, if it be
a match between a valiant people and a cowardly, the
advantage of treasure will not serve ; but if they
be near in valour, then the better monied state will be
the better able to continue the war, and so in the end
to prevail. But if any man think that money can make

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 423

those provisions at the first encounters, that no differ-
ence of valour can countervail, let him look back but
into those examples which have been brought, and he
must confess, that all those furnitures whatsoever, are
but shews and mummeries, and cannot shrowd fear
against resolution; For there shall he find companies
armed with armour of proof taken out of the stately
armories of kings who spared no cost, overthrown by
men armed by private bargain and chance as they
could get it : there shall he find armies appointed with
horses bred of purpose, and in choice races, chariots of
war, elephants, and the like terrors, mastered by ar-
mies meanly appointed. So of towns strongly fortified,
basely yielded, and the like ; all being but sheep in a
lion's skin, where valour faileth.

For the second point, that competency of treasure
is better than surfeit, is a matter of common place or
ordinary discourse in regard that excess of riches, nei-
ther in public nor private, ever hath any good effects,
but maketh men either slothful and effeminate, and so
no enterprisers ; or insolent and arrogant, and so over
great embracers ; but most generally cowardly and
fearful to lose, according to the adage, Timidits Plutus;
so as this needeth no further speech. But a part of that
assertion requireth a more deep consideration, being a
matter not so familiar, but yet most assuredly true.
For it is necessary in a state that shall grow and inlarge,
that there be that composition which the poet speaks
of, Multis utile helium : an ill condition of a state, no
question, if it be meant of a civil war, as it was spo-
ken , but a condition proper to a state that shall in-
crease, if it be taken of a foreign war. For except
there be a spur in the state, that shall excite and prick
them on to wars they will but keep their own, and seek
no further. And in all experience and stones you shall
find but three things that prepare and dispose an estate
to war: the ambition of governors, a state of soldiers
professed, and the hard means to live of many subjects.
Whereof the last is the most forcible and the most con-
stant. And this is the true reason of that event which
we observed and rehearsed before, the most of the

Of the true Greatness of Britain.

great kingdoms of the world have sprung out of hard-
ness and scarceness of means, as the strongest herbs
out of the barrenest soils.

For the third point, concerning the placing and dis-
tributing of treasure in a state, the position is simple ;
that then treasure is greatest strength to a state, when
it is so disposed, as it is readiest and easiest to come
by for public service and use : which one position doth
infer three conclusions.

First, that there be quantity sufficient of treasure as
well in the treasury of the crown or state, in the purse
of the private subject.

Secondly, that the wealth of the subject be rather in
many hands than in few.

And thirdly, that it be in those hands, where there
is likesttobe the greatest sparing and increase, and not
in those hands, wherein there useth to be greatest ex-
pence and consumption.

For it is not the abundance of treasure in the sub-
jects hands that can make sudden supply of the want
of a state ; because reason tells us and experience both,
that private persons have least will to contribute when
they have most cause ; for when there is noise or ex-
pectation of wars, then are always the dearest times
for monies, in regard every man restraineth and hold-
eth fast his means for his own comfort and succour,
according as Solomon saith, The riches of a man are
as a stronghold in his oivn imagination ; and therefore
we see by infinite examples, and none more memo-
rable than that of Constantinus the last emperor of the
Greeks, and the citizens of Constantinople, that sub-
jects do often choose rather to be frugal dispensers for
their enemies, than liberal lenders to their prince.
Again, wheresoever the wealth of the subject is en-
grossed into few hands, it is not possible it should be
so respondent and yielding to payments and contribu-
tions for the public, both because the true estimation
of assessment of great wealth is more obscure and un-
certain j and because the burden seemeth lighter when
the charge lieth upon many hands; and further, because
the same greatness of wealth is for the most part not

Of the true Greatness of Britain.

collected and obtained without sucking it from many,
according to the received similitude of the spleen,
which never swelleth but when the rest of the body
pineth and abateth. And lastly, it cannot be that any
wealth should leave a second overplus for the public
that doth not first leave an overplus to the private stock
of him that gathers it ; and therefore nothing is more
certain, than that those states are least able to aid and
defray great charge for wars, or other public disburse-
ments, whose wealth resteth chiefly in the hands of the
nobility and gentlemen. For what by reason of their
magnificence and waste in expence, and what by rea-
son of their desire to advance and make good their own
families, and again upon the coincidence of the former
reason, because they are always the fewest ; small is
the help, as to payments or charge, that can be levied
or expected from them towards the occasions of a state.
Contrary it is of such states whose wealth resteth in the
hands of merchants, butchers, tradesmen, freeholders,
farmers in the country, and the like, whereof we have
a most evident and present example before our eyes,
in our neighbours of the Low-Countries, who could
never have endured and continued so inestimable and
insupportable charge, either by their natural frugality,
or by their mechanical industry, were it not also that
there was a concurrence- in them of this last reason,
which is that their wealth was dispersed in many hands,
and not ingrossed into few ; and those hands were not
much of the nobility, but most and generally of inferior
conditions.

To make application of this part concerning treasure
to his majesty's kingdoms:

First, I suppose I cannot err, that as to the endow-
ment of your crown, there is not any crown of Europe,
that hath so great a proportion of demesne and land
revenue. Again, he that shall look into your prero-
gative shall find it to have as many streams to feed your
treasury, as the prerogative of any of the said kings,
and yet without oppression or taxing of your people.
For they be things unknown in many other states, that
all rich mines shall be yours, though in the soil of you?

426 Of the true Greatness of Britain.

subjects ; that all wardships should be yours, where a
tenure in chief is, of lands held of your subjects; that
all confiscations and escheats of treason should be yours,
though the tenure be of the subject ; that all actions
popular, and the fines and casualties thereupon may
be informed in your name, and should be due unto you,
and a moiety at the least where the subject himself in-
forms. And further, he that shall look into your
revenues at the ports of the sea, your revenues in courts
of justice, and for the stirring of your seals, the revenues
upon your clergy, and the rest, will conclude, that
the law of England studied how to make a rich crown,
and yet without levies upon your subject. For mer-
chandizing, it is true, it was ever by the kings of this
realm despised, as a thing ignoble and indign for a
king, though it is manifest, the situation and commo-
dities of this island considered, it is infinite, what your
majesty might raise, if you would do as a king of Por-
tugal doth, or a duke of Florence, in matter of mer-
chandise. As for the wealth of the subject* :

To proceed to the articles affirmative, the first was,
That the true greatness of an estate consisteth in the

natural and fit situation of the region or place.
Wherein I mean nothing superstitiously touching the
fortunes or fatal destiny of any places, nor philosophi-
cally touching their configuration with the superior
globe. But I understand proprieties and respects
merely civil and according to the nature of human acti-
ons, and the true considerations of estate. Out' of
which duly weighed, there doth arise a triple distribu-
tion of the fitness of a region for a great monarchy.
First, that it be of hard access. Secondly, that it be
seated in no extreme angle, but commodiously in the
midst of many regions. And thirdly, that it be mari-
time, or at the least upon great navigable rivers ; and
be not inland or mediterrane. And that these are not
conceits, but notes of event, it appeareth manifestly,
that all great monarchies and states have been seated
in such manner, as, if you would place them again, ob-

* Memorandum, Here was a blank side left, to continue the sense.

Of the true Greatness of Britain. 427

serving these three points which I have mentioned,
you cannot place them better ; which shews the pre-
eminence of nature, unto which human industry or
accident cannot be equal, specially in any continuance
of time. Nay, if a man look into these things
more attentively, he shall see divers of these seats of
monarchies, how fortune hath hovered still about the
places, coming and going only in regard of the fixed
reason of the conveniency of the place, which is im-
mutable. And therefore, first we see the excellent
situation of Egypt ; which seemeth to have been the
most ancient monarchy, how conveniently it stands
upon a neck of land commanding both seas on either
side, and embracing as it were with two arms, Asia
and Afric, besides the benefit of the famous river of
Nilus. And therefore we see what'hath been the for-
tune of that country, there having been two mighty
returns of fortune, though at a great distance of time 5
the one in the times of Sesostris, and the other in the
empire of the Mamalukes, besides the middle great-
ness of the kingdom of the Ptolemys, and of the great-
ness of the caliphs and sultans in the latter times. And
this region, we see likewise, is of strait and defen-
sible access, being commonly called of the Romans,
Clanstra Aegypti*. Consider in like manner the situa-*Mem. TO
tion of Babylon, being planted most strongly in regard ^3th0efr^e
of lakes and overflowing grounds between the two three pro-
great navigable rivers of Euphrates and Tigris, and in Pemes-
the very heart of the world ; having regard to the four
cardines of east and west and northern and southern
regions. And therefore we see, that although the so*
vereignty alter, yet the seat still of the monarchy re-
mains in that place. For after the monarchies of the
kings of Assyria, which v/ere natural kings of that
place, yet when the foreign kings of Persia came in,
the seat remained. For although the mansion of the
persons of the kings of Persia were sometimes at Susa,
and sometimes at Ecbatana, which were termed their
winter and their summer parlours, because ot the mild-
ness of the air in the one, and the freshness in the
other ; yet the city of estate continued to be Babylon.

42S Of the true Greatness of Britain.

Therefore we see, that Alexander the Great, accord-
ing to the advice of Calanus the Indian, that shewed
him a bladder, which, if it were born down at one
end, would rise at the other, and therefore wished him
to keep himself in the middle of his empire, chose ac-
cordingly Babylon for his seat, and died there. And
afterwards likewise in the family of Seleucus and his
descendents, kings of the east, although divers of
them, for their own glory, were founders of cities of
their own names, as Antiochia, Seleucia, and divers
others, which they sought by all means to raise and
adorn, yet the greatness still remained according unto
nature with the ancient seat. Nay, further on, the
same remained during the greatness of the kings of
Parthia, as appeareth by the verse of Lucian, who
wrote in Nero's time.

Cumque superba staret Babylon spolianda trophaeis.

And after that, again it obtained the seat of the highest
caliph or successors of Mahomet. And at this day,
that which they call Bagdat, which joins to the ruin of
the other, containeth one of the greatest satrapies of
the Levant. So again Persia, being a country imbar-
red with mountains, open to the seas, and in the mid-
dle of the world, we see hath had three memorable
revolutions of great monarchies. The first in the time
of Cyrus ; the second in the time of the new Artaxerxes,
who" raised himself in the reign of Alexander Severus
emperor of Rome ; and now of late memory, in Ismael
the sophy, whose descendents continue in empire and
competition with the Turks to this day.

So again Constantinople, being one of the most ex-
cellentest seats of the world, in the confines of Europe
and Asia.

[ 429 ]

ADVICE

TO

SIR GEORGE VILLIERS,

AFTERWARDS

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM,

WHEN HE BECAME

FAVOURITE TO KING JAMES.

Recommending many important Instructions how to
govern himself in the Station of Prime Minister.

Written by SIR FRANCIS BACON, on the Importunity
of his Patron and Friend.

NOBLE SIR,

VV HAT you requested of me by word, when I last
waited on you, you have since renewed by your let-
ters. Your requests are commands unto me ; and yet
the matter is of that nature, that I find myself very
unable to serve you therein as you desire. It hath
pleased the king to cast an extraordinary eye of favour
upon you, and you express yourself very desirous to
win upon the judgment of your master, and not upon
his affections only. I do very much commend your
noble ambition herein ; for favour so bottomed is like
to be lasting ; whereas, if it be built but upon the
sandy foundation of personal respects only, it cannot
be long lived.

[My lord, when the blessing of God, to whom in What is
the first place I know you ascribe your preferment, and
the king's favour, purchased by your noble parts, pro
mising as much as can be expected from a gentleman,
liad brought you to this high pitch of honour, to be in
the eye, and ear, and even in the bosom of your gra-4t0' *

430 Advice to Sir George Villters.

cious master ; and you had found by experience the
trouble of all men's confluence, and for all matters ; to
yourself, as a mediator between them and their sove-
reign, you were pleased to lay this command upon
me : first in general, to give you my poor advice for
your carriage in so eminent a place, and of so much
danger if not wisely discharged : next in particular by
what means to give dispatches to suitors of all sorts,
for the king's best service, the suitors satisfaction, and
your own ease. I humbly return you mine opinion in
both these, such as a hermit rather than a courtier can
render.]

Yet in this you have erred, in applying yourself to
me the most unworthy of your servants, to give assist-
ance upon so weighty a subject.

You know I am no courtier, nor versed in state
affairs; my life, hitherto, hath rather been contem-
plative than active ; I have rather studied books than
men ; I can but guess, at the most, at these things,
in which you desire to be advised : nevertheless, to
shew my obedience, though with the .hazard of my
discretion, I shall yield unto you.

Sir, in the first place, I shall be bold to put you in
mind of the present condition you are in ; you are not
only a courtier, but a bed-chamber man, and so are
in the eye and ear of your master ; but you are also a
favourite ; the favourite of the time, and so are in his
bosom also ; the world hath so voted you, and doth
so esteem of you ; for kings and great princes, even
the wisest of them, have had their friends, their fa-
vourites, their privadoes in all ages ; for they have
their affections as well as other men. Of these they
make several uses ; sometimes to communicate and
debate their thoughts with them, and to ripen their
judgments thereby ; sometimes to ease their cares by
imparting them ; and sometimes to interpose them be-
tween themselves and the envy or malice of their peo-
ple 5 for kings cannot err, that must be discharged
upon the shoulders of their ministers ; and they who
are nearest unto them must be content to bear the
greatest load. [Remember then what your true con-

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 431

dition is : the king himself is above the reach of his
people, but cannot be above their censures ; and you
are his shadow, if either he commit an error, and is
loth to avow it, but excuses it upon his ministers, of
\vhich you are first in the eye ; or you commit the fault
or have willingly permitted it, and must suffer for it :
and so perhaps you may be offered a sacrifice to ap-
pease the multitude.] But truly, Sir, I do not believe
or suspect that you are chosen on this eminency, out
of the last of these considerations : for you serve such
a master, wrho by his wisdom and goodness is as free
from the malice or envy of his subjects, as I think, I
may truly say, ever any king was, who hath sat upon
his throne before him : but I am confident, his majesty
hath cast his eyes upon you, as finding you to be such
as you should be, or hoping to make you to be such as he
would have you to be ; for this I may say, without flat-
tery, your outside promiseth as much as can be expected
from a gentleman : but be it in the one respect or other,
it belongeth to you to take care of yourself, and to know-
well what the name of a favourite signifies. If you be
chosen upon the former respects, you have reason to
take care of your actions and deportment, out of your
gratitude, for the king's sake ; but if out of the latter,
you ought to take the greater care for your own sake.

You are as a new-risen star, and the eyes of all men
are upon you; let not your own negligence make you
fall like a meteor.

[Remember well the great trust you have under-
taken j you are as a continual centinel, always to stand
upon your watch to give him true intelligence. If you
flatter him you betray him ; if you conceal the truth of
those things from him which concern his justice or his
honour, although not the safety of his person, you are
as dangerous a traitor to his state, as he that riseth in
arms against him. A false friend is more dangerous
than an open enemy : kings are stiled gods upon
earth, not absolute, but Dm, Dii estis ; and the next
words are, sed moriemini sicut homines ; they shall
die like men, and then all their thoughts perish. They
cannot possibly see all things with their own eyes, nor

432 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

hear all things with their own ears ; they must commit
many great trusts to their ministers. Kings must be
answerable to God Almighty, to whom they are but
vassals, tor their actions and for their negligent omis-
sions : but the ministers to kings, whose eyes, ears,
and hands they are, must be answerable to God and
man for the breach of their duties, in violation of their
trusts, whereby they betray them. Opinion is a mas-
ter-wheel in these cases: that courtier who obtained a
boon of the emperor, that he might every morning at
his coming into his presence humbly whisper him in
the ear and say nothing, asked no unprofitable suit for
himself r but such a fancy raised only by opinion can-
not be long-lived, unless the man have solid worth to
uphold it; otherwise when once discovered it vanisheth
suddenly. But when a favourite in court shall be
raised upon the foundation of merits, and together with
the care of doing good service to the king, shall give
good dispatches to the suitors, then can he not choose
but prosper.]

The contemplation then of your present condition
must necessarily prepare you for action : what time
can be well spared from your attendance on your mas-
ter, will be taken up by suitors, whom you cannot
avoid nor decline without reproach. For if you do
not already, you will soon find the throng of suitors
attend you ; for no man, almost, who hath to do with
the king, wrill think himself safe, unless you be his
good angel, and guide him ; or at least that you be
not a mains genius against him : so that, in respect of
the king your master, you must be very wary that you
give him true information ; and if the matter concern
him in his government, that you do not flatter him ;
if you do, you are as great a traitor to him in the court
of heaven, as he that draws his sword against him: and
in respect of the suitors which attend you, there is
nothing will bring you more honour and more ease,
than to do them what right in justice you may, and
with as much speed as you may : for believe it, Sir,
next to the obtaining of the suit, a speedy and gentle
denial, when the case will not bear it, is the most ac-

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 433

ceptable to suitors: they will gain by their dispatch ;
whereas else they shall spend their time and money in
attending, and you will gain, in the ease you will find in
being rid of their importunity. But if they obtain
-what they reasonably desired, they will be doubly
bound to you for your favour ; Bis dat qui cito daf, it
multiplies the courtesy, to do it with good words and
speedily.

That you may be able to do this with the best ad-
vantage, my humble advice is this ; when suitors come
unto you, set apart a certain hour in a day to give
them audience : if the business be light and easy, it
may by word only be delivered, and in a word be an-
swered ; but if it be either of weight or of difficulty,
direct the suitor to commit it to writing, if it be not
so already, and then direct him to attend for his an-
swer at a set time to be appointed, which should con-
stantly be observed, unless some matter of great mo-
ment do interrupt it. When you have received the
petitions, and it will please the petitioners well, to
have access unto you to deliver them into your own
hand, let your secretary first read them, and draw
lines under the material parts thereof; for the matter,
for the most past, lies in a narrow room. The peti-
tions being thus prepared, do you constantly set apart
an hour in a day to peruse those petitions j and after
you have ranked them into several files, according to
the subject matter, make choice of two or three
friends, whose judgments and fidelities you believe
you may trust in a business of that nature ; and re-
commend it to one or more of them, to inform you of
their opinions, and of their reasons for or against the
granting of it. And if the matter be of great weight
indeed, then it would not be amiss to send several
.copies of the same petition to several of your friends,
the one not knowing what the other doth, and desire
them to return their answers to you by a certain time,
to be prefixed, in writing ; so shall you receive an im-
partial answer, and by comparing the one with the
other, as out of respojisa prudentium, you shall both
discern the abilities and faithfulness of your friends,

VOL. III. F

.434 Advice to Sir George Villlers.

and be able to give a judgment thereupon as an oracle.
But by no means trust to your own judgment alone;
for no man is omniscient : nor trust only to your ser-
vants, who may mislead you or misinform you ; by
•which they may perhaps gain a few crowns, but the
reproach will lie upon yourself, if it be not rightly
carried.

For the facilitating of your dispatches, my advice is
farther, that you divide all the petitions, and the mat-
ters therein contained, under several heads : which, I
conceive, may be fitly ranked into these eight sorts.

I. Matters that concern religion, and the church
and churchmen.

II. Matters concerning justice, and the laws, and
the professors thereof.

III. Counsellors, and the council table, and the
great offices and officers of the kingdom.

IV. Foreign negotiations and embassies.

V. Peace and war, both foreign and civil, and in
that the navy and forts, and what belongs to them.

VI. Trade at home and abroad.

VII. Colonies, or foreign plantations.
VI IL The court and curiality.

And whatsoever will not fall naturally under one of
these heads, believe me, Sir, will not be worthy of
your thoughts, in this capacity, we now speak of.
And of these sorts, I warrant you, you will find
enough to keep you in business.

I BEGIN with the first, which concerns religion.

1. In the first place, be you yourself rightly per-
suaded and settled in the true protestant religion, pro-
fessed by the church of England ; which doubtless is
as sound and orthodox in the doctrine thereof, as any
Christian church in the world.

[For religion, if any thing be offered to you touching
it, or touching the church, or church-men, or church-
government, rely not only upon yourself, but take the
opinion of some grave and eminent divines, especially
such as are sad and discreet men, and exemplary for
their lives.]

2. In this you need not be a monitor to your gracious

Advice to Sir George Villier$.

master the king : the chiefest of his imperial titles is,
to be The Defender of the Faith, and his learning is
eminent, not only above other princes, but above other
men ; be but his scholar, and you are safe in that.

[If any question be moved concerning the doctrine
of the church of England expressed in the thirty-nine
articles, give not the least ear to the movers thereof:
that is so soundly and so orthodoxly settled, as cannot
be questioned without extreme danger to the honour
and stability of our religion ; which hath been sealed
with the blood of so many martyrs and confessors, as
are famous through the Christian world. The enemies
and underminers thereof are the Romish catholic, so
stiling themselves, on the one hand, whose tenets are
inconsistent with the truth of religion professed and
protested by the church of England, whence we are
called protesrants ; and the anabaptists, and separatists,
and sectaries on the other hand, whose tenets are full
of schism, and inconsistent with monarchy : for the re-
gulating of either, there needs no other coercion than
the due execution of the laws already established by
parliament.]

3. For the discipline of the church of England by
bishops, etc. I will not positively say, as some do, that
it is jure divino ; but this I say and think ex animo,
that it is the nearest to apostolical truth ; and confi-
dently I shall say, it is fittest for monarchy of all others.
I will use no other authority to you, than that excellent
proclamation set out by the king himself in the first
year of his reign, and annexed before the book of Com-
mon-prayer, which I desire you to read ; and if at any
time there shall be the least motion made for innovation,
to put the king in mind to read it himself: it is most
dangerous in a state, to give ear to the least alterations
in government.

[If any attempt be made to alter the discipline of our
church, although it be not an essential part of our reli-
gion, yet it is so necessary not to be rashly altered, as the
very substance of religion will be interested in it :
therefore 1 desire you before any attempt be made of
an innovation by your means, or by any intercession to

F f2

Advice to Sir George Jolliers.

your master, that you will first read over, and his ma-
jesty call to mind that wise and weighty proclamation,
which himself penned, and caused to be published in
the first year of his reign, and is prefixed in print before
the book of Common-prayer, of that impression, in
which you will find so prudent, so weighty reasons,
not to hearken to innovations, as will fully satisfy you,
that it is dangerous to give the least ear to such inno-
vators ; but it is desperate to be misled by them : and
to settle your judgment, mark but the admonition of
the wisest of men, king Solomon, Prov. xxiv. 21. My
son, fear God and the king, and meddle not with those
who are given to change.*]

4. Take heed, I beseech you, that you be not an in-
strument to countenance the Romish catholics. I can-
not flatter, the world believes that some near in blood
to you are too much of that persuasion -, you must use
them with fit respects, according to the bonds of na-
ture j but you are of kin, and so a friend to their per-
sons, not to their errors.

5. The archbishops and bishops, next under the
king, have the government of the church and eccle-
siastical affairs : be not you the mean to prefer any to
those places for any by-respects ; but only for their
learning, gravity, and worth : their lives and doctrine
ought to be exemplary.

6. For deans, and canons or prebends of cathedral
churches ; in their first institution they were of great
use in the church ; they were not only to be of counsel
with the bishop for his revenue, but chiefly for his go-
vernment in causes ecclesiastical : use your best means
to prefer such to those places who are fit for that pur-
pose, men eminent for their learning, piety, and dis^
cretion, and put the king often in mind thereof j and
let them be reduced again to their institution.

7. You will be often solicited, and perhaps impor-
tuned to prefer scholars to church livings : you may
further your friends in that way, caeleris paribus ;
otherwise remember, I pray, that these are not places
merely of favour; the charge of souls lies upon them ;
the greatest account whereof will be required at their

Advice to Sir George Villlers.

own bands ; but they will share deeply in their faults
who are the instruments of their preferment.

8. Besides the Romish catholics, there is a genera-
tion of sectaries, the anabaptists, brownists, and others
of their kinds; they have been several ticnes very busy
in this kingdom, under the colour of zeal for reforma-
tion of religion : the king your master knows their dis-
position very well ; a small touch will put him in mind
of them ; he had experience of them in Scotland, I
hope he will beware of them in England ; a little coun-
tenance or connivancy sets them on fire.

9. Order and decent ceremonies in the church are
not only comely, but commendable ; but there must
be great care not to introduce innovations, they will
quickly prove scandalous; men are naturally over-
prone to suspicion ; the true protestant religion is
seated in the golden mean ; the enemies to her are the
extremes on either hand.

10. The persons of church-men are to be had in due
respect for their work's sake, and protected from scorn;
but if a clergyman be loose and scandalous, he must
not be patronized nor winked at ; the example of a
few such corrupt many.

11. Great care must be taken, that the patrimony
of the church be not sacrilegiously diverted to lay uses :
his majesty in his time hath religiously stopped a leak
that did much harm, and would else have done more.
Be sure, as much as in you lies, stop the like upon all
occasions.

12. Colleges and schools of learning are to be che-
rished and encouraged, there to breed up a new stock
to furnish the church and commonwealth when the old
store are transplanted. This kingdom hath in later
ages been famous for good literature ; and if prefer-
ment shall attend the deservers^ there will not want
supplies.

II. NEXT to religion, let your care be to promote
justice. By justice and mercy is the king's throne
established.

1. Let the rule of justice be the laws of the land,

Advice to Sir George Jolliers.

an impartial arbiter between the king and his people,
and between one subject and another: I shall not
speak superlatively of them, lest I be suspected of par-
tiality, in regard of my own profession ; but this I
may truly saj, They are second to none in the chris-
tian world.

[They are the best, the equallest in the world be-
tween prince and people ; by which the king hath the
justcst prerogative, and the people the best liberty :
and if at any time there be an unjust deviation, Hominis
est v it in m , no n p i ' of ess io nisJ]

2. And as far as it may lie in you, let no arbitrary
power be intruded : the people of this kingdom love
the laws thereof, and nothing will oblige them more,
than a. confidence of the free enjoying of them ; what
the nobles upon an occasion once said in parliament,
Nolumus leges Angliae mutare, is imprinted in the
hearts of all the people.

3. But because the life of the laws lies in the due ex-
ecution and administration of them, let your eye be, in
the first place, upon the choice of good judges : these
properties had they need to be furnished with ; to be
learned in their profession, patient in hearing, prudent
in governing, powerful in their elocution to persuade
and satisfy both the parties and hearers; just in their
judgment; and to sum up all, they must have these
three attributes ; they must be men of courage, fearing
God, and hating covetousness ; an ignorant man can-
not, a coward dares not be a good judge.

4. By no means be you persuaded to interpose
yourself, either by word or letter, in any cause de-
pending, or like to be depending in any court of jus-
tice, nor suffer any other great man to do it where
you can hinder it, and by all means dis-suade the king
himself from it4, upon the importunity of any for them-
selves or their friends : if it should prevail, it perverts
justice; but if the judge be so just, and of such cou-
rage, as he ought to be, as not to be inclined thereby,
yet it always leaves a taint of suspicion behind it ;
judges must be as chaste as Cesar's wife, neither
to be, nor to be suspected to be unjust; and, Sir, the

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 439

honour of the judges in their judicature is the king's
honour, whose person they represent.

5. There is great use of the service of the judges in
their circuits, which are twice in the year held through-
out the kingdom : the trial of causes between party and
party, or delivering of the gaols in the several coun-
ties, are of great use for the expedition of justice ; yet
they are of much more use for the government of the
counties through which they pass, if that were well
thought upon.

6. For if they had instructions to that purpose, they
might he the best intelligencers to the king of the true
state of his whole kingdom, of the disposition of the
people, of their inclinations, of their intentions and
motions, which are necessary to be truly understood.

7. To this end I could wish, that against every cir-
cuit all the judges should, sometimes by the king
himself, and sometimes by the lord Chancellor or lord
Keeper, in the king's name", receive a charge of those
things which the present times did much require; and
at their return should deliver a faithful account there-
of, and how they found and left the counties through
which they passed, and in which they kept their as-
sizes.

8. And that they might the better perform this
work, which might be of great importance, it will not
be amiss that sometimes this charge be public, as it
useth to be in the Star-chamber, at the end of the
terms next before the circuit begins, where the king's
care of justice, and the good of his people, may be pub-
lished ; and that sometimes also it may be private, to
communicate to the judges some things not fit to be
publicly delivered.

9. I could wish also, that the judges were directed
to make a little longer stay in a place than they usually
do ; a day more in a county would be a very good
addition ; although their wages for their circuits were
increased in proportion: it would stand better with
the gravity of their employment; whereas now they
are sometimes enforced to rise over-early, and sit over-
late, for the dispatch of their business, to the extraor-

Advice to Sir George Villiers.

dinary trouble of themselves and of the people, their
times indeed not being horae juridicae ; and, which is
the main, they would have the more leisure to inform
themselves, quasi aliud agentes, of the true estate of
the country.

10. The attendance of the sheriffs of the counties,
accompanied with the principal gentlemen, is comely,
not a costly equipage, upon the judges of assize at
their coming to the place of their sitting, and at their
going out, is not only a civility, but of use also : it
raiseth a reverence to the persons and places of the
judges, who coming from the king himself on so great
an errand, should not be neglected.

1 1. If any sue to be made a judge, for my own part,
I should suspect him: but it either directly or indi-
rectly he should bargain for a place of judicature, let
him Ue rejected with shame; Vendere jure potest,
emerat Hie pnus.

\2. When the place of a chief judge of a court be-
comes vacant, a puisne judge of that court, or of another
court, who hath approved himself fit and deserving,
should be sometimes preferred ; it would be a good
encouragement for him, and for others by his example.

1 . Next to the judge, there would be care used in
the choice of such as are called to the degree of ser-
jeants at law, for such they must be first before they
be made judges; none should be made Serjeants but
such as probably might be held fit to be judges after-
wards, when the experience at the bar hath fitted
them for the bench : therefore by all means cry down
that unworthy course of late times used, that they
should pay monies for it; it may satisfy some cour-
tiers, but it is no honour to the person so preferred,
nor to the king who thus prefers them.

14. For the king's counsel at the law, especially his
attorney and solicitor general, I need say nothing:
their continual use for the king's service, not only for
his revenue, but for all the parts of his government,
will put the king, and those who love his service, in
mind to make choice of men every way fit and able
for that employment ; they had need t© be learned in

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 441

their profession, and not ignorant in other things ; and
to be dexterous in those affairs whereof the dispatch
is committed to them.

15. The king's attorney of the court of wards is in
the true quality of the judges; therefore what hath
been observed already of judges, which are intended
principally of the three great courts of law at West-
minster, may be applied to the choice of the attorney
of this court.

16. The like for the attorney of the duchy of Lan-
caster, who partakes of both qualities, partly of a judge
in that court, and partly of an attorney-general for so
much as concerns the proper revenue of the duchy.

17 I must not forget the judges of the four circuits
in the twelve shires of Wales, who although they are
not of the first magnitude, nor need be of the degree
of the coif, only the chief justice of Chester, who is
one of their number, is so, yet are they considerable
in the choice of them, by the same rules as the other
judges are ; and they sometimes are, and fitly may be,
transplanted into the higher courts.

18. There are many courts, as you see, some supe-
rior, some provincial, and some of a lower orb : it
were to be wished, and is fit to be so ordered, that
every of them keep themselves within their proper
spheres. The harmony of justice is then the sweet-
est, when there is no jarring about the jurisdiction of
the courts -y which methinks wisdom cannot much
differ upon, their true bounds being for the most part
so clearly knowrn.

19. Having said thus much of the judges, some-
what will be fit to put you in mind concerning the
principal ministers of justice : and in the first, of the high
sheriffs of the counties, which have been very ancient
in this kingdom ; 1 am sure before the conquest : the
choice of them I commend to your care, and that at
fit times you put the king in mind thereof; that as
near as may be they be such as are fit for those places :
for they are of great trust and power; the posse comi-
tatus, the power of the whole county being legally
committed to him.

442 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

20. Therefore it is agreeable with the intention of
the law, that the choice of them should be by the
commendation of the great officers of the kingdom,
and by the advice of the judges, who are presumed
to be well read in the condition of the gentry of the
whole kingdom : and although the king may do it of
himself, yet the old way is the good way.

21. But I utterly condemn the practice of the later
times, which hath lately crept into the court, at the
back-stairs, that some who are pricked for sheriffs, and
were fit, should get out of the bill ; and others who'
were neither thought upon, nor worthy to be, should
be nominated, and both for money.

22. I must not omit to put you in mind of the lords
lieutenants and deputy lieutenants of the counties:
their proper use is for ordering the military affairs, in
order to an invasion from abroad, or a rebellion or
sedition at home ; good choice should be made of
them, and prudent instructions given to them, and as
little of the arbitrary power, as may be, left unto
them ; and that the muster-masters, and other officers
under them, incroach not upon the subject; that will
detract much from the king's service.

23. The justices of peace are of great use. An-
ciently there were conservators of the peace; these are
the same, saving that several acts of parliament have
altered their denomination, and enlarged their juris-
diction in many particulars : the fitter they are for the
peace of the kingdom, the more heed ought to be
taken in the choice of them.

24. But negatively, this I shall be bold to say, that
none should be put into either of those commissions
with an eye of favour to their persons, to give them
countenance or reputation in the places where they
live, but for the king's service sake ; nor any put out
for the disfavour of any great man : it hath been too
often used, and hath been no good service to the king.

25. A word more if you please to give me leave,
for the true rules of moderation of justice on the king's
part. The execution of justice is committed to his
judges, which seemeth to be the severer part; but the

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 445

milder part, which is mercy, is wholly left in the king's
immediate hand: and justice and mercy are the true
supporters of his royal throne.

26. If the king shall be wholly intent upon justice, ,
it may appear with an over-rigid aspect ; but if he
shall be over-remiss and easy, it dravveth upon him
contempt. Examples of justice must be made some-
times for terror to some ; examples of mercy some-
times, for comfort to others ; the one procures fear, and
the other love. A king must be both feared and loved,
else he is lost.

27. The ordinary courts of justice T have spoken of,
and of their judges and judicature : I shall put you in
mind of some things touching the high court of parlia-
ment in England, which is superlative ; and therefore
it will behove me to speak the more warily thereof.

28. For the institution of it, it is very ancient in
this kingdom : it consisteth of the two houses, of peers
and commons, as the members ; and of the king's
majesty, as the head of that great body : by the king's
authority alone, and by his writs, they are assembled,
and by him alone are they prorogued and dissolved;
but each house may adjourn itself.

29. They being thus assembled, are more properly
a council to the king, the great council of the king-
dom, to advise his majesty in those things of weight
and difficulty, which concern both the king and people,
than a court.

30. No new laws can be made, nor old laws abro-
gated or altered, but by common consent in parlia-
ment, where bills are prepared and presented to the
two houses, and then delivered, but nothing is con-
cluded but by the king's royal assent; they are but
embryos, it is he that giveth life unto them.

31. Yet the house of peers hath a power of judi-
cature in some cases : properly to examine, and then
to affirm ; or, if there be cause, to reverse the judg-
ments which have been given in the court of king's
bench, which is the court of highest jurisdiction in the
kingdom for ordinary judicature ; but in these cases it
must be done by writ of error in parliamento: and

444 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

thus the rule of their proceedings is not absoluta po-
testas, as in making new laws, in that conjuncture as
before, but limitata potestasy according to the known
laws of the land.

32. But the house of commons have only power to
censure the members of their own house, in point of
election, or misdemeanors in or towards that house ;
and have not, nor ever had power so much as to ad-
minister an oath to prepare a judgment.

33. The true use of parliaments in this kingdom is
very excellent ; and they should be often called, as
the affairs of the kingdom shall require; and conti-
nued as long as is necessary and no longer: for then
they be but burdens to the people, by reason of the
privileges justly due to the members of the two houses
and their attendants, which their just rights and pri-
vileges are religiously to be observed and maintained:
but if they should be unjustly enlarged beyond their
true bounds, they might lessen the just power of the
crown, it borders so near upon popularity.

34. All this while I have spoken concerning the
common laws of England, generally and properly so
called, because it is most general and common to
almost all cases and causes, both civil and criminal :
but there is also another law, which is called the civil
or ecclesiastical law, which is confined to some few
heads, and that is not to be neglected : and although
I am a professor of the common law, yet am I so much
a lover of truth and of learning, and of my native coun-
try, that I do heartily persuade that the professors of
that law, called civilians, because the civil law is their
guide, should not be discountenanced nor discouraged:
else whensoever we shall have ought to do with any
foreign king or state, we shall be at a miserable loss
for want of learned men in that profession.

III. I come now to the consideration of those things
which concern counsellors of state, the council table,
and the great offices and officers of the kingdom ;
which are those who for the most part furnish out
that honourable board,

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 445

1. Of counsellors there are two sorts : the first, con-
siliarii nati, as I may term them, such are the prince
of Wales, and others of the king's sons, when he hath
more, of these I speak not, for they are naturally born
to be counsellors to the king, to learn the art of go-
verning betimes.

2. But the ordinary sort of counsellors are such as
the king, out of a. due consideration of their worth and
abilities, and withal, of their fidelities to his person
and to his crown, calleth to be of council with him in
his ordinary government. And the council-table is so
called from the place where they ordinarily assemble
and sit together ; and their oath is the only ceremony
used to make them such, which is solemnly given unto
them at their first admission : these honourable persons
are from thenceforth of that board and body : they can-
not come until they be thus called, and the king at
his pleasure may spare their attendance ; and he may
dispense with their presence there, which at their own
pleasure they may not do.

3. This being the quality of their service, you may
easily judge what care the king should use in his
choice of them. It behoveth that they be persons of
great trust and fidelity, and also of wisdom and judg-
ment, who shall thus assist in bearing up the king's
throne, and of known experience in public affairs.

4. Yet it may not be unfit to call some of young
years, to train them up in that trade, and so fit them
for those weighty affairs against the time of greater
maturity , and some also for the honour of their per-
sons : but these two sorts are not to be tied to so strict
attendance at the others, from whom the present dis-
patch of business is expected.

5. Icould wish that theirnumber might not be so over-
great, the persons of the counsellors would be the more
venerable : and I know that queen Elizabeth, in whose
time I had the happiness to be born and to jive many
years, was not so much observed for having a nume-
rous as a wise council.

6. The duty of a privy-counsellor to a king, I con-
ceive, is not only to attend the council-board at the

446 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

times appointed, and there to consult of what shall be
propounded ; but also to study those things which may
advance the king's honour and safety, and the good of
the kingdom, and to communicate the same to the king,
or to his fellow-counsellors, as there shall be occasion.
And this, Sir, will concern you more than others, by
how much you have a larger share in his affections.

7. And one thing I shall be bold to desire you to
recommend to his majesty : that when any new thing
shall be propounded to be taken into consideration, that
no counsellor should suddenly deliver any positive opi-
nion thereof: it is not so easy with all men to retract
their opinions, although there shall be cause for it :
but only to hear it, and at the most but to break it at
first, that it may be the better understood against the
next meeting.

8. When any matter of weight hath been debated,
and seemeth to be ready for a resolution ; I wish it
may not be at that sitting concluded, unless the neces-
sity of the time press it, lest upon second cogitations
there should be cause to alter ; which is not for the
gravity and honour of that board.

9. I wish also that the king would be pleased some-
times to be present at that board ; it adds a majesty to
it : and yet not to be too frequently there ; that would
render it less esteemed when it is become common :
besides, it may sometimes make the counsellors not
be so free in their debates in his presence as they would
be in his absence.

10. Besides the giving of counsel, the counsellors are
bound by their duties ex vi termini, as well as by their
oaths, to keep counsel ; therefore are they called de
privato consilio regis, and d secretioribus consiliis
regis.

11. One thing I add, in the negative, which is not
fit for that board, the entertaining of private causes of
meum et tuum j those should be left to the ordinary
course and courts of justice.

12. As there is great care to be used for the coun-
sellors themselves to be chosen, so there is of the
clerks of the council also, for the secreting of their

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 447

consultations : and methinks, it were fit that his ma-
jesty be speedily moved to give a strict charge, and to
bind it with a solemn order, if it be not already so
done, that no copies of the orders of that table be de-
livered out by the clerks of the council but by the order
of the board ; nor any, not being a counsellor, or a
clerk of the council, or his clerk, to have access to the
council books : and to that purpose, that the servants
attending the clerks of the council be bound to secrecy,
as well as their masters.

13. For the great offices and officers of the king-
dom, I shall say little ; for the most part of them are
such as cannot well be severed from the counsellorship ;
and therefore the same rule is to be observed for both,
in the choice of them. In the general, only, I advise
this, let them be set in those places for which they are
probably the most rit.

14. But in the quality of the persons, I conceive it
will be most convenient to have some of every sort, as
in the time of queen Elizabeth it was : one bishop at
the least, in respect of questions touching religion or
church government ; one or more skilled in the laws ;
some for martial affairs ; and some for foreign affairs :
by this mixture one will help another in all things that
shall there happen to be moved. But if that should
fail, it will be a safe way, to consult with some other
able persons well versed in that point which is the
subject of their consultation ; which yet may be done
so warily, as may not discover the main end therein.

IV. IN the next place, I shall put you in mind of
foreign negotiations, and embassies to or with foreign
princes or states; wherein I shall be little able to serve
you.

1. Only, I will tell you what W7as the course in the
happy days of queen Elizabeth, whom it will be no
dis-reputation to follow : she did vary according to the
nature of the employment, the quality of the persons
she employed ; which is a good rule to go by.

2. If it were an embassy of gratulation or ceremony,
which must not be neglected, choice was made of

ddvice to Sir George Villiers.

some noble person eminent in place and able in purse;
and he would take it as a mark of favour, and discharge
it without any great burden to the queen's coffers, for
his own honour's sake.

3. But if it were an embassy of weight, concerning
affairs of state, choice was made of some grave person
of known judgment, wisdom, and experience ; and
not of a young man not weighed in state matters; nor
of a mere formal man, whatsoever his title or outside
were.

4. Yet in company of such, some young towardly
noblemen or gentlemen were usually sent also, as
assistants or attendants, according to the quality of the
persons ; who might be thereby prepared and fitted
for the like employment, by this means, at another
turn.

5. In their company were always sent some grave
and sedate men, skilful in the civil laws, and some in
the languages, and some who had been formerly con-
versant in the courts of those princes, and knew their
\vays ; these were assistants in private, but not trusted
to manage the affairs in public ; that would detract
from the honour of the principal ambassador.

6. If the negotiation were about merchants affairs,
then were the persons employed for the most part doc-
tors of the civil law, assisted with some other discreet
men; and in such, the charge was ordinarily defrayed
by the company or society of merchants whom the ne-
gotiation concerned.

7. If lieger ambassadors or agents were sent to re-
main in or near the courts of those princes or states, as
it was ever held fit, to observe the motions, and to hold
correspondence with them, upon all occasions, such
\vere made choice of as were presumed to be vigilant,
industrious, and discreet men, and had the language
of the place whether they were sent; and with these
were sent such as were hopeful to be worthy of the like
employment at another time.

8. Their care^was, to give true and timely intelli-
gence of all occurrences, either to the queen herself,
or to the secretaries of state, unto whom they had their
immediate relation.

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 449

9. Their charge was always borne by the queen,
duly paid out of the exchequer, in such proportion, as,
according to their qualities and places, might give them
an honourable subsistence there: but for the reward
of their service, they were to expect it upon their re-
turn, by some such preferment as might be worthy of
them, and yet be little burden to the queen's coffers or
revenues.

1 0. At their going forth they had their general in-
structions in writing, which might be communicated
to the ministers of that state whither they were sent;
and they had also private instructions upon particular
occasions : and at their return, they did always render
an account of some things to the queen herself, of some
things to the body of the council, and of some others
to the secretaries of state ; who made use of them, or
communicated them as there was cause.

1 1. In those days there was a constant course held,
that by the advice of the secretaries, or some principal
counsellors, there were always sent forth into several
parts beyond the seas some young men, of whom good
hopes w?ere conceived of their towardliness, to be
trained up, and made fit for such public employments,
and to learn the languages. This was at the charge
of the queen, which was not much ; for they travelled
but as private gentlemen : and as by their industry
their deserts did appear, so were they farther employed
or rewarded. This course I shall recommend unto
you, to breed up a nursery ot such public plants,

V. FOR peace and war, and those things which ap-
pertain to either; I in my own disposition and profes-
sion am wholly for peace, if please God to bless this
kingdom therewith, as for many years past he hath
done : and,

1. I presume I shall not need to persuade you to the,
advancing of it ; nor shall you need to persuade the
king your master therein, for that he hath hitherto
been another Solomon in this our Israel, and the motto
which he hath chosen, Beati pacijici, shews his own

VOL. III. G g

Advice to Sir George Villiers.

judgment : but he must use the means to preserve it,
else such a jewel may be lost.

2. God is the God of peace ; it is one of his attri-
butes, therefore by him alone we must pray, and hope
to continue it : there is the foundation.

3. And the king must not neglect the just ways for
it ; justice is the best protector of it at home, and pro-
vidence for war is the best prevention of it from abroad.

4. Wars are either foreign or civil ; for the foreign
war by the king upon some neighbour nation, I hope
we are secure ; the king in his pious and just disposi-
tion is not inclinable thereunto ; his empire is long
enough, bounded with the ocean, as if the very situa-
tion thereof had taught the king and people to set up
their rests, and say, Ne plus ultra.

5. And for a war of invasion from abroad ; only we
must not be over-secure : that is the way to invite it.

6. But if we be always prepared to receive an ene-
my, if the ambition or malice of any should incite him,
we may be very confident we shall long live in peace
and quietness, without any attempts upon us.

7. To make the preparations hereunto the more as-
sured : in the first place, I will recommend unto you
the care of our out-works, the navy royal and shipping
of our kingdom, which are the walls thereof: and every
great ship is as an impregnable fort ; and our many
safe and commodious ports and havens, in each of
these kingdoms, are as the redoubts to secure them.

S. For the body of the ships, no nation of the world
doth equal England for the oaken timber wherewith to
build them ; and we need not borrow of any other
iron for spikes, or nails to fasten them together ; but
there must be a great deal of providence used, that
our ship timber be not unnecessarily wasted.

9. But for tackling, as sails and cordage, we are
beholden to our neighbours for them, and do buy them
for our money; that must be foreseen and laid up in
store against a time of need, and not sought for when
we are to use them : but we are much to blame that
we make them not at home ; only pitch and tar we
have not of our own.

Advice to Sir George Villters. 45 2

10. For the true art of building of ships, for burden
and service both, no nation in the world exceeds us:
ship-wrights and all other artisans belonging to that
trade must be cherished and encouraged.

11. Powder and ammunition of all sorts we can
have at home, and in exchange for other home com-
modities we may be plentifully supplied from our
neighbours, which must not be neglected.

12. With mariners and seamen this kingdom is plen-
tifully furnished: the constant trade of merchandising
will furnish us at a need ; and navigable rivers will
repair the store, both to the navy royal and to the mer-
chants, if they be set on work, and well paid for their
labour.

13. Sea captains and commanders and other officers
must be encouraged, and rise by degrees, as their fi-
delity and industry deserve it.

[Let brave spirits that have fitted themselves for
command, either by sea or land, not be laid by, as
persons unnecessary for the time ; let arms and am-
munition of all sorts be provided and stored up, as
against a day of battle -, let the ports and forts be fitted
so as if by the next wind we should hear of an alarm :
such a known providence is the surest protection. But
of all wars, let both prince and people pray against a
war in our own bowels : the king by his wisdom, jus-
tice, and moderation, must foresee and stop such a
storm, and if it fall must allay it 5 and the people by
their obedience must decline it. And for a foreign
war intended by an invasion to enlarge the bounds of
our empire, which are large enough, and are naturally
bounded with the ocean, I have no opinion either of
the justness or fitness of it ; and it were a very hard
matter to attempt it with hope of success, seeing the
subjects of this kingdom believe it is not legal for them
to be enforced to go beyond the seas without their own
consent, upon hope of an unwarranted conquest; but
to resist an invading enemy, or to suppress rebels, the
subject may and must be commanded out of the coun-
ties where they inhabit. The whole kingdom is but

Gg2

Advice to Sir George Villicrs.

one intire body ; else it will necessarily be verified,
which elsewhere was asserted, Dum singuli pugnamuf,
omnts vincimur. \

14. Our strict league of amity and alliance with our
near neighbours the Hollanders is a mutual strength
to both; the shipping of both, in conjuncture, being
so powerful, by God's blessing, as no foreigners will
venture upon ; this league and friendship must invio-
lably be observed.

15. From Scotland wre have had in former times
some alarms, and inroads into the northern parts of
this kingdom ; but that happy union of both kingdoms
under one sovereign, our gracious king, I hope, hath
taken away all occasions of breach between the two
nations. Let not the cause arise from England, and
I hope the Scots will not adventure it; or if they do,
I hope they will find, that although to our king they
were his first-born subjects, yet to England belongs the
birthright : but this should not be any cause to oiFer
any injury to them, nor to suffer any from them

16. There remains then no danger, by the blessing
of God, but a civil war, from which God of his mercy
defend us, as that which is most desperate of all others.
The king's wisdom and justice must prevent it, if it
may be ; or if it should happen, quod absit, he must
quench that wild-fire with all the diligence that possi-
bly can be.

17. Competition to the crown there is none, nor
can be, therefore it must be a fire within the bowels,
or nothing ; the cures whereof are these, remcdium
praeveniens, which is the best physic, either to a na-
tural body or to a state, by just and equal government
to take away the occasion ; and rcmedium puniens> if
the other prevail not: the service and vigilancy of the
deputy lieutenants in every county, and of the high
sheriff, will contribute much herein to our security.

18. But if that should not prevail, by a wise and
timous inquisition, the peccant humours and humorists
must be discovered, and purged or cut off; mercy, in
such a case, in a king is true cruelty.

19. Yet if the heads of the tribes can be taken off,

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 453

and the misled multitude will see their error, and re-
turn to their obedience, such an extent of mercy is
both honourable and profitable.

20. A king, against a storm, must foresee to have
a convenient stock of treasure ; and neither be without
money, which is the sinews of war, nor to depend
upon the courtesy of others, which may fail at a pinch.

21. He must also have a magazine of all sorts,
which must be had from foreign parts, or provided at
home, and to commit them to several places, under
the custody of trusty and faithful ministers and officers,
if it be possible.

22. He must make choice of expert and able com-
manders to conduct and manage the war, either against
a foreign invasion, or a home rebellion ; which must
not be young and giddy, which dare, not only to fight,
but to swear, and drink, and curse, neither fit to go-
vern others, nor able to govern themselves.

23. Let not such be discouraged, if they deserve
well, by misinformation, or for the satisfying the hu-
mours or ambition of others, perhaps out of envy,
perhaps out of treachery, or other sinister ends. A
steady hand in governing of military affairs is more re-
quisite than in times of peace, because an error com-
mitted in war may, perhaps, prove irremediable.

24. If God shall bless these endeavours, and the
king return to his own house in peace, when a civil
war shall be at an end, those who have been found
faithful in the land must be regarded, yea, and re-
warded also ; the traitorous, or treacherous, who have
misled others, severely punished ; and the neutrals and
false-hearted friends and followers, who have started
aside like a broken bow, be noted carbone nigro. And
so I shall leave them, and this part of the work.

VI. I COME to the sixth part, which is trade; and
that is either at home or abroad. And I begin with
that which is aJMiome, which enableth the subjects of
the kingdom to live, and layeth a foundation to a fo-
reign trade by traffic with others, which enableth them
to live plentifully and happily.

Advice to Sir George VilUers.

1. For the home trade, I first commend unto your
consideration the encouragement of tillage, which will
enable the kingdom for corn for the natives, and to
spare for exportation : and I myself have known, more
,than once, when, in times of dearth, in queen Eliza-
beth's days, it drained much coin out of the kingdom,
to furnish us with corn from foreign parts.

2. Good husbands will find the means, by good hus-
bandry, to improve their lands, by lime, chalk, marl,
or sea-sand, where it can be had : but it will not be
amiss, that they be put in mind thereof, and encou-
raged in their industries.

3. Planting of orchards, in a soil and air fit for
them, is very profitable, as well as pleasurable ; cyder
and perry are notable beverages in sea voyages.

4. Gardens are also very profitable, if planted with
artichokes, roots, and such other things as are fit for
food ; whence they be called kitchen gardens, and
that very properly.

5. The planting of hop-yards, sowing of woad and
rape-seed, are found very profitable for the planters,
in places apt for them, and consequently profitable for
the kingdom, which for divers years was furnished
with them from beyond the seas.

6. The planting and preserving of woods, espe-
cially of timber, is not only profitable, but commend-
$ble, therewith to furnish posterity, both for building
and shipping.

7. The kingdom would be much improved by drain-
ing of drowned lands, and gaining that in from the
overflowing of salt waters and the sea, and from fresh
waters also.

8. And many of those grounds would be exceed-
ing fit for dairies, which, being well housewived, are
exceeding commodious.

9. Much good land might be gained from forests
and chases, more remote from the king's access, and
from other commonable places, so as always there be
a due care taken, that the poor commoners have no
injury by such improvement.

10. The making of navigable rivers would be very

Advice to Sir George Villiers* 455

profitable ; they would be as so many in-draughts of
wealth, by conveying of commodities with ease from
place to place.

11. The planting of hemp and flax would be an
unknown advantage to the kingdom, many places
therein being as apt for it, as any foreign parts.

12. But add hereunto, that if it be converted into
linen-cloth or cordage, the commodity thereof will be
multiplied.

13. So it is of the wools and leather of the kingdom,
if they be converted into manufactures.

14. Our English dames are much given to the wear-
ing of costly laces ; and, if they be brought from Italy,
or France, or Flanders, they are in great esteem ;
whereas, if the like laces were made by the English,
so much thread as would make a yard of lace, being
put into that manufacture, wTould be five times, or
perhaps ten or twenty times the value.

15. The breeding of cattle is of much profit, espe-
cially the breed of horses, in many places, not only for
travel, but for the great saddle ; the English horse, for
strength, and courage, and swiftness together, not
being inferior to the horses of any other kingdom.

16. The minerals of the kingdom, of lead, iron,
copper, and tin, especially, are of great value, and
set many able-bodied subjects on work ; it were great
pity they should not be industriously followed.

17. But of all minerals, there is none like to that
of fishing upon the coasts of these kingdoms, and the
seas belonging to them : our neighbours, within half a
day's sail of us, with a good wind, can shew us the
use and value thereof; and, doubtless, there is sea-
room enough for both nations without offending one
another ; and it would exceedingly support the navy.

18. This realm is much enriched of late years, by
the trade of merchandise which the English drive in
foreign parts ; and, if it be wisely managed, it must
of necessity very much increase the wealth thereof:
care being taken, that the exportation exceed in value
the importation : for then the balance of trade must of
necessity be returned in coin or bullion.

Advice to Sir George Villiers.

19. This would easily be effected, if the merchants
were persuaded or compelled to make their returns in
solid commodities, and not too much thereof in vanity,
tending to excess.

20. But especially care must be taken, that mono-
polies, which are the cankers of all trading, be not
admitted under specious colours of public good.

21. To put all these into a regulation, if a constant
commission to men of honesty and understanding were
granted, and well pursued, to give order for the ma-
naging of these things, both at home and abroad, to
the best advantage ; and that this commission were
subordinate to the council-board; it is conceived it
would produce notable effects.

VII. THE next thing is that of colonies and foreign
plantations, which are very necessary as outlets to a
populous nation, and may be profitable also if they be
managed in a discreet way.

1. First, in the choice of the place, which requireth
many circumstances ; as the situation, near the sea, for
the commodiousness of an intercourse with England;
the temper of the air and climate, as may best agree
with the bodies of the English, rather inclining to cold
than heat ; that it be stored with woods, mines, and
fruits, which are naturally in the place ; that the soil
be such as will probably be fruitful for corn and other
conveniencies, and for breeding of cattle ; that it hath
rivers, both for passage between place and place, and
for fishing also, if it may be ; that the natives be not
so many, but that there may be elbow-room enough
for them, and for the adventives also : all which are
likely to be found in the West-Indies.

2. It should be also such as is not already planted
by the subjects of any Christian prince or state, nor
over-nearly neighbouring to their plantation. And it
would be more convenient, to be chosen by some of
those gentlemen or merchants which move first in the
work, than to be designed unto them from the king ;
for it must proceed from the option of the people, else
it sounds like an exile ; so the colonies must be raised
by the leave of the king, and not by his command.

Advice to Sir George Vilhers. 457

3. After the place is made choice of, the first step
must be, to make choice of a fit governor; who al-
though he have not the name, yet he must have the
power of a viceroy ; and if the person who principally
moved in the work be not fit for that trust, yet he
must not be excluded from command; but then his
defect in the governing part must be supplied by such
assistants as shall be joined with him, or as he shall
very well approve of.

4. As at their setting out they must have their com-
mission or letters patents from the king, that so they
may acknowledge their dependency upon the crown of
England, and under his protection ; so they must re-
ceive some general instructions, how to dispose of
themselves when they come there, which must be in
nature of laws unto them.

5. But the general law, by which they must be
guided and governed, must be the common law of
England ; and to that end, it will be fit that some
man reasonably studied in the law, and otherwise
qualified for such a purpose, be persuaded, if not
thereunto inclined of himself, which were the best, to
go thither as chancellor amongst them, at first ; and
when the plantation were more settled, then to have
courts of justice there as in England.

6. At the first planting, or as soon after as they can,
they must make themselves defensible both against
the natives and against strangers ; and to that purpose
they must have the assistance of some able military
man, and convenient arms and ammunition for their
defence.

7. For the discipline of the church in those parts, it
will be necessary, that it agree with that which is set-
tled in England, else it will make a schism and a rent
in Christ's coat which must be seamless ; and, to that
purpose, it will be fit, that by the king's supreme
power in causes ecclesiastical, within all his domi-
nions ; they be subordinate under some bishop and
bishoprick of this realm.

,8. For the better defence against a common enemy,
I think it would be best, that foreign plantations

458 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

should be placed in one continent, and near together ;
whereas, if they be too remote the one from the other
they will be disunited, and so the weaker.

9. They must provide themselves of houses, such
as for the present they can, and at more leisure such as
maybe better; and they first must plant for corn and cat-
tle, etc. for food and necessary sustenance ; and after,
they may enlarge themselves for those things which
may be for profit and pleasure, and to traffick withal
also.

10. Woods for shipping, in the first place, may
doubtless be there had, and minerals there found, per-
haps of the richest ; howsoever, the mines out of the
fruits of the earth, and seas and waters adjoining, may
found in abundance.

1 J . In a short time they may build vessels and ships
also for traffick with the parts near adjoining, and
with England also, from whence they may be fur-
nished with such things as they may want, and, in
exchange or barter, send from thence other things,
with which quickly, either by nature or art, they may
abound.

12. But these things should by all means be pre-
vented ; that no known bankrupt, for shelter, nor
known murderer or other wicked person, to avoid the
law ; nor known heretic or schismatic, be suffered to
go into those countries ; or, if they do creep in there,
not to be harboured or continued : else, the place
would receive them naught, and return them into
England, upon all occasions, worse.

13. That no merchant, under colour of driving a
trade thither or from thence, be suffered to work upon
their necessities.

14. And that to regulate all these inconveniences,
which will insensibly grow upon them, that the king
be pleased to erect a subordinate council in England,
whose care and charge shall be, to advise, and put in
execution, all things which shall be found fit for the
good of those new plantations; who, upon all occa-
sions, shall give an account of their proceedings to the
king, or to the council-board, and from them, receive

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 459

such directions as may best agree with the govern-
ment of that place.

15. That the king's reasonable profit be not neg-
lected, partly upon reservation of moderate rents and
services; and partly upon customs; and partly upon
importation and exportation of merchandise ; which
for a convenient time after the plantation begin, would
be very easy to encourage the work ; but, after it is
well settled, may be raised to a considerable propor-
tion, worthy the acceptation.

[Yet these cautions are to be observed in these un-
dertakings.

1. That no man be compelled to such an employ-
ment ; for that were a banishment, and not a service
fit for a free man.

2. That if any transplant themselves into plantations
abroad, who are known schismatics, outlaws, or cri-
minal persons, that they be sent for back upon the
first notice ; such persons are not fit to lay the founda-
tion of a new colony.

3. To make no extirpation of the natives under pre-
tence of planting religion : God surely will no way be
pleased with such sacrifices.

4. That the people sent thither be governed accord-
ing to the laws of this realm, whereof "they are, and
still must be subjects.

5. To establish there the same purity of religion,
and the same discipline for church government, with-
out any mixture of popery or anabaptism, lest they
should be drawn into factions and schisms, and that
place receive them there bad, and send them back
worse.

6. To employ them in profitable trades and manu-
factures, such as the clime will best fit, and such as
may be useful to this kingdom, and return to them an
exchange of things necessary.

7. That they be furnished and instructed for the
military part, as they may defend themselves ; lest, on
a sudden, they be exposed as a prey to some other
nation, when they have fitted the colony for them.

8. To order a trade thither, and thence, in such a

460 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

manner as some few merchants and tradesmen, under
colour of furnishing the colony with necessaries, may
not grind them, so as shall always keep them in poverty.

9. To place over them such governors as may be
qualified in such manner as may govern the place, and
lay the foundation of a new kingdom.

10. That care be taken, that when the industry of
one man hath settled the work, a new man, by insi-
nuation or misinformation, may not supplant him with-
out a just cause, which is the discouragement of all
faithful endeavours.

11. That the king will appoint commissioners in
the nature of a council, who may superintend the
works of this nature, and regulate what concerns the
colonies, and give an account thereof to the king, or
to his council of state.

Again, For matter of trade, I confess it is out of
my profession ; yet in that I shall make a conjecture
also, and propound some things to you, whereby, if I
am not much mistaken, you may advance the good of
your country and profit of your master.

1. Let the foundation of a profitable trade be thus
laid, that the exportation of home commodities be
more in value than the importation of foreign ; so we
shall be sure that the stocks of the kingdom shall yearly
increase, for then the balance of trade must be re-
turned in money or bullion.

2. In the importation of foreign commodities, let
not the merchant return toys and vanities, as sometimes
it was elsewhere apes and peacocks, but solid merchan-
dise, first for necessity, next for pleasure, but not for
luxury.

3. Let the vanity of the times be restrained, which
the neighbourhood of other nations have induced ; and
\ve strive apace to exceed our pattern : let vanity in
apparel, and, which is more vain, that of the fashion
be avoided. .1 have heard, that in Spain, a grave na-
tion, whom in this I wish we might imitate, they do
allow the players and courtesans the vanity of rich and
costly clothes ; but to sober men and matrons they per-
mit it not upon pain of infamy ; a severer punishment
upon ingenuous natures than a pecuniary mulct.

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 46 1

4. The excess of diet in costly meats and drinks
fetched from beyond the seas should be avoided : wise
men will do it without a law, I would there might be
a Jaw to restrain fools. The excess of wine costs the
kingdom much, and returns nothing but surfeits and
diseases; wrere we as wise as easily we might be,
within a year or two at the most, if we would needs
be drunk with wines, we might be drunk with half
the cost.

5. It we must be vain and superfluous in laces and
embroideries, which are more costly than either warm
or comely, let the curiosity be the manufacture of the
natives ; then it should not be verified of us, maferiam
super aba t opus.

6. But instead of crying up all things, which are
either brought from beyond sea or wrought here by the
hands of strangers, let us advance the native commo-
dities of our own kingdom, and employ our country-
men before strangers ; let us turn the wools of the land
into clothes and stuffs of our own growth, and the
hemp and flax growing here- into linen cloth and
cordage ; it would set many thousand hands on work,
and thereby one shilling worth of the materials would
by industry be multiplied to five, ten, and many times
to twenty times more in the value being wrought.

7. And of all sorts of thrift for the public good, I
would above all others commend to your care the en-
couragement to be given to husbandry, and the im-
proving of lands for tillage ; there is no such usury as
this. The king cannot enlarge the bounds of these
islands, which make up his empire, the ocean being
the unremoveable wall which incloseth them ; but he
may enlarge and multiply the revenue thereof by this
honest and harmless way of good husbandry.

8. A very great help to trade are navigable rivers;
they are so many indraughts to attain wealth ; where-
fore by art and industry let them be made > but let
them not be turned to private profit.

9. In the last place, I beseech you, take into your
serious consideration that Indian wealth, which this
island and the seas thereof excel in, the hidden and

462 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

rich treasure of fish'ing. Do we want an example to
follow ? I may truly say to the English, Go to the pis-
mire, thou sluggard. I need not expound the text :
half a day's sail wth a good wind, will shew the mine-
ral and the miners.

10. To regulate all these it will be worthy the care
of a subordinate council, to whom the ordering of these
things may be committed, and they give an account
thereof to the state.

VIII. I COME to the last of those things which I
propounded, which is, the court and curiality.

The other did properly concern the king, in his
royal capacity, as pater patriae ; this more properly as
pate r-f ami lias : and herein,

1. I shall in a word, and but in a word only, put
you in mind, that the king in his own person, both in
respect of his houshold or court, and in respect of his
whole kingdom, for a little kingdom is but as a great
houshold, and a great houshold as a little kingdom,
must be exemplary, Regis ad exempliim, etc. But
for this, God be praised, our charge is easy ; for our
gracious master, for his learning and piety, justice and
bounty, may be, and is, not- only a precedent to his
own subjects, but to foreign princes also ; yet he is still
but a man, and seasonable mementos may be useful ;
and, being discreetly used, cannot but take well with
him.

2. But your greatest care must be, that the great
men of his court, for you must give me leave to be
plain with you, for so is your injunction laid upon me,
yourself in the first place, who are first in the eye of
all men, give no just cause of scandal ; either by light,
or vain, or by oppressive carriage.

3. The great officers of the king's houshold had
need be both discreet and provident persons, both for
his honour and for his thrift ; they must look both
ways, else they are but half-sighted : yet in the choice
of them there is more latitude left to affection, than in
the choice of counsellors, and of the great officers of
state before touched, which must always be made

Advice to Sir George Villiers. 463

choice of merely out of judgment ; for in them the
public hath a great interest.

[And yet in these, the choice had need be of honest
and faithful servants, as well as of comely outsides,
'who can bow the knee, and kiss the hand, and per-
form other services, of small importance compared
with this of public employment. King David, Psal. ci.
6, 7. propounded a rule to himself for the choice of
his courtiers. He was a wise and a good king ; and a
wise and a good king shall do well to follow such a
good example ; and if he find any to be faulty, which
perhaps cannot suddenly be discovered, let him take
on him this resolution as king David did, There shall
no deceitful person dwell in my house. But for such as
shall bear office in the king's house, and manage the
expences thereof, it is much more requisite to make a
good choice of such servants, both for his thrift and
for his honour.]

4. For the other ministerial officers in court, as, for
distinction sake, they may be termed, there must also
be an eye unto them and upon them. They have
usually risen in the houshold by degrees, and it is a
noble way to encourage faithful service : but the king
must not bind himself to a necessity herein, for then
it will be held ex debito : neither must he alter it, with-
out an apparent cause for it : but to displace any who
are in, upon displeasure, which for the most part hap-
peneth upon the information of some great man, is by
all means to be avoided, unless there be a manifest
cause for it.

5. In these things you may sometimes interpose, to
do just and good offices; but for the general, I should
rather advise, meddle little, but leave the ordering of
those houshold affairs to the white-staffs, which are
those honourable persons, to whom it properly be-
Jongeth to be answerable to the king for it ; and to
those other officers of the green-cloth, who are subor-
dinate to them, as a kind of council and a court of jus-
tice also.

6. Yet for the green-cloth law, take it in the
largest sense, I have no opinion of it, farther than it

464 Advice to Sir George Villiers.

is regulated by the just rules of the common laws of
England.

7. Towards the support of his majesty's own table,
and of the prince's, and of his necessary officers, his
majesty hath a good help by purveyance, which justly
is due unto him j and, if justly used, is no great burden
to the subject ; but by the purveyors and other under-
ofricers is many times abused. In many parts of the
kingdom, I think it is already reduced to a certainty
in money ; and if it be indifferently and discreetly
managed, it would be no hard matter to settle it so
throughout the whole kingdom; yet to be renewed
from time to time: for that will be the best and safest,
both for the king and people.

8. The king must be put in mind to preserve the
revenues of his crown, both certain and casual, without
diminution, and to lay up treasure in store against a
time of extremity ; empty coffers give an ill sound,
and make the people many times forget their duty,
thinking that the king must be beholden to them for
his supplies.

9. I shall by no means think it fit, that he reward
any of his servants with the benefit of forfeitures,
either by fines in the court of Star-chamber, or high
commission courts, or other courts of justice, or that
they should be farmed out, or bestowed upon any, so
much as by promise, before judgment given ; it would
neither be profitable nor honourable.

10. Besides matters of serious consideration, in the
courts of princes, there must be times for pastimes
and disports : when there is a queen and ladies of
honour attending her, there must sometimes be
masques, and revels, and interludes; and when there
is no queen, or princess, as now ; yet at festivals, and
for entertainment of strangers, or upon such occasions,
they may be fit also : yet care should be taken, that in
such cases they be set off more with wit and activity
than with costly and wasteful expences.

1 1. But for the king and prince, and the lords and
chivalry of the court, I rather commend, in their turns
and seasons, the riding of the great horse, the tilts, the

Advice to Sir George Villiers.

barriers, tennis, and hunting, which are more for the
health and strength of those who exercise them, than
in an effeminate way to please themselves and others.

And now the prince groweth up fast to be a man,
and is of a sweet and excellent disposition ; it would
be an irreparable stain and dishonour upon you, hav-
ing that access unto him, if you should mislead him,
or suffer him to be misled by any loose or flattering
parasites: the whole kingdom hath a deep interest
in his virtuous education ; and if you, keeping that
distance which is fit, do humbly interpose yourself, in
such a case he will one day give you thanks for it.

12. Yet dice and cards may sometimes be used for
recreation, when field-sports cannot be had ; but not
to use it as a mean to spend the time, much less to
mis-spend the thrift of the gamesters.

SIR, I shall trouble you no longer; I have run over
these things as I first propounded them ; please you
to make use of them, or any of them, as you shall see
occasion ; or to lay them by, as you shall think best,
and to add to them, as you daily may, out of your ex-
perience.

I must be bold, again, to put you in mind of your
present condition ; you are in the quality of a centinel ;
if you sleep or neglect your charge, you are an undone
man, and you may fall much faster than you have
risen.

I have but one thing more to remind you of, which
nearly concerns yourself; you serve a great and gra-
cious master, and there is a most hopeful young prince,
whom you must not desert ; it behoves you to carry
yourself wisely and evenly between them both : adore
not so the rising sun, that you forget the father, who
raised you to this height; nor be you so obsequious to
the father, that you give just cause to the son to sus-
pect that you neglect him : but carry yourself with
that judgment, as, if it be possible, may please and
content them both ; which, truly, I believe, will be
no hard matter for you to do : so may you live long
beloved of both.

V7OL. III. H h

46(5 Advice to Sir George Villlers.

[If you find in these or any other your observations,
which doubtless are much better than these loose col-
lections, any thing which you would have either the
father or the son take to heart, an admonition from a
dead author, or a caveat from an impartial pen, whose
aim neither was nor can be taken to be at any parti-
cular by design, will prevail more and take better im-
pression than a downright advice ; which perhaps may
be mistaken as if it were spoken magisterially.

Thus may you live long an happy instrument for
your king and country : you shall not be a meteor or
a blazing star, but sldla jixa: happy here and more
happy hereafter. Deus manu sua te ducat:'] which is
the hearty prayer of

Your most obliged and devoted Servant.

[ 467 ]

AN

ADVERTISEMENT

TOUCHING AN

HOLY WAR.

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD,

LANCELOT ANDREWS,

LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,

AND COUNSELLOR OF ESTATE TO HIS MAJESTY.

MY LORD,

-/AMONGST consolations, it is not the least to re-
present to a man's self like examples of calamity in
others. For examples give a quicker impression than
arguments ; and besides they certify us that which the
Scripture also tendereth for satisfaction ; that no ntiv
thing has happened unto us. This they do the better,
by how much the examples are liker in circumstances
to our own case ; and more especially if they fall upon
persons that are greater and worthier than ourselves.
For as it savoureth of vanity, to match ourselves highly
in our own conceit ; so on the other side it is a good
sound conclusion, that if our betters have sustained
the like events, we have the less cause to be grieved.

In this kind of consolation I have not been wanting
to myself, though as a Christian, 1 have tasted, through
God's great goodness, of higher remedies. Having
therefore, through the variety of my reading, set before
me many examples both of ancient and later times,
my thoughts, I confess, have chiefly stayed upon three
particulars, as the most eminent and the most resem-
bling. All three persons that had held chief place of
authority in their countries; all three ruined, not by
war, or by any other disaster, but by justice and sen-
tence, as delinquents and criminals; all three famous
writers, insomuch as the remembrance of their cala-
mity is now as to posterity but as a little picture of

H h 2

468 Dedication.

night- work, remaining amongst the fair and excellent
tables of their acts and works: and all three, if that
were any thing to the matter, fit examples to quench
any man's ambition of rising again; for that they were
every one of them restored with great glory, but to
their farther ruin and destruction, ending in a violent
death. The men were Demosthenes, Cicero, and Se-
neca ; persons that I durst not claim affinity W7ith,
except the similitude of our fortunes had contracted it.
When I had cast mine eyes upon these examples, I
was carried on farther to observe, how they did bear
their fortunes, and principally how they did employ
their times, being banished and disabled for public
business : to the end that I might learn by them ; and
that they might be as wrell my counsellors as my com-
forters. Whereupon I happened to note, how diversly
their fortunes wrought upon them; especially in that
point at which I did most aim, which was the en>
ploying of their times and pens. In*Cicero, I saw
that during his banishment, which was almost two
years, he was so softened and dejected, as he wrote
nothing but a few womanish epistles. And yet, in
'mine opinion, he had least reason of the three to be
discouraged : for that although it was judged, and
judged by the highest kind of judgment, in form of
a statute or law, that he should be banished, and his
"whole estate confiscated and seized, and his houses
pulled down, and that it should be highly penal for
any man to propound a repeal; yet his case even then
had no great blot of ignominy; for it was thought but
a tempest of popularity which overthrew him. De-
mosthenes contrariwise, though his case was foul, being
condemned for bribery, and not simple bribery, but
bribery in the nature of treason and disloyalty ; yet
nevertheless took so little knowledge of his fortune,
as during his banishment he did much busy himself,
and intermeddle with matters of state ; and took upon
him to counsel the state, as if he had been still at th
helm, by letters ; as appears by some epistles of his
which are extant. Seneca indeed, who was con-
demned for many corruptions and crimes, and banished

Dedication* 469

Into a solitary island, kept a mean ; and though his
pen did not freeze, yet he abstained from intruding
into matters of business; but spent his time in writing
books of excellent argument and use for all ages;
though he might have made better choice, sometimes>
of his dedications.

These examples confirmed me much in a resolution,
whereunto I was otherwise inclined, to spend my
time wholly in writing; and to put forth that poor
talent, or half talent, or what it is, that God hath
given me, not as heretofore to particular exchanges,
but to banks or mounts of perpetuity, which will not
break. Therefore having not long since set forth a
part of my Installation ; which is the work, that in
mine own judgment, si nunquam fallit imago, I do
most esteem ; I think to proceed in some new parts
thereof. And although I have received from many
parts beyond the seas, testimonies touching that work,
such as beyond which I could not expect at the first
in so abstruse an argument; yet nevertheless I have just
cause to doubt, that it flies too high over mens heads:
I have a purpose therefore, though I break the order
of time, to draw it down to the sense, by some pat-
terns of a Natural story and Inquisition. And again,
for that my book of Advancement of learning may be
some preparative, or key, for the better opening of the
Installation; because it exhibits a mixture of new
conceits and old ; whereas the Instauration gives the
new unmixed, otherwise than with some little asper-
sion of the old for taste's sake , I have thought good
to procure a translation of that book into the general
language, not without great and ample additions, and
enrichment thereof, especially in the second book,
which handleth the partition of sciences; in such sort,
as I hold it may serve in lieu of the first part of the
Instauration, and acquit my promise in that part.
Again, because I cannot altogether desert the civil
person that 1 have born ; which if I should forget,
enow would remember ; I have also entered into a
work touching Laws, propounding a character of jus
tice in a middle term, between the speculative and

Dedication.

reverend discourses of philosophers, and the writings
of lawyers, which are tied and obnoxious to their par-
ticular laws. And although it he true, that I had a
purpose to make a particular digest, or recompilement
of the laws of mine own nation ; yet because it is a
work of assistance, and that which I cannot master by
my own forces and pen, I have laid it aside. Now
having in the work of my Installation had in contem-
plation the general good of men in their very being,
and the dowries of nature ; and in my work of laws,
the general good of men likewise in society, and the
dowries of government; I thought in duty I owed
somewhat unto my own country, which I ever loved ;
insomuch as although my place had been far above
my desert, yet my thoughts and cares concerning the
good thereof were beyond, and over, and above my
place : so now being, as I am, no more able to do my
country service, it remained unto me to do it honour :
which I have endeavoured to do in my work of The
reign of king Henry the seventh. As for my Essays,
and some other particulars of that nature, J count
them but as the recreations of my other studies, and
in that sort purpose to continue them; though I am
not ignorant that those kind of writings would, with
less pains and embracement, perhaps* yield more
lustre and reputation to my name, than those other
which I have in hand. But I account the use that a
man should seek of the publishing of his own writings
before his death, to be but an untimely anticipation of
that which is proper to follow a man, and not to go along
with him.

But revolving with myself my writings, as well
those which I have published, as those which I had
in hand, methought they went all into the city, and
none into the temple ; where, because I have found
so great consolation, I desire likewise to make some
poor oblation. Therefore I have chosen an argument,
mixt of religious and civil considerations j and like-
wise mixt between contemplative and active. For
who can tell whether there may not be an exoriere
aliquis? Great matters, especially if they be reli-

Dedication. 471

gious, have, many times, small beginnings : and the
platform may draw on the building. This work, be-
cause I was ever an enemy to flattering dedications, I
have dedicated to your lordship, in respect of our an-
cient and private acquaintance ; and because amongst
the men of our times I hold you in special reverence.

Your lordship's loving friend,

FR. ST. ALBAN.

[ 472 ]

AN

ADVERTISEMENT

TOUCHING AN

HOLY WAR.

Written in the Year MDCXXII.

The Persons that speak :

EUSEBIUS, GAMALIEL, ZEBED^EUS, MARTIUS,
EUPOLIS, POLLIO.

1 HERE met at Paris, in the house of Eupolis, *Eu-
sebius, Zebedeeus, Gamaliel, Martius, all persons of
eminent quality, but of several dispositions. Eupolis
himself was also present; and while they were set in
conference, Pollio came in to them from court $ and as
soon as he saw them, after his witty and pleasant man-
ner, he said,

Pollio. Here be four of you, I think, were able to
make a good world ; for you are as differing as the
four elements, and yet you are friends. As for Eu-
polis, because he is temperate, and without passion,
he may be the fifth essence.

Eupolis. If we five, Pollio, make the great world,
you alone make the little ; because you profess, and
practise both, to refer all things to yourself. Pollio^
And what do they that practise it and profess it not ?
Eupolis. They are the less hardy, and the more dan-
gerous. But come and sit down with us, for we wrere
speaking of the affairs of Christendom at this day ;
wherein we would be glad also to have your opinion.
Pollio. My lords, I have journeyed this morning, and
it is now the heat of the day j therefore your lordships

* Characters of the persons. Eusebius beareth the character
of a moderate divine: Gamaliel of a protestant zealot: 'Zebedaeus
of a Roman catholic zealot: Martius of a military man: Eupolis
of a politic : Pollio of a courtier.

Of an Holy War. 473

discourses had need content my ears very well, to make
them intreat mine eyes to keep open. But yet if you
will give me leave to awake you, when I think your
discourses do but sleep, I will keep watch the best
I can. Eu polls. You cannot do us a greater favour.
Only I fear you will think all our discourses to be but
the better sort of dreams; for good wishes, without
power to effect, are not much more. But, Sir, when
you came in, Martius had both raised our attentions,
and affected us with some speech he had begun ; and
it falleth out well, to shake off your drowsiness ; for
it seemed to be the trumpet of a war. And there-
fore, Martius, if it please you to begin again ; for the
speech was such, as deserveth to be heard twice ; and
I assure you, your auditory is not a little amended by
the presence of Pollio. Martius. When you come in,
Pollio, I was saying freely to these lords, that I had
observed, how by the space now of half a century of
years, there had been, if I may speak it, a kind of
meanness in the designs and enterprises of Christen-
dom. Wars with subjects, like an angry suit for a
man's own, that might be better ended by accord.
Some petty acquests of a town, or a spot of territory ;
like a farmer's purchase of a close or nook of ground,
that lay fit for him. And although the wars had been
for a Naples, or a Milan, or a Portugal, or a Bohemia,
yet these wars were but as the wars of heathens, of
Athens, or Sparta, or Rome, for secular interest, or
ambition, not worthy the warfare of Christians. The
church, indeed, maketh her missions into the extreme
parts of the nations and isles, and it is well: but this
is Ecce units gladius hie. The Christian princes and
potentates are they that are wanting to the propaga-
tion of the faith by their arms. Yet our Lord, that
said on earth, to the disciples, lie et pracdicate, said
from heaven to Cons tan tine, In hoc signo vince. What
Christian soldier is there, that will not be.,touched with
a religious emulation, to see an order of Jesus, or of
St. Francis, or of St. Augustine, do such service, for
enlarging the Christian borders ; and an ordjr of Sj.
Jago, or St. Michael, or St. George, only to robe, and

Of an Holy War.

feast, and perform rites and observances ? Surely the
merchants themselves shall rise in judgment against
the princes and nobles of Europe ; for they have made
a great path in the seas, unto the ends of the world ;
and set forth ships, and forces, of Spanish, English, and
Dutch, enough to make China tremble ; and all this,
for pearl, or stone, or spices : but for the pearl of the
kingdom of heaven, or the stones of the heavenly Je-
rusalem,, or the spices of ihe spouse's garden, not a
mast hath been set up : nay, they can make shift to
shed Christian blood so far off amongst themselves, and
not a drop for the cause of Christ. But let me recall
myself; I must acknowledge, that within the space of
fifty years, whereof I speak, there have been three
noble and memorable actions upon the infidels,
wherein the Christian hath been the invader : for
where it is upon the defensive, I reckon it a war of
nature, and not of piety. The first was, that famous
and fortunate war by sea, that ended in the victory of
Le panto ; which hath put a hook into the nostrils of
the Ottomans to this day ; which was the work chiefly
of that excellent pope Pius Quintus, whom I wonder
his successors have not declared a saint. The second
was, the noble, though unfortunate, expedition of Se-
bastian king of Portugal, upon Africa, which was
atchieved by him alone ; so alone, as left somewhat
for others to excuse. The last was, the brave incur-
sions of Sigismund the Transylvanian prince, the thread
of whose prosperity was cut off by the Christians them-
selves, contrary to the worthy and paternal monitories
of pope Clement the eighth. More than these, I do
not remember. Pollio. No ! What say you to the ex-
tirpation of the Moors of Valentia ? At which sudden
question, Martius was a little at a stop ; and Gamaliel
prevented him, and said : Gamaliel. I think Martius
did well in omitting that action, for I, for my part,
never approved it ; and it seems, God was not well
pleased with that deed ; for you see the king, in whose
time it passed, whom you catholics count a saint-like
and immaculate prince, was taken away in the flower
of his age : and the author, and great counsellor of

Of an Holy War. 475

that rigour, whose fortunes seemed to be built upon
the rock, is ruined : and it is thought by some, that
the reckonings of that business are not yet cleared
with Spain ; for that numbers of those supposed
Moors, being tried now by their exile, continue con-
stant in the faith, and true christians in all points, save
in the thirst of revenge. %cbed. Make not hasty
judgment, Gamaliel, of that great action, which was
as Christ's fan in those countries, except you could
shew some such covenant from the crown of Spain,
as Joshua made with the Gibeonites ; that that cursed
seed should continue in the land. And you see it was
done by edict, not tumultuously; the sword was not
put into the people's hand. Eupol. I think Alartius
did omit it, not as making any judgment of it either
way, but because it sorted not aptly with action of
war, being upon subjects, and without resistance.
But let us, if you think good, give Martius leave to
proceed in his discourse ; for methought he spake
like a divine in armour, Martius. It is true, Eu-
polis, that the principal object which I have before
mine eyes, in that whereof I speak, is piety and reli-
gion. But, nevertheless, if I should speak only as a
natural man, I should persuade the same thing. For
there is no such enterprise, at this day, for secular
greatness, and terrene honour, as a war upon infidels.
Neither do in this propound a novelty, or imagination,
but that which is proved by late examples of the same
kind, though perhaps of less difficulty. The Casti-
lians, the age before that wherein we live, opened the
new world ; and subdued and planted Mexico, Peru,
Chili, and other parts of the West-Indies. We see
what floods of treasure have flowed into Europe by
that action ; so that the sense or rates of Christendom
are raised since ten times, yea twenty times told. Of
this treasure, it is true, the gold was accumulate, and
store treasure, for the most part ; but the silver is still
growing. Besides, infinite is the access of territory
and empire, by the same enterprise. For there was
never an hand drawn, that did double the rest of the
habitable world, before this; for so a man may truly

476 Of an Holy War.

term it, if he shall put to account, as well that that is^
as that which may be hereafter, by the farther occu->
pation and colonizing of those countries. And yet it
cannot be affirmed, if one speak ingenuously, that it
was the propagation of the Christian faith that was the
adamant of that discovery, entry, and plantation ; but
gold and silver, and temporal profit and glory : so that
what was first in God's providence, was but second in
man's appetite and intention. The like may be said
of the famous navigations and conquests of Emanuel,
king of Portugal, whose arms began to circle Africa
and Asia ; and to acquire, not only the trade of spices,
and stones, and musk, and drugs, but footing, and
places, in those extreme parts of the east. For nei-
ther in this was religion the principal, but amplification
and enlargement of riches and dominion. And the
effect of these two enterprises is now such, that both
the East and the West Indies being met in the crown
of Spain, it is come to pass, that, as one saith in a brave
kind of expression, the sun never sets in the Spanish do-
minions, but ever shines upon one part or other of them:
which, to say truly, is a beam of glory, though I can-
not say it is so solid a body of glory, wherein the
crown of Spain surpasseth all the former monarchies.
So as. to conclude, we may see, that in these actions,
upon gentiles or infidels, only or chiefly, both the spi-
ritual and temporal honour and good have been in
one pursuit and purchase conjoined. Pollio. Methinks,
with your favour, you should remember, Martius, that
\vild and savage people are like beasts and birds, which
are ferae naturae, the property of which passeth with
the possession, and goeth to the occupant ; but of civil
people, it is not so. Marlins. I know no such differ-
ence amongst reasonable souls ; but that whatsoever
is in order to the greatest and most general good of
people, may justify the action, be the people more or
Jess civil. But, Eupolis, I shall not easily grant, that
the people of Peru or Mexico were such brute savages
as you intend 5 or that there should be any such dif-
ference between them, and many of the infidels which
"are now in other parts. In Peru, though they were

Of an Holy War. 477

unappareled people, according to the clime, and had
some customs very barbarous, yet the government of
the Incas had many parts of humanity and civility.
Thev had reduced the nations from the adoration of a
multitude of idols and fancies, to the adoration of the
sun. And, as I remember, the book of Wisdom noteth
degrees of idolatry ; making that of worshipping petty
and vile idols, more gross than simply the worshipping
of the creature. And some of the prophets, as I take
it, do the like, in the metaphor of more ugly and
bestial fornication. The Peruvians also, under the In-
cas, had magnificent temples of their superstition;
they had strict and regular justice; they bare great
faith and obedience to their kings ; they proceeded in
a kind of martial justice with their enemies, offering
them their law, as better for their own good, before
they drew their sword. And much like was the state
of Mexico, being an elective monarchy. As for those
people of the east, G.oa, Cahcute, Malacca, they
were a fine and dainty people ; frugal and yet elegant,
though not military. So that, if things be rightly
weighed, the empire of the Turks may be truly affirm-
ed to be more barbarous than any of these. A cruel
tyranny, bathed in the blood of their emperors upon
every succession ; a heap of vassals and slaves ; no no-
bles ; no gentlemen ; no freemen ; no inheritance of
land; no stirp or ancient families; a people that is
without natural affection ; and, as the Scripture saith,
that regard? th not the desires of women: and without
piety, or care towards their children: a nation without
morality, without letters, arts, or sciences; that can
scarce measure an acre of land, or an hour of the day :
base and sluttish in buildings, diets, and the like; and
in a word, a very reproach of human society: and yet
this nation hath made the garden of the world a wil-
derness: for that, as it is truly said concerning the
Turks, where Ottoman's horse sets his foot, people
will come up very thin.

follfo. Yet in the midst of your invective, Martius,
do the Turks this right, as to remember that they are
no idolaters : for if, as you say, there be a difference

478 Of an Holy War.

between worshipping a base idol, and the sun, there 5s
a much greater difference between worshipping a crea-
ture, and the Creator. For the Turks do acknowledge
God the father, creator of heaven and earth, being the
first person in the Trinity, though they deny the rest.
At which speech, when Martius made some pause,
Zebedams replied with a countenance of great repre-
hension and severity. Zebed. We must take heed,
Pollio, that we fall not at unawares into the heresy of
Manuel Commenus emperor of Gra^cia, who affirmed,
that Mahomet's God was the true God: which opi-
nion was not only rejected and condemned by the
synod, but imputed to the emperor, as extreme mad-
ness ; being reproached to him also by the bishop of
Thessalonica, in those bitter and strange words, as
are not to be named. Martius. I confess that it is my
opinion, that a war upon the Turk is more worthy
than upon any other gentiles, infidels, or savages, that
either have been, or now are, both in point of religion,
and in point of honour; though facility, and hope of
success, might, perhaps, invite some other choice.
But before I proceed, I myself would be glad to take
some breath ; and I shall frankly desire, that some of
your lordships would take your turn to speak, that can
do it better. But chiefly, for that I see here some that
are excellent interpreters of the divine law, though in
several ways; and that I have reason to distrust mine
own judgment, both as weak in itself, and as that
which may be overborn by my zeal and affection to
this cause. I think it were an error to speak farther,
till I may see some sound foundation laid of the lawful-^
ness of the action, by them that are better versed in
that argument. Eupolis. I am glad, Martius, to see
in a person of your profession so great moderation, in
that you are not transported in an action that warms
the blood, and is appearing holy, to blanch or take
for admitted the point of lawfulness. And because,
methinks, this conference prospers, if your lordships
will give me leave, I will make some motion touching
the distribution of it into parts. Unto which when
they all assented, Eupolis said : Eupolis. I think it

Of an Holy War. 479

would not sort amiss, if Zebedseus would be pleased to
handle the question, Whether a war for the propa-
gation of the Christian faith, without other cause of
hostility, be lawful or no, and in what cases ? I con-
fess also I would be glad to go a little farther, and to
hear it spoken to concerning the lawfulness, not only
permissively, but whether it be not obligatory to chris-
tian princes and states to design it; which part, if it
please Gamaliel to undertake, the point of the lawful-
ness taken simply will be complete. Yet there resteth
the comparative : that is, it being granted, that it
is either lawful or binding, yet whether other things
be not to be preferred before it ; as extirpation of
heresies, reconcilements of schisms, pursuit of law-
ful temporal rights and quarrels, and the like ; and
how far this enterprise ought either to wait upon
these other matters, or to be mingled with them,
or to pass by them, and give law to them, as infe-
rior unto itself? And because this is a great part,
and Eusebius hath yet said nothing, we will by way of
mulct or pain, if your lordships think good, lay it upon
him. All this while, I doubt much that Pollio, who
hath a sharp wit of discovery towards what is solid and
real, and what is specious and airy, will esteem all
this but impossibilities, and eagles in the clouds : and
therefore we shall all entreat him to crush this argu-
ment with his best forces ; that by the light we shall
take from him, we may either cast it away if it be
found but a bladder, or discharge it of so much as is
vain and not sperable. And because I confess I my-
self am not of that opinion, although it be an hard en-
counter to deal with Pollio, yet I shall do my best to
prove the enterprise possible ; and to shew how all
impediments may be either removed or overcome.
And then it will be fit for Martius, if we do not desert
it before, to resume his farther discourse, as well for
the persuasive, as for the consult, touching the means,
preparations, and all that may conduce unio the enter-
prise. But this is but my wish, your loruships will put
it into better order. They all not only allowed the dis-
tribution, but accepted the parts : but because the

Of an Holy War.

day was spent, they agreed to defer it till the next
morning. Only Pollio said ;

Pollio. You take me right, Eupolis, for I am of
opinion, that except you could bray Christendom in a
mortar, and mould it into a new paste, there is no pos-
sibility of an holy war. And I was ever of opinion,
that the philosophers stone, and an holy war, were
but the rendezvous of cracked brains, that wore their
feather in their head, instead of their hat. Nevertheless,
believe me of courtesy, that if you five shall be of another
mind, especially after you have heard what I can say,
I shall be ready to certify with Hippocrates, that Athens
is mad, and Democritus is only sober. And, lest you
should take me for altogether adverse, I will frankly
contribute to the business now at first. Ye, no doubt,
will amongst you devise and discourse many solemn
matters : but do as I shall tell you. This pope is de-
crepit, and the bell goeth for him. Take order, that
when he is dead, there be chosen a pope of fresh years,
between fifty and three-score ; and see that he take
the name of Urban, because a pope of that name did
first institute the croisado, and, as with an holy trumpet,
did stir up the voyage for the Holy Land. Eupolis.
You say well ; but be, I pray you, a little more serious
in this conference.

The next day the same persons met as they had ap-
pointed; and after they were set, and that there had
passed some sporting speeches from Pollio, how the
war was already begun ; for that, he said, he had
dreamt of nothing but Janizaries, and Tartars, and
Sultans all the night long : Martius said. Martins.
The distribution of this conference, which was made
by Eupolis yesternight, and was by us approved,
seemeth to me perfect, save in one point; and that is,
not in the numbed, but in the placing of the parts.
For it is so disposed, that Pollio and Eupolis shall de-
bate the possibility or impossibility of the action, be-
fore I shall deduce the particulars of the means and
manner by which it is to be atchieved. Now I have
often observed in deliberations, that the entring near
hand into the manner of performance, and execution

Of an Holy War. 481

of that which is under deliberation, hath quite over-
turned the opinion formerly conceived, of the possibi-
lity or impossibility. So that things, that at the first
shew seemed possible, by ripping up the performance
of them, have, been convicted of impossibility; and
things that on the other side have shewed impossible,
by the declaration of the means to effect them, as by a
back light have appeared possible, the way through
them being discerned. This I speak not to alter the
order, but only to desire Pollio and Eupolis not to
speak peremptorily, or conclusively, touching the
point of possibility, till they have heard me deduce the
means of the execution : and that done, to reserve
themselves at liberty for a reply, after they had before
them, as it were, a model of the enterprise. This
grave and solid advertisement and caution of Martius
was much commended by them all. Whereupon Eu-
polis said : Eupolis. Since Martius hath begun to refine
that which was yesternight resolved ; I may the better
have leave, especially in the mending of a proposition,
which was mine own, to remember an omission which
is more than a misplacing. For I doubt we ought to
have added or inserted -into the point of lawfulness,
the question, how far an holy war is to be pursued,
whether to displanting and extermination of people?
And again, whether to enforce a new belief, and to
vindicate or punish infidelity ; or only to subject the
countries and people ; and so by the temporal sword
to open a door for the spiritual sword to enter, by per-
suasion, instruction, and such means as are proper for
souls and consciences ? But it may be, neither is this
necessary to be made a part by itself ; for that Zebe-
daeus, in his wisdom, will fall into it as an incident to
the point of lawfulness, which cannot be handled with-
out limitations and distinctions. %ebedteus. You en-
courage me, Eupolis, in that I perceive, how in your
judgment, which I do so much esteem, I ought to take
that course, which of myself I was purposed to do. For
as Martius noted well, that it isbut a loose thing to speak
of possibilities, without the particular designs; so is it to
speak of lawfulness without the particular cases, 1 will
VOL. JIT. i i

482 Of an Holy War.

therefore first of all distinguish the cases; though you
shall give me leave, in the handling of them, not to sever
them with too much precisencss; for both it would
cause needless length ; and we are not now in arts or
methods, but in a conference. It is therefore first to be
put to question in general, as Eupolis propounded it,
whether it be lawful for Christian princes or states to
make an invasive war, only and simply for the propa-
gation of the faith, without other cause of hostility, or
circumstance that may provoke and induce the war?

Secondly, whether, it being made part of the case,
that the countries were once Christian, and members
of the church, and where the golden candlesticks did
stand, though now they be utterly alienated, and no
Christians left ; it be not lawful to make a war to re-
store them to the church, as an ancient patrimony of
Christ? Thirdly, if it be made a farther part of the
case, that there are yet remaining in the countries mul-
titudes of christians, whether it be not lawful to make
a war to free them, and deliver them from the servi-
tude of the infidels ? Fourthly, whether it be not law-
ful to make a war for the purging and recovery of con-
secrated places being now polluted and prophaned;
as the holy city and sepulchre, and such other places
of principal adoration and devotion? Fifthly, whether
it be not lawful to make a war for the revenge or vin-
dication of blasphemies and reproaches against the Deity
and our blessed Saviour; or for the effusion of Christian
blood and cruelties against Christians, though ancient
and long since past ; considering that God's visits are
without limitation of time ; and many times do but
expect the fulness of the sin? Sixthly, it is to be con-
sidered, as Eupolis now last well remembered, whe-
ther a holy war, which, as in the worthiness of the
quarrel, so in the justness of the prosecution, ought to
exceed all temporal wars, may be pursued, either to the
expulsion of people,, or the enforcement of consciences,
or the like extremities; or how to be moderated and li-
mited; lest whilst we remember we are Christians, we
forget that others are men ? But there is a point that
precedeth all these points recited ; nay, and in a manner

Of an Holy War. 483

dischargeth them, in the particular of a war against the
Turk : which point, I think, would not have come into
my thought, but that Martius giving us yesterday a re-
presentation of the empire of the Turks, with no small
vigour of words, which you, Poilio, called an invec-
tive, but was indeed a true charge, did put me in
mind of it : and the more I think upon it, the more I
settle in opinion, that a war to suppress that empire,
though we set aside the cause of religion, were a just
war. After Zebedasus had said this, he made a pause,
to see whether any of the rest would say any thing :
but when he perceived nothing but silence, and signs
of attention to what he would farther say, he pro-
ceeded thus :

%ebedccus. Your lordships will not look for a treatise
from me, but a speech of consultation ; and in that bre-
vity and manner will I speak. First, I shall agree,
that as the cause of a war ought to be just, so the
justice of that cause ought to be evident ; not obscure,
not scrupulous. For by the consent of all laws, in
capital causes, the evidence must be full and clear:
and if so where one man's life is in question, what say
we to a war, which is ever the sentence of death upon
many ? We must beware therefore how we make a
Moloch, or an heathen idol, of our blessed Saviour,
in sacrificing the blood of men to him by an unjust
war. The justice of every action consisteth in the
merits of the cause, the warrant of the jurisdiction,
and the form of the prosecution. As for the inward
intention, I leave it to the court of heaven. Of these
things severally, as they may have relation to the pre-
sent subject of a warragainst infidels; and namely,
against the most potent and most dangerous enemy of
the faith, the Turk. I hold, and I doubt not but I
shall make it plain, as far as a sum or brief can make
a cause plain, that a war against the Turk is lawful,
both by the laws of nature and nations, and by the
law divine, which is the perfection of the other two.
As for the laws positive and civil of the Romans, or
others whatsoever, they are too small engines to move
the weight of this question. And therefore, in my
judgment, many of the late schoolmen, though excel-

i i 2

484 Of an Holy War.

lent men, take not the right way in disputing this
question ; except they had the gift of Navius, that they
could, co tern novacula scindcre> hew stones with pen-
knives. First, fors the law of nature. The philoso-
pher Aristotle is no ill interpreter thereof. He hath
set many men on work with a witty speech of natura
dominus, and natura servus ; affirming expressly and
positively, that from the very nativity some things are
born to rule, arid some things to obey : which oracle
hath been taken in divers senses. Some have taken it
for a speech of ostentation, to intitle the Grecians to
an empire over the barbarians; which indeed was bet-
ter maintained by his scholar Alexander. Some have
taken it for a speculative platform, that reason and
nature would that the best should govern; but not in
any wise to create a right. But for my part, I take
it neither for a brag, nor for a wish ; but for a truth as
he limiteth it. For he saith, that if there can be found
such an inequality between man and man, as there is
between man and beast, or between soul and body,
it investeth a right of government: which seemeth
rather an impossible case than an untrue sentence.
But I hold both the judgment true, and the case pos-
sible ; and such as hath had, and hath a being, both
in particular men and nations. But ere we go farther,
let us confine ambiguities and mistaking, that they
trouble us not. First, to say that the more capable,
or the better deserver, hath such a right to govern, as
he may compulsorily bring under the less worthy, is
idle. Men will never agree upon it, who is the more
worthy. For it is not only in order of nature, for him
to govern that is the more intelligent, as Aristotle
would have it ; but there is no less required for govern-
ment, courage to protect ; and above all, honesty and
probity of the will to abstain from injury. So fitness
to govern is a perplexed business. Some men, some
nations, excel in the one ability, some in the other.
Therefore the position which I intend, is not in the
comparative, that the wiser, or the stouter, or the
juster nation should govern ; but in the privative, that
where there is an heap of people, though we term it
a kingdom or state, that is altogether unable or indigu

Of an Holy War. 485

to govern ; there it is a just cause of war for another
nation, that is civil on policied, to subdue them : and
this, though it were to be done by a Cyrus or a Caesar,
that were no Christian. The second mistaking to be
banished is, that I understand not this of a personal
tyranny, as was the state of Rome under a Caligula,
or a Nero, or a Commodus : shall the nation suffer for
that wherein they suffer ? But when the constitution
of the state, and the fundamental customs and laws of
the same, if laws they may be called, are against the
laws of nature and nations, then, I say, a war upon
them is lawful. I shall divide the question into three
parts. First, whether there be, or may be any nation
or society of men, against whom it is lawful to make a
war, without a precedent injury or provocation ? Se-
condly, what are those breaches of the law of nature
and nations, which do forfeit and divest all right and
title in a nation to govern ? And thirdly, whether those
breaches of the law of nature and nations, be found in
any nation at this day; and namely in the empire of
the Ottomans ? For the first, I hold it clear that such
nations, or states, or societies of people, there may be
and are. There cannot be a better ground laid to de-
clare this, than to look into the original donation of
government. Observe it well, especially the induce-
ment, or preface. Saith God: Let us make man after
our own image > and let him have dominion over the
. fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the airy and the beasts
of the land, etc. Hereupon De Victoria, and with
him some others, infer excellently, and extract a most
true and divine aphorism, Non fundatur dominium,
nisi in imagine Dei. Here we have the charter of
foundation: it is now the more easy to judge of the
forfeiture or reseizure. Deface the image, and you
divest the right. But what is this image, and how is it
defaced ? The poor men of Lyons, and some fanatical
spirits, will tell you, that the image of God is purity;
and the defacement, sin. But this subverteth all govern-
ment : neither did Adam's sin, or the curse upon it, de-
prive him of his rule, but left the creatures to a rebellion
or reluctation. And therefore if you note it attentively,

486 Of an Holy War.

when this charter was renewed unto Noah and his
sons, it is not by the words, You shall have dominion ±
but Your fear shall be upon all the beasts of the land,
and the birds of the air,, and all that movelh: not re-
granting the sovereignty, which stood firm ; but pro-
tecting it against the reluctation. The sound inter-
preters therefore expound this image of God, of na-
tural reason; which if it be totally or mostly defaced,
the right of government doth cease : and if you mark
all the interpreters well, still they doubt of the case,
and not of the law. But this is properly to be spoken
to in handling the second point, when we shall define
of the defacements. To go on: The prophet Hosea,
in the person of God, saith of the Jews ; They have
reigned, but not by ?nes they have set a seigniory over
themselves, but I knew nothing of it. Which place
proveth plainly, that there are governments which God
doth not avow. For though they be ordained by his
secret providence, yet they are not acknowledged by
his revealed will. Neither can this be meant of evil
governors or tyrants : for they are often avowed and
established, as lawful potentates; but of some per-
verseness and defection in the very nation itself; which
appeareth most manifestly in that the prophet speaketh
of the seigniory in abstracto, and not of the person of
the Lord. And although some heretics of those we
speak of have abused this text, yet the sun is not soiled
in passage. And again, if any man infer upon the
words of the prophet following, which declare this
rejection, and, to use the words of the text, rescission
of their estate to have been for their idolatry, that by
this reason the governments of all idolatrous nations
should be also dissolved, which is manifestly untrue, in
my judgment it followeth not. For the idolatry of the
Jews then, and the idolatry of the Heathens then and
now, are sins of a far differing nature, in regard of
the special covenant, and the clear manifestations
wherein God did contract and exhibit himself to that
nation. This nullity of policy, and right of estate in
some nations, is yet more significantly expressed by
Moses in his canticle ; in the person of God to the

Of an Holy War. 487

Jews : Ye have incensed me with gods that are no gods,
and I zvill incense you with a people that are no people:
Such as were, no doubt, the people of Canaan, after
seisin was given of the land of promise to the Isra-
elites. For from that time their right to the land was
dissolved, though they remained in many places un-
conquered. By this we may see, that there are na-
tions in name, that are no nations in right, but multi-
tudes only, and swarms of people, For like as there
are particular persons outlawed and proscribed by civil
laws of several countries ; so are there nations that are
outlawed and proscribed by the law of nature and na-
tions, or by the immediate commandment of God.
And as there are kings de facto, and not de jure, in
respect of the nullity of their title ; so are there nations
that are occupants de facto, and not de jure, of their
territories, in respect of the nullity of their policy or
government. But let us take in some examples into
the midst of our proofs ; for they will prove as much
as put after, and illustrate more. It was never
doubted, but a war upon pirates may be lawfully
made by any nation, though not infested or violated
by them. Is it because they have not cert as sedes or
lares f in the piratical war which was atchieved by
Pompey the Great, and was his truest and greatest
glory, the pirates had some cities, sundry ports, and
a great part of the province of Cilicia ; and the pirates
now being, have a receptacle and mansion in Algiers.
Beasts are not the less savage because they have dens.
Is it because the danger hovers as a cloud, that a man
cannot tell where it will fall ; and so it is every man's
case ? The reason is good, but it is not all, nor that
which is most alledged. For the true received reason
is, that pirates are communes humani generis hostes ;
whom all nations are to prosecute, not so much in the
right of their own fears, as upon the band of human
society. For as there are formal and written leagues,
respective to certain enemies ; so is there a natural
and tacit confederation amongst all men, against the
common enemy of human society. So as there needs
no intimation, or denunciation of the war; there needs

488 Of an Holy War.

no request from the nation grieved : but all these for-
malities the law of nature supplies in the case of pi-
rates. The same is the case of rovers by land ; such
as yet are some cantons in Arabia, and some petty
kings of the mountains, adjacent to straits and ways.
Neither is it lawful only for the neighbour princes to
destroy such pirates and rovers, but if there were any
nation never so far off, that would make it an enter-
prise of merit and true glory, as the Romans that
made a war for the liberty of Graecia from a distant
and remote part, no doubt they might do it. I make
the same judgment of that kingdom of the assassins
now destroyed, which was situate upon the borders of
Saraca ; and was for a time a great terror to all the
princes of the Levant. There the custom was, that
upon the commandment of their king, and a blind
obedience to be given thereunto, any of them was to
undertake, in the nature of a votary, the insidious
murder of any prince, or person, upon whom the
commandment went. This custom, without all ques-
tion, made their whole government void, as an engine
built against human society, worthy by all men to be
fired and pulled down. I say the like of the anabap-
tists of Munster; and this, although they had not been
rebels to the empire : and put case likewise that they
had done no mischief at all actually, yet if there should
be a congregation and consent of people, that shall
hold all things to be lawful, not according to any cer-
tain laws or rules, but according to the secret and va-
riable motions and instincts of the spirit ; this is indeed
no nation, no people, no seigniory, that God doth
know ; any nation that is civil and policied, may, if
they will not be reduced, cut them otf from the face
of the earth. Now let me put a feigned case, and yet
antiquity makes it doubtful whether it were fiction or
history, of a land of Amazons, where the whole go-
vernment public and private, yea, the militia itself,
was in the hands of women. I demand, is not such
a preposterous government against the first order of
nature, for women to rule over men, in itself void,
and to be suppressed ? I speak not of the reign of WQ-

Of an Holy War. 48*

men, for that is supplied by counsel, and subordinate
magistrates masculine, but where the regiment of
state, justice, families, is all managed by women.
And yet this last case differeth from the other before,
because in the rest there is terror of danger, but in this
there is only error of nature. Neither should I make
any great difficulty to affirm the same of the sultanry
of the Mamalukes; where slaves, and none but slaves,
bought for money, and of unknown descent, reigned
over families of freemen. And much like were the
case, if you suppose a nation, where the custom were,
that after full age the sons should expulse their fathers
and mothers out of their possessions, and put them to
their pensions: for these cases, of women to govern
men, sons the fathers, slaves freemen, are much in
the same degree > all being total violations and perver-
sions of the laws of nature and nations. For the West-
Indies, I perceive, Martius, you have read Garcilazzo
de Viega, who himself was descended of the race of
the Incas, a Mestizo, and is willing to make the best
of the virtues and manners of his country : and yet in
troth he doth it soberly and credibly enough. Yet you
shall hardly edify me, that those nations might not by
the law of nature have been subdued by any nation,
that had only policy and moral virtue ; though the pro-
pagation of the faith, whereof we shall speak in the
proper place, were set by, and not made part of the
case. Surely their nakedness, being with them, in
most parts of that country, without all vail or covering,
was a great defacement : for in the acknowledgment
of nakedness was the first sense of sin ; and the heresy
of the Adamites was ever accounted an affront of na-
ture. But upon these I stand not ; nor yet upon their
idiocy, in thinking that horses did eat their bits, and
letters speak, and the like : nor yet upon their sorce-
ries, which are, almost, common to all idolatrous na-
tions. But I say, their sacrificing, and more especially
their eating of men, is such an abomination, as, me-
thinks, a man's face should be a little confused, to
deny, that this custom, joined with the rest, did not
make it lawful for the Spaniards to invade their terri-

4 90 Of an Holy War.

tory, forfeited by the law of nature ; and either to re-
duce them or displant them. But far be it from me,
yet nevertheless, to justify the cruelties which were at
first used towards them : which had their reward soon
after, there being not one of the principal of the first
conquerors, but died a violent death himself; and was
well followed by the deaths of many more. Of exam-
ples enough : except we should add the labours of
Hercules ; an example, which though it be flourished
with much fabulous matter, yet so much it hath, that
it doth notably set forth the consent of all nations and
ages, in the approbation of the extirpating and debel-
lating of giants, monsters, and foreign tyrants, not
only as lawful, but as meritorious even of divine ho-
nour: and this although the deliverer came from the
one end of the world unto the other. Let us now set
down some arguments to prove the same ; regarding
rather weight than number, as in such a conference as
this is fit. The first argument shall be this. It is a
great error, and a narrowness or straitness of mind, if
any man think, that nations have nothing to do one
with another, except there be either an union in sove-
reignty, or a conjunction in packs or leagues. There
are other bands of society, and implicit confederations.
That of colonies, or transmigrants, towards their mo-
ther nation. Gentes unius labii is somewhat ; for as
the confusion of tongues was a mark of separation, so
the being of one language is a mark of union. To
have the same fundamental laws and customs in chief
is yet more, as it was between the Grecians in respect
of the barbarians. To be of one sect or worship ; if it
be a false worship, I speak not of it, for that is but
fratres in walo. But above all these, there is the su-
preme and indissoluble consanguinity and society be-
tween men in general : of which the heathen poet,
whom the apostle calls to witness, saith, We are all
his generation. But much more we Christians, unto
whom it is revealed in particularity, that all men came
from one lump of earth ; and that two singular per-
sons were the parents from whom all the generations
of the world are descended : we, I say, ought to ac-

Of an Holy War. 491

knowledge, that no nations are wholly aliens and
strangers the one to the other ; and not to be less cha-
ritable than the, person introduced by the comic poet,
Homo sum, humani nihil a me aliemun puta. Now if
there be such a tacit league or confederation, sure it is
not idle; it is against somewhat, or somebody : who
should they be ? Is it against wild beasts ; or the ele-
ments of fire and water? No, it is against such routs
and shoals of people, as have utterly degenerated from
the laws of nature ; as have in their very body and
frame of estate a monstrosity ; and may be truly ac-
counted, according to the examples we have formerly-
recited, common enemies and grievances of mankind ;
or disgraces and reproaches to human nature. Such
people, all nations are interested, and ought to be re-
senting to suppress ; considering that the particular
states themselves, being the delinquents, can give no
redress. And this, I say, is not to be measured so
much by the principles of jurists, as by lex charitatis ;
lex proximiy which includes the Samaritan as well as
the Levite ; lex tfiliorum Adac de inassa una : upon
which original laws this opinion is grounded : which to
deny, if a man may speak freely, were almost to be a
schismatic in nature.

The rest was not perfected.

[ 492 ]

THE

LORD BACON'S QUESTIONS

ABOUT THE

LAWFULNESS OF A WAR
FOR THE PROPAGATING OF RELIGION.

Questions wherein I desire opinion, joined with argu-
ments and authorities.

Tenison's \VliETHER a war be lawful against infidels,
Sa^mata, onjy fa ^ propagation of the Christian faith, without
other cause of hostility ?

Whether a war be lawful to recover the church
countries which formerly have been Christian, though
now alienated, and Christians utterly extirpated ?

Whether a war be lawful, to free and deliver chris-
tians that yet remain in servitude and subjection to in-
fidels ?

Whether a war be lawful to revenge blasphemy, or
in vindication of reproaches against the Deity and our
Saviour ? Or for the ancient effusion of Christian blood,
and cruelties upon Christians ?

Whether a war be lawful for the restoring and
purging of the holy land, the sepulchre, and other
principal places of adoration and devotion ?

Whether, in the cases aforesaid, it be not obligatory
to Christian princes to make such a war, and not per-
missive only?

Whether the making of a war against the infidels be
not first in order of dignity, and to be preferred before
extirpations of heresies, reconcilements of schisms, re-
formation of manners, pursuits of just temporal quarrels,
and the like actions for the public good ; except there
be either a more urgent necessity, or a more evident
facility in those inferior actions, or except they may
both go on together in some degree ?

[ 493 ]
NOTES

or

A SPEECH

CONCERNING A WAR WITH SPAIN.

1 HAT ye conceive there will be a little difference
in opinion, but that all will advise the king not to en-
tertain further a treaty, wherein he hath been so ma-
nifestly and so long deluded.

That the difficulty therefore will be in the conse-
quences thereof; for to the breach of treaty, doth ne-
cessarily succeed a despair of recovering the Palatinate
by treaty, and so the business falleth upon a war. And
to that you will apply your speech, as being the point
of importance, and besides, most agreeable to your
profession and place.

To a war, such as may promise success, there are
three things required : a just quarrel; sufficient forces
and provisions ; and a prudent and politic choice of
the designs and actions whereby the war shall be ma-
naged.

For the quarrel, there cannot be a more just quarrel
by the laws both of nature and nations, than for the
recovery of the ancient patrimony of the king's chil-
dren, gotten from them by an usurping sword, and an
insidious treaty.

But further, that the war well considered is not for
the Palatinate only, but for England and Scotland;
for if we stay till the Low Countrymen be ruined, and
the party of the papists within the realm be grown
too strong, England, Scotland, and Ireland, are at the
stake.

Neither doth it concern the state only, but our
church : other kings, papists, content themselves to
maintain their religion in their own dominions ; but

494- Notes of a Speech concerning a War with Spain.

the kings of Spain run a course to make themselves
protectors of the popish religion, even amongst the
subjects of other kings : almost like the Ottomans, that
profess to plant the law of Mahomet by the sword ;
and so the Spaniards do of the pope's law, And
therefore if either the king's blood, or our own blood,
or Christ's blood be dear unto us, the quarrel is just,
and to be embraced.

For the point of sufficient forces, the balancing of
the forces of these kingdoms and their allies, with Spain
and their allies, you know to be a matter of great and
weighty consideration ; but yet to weigh them in a
common understanding, for your part, you are of opi-
nion that Spain is no such giant ; or if he be a giant,
it will be but like Goliah and David, for God will be
on our side.

But to leave these spiritual considerations : you do
not see in true discourse of peace and war, that we
ought to doubt to be overmatched. To this opinion
you are led by two things which lead all men ; by ex-
perience, and by reason.

For experience ; you do not find that for this age,
take it for 100 years, there wras ever any encounter
between Spanish and English of importance, either by
sea or land, but the English came off with the honour;
\vitness the Lammas-day, the retreat of Gaunt, the
battle of Newport, and some others : but there have
been some actions, both by sea and land, so memo-
Table as scarce suffer the less to be spoken of. By sea,
that of eighty-eight, when the Spaniards, putting
themselves most upon their stirrups, sent forth that
invincible Armada which should have swallowed up
England quick; the success whereof was, that although
the fleet swam like mountains upon our seas, yet they
did not so much as take a cock-boat of ours at sea, nor
fire a cottage at land, but came through our channel,
and were driven, as Sir Walter Raleigh says, by squibs,
fire-boats he means, from Calais, and were soundly
beaten by our ships in fight, and many of them sunk,
and finally durst not return the way they came, but
made a scattered perambulation, full of shipwrecks,

Notes of a Speech concerning a War with Spain. 495

by the Irish and Scotish seas to get home again ; just
according to the curse of the Scripture, that tltey came
out against us nne.ivay, and fled before us seven ways.
By land, who can forget the two voyages made upon
the continent itself of Spain, that of Lisbon, and that
of Cales, when in the former we knocked at the gates
of the greatest city either of Spain or Portugal, and
came off without seeing an enemy to look us in the
face ? And though we failed in our foundation, for
that Antonio, whom we thought to replace in his king-
dom, found no party at all, yet it was a true trial of
the gentleness of Spain, which suffered us to go and
come without any dispute. And for the latter, of
Cales, it ended in victory ; wre ravished a principal
city of wealth and strength in the high countries, sack-
ed it, fired the Indian fleet that was in the port, and
came home in triumph ; and yet to this day were never
put in suit for it, nor demanded reasons for our doings.
You ought not to forget the battle of Kinsale in Ire-
land, what time the Spanish forces were joined with
the Irish, good soldiers as themselves, or better, and
exceeded us far in number, and yet they were soon
defeated, and their general D'Avila taken prisoner,
and that war by that battle quenched and ended.

And it is worthy to be noted how much our power
in those days was inferior to our present state. Then,
a lady old, and owner only of England, intangled with
the revolt of Ireland, and her confederates of Holland
much weaker, and in no conjuncture. Now a fa-
mous king, and strengthened with a prince of singular
expectation, and in the prime of his years, owner of
the entire isle of Britain, enjoying Ireland populate and
quiet, and infinitely more supported by confederates of
the Low Countries, Denmark, divers of the princes of
Germany, and others. As for the comparison of Spain
as it was then, and as it is now, you will for good
respects forbear to speak ; only you will say this, that
Spain was then reputed to have the wisest council of
Europe, and not a council that will come at the whistle
of a favourite.

Another point of experience you would not speak of,

496 Notes of a Speech concerning a War with Spain.

if it were not that there is a wonderful erroneous ob*
servation, which walketh about, contrary to all the
true account of time ; and it is, that the Spaniard
where he once gets in, will seldom or never be got
out again ; and that they give it an ill-favoured simile
which you will not name, for nothing is less true : they
got footing at Brest, and some other parts in Britain,
and quitted it : they had Calais, Ardes, Amiens, and
were part beaten out, and part they rendred : they
had Vercelles in Savoy, and fairly left it : they had the
other day the Valtoline, and now have put it in de-
posit. What they will do at Ormus we shall see. So
that, to speak truly of latter times, they have rather
poached and offered a number of enterprises, than
maintained any constantly. And for Germany, in more
ancient time, their great emperor Charles, after he had
Germany almost in his fist, was forced in the end to
go from Isburgh, as it were in a mask by torch-light,
and to quit every foot of his new acquests in Germany,
•which you hope likewise will be the hereditary issue of
this late purchase of the Palatinate. And thus much
for experience.

For reason : it hath many branches ; you will but
extract a few first. It is a nation thin sown of men,
partly by reason of the sterility of their soil; and partly
because their natives are exhausted by so many em-
ployments in such vast territories as they possess, so
that it hath been counted a kind of miracle to see to-
gether ten or twelve thousand native Spaniards in an
army. And although they have at this time great
numbers of miscellany soldiers in their armies and gar-
risons, yet, if there should be the misfortune of a bat-
tle, they are ever long about it to draw on supplies.

They tell a tale of a Spanish ambassador that was
brought to see their treasury of St. Mark at Venice,
and still he looked down to the ground ; and being
asked the reason, said, " he was looking to see whe-
" ther the treasure had any root, so that, if that were
." spent, it would grow again; as his master's had."
But, howsoever it be of their treasure, certainly their
forces have scarcely any root, or at least such a root

Notes of a Speech concerning a War with Spain. 497

as putteth forth very poorly and slowly; whereas there
is not in the world again such a spring and seminary
of military people as in England, Scotland, and Ire-
land ; nor of seamen as is this island and the Low
Countries: so as if the wars should mow them downv,
yet they suddenly may be supplied and come up again.

A second reason is, and it is the principal, that if
we truly consider the greatness of Spain, it consistetb
chiefly in their treasure, and their treasure in their
Indies, and their Indies, both of them, is but an ac-
cession to such as are masters by sea ; so as this axle-
tree, whereupon their greatness turns, is soon cut in
two by any that shall be stronger than they at sea. So
then you report yourself to their opinions, and the
opinions of all men, enemies or whosoever ; whether
that the maritime forces of Britain and the Low Coun-
tries are not able to beat them at sea. For if ,that be,
you see the chain is broken from shipping to Indies,
from Indies to treasure, and from treasure to greatness.

The third reason, which hath some affinity with this
second, is a point comfortable to hear in the state that
we now are ; wars are generally causes of poverty and
consumption. The nature of this war, you are per-
suaded, will be matter of restorative and enriching ;
so that, if we go roundly on with supplies and provi-
sions at the first, the war in continuance will find
itself. That you do but point at this, and will not en-
large it.

Lastly, That it is not a little to be considered, that
the greatness of Spain is not only distracted extremely,
and therefore of less force ; but built upon no very
sound foundations, and therefore they can have the
less strength by any assured and confident confederacy.
With France they arc in competition for Navarre,
Milan, Naples, and the Franche County of Burgundy ;
with the see of Rome, for Naples also; for Portugal,
with the right heirs of that line; for that they have in
their Low Countries, with the United Provinces;
for Ormus, now, with Persia ; for Valencia, with the
Moors expulsed and their confederates; for the East
and West Indies, with all the world. So that if every

VOL. in. K k

498 Notes of a Speech concerning a War with Spain.

bird had his feather, Spain would be left wonderful
naked. But yet there is a greater confederation against
them than by means of any of these quarrels or titles ;
and that is contracted by the fear that almost all na-
tions have of their ambition, whereof men see no end.
And thus much for the balancing of their forces.

For the last point, which is the choice of the designs
and enterprises, in which to conduct the war,; you
will not now speak, because you should be forced to de-
scend to divers particulars, whereof some are of a more
open, and some of a more secret nature. But that you
would move the house to rnake a selected committee
for that purpose ; not to estrange the house in any sort,
but to prepare things for them, giving them power and
commission to call before them, and to confer with any
martial men or others that are not of the house, that
they shall think fit, for their advice and information :
and so to give an account of the business to a general
committee of the whole house.

[ 499 ]
CONSIDERATIONS

TOUCHING

A WAR WITH SPAIN.

INSCRIBED TO PRINCE CHARLES,

Anno MDCXXIV.

YOUR highness hath an imperial name. It was a
Charles that brought the empire first into France ; a
Charles that brought it first into Spain ; why should not
Great Britain have its turn ? But to lay aside all that
may seem to have a shew of fumes and fancies, and
to speak solids : a war with Spain, if the king shall
enter into it, is a mighty work ; it requireth strong
materials, and active motions. lie that saith not so,
is zealous, but not according to knowledge. But
nevertheless Spain is no such giant : and he that
thinketh Spain to be some great overmatch for this
estate, assisted as it is, and may be, is no good mint-
man ; but takes greatness of kingdoms according to
their bulk and currency, and not after their intrinsic
value. Although therefore I had wholly sequestered
my thoughts from civil affairs, yet because it is a new
case, and concerneth my country infinitely, I obtained
of myself to set down, out of long continued expe-
rience in business of estate, and much conversation in
books of policy and history, what I thought pertinent
to this business ; and in all humbleness present it to
your highness : hoping that at least you will discern
the strength of my affection through the weakness of
my abilities : for the Spaniard hath a good proverb,
De suario si empre con la calcntura ; there is no heat
of affection, but is joined with some idleness of brain.
To a war are required, a just quarrel; sufficient
forces and provisions; and a prudent choice of the
designs. So then, I will first justify the quarrel; se-

K k 2

500 Of a War with Spain.

condly, balance the forces ; and lastly, propound va-
riety of designs for choice, but not advise the choice •>
for that were not fit for a writing of this nature ; nei-
ther is it a subject within the level of my judgment;
I being, in effect, a stranger to the present occur-
rences.

Wars, I speak not of ambitious predatory wars, are
suits of appeal to the tribunal of God's justice, where
there are no superiors on earth to determine the cause :
and they are, as civil pleas are, plaints, or defences.
There are therefore three just grounds of war with
Spain : one plaint, two upon defence. Solomon saith,
A cord of three is not easily broken : but especially
when every of the lines would hold single by itself.
They are these: the recovery of the Palatinate: a just
fear of the subversion of our civil estate; a just fear
of the subversion of our church and religion. For in
the handling of the two last grounds of war, I shall
make it plain, that wars preventive upon just fears are
true defensives, as w7ell as upon actual invasions: and
again, that wars defensive for religion, I speak not of
rebellion, are most just; though offensive wars for
religion are seldom to be approved, or never, unless
they have some mixture of civil titles. But all that
I shall say in this whole argument, will be but like
bottoms of thread close wound up, which with a good
needle, perhaps may be flourished into large works.

For the asserting of the justice of the quarrel for
the recovery of the Palatinate, I shall not go so high
as to discuss the right of the war of Bohemia ; which
if it be freed from doubt on our part, then there is no
colour nor shadow why the Palatinate should be re-
tained ; the ravishing whereof was a mere excursion
of the first wrong, and a super-injustice. But I do
not take myself to be so perfect in the customs, trans-
actions, and privileges of that kingdom of Bohemia, as
to be fit to handle that part : and I will not offer at
that I cannot master. Yet this I will say, in passage,
positively and resolutely ; that it is impossible an elec-
tive monarchy should be so free and absolute as an
hereditary; no more than it is possible for a father to

Of a War with Spain.

have so full a power and interest in an adoptive son as
in a natural ; quia naturalis obligatio fortior civili.
And again, that received maxim is almost unshaken
and infallible; Nil magis naturae consentaneiim est,
quam lit iisdem modis res dissolvantur, quibus consti-
tuunf.ur. So that if the part of the people or estate
be somewhat in the election, you cannot make them
nulls or ciphers in the privation or translation. And
if it be said, that this is a dangerous opinion, for the
pope, emperor, and elective king's ; it is true, it is
a dangerous opinion, and ought to be a dangerous
opinion, to such personal popes, emperors, or elective
kings, as shall transcend their limits, and become ty-
rannical. But it is a safe and sound opinion for their
sees, empires, and kingdoms ; and for themselves also,
if they be wise ; plenitudo potestatis est plenitudo tem-
pcstatis. But the chief cause why I do not search
into this point is, because I need it not. And in han-
dling the right of a war, I am not willing to intermix
matter doubtful with that which is out of doubt.
For as in capital causes, wherein but one man's life is.
in question, infavorem vitae the evidence ought to be
clear; so much more in a judgment upon a war, which
is capital to thousands. I suppose therefore the worst,
that the offensive war upon Bohemia had been unjust;
and then make the case, which is no sooner made than
resolved ; if it be made not enwrapped, but plainly
and perspicuously. It is this in tkesi. An offensive
war is made, which is unjust in the aggressor; the pro-
secution and race of the war carrieth the defendant to
assail and invade the ancient and indubitate patrimony
of the first aggressor, who is now turned defendant ;
shall he sit down, and not put himself in defence? Or
if he be dispossessed, shall he not make a war for the
recovery ? No man is so poor of judgment as will af-
firm it. The castle of Cadmus was taken, and the city of
Thebes itself invested by Phoebidas the Lacedemonian,
insidiously, and in violation of league : the process of
this action drew on a re-surprize of the castle by the
Thebans, a recovery of the town, and a current of the
war even unto the walls of Sparta. I demand, was

Of a War with Spain.

the defence of the city of Sparta, and the expulsion
of the Thebans out of the Laconian territories, un-
just? The sharing of that part of the duchy of Milan,
which lieth upon the river of Adda, by the Venetians,
upon contract with the French, was an ambitious and
unjust purchase. This wheel set on going, did pour a
war upon the Venetians with such a tempest, as Padua
and Trevigi were taken from them, and all their do-
minions upon the continent of Italy abandoned, and
they confined within the salt waters. Will any man
say, that the memorable recovery and defence of
Padua, when the gentlemen of Venice, unused to the
wars, out of the love of their country, became brave
and martial the first day, and so likewise the re-adep-
tion of Trevigi, and the rest of their dominions, was
matter of scruple, whether just or no, because it had
source from a quarrel ill begun ? The war of the
duke of Urbin, nephew to pope Julius the second,
when he made himself head of the Spanish mutineers,
was as unjust as unjust might be ; a support of despe-
rate rebels , an invasion of St. Peter's patrimony ; and
what you will. The race of this war fell upon the
loss of Urbin itself, which was the duke's undoubted
right; yet, in this case, no penitentiary, though he
had enjoined him never so strait penance to expatiate
his first offence, would have counselled him to have
given over the pursuit of his right for Urbin ; which,
after, he prosperously re-obtained and hath transmitted
to his family until this day. Nothing more unjust than
the invasion of the Spanish Armada in 1588, upon
our seas : for our land was holy land to them, they
might not touch it ; shall I say therefore, that the de-
fence of Lisbon, or Cales, afterwards, was unjust?
There be thousands of examples ; utor in re non dubia
exemplis non nccessariis: the reason is plain ; wars are
vindictae, revenges, reparations. But revenges are not
infinite, but according to the measure of the first
wrong or damage. And therefore when a voluntary
offensive war, by the design or fortune of the war, is
turned to a necessary defensive war, the scene of the
tragedy is changed, and it is a new act to begin.

Of a War with Spain.

For the particular actions of war, though they are
complicate in fact, yet are they separate and distinct
in right ; like to cross suits in civil pleas, which are
sometimes both just. But this is so clear, as needeth
no farther to be insisted upon. And yet if in things
so clear, it were fit to speak of more or less clear in
our present cause, it is the more clear on our part, be-
cause the possession of Bohemia is settled with the
emperor. For though it be true, that non datur com-
pensatio injuriarum ; yet were there somewhat more
colour to detain the Palatinate, as in the nature of a
recovery, in value or compensation, if Bohemia had
been lost, or were still the stage of war. Of this
therefore I speak no more. As for the title of pro-
scription or forfeiture, wherein the emperor, upon the
matter, hath been judge and party, and hath justiced
himself, God forbid but that it should well endure an
appeal to a war. For certainly the court of heaven is
as well a chancery to save and debar forfeitures, as a
court of common law to decide rights ; and there
would be work enough in Germany, Jtaly, and other
parts, if imperial forfeitures should go for good titles.
Thus much for the first ground of war with Spain,
being in the nature of a plaint for the recovery of the
Palatinate ; omitting here that which might be the
seed of a larger discourse, and is verified by a number
of examples ; that whatsoever is gained by an abusive
treaty, ought to be restored in.integrum: as we see
the daily experience of this in civil pleas ; for the
images of great things are best seen contracted into
small glasses : we see, I say, that all pretorian courts,
if any of the parties be entertained or laid asleep,
under pretence of arbitrement or accord, and that the
other party, during that time, doth cautelously get
the start and advantage at common law, though it be
to judgment and execution ; yet the pretorian court will
set back all things in statu quo prhts, no respect had
to such eviction or dispossession. Lastly, let there be
no mistaking ; as if when I speak of a war for the
recovery of the Palatinate, I meant, that it must be
in lined recta, upon that place: for look

504- Of a War with Spain.

dale, and all examples, and it will be found to be
without scruple, that after a legation ad res repetendas,
and a refusal, and a denunciation or indiction of a
war, the war is no more confined to the place of the
quarrel, but is left at large and to choice, as to the
particular conducing designs, as opportunities and
advantages shall invite.

To proceed therefore to the second ground of a war
with Spain, we have set it down to be, a just fear of
the subversion of our civil estate. So then, the war
is not for the Palatinate only, but for England, Scot-
land, Ireland, our king, our prince, our nation, all that
we have. Wherein two things are to be proved,
The one, that a just fear, without an actual invasion
or offence, is a sufficient ground of a war, and in the
nature of a true defensive : the other, that we have
towards Spain cause of just fear; I say, just fear: for
as the civilians do well define, that the legal fear is
Justus metus qui cadit in constantem virum, in private
causes: so there is Justus metus qui cadit in constantem
senatum, in causa publica ; not out of umbrages, light
jealousies, apprehensions afar off, but out of clear
foresight of imminent danger.

Concerning the former proposition, it is good to hear
what time saith. Thucydides, in his inducement to
his story of the great war of Peloponnesus, sets down
in plain terms, that the true cause of that war was the
overgrowing greatness of the Athenians, and the fear
that the Lacedaemonians stood in thereby ; and doth
not doubt to call it, a necessity imposed upon the
Lacedaemonians of a war , which are the words of a
mere defensive : adding, that the other causes were
but specious and popular. Verissimam guidem, sed
minime sermone celebratam, arbitror extitisse belli
causam, Athenienses, magnos effectos et Lacedtemoniis
formidolosos, neccssitatem illis imposuisse bcllandi:
quae autem propalam ferebantur utrinque causa, istae
fuerant, etc. " The truest cause of this war, though
" least voiced, I conceive to have been this ; that the
<4 Athenians, being grown great, to the terror of the
" Lacedaemonians, did impose upon them a necessity

Of a War with Spain. 505

" of a war: but the causes that went abroad in speech
" were these," etc. Sulpitius Galba, consul, when he
persuaded the Romans to a preventive war with the
later Philip king of Macedon, in regard of the great
preparations which Philip had then on foot, and his de-
signs to ruin some of the confederates of the Romans,
confidently saith, that they who took that for an offen-
sive war, understood not the state of the question.
Ignorare videmini mihi, Quirites, non, utrum helium
an pacem habeatis, vos consult, neque enim liberum id
vobis permittet Philippus, qui terra marique ingcns
bellum molitur, sed utrum in Macedoniam legiones
transportetis, an hostem in Italiam recipiatis. " Ye
" seem to me, ye Romans, not to understand, that the
" consultation before you is not, whether you shall
" have war or peace, for Philip will take order you
<c shall be no choosers, who prepareth a mighty war
" both by land and sea, but whether you shall trans-
<c port the war into Macedon, or receive it into Italy."
Antiochus, when he incited Prusias king of Bithynia,
at that time in league with the Romans, to join with
him in war against them, setteth before him a just fear
of the overspreading greatness of the Romans, com-
paring it to a fire that continually took, and spread
from kingdom to kingdom : Venire Romanes ad omnia
regna tollenda, ut nullum usqiiam orbis terrarum nisi
Romanum imperium esset ; Philippum etNabin expug-
natos, se tertiumpetij ut quisque proximus ab oppresso
sit, per omnes vclut continens incendium pervasuntm :
fe That the Romans came to pull down all kingdoms,
<c and to make the state of Rome an universal mo-
" narchy ; that Philip and Nabis were already ruin-
(( ated, and now was his turn to be assailed : so that
<c as every state lay next to the other that was op-
" pressed, so the fire perpetually grazed." Wherein
it is well to be noted, that towards ambitious states,
which are noted to aspire to great monarchies, and to
seek upon all occasions to enlarge their dominions,
crescunt argument a jus Li metus -3 all particular fears do
grow and multiply out of the contemplation of the
general courses and practice of such states. There-

506 Of a War with Spain.

fore in deliberations of war against the Turk, it hath
been often, with great judgment, maintained, that
Christian princes and states have always a sufficient
ground of invasive war against the enemy : not for
cause of religion, but upon a just fear; forasmuch as
it is a fundamental law in the Turkish empire, that they
may, without any other provocation, make war upon
Christendom for the propagation of their law ; so that
there lieth upon the Christians a perpetual fear of war,
hanging over their heads, from them ; and therefore
they may at all times, as they think good, be upon the
prevention. Demosthenes exposeth to scorn wars
which are not preventive, comparing those that make
them to country fellows in a fencing-school that never
ward till the blow be past: Ut barbaripugiles dimicare
solent, ita ros bcllum geritis cum Philippo: ex Iris cnim
is, qui ictus est, ictui semper inhaeret: quod si cum
alibi verberes, ilio manus transfert; ictum autem de~
pellere, aut prospicere, neque scit ne.que vult. " As
" country fellows use to do when they play at wasters,
" such a kind of war do you, Athenians, make with
" Philip ; for with them he that gets a blow, straight
" falleth to ward when the blow is passed ; and if you
<f strike him in another place, thither goes his hand
" likewise : but to put by, or foresee a blow, they
" neither have the skill, nor the will."

Clinias the Candian, in Plato, speaks desperately and
wildly, as if there were no such thing as peace be-
tween nations; but that every nation expects but his
advantage to war upon another. But yet in that ex-
cess of speech there is thus much that may have civil
construction ; namely, that every state ought to stand
upon its guard, and rather prevent than be prevented.
His words are, Quam rem fere vacant pacem, nudum
ct inane nomen esi ; revera autem omnibus, adversus
omnes cimtates, bellum sempiternum perdurat. " That
" which men for the most part call peace, is but a
" naked and empty name ; but the truth is, that there
" is ever between all estates a secret war." I know
well this speech is the objection and not the decision,
and that it is after refuted j but yet, as I said before, it

Of a War with Spain. 507

bears thus much of truth, that if that general malig-
nity, and predisposition to war, which he untruly
figureth to be in all nations, be produced and extended
to a just fear of being oppressed, then it is no more a
true peace, but a name of a peace.

As for the opinion of Iphicrates the Athenian, it
demands not so much towards a war as a just fear,
but rather cometh near the opinion of Clinias; as if
there were ever amongst nations a brooding of a war,
and that there is no sure league but impuissance to do
hurt. For he, in the treaty of peace with the Lace-
daemonians, speaketh plain language; telling them,
there could be no true and secure peace, except the
Lacedaemonians yielded to those things, which being
granted, it would be no longer in their power to hurt
the Athenians, though they would : and to say truth,
if one mark it well, this was in all memory the main
piece of wisdom, in strong and prudent counsels, to
be in perpetual watch, that the states about them
should neither by approach, nor by increase of domi-
nion, nor by ruining confederates, nor by blocking of
trade, nor by any the like means, have it in their power
to hurt or annoy the states they serve ; and whenso-
ever any such cause did but appear, straightways to
buy it out with a war, and never take up peace at
credit and upon interest. It is so memorable, as it is
yet as fresh as if it were done yesterday, how that tri-
umvirate of kings, Henry the eighth of England,
Francis the first of France, and Charles the fifth em-
peror and king of Spain, were in their times so pro-
vident, as scarce a palm of ground could be gotten
by either of the three, but that the other two would
be sure to do their best, to set the balance of Europe
upright again. And the like diligence was used in
the age before by that league, wherewith Guicciardine
beginneth his story, and maketh it, as it were, the
calendar of the good days of Italy, which was con-
tracted between Ferdinando king of Naples, Lorenzo
of Medici potentate of Florence, and Lodovico Sforza
duke of Milan, designed chiefly against the growing
power of the Venetians -, but yet so, as the confede-

508 Of a War with Spain.

rates had a perpetual eye one upon another, that none
of them should overtop. To conclude therefore ; how-
soever some schoolmen, otherwise reverend men, yet
fitter to guide penknives than swords, seem precisely
to stand upon it, that every offensive war must be
ultio, a revenge, that presupposeth a precedent assault
or injury ; yet neither do they descend to this point,
which we now handle, of a just fear ; neither are they
of authority to judge this question against all the pre-
cedents of time. For certainly, as long as men are
men, the sons as the poets allude, of Prometheus, and
not of Epimetheus, and as long as reason is reason, a
just fear will be a just cause of a preventive war; but
especially if it be part of the case, that there be a na-
tion that is manifestly detected to aspire to monarchy
and new acquests; then other states, assuredly, can-
not be justly accused for not staying for the first blow;
or for not accepting Polyphemus's courtesy, to be the
Jast that shall be eaten up.

Nay, 1 observe farther, that in that passage of Plato
which I cited before, and even in the tenet of that
person that beareth the resolving part, and not the ob-
jecting part, a just fear is justified for a cause of an
invasive war, though the same fear proceed not from
the fault of the foreign state to be assailed : for it is
there insinuated, that if a state, out of the distemper
of their own body, do fear sedition and intestine trou-
bles to break out amongst themselves, they may dis-
charge their own ill humours upon a foreign war for a
cure. And this kind of cure was tendered by Jasper
Coligni, admiral of France, to Charles the ninth the
French king, when by a lively and forcible persuasion
he moved him to a war upon Flanders, for the better
extinguishment of the civil wars of France ; but neither
was that counsel prosperous; neither will I maintain
that position : for I will never set politics against
ethics; especially for that true ethics are but as a hand-
maid to divinity and religion. Surely St. Ihornas, who
,had the largest heart of the school divines, bendeth
chiefly his style against the depraved passions which
reign in making wars, speaking out of St. Augustine :

Of a War with Spain. 509

Nocendi cuptditas, ulciscendi crudclitas, implacatus et
implacabilis animus, feritas rebellandi, libido domi-
nandiy et si quae sunt similia, hacc sunt quae in bellis
jure cidpantur. And the same St. Thomas, in his own
text, defining of the just causes of a war, doth leave
it upon very general terms: Requiritur ad bellum
causa justa, ut scilicet ////, qui impugnantnr, propler
aliquamculpam impugnationem mereantur ; for impug-
natio culpae is a far more general word, than ultio
injuriae. And thus much for the first proposition, of
the second ground of a war with Spain : namely, that
a just fear is a just cause of a war ; and that a preven-
tive war is a true defensive.

The second or minor proposition was this ; that this
kingdom hath cause of just fear of overthrow from
Spain. Wherein it is true, that fears are ever seen in
dimmer lights than facts. And on the other side, fears
use, many times, to be represented in such an imagi-
nary fashion, as they rather dazzle mens eyes than
open them : and therefore I will speak in that manner
which the subject requires ; that is, probably, and
moderately, and briefly. Neither will I deduce these
fears to present occurrences ; but point only at general
grounds, leaving the rest to more secret counsels.

Is it nothing, that the crown of Spain hath enlarged
the bounds thereof within this last sixscore years, much
more than the Ottomans ? I speak not of matches or
unions, but of arms, occupations, invasions. Granada,
Naples, Milan, Portugal, the East and West Indies;
all these are actual additions to that crown. They had
a mind to French Britain, the lower part of Picardy,
and Piedmont ; but they have let fall their bit. They
have, to this day, such a hovering possession of the
Valtoline, as an hobby hath over a lark: and the Pala-
tinate is in their talons : so that nothing is more mani-
fest, than that this nation of Spain runs a race still of
empire, when all other states of Christendom stand in
effect at a stay. Look then a Hrtle farther into the titles
whereby they have acquired, and do now hold these
.new portions of their crown ; and you will rind them
of so many varieties, and such natures, to speak with

510 Of a War with Spain.

due respect, as may appear to be easily minted, and
such as can hardly at any time be wanting. And
therefore, so many new conquests and purchases, so
many strokes of the alarm bell of fear and awaking to
other nations ; and the facility of the titles, which
hand-over-head have served their turn, doth ring the
peal so much the sharper and louder.

Shall we descend from their general disposition to
enlarge their dominions, to their particular disposition
and eye of appetite which they have had towards us:
they have now twice sought to impatronise themselves
of this kingdom of England ; once by marriage with
queen Mary ; and the second time by conquest in
1588, when their forces by sea and land were not in-
ferior to those they have now. And at that time in
1588, the counsel and design of Spain was by many
advertisements revealed and laid open to be, that they
found the war upon the Low Countries so churlish and
longsome, as they grew then to a resolution, that as
long as England stood in state to succour those coun-
tries, they should but consume themselves in an end-
less war ; and therefore there was no other way but to
assail and depress England, which was as a back of steel
to the Flemings. And who can warrant, I pray, that
the same counsel and design will not return again ? So
as we are in a strange dilemma of danger : for if we
suffer the Flemings to be ruined, they are our outwork,
and we still remain naked and dismantled : if we
succour them strongly, as is fit, and set them upon
their feet, and do not withal weaken Spain, we hazard
to change the scene of the war, and to turn it upon
Ireland or England : like unto rheums and defluxions,
which if you apply a strong repercussive to the place
affected, and do not take away the cause of the disease,
will shift and fall straightways to another joint or place.
They have also twice invaded Ireland ; once under the
pope's banner, when they were defeated by the lord
Gray : and after in their own name, when they were
defeated by the lord Mountjoy. So as let this suffice
for a tasle of their disposition towards us. But it will
.be said, this is an almanack for the old years since

Of a War with Spain. 5 1 1

1588 all bath been well; Spain batb not assailed tbis
kingdom, howsoever by two several invasions from us
mightily provoked. It is true : but then consider, that
immediately after 1588, they were imbroiled for a
great time in the protection of the kague of France,
whereby they had their hands full ; after being brought
extreme low by their vast and continual imbracements,
they were enforced to be quiet that they might take
breath, and do reparations upon their former wastes.
But now of late, things seem to come apace to their
former estate ; nay, with far greater disadvantage to
us; for now that they have almost continued, and, as it
were, arched their dominions from Milan, by the
Valtoline and Palatinate, to the Low Countries, we
see how they thirst and pant after the utter ruin of
those states; having in contempt almost the German
nation, and doubting little opposition except it come
from England : whereby either we must suffer the
Dutch to be ruined, to our own manifest prejudice ;
or put it upon the hazard I spake of before, that Spain
will cast at the fairest. Neither is the point of internal
danger, which groweth upon us, to be forgotten ; this,
that the party of the papists in England are become
more knotted, both in dependence towards Spain and
amongst themselves, than they have been. Wherein
again comes to be remembered the case of 1588: for
then also it appeared by divers secret letters, that the
design of Spain was, for some years before the invasion
attempted, to prepare a party in this kingdom to ad-
here to the foreigner at his coming. And they brag-
ged, that they doubted not so to abuse and lay asleep
the queen and council of England, as to have any fear
of the party of papists here ; for that they knew, they
said, the state would but cast the eye and look about
to see whether there were any eminent head of that
party, under whom it might unite itself; and rinding
none worth the thinking on, the state would rest se-
cure and take no apprehension: whereas they meant,
they said, to take a course to deal with the people, and
particulars, by reconcilements, and confessions, and
secret promises, and cared not for any head of party.

512 Of a War with Spain.

And this was the true reason, why after that the semi-
naries began to blossom, and to make missions into
England, which was about the three and twentieth
year of queen Elizabeth, at what time also was the
first suspicion of the Spanish invasion, then, and not
before, grew the sharp and severe laws to be made
against the papists. And therefore the papists may
do well to change their thanks; and whereas they
thank Spain for their favours, to thank them for their
perils and miseries if they should fall upon them : for
that nothing ever made their case so ill as the doubt of
the greatness of Spain, which adding reason of state
to matter of conscience and religion, did whet the
laws against them. And this case also seemeth, in some
sort, to return again at this time ; except the clemency
of his majesty, and the state, to superabound ; as for
my part I do wish it should ; and that the proceedings
towards them may rather tend to security, and provi-
dence, and point of state, than to persecution for reli-
gion. But to conclude ; these things briefly touched,
may serve as in a subject conjectural and future, to re-
present how just cause of fear this kingdom may have
towards Spain : omitting, as I said before, all present
and more secret occurrences.

The third ground of a war with Spain, I have set
down to be, a just fear of the subversion of our church
and religion: which needeth little speech. For if this
war be a defensive, as I have proved it to be, no man
wilt doubt, that a defensive war against a foreigner
for religion is lawful. Of an offensive war there is
more dispute. And yet in that instance of the war
for the Hold Land and sepulchre, I do wonder some-
times, that the schoolmen want words to defend that,
which S. Bernard wanted words to commend. But I,
that in this little extract of a treatise do omit things
necessary, am not to handle things unnecessary. No
man, I say, will doubt, but if the pope or king of
Spain would demand of us to forsake our religion upon
pain of a war, it were as unjust a demand, as the Per-
sians made to the Grecians of land and water ; or the
Amorites to the Israelites of their right eyes. And we

Of a War with Spain. 513

see all the heathen did stile their defensive wars, pro
aris ctfocis ; placing their altars before their hearths.
So that it is in vain of this to speak farther. Only this is
true ; that the fear of the subversion of our religion
from Spain is the more just, for that all other catholic
princes and states content and contain themselves to
maintain their religion within their own dominions,
and meddle not with the subjects of other states;
whereas the practice of Spainhath been, both in Charles
the Fifth's time, and in the time of the league in France,
by war; and now with us, by conditions of treaty, to
intermeddle with foreign states, and to declare them-
selves protectors general of the party of catholics,
through the world. As if the crown of Spain had a
little of this, that they would plant the pope's laws by
arms, as the Ottomans do the law of Mahomet. Thus
much concerning the first main point of justifying the
quarrel, if the king shall enter into a war; for this that
1 have said, and all that followeth to be said, is but to
shew what he may do.

The second main part of that I have propounded to
speak of, is the balance of forces between Spain and
us. And this also tcndeth to no more, but what the
king may do. For what he may do is of two kinds :
what he may do as just ; and what he may do as pos-
sible. Of the one I have already spoken; of the other
I am now to speak. I said, Spain was no such giant;
and yet if he were a giant, it will be but as it was be-
tween David and Goliath, for God is on our side. But
to leave all arguments that are supernatural, and to
speak in an human and politic sense, I am led to think
that Spain is no over-match for England, by that which
leadeth all men ; that is, experience and reason.
And with experience I will begin, for there all reason
beginneth.

Is it fortune, shall we think, that, in all actions of
war or arms, great and small, which have happened
these many years, ever since Spain and England have
had any thing to debate one with the other, the English
upon all encounters have perpetually come off with
honour, and the better? Jt is not fortune sure; she

VOL. III. L 1

514- Of a War wM Spain.

is not so constant. There is somewhat in the nation
and natural courage of the people, or some such thing.
I will make a brief list of the particulars themselves
in an historical truth, no ways strouted, nor made
greater by language. This were a fit speech, you will
say, for a general, in the head of an army, when they
were going to battle : yes ; and it is no less fit speech
to be spoken in the heacl of a council, upon a delibe-
ration of entrance into a war. Neither speak I this to
disparage the Spanish nation, whom I take to be of
the best soldiers in Europe ; but that sorteth to our
honour, if we still have had the better hand.

In the year 1578, was that famous lammas day,
which buried the reputation of Don John of Austria,
himself not surviving long after. Don John being su-
perior in forces, assisted by the prince of Parma,
Mondragon, Mansell, and other the best commanders
of Spain, confident of victory, charged the army of the
States near Rimenant, bravely and furiously at the first ;
but after a fight maintained by the space of a whole
day, was repulsed, and forced to retreat, with great
slaughter of his men ; and the course of his farther
enterprises was wholly arrested ; and this chiefly by
the prowess and virtue of the English and Scotish
troops, under the conduct of Sir John Norris and Sir
Robert Stuart, colonels : which troops came to the
army but the day before, harassed with a long and
wearisome march ; and, as it is left for a memorable
circumstance in all stories, the soldiers being more
sensible of a little heat of the sun, than of any cold
fear of death, cast away their armour and garments
from them, and fought in their shirts : and, as it was
generally conceived, had it not been that the count of
Bossu was slack in charging the Spaniards upon their
retreat, this fight had sorted to an absolute defeat.
But it was enough to chastise Don John for his insi-
dious treaty of peace, wherewith he had abused the
States at his first coming. And the fortune of the day,
besides the testimony of all stories, may be the better
ascribed to the service of the English and Scotish, by
comparison of this charge near Rimenant, where the

Of a War with Spain. 515

English and Scotish in great numbers came in action,
with the like charge given by Don John half a year
before at Glemblours, where the success was contrary:
there being at that time in the army but a handful of
English and Scotish, and they put in disarray by the
horsemen of their own fellows.

The first dart of war which was thrown from Spain
or Rome upon the realm of Ireland, was in the year
1580; for the design of Stukely blew over into Afric;
and the attempt of Saunders and Fitz Maurice had a
spice of madness. In that year Ireland was invaded
by Spanish and Italian forces, under the pope's ban-
ner, and the conduct of San Josepho, to the number
of 700 or better, which landed at Smerwick in Kerry.
A poor number it was to conquer Ireland to the pope's
use ; for their design was no less : but withal they
brought arms for 5000 men above their own company,
intending to arm so many of the rebels of Ireland.
And their purpose was, to fortify in some strong place
of the wild and desolate country, and there to nestle
till greater succours came; they being hastened unto
this enterprise upon a special reason of state, not pro-
per to the enterprise itself; which was by the invasion
of Ireland, and the noise thereof, to trouble the coun-
cil of England, and to make a diversion of certain aids,
that then were preparing from hence for the Low
Countries. They chose a place where they erected a
fort, which they called the Fort de /'Or; and from
thence they bolted like beasts of the forest, sometimes
into the woods and fastnesses, and sometimes back
again to their den. Soon after siege was laid to the
fort by the lord Gray, then deputy, with a smaller
number than those were within the fort ; venturously
indeed ; but haste was made to attack them before the
rebels came in to them. After the siege of four days
only, and two or three sallies, with loss on their part,
they that should have made good the fort for some
months, till new succours came from Spain, or at least
from the rebels of Ireland, yielded up themselves
without conditions at the end of those four days. And
for that they were not in the English army enough to

L 1 2

Of a War with Spain.

keep every man a prisoner, and for that also the de-
puty expected instantly to be assailed by the rebels -,
and again, there were no barks to throw them into
and send them away by sea ; they were all put to the
sword ; with which queen Elizabeth was afterwards
much displeased.

In the year 1582, was that memorable retreat of
Gaunt ; than the which there hath not been an exploit
of war more celebrated. For in the true judgment
of men of war, honourable retreats are no ways infe-
rior to brave charges ; as having less of fortune, more
of discipline, and as much of valour. There were to
the number of three hundred horse, and as many thou-
sand foot English, commanded by Sir John Norris,
charged by the prince of Parma, coming upon them
with seven thousand horse ; besides that the whole
army of Spaniards was ready to march on. Neverthe-
less Sir John Norris maintained a retreat without dis«
array, by the space of some miles, part of the way
champaign, unto the city of Gaunt, with less loss of
men than the enemy: the duke of Anjou, and the
prince of Orange, beholding this noble action from
the walls of Gaunt, as in a theatre, with great admi-
ration.

In the year 1585, followed the prosperous expedi-
tion of Drake and Carlile into the West Indies, in the
which I set aside the taking of St. Jago and St. Do-
mingo in Hispanio^a, as surprises rather than encoun-
ters. But that of Carthagena, where the Spaniards
had warning of our coming, and had put themselves
in their full strength, was one of the hottest services,
and most dangerous assaults that hath been known.
For the access to the town was only by a neck of land,
between the sea on the one part, and the harbour water
or inner sea on the other ; fortified clean over with a
strong rampier and barricade ; so as upon the ascent
of our men, they had both great ordnance and small
shot, that thundred and showered upon them from the
rampier in front, and from the galleys that lay at sea
in flank. And yet they forced the passage, and won
the town, being likewise very well manned. As for

Of a War with Spain.

the expedition of Sir Francis Drake, in the year 1587,
for the destroying of the Spanish shipping and provi-
vision upon their own coast ; as I cannot say that there
intervened in that enterprise any sharp fight or en-
counter ; so, nevertheless, it did strangely discover,
either that Spain is very weak at-home, or very slow
to move ; when they suffered a small fleet of English
to make an hostile invasion or incursion upon their
havens and roads, from Cadiz to Capa Sacra, and
thence to Cascais ; and to fire, sink, and carry away
at least ten thousand ton of their great shipping, be-
sides fifty or sixty of their small vessels ; and that in
the sight, and under the favour of their forts ; and al-
most under the eye of their great admiral, the best
commander of Spain by sea, the marquis de Santa
Cruz, without ever being disputed with by any fight of
importance. I remember Drake, in the vaunting stile
of a soldier, would call this enterprise, the singeing of
the king of Spain's beard.

The enterprise of 1588, deserveth to be stood upon
a little more fully, being a miracle of time. There
armed from Spain, in the year 1588, the greatest navy
that ever swam upon the sea : for though there have
been far greater fleets for number, yet for the bulk and
building of the ships, with the furniture of great ord-
nance and provisions, never the like. The design was
to make not an invasion only, but an utter conquest of
this kingdom. The number of vessels were one hun-
dred and thirty, whereof galliasses and galleons se-
venty-two goodly ships, like floating towers or castles,
manned with thirty thousand soldiers and mariners.
This navy was the preparation of five whole years, at
the least : it bare itself also upon divine assistance ; for
it received special blessing from pope Sixtus, and was
assigned as an apostolical mission for the reducement
of this kingdom to the obedience of the see of Rome.
And, in farther token of this holy warfare, there were
amongst the rest of these ships, twelve, called by the
names of the twelve apostles. But it was truly con-
ceived, that this kingdom of England could never be
overwhelmed, except the land waters came into the

Of a War with Spain.

sea tides. Therefore was there also in readiness in
Flanders, a mighty strong army of land forces, to the
number of fifty thousand veteran soldiers, under the
conduct of the duke of Parma, the best commander,
next the French king Henry the Fourth, of his
time. These were designed to join with the forces
at sea ; there being prepared a number of flat-bottomed
boats to transport the land forces, under the wing and
protection of the great navy. For they made no ac-
count, but that the navy should be absolute master of
the seas. Against these forces, there were prepared on
our part, to the number of near one hundred ships;
not so great of bulk indeed, but of a more nimble
motion, and more serviceable ; besides a less fleet of
thirty ships, for the custody of the narrow seas. There
were also in readinsss at land two armies ; besides
other forces, to the number of ten thousand, dispersed
amongst the coast in the southern parts. The two
armies were appointed ; one of them consisting of
twenty-five thousand horse and foot, for the repulsing
of the enemy at their landing ; and the other of twenty-
five thousand for safeguard and attendance about the
court and the queen's person. There were also other
dormant musters of soldiers throughout all parts of the
realm, that were put in readiness, but not drawn to-
gether. The two armies were assigned to the leading
of two generals, noble persons, but both of them ra-
ther courtiers, and assured to the state, than martial
men ; yet lined and assisted with subordinate com-
manders of great experience and valour. The fortune
of the war made this enterprise at first a play at base.
The Spanish navy set forth out of the Groyne in May,
and was dispersed and driven back by weather. Our
navy set forth somewhat later out of Plymouth, and
bare up towards the coast of Spain to have fought with
the Spanish navy ; and partly by reason of contrary
winds, partly upon advertisement that the Spaniards
were gone back, and upon some doubt also that they
might pass by towards the coast of England, whilst
we were seeking them afar off, returned likewise into
Plymouth about the middle of July. At that time

Of a War with Spam. 519

came more confident advertisement, though false,
not only to the lord Admiral, but to the court, that the
Spaniards could not possibly come forward that year;
whereupon our navy was upon the point of disband-
ing, and many of our men gone ashore : at which
very time the Invincible Armada, for so it was called
in a Spanish ostentation, throughout Europe, was dis-
covered upon the western coast. It was a kind of
surprise ; for that, as was said, many of our men were
gone to land, and our ships ready to depart. Never-
theless the admiral, with such ships as could suddenly
be put in readiness, made forth towards them ; inso-
much as of one hundred ships, there came scarce
thirty to work. Howbeit, with them, and such as
came daily in, we set upon them, and gave them the
chase. But the Spaniards, for want of courage, which
they called commission, declined the fight, casting
themselves continually into roundels, their strongest
ships walling in the rest, and in that manner they
made a flying march towards Calais. Our men by
the space of five or six days followed them close,
fought with them continually, made great slaughter of
their men, took two of their great ships, and gave
divers others of their ships their death wounds,
whereof soon after they sank and perished ; and, in a
word, distressed them almost in the nature of a de-
feat y we ourselves in the mean time receiving little
or no hurt. Near Calais the Spaniards anchored, ex-
pecting their land forces, which came not. It was
afterwards alledged, that the duke of Parma did arti-
ficially delay his coming; but this was but an invention
and pretension given out by the Spaniards ; partly upon
a Spanish envy against that duke, being an Italian,
and his son a competitor to Portugal ; but chiefly to
save the monstrous scorn and disreputation, which
they and their nation received by the success of that
enterprise. Therefore their colours and excuses, for-
sooth, were, that their general by sea had a limited
commission, not to fight until the land forces were
come in to them: and that the duke of Parma had
particular reaches and , ends of his own underhand, to

520 Of a War with Spain.

cross the design. But it was both a strange commis-
sion, and a strange obedience to a commission ; for
men in the midst of their own blood, and being so
furiously assailed, to hold their hands, contrary lo the
laws of nature and necessity. And as for the duke
of Parma, he was reasonably well tempted to be true
to that enterprise, by no less promise than to be. made
a feudatary or beneficiary king of England, under the
seignory, in chief, of the pope, and the protection of
the king of Spain. Besides, it appeared that the duke
of Parma held his place long after in the favour and
trust of the king of Spain, by the great employments
and services that he performed in France : and again,
it is manifest, that the duke did his best to come
down, and to put to sea. The truth was, that the
Spanish navy, upon those proofs of fight which they
had with the English, finding how much hurt they
received, and how little hurt they did, by reason of
the activity and low building of our ships, and skill of
our seamen ; and being also commanded by a general
of small courage and experience, and having lost
at the first two of their bravest commanders at sea,
Pedro de Valdez, and Michael de Oquenda; durst
not put it to a battle at sea, but set up their rest
wholly upon the land enterprise On the other side,
the transporting of the land forces failed in the very
foundation: for whereas the council of Spain made full
account, that their navy should be master of the sea,
and therefore able to guard and protect the vessels of
transportation ; when it fell out to the contrary that
the Hollanders impounded their land forces with a
brave fleet of thirty sail, excellently well appointed ;
things, I say, being in this state, it came to pass that
the duke of Parma must have flown if he would have
come into England, for he could get neither bark nor
mariner to put to sea : yet certain it is, that the duke
looked still for the coming back of the Armada, even
at that time when they were wandering, and making
their perambulation upon the northern seas. But to
return to the Armada, which we left anchored at
Calais : from, thence, as Sir Walter Raleigh was wont

Of a War with Spain. 521

prettily to say, they were suddenly driven away with
squibs ; for it was no more but a stratagem of fire
boats, manless, and sent upon them by the favour of
the wind in the night time, that did put them in such
terror, as they cut their cables, and left their anchors
in the sea. After they hovered some two or three days
about Graveling, and there again were beaten in a
great fight; at what time our second fleet, which kept
the narrow seas, was come in and joined to our main
fleet. Thereupon the Spaniards entering into farther
terror, and finding also divers of their ships every day
to sink, lost all courage, and instead of coming up into
the Thames' mouth for London, as their design was,
fled on towards the north to seek their fortunes ; being
still chased by the English navy at the heels, until we
were fain to give them over for want of powder.
The breath of Scotland the Spaniards could not en-
dure; neither durst they as iavaders land in Ireland;
but only ennobled some of the coasts thereof with,
shipwrecks. And so going northwards aloof, as long
as they had any doubt of being pursued, at last, when
they were out of reach, they turned, and crossed the
ocean to Spain, having lost fourscore of their ships
and the greater part of their men. And this was the
end of that sea-giant, the Invincible Armada: which,
having not so much as fired a cottage of ours by land,
nor taken a cock-boat of ours at sea, \vandered through
the wilderness of the northern seas ; and, according to
the curse in the Scripture, came out against us one way,
and fled before us seven ways. Serving only to make
good the judgment of an astrologer long before given,
ociuagesimus octavus mirabilis anmis : or rather, to

O j

make good, even to the astonishment of all posterity,
the wonderful judgments of God poured down com-
monly upon vast and proud aspirings.

In the year that followed, of 1589, we gave the Spa-
niards no breath, but turned challengers, and invaded
the main of Spain. In which enterprise, although we
failed in our end, which was to settle Don Antonio in
the kingdom of Portugal, yet a man shall hardly meet
with an action that doth better reveal the great secret

522 Of a War with Spain.

of the power of Spain ; which power well sought into,
will be found rather to consist in a veteran army, such
as upon several occasions and pretensions they have
ever had on foot, in one part or other of Christendom,
now by the space of almost sixscore years, than in the
strength of -their dominions and provinces. For what
can be more strange, or more to the disvaluation of
the power of the Spaniard upon the continent, than
that with an arriiy of eleven thousand English land-
soldiers, and a fleet of twenty-six ships of war, besides
some weak vessels for transportation, we should,
within the hour-glass of two months, have won one
town of importance by scalado, battered and assaulted
another, overthrown great forces in the field, and that
upon the disadvantage of a bridge strongly barrica-
doed, landed the army in three several places of his
kingdom, marched seven days in the heart of his
country, lodged three nights in the suburbs of his
principal city, beaten his forces into the gates thereof,
possessed two of his frontier forts, and come off after
all this with small loss of men, otherwise than by sick-
ness ? And it was verily thought, that had it not been
for four great disfavours of that voyage, that is to say,
the failing in sundry provisions that were promised,
especially of cannons for battery ; the vain hopes of
Don Antonio, concerning the people of the country to
come in to his aid -, the disappointment of the fleet
that was directed to come up the river of Lisbon ; and
lastly, the diseases which spread in the army by reason
of the heat of the season, and of the soldiers misrule
in diet, the enterprise had succeeded, and Lisbon had
been carried. But howsoever it makes proof to the
world, that an invasion of a few English upon Spain
may have just hopes of victory, at least of passport to
depart safely.

In the year 1591 was that memorable fight of an
English ship called the Revenge, under the command
of Sir Richard Greenvil ; memorable, I say, even be-
yond credit, and to the height of some heroical fable :
and though it were a defeat, yet it exceeded a victory;
being like the act of Samson, that killed more men at

Of a War with Spain. 52S

his death, than he had done in the time of all his life.
This ship, for the space of fifteen hours, sat like a stag
among hounds at the bay, and was sieged, and fought
with in turn, by fifteen great ships of Spain, part of a
navy of fifty-five ships in all ; the rest Jike abettors
looking on afar off. And amongst the fifteen ships that
fought, the great S. Philippo was one ; a ship of fif-
teen hundred ton, prince of the twelve sea-apostles,
which was right glad when she was shifted off from
the Revenge. This brave ship the Revenge, being
manned only with two hundred soldiers and mariners,
whereof eighty lay sick; yet nevertheless after a fight
maintained, as was said, of fifteen hours, and two ships
of the enemy sunk by her side, besides many more
torn and battered, and great slaughter of men, never
came to be entred, but was taken by composition ; the
enemies themselves having in admiration the virtue of
the commander, and the whole tragedy of that ship.

In the year 1596 was the second invasion that we
made upon the main territories of Spain ; prosper-
ously atchieved by that worthy and famous Robert earl
of Essex, in concert with the noble earl of Nottingham
that now liveth, then admiral. This journey was like
lightning ; for in the space of fourteen hours the king
of Spain's navy was destroyed, and the town of Cadiz
taken. The navy was no less than fifty tall ships,
be.sides twenty galleys to attend them. The ships were
straight ways beaten, and put to flight with such terror,
as the Spaniards in the end were their own execu-
tioners, and fired them all with their own hands. The
galleys, by the benefit of the shores and shallows, got
away. The town was a fair, strong, well built, and
rich city; famous in antiquity, and now most spoken of
for this disaster. It was manned with four thousand sol-
diers foot, and some four hundred horse; it was sacked
and burned, though great clemency was used towards
the inhabitants. But that which is no less strange
than the sudden victory, is the great patience of the
Spaniards; who though we stayed upon the place
divers days, yet never offered us any play then, nor
never put us in suit by any action of revenge or repa-
ration at any time after.

524- Of a War with Spam.

In the year 1600 was the battle of Newport in the
Low-Countries, where the armies of the archduke,
and the states, tried it out by a just battle. This was
the only battle that was fought in those countries these
many years. For. battles in the French wars have
been frequent, but in the wars of Flanders rare, as the
nature of a defence requireth. The forces of both
armies were not much unequal : that of the States ex-
ceeded somewhat in number, but that again was re-
compensed in the quality of the soidiers; for those of
the Spanish part were of the flower of all their forces.
The archduke was the assailant, and the preventer,
and had the fruit of his diligence and celerity. For
he had charged certain companies of Scotish men, to
the number of eight hundred, sent to make good a
passage, and thereby severed from the body of the
army, and cut them all in pieces: for they, like a brave
infantry, when they could make no honourable retreat,
and would take no dishonourable flight, made good
the place with their lives. This entrance of the battle
did whet the courage of the Spaniards, though it
dulled their swords , so as they came proudly on, con-
fident to defeat the whole army. The encounter of
the main battle which followed, was a just encounter,
not hastening to a sudden rout, nor the fortune of the
day resting upon a few forward ranks., but fought out
to the proof by several squadrons, and not without
variety of success ; Stat pedi pes, densusque viro vir.
There fell out an error in the Dutch army, by the over
hasty medly of, some of their men with the enemies,
which hindred the playing of their great ordnance.
But the end was, that the Spaniards were utterly de-
feated, and near five thousand of their men in the fight,
and in the execution, slain and taken ; amongst whom
were many of the principal persons of their army.
The honour of the day was, both by the enemy and
the Dutch themselves, ascribed unto the English ; of
whom Sir Francis Vere, in a private commentary
which he wrote of that service, leaveth testified, that
of fifteen hundred in number, for they were no more,
eight hundred were slain in the field : and, which is

Of a War with Spain. 525

almost incredible in a day of victory, of the remaining
seven hundred, two men only came off unhurt. A-
mongst the rest Sir Francis Vere himself had the prin-
cipal honour of the service, unto whom the prince of
Orange, as is said, did transmit the direction of the
army for that day ; and in the next place Sir Horace
Vere his brother, that now liveth, who was the prin-
cipal in the active part. The service also of Sir Ed-
ward Cecil, Sir John Ogle, and divers other brave
gentlemen, was eminent.

In the year 1601 followed the battle of Kinsale in
Ireland. By this Spanish invasion of Ireland, which
was in September that year, a man may guess how
long time a Spaniard will live in Irish ground ; which
is a matter of a quarter of a year, or four months at
most. For they had all the advantages in the world ;
and no man would have thought, considering the small
forces employed against them, that they could have
been driven out so soon. They obtained, without
resistance, in the end of September, the town of Kin-
sale ; a small garrison of one hundred and fifty English
leaving the town upon the Spaniards approach, and
the townsmen receiving the foreigners as friends.
The number of Spaniards that put themselves into
Kinsale, was two thousand men, soldiers of old bands,
under the command of Don John d'Aquila, a man of
good valour. The town was strong of itself; neither
wanted there any industry to fortify it on all parts, and
make it tenable, according to the skill and discipline
of Spanish fortification. At that time the rebels were
proud, being encouraged upon former successes; for
though the then deputy, the lord Mountjoy. and Sir
George Carew, president of Munster, had performed
divers good services to their prejudice ; yet the defeat
they had given the English at Blackwater, not long
before, and their treaty, too much to their honour,
with the earl of Essex, was yet fresh in their memory.
The deputy lost no time, but made haste to have reco-
vered the town before new succours came, and sat
down before it in October, and laid siege to it by the
space of three winter months or more : during which

526 Of a War with Spain.

time sallies were made by the Spaniard, but they were
beaten in with loss. Jn January came fresh succours
from Spain, to the number of two thousand more,
under the conduct of Alonzo d'Ocampo. Upon the
comforts of these succours, Tyrone and Odonnell drew
up their forces together to the number of seven thou-
sand,, beside the Spanish regiments, and took the field,
resolved to rescue the town, and to give the English
battle. So here was the case : an army of English, of
some six thousand, wasted and tired with a long win-
ter's siege, engaged in the midst, between an army
of a greater number than themselves^ fresh and in
vigour, on the one side ; and a town strong in fortifi-
cation, and strong in men, on the other. But what
was the event? This in few words: that after the
Irish and Spanish forces had come on, and shewed
themselves in some bravery, they were content to give
the English the honour to charge them first; and when
it came to the charge, there appeared no other differ-
ence between the valour of the Irish rebels and the
Spaniards, but that the one ran away before they were
charged, and the other straight after. And again, the
Spaniards that were in the town had so good memories
of their losses in their former sallies, as the confidence
of an army, which came for their deliverance, could
not draw them forth again. To conclude : there suc-
ceeded an absolute victory for the English, with the
slaughter of above two thousand of the enemy ; the
taking of nine ensigns, whereof six Spanish ; the tak-
ing of the Spanish general, d'Ocampo, prisoner; and
this with the loss of so few of the English as is scarce
credible ; being, as hath been rather confidently than
credibly reported, but of one man, the cornet of Sir
Richard Greame ; though not a few hurt. There fol-
lowed immediately after the defeat a present yielding
up of the town by composition ; and not only so, but
an avoiding, by express articles of treaty accorded, of
all other Spanish forces throughout all Ireland, from
the places and nests where they had settled themselves
in greater strength, as in regard of the natural situation
of the places, than that was of Kinsale 3 which were

Of a War with Spain. 527

Castlehaven, Baltimore, and Beerehaven. Indeed they
went away with sound of trumpet, for they did no-
thing but publish and trumpet all the reproaches they
could devise against the Irish land and nation ; inso-
much as d'Aquila said in open treaty, that when the
devil upon the mount did shew Christ all the kingdoms
of the earth, and the glory of them, he did not doubt
but the devil left out Ireland, and kept it for himself.
I cease here omitting not a few other proofs of the
English valour and fortunes, in these latter times : as
at the suburbs of Paris, at the Raveline, at Druse in
Normandy, some encounters in Britanny,and at Ostend,
and divers others; partly because some of them have
not been proper encounters between the Spaniards
and the English ; and partly because others of them
have not been of that greatness, as to have sorted in
company with the particulars formerly recited. It
is true, that amongst all the late adventures, the voyage
of Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins into the
West-Indies, was unfortunate ; yet in such sort as it
doth not break or interrupt our prescription, to have
had the better of the Spaniards of all fights of late.
For the disaster of that journey wns caused chiefly by
sickness ; as might well appear by the deaths of both
the generals, Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins,
of the same sickness amongst the rest. The land en-
terprise of Panama was an ill measured and immature
counsel : for it was grounded upon a false account,
that the passages towards Panama were no better
fortified than Drake had left them. But yet it sorted
not to any fight of importance, but to a retreat, after
the English had proved the strength of their first fort,
and had notice of the two other forts beyond, by which
they were to have marched. It is true, that in the
return of the English fleet they were set upon by
Avellaneda, admiral of twenty great ships Spanish, our
fleet being but fourteen, full of sick men, deprived of
their two generals by sea, and having no pretence but
to journey homewards: and yet the Spaniards did but
salute them, about the Cape de los Corientes, with
some small offer of fight, and came off with loss ; al<

528 Of a War with Spain.

though it was such a new thing for the Spaniards to
receive so lirtle hurt upon dealing with the English,
as Avelleneda made great brags of it, for no greater
matter than the waiting upon the English afar off,
from Cape de los Corientes to Cape Antonio ; which,
nevertheless, in the language of a soldier, and of a
Spaniard, he called a chace.

But before I proceed farther, it is good to meet with
an objection, which if it be not removed, the conclu-
sion of experience from the time past to the time pre-
sent will not be sound and perfect. For it will be
said, that in the former times whereof we have spoken,
Spain was not so mighty as now it is ; and England,
on the other side, was more aforehand in all matters
of power. Therefore let us compare with indifferency
these disparities of times, and we shall plainly per-
ceive, that they make for the advantage of England
at this present time. And because we will less wan-
der in generalities, we will fix the comparison to pre-
cise times; comparing the slate of Spain and England
in the year 1588, with this present year that now run-
neth. Jn handling of this point, I will not meddle
with any personal comparisons of the princes, coun-
sellors, and commanders by sea or land, that were
then, and that are now, in both kingdoms, Spain and
England ; but only rest upon real points, for the true
balancing of the state of the forces and affairs of both
times. And yet these personal comparisons I omit
not, but that I could evidently shew, that even in
these personal respects the balance sways on our part ;
but because I would say nothing that may savour of
a spirit of flattery or censure of the present govern-
ment.

First, therefore it is certain, that Spain hath not
now one foot of ground in quiet possession, more than
it had in 1588. As for the Valtoline, and the Palati-
nate, it is a maxim in state, that all countries of new
acquest, till they be settled, are rather matters of bur-
den than of strength. On the other side, England
hath Scotland united, and Ireland reduced to obedi-
ence, and planted ; which are mighty augmentations.

Of a War with Spain.

Secondly, in 1 588, the kingdom of France, able
alone to counterpoise Spain itself much more in con-
junction, was torn with the party of the league, which
gave law to their king, and depended- wholly upon
Spain. Now France is united under a valiant young
king, generally obeyed if he will, himself king of Na-
varre as well as of France ; and that is no ways taken
prisoner, though he be tied in a double chain of alli-
ance with Spain.

Thirdly, in 1588, there sat in the see of Rome a
fierce thundring frier, that would set all at six ;aid
seven; or at six and five, if you allude to his name:
and though he would after have turned his teeth upon
Spain, yet he was taken order with before it came to
that. Now there is ascended to the papacy, a person-
age, that came in by a chaste election, no ways oblig-
ed to the party of the Spaniards : a man bred in ambas-
sages and affairs of state, that hath much of the prince,
and nothing of the frier; and one that though he loves
the chair of the papacy well, yet he loveth the carpet
above the chair , that is, Italy, and the liberties thereof
well likewise.

Fourthly, in 1588, the king of Denmark was a
stranger to England, and rather inclined to Spain ;
BOW the king is incorporated to the blood of England,
and engaged in the quarrel of the Palatinate. Then
also Venice, Savoy, and the princes and cities of
Germany, had but a dull fear of the greatness of Spain,
upon a general apprehension only of the spreading and
'ambitious designs of that nation: now that fear is
sharpened and pointed by the Spaniards late enter-
prises upon the Valtoline and the Palatinate, which
come nearer them.

Fifthly and lastly, the Dutch, which is the Spaniards
perpetual duellist, hath now, at this present, five ships
to one, and the like proportion in treasure and wealth,
to that they had in 1588. Neither is it possible, what-
soever is given out, that the coffers of Spain should
now be fuller than they were in 1588 : for at that time
Spain had no other wars save those of the Low Coun-
tries, which were grown into an ordinary $ now they
YQI,. in. M m

Of a War with Spain.

have had coupled therewith the extraordinary of the
Valtoline and the Palatinate. And so I conclude my
answer to the objection raised touching the difference
of times; not entering into more secret passages of
state, but keeping that character of style whereof Se-
neca speaketh, plus significat quam loquitur.

Here I would pass over from matter of experience,
were it not that I held it necessary to discover a won-
derful erroneous observation that walketh about, and
is commonly received, contrary to all the true account
of time and experience. It is, that the Spaniard,
where he once getteth in, will seldom or never be got
out again. But nothing is less true than this. Not
long since they got footing at Brest, and some other
parts in French Britain, and after quitted them. They
had Calais, Ardes, and Amiens, and rendered them,
or were beaten out. They had since Marseilles, and
fairly left it. They had the other day the Valtoline,
and now have put it in deposit. What they will do
with Ormus, which the Persians have taken from them,
we shall see. So that, to speak truly of latter times, they
have rather poached and offered at a number of enter-
prises, than maintained any constantly ; quite con-
trary to that idle tradition. In more ancient times,
leaving their purchases in Afric, which they after aban-
doned, when their great emperor Charles had clasped
Germany almost in his fist, he was forced, in the end,
to go from Isburg, and, as if it had been in a mask,
by torchlight, and to quit every foot in Germany round
that he had gotten ; which, I doubt not, will be the.
hereditary issue of this late purchase of the Palatinate.
And so I conclude the ground that I have to think that
Spain will be no overmatch to Great Britain, if his
majesty should enter into a war, out of experience and
records of time.

For grounds of reason they are many; I will extract
the principal, and open them briefly, and as it were
in the bud. For situation, I pass it over ; though it be
no small point : England, Scotland, Ireland, and our
good confederates the United Provinces, lie all in a
clump together, not accessible but by sea, or at least

Of a War with Spain. 531

by passing over great rivers, which are natural fortifi-
cations. As for the dominions of Spain, they are so
scattered, as it yieldeth great choice of the scenes of
the war, and promiseth slow succours unto such part
as shall be attempted. There be three main parts of
military puissance, men, money, and confederates.
For men, there are to be considered valour and num-
ber. Of valour I speak not; take it from the wit-
nesses that have been produced before : yet the old
observation is not untrue, that the Spaniard's valour
lieth in the eye of the looker on; but the English va-
lour lieth about the soldier's heart. A valour of glory,
and a valour of natural courage, are two things. But
let that pass, and let us speak of number : Spain is a
nation thin sown of people ; partly by reason of the
sterility of the soil, and partly because their natives are
exhausted by so many employments in such vast terri-
tories as they possess. So that it hath been accounted
a kind of miracle, to see ten or twelve thousand native
Spaniards in an army. And it is certain, as we have
touched it, a little before, in passage, that the secret
of the power of Spain consisteth in a veteran army,
compounded of miscellany forces of all nations, which
for many years they have had on foot upon one occasion
or other: and if there should happen the misfor-
tune of a battle it would be a long work to draw up
supplies. They tell a tale of a Spanish ambassador
that was brought to see the treasury of S. Mark at
Venice, and still he looked down to the ground ; and
being asked why he so looked down, said, " he was
" looking to see whether their treasure had any root,
" so that if it were spent it would grow again ; as his
" master's had." But, howsoever it be of their trea-
sure, certainly their forces have scarce any root ; or at
least such a root as buddeth forth poorly and slowly.
It is true they have the Walloons, who are tall soldiers,
yet that is but a spot of ground. But, on the other
side there is not in the world again such a spring and
seminary of brave military people, as in England,
Scotland, Ireland, and the United Provinces: so as if
wars should mow them down never so fast, yet they may
be suddenly supplied, and come up again.

Of a War idth Spain,

For money, no doubt it is the principal part of the
greatness of Spain ; for by that they maintain their
veteran army ; and Spain is the only state of Europe
that is a money grower. But in this part, of all others,
is most to be considered, the ticklish and brittle state
of the greatness of Spain. Their greatness consistetli
in their treasure, their treasure in their Indies, and their
Indies, if it be well weighed, are indeed but an acces-
sion to such as are masters by sea. So as this axle-tree,
whereupon their greatness turneth, is soon cut in two
by any that shall be stronger than they by sea. Herein
therefore I refer myself to the opinions of all men,
enemies or whomsoever, whether that the maritime
forces of Great Britain, and the United Provinces, be
not able to beat the Spaniard at sea ? For if that be so,
the links of that chain whereby they hold their great-
ness, are dissolved. Now if it be said, that admit the
case of Spain to be such as we have made it, yet wre
ought to descend into our own case, which we shall
find, perhaps, not to be in state, for treasure, to enter
Into a war with Spain. To which I answer ; I know
no such thing ; the mint beateth well; and the pulses
of the peoples hearts beat well. But there is another
point that taketh away quite this objection : for whereas
Avars are generally causes of poverty or consumption ;
on the contrary part, the special nature of this war
with Spain, if it be made by sea, is like to be a lucra-
tive and restorative war. So that, if we go roundly on
at the first, the war in continuance will find itself.
And therefore you must make a great difference be-
tween Hercules's labours by land, and Jason's voyage
by sea for the golden fleece.

For confederates ; I will not take upon me the know-
ledge, how the princes, states, and councils of Europe,
at this day, stand affected towards Spain ; for that
trcnchethinto the secret occurrents of the present time,
wherewith, in all this treatise, I have forborn to med-
dle. But to speak of that which lieth open and in
view; I see much matter of quarrel and jealousy, but
little of amity and trust towards Spain, almost in all
other estates, I see France is in competition with them

Of a War with Spain. 533

for three noble portions of their monarchy, Navarre1,
Naples, and Milan; and now freshly in difference
with them about the Valtoline. I see once in thirty
or forty years cometh a pope, that casteth his eye upon
the kingdom of Naples, to recover it to the church :
as it was in the minds of Julius the second, Paul the
fourth, and Sixtus the fifth. As for that great body of
Germany, I see they have greater reason to confede-
rate themselves with the kings of France, and Great
Britain, or Denmark, for the liberty of the German
nation, and for the expulsion of Spanish and foreign
forces, than they had in the years 1552 and 1553. At
which time they contracted a league with Henry the
second the French king, upon the same articles, against
Charles the fifth, who had impatronized himself of a
great part of Germany, through the discord of the
German princes, which himself had sown and foment-
ed : which league at that time did the deed, and drove
out all the Spaniards out of that part of Germany ; and
reintegrated that nation in their ancient liberty and
honour. For the West-Indies, though Spain hath yet
not much actual disturbance there, except it hath been
from England ; yet nevertheless I see all princes lay a
kind of claim unto them ; accounting the title of Spain
but as a monopoly of those large countries, wherein
they have in great part but an imaginary possession.
For Afric upon the west, the Moors of Valentia ex-
pulsed, and their allies do yet hang as a cloud or storm
over Spain. Gabor on the east is like an anniversary
wind, that riseth every year upon the party of Austria.
And Persia hath entered into hostility with Spain, and
given them the first blow by taking of Ormus. It is
within every man's observation also-, that Venice doth
think their state almost on fire, if the Spaniards hold
the Valtoiine. That Savoy hath learned by fresh ex-
perience, that alliance with Spain is no security against
the ambition of Spain ; and that of Bavaria hath like-
wise been taught that merit and service doth oblige the
Spaniard but from day to day. Neither do I say for all
this, but that Spain may rectify much of this ill blood
by their particular and cunning negociatiouA: but yet

Of a War with' Spain.

there it is in the body, and may break out no man
knoweth when, into ill accidents : and at least it
sheweth plainly, that which serveth for our purpose,
that Spain is much destitute of assured and confident
confederates. And therefore I will conclude this part
with the speech of a councellor of state in Spain at this
day, which was not without salt : he said to his master
the king of Spain that now is, upon occasion ; " Sir, I
" will tell your majesty thus much for your comfort ;
cc your majesty hath but two enemies, whereof the
" one is all the world, and the other is your own mi-
<c nisters." And thus I end the second main part I
propounded to speak of; which was, the balancing of
the forces between the king's majesty and the king of
Spain> if a war must follow*

END OF VOL. III.

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