HISTORICAL MEMOIRES ON THE REIGNS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, AND KING JAMES.  
LONDON: Printed by I. Grismond, and are to be sold by T. Robinson Bookseller in Oxon. 1658.   

THE EPISTLE.  
My dear Lucilius,  
I Do here leave to your better Education another Daughter of my Brain, that may not unpossibly pass with the less Scandal, because chaste from any desire after new and forbidden Discoveries, or of disturbing that huge Trade Antiquity and Custom drive; the first amongst Scholars, who think it a sufficient excuse in the justification of a stunted Knowledge, to maintain an impossibility of transcending the Abilities of former Ages, yet cannot gainsay a visible improvement in their own; which haply would be greater, were Learning left free to every one's sense, and not confined to Patterns and old Forms, harder many times to be imitated or made use of, than new ones found, which being our own, would appear more natural and adapted to the present understandings, in many things strangers to the Usances of the Ancients: whereas the second serves as an universal Chain, by which the generality are led to approve or dislike the Words, Actions and Gessures of others. Whose judgements, as I have long since not much valued, so have I a little wondered at Age, to find it so tetchy, when Younger in years lay any claim to Knowledge: Since the goodness of the Eye, and advantage of Place, and not a long poring, discovers the Prospect; more of London being surveyable in a minute from Paul's Steeple, than can be seen in an age out of Cheapside: There remaining nothing in this world Prescription hath a weaker title to than Wisdom, the legitimate Daughter Experience brings forth to an able and active Understanding. For though all things are found to own, in process of time, a public vicissitude, yet for the most part it is too flow and cunningly carried, to be discerned at any distance (especially in relation to the present) which way it turns. The ignorant Traveller may see by the Dial, the Time is in a declension; but, without entering the Church or Court, shall be never the wiser as to the knowledge of the true and proper Causer of the Motion. For myself, I confess I am more highly bound to Letters, than any acquired advantage or natural endowment self-partiality or others indulgence hath hitherto been able to estate me in. Now if some, owners of such parts as I am conscious of the want of, did prosecute the like study, having a purse and will to purchase a sight of the Intelligence, Negotiations, Conferences and Transactions of all those that have resided in Embassy with our Princes, they might no question be able to compose a more exact Chronicle than this Nation ever saw of her own: and for Elegancy, it would, like honey, drop out of the same leaves he gathered his Information from; Epistles being the quintessence of the Writers judgement, as they are undoubtedly the Elixir of his Rhetoric. And he that desires a more exemplary manifestation of this infallible (though for aught I ever observed, seldom practised) Truth, may find it in that learned Italian's History of the Council of Trent; a Piece that challenges all the veneration our partial Modern Readers do or can offer at the Shrines of Antiqity; a folly sure not so conversant in the world before Printing, otherwise the most part of New Books from time to time had still been buried in their Swadling-clouts for want of Transcription, which few or none would now foul their finger's ends about, as not esteeming it worth the labour, out of sloth or contempt: So far, as the Stationer's mere zeal to Gain, rather than any propensity to the advancement of Learning, did for a while keep Bacon, Raleigh, and divers incomparable Spirits more, from perishing at the bottom of Oblivion; Good Books (anciently written in the Bark of Trees, and now) running, in their Progress, so exactly the fate of Acorns that if their chance be to withstand the Swinish Contamination of their own Age, and trampling into the dirt of Contempt, they do not seldom afterwards become the Gods of the Nations, and have Temples dedicated to their Worship; As their Authors in this participate with other good men, who attain not to a state of Glory till after this Life.   

TRADITIONAL MEMOIRES ON THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.  
LONDON: Printed for T. Robinson Bookseller in Oxon. 1658.   

To the READER.  
THough the study of History be an ancient Prescript for the avoiding of Ignorance, and production of Knowledge, and to this day far more in use than any other Politic Aphorisms: Yet with reverence to this confessed excellent Dose of others approved Experiments, I doubt not but Princes and men in Power might find a readier, if not a more infallible way to Prudence, by being conversant in all sorts of Letters relating to Ambassadors, and such Spies and Ministers (of Commonwealths especially) as are employed abroad or at home in the Transactions of Treaties, where all things appear barefaced and at first hand, not smutted with Interest, or adulterated by the red and white paint of, Envy, Fear or Flattery. Nor is the frequent opportuntty of discoursing with Contemporaries (who having enjoyed a New Light, cannot but have seen more than those by Time and Birth placed at a remoter distance) any despicable Ingredient in the Composition of an exact Statesman; of which I find few that deserve (in my judgement) the title, commonly forfeited to an over-remissness or excess in Sanctity or Profaneness; or, if you will, to Hypocrisy or Scandal, which at long running will meet both with the same Inconveniences. To be sure. myself have as little propensity as sufficiency in this Art; being no less obstructed through mulcts received from Fortune than Nature; the later of which is as uncapable of Amendment, as the first is unlikely to find it: (For after the death of a good Father, being driven into a corner of the world by Injuries received from the nearest of Kindred and remotest of Friends, I was not only invited by Leisure, but compel d through Necessity to seek these Diversions: In which if I be mistaken, the Pardon cannot be long in suing out, since I hope they shall not meet with a severer judge than myself, for whose Recreation alone they were intended.) Though the small insight I have had into Affairs did not seldom gratify my spleen with as much delight, as it may have not unpossibly affected less sanguine Complexions with fury or disdain, to see the Valet brought into play, where discretion called for an higher and more exact Courtier: or to hear the People wrangle and cast about their money, through a fanatic desire to discard a present Government, not foreseeing, their hopes may possibly be deluded in the same, if not a worse Stock than they make out and lay by; often bartering a pack of Fools for a like quantity of Knaves and Madmen: The giddy multitude being far likelier to be out in their account, than this advised Adage, Seldom comes a better; especially if no wiser heads be found in the Election than their own.  
Nature hath employed three Senses chiefly to wait on the Body, and but two on the Mind; yet under this advantage, that these last are distinctly double: For which of them we stand most obliged to Nature, is not yet Passed decision; since, though in regard of Pleasure, Sight may have the Royalty, yet in respect of Wisdom, the Prerogative must not be denied to Hearing: It being the far greater Wonder to find a prudent man Deaf, than Blind; so as some are recorded to have put out their Eyes, as enemies to Contemplation. It is ordinarily affirmed, I have seen this or that, when the most of it hath arrived at us from Report. And in this sense I may be said to have seen these, and a number more, which out of respect to others Fame, or mine own Safety, I wilfully omit. But lest this Confession might seem to cast a vail of prejudice over the face of that Truth I here expose to the curious eyes of this Age, as nakedly as Modesty will give a toleration for, I shall say in behalf of Tradition, That all Books are her Tenements, and contain little of History, whatever they may do of Invention, but what they hold from Manner of some Report or other. Nor hath the beginning, to be sure, if possibly the end and period of any Nation God in his love did establish, or fury destroy, a more faithful Register than Traditional Reports; not commonly loading its memory with the exact calculation of Time, which rightly weighed, is but the pedantic part of History, and so not unlikely the cause we find such differences arising amongst our Chronologers; the main fons or bottom of her account being no farther corresponsible, than for a just and even balancing her layings out with what she hath received. To conclude with an Answer to those that may require some account of the present Undertaking; I think it far on this side such impudence as ignorance is found to plaster her Libels with against incomparable Queen Elizabeth, to own a strength able, by rubbing off such dirt (especially where Defert lies so thick upon her Tomb) to gild her Name, though the manner of doing it may slain mine own; since the few spots discernible in her Government are hidden, like those this Ages curio sity hath detected in the Sun, from any farther notice, by the splendour of the rest.   

THE Principal HEADS Of the following MEMOIRES On the Reign of QUEEN ELIZABETH.  
1. Queen Elizabeth her moderate carriage at first, till exasperated by the Pope's rashness: Why the Infancy of her Reign continued quiet, notwithstanding so great a shake and turn in Religion—  
2.— To which she was in a manner necessitated.  
3. How the Parliament confirmed It and Her.  
4. She breaks with Spain, assists the Dutch, makes Leagues abroad, suppresses Consp. racies at home: Papists prosecuted; The Pope's too late Concession— being refused— is seconded with an Interdict,— which proves fatal to the Papists, and— Queen of Scots,— Her death and the D. of Norfolk's, &c.— Censured.  
5. Q. Eliz. galls the Spaniard: Cales voyage under Essex— gets him Love and Envy.  
(6. The Queen foments' Factions at home, and what use she makes of them, and of— her ownInconstanty. The Spanish Armado in 88)  
7. The Queen's favour to Essex,— how often by him hazarded: His quarrel with Blune— designed for his Rival.  
8. His Enemies restless endeavours to ruin him— by setting him on high; his ample Irish commission.  
A Character of the Q. Court, Majesty, Thirst: Provisions rated, Exactions of Purvoyers punished.—  
9— A witty Example thereof in Kent.  
10. Her Houshold-Servants the goodliest of Person, etc. that could be got:— as  
11.— Her Council the choicest for Prudence:— apparent in her Marriage-Treaties with Spain and France.  
12. Her Counsels Integrity. Offices the reward of Merit. Her exact Intelligence. B. Bancroft's Art in dividing the Jesuits and Regulars— afforded him Popish Intelligence: His Character: His endeavours for Uniformity of Worship— hindered by the influence of the two clashing Factions at Court upon the other Bishops, etc.  
13. Letters of State writ in a plain Style,— involving sometimes an obscure sense, as those about her Marriages with France.  
14. Court-Hospitality.  
15. Her prudence in receiving Treats from her more ambitious Subjects; how she diverted their humour of Popularity.  
16. She opposes the Declaration of a Successor, and why: Denies the Parliaments Petition for her Marriage.  
17. Contrary Reports about her Concupiscence. Her Art of Government and choice of Ministers: Why some of less Abilities were taken in afterwards: ●. of Nottingham Admiral; his Character. The Queen sparing in giving Honours, or suffering her Subjects to accept them from Foreign Princes; Examples thereof in Sir F. Vere, Sir W. Rawley, Sir Mat. Arundel, Sir P. Sidney.  
18. Her modesty in point of Augmentation of Empire; refusing the Dutch as Subjects, though she took their Cautionary Towns; and Haure de Grace— to regain Calis. The Spaniard by cutting off the Heads of the Dutch Nobility, makes way for the springing up of their Hydra of Popular Government.  
19 Leicester's hopes of marrying the Queen; his freedom of discourse with her about It, and otherwise. His Character.  
20. In Foreign Injuries she never precipitated Revenge.  
21. Parliaments frequent, and consequently moderate: She restrains their Debates about Succession and Religion: Keeps the church humble, and carries fair with her Parliament. The Schismatics leave England; how it might have been (safely) prevented; what hindered it; the fatal inconveniences of those proceedings.  
22. Ireland neglected, and why: The Lord Mountjoy ends the War: The baseness of the Natives,— how much Priestridden.  
23. Essex unfortunate Expedition thither;— Cecils artifice to fetch him back, to— his Death;— From which, neither the Love of the People, nor of the Q. his Mistress, could bail him, and— After which she never joyed;— The occasion of her Death— reported to proceed from the Countess of Notinghams' not delivering the Q. a King, sent her by Essex, (to whom she had formerly given it as a Pledge of her Affection and his Safety) which the Countess on her Deathbed discovering to the Queen, was by her sent with curses in stead of forgiveness, into another world.  
24. After Essex death, Cecil being left without control, not only urges the Q. to declare james her Successor, but uses other endeavour to effect the same.  
25. The happy condition Q. Eliz. left England in. No considerable Enemy. How we stood related to other Nation— Spain, Ireland, France, Netherlands, etc.  
26. How at home, as to Parliaments, Credit, Treasure, Debts, justice, The Church.  
27. The Conclusion.   

Some Traditional Memorials on the Reign of Queen Elizabeth.  
1. AFter the death of Mary, eldest daughter of Henry the eighth, had delivered this Nation (for that time) from an imminent danger of becoming Tributary to the spanish King (who owns none for a natural Subject, endued with less Pride and Austerity than may serve to face a Tyranny equal to the Grand Signior's). And left the Crown to her Sister Elizabeth, not only swept and washed from all Competition or Claims by the blood of Queen jeane, but garnished with the applause and consent of the people; no less amazed at the huge fires she had daily kindled to devour the enemies of the Court of Rome, then jealous of the partiality shown to the Priests, whose exactions were become no less odious in things temporail, than their latin Mumsimus had made them appear in what related to the worship of God; Edward the sixt's reign being too short to give them a satiety, or make all the inconveniences appear, likely to follow so total a defection from a Church reverenced by all Christian Princes besides. It might be no weak motive to the new Queen, so fairly to demean herself at first, that though she entertained the Protestants in hope, no persuasions could tempt her to cast the Papists into despair, till the Pope (better seen in the Dignity belonging to his greatness, than the Arts his Predecessors had used in their conduct to it) did, by denying her Ambassadors a favourable Reception, reduce her to a present necessity, of renouncing the Roman Mitre, or her pretence to that Crown she had without any considerable opposition so happily possessed: There being no way so probable to continue her in power, after the Popes so public manifestation of a blemish in her Birth, as by adhering to a Party which during the Reign of her Sister, did justify in the flames of a hot persecution, That the Authority of his Holiness was spurious itself, and the owners of it no better than Anti-christs', which attempt of hers might possibly have worse succeeded, but for the protection Philip the second afforded during the infancy of her power, flattered to it in hope of Marriage, no less than compelled out of a fear to see England possessed by the Scots, a people ever in conjunction with France, and therefore likely to prove malignant to his affairs. And as these considerations had made him solicitous of her safety during his Match with her Sister, they continued still so prevalent as he did not only forbear himself, but restrained others from making use of that advantage, so total a defection could not but afford. Nor was the aspect of a Council then sitting in Trent, (to which she omitted not to send her Ministers) of small consequence to her design; Because not only this nation, but all Europe were in the strongest of their labour to produce a Reformation; Though far short of the pretences of Luther, to whose memory the Queen had an unappeasable feud, ever since he upbraided her Father with the Repudiation of Charles the fifts Sister: whose birth by this became so unhappy as to be not only disapproved by the Catholics, but the Founder of that profession she meant to establish. Nor were the Religious bouses and lands, possessed promiscuously by those of both tenants, a weak shelter to this new Princess, looked upon by all as the likeliest and most obliged person to keep them from reverting to their ancient use; And therefore in hope to be vigorously asserted by the Protestants, and at worst but weakly opposed by such as had not yet quite relinquished the Roman yoke.  
2. And that the penners of this Story may be as free from the imputation of malice as Ignorance, though they acknowledge her rather thrown, then of herself fallen from the obedience of Rome, is deducible from the Ceremonies used at her Inauguration, all purely Catholic, and the retention of the Ring, Cross and Surplice, contrary to the grain of her strongest assertors: From whence her aim may be guest as not pointing at a greater dissent from the doctrine of Rome then her Father's proceedings had chalked her out; Commanding the Common prayer book (which contains most of the Mass in english) to be publicly read, And its opposers the Brownists, Anabaptists, Family of Love with a number of other crawling errors, the unnatural heat of Luther's difputes had produced like Infects over all Germany, to be restrained under no slighter penalty than Death or Imprisonment. Nor was she tempted to this out of a vainer hope then to draw her neighbour Princes to the same resolute on, already in despair of procuring good from any milder endeavours than those of power (The Roman Courtiers participating so much of the nature of the Mules they ride on, as they will rather endure through a sullen obstinacy, the last extremity, then remove never so little out of their tract of honour and profit; no less manifest through all Ages, then in their carriage towards this Princess and their later proceedings with the Republic of Venice) From whence more connivance than love, fell to the share of the Puritans, that abhorred the lenity of the Queen, in not countenancing such as bent their force against the Church of Rome (betwixt which and the Court there may be a wider difference than our grosser disputes will suffer us to discern) from whose practice, though some desired a Reformation, a far greater part thought it damnable to reject it quite: few yet acknowledging any Descent or Ordination but what was derived from the Catholic Church, a term of too great a Latitude to be concealed for a day, much less for whole ages as many endeavour to prove. But leaving these disputes to Dr jewel and the rest of her Divines (at that time better able to play the Scholars prize, than any amongst the Friars, were found in their Answers) Her juncto, in which she had a choice number consisting of both Factions, did think it prudence not to stray farther than the inexorable necessity of the time compelled, from that union of Doctrine which had a Council to vouch, That no faith was to be held with any but themselves; which must have rendered all her Leagues void or useless to the very Oaths she took of her Subjects: yet notwithstanding these Shackles she spun out a long and as happy a Reign as ever this Nation did enjoy.  
3 The precedent Reasons joining forces with the deplorable condition she lived in during the Government of her Sister, and meeting with so Fortunate a Catastrophe, caused a no less consternation in the hearts of the Papists (already much broken and unsettled in their passage through so many sudden and unexpected changes) than it produced joy in those of the Reformation, who apprehending her success as issuing out of the immediate care God had of their affairs, became so far incouragad and sedulous, that whilst the other party stood amazed in an expectation which way this new Princess would incline, the ensuing Parliament was wholly made up of such persons, as had already voted in their words and actions every thing the Queen could desire to have confirmed in the House: so as no side but were mistaken in their account, the Protestants gaining more, and the Catholics less than could be expected, to the taking the title of head of the Church, and conferring it on her Majesty, which was thought unsuitable to her Father and Brother, and therefore far more unbecoming the person of a Woman; the cause a Declaration was not long after issued out, to show in what senses it was to be understood. And to prove they more intended the limitation of the Roman power: then to secure themselves from Tyranny at home, an Act was passed enabling the Queen and Commissioners for the time being, to alter or bring what Ceremontes' or Worship they thought decent into the service of God, without excepting that formerly exploded: whereby a return, (likeliest to be made use of) or a farther remove was left arbitrary at the will of the Queen: whose successors not being mentioned in the Act, left room to question, It ought to be no longer in force then her life. For whose gratification alone her Privy Counsel (that did then and indeed almost all her time govern Parliaments) had intended it. But King james and the Bishops finding the Advantage it brought the Crown no less than the Church, did not only own it amongst the Statutes unrepealled and in force, but did print it with a Proclamation to strengthen it, at the beginning of the book of Common Prayer. Neither had the high Commission any better vizard to face the Tyranny daily practised by the Clergy, but what the authority this Act did afford; which may one day tempt the people to a new, if not a more dismal Reformation, after experience hath taught them how pernicious it is to intrust either Prince or Priest with any power capable of abuse: yet to the honour of this Princess it may justly be said, that she never made use of her own liberty to enslave the nation, but repaid or rather exceeded in thanks and acknowledgements all power they gave her; an Art lost in these latter times or thought unkingly. But I leave this her wisdom to be justified by the happy success.  
4. After the Queen had in Parliament, cleansed her birth from all the spots the poison of tongues had aspersed her with, and received for the future from the Houses in the name of the three Estates a promise of Assistance, together with an Oath of Obedience, by which she might rest secure from within; her next endeavour was to line and fortify her outworks: In the prosecution of which she was forced through Reason of State upon a deeper ingratitude than I believe any thing but an impulsive necessity could have cast her into: For after a firm settlement she became the severest Scourge to Spain, that it ever had, since emancipated from the Moors. The occasion of which some lay at the haughty and proud Gate of the Spaniard, who grew implacable after he found he was deluded of his hope to marry her; others to a nature residing in all Princes, not to acknowledge any friends or kindred but what are allied to a capacity of doing them some future good, which Philip the second was not likely to do upon any remoter occasion than the possession of her person, his ends being intent upon an absolute Monarchy: which obliged not only England but all the Princes in Europe to oppose him. Nor could any favour received in the relation of a private person bind her more to requital, than greater injuries did to revenge. Therefore since she forgave the latter, when she had power to have taken it without danger, she seems more excusable in omitting the first, which could not have been done without loss, and exposing her subjects to a visible inconvenience, if not a total rheum.  
Yet this is manifest in the histories on both sides, that the Queen did by way of mediation, long endeavour for a milder Governing of his Dutch Subjects (of whose oppression both Heaven and Earth ape witnesses) before a Sword was drawn in their defence. And for the Treasure taken at Sea, and at first owned but as borrowed, it was not more than the Faith of England might have been a sufficient security for, without being made the subject of a wary. Nor did the Catholic King remain long in a condition able to distress the affairs of England, his power being diverted through a malcontented party that stood up for Religion in the Netherlands, at first fomented by France, and after more cordially assisted by our Queen; who delighted more from her first assumption to power in raising broils, and making herself an arbitrator of others differences, then in any quarrel contracted of her own: by which she did not only keep herself in plight at home, by sparing money (harder parted with by the English then blood) but gained so much reputation abroad, as no public or private endeavours of his holiness could stop other nations (already scandalised at his base and unworthy juggling in the Council) from confirming or making new or straighter Leagues with England then formerly they had done: looking upon her Defection as a precedent they might one day be forced to follow, in case the Court of Rome continued still her Contumacy towards Princes: And therefore likelier to meet her with comfort and assistance, than any force to oppose her. From whence his Holiness was necessitated, in vindication of his honour, to employ the jesuits, his own emissaries, by Artifice, Poison or the Knife to bring about that his sword was not able to execute; so as the peace of her Kingdom was at first more interrupted through privy Conspiracies then open force: which according to the guise of all unsuccessful Treasons, turned to the disadvantage of themselves and their party, the poor Catholics; against whom nothing in relation to the generality remains upon due proof sufficient to justify the severity of the Laws daily enacted and put in execution against them; wherewith they were ground in pieces between the Pope's Obstinacy, and a jealousy these practices bred in there natural Prince; by whom they were without question prosecuted rather out of fear then malice: which his Holiness at length perceiving did offer what he denied; which was to confirm her Title, and ratify the use of the Common-Prayer, with the most of what the Parliament had confirmed upon her; provided she would receive them as favours from the Apostolical Sea. But after this his too late compliance had cast him into their condition that have unadvisedly out stood the Market, he in no shallower Malice than despair, cast not only the person of the Queen but the whole Nation under a bottomless Interdict; which was thundered out at Rome, and hung like: squib by one Felton upon the Bishop of London's Gate, where after the execution of the party that did it, all other malignancy ceased but what fell upon his own creatures, who till then were not forbidden to communicate (in public service) with the Church of England, and so harder to be discovered, then since this open rupture. Nor was the Queen of Scots (whose Tragical History is to be found every where written at large) more obliged to her Catholic Father, through whose inoouragement she was tempted to assume the Title and Arms of England very unseasonably during her husband's sickness, and before her own Kingdom was settled, or any considerable force manifested, in her favour: It not pleasing France itself (of whose King she was after the Relict) to see all Britanny united under one Crown: and from whence dropped so much of the venom of jealousy into the hearts of Elizabeth and her Counsel, as no means was left unsought likely to distress her, especially by the Puritan party, whose safety lay in her destruction, and who shunned no undecency carrying any probability of being instrumental in her remove; forgetting that the persons of Princes have been thought by all wise men too sacred to have any hand or justice appear in their death but Gods. Now as these studied all ways to destroy her, so there was as considerable a Faction in the English Court that desired her preservation, the cause not only that held her long captive (many wishing her restraint that abhorred her execution) but deterred all who had either estate or honour to lose, from attempting in their own person, or conniving at any other likely to be so wicked as to make her away: though our Queen may be found in many of her Letters intimating so much to such as kept her, who were so wise as not to understand what was meant, else they might have fallen into the fortune of Davison, who unadvisedly venturing between the honour and safety of his Prince, was ground to nothing betwixt the fury of one party and shame of the other: Thus because no body either would or durst do it alone, the reproach was entailed upon the whole Nation, by the apparition of a minicall and counterfeit justice: Reason of State in such nice points as these, being so contrary to that in the Schools, as it is most safe and honourable when it hath the least Authority to vouch it. And if the Actors of this Tragedy had not found more security from the long reign of Elizabeth, than the applause they had from Scotland was able to have afforded them upon the next change, I believe so many of their race had not sat in the house of Lords. Nor was the amorous rather than traitorous blood of the Duke of Norfolk, spilt on the scaffold for her sake, more consonant to justice or the affections of her Subjects, though quietly endured, as a number of other particulars which happened in her time, that were not able to make answer or give a perfect account, some to justice, others to Discretion. This proves: that the common people are like rivers which do seldom grow so impetuous as to transcend the banks of Obedience, but upon the overflowing of an epidemical and illegal Oppression.  
5. Not to wade any farther in this, the greatest blur I find objected to her honour, or prudence of those assisted at the helm, whose miscarriage lay more in the Ceremony than substance of the thing, no less grateful to the present affairs of the Protestants in Scotland then England: it being the policy of those times, as I believe it ought to be of these, to rend●● Alliance no less acceptable to friends, then terrible to enemies, through a seasonable supply of men and money before delay (the betrayer of all confederations) hath rendered affairs desperate: not omitted by her, who by sea and land ●ade it her constant practice to an●oy the Spaniard through the conduct of those Sons of Neptune, Drake, Furbusher, Cavendish, Sr Walter Rawly etc. and in that successful first expedition to Cales ●nder the Command of Essex (a ●an of a contexture not only suitable to a Camp but grateful to La●ies) by which the Catholic King, was so unexpectedly alarmed, as Cardinal D'Ossat owns it for the most universal Opinion, that the whole Nation or a great part of it might have been gained, had he prosecuted his immediate fortune to the extent of their fears; a number of the Morisco race desiring in that juncture to change their master, for one more Christian, though less Catholic, and under whom no Inquisition was exercised. This made his coming back so soon thought as miraculous as his success by those that were strangers to his Commission, which he exceeded upon the temptation of a present terror his landing caused in the Inhabitants, who in a confidence of their Castles had removed none of their goods, which rendered the booty so far considerable as few returned empty handed, and many by there future living made demonstration of so great an abundance, that he gained so much love on all sides as his enemies durst not impute to him for a fault, any direction he had transgressed, in being too prodigal in exposing himself and the Army to danger; though his abusing that Article of making knights so apparently, had produced this Libel,  

A Gentleman of Wales,  
With a Knight at Cales,  
And a Lord of the North country,  
A yeoman of Kent  
Upon a racked Rent  
Will buy them out all three.   
This happy success did not only estate him in the affections of the Militia and those addicted to the service of Mars, but put a no less high esteem on his counsels and endeavours, than it abated the price of his opposers, the most of whom belonged to the side-robe (not seldom at odds in war, but ever at enmity with soldiers during peace) who grew jealous that this spark, worn already in the same place of the Queen's affection, from whence Leicester that terrestrial Lucifer was cast, for abusing his Sovereign's favour to pride and Murder, might through the Queen's mediation or his own arts one day gain the Crown, to the prejudice of their interest, who had already vowed the uttermost of their endeavours to the Scotish Title; of whom he had this advantage, that whereas Leicester was hated by the people for the death of many, and amongst the rest of the Earl of Essex his Father in Ireland, this abounded in their Love, no less then in the favour of his Prince, in whose heart his person had made as deep an impression, as his valour and affable nature had won upon her Subjects.  
6. That she fomented Divisions abroad I hinted before, And now I must tell you she was not wanting in her endeavours to maintain Factions at home, by which she attained to the knowledge of all things that happened: so as no suit or design passed the royal assent, before she understood as much of reason as enemies or friends could bring for and against it; hearing the judgements of all, to her very Ladies and ordinary Servants: nor did this freedom of communication betray her future resolutions to discovery; for through a seeming unconstancy, or, as others will have it, one more natural, she did so often vary, as it was not easy to discover where or when she would conclude her buzzing, and give the blow: by which unsteady carriage she so befooled the Spies and Pensioners of foreign Princes, as they were at a loss what to inform their Patrons of, or themselves how to resolve: The cause of the Spanish Armado in Eighty eight, an attempt held ridiculous by the Flemings and all acquamted with our seas, and only brought about through the over-confidence his Holiness had in a Catholic party, which he assured himself would appear upon the approach of a Navy styled by him invincible. Here may be noted that counsels grounded upon foreign advice or any thing but a visible experience, do rarely succeed; for Interest in such as desire a change doth not seldom make them apprehend more advantages then really there are, and cover doubts and dangers they are privy to, out of a fear to dishearten the Prince they endeavour to embark in their defence; as it fell out here, where not one man appeared in favour of the Spaniard: the very Papists themselves being no less unwilling than the rest to see their native country in subjection to the ordinary cruelty found in Strangers.  
7. But to be sure the former mentioned art of dissemb'ing with others had stamped such a deep impression upon the Queens own Nature and passions, as she fixed upon nothing with precipitation. The distrust she had of all sides obliging her to the justice of equal hear, which few in Sovereignty will be at the trouble to afford: And from hence grew the infinite indulgence that appeared so long in favour of Essex; who becoming wanton from his late Success, though after moderated by some less happy, he grew into such heats and insolences towards any his jealousy had marked for enemies, that the Queen, to keep even the scales between him and those of the Cecilian party, not only forbore to pamper him with new favours, but did not seldom frown upon him; though he had yet so true a friend of her affection, that upon the least semblance of submission and promise of return to a better temper, it did mediate for him: Lave, like a bone, becoming more strong by breaches; he being certain upon every reconciliation to receive from her double the value of that her anger had cost him; Till these frequent repetitions of his faults and her forgiveness had swelled him into such a Confidence of his own mediation that he looked upon all as enemies, that in their words or actions acknowlegded not his friendship, or, which was very ordinary in respect of his profuse Liberality, did not wear some badge of his favour. And amongst a number of these Sr Francis Bacon was one, who in an Apology he printed to vindicate his fame from the imputation of ingratitude to Essex, confesseth him far richer in obligations than payments; the fate of all that set too high a value upon friends purchased by any other coin, than what bears the impress of an Interest depending upon a future hope; It being the policy of Courtiers, if not the nature of Love, to conclude where it begins, which is for the most part in Expectation. Now because the generality of such as desired his ruin might think that the favour his Mistress showed him proceeded from a nearer familiarity than I have been informed it did, by such as reported her apt both in herself and others to kindle the flames of Love, then quench them, They placed Blunt, a gallant Gentleman, and of an honourable extraction, in the ball of her eye, hoping by his application to draw from her heart the affection they thought mortal to them and their designs: but the whole result concluding in a Duel, did rather inflame then abate the former account she made of him; The opinion of a Champion being more splendid (in the weak and Romantic sense of women, that admit of nothing fit to be made the object of a quarrel but themselves) and far above that of a Captain or General: So as Sr Edmund Cary, brother to the Lord Hunsden, than Chamberlain and near Kinsman to the Queen (from whose mouth I have most of this) told me, that though she chid them both, nothing pleased her better than a conceit she had, that her beauty (of which her flatterers had bred in her a higher esteem than an impartial ear or eye can think due from others report or her own pictures) was the subject of this quarrel; when God knows it grew from the stock of honour of which then they were very tender, and some mean expressions Essex used of Blunt, about his being employed in Ireland, and not her amorous caresses, which age and in a manner an universal distribution of them had by this time rendered tedious if not loathsome; intimated in a modest expression uttered in my hearing by Sr Walter Rawley, none of her least respected Servants, who upon some discourse of the Duke of Buckingham, said to this purpose, That Minions were not so happy as vulgar judgements thought them, being frequently commanded to uncomely and sometimes unnatural employments.  
8. But his enemies finding all complaints made to his disadvantage, though true, neglected, or hung upon the file amongst such as she resolved at her better leisure to inquire into the proofs of, And remaining as obstinate in a resolution to destroy him as she did yet appear in his preservation; did endeavour, as a last refuge, to actuate his destruction by accumulating upon him such high favours and honours as they observed most suitable to his humour, and fortunes of the Swordmen through whose consells they found him the most easy to be led, and amongst whom many were placed near his person by themselves, And from these they received upon all emergencies advice of his carriage: It faring with him as it doth ordinarily betid honest and generous Natures, that perish oftener through confidence, than distrust. Nor could any other means have removed this! Court Leviathan (too deeply struck with the harping-irons of malice), from the ocean of favour he lay: in but so ample A Commission as might givo his Ambition full power and room to expatiate in, by which he was most likely to be tugged a ground; Not wise enough to apprehend Many things he found inserted in his Patent, as liberty to Pardon or punish the Irish Rebels suitable to his own will, and power to reward with lands or honours all he esteemed worthy, were such flowers of the Crown as his enemies (to the disadvantage of whose friends he might employ them) could not in reason but have found cause to oppose, had they been picked out for any milder design, then to deck a Garland for that head they meant to sacrifice to their malice and revenge. But this being acted (though long before studied) amongst the last Scenes of her Tragedy, I shall defer the conclusion till some other time, Endeavouring here (according to my weak fancy; prompted only by Report) to draw a prospect of her Court: where, all her reign, Majesty and Thrift did strive for preeminence without encroaching upon any confine either of Baseness or Prodigality. Nor can this be wondered at by such as know the power she derived from Law or custom to be furnished with all Provisions at a set price, By which a heavy Imposition was cut off, found by experience to load Greatness, seldom admitted to a cheap Market: Sellers recompensing their want of honour, by the Excise they put on such as own it. And because this was Arbitrary at the will of the Green cloth (a Court only intending Provision and Carriages) The Purveyors, upon whom lay the execution, And so by consequence the envy, were, if guilty, at the mercy of every accuser, being not seldom hanged or put in the Pillory upon the discovery sometimes of small abuses: Her Government appearing so full of policy, as she was rarely found to interpose the power of the Crown in her own cause: Who by turning her face towards the sins, and countenancing the punishment of such Harpies, did besides stop the future current of their Corruption; Through which she became not only better served, but gained an opinion of justice, and Mercy towards her people: it being the maladministration, more than badness of any Office, I ever knew during her reign or her Successors, legally erected, that raised murmuring in the people, the il-boding voice of Sedition; which if heard, is not to be neglected, but like the Sea stopped by the banks of justice; for if once it grows epidemical, all endeavours do rather inflame then moderate it, as thought to proceed more from necessity then love.  
9 And here I think it not impertinent to insert a Story as it was related by an eye witness. A A Purveyor having abused the County of Kent, upon her remove to Green-wich (whether she often resorted, being as I have heard the first air she breathed, and therefore most likely to agree with her) a Country man watching the time she went to walk, which was commonly early, and being wise enough to take his time when she stood unbent and quiet from the ordinary occasions she was taken up with, placing himself within the reach of her ear, did after the fashion of his coat, cry aloud which is the Queen? whereupon, as her manner was, she turned about towards him, and he continuing still his question, she herself answered I am your Queen, what wouldst thou have with me? you, replied the Fellow, are one of the rarest Women I ever saw, and can eat no more than my daughter Madge, who is thought the properest Lass in our Parish, though short of you, but that Queen Elizabeth I look for, devours so many of my Hens, Ducks, and Capons, as I am not able to live. The Queen, no less auspicious to all suits made through the mediation of her comely shape, of which she held a high esteem after her Looking Glasses (long laid by before her death) might have confuted her in any good opinion of her Face, then malignant to all Oppression above her own, inquired who was Purveyor, and as the story went suffered him to be hanged, after a special order for his trial, according to a Statute formerly made to prevent abuses in this kind.  
10. This Princess, in imitation of her Father Henry the eighth did admit none about her for Pensioners, Privy-Chamber-then, Squires of the body, Carvers, Cupbearers, Sewers &c. (that were not a few in number) but persons of stature, strength and birth, refusing to one her consent (demanded before any could be admitted to the meanest place in her house,) because he wanted a tooth, yet was never known to desert any for age or other infirmity after once enrolled, but either continued them, or, upon their discharge, gave them considerable and well paid pensions. As for her Guard, Ushers, Porters, and all attending below stairs, they were of a no less extraordinary size, than activity for Shooting, throwing the Bar, Weight, Wrestling &c. So that such as came hither from beyond the seas upon Embassy or curiosity (who calculate the strength, wisdom and honour of a Nation by the apparitions they behold at Court) had no other cause but to report at their return, That though a Feminine Constellation governed the Fate of England, yet there rèmained little hope to any foreign Malignity of operating with success; because her designs were begotten under Mercury, and brought forth by the assistance of Mars in case of opposition: She owning Soldiers no less able to act, than Counselors to advise; In whose choice (for the most part) wisdom was solely looked upon, not putting by Sufficiency though accompanied with a mean Birth, and Crooked person, as it chanced in a Father and Son of the cecils, both incomparable for Prudence. It being sometimes necessary to make wise men Noble, where Noblemen are too lazy and addicted to pleasure to endeavour to be wise.  
11. It is the highest step of advantage a Prince can meet with, To have for Counsel about him, persons whose fortunes are of the same piece with his own: The consideration of which may abate the wonder: Queen Elizabeth prospered so well at the beginning, when encumbered both within and without by such difficulties, or how she came to outreach (before scarce able to stand upon her own legs) so exact a Master in Kingcraft, as the Spaniard. I confess her being a woman did render the delay of Marriage more suitable to his patience and her honour, then otherwise it could have been; But the dexterons management of this advantage must be attributed to the great wit of her Inncto, amongst whom her greatest Confidents were of the Augustan Confession and therefore unlikely to continue in favour, if in being, after such a Conjunction as Philhip the second desired. Nor could distance of place, the deluder of eyes, hinder the inspection of that Prince, who having commanded in England some years under the right of Mary, could not but in probability hear all that was to be known. And if we may guess at the Queen's carriage in this, by her proceedings in the two Treaties of Marriage after with France, we may presume she did purchase this delay, (if not buy off the discovery of some Infirmity) with the Articles of her Opinion contrary to those of Rome, and to which, as appears by an old letter, the Catholic King was not at that time averse. Though upon her deluding him, to avoid such a Schism in the lower Germany as had happened in the upper, he did endeavour to introduce the Inquisition: Fortune having rendered him so indulgent from the beginning to the Queen's preservation, that he sold the Low-Countryes, the only place able to purchase her peace, a bargain (as I have heard from the Earl of Leicester the last English man Governor of Flushing) fomented by those that treated this Match for her Majesty: which found, Pope Pius darted out the former mentioned Excommunication, till then restrained through the mediation of Philhip. I shall not determine whether it was Godly zeal or worldly interest that prompted their judgements to these accurate counsels, since I find both in some part gratified by future success: Though I see cause enough in the latter to employ all the brains, both of the Protestants and Papists in power about her; the one owning their lives to her well being, and the other Abbey- Lands to the continuance of it: for though Sr john Parsons told me he had seen a Bull amongst Mr Seldens Antiquities, by which the Pope confirmed the lands of the Church in the hands of their present possessors, provided they in other respects continued under his Obedience, yet whether this might be safely trusted to, I leave in suspense, and to their consideration that may remember they were fifty years ago valued much below other Titles and Demeanes.  
12. The cause, It may be thought Intererest as much as Love in her Privy Counsel that till Lecesters' days, none are found to have received Pensions from foreign Princes or to play booty or deal treacherously in his Employments either at home or abroad: nor were honourable and gainful offices during her abode at the helm given to men of no larger capacities than were merely requisite to the execution of the place; But bestowed upon such public Spirits as were able to advise in the most crabbed affairs, by which the charge of their support was borne and the Commonweal served with men under a double Capacity. Now though we must yield to Solomon, that safety is to be found in a multitude of Counsellors, Yet Secrecy is commonly absent in all Assemblies but where a few resolve: for which and perfect Intelligence from abroad (the light and director of the bark of Prudence) if any age before, I am sure none since can be compared with the days of Burgly and Walsingham in this particular; whose steps Archbishop Bancroft followed so close, as by fomenting a difference between the Jesuits and Regulars, he made a breach in their Unity, the strongest argument they have to support the Papacy; And, illuminated by so clear a judgement, did through their clashing make so perfect an inspection into the secular practices of the Consistory in Rome, as he prevented many dangers might have other ways fallen upon the Nation: for which Blackwell, the then Popish Metropolitan, lay under some suspicion from the contrary Faction, how justly I know not. Yet have heard, that No Priest was landed any time in England, but the Bishop had a perfect Character of his temper and relations; The easier brought about by him that (in the estimation of the Puritans) owned most of their Tenants, being beside no rigid persecuter of any who had not in his composition the gall of Treason mixed with Religion: the Regulars being then in a high esteem, because their opposers the jesuits were about that time banished France, and their Cells demolished, with a Pyramid erected to their infamy, for an endeavour to Assassinate Henry the fourth. And from this Indulgence of the Archbishop grew more security than danger, because such Priests as were connived at (the most of other Orders) looked upon the jesuits as enemies, and all new- comers of their own under a no milder aspect than intruders on their profit, And therefore the more inquisitive after their conditions, and if found pragmatical, it was no hard matter to purchase their remove by the mediation of one so near the helm as the Bishop was, who besides the quality of Secrecy remaining so constant to his promise, as it was more safety than danger for them to rely upon his word. And that some cunning Seminaries did endeavour the monopolising amongst themselves all the profit to be made by the English Catholics, I have a presumption of mine own from a Priest I ●et with on the other side the water, who told me he lived far better during the Tyranny (as he was pleased to call it) of Queen Elizabeth, then since the licence afforded under King james, by which divers young Scholars of both the Universities were daily tempted into Orders, and many (restrained before out of love to their safety) did now go over in shoals, to the great detriment of the old standers. Yet not withstanding the incomparable diligence of this Prelate, under two Princes, for the preservation of peace and unity, He was abominated by the preciser sort, the heat of whose zeal appears the more unnatural, because their mouths were furred with bitter and unsavoury Invectives, which followed him after the hand of Death had laid him out of the reach of all other favour but what is due to his desert from Charity and Gratitude, Therefore to be strongly presumed the worst malice could invent, And inserred by me, according to the Mode of an Historian, whose plough (for the sake of posterity) I wish I were able to drive; However I am no ways correspondent for the praise or blame due to any verses found here, such as these,  

Here lies my Lord's Grace at six and at seven,  
And, if I do not lie, His soul is in Heaven:  
I wish with my heart it may be to his leeking,  
Since all the world knows it was never his Seeking.   

Another,  
Bancrost was for Plays,  
Lean Lent, and Holidays,  
But now under goes their Doom:  
Had English Ladies store,  
Yet kept open a Back door  
To lot in the Strampet of Rome.   
I confess I have heard him Charactered for a jovial Doctor, but very jealous of the Clergies revenue, no less than his country's safety, which he endeavoured to bring about through a reduction of Britanny into one form of worship, by the train of Calvine most rigidly opposed: But the two contrary Factions at Court (one of them thinking all things fit to be destroyed the other laboured to preserve) did, upon the vacancy of every Bishopric, put one in suitable to their humours that had the luck to prevail: The cause the present Incumbent did, like the web of Penelope, unravel what his Predecessor had with more policy and charity twisted: By which means the Dioceses of Canterbury and York were at one and the same time of contrary judgements, And the best of Clergy men (driven into a medium by the scorching hence of the one side, and i'll indifferency of the other) lost their labour and all hope of preferment in a vain endeavour for a reconciliation, impossible to be brought about, the one party being fomented by hypocrisy to bear out their Ignorance, and the other from power and a fear of reverting into the primitive Austerity: which held so long in this unconstant vicissitude, till what was continued merely out of policy at Court, did in a short time branch forth in City and Country into divers popular differences, suitable to the mould of every head and the interest of such persons as had the subtlety to fit them to their occasions: Zele, like Lead, being as ready to drop into bullets, as to mingle with a Composition fit for medicine. So as in those days it was impossible for men in Power but to be scandalous to one side or other.  
13. Dispatches from the Counsel table (of which I have seen Volumes) began and held on throughout in a plain and the same Style, not seldom admitting of several constructions, if of any interpretation at all where the business related to a thing whose consequence could not easily been seen into: As appears at the beginning of all Treaties, And especially in the two offers of Marriage with France, which the Queen managed with such dexterity and secrecy, That wise Walsingham (as appears by his Letters) through whose hands the whole business passed, did not know certainly whether she was real or no: But in what was thought proper for Transaction, all things were plain drawn in Latin: This put together did much facilitate the Office of her Secretaries.  
14. Now as wisdom and Secrecy appeared in her Counsel Chamber, So Hospitality, Charity and Splendour were dilated over the whole Court; where, upon the least acquaintance, all strangers from the Noble man to the Peasant, were invited to one Table or other (of which she kept abundance, where ever she removed from one standing house to another, unless she returned to White Hall at night) the least considerable suiting with three, four, or five hundred pounds per Annum expense; And for bread, beer and wine (commonly called by the name of Budge) though the Purveyors that brought it in, were called to strict accounts, such as issued them out were rarely questioned, but in case they sold it: And by this Generosity the ordinary sort of people were so endeared, as I have known some brag of their entertainment at Court twenty years after; such, like dogs seldom biting those have once fed them, Though with the same meat they have been at the pains to catch themselves; It coming all out of the Country man's Barns or yards, The wine being little when Custom was abated.  
15. Yet though she was thus plentifully provided of all things at home, She did not seldom fetch an Entertainment at such Grandces' houses as were understood to be most popular: By which she removed her Subjects eyes from intending wholly the influence of these inferior Stars, and fixed them upon a greater splendour of her own: besides her outdoing them in the art of Popularity, acting to the life the Pageant of the people (which all Princes really are, and the wisest the most Gaudy) from whence it is far more endearing to throw flowers then wildfire: And if this her affability did not work upon the will, The greatness of their Expense did not fail to render them less able to hurt: And in case this was not sussicient to moderate their ambitious thirst after popularity, she found them diversions in foreign Employments, whither they were sent Ambassadors or Agents, by which their estates were gelt, and the owners rendered the lesserampant and unable to maintain their former bewitching humour of Hospitality; so as in Parliaments they became assertors of the profit of the Crown, in hope to have such debts refunded as had been contracted by themselves in the service of the State; whose honour she preserved at the lowest expense that ever Prince did, and not seldom at their charge who might other wise have employed their revenues in fomenting Sedition.  
16. The Parliament, knowing not where to fix upon a Successor to the Crown without the hazard of Religion, or danger of a Civil war; the Regent of Scotland having yet no Child, and being too strongly supported from France to miscarry under a title so firmly built as the Catholics maintained hers was to this Nation (if not in present) upon the death of the Queen; did in the first Petition they made invite her Majesty to take a Husband: In which they minded more their future, then present felicity, not so likely to result from a Married as a Single Prince, whose expense cannot choose but swell proportionable to the offpring produced: And in this they were so moderate as to pass by all mention of a Successor, ever ungrateful to her ears during the whole Series of her reign, and not seldom fatal to such as were so hardy as to move it: So as it cost some dearer, and Pigot and Wentworth their Liberty, though they proposed it in Parliament; The safety she herself found in the concealing her intent, out-voting, the danger of a Civil war, which in all humane reason could not but impend the nation, in case of her death: For whilst she observed this impartial neutrality, none could pretend cause of complaint. And in case any one had made ostentation of a Title before the people, she had the rest ready to asperse it; there remaining none free from Objections, the most legitimate in appearance passing for an Alien and so uncapable, or an Enemy and so incompetent to govern: It being as impossible to please, as dangerous to oppose the weakest interest of the Papist, Puritan or Protestant. But to this request of her great Counsel (which she could not hinder, being the desire of the Court, as well as the Sense of the Parliament) she returned a stout, though but an uncertain Answer, as is legible in the common Chronicles, whose recitals I profess wilfully to shun, feeding my pen rather with such scraps as I have picked out of Letters and Discourse, the store house of Tradition. Not so likely to flatter, if to lie, as the writings of those mean Contemporaries that for the most part have embarked their pens in our English affairs; who had still some fear or hope at their elbows ready to jog them towards the interest of the present or future Governors: Confessed by learned Cambden himself, whose lines were directed by King james, and he lead rather to vindicate the honour and integrity of his Mother, then to do right for a Mistress, that had from a Schoolmaster raised him to a capacity of being the first King at Arms.  
17. Her Sex did bear out many impertinences in her words and actions, as her making Latin speeches in the Universities, and professing herself in public a Muse, than thought something too Theatrical for a virgin Prince, but especially in her Treaties relating to Marriage. Towards which some thought her uncapable by nature, others too propense, as may be found in the black relations of the jesuits, and some French and Spanish Pasquilers That pretend to be more learned in the Art of Inspection, then wise Henry the fourth their King, who in a jovial humour told a Scotish Marques, There were three things inscrutable to intelligence: 1. Whether Maurice then Prince of Orange (who never fought battle, as he said) was valiant in his person. 2. What Religion himself was of. 3. Whether Queen Elizabeth was a maid or no: which may render all reports dubious that come from meaner Men: yet it may be true that the Ladies of her bedchamber denied to her body the ceremony of searching and embalming, due to dead Monarches: But that she had a Son bred in the State of Venice, and a Daughter I know not where nor when, with other strange tales that went on her, I neglect to insert, as fitter for a Romance, then to mingle with so much truth and integrity as I profess: In which if I am in any thing mistaken, let it be laid on mine own want of knowledge, or their Ignorance that misted me. This I may safely attest, that the smallest chip of that incomparable Instrument of honour, Peace and Safety to this now unhappy Nation, would have been then valued by the people of England above the loftiest branch in the Calydonian Grove. Who as she was the choicest Artist in Kingcraft that ever handled the Sceptre in this Northern Climate, So she went beyond all her Ancestors in adapting to her Service the most proper tools, in whose fittest applications she was seldom mistaken; The only cause can be given why she so rarely changed her Secret Counsel, Especially those she made privy to any of her last results, which did not weakly contribute to her safety: Such resembling Keys, that once lost or misplaced, no future security remains but in changing the lock. And though this hath already fallen under my consideration, yet I am forced to resume it again in the vindication of the choice of some Officers about the middle of her Reign, accused since for Weakness; which if not a Mistake made by envy or for want of an exact understanding of the parties use; some being placed, after the Counsel grew numerous, only to tell tales and balance votes she disliked in public, without the least understanding of what was thought necessary to succeed in private, a multitude of hands adding dignity to inland affairs, it being ordinary with the generality to esteem wisdom according to measure, rather than weight. And amongst these few can be found out of her Kindred or such Friends as her Father's Honour or her own C. atitude for kindness showed during the life of her Sister, kept her from excluding them the lists, though the stronger heads of others were wholly employed when her occasions called her to grapple with any difficulties. Nor was there more than the honour and profit of Lord high Admiral entrusted with the Earl of Nottingham, but executed by a Commission selected out of the ablest seamen that age did afford; he being employed for his, fidelity, known to be impregnable in relation to Corruption: Neither was there a goodlier man for person in Europe, as my eyes did witness though they met not with him before he was turned towards the point of 80, no youth being more celebrated for gallantry and good fortune than his. I confess that in his age he married a young Lady allied to King james, which set his wisdom many degrees back in the repute of the world.  
But to discharge this cavil from any farther dispute, No Prince then extant took an exacter estimate of her Subjects Abilities to serve her, or made a deeper inspection into their Aptitude, Nature and Humours; to which with a rare dexterity she fitted her favours and their Employments: as may be instanced in Francis Vere, a man nobly descended, Walter Rawly exactly qualified, with many others set a part in her judgement for military services, whose Titles she never raised above Knighthood; Saying, when importuned to make General Vere a Baron, that in his proper Sphere and in her estimation he was above it already, Therefore all could be expected from such an addition, would be the intombing of the spirit of a brave Soldier in the corpse of a less sightly Courtier, And by tempting him from his charge, hazard that repute upon a Carpet, his valour had dearly purchased him in the Field. Nor could she endure to see her Subjects wear the titles of a foreign Prince, the cause she committed Sr Matthew Arrondell of Warder in the West, for accepting from the Germane Caesar the Dignity of a Count, And denied Sr Philhip Sidny the Crown of Poland.  
18. The example of made sty her Soldiers expressed in the Nether-lands rarely found amongst Auxiliaries, with her refusal to own or impose the name of her Vassals upon the Dutch, gained her a huge confidence amongst her Neighbours, that her complexion was pure from the contagion of any more destructive Ambition, than the preservation of her honour and those Nations her birth no less than desert had presented her with: which made them unapter to offend her; none but Catholics, and they for the most part Priests, wishing her remove, as not knowing where to find a Prince less offensive and more debonair; the cause many Treasons concluded in the loss of their heads that projected them, or sought to put them in execution. Yet in this her temperament of desire in relation to augmentation of Empire, her prudence so minded her of the nations future safety, as That friends under persecution do not seldom face about upon the approach of Security and power: wherefore she made sure of Flushing and Brill; which in regard of situation were so full a Content of their whole strength, As the application of it could not, upon their miscarriage in relation to the Catholic King, or their own future Ingratitude, obliterate the advantage England might make of that revolt: Though the money lent covered it in Reason and justice from much of the envy it might have contracted, had she employed force or fraud in their purchase. Nor did the receiving from the hands of the French Hugonots, Haver de Grace (upon a like exigency) signify more Ambition than the reduction of Calis; which might have undoubtedly succeeded, had she not according to her usual custom, starved the design for want of money and men; a fault the more excusable, because it relates to the tender care and respect had of her Subjects Lives and Estates. And here by the way it is worth noting, That the hollanders could not so easily have attained Freedom, but through the help of the Ministers of Spain, who by eradicating the ancient Nobility and Gentry reduced them into a Parity, and so by consequence made them capable of unity, the nurse of all Combinations.  
19 Amongst all her Minions none (according to report) bade fairer for the Queen's Brid-bed than Leicester, who, finding by the continual high beating of her heart, that she would never allow of so great an abatement of Sovereignty as a Match with a foreign Prince, could not but in honour have the sails of his expectation somewhat swelled therewith. He would in her gaieties (which 'till the death of Essex were very frequent) ask her, If she did not think she had some Subjects of her own, able (though it must be confessed none worthy) to make an Heir for the Kingdom of England? Since her Father was known to do it, yet a Man, & so uncapable of any eclipse of honour by the highest Princess? Neither did his often repeated condescensions in making Subjects his after-wives breed him that danger that he sustained by the first glorious Match (according to expectation) that he made with the Sister. of Charles the Emperor, which all the Prudence he owned could not unravel without straining the cords of Government, if not Conscience, by that desperate leap he made out of the Church of Rome, and separating himself from the union of other Princes. Nor did Philip the second prove more happy to your Sister for the present, nor to the future expectation of the Nation that lacked nothing to entail servitude upon them but an Heir of her body; which yet had not been wanting, according to report, but supplied by a Cushion, but that the generosity of the Spaniard, and the persuasion of a better success from your embraces (which his hopes flattered him with) did for the present make him to detest it: The cause it was after voiced to be a false conception. All which I have heard often, And read some where, though the Author hath escaped my memory: Nor could Leicester render his bed vacant to a more thriving end (as he is rumoured to have done) than to make room for the greatest and most fortunate Princes the Sun ever looked upon without blushing in relation to Oppression or Blood: This may be allowed upon the score of probability, That his Lordship would hardly have been so rampant and uncivil without some extraordinary invitation, as to draw a blow in her presence from an other Privy-Counsellor, more zealous possibly than discreet, to whom when the Queen said, He had forfieted his hand; his reply was, he hoped she would suspend that judgement, till the Traylor had lost his head, who did better deserve it: But this accident bordering so near the confines of her Honour did admit no farther debate; it being no other than she in a less sprightful humour might have given him herself, none being more flexible to all kind of jollities than the minds of Princes when unbent from public affairs. Now, whether these Amorosities were natural, or merely poetical and personated, I leave to conjecture, That may ever find employment in the actions of Kings. This I am sure of, these gaudy gleams of favour shone not long upon any single person, but were soon eclipsed upon the apparition of a fresh Spark. And here to conclude any farther discourse of Leicester, he was a man of eminency for Person, but branded by his enemies (of which he had not a sew) for a defect in Wisdom or Integrity during his abode in the Nether-lands where with no good succesle he executed the place of the Queen's General.  
20. This Princess used never to precipitate a retaltation in reference to foreign Injuries: by which her Enemies had leisure given them to consider of a reparation, no less than herself of Revenge in case of Contumacy, and time to put her strength in the better array; Manifest throughout her whole expedition into Scotland, where though she had fomented such a party of the Nobility of that Nation as were able to receive and secure a force of her own, which upon their intercession she sent, yet was it without any Commission to fight or take notice of the Crown of France, from whom the Scotch Queen was immediately assisted, but only against the house of Guise that were merely instrumental in behalf of their Sister Mary. Contrary to the most ordinary practice of our less advised monarchs, who to gratify the clamour of a few imbarged Merchants, and to vindicate an honour capable of diminution, but from a total neglect or visible incapacity of being ever able to right itself, do, like inconsiderate Bees, in a rash and passionate Distemper, by misemploying their Stings (all the natural force they have) render themselves (for the future) weak and contemptible, by an unseasonable demonstration of the worst they can do; which, till experimented, is for the most part imagined greater than in truth it is.  
21. Her frequent calling Parliaments, and not staying till she was compelled, kept them in so moderate a temper, as they were more awful to the country than the Court; where some grievances might be connived at, but never approved, so the easier accounted for when called to question: nor do I find her concession granted to any Statute for her people's good, by way of exchange, but purely out of grace, and for the most part before it was desired: Wisely projecting, that when Necessity is the Chapman, the Market doth naturally run high. Therefore being chaste from all other intrusion upon the nations liberty, but what respected common safety and the honour of the Crown; she was able without murmur to commit such of the house of Commons as presumed to meddle or inquire who was most fit or had the best right to succeed her. Neither was she less tender and jealous of Disputes in Religion, an apple in the eye of Government, which if once suffered to roll and grow wanton, will render the people's minds unsteady betwixt the obedience they owe to God and their Prince: sondly imagining the first may gratified at the prejudice of the latter. Zeal being the Flint, and ambition the Steel out of which the sparks of Rebellion have in our days kindled the most fatal mischiefs; which she kept during her reign from clashing, by denying the Parliament all farther debate of Ecclesiastical ceremonies, And showing them their no less injustice than levity to question what they had so firmly estated in her Person, who was yet resolved to introduce no more than what was lately confirmed by themsesves, or their Fathers; so notorious to all, as the Doctrine professed most generally in England bore in foreign nations the name of Parliament-Faith. Nor was this her prudent restraint looked upon with any great reluctancy by any but Cartwright and some such addle heads, whose judgements were trimmed according to the Mode of Amsterdam; of whose distempered passions the Queen made so much advantage, as to keep the Church humble and quiet whilst she gelded their Sees by exchanges, and other mortifications of their power and estates, which during her life were not suffered to blaze out in their Ecclesiastical offices, as since they did: which is the only visible cause can be given, why so much worth as resided in this Princess is so little celebrated. And all this wheeled about with the less disturbance of the higher Orbs, because few opposers of Church-discipline were in her days eligible, or so much in favour with the people, being for the most part oppressors, or indicted of hypocrisy; the most eminent for Parts, Titles, or Estates (as it falls out in relation to new schisms) growing weary or full satisfied with the profit already gained by the great leap themselves, or their Ancestors had made from Rome: Nor were the poorer sort better apaid when they compared the Present hospitality with that reported of old before the Religious houses were demolished, the cause I have not seldom myself heard them wish a return to the Catholic Church under the title of the old Learning: Not so well pleased with the saving doctrine of the Protestant profession, as they formerly were under the more liberal distributions of the Monasteries. Nor was it the guise of these prudent times to dissolve Parliaments in discontent (by which a quarrel seemed to be pitcked with the whole nation) But to adjourn them in Love. Wherefore having to do with the same men, she was seldom compelled to alter her course; it being impossible that a Prince who had her people's affection in gross, should find it wanting in their Representative. And it is no less remarkable, that in so long a reign she never was forced (as I have heard) to make use of her Negative power; But had still such a party in the house of Lords as were able to save her that labour. Neither was she ever terrified by fear, to bestow Office or Honour upon any out of no other reason than to draw them from the contrary party; unless Seminaries, and of this she grew at last weary, saying once in public, she would not rasome herself from enemies at the price of their preferments that loved her. But in case she found any likely to interrupt her occasions, she did seasonably prevent him by a chargeable Employment abroad, or putting him upon some service at home she knew least grateful to the people: contrary to a false Maxim, since practised with far worfe fuccesse, by such Princes who thought it better husbandry to buy off Enemies, than reward Friends: which once observed, it tempted some that were ambitious to lay out the strongest of their endeavours against their Prince only in hope to be bought off. And for such as desired a farther recoil from the Pope than was thought fit to be made, they were not so numerous or well agreed yet, as to actuat any disturbance, being for the most part poor, and, as all Schismatiks do at first, glorying more in Suffering, than in any other opposition but what they are able to raise with their pens or tongues, in which they were no less lavish than bold and indiscreet: yet meeting from the most in power only blame and contempt, they sought out new habitations for themselves and vents for their opinions in Amsterdam, where the Dutch allowed a general Mart for all Religions (the Papacy excepted) without any nicer limitation than obedience to the Magistrate in things purely Civil. And by this they did not only draw much of our coin thither, but our Manufactures of Weaving, Dying, Falling, Spinning and Dressing of Cloth, Stuff &c: Easy to have been prevented, by affording them an Amsterdam in England, some small City of Refuge, over which her Majesty might have set a discreet Governor with a Garrison, whose charge they would willingly have borne, besides the payment of a large excise for their folly. Nor was there any danger in this, it being impossible to make them unanimous: But the Hierarchy had been so bitten already by the Covetousness of Princes and the sharp and discerning Learning of the Laity, who uninterested in the general Controversies might have moderated to their disadvantage or set on foot a farther and more rigid Reformation (which, though a terror to those in power, is most delightful to the ears of the people) That they persuaded the Queen, it was against Prudence and Piety to give them harbour; yet in the mean time connived at Lecturer and weekly Preaching, through which they let in more by the Postern, than they could crowd out at the great Gate. Wherefore, this found out, wisdom should rather have left the attempt in the hands of Time, the Moderator of all things disputable, Than rendered them incorrigible through Opposition, the promoter of Error. I am the larger in this, lest posterity should be to seek for the foundation of the most destructive Revolution the Sun ever held light to, which was begun by thousands who never intended it, and wrought the ruin of that both sides laboured to preserve, with an excessive advantage to such as could neither expect or deserve it.  
22. Amongst the greatest things laid to her charge, as cast behind the door of neglect, was the conduct of the affairs of Ireland; a place lying, all her Haltion days, under so great a contempt, (before England's less future felicity had brought it to esteem) that wise Walsingham thought it no Treason to wish it buried in the Sea, considering the charge it brought: yet she kept the Pale in good order, not suffering the Spanish party to grow more potent in the North, than was convenient to consume his forces and divert him from nearer and more dangerous attempts. It being impossible for her, without appearing grievous to her people (a Rock she chiefly studied to avoid) at one time to maintain so dreadful a Navy at sea, and foment the Dutch and French, towards whose assistance she was called by a louder Necessity, then to render a Nation quite desolate: None being willing during her life to exchange the present Government of a Natural Princess, for the less happy. Tyranny of a Viceroy; of which the most did study more their respective grandeur by extending the war, than the ease of the Inhabitants and lessening the Queen's expense: Till the Noble Lord Mountjoy was employed, who had no other design then the conclusion of the work; which he had not yet so easily brought about but that the Spaniards found themselves betrayed through the covetousness and cowardice of the Natives, that for small sums would sell not only such foreigners as came to help them, but their nearest Relations: Wherefore unlikely to keep faith with their Prince, being of so false and unconstant a Nature, as by a continual relapsing into Seditious practices they did with the same breath demand Pardon, and yet panted to accomplish something worthy of Death. Nor was it possible to reduce them to more Civility (the inhabitants being of such an amphibious education) but by curing the Bogs and Fastnesses, or building more Castles and Garrisons than she could spare Money or Men from her other occasions to furnish: But that which raised the greatest difficulty in relation to an absolute subjugation of this Province, was the power the Priests exercised over the Natives Consciences, who not able to resolve themselves, were implicitly led by their persuasions to cast off the English yoke and distress the Queen, who in the Roman dialect was styled Heretic, and in whose favour no compact could be made, much less kept without Mortal Sin in the performer, especially upon the offer of any (though but seeming) advantage. Nor was the defection of Ireland one of the smallest inconveniences that resulted to this Crown from the Protestant Profession.  
23. In this miserable Nation, that wanted not only wisdom and virtue to purchase her own Freedom, but a competency of patience quietly to submit to the English Civility, the former mentioned Earl of Essex buried his fortune. For after his more subtle Enemies, prompted by malice and his own destructive Ambition, had placed him so far off, it proved no hard matter (working upon her Majesty's age and parsimonious humour) to distress him, for want of coin and other necessary provisions for so expensive an expedition: which cast him upon disadvantageous Treaties with Tyrone, the capital Rebel, And might occasion the private discourse he had with him alone on horseback in the midst of a River: which hinted to the Queen the first cause of that fatal suspicion, He might through the assistance of the Irish and English Army (already wholly at his devotion) attempt some novelty; a dismal whisper the contrary Faction did hourly inspire her withal: And to give it a deeper tincture of probability, Sr Robert Cecil gained leave of the Queen to advertise Essex, first of her being past hope, and after of her Death, stopping in the mean time all ships else, but what came loaden with this fatal intelligence: And to secure her person no less than his own, in case he took the wiser counsel of his friends to land in Wales with all the power he could raise, the English militia were put in a posture of defence: of which no use was made; for the Earl's composition having always participated more of truth and loyalty to his Sovereign, with zeal to the Protestant Religion, than prudence or Reason of State, He, not only contrary to the will of his friends, but beyond the highest hopes of his Enemies, came over attended with some few Gentlemen; and in this naked condition finding the report false, he cast himself habited as a traveller at the feet of his Mistress, whom after he never met (unless since in heaven) being presently confined; yet to no stricter prison than his Chamber, and under no other guard but the obedience he owed to his Sovereign's Commands, who though daily importuned, could not be brought to sign a warrant for any severer Commitment, till after his passage through the City, In which he did not only exceed the extent of his own ordinary rashness, But the highest and most extraordinary plots of his Enemies. And thus was the Earl snatched out of the arms of his Mistress, and torn from the hearts of the people that were his Servants, by the subtlety of his Enemies, and in the sight of both brought to an untimely death: It appearing no less wonder that Prince and Subject did meet in their affections, Then that they should both be so quiet spectators of his ruin. But as God showed in his death the weakness of the arm of flesh, so not long after he declared as plainly the power of his justice in a strict account he took from those that were the principal agents in it: For after the blow given, The Queen, presaging by a multitude of tears shed for him, the great drought was likely to appear in the eyes of her Subjects, when the hand that signed the warrant for it should be cut off, fell into a deep Melancholy, whereof she died not long after. And for the Fame that immediatlly followed her (if multitudes were not foully mistaken) she was more beholding to her successors miscarriages in the general opinion, than any popular esteem attending her to the grave: her death being reported to proceed from an occasion that would have been thought ridiculous in an ordinary Lady, much more in a person of her magnitude: But such as take Princes for other than Men, show they never saw them in true light: who, like the Gods of the Heathen, cannot in their actions or speeches during Life be discerned from ordinary Mortals, but by the worship given them; being so remote from owning any real Divinity, As with the Crown they put on greater frailties than they do divest: For during the critical minute of the Queen's strongest affection (which was upon Essex his return from Cales) he had importuned her for some signal token which might assure him, that in his absence (to which his own Genius, no less than the respect he bore to the promotion of her honour, and obedience to her commands did daily prompt him) his Enemies (of whom he had many about the Chair of State) should not through their Malice or Subtlety distress him, or render him less or worse deserving in her esteem: upon this, in a great deal of familiatity, she presented a Ring to him; which after she had by oaths endued with a power of freeing him from any danger or distress his future miscarriage, her Anger, or Enemy's malice could cast him into, she gave it him, with a promise, that at the first sight of it all this and more if possible should be granted. After his commitment to the Tower he sent this jewel to Her Majesty, by the then Countess of Nottingham, whom Sr Robert Cecil kept from delivering it: This made the Queen think herself scorned, a Treason against her Honour, And therefore not unlikely to be voted by the pride of so great a Lady more Capital than That pretended against her Person, which power doth rarely suffer to scape unpunished: besides he had been tempted through passion to say, or his enemies to devise, That she now doted, and owned a mind no less crooked than her body; A high blasphemy against such a divine Beauty, as Flatterers, the Idolisers of Princes, had enshrined here in. And from these his misfortunes, led on by the weakness jealousy and Age had bred in her, his Maligners took advantage, so as his Head was off before discretion, love or pity had leisure to dictate, The Ring might be miscarried and the former relation false. But the Lady of Nottingham coming to her death bed, and finding, by the daily sorrow the Queen expressed for the loss of Essex, herself a principal agent in his destruction, could not be at rest till she had discovered all, and humbly implored mercy from God and forgiveness from her earthly Sovereign: who did not only refuse to give it, but having shaken her as she lay in her bed, sent her accompanied with most fearful curses to a higher Tribunal. Not long after the Queen's weakness did appear mostall, hastened by the wishes of many, that could not in reason expect pardon for a fault they found she had so severely punished in herself, as to take comfort in nothing after. But upon all occasions of signing Pardons would upbraid the movers for them with the hasty anticipation of that brave man's end, not to be expiated in relation to the Nations loss by any future endeavour, much less so unseasonable an uncharitableness to a dying Lady.  
24. After Essex was thus laid by, the total management of State-affairs fell to Sr Robert Cecil in right of wisdom, who free from competition became bold enough to inform the Queen, that too many years had been already lapsed, and the people's quiet hazarded by her delay, in not fixing upon one certain Successor: Nothing remaining wanting, but her concession, to free the Nation from a Civil war, in declaring the King of Scots her lawful Heir, who besides an immediate right, had the greatest power at hand to quell the hopes of all contrary pretenders, at that time more than a few; having long been emboldened either through her Majesty's Indulgence or Prudence, an Artifice dangerous for her people and not unpossibly now destructive to herself, the love of whom was by good Government for forty years, so deeply rooted in her Subjects, as it could be buried in nothing but her grave. Nor did he alone beat her eats with these sounds, no less terrible to her age at that day, than they had been formerly ungrateful to her youth: But the generality of all about er; there remaining after Essex remove, no Faction at Court able to rescue any from the present or future revenge of this man, with whom the most did comply, for fear of having their hopes blasted by this Northern Sun that began to rise proportionable to the declension of the Queen's health. The truth of which the most incredulous may find throughout the whole Arraignment of Cobham, Grace, and Rawly, professed Antagonists to Essex, under whose shelter they might have been protected in relation to their cause, though by them imprudently managed. This proves it no great hyperbole to affirm The Queen did not only bury Affection, but her Power in the Tomb of Essex, who having the Love of the people would execute without fear any Command, which they wanting durst not undertake: The cause Cecil thought it more prudence to rely upon the promise of a Prince his Father had made Motherless, than in the forgiveness of a multitude whose odium he had by many proceedings contracted; But especially in being instrumental in the death of Essex, and those hopeful young Gentlemen that lost their lives & fortunes with him: Amongst whom was Sr Henry Lee, for only wishing well to the three Earls in the Tower, and an other executed in Smithfield for writing the news of their Apprehension to his Father that was out of London. But not to exceed the design of this piece which was not to asperse any, especially one allied so nearly to my Grandmother, and a Family now rendered Illustrious by two Earldoms and a number of glorious Matches; I shall relate only his wise endeavours to make james succeed, by whom he was courted with many Letters, and larger promises than, as I have heard, were ever performed, & other proposals made, amongst which was a treaty of peace with Spain, passionately desired of the Scotish King, who by this grateful service thought to muzzle the mouths of the Jesuits, and to have his offers of connivance more secretly and successfully presented at Rome: and upon the same score, Tyrones pardon was moved to the Queen, and though at first refused by her with high disdain, yet after brought about for want of strength and Counsel to oppose it. Nor was an Inquisition after the Will of Henry the 8th omitted, which a Cursiter did about that time justify he had enrolled, though then not to be found, having before been taken off the File by some as small friends to the Scotish title as any other but their own; Harfords, Huntington's &c. being then rise in every man's discourse. But to avoid all semblance of triumph over a Right already under the weight of the severest misfortune: I shall conclude with the most happy condition this unparallelled Princess left the Kingdom of England in.  
25. It had no considerable Enemy besides the Catholic King, And his power so maimed by the frequent blows received from her Maritime Militia, that he sought peace in a posture far below the usual pride and Rhodomontado gallantry of that Nation; apparent in the rich Donatives bestowed on all about King james who were any way likely to farther or obstruct it. As for the wild Irish (a term that age bestowed on the Rebels) they were daily found dead in bogs and woods with grass in their mouths, giving no farther trouble to the English Soldiers (at her death not numerous, many having quitted the employment out of grief for their General) than to burn and spoil the Corn and other provisions of the Natives; far easier done, than they overtaken in their Fastnesses and Bogs, impassable to our Army. The French were by obligation wound up at least to a neutrality, if not in Policy bound to assist us in case the war had gone on with Spain: Henry the fourth's former Defection, though covered with a late formal Conversion, having yet not so strongly estated him in the affection of Rome as to make him despise the English Alliance or exchange it for any in judgement less remote from the Pope: or in case of his death or forgetfulness she had the Hugonotes to friend, who in all walled Towns prayed for her in public, owning her for little less than their Princess under the title of a Protecteress. Though the Dutch were no less hers by Interest than Gratitude, yet lest prosperity should in a resty humour strain these cords, her hands were strengthened by Cautionary Towns, which did not only bridle them, but abate much of the danger our Merchants were in from those remaining under the Crown of Spain; Not so much recruited about this time by the reduction of Ostend after three years' siege, as weakened by the former loss of Sluice in a far less considerable time. As for Denmark, Sweden and other Nations that ordinary calculation hath seated east of us, she held good correspondence with them, But lay obnoctious to no other inconveniences from them, Than what she sustained by the Frost, Snow and tedious weather the vicinity of their icy coasts useth to infest more happier Climates withal.  
26. Nor can she appear less Lovely, wise and Successful at home, to any that is able to fix his eyes upon so great a Radiancy as did compass the head of this Princess, without the dark vale of prejudice, not hitherto drawn from before the face of this nation by the visible endeavours of many. Comparisons being apt to raise no less Odium at home then envy abroad. For through the series of her Reign she kept Parliaments, the Pulse of this Nation, in such a temper as no signs appeared either of Anarchy or Tyrannical Oppression; her Government having been handed to the people with that sweetness, that it was esteemed of no less advantage to them, than their obedience brought honour to her: under whom the Crown remained in such credit, as the Exchequer was esteemed equal security with the Exchange; The Tellers of that Court being as ready to issue out monies, as those that had Debenturs were willing to receive it. And if any contrary practice since brings the truth of this into suspense, let the Proverb As sure as Check bail me from the least suspicion of hyperbole. Her Lands, of which she had a vast proportion, were loaden with Timber fit for all employments, lying ready upon occasion either to raise a Navy, or Money to pay Soldiers or Mariners. Nor was her Treasury quite empty, or the Crown burdened with any considerable debts, but what a Parliament would without murmur have refunded; No cause of jealousy remaining in relation to an encroachment upon their liberty or estates, Since she did not extend to the least general prejudice her own unquestioned interest in the perquisites of the Crown; So as her Parks, Forests and Chases were rather a relief than burden to the Subject, it being then as rare to find a man of quality denied Venison, as to hear of one (if not too intemperate) punished for stealing it. And as the justice in Oyer was moderate in his Courts that related only to the preservation of Game, So those in Westminster-hall were as careful to distribute Equity and Right: or, if in her time some Cushions in Chancery, Chequer, and Court of Wards were taken with the Moth of corruption, it was after her Inspection failed her, for want of a contrary Faction truly to inform, and no propensity in her Nature to protect such courses. The ordinary plea used after, of selling Dear, because they bought so, being void the most of her days; in which no visible Bribes for Offices were offered or accepted but what resulted from vour or desert. The Church in her days lay not disfigured in the filth of profaneness, nor was it daubed by the varnish of Hypocrisy: Ceremony and Sabbath (the ordinary pretences for Sedition) being decently not rigidly commanded or observed. So as the walleyed blanchers at them were followed more out of reproach than approbation; And might have been so still, had not the State rendered them more considerable by their notice, than really they were; fond imagining the hatred found in succeeding Parliaments to the Papists resulted from a Puritanical affection, when it was for a long time in the most a fear of shaking the titles of Abbry-Lands, or a desire to free the Laity, in all things temporal and mulctable, out of the hands of the Church; who about the setting of this glorious Planet became something more red and severe, than suited with a Calling no better supported: For though zeal in the Clergy may bias men towards religious duties, yet it hath often been found so much to alter the gate of the Rabble; as they have quite for saken-the end of all Professions which is Obedience to God and their Governors, And inclined to more uncouth and destructive Opinions, than an open and unsuborned temper in Religion was ever yet found guilty of.  
27. Thus I may have in part expiated for the neglect if not malice observable from the most Relations concerning this Lady; No less than vindicated my own Gratitude, (Whose Grandfather and Father did both enjoy a quiet, happy and plentiful fortune under her) though in a stile and method far below her merit, As best appears by the Bonfires & loud acclamations used still by the people upon the day of her Inauguration: The felicity of which was never since matched, nor have we had yet any cause to hope it will be, especially during my Life, which began under this beloved Princess.  
FINIS.