'■ft*** 
 


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 • OF 
 
 EMINENT PERSONS , 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 OF 
 
 EMINENT PERSONS, 
 
 WHOSE 
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 FORM PART OF THE 
 
 duke of Dorset’s 
 
 COLLECTION AT KNOLE. 
 
 i 
 
 WITH A 
 
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PLACE. 
 
 Embellifhed with a Front and Eaji View of Knole. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1795. 
 
TO HIS GRACE 
 
 JOHN FREDERICK , 
 
 DUKE of DORSET, K. G. 
 
 LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE COUNTY OF 
 
 KENT, 
 
 LORD STEWARD OF 
 
 HIS MAJESTY’S HOUSEHOLD, 
 
 CSfc. &c. c sV. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 These Biographical Sketches of the 
 eminent perfons whofe portraits form a part 
 of the magnificent colle&ion at Knole, will, 
 I hope, be not altogether unworthy of your 
 
( Vi ) 
 
 Grace’s attention. I build no pretenfions 
 on the work, as a compofition of fiterary 
 merit. It is as a tribute of refped and gra- 
 titude that it can lay any claim to an indul- 
 gent reception, and I flatter myfelf that the 
 dutiful zeal with w T hich the volume is of- 
 fered, will, with your Grace, at leafl, atone 
 in fome degree for its defeats and imper- 
 fedions. 
 
 1 am, 
 
 My Lord, 
 with great refped, 
 
 Your Grace’s 
 moA obliged, and 
 obedient fervant, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 27, 1795. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 So many claims are made by authors to 
 the candour and indulgence of the public, 
 and fuch various reafons are urged to depre- 
 cate the feverity of the critics, that I fear 
 both the one and the other are grown cal- 
 lous to the appeals of literary adventurers. 
 However difcouraging this reflexion might 
 be, I mult, notwithftanding, rifque my 
 apology, by alluring the reader that the fol- 
 lowing Iketches were not written with a 
 view to publication ; my intention was to 
 have printed fome copies for the ufe of the 
 Nobleman to whom they are dedicated, and 
 of thofe friends to whofe perufal his Grace 
 might have condefcended to recommend 
 them. With this view the Iheets were 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 tranfmitted to the prefs, fome circumftances 
 then occurred which induced me (perhaps 
 too eafily) to alter my original defign, and 
 to fubmit them to the public eye. 
 
 The {ketches are thirty-nine in number, 
 the perfonages, whofe lives are given, were 
 all of them of 0 confiderable, and many of 
 the higheft celebrity. Their portraits form 
 a part of the fuperb collection at Knole. 
 By whom they were all painted is unknown, 
 fome of them certainly by Holbein, and moft 
 of them, probably, by his pupils. A room 
 near ninety feet in length, is appropriated 
 to them, and to the great attention of the 
 noble proprietor is to be aferibed their being 
 in perfed prefervation. The fineft produc- 
 tions of Titian, Corregio, Vandyck, and 
 Rembrandt, and particularly the moft bril- 
 liant efforts of Sir jofhua Reynolds’s pencil, 
 form the greater part of the reft of the col- 
 lection. But as any obfervations on the 
 
 i 
 



PREFACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 absolute or relative merits of thefe paintings 
 are foreign to the plan of this work, and as 
 general indifcriminate praife conveys inac- 
 curate ideas, or rather no ideas at all, I Ihall 
 content myfelf with merely pointing them 
 out to thofe lovers of the art, to whom, 
 through negligence or accident, this trea- 
 fure is hitherto unknown. 
 
 Some brief account, however, of the an- 
 cient manfion which contains it might not 
 be altogether inappofite or unacceptable to 
 the reader. 
 
 The time of its ftnufture is not precifely 
 afcertained. It is known that Baldwin de 
 Bethun pofleifed it in the time of King 
 John ; from him, through the Marefchals, 
 earls of Pembroke, and Bigods, earls of 
 Norfolk, it delcended to Otho de Grandi- 
 fon, who held it in the reign of Edward I. 
 In this family it remained till that of 
 
 b 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE*. 
 
 Richard II. when it was conveyed by Sir 
 Thomas Granaifon to Geoffry de Say ; 
 whofe daughter transferred it to Sir Wil- 
 liam Fiennes ; and Sir William’s fon to 
 Bourchier, archbifhop of Canterbury, by 
 whom confiderable additions were made to 
 the edifice, and who bequeathed it by will 
 to the fee of Canterbury. Archbifhop 
 Moreton likewife added to the building; 
 and Cranmer, obferving that the grandeur of 
 the ffruCture excited the invidious remarks 
 of the laity, exchanged it for lands from 
 the crown. It continued as a royal domain 
 till the reign of Edward VI. and was by 
 him granted to his uncle, the Protestor, 
 Somerfet. Dudley, duke of Northumber- 
 land, obtained the poffeffion on its efcheat- 
 ing by Somerfet’s conviction. Northum- 
 berland’s execution again transferred it to 
 the crown ; and Cardinal Pole procured it 
 of Queen Mary for his life ; on its lapfing 
 a third time, Elizabeth prefented it to her 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 favorite, Leicefter, who refigned it ; when, 
 
 after a leafe granted to John Leonard, Efq. 
 
 of Chevening, the Queen conferred it on 
 
 Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorfet; who 
 
 (with the exceptions of its being feized on 
 
 in the time of the ufurpation, and of an 
 
 alienation from Richard, the third earl, to 
 
 Henry Smith, alderman of London, which 
 
 was redeemed by his lordfhip’s nephew) 
 
 has tranfmitted it uninterruptedly to his 
 
 pofterity. Few of the ancient manfions of 
 
 our nobility imprefs us with the ideas of 
 
 feudal magnificence more than this does. 
 
 Its fcite, “ embofomed high in tufted trees,” 
 
 the fpace it occupies (upwards of five acres) 
 
 its towers and battlements, all combine in 
 
 recalling the days of chivalry and romance, 
 
 nor is the charm broke as the vifitor enters 
 
 the Gothic hall, undefaced by modern 
 
 patch-work. A very fine ftatue of Demof- 
 
 thenes, ‘purchafed in Italy by the prefent 
 
 Duke for jf. 700, ornaments one end of it, 
 b 2 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The figure appears to be in the a<51 of calmly 
 difcuffing, rather than of thundering, or 
 even of roufing the Athenians to aCtion. 
 More energy and more gefticulation would 
 have been neceffary to have fuited the attitude 
 of the fpeaker to * 6 Will you not cover the 
 “ feas with your fhips ? Why are you 
 “ not at the Piraeus ? Why are you not 
 “ embarked?”* But if its character be 
 deliberative compofure, it is certainly the 
 dignified compofure of a great man. A 
 corridor on the fouth-weft fide of the edi- 
 fice contains a noble collection of antique 
 buffs, mofily likewife bought in Italy by 
 the prefent Duke ; the heads of two boys 
 particularly engage the attention, one is faid 
 to be a young Nero, the other Galerius, the 
 fon of M. Aur. Antoninus, by Fauflina. It 
 is difficult to perfuade one’s felf that the 
 features of the former, which indicate fuch 
 
 * Oration on the hate of the Cherfonefus. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Xlll 
 
 gentlenefs and fweetnefs of charadter, could 
 have formed the exterior of a mind that 
 was one day to aftonifh the world with 
 deeds of fuch incredible atrocity. Vultu 
 pulchro magis quam venufto is part of his 
 pidture given by Suetonius ; if by venujio 
 is to be underffood the effect of the mind 
 upon the countenance, the face of the man 
 muff have been very different from that of 
 the boy. As Galerius died young, nothing 
 is known of his character, but his linea- 
 ments, indeed, feem to proclaim more of 
 the foul of his brother Commodus than that 
 of his father Marcus Aurelius ; Julius Cae- 
 far, Pompey, Marcus Brutus, Antinous, 
 and Thefeus, are among the reft of the 
 bufts ; there is a ftern morofenefs in the 
 face of Brutus better fuited to Livy’s por- 
 trait of his anceftor Junius, than to a difci- 
 ple of the mild philofophy of the Plato- 
 nifts. 
 
XIV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The architecture of this immenfe pile be- 
 fpeaks a variety of dates, the moft ancient 
 is probably coeval with the Marefchals and 
 Bigods ; it feems as if the whole of it was 
 antecedent to its becoming the poffeffion of 
 the Sackvilles, though certainly many of 
 this family have very confiderably repaired 
 it, particularly Richard, the fifth earl. No 
 part appears of a more modern date than the 
 reio-n of Elizabeth. Thomas, the firft earl 
 of Dorfet, came to refide at Knole in 1603, 
 he died in 1607, and as the water- fpouts, 
 which were put up by him throughout the 
 houfe, are dated 1605, it would appear that 
 no part of the building is fubfequent to this 
 period. The garden gates, the fun-dial, 
 and many other places bear the arms of 
 Sackville and Middlefex, a title brought 
 into the family by Frances Cranfield, heirels 
 of the Earl of Middlefex, and Countefs to 
 the above-mentioned Richard. In a win* 
 dow in the billiard-room is the portrait of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 a man in armour with this infcription : 
 Herbrandus de Sackville pra’potens Norman - 
 nus intravii Angliam cum Gulielmo Conquef- 
 tore , anno 1066 ; and in a room called the 
 Carton gallery, are painted on glafs twenty- 
 one armorial bearings, from the above Her- 
 brandus to Richard, the third earl of Dorfet, 
 A lineage which, as far as the boaft of pe- 
 digree may be allowed a fair pretenhon, can 
 he furpaffed or even equalled by few in the 
 kingdom. In another room are feveral 
 fhields of the arms of the Cranmer family ; 
 this room has the appearance of having once 
 been the archbifhop’s private chapel, the 
 wdndow refembles more thofe of the places 
 of religious worfhip than any other window 
 in the houle, and the approach to it is by 
 two or three fteps exhibiting altogether the 
 appearance of what was once an altar. 
 
 The park owes much to nature and much 
 to its noble proprietor; the line of its fur- 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 face is perpetually varying, fo that new 
 points of view are constantly prelenting 
 themfelves. The foil is happily adapted to 
 the growth of timber ; flately beeches and 
 venerable oaks fill every part of the land- 
 fcape j the girth of one of thefe oaks exceeds 
 twenty- eight feet, and probably its branches 
 afforded lhade to its ancient lords of Pem- 
 broke and Norfolk. The prefent Duke has, 
 with much affiduity and tafte, repaired the 
 gaps made in the woods by one of his ancef- 
 tors, who, “ Foe to the Dryads of his fa- 
 “ ther’s groves,” had unveiled their haunts 
 and expofed their fecret receffes to the rude 
 and garilh eye of day. The plantations 
 are not dotted about in cloddifh clumps, as 
 if they had no reference to a whole or gene- 
 ral effedt, but in broad and fpacious malfes 
 cover the fummits of the undulating line, 
 or Skirt the vallies in eafy fw r eeps. Not to 
 dwell, however, on “ barren generalities,” 
 among many others there are two points 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XVU 
 
 of view which particularly deferve the vic- 
 tor’s attention ; the one is from the end of 
 a valley which goes in a fouth-wefl direc- 
 tion from the houfe, it forms a gentle curve, 
 the groves rife magnificently on each fide, 
 and the trees, many of them beeches of the 
 largefl fize, are generally feathered to the 
 bottom ; the manfion with its towers and 
 battlements, and a back ground of hills co- 
 vered with wood, terminate the villa ; the 
 time mofl favorable for the profped: is a 
 little before the fetting fun, when the fore 
 ground is darkened by a great mafs of 
 fhade, and the houfe, from this circum- 
 flance and its being brightened by the fun’s 
 rays, is brought forward in a beautiful man- 
 ner to the eye. The other view is from a 
 riling ground of the fame valley, and of a 
 different kind from the former ; on gaining 
 the fummit of the hill, a profped of vafl 
 extent burfls at once upon the eye ; woods, 
 heaths, towns, villages, and hamlets, are 
 
 c 
 
XVlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 all before you in bright confufion, the hid- 
 den and abrupt manner in which the prof- 
 pecft prefents itfelf, being in perfect unifon 
 with the wildnefs of the fcenery. The eye 
 takes in the greater part of Weft Kent, a 
 confiderable part of Suftex, and diftant view 
 of the hills of Hampfhire. The fore ground 
 is woody, the whitened fteeples riling every 
 where among the trees, with gentlemen’s 
 feats fcattered round in great abundance. 
 Penfliurft, the ancient refidence of the Sid- 
 neys, ftands confpicuofly on a gentle fweli, 
 forming a middle point between the fore 
 ground and the South Downs that Ikirt the 
 horizon. It is a venerable manfion fur- 
 rounded with groves of high antiquity, I 
 know not if the oak, planted the day Sir 
 Philip Sidney was born and mentioned by 
 Ben Johnfon, be yet remaining, if it be, I 
 truft it meets from the prefent proprietor 
 with every refpecft due to fo facred a relique. 
 The patriot Algernon, and the poet Waller, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XIX 
 
 have both repofed beneath its fhade, and 
 poflibly here too Sir Philip Iketched his 
 Arcadian fcenes. 
 
 As thefe defcriptions, however, form no 
 part of my main delign, and as words con- 
 vey faint and inadequate ideas of obje&s 
 excluiively within the province of the eye, I 
 will trefpafs no longer on my reader’s time 
 by attempts feldom fatis factory or fuccefs- 
 ful, but, with ail poifible deference, crave 
 his indulgent attention to the following 
 Biographical Sketches. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 JOHN MToitgift, archbijhop of Canterbury i 
 Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorfet .... 5 
 
 Robert Cecil, earl of Salijbury .... 13 
 
 Sir Francis Drake 17 
 
 Don John of Aujlria 21 
 
 William Cecil, lord Burleigh 23 
 
 Robert Dudley, earl of Leicejler .... 28 
 
 Richard Bancroft, archbijhop of Canterbury 32 
 
 Thomas Cranmer , archbijhop of Canterbury 34 
 
 Admiral Blake 38 
 
 Sir Brands Waljingham, fecretary of fate . 42 
 
 Charles Howard, earl of Nottingham, lord 
 
 high admiral 46 
 
 Alexander Farnefe, duke of Parma and Pla- 
 centia 50 
 
XXII 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Henry of Lorrain, duke of Guife , furnamed 
 
 Balafre 32 
 
 Charles of Lorrain, duke of Guife .... 33 
 
 John Fijher , bijhop of Rochefter .... 37 
 
 John Dudley, duke of Northumberland . . 62 
 
 George Clifford, earl of Cumberland ... 68 
 
 John Wicklijf 73 
 
 Alphonfo d' Avalos, marquis de Guajlo . . 78 
 
 Reger Bacon, called Friar Bacon . . . . 79 
 
 Stephen Gardiner, bijhop of IVincheJler . . 83 
 
 Sir James Wilford, knt 90 
 
 Thomas Egerton, baron of Ellefmere ... 92 
 
 Thomas Cromwell, earlofEJJex .... 94 
 
 Thomas Howard , duke of Norfolk . . . 100 
 
 Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk .... 104 
 
 Henry Howard, earl of Northampton . . 106 
 
 Thomas Ratcliff, earl of Suffex . . . . no 
 
 Charles, duke of Bourbon, confable of France 113 
 
 John, duke of Bourbon 119 
 
 William, of Naffau, firjl prince of Orange . 
 
 120 
 
CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 Sir Walter Mildmay, knt 124 
 
 Sir Chrijlopher Hatton 126 
 
 Henry Fitz Allan, earl of Arundel . . • 129 
 
 Sir Thomas More 134 
 
 Cardinal Wolfey . . . 141 
 
 Sir John Norris 153 
 
 Sir William Herbert , earl of Pembroke . . 158 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 SKE TCHE S. 
 
 JOHN WHITGIFT, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OP CANTERBURY* 
 
 Wa S defcended from the ancient family of 
 Whitgift, at Whitgift, in Yorklhire, and born 
 at Great Grimlby in Lincolnfhire, anno 1530. 
 His early education was managed by an uncle, 
 who, though an abbot, railed in his pupil’s 
 mind the firlt prejudices againll the Roman 
 Catholic religion ; the lad, having imbibed a 
 relilh for the dodtrines of the reformers, re- 
 fufed to go to mafs, on which his aunt, with 
 whom he lived, inlilted on his quitting her 
 
 B 
 
JOHN WHITGIFT, 
 
 2 
 
 ho Life, as nothing but misfortune, fhe faid, 
 could befal the roof that harboured a heretic. 
 In 1548 he was fent to Queen’s college, Cam- 
 bridge, and foon after removed to Pembroke 
 hall, under the tuition of John Bradford, the 
 martyr ; in 1 555 he was chofen fellow of Peter- 
 houfe, and foon after entered into holy orders ; 
 his parts and learning recommended him to the 
 patronage of Cox, bifhop of Ely, nor was it long 
 before (his fame reaching the ears ot the Queen) 
 he was fent for to preach at court, and appointed 
 one of the royal chaplains. In 157 2 com “ 
 menced war againft the Puritans, by anfwering 
 a pamphlet called An Admonition to the Parlia- 
 ment ; this admonition was a fevere attack both 
 on the dodlrines and difcipline of the church, 
 and produced a long controverfy chiefly be- 
 tween Whitgift and Cartwright. This contro- 
 verfy, however, was the means ot advancing 
 him to the deanry of Lincoln, and, in 1576, 
 to the bifhopric of Worcefter ; it was faid that 
 the Queen wifhed to have made him archbifhop 
 of Canterbury, even during the life of the then 
 primate Grindall, who was detirous of retigning 
 
ARCHBISHOP OP CANTERBURY.' 3 
 
 in Whitgift’s favor, but the latter ffrenuoufly 
 pertifted in refuting the fee till it fhould be- 
 come vacant in the ufual and natural way. In 
 1 5 S3 this event took place, and Whitgift, now 
 archbifhop of Canterbury, tignalized himfelf 
 fo much again# the Puritans, that he was the 
 objedt of their repeated attacks, particularly in 
 a book, famous at the time, entitled Martin 
 Mar-prelate. He died in 1604, and was in- 
 terred at Croydon, where a monument is eredted 
 to him. He was prefent at the celebrated con- 
 ference held in the beginning of this year, at 
 Hampton Court, between the Ecclefiatl ics and 
 the Puritans, under the immediate infpedtion 
 of King James ; and though impartial candor 
 will allow Whitgift no great fhare of praife in 
 difcovering that James fpoke through divine 
 infpiration, yet philofophy and humanity will 
 honor the memory of a man who, on every 
 occahon, thewed himfelf a ftrenuous oppofer of 
 perfecution. Rapin (no flatterer of church- 
 men) fays of him, “ Whitgift was a mild and 
 “ peaceable man, who would have been glad 
 “ to have reclaimed the Puritans by gentle 
 B 2 
 
A 
 
 JOHN WHITGIFT, &C. 
 
 “ methods according to the precepts of the 
 <c gofpel.” And Fuller in his Church Hiftory 
 ftiles him “ the worthieft man that ever the 
 
 (f Englilh hierarchy did enjoy.” 
 
( s ) 
 
 THOMAS SACKVILLE. 
 
 EARL OP DORSET, 
 1536 to 1608, 
 
 Was tlie fon of Richard Sackville, Efq. by 
 Winifred, the daughter of Sir John Bruges. 
 He was born in 1536, at Buckhurft, in Suffex, 
 the feat of this ancient and illuftrious family. 
 The family of Sackville, or, as it was anciently 
 written, Salcavilla, was of high antiquity in 
 Normandy before the conqueft, where they 
 were lords of the town and feignory of Sack- 
 ville. Herbrand de Sackville was one of the 
 leaders of the forces that came into England 
 under William the Conqueror, and is the fe- 
 venth named in the lift of thefe chieftains in an 
 old manufcript in the poffeffion of Edward 
 Gwynn, of the Cuftos Brevium office in the 
 reign of James I. Robert, the third fon of 
 
6 
 
 THOMAS SACKVILLE, 
 
 Herbrand, is the direCt anceftor of the prefent 
 Duke of Dorfet. He held various manors in 
 Effex and Suffolk, and attended Richard Coeur 
 de Lion on his crufade to the holy land. Jor- 
 dan, the eldeft fon of Robert, by marrying 
 Hela, daughter of Ralph de Den, acquired the 
 manor of Buckhurfl. Sir Jordan de Sackville, 
 grandfon of the above Jordan, was one of the 
 barons who were eledded and fworn to fee the 
 articles of the Magna Charta performed by 
 King John. Thomas Sackville, earl of Dorfet, 
 was the tenth in defcent from the above Sir 
 Jordan, and was fent to Oxford towards the 
 latter end of Edward the Sixth’s reign, but re- 
 moved to Cambridge, and from thence to the 
 Inner Temple, in order to ftudy the law, not 
 as a profeffion, but as a qualification to enable 
 him to difcharge his duty in parliament ; during 
 his refidence in the Temple, he wrote a moral 
 drama, which he called “ An Introduction to 
 <c the Mirror of Magiftrates it exhibits in a 
 feries of poems, examples of bad men, who dif- 
 honoring high fituations by vicious praddices, 
 end their days in difgrace and mifery. Its poetic 
 
EARL OP DORSET. 
 
 7 
 
 merit is fuch, that Wharton fays of it, “ Sack- 
 “ ville’s Introduction approaches nearer to the 
 “ Fairy Queen, in the richnefs of allegoric 
 “ defcription, than any previous or fucceeding 
 “ poem.” In 1561 he publifhed a tragedy, 
 called Ferrex and Porrex, fons of Gorboduc, 
 king of Britain, the three firft aCts were, how- 
 ever, written by Mr. Norton. It is remarkable 
 that this was the firft tragedy in Englifh verfe, 
 and was performed by the gentlemen of the In- 
 ner Temple before Queen Elizabeth at White- 
 hall. Sir Philip Sydney fays of it, “ that it 
 “ was full of notable morality which doth moll 
 “ delightfully teach.” Whoever confiders that 
 it appeared fome years before Shakefpeare and 
 the then imperfect hate of Englifh poetry, will 
 allow it great merit. It was afterwards brought 
 on Drury Lane flage, in 1736, through the 
 recommendation of Pope, and aCled with great 
 fuccefs. 
 
 In the firft parliament of Elizabeth, Mr. 
 Sackville was elected for the county of Suffex, 
 and his father, Sir Richard, for Kent ; in the 
 
8 
 
 THOMAS SACKVILLE, 
 
 fecond of that reign, the father was chofen for 
 Suffex, and the foil for Buckinghamfhire. He 
 was foon after raifed to the peerage by the title 
 of Lord Buckhurft, not only his perfonal me- 
 rit, but his affinity recommended him to the 
 Queen’s favor ; his grandfather having married 
 a fifter of Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather. 
 In 1571 he was fent ambaffador to Charles IX. 
 king of France, to negotiate the treaty of mar- 
 riage between the Queen and the Duke of An- 
 jou. In 1586 he was appointed one of the 
 commiffioners for the trial of the Queen of 
 Scots. He was foon after fent as ambaffador 
 extraordinary to fettle the difputes between the 
 States General and the Earl of Leicefler ; his 
 talents and candor gained him the efteem of 
 the States, but made Leicefler his enemy, whofe 
 influence over the Queen was fuch, as to pro- 
 cure an order for Lord Buckliurft’s being con- 
 fined to his houfe for fome months ; on Lei- 
 cefier’s death he was reftored to favor, cre- 
 ated knight of the garter, and, at the Queen’s 
 fpecial recommendation, elected chancellor of 
 the univerfity of Oxford. 
 
 1 
 
EARL OP DORSET. 
 
 9 
 
 In 1598 he was joined with Lord Burleigh 
 to negotiate a peace with Spain, and conducted 
 himfelf in this butinefs with fuch eminent abi- 
 lity, that he was raifed to the poll of lord high 
 treafurer ; from this period, Burleigh being dead, 
 he aCted in conjunction with Cecil to the end 
 of Elizabeth’s, and the four fird years of the 
 next reign. In 1604 he was created, by James, 
 Earl of Dorfet, and died fuddenly while fitting 
 at the council board in 1608, as he was pro- 
 moting the independence of the Low Coun- 
 tries, which, however, was not acknowledged 
 by Spain till the enfuing year. The death of 
 this great and excellent minider made way for 
 James’s Scotch favorites, who laid the founda^ 
 tion of the ruin of his race. 
 
 Mr. Walpole concludes his portrait of him 
 thus : “Few minillers have left fo fair a cha- 
 “ raCter ; in private life he was an affectionate 
 i( hufband, a kind father, and a firm friend ; 
 (( for the lad twenty years of his life his 
 family confided of 200 perfons, mod of 
 u whom he entertained on motives of charity ; 
 
 C 
 
IO THOMAS SACKVILLE, 
 
 te nor was he lefs benevolent to the poor out 
 “ of doors, to whom he afforded liberal relief 
 “ in the time of licknefs and fcarcity.” Lord 
 Bacon, too, fpeaks of him in the following 
 terms : “ My Lord of Buckhurft was of the 
 “ noble houfe of Sackville, and of the Queen’s 
 “ confanguinity ; his father was Richard Sack- 
 <e ville, or, as the people then called him, 
 “ Fill-fack , by reafon of his great wealth, and 
 c( the vafl patrimony which he left to his fon, 
 <c whereof he fpent in his youth the bell: part, 
 “ until the Queen, by her frequent admoni- 
 <c tions, diverted the torrent of his profulion. 
 “ He was a very fine gentleman of perfon and 
 (< endowments both of art and nature, but 
 te without meafure magnificent. He was a 
 “ fcholar, and a perfon of quick difpatch, (fa- 
 ci culties that yet run in the blood) and they 
 “ fay of him, that his fecretaries did little for 
 “ him by the way of indictment, wherein they' 
 “ could feldom pleafe him, he was fo facetie 
 “ and choice in his phrafe and flile.” Dr, 
 Abbot, in his funeral fermon on this great 
 
 i 
 
EARL OF DORSET. 1 : I 
 
 man, fays of him, “ Never was there any no- 
 ™ bleman with more humble agnizing, with 
 « more feeling and affectionate greatnefs. 
 « Who more loving to his wife ? that ho- 
 <( norable lady, the mirror of all true virtue. 
 <f W r ho more kind to his children ? Who 
 <( more fail to his friend ? Who more true to 
 “ his word ? No nobleman more given to 
 “ hofpitality, his family fometimes confiding 
 “ of 220 perfons. Such was his earned dedre 
 of avoiding the doing of wrong, that he 
 <e bought no land for which he did not pay 
 * c more than its worth, giving as a reafon, 
 <e that it would the better profper and continue 
 <£ in his name and poderity. From his tenants 
 <c he took lefs fines by a third than other lords 
 (t ufually took.” His long, acdive, and labo- 
 rious exertions as a miniber, his munificence 
 as a patron, his hofpitality and generodty, his 
 bncere and warm attachment to his family and 
 friends, his kind and affectionate demeanor to 
 his dependents, fo endeared him to the Queen 
 and to all who had partaken of his benedts, or 
 C a 
 
12 THOMAS SACKVILLE, &C. 
 
 had even heard of his name, that as he lived 
 univerfally beloved and eftcemed, fo the tears 
 and regret of a nation accompanied him to his 
 tomb. 
 
( >3 ) 
 
 ROBERT CECIL, 
 
 EARL OP SALISBURY, 
 
 1550 to 1612, 
 
 Wa S the fecond fon of the great Lord Bur- 
 leigh ; he was deformed from his birth, of a 
 feeble conflitution, and on that account his 
 early education was confined to the houfe of his 
 father, by whom he was thoroughly initiated 
 in the fcience of politics ; he was fent from 
 thence to St. John’s college, Cambridge, where 
 he became a fellow and took his degrees. It 
 is fomewhat furprizing that, with thefe advan- 
 tages, he fhould appear in no public capacity 
 till the age of thirty-five, and then as fecretary 
 of the embaffy to the Earl of Derby, ambafla- 
 dor to France. Leicefter, his father’s enemy, 
 probably impeded his promotion. In 1586, on 
 his return from France, he was knighted, and 
 
14 ROBERT CECIL, 
 
 made under- fecretary of Hate to Sir Francis 
 Wallingham ; at whofe death, in 1 590, he fuc- 
 ceeded as principal fecretary of Hate. His con- 
 duct towards the unfortunate Earl of EHex and 
 Sir Walter Raleigh leaves to poHerity no very 
 favorable imprefiion of his magnanimity, or 
 fenfe of equity. The rath, unguarded warmth 
 of EHex afforded ample fcope for the cool, de- 
 liberate cunning of Cecil, whofe mifreprefenta- 
 tions of Effex’s conduct drove him to thofe 
 acts of defperation that finally brought him to 
 the block. In 1598 he was named ambaffador 
 extraordinary to the King of France, and his 
 father dying at this period, he fucceeded him 
 as firfi minifier. The great objedl of Cecil’s 
 policy was fecuring the throne for James ; in 
 this he fucceeded, and met with fuitable returns 
 from that monarch. It required, however, 
 all his art, and all his fcience in myfierious 
 intrigue, to hide his correfpondence with James 
 from the jealous and watchful eyes of Eliza- 
 beth, who complained, that the profped of fa- 
 vors from her fucceffor had gone far in obli- 
 terating the fenfe of gratitude that Ihe con < 
 
EARL OF SALISBURY. 1 5 
 
 ceived was due to her from her fervants, and 
 fhe reproached Cecil particularly with his neg- 
 ledt of her. 
 
 In 1603, foon after his «acceffion, James cre- 
 ated the minitter, Baron of Effienden ; in the 
 year following, Vifcount Cranbourn ; and in 
 1 605 he was made Earl of Salisbury, knight of 
 the garter, and chancellor of the univertity of 
 Cambridge. lie is faid to have leaned too 
 much to the royal prerogative, and to have 
 fhewn a difpotition bordering on fervility in 
 complying with his matters inclinations : but 
 truth mutt allow him an activity and zeal in 
 the difcharge of the public butinefs that enfured 
 him the etteem both of the nation and of fo- 
 reigners, nor did his too abjedt condefcention 
 to the king’s meafures prevent him from ttre- 
 nuoutly and wifely oppoting the Spanilh con- 
 nection ; and James refpedted him too much 
 to refent it. 
 
 In 1608, on the death of the Earl of Dorfet, 
 Lord Salitbury fucceeded to the office of Lord 
 
i6 
 
 ROBERT CECIL, &C. 
 
 High Treafurer, and in the difcharge of his 
 office he oppofed a juft and laudable aeconomy 
 to the abffird and wild profufion of his mailer. 
 Nor did his arrangements proceed from any 
 narrow views of amaffing a treafure ; but his 
 frugal adminiflration of the finances enabled 
 him to favor ufeful inventions, to promote 
 commerce, encourage the fiffieries, and to of- 
 fer rewards for tilling uncultivated lands. His 
 health declining from his inceffant application 
 to bulinefs, in 1612 he went to Bath, but find- 
 ing little benefit from the waters, he returned 
 and died on the road at Marlborough, June 24, 
 1612. His body was brought to Hatfield, 
 which the King had given him in exchange 
 for Theobalds, and a monument is eredted to. 
 his memory in Hatfield church. 
 
 The Earl of Salifbury left one fon, named 
 William, who fucceeded him in his honors* 
 
( >7 ) 
 
 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, 
 
 *545 t0 * 596 > 
 
 Wa S the ton of Edmund Drake, a mariner, 
 and born near Taviftock in Devonfhire, 1 545 ; 
 he was the eldeft of twelve fons, and placed 
 under the patronage of Captain Hawkins, af- 
 terwards the celebrated admiral, who made him 
 a purfer, and foon after captain of a fhip that 
 went on a voyage to the Gulph of Mexico, 
 where, under the command of Captain Haw- 
 kins, he gallantly didinguifhed himfelf. In 
 1570 he made another voyage to inform himfelf 
 of the ftrength and lituation of fome places in 
 the Spanifh Well Indies, and having acquired 
 the information neceffary for the execution 
 of his plan, he returned, and foon after he, 
 together with his brother John Drake, made 
 a fuccefsful expedition againft the town of Nom- 
 
 D 
 
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 
 
 IS 
 
 bre de Dios and Vera Cruz ; though, however, 
 the complete execution of his plan was in fome 
 meafure fruflrated, he arrived with conliderable 
 booty at Plymouth in 1573. By the means of 
 the Earl of Effex, and Sir Chriflopher Hatton, 
 he was ftrongly recommended to Queen Eliza- 
 beth, who gave him the command of five finall 
 veffels to make difcoveries and annoy the Spa- 
 niards in the South feas. With this little fqua- 
 dron he failed from Plymouth in November, 
 1577, and entered the Streights of Magellan 
 the 20th of Auguft following, from thence 
 coafting along the fhores of Chili and Peru, 
 he reached the latitude of 42 0 north, and at- 
 tempted to find a paffage to the eaflward, but 
 failing, he returned to latitude 38°, and put into 
 a harbour on the north part of California. To 
 this country he gave the name of New Albion, 
 and took poffeffion of it in the Queen’s name. 
 He then croffed the great fouthern ocean, and 
 continuing his courfe by the Cape of Good 
 Hope, arrived fafe at Plymouth in September, 
 1580, having failed round the world in lefs than 
 three years. The Queen gave him a moil gra- 
 
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 
 
 
 cious reception ; vitited him on board his fhip at 
 Deptford, where, after honouring Drake with 
 her company at dinner, the conferred on him the 
 order of knighthood, and gave direction forpre- 
 ferving his fhip as a monument of his own and 
 his country’s glory ; the fhip being, however, 
 decayed, it was, many years after, broke up, and 
 a chair, made of part of the wood, was prefented 
 to the univeriity of Oxford. 
 
 In 1585 he was made an admiral, and two 
 years after burnt 10,000 tons of Spanifh flaip- 
 ping in the bay of Cadiz ; in which expedition 
 he likewife took a Caracca fhip from the Eaft 
 Indies, which capture is faid to have fuggefted 
 the firfl idea of the eftablifhment of our Eaft 
 India Company. Three years after he was 
 appointed vice -admiral, under the Earl of Ef- 
 fingham, and had his full fhare in the defeat 
 of the Spanifh armada. In 1595 he, in con- 
 junction with Sir John Hawkins, failed on an 
 expedition to the Weft Indies, which, not 
 fucceeding, threw Drake into a deep melan- 
 D 2 
 
20 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 
 
 choly, and this, being followed by the bloody 
 flux, terminated his honorable and ufeful life. 
 
 His death was lamented by the whole na- 
 tion, nor was his private character lefs amiable 
 than his public conduCt was glorious. He 
 employed a conliderable fhare of the riches ac- 
 quired from the Spaniards, in conveying a 
 ftream, to fupply Plymouth with frefh water, 
 the dihance of twenty miles, and exerted him- 
 felf in the noble 11 manner in the encouragement 
 of navigation and commerce. 
 
 His llature was low but well fet, his eyes 
 large, his complexion fair, and his countenance 
 open, cheerful, and engaging. His temper was 
 fomewhat hafly, but he was a heady friend, 
 and a liberal benefactor. As he left no iflue, 
 his ehate defcended to his brothers fon Fran- 
 cis, who was created a baronet by James I, 
 
( S' ) 
 
 DON JOHN of AUSTRIA, 
 
 1547 to 1578, 
 
 ONE of the greateft captains of the lixteenth 
 century, was the natural foil of the Emperor 
 Charles V. tie was born at Ratilbon, 1547, 
 and was brought up fecretly in the country, by 
 the wife of Louis Quixade, chief mailer of the 
 houfehold to the Emperor. The circumilance 
 of his birth was not known till a little before 
 the Emperor’s death, who then difclofed it to 
 his fon Philip II. ; in confequence of this dif- 
 clofure, Don John was educated at the court 
 of Madrid, and was fent in 1570 againil the 
 Moors, in the kingdom of Grenada ; he was 
 victorious in this expedition ; and the next year 
 gained the famous battle of Lepanto, in which 
 upwards of 20,000 Turks perifhed ; immediate- 
 ly after this memorable victory, he made himfelf 
 mailer of Tunis and Biferta ; and was ap- 
 
22 
 
 DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. 
 
 pointed, in 1576, governor of the Low Coun- 
 tries, where he conquered Namur, and feveral 
 other places, and at Gemblours beat the allied 
 armies in 1578. He died the fame year in his 
 camp near Namur, aged 32 years. 
 
WILLIAM CECIL, 
 
 LORD BURLEIGH, 
 
 1521 to 1-598, 
 
 Was the Ton of Richard Cecil, groom of the 
 robes, yeoman of the wardrobe to Henry VIIL 
 and fheriff of Northamptonfhire ; he was fent 
 early to Cambridge and from thence to Gray’s 
 Inn. He married in his twentieth year a filler 
 of Sir John Cheek, tutor to Edward VI. and 
 after her death, a daughter of Sir Anthony 
 Cook ; his marriages did not prevent him fol- 
 lowing the fiudy of the law with great ardor 
 and affiduity, and he foon raifed himfelf to 
 eminence in his profefiion. When the Duke 
 of Somerfet was made protestor, he took 
 Cecil into his family, and firfl made him a 
 m after of requefts, in the next year cuilos bre- 
 vium, in the third cuftos rotulorum for the 
 county of Lincoln, and lafily fecretary of fiate. 
 
24 WILLIAM CECIL, 
 
 At the death of the King, he was one of Lady 
 Jane Grey’s privy council, notwithitanding 
 which. Queen Mary fo curbed her vindictive 
 fpirit as far as related to him, that the fre- 
 quently confulted him, nor was he lefs refpected 
 by her minifters for his wifdom and virtue. 
 On the acceffion of Elizabeth, he was again 
 appointed fecretary of hate, and nnanimoufly 
 elected chancellor of the univerfity of Cam- 
 bridge. During the whole of the reign of 
 Elizabeth, Burleigh uniformly retained his mif- 
 trefs’s favour ; his advice was always the refult 
 of mature experience : equally eircumfpect and 
 moderate was the plan he propofed for the fet- 
 tlement of religion ; rejecting abfurd and fuper- 
 titious ceremonies, while he retained whatever 
 was neceffary to the fupport of decency and 
 good order ; the regulation of a debated coin, 
 an undertaking both arduous and politic ; the 
 protecting the reformed church in Scotland and 
 in France ; the Queen’s prudent and guarded 
 conduct towards Spain, (the refult of Burleigh’s 
 councils) are all fufficient proofs of his political 
 lagacity. The Queen in 1571 created him 
 
 1 
 
LORD BURLEIGH. 
 
 a 5 
 
 Baron Burleigh, foon after the fuppreffion of 
 the northern rebellion, which was chiefly effec- 
 ted by the prudent meafures of Cecil. Leicefter, 
 Sir Thomas Throgmorton, and the Spanifli 
 ambaffador, were his inveterate enemies ; the 
 latter carried his vindictive fpirit fo far, as to 
 hire affaflins to take away his life, for which 
 bafe plot the Queen ordered him to quit the 
 kingdom. In 1572 Burleigh was made knight 
 of the garter ; and foon after, on the death of 
 the Marquis of Winchefter, lord high treafurer. 
 There is little doubt but the fate of Mary Queen 
 of Scots is principally to be attributed to him, 
 and there is as little doubt but that he adted in 
 perfect conformity to Elizabeth’s withes, though 
 potlibly without the fan&ion of her pofltive 
 commands ; for notvvithftanding all her fhew of 
 immoderate grief and' indignation at the pro- 
 ceeding, Burleigh after a thort interval was 
 retlored to his wonted credit and influence. 
 In 3588 he drew up the plan of defence againtl 
 the Spanith armada. Every thing, indeed, 
 that related to the flate either originated or 
 centered in his councils; all degrees of people 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 WILLIAM CECIL} 
 
 addreffed themfelves to him ; high churchmen 
 for patronage, Puritans for protection, fugitives 
 for pardon, lieutenants of counties for infrac- 
 tions, and the lord high admiral for fupplies, 
 nor was any application ever made to him that 
 was not conlidered and anfwered ; his favourite 
 maxim was, u that the fhortefl way to do many 
 (( things was to do only one thing at once.” 
 The laft and not the leaf glorious aft of his life 
 was making peace with Spain. He died Au- 
 guft 4, 1 598 , with great ferenity, in the midft 
 of his children, friends, and fervants, aged fe- 
 venty-feven years. 
 
 His perfon was agreeable, his countenance 
 florid, the hair of his head and beard perfe6tly 
 white, his temper ferene and cheerful ; his 
 mode of living was generous and hofpitable, at 
 the expenfe in his family of thirty pounds a 
 week in his abfence, and from forty to fifty 
 when prefent ; he had all his children and their 
 defeendants ufually at his table ; whomfoever 
 he converfed with, it was always on the foot- 
 ing of equality, and no one left his company 
 
LORD BURLEIGH. 
 
 2 7 
 
 but with praife of his eafe and affability ; this 
 condefcending behaviour he pracftifed even to- 
 wards his fervants, and would talk with the 
 country people on their own affairs in their 
 own manner ; he ufed to ride on a little mule 
 about his gardens at Theobalds, and amufe 
 himfelf as a fpedfator of the paflimes of others, 
 but never joined in them. His numerous de- 
 pendants, his equipages, his fplendid tables, 
 were all the effedls of his fenfe of propriety, 
 but not of his inclination ; for no man more 
 anxioufly courted privacy, nor was any one 
 better qualified to enjoy it. He left a great 
 efiate {amounting to 4000/. per annum in land, 
 and 2 5,000/. in effe6ts) to his polferity, and to 
 his eternal honour, not a fingle a£t of in- 
 juflice or oppreffion was urged againfl him 
 throughout the whole of his long and wife ad-? 
 miniflration. 
 
( ^ ) 
 
 ROBERT DUDLEY,. 
 
 EARL OF LEICESTER, 
 
 1532 to 15SS, 
 
 Was fon of John, Duke of Northumber- 
 land, and born anno 1532; he was admitted 
 early into the fervice and favour of Edward VL 
 but with the reft of his family fell into difgrace 
 at the acceftion of Mary ; no fooner, however, 
 did Elizabeth fucceed, than he was received 
 at court as a principal favourite ; in a fhort 
 Ipace he was mailer of the horfe, knight of the 
 garter, and privy-counfellor, and was propofed 
 by Elizabeth, (though probably not ferioufly,) 
 as a proper huiband for the Queen of Scots, 
 an offer, which was generally thought to have 
 been made, to afford Elizabeth an excufe for 
 taking him herfelf ; the death of Dudley’s lady 
 at this period gave rife to many dark fufpicions 
 
ROBERT DUDLEY, &C. 
 
 29 
 
 fhe was conduced by her hufband to the houfe 
 of a domeftic at Cumnor, in Berkfhire, where, 
 as it was faid, after fome attempts to poifon her 
 had proved inefficacious, fhe was firft firangled, 
 and then thrown from a high flair cafe, that 
 her death might appear to have been occafioned 
 by the fall. In 1 564, he was created Baron Den- 
 bigh, and Earl of Leicefler, and elected chancel- 
 lor of the univerfity of Oxford ; about this time, 
 he married the dowager Baronefs of Sheffield, 
 but afterwards, fearing it would occafion the 
 diminution of his influence over Elizabeth, he 
 exerted himfelf by various means to induce his 
 lady to defifl from her pretentions ; finding her, 
 however, immoveable, he recurred to his former 
 expedient of poifon, which the flrong conflitu- 
 tion of the lady fo far refitted as to enable her 
 to efcape with the lofs of her hair and nails ; 
 fhe had a fon whom Leicefler called his bafe 
 fon, but to whom he left the bulk of his for- 
 tune. In 1575, the Queen paid him a vifit at 
 Kenilworth, where he entertained her feventeen 
 days at the expenfe of 60,000 /. At this period 
 
ROBERT DUDLEY, 
 
 30 
 
 appeared a pamphlet written with great force, 
 entitled, A Dialogue between a Scholar, a Gen- 
 tleman, and a Lawyer, in which the whole of 
 Leicefter’s condudt was inveiligated with equal 
 truth and bitternefs ; the Queen herfelf caufed 
 letters to be written from the privy-council, 
 denying the charges, and vindicating her favou- 
 rite’s innocence ; the pamphlet, however, was 
 not the lefs read nor credited. 
 
 In 1585, he was fent as generaliffimo to the 
 the Low Countries, where his condu6t was fuch 
 a tiffbe of infolence and caprice, that he was 
 recalled, but loft nothing in his miftrefs’s favour, 
 who confulted him on the arduous affair of 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, and it is reported his 
 advice was to have recourfe to his old expedient 
 poifon. 
 
 Lie died in September 1588, after having been 
 appointed lieutenant general under the Queen, 
 of the army aftembled at Tilbury. With one 
 of the blackeft hearts this man affe&ed great 
 
EARL OP LEICESTER. 
 
 3 * 
 
 regularity in religious duties ; lie was tho- 
 roughly converfant in the Latin and Italian 
 languages, fpoke well, and wrote at lead equal 
 to any man of his time. 
 
( 3 1 ) 
 
 RICHARD BANCROFT, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 1544 [p 4610, 
 
 Wa S the fon of Mr. John Bancroft, ana 
 born at Farnworth in Lincolnfhire, in Septemr 
 her, 1 544 ; he was educated at Chrifl’s college, 
 Cambridge, and took his degree of A. M. at 
 Jefus college, in the fame univerlity, in 1570 ; 
 in 1597, he was made chaplain to Whitgift, 
 Archbifhop of Canterbury, and was advanced 
 the fame year to the fee of London ; the arch- 
 bifhop declining in health and years, almofl 
 the entire management of church affairs was 
 delegated to Bancroft. In the beginning of 
 James’s reign, he was prefent at the famous 
 conference at Hampton Court, between the 
 bifhops and prefbyterian miniflers ; during the 
 debate, the chancellor taking occafion to argue 
 
 1 
 
RICHARD BANCROFT, &C. 33 
 
 againft pluralities, and exprefling his defire, 
 that fome u clergymen miglot have Jingle coats before 
 others had doublets .” Bancroft replied, “ I com- 
 cc mend your maxim , but a doublet is neceffary in cold 
 “ weather” Whitgift dying in 1 603, the 
 Bifhop of London fucceeded him, and at the 
 death of the Earl of Dorfet, he was chofen 
 chancellor of the univerfity of Oxford. In 
 1610, he propofed to parliament a plan for the 
 better maintenance of the clergy, but ineffec- 
 tually ; the building at Chelfea, now appropria- 
 ted for the reception of invalid foldiers, was like- 
 wife firif fet on foot by him, as an inffitution for 
 fiudents in polemical divinity. He died in 
 1610, and left his library to the Archbifhops of 
 Canterbury for ever. He was a flritd difcipli- 
 narian, an excellent preacher, an acute difpu- 
 tant, a vigilant governor of the church, and 
 filled the fee of Canterbury with great reputa* 
 tion. 
 
 F 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 THOMAS CRANMEE, 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OP CANTERBURY, 
 
 1489 to 1555,. 
 
 Was the fon of Thomas Cranmer, Efq. and 
 born at Afladton in Nottinghamfhire, 1489 ; 
 at the age of fifteen he went to Jefus college, 
 Cambridge, of which he became fellow, but 
 marrying he loft his fellowfhip ; he was re-ad- 
 mitted on the death of his wife ; the immediate 
 caufe of his advancement was the opinion he 
 gave on Henry VUIth’s divorce, which opinion 
 being made known to the King, he was ordered 
 to write on the fubjedt, and foon after was fent 
 to Italy and France to difcufs this important 
 queftion. On the death of Warham in 1532,. 
 he was made Archbifhop of Canterbury, which 
 dignity he at firft refufed, unlefs it fhould be 
 conferred on him without the Pope’s interpo- 
 
THOMAS CRANMER, &C. 35 
 
 fition ; the enfuing year he pronounced the 
 fentence of divorce between Henry and Catha- 
 rine, and married the King to Anne Boleyn. 
 He firft procured the Bible to he tranflated into 
 Englifh. He forwarded the diffolution of mo- 
 naltries ; abolifhed the fuperilitious obfervance 
 of holidays, and ilrenuoutly oppofed the a6t of 
 the tix articles ; he likewife endeavoured to re- 
 form the canon law, but this attempt mifcar- 
 ried through the machinations of Gardiner ; 
 and on Henry’s deceafe, he was conflituted one 
 of the regents of the kingdom : through Ed- 
 ward’s fhort reign Cranmcr never remitted his 
 exertions for the eftablithment of the reforma- 
 tion ; he procured the repeal of the lix arti- 
 cles ; recommended frequent preaching ; reviled 
 the ecclelialtic doctrines and difcipline ; and 
 ufed his utmoft endeavours to prevent the 
 church revenues from being parcelled out among 
 the courtiers. At Edward’s deceafe he elpoufed 
 the interell of Lady Jane Gray ; for this, and the 
 leading part he had taken in eltablifhing the re- 
 formed religion, he was immediately marked out 
 as an object of Queen Mary’s vengeance, and 
 
 F 2 
 
3 6 
 
 THOMAS CRANMER, 
 
 though on his fubmiffion, he was pardoned foT 
 his politics, nothing could atone for his conduct 
 with refpetd to religion ; he, together with Rid^ 
 ley and Latimer, was condemned for herefy ; 
 and though in clofe cuftody, cited to appear 
 at Rome; on his non-appearance, Bonner 
 and Thirlby were ordered to degrade him, 
 this was done with every aggravation of infult 
 and indignity he was next thrown into a dun- 
 geon, and there, through flatteries, promifes, 
 and the fear of death, he gave way to the frailty 
 of human nature, and figned his renunciation 
 of the proteflant doctrines. It was, however, 
 perfectly incompatible with the Queen’s natural 
 difpofition, or her bigotted prejudices, to fhew 
 mercy to a heretic ; his recantation was circu- 
 lated through the kingdom in order to mortify 
 and degrade him in the eyes of the nation. A 
 writ was fent for his execution at Oxford ; he 
 was burned before Baliol college, firft thrufting 
 the hand into the flames which had figned his 
 renunciation, crying out frequently, “ this hand 
 hath offended, this unworthy hand,” and died 
 
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 37 
 
 calmly and refolutely, maintaining the protef- 
 tant tenets to his latl breath, March 21, 1554. 
 
 Thus fell Cranmer, the greated ornament, 
 and the firmed fupport of the reformed religion ; 
 meek, candid, learned, and pious ; the patron 
 of men of fcience, and the warm encourager of 
 merit wherever he found it. It mud, how- 
 ever, be confefled, that it will not be eafy to 
 juhify his fuggeding to Edward VI. the profe- 
 cution of a man for his religious opinions, nor 
 the extreme flexibility of his conduct in con- 
 currence with Henry’s withes to divorce Catha- 
 rine ; we can only lament, that a character fo 
 exalted in mod other retpedls, fhould be foiled 
 by blemifhes of a kind that admit of no exte- 
 nuation. 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 ADMIRAL BLAKE, 
 
 1598 to 1659, 
 
 WAS the fon of a merchant at Bridgewater, 
 and born there in the year 1598. He was fent 
 early to Oxford, where he took a bachelor’s 
 degree. He had diftinguifhed himfelf for ar- 
 raigning, in a bold and blunt manner, the 
 feverity of Archbifhop Laud’s difcipline ; and 
 was eledled by the Puritan party member for 
 Bridgewater in 1 640. At the breaking out of 
 the civil war, he declared for the parliament, 
 and diflinguifhed himfelf at the liege of Briftol, 
 and many parts in the well ; notwithfianding 
 this, he firmly oppofed the King’s trial. After 
 the death of the monarch, he was appointed to 
 the command of the fleet, and blocked up 
 Prince Rupert, in Kinfale harbour, for four 
 months. The Prince at length forced his way 
 
 1 
 
ADMIRAL BLAKE. 
 
 39 
 
 out, with the lofs of three fhips, and took thel- 
 ter at Liibon, where Blake followed him, and, 
 on the King of Portugal’s giving orders for the 
 Prince’s prote&ion, Blake, by way of retalia- 
 tion, took a large fleet bound from Brazil 
 richly laden ; the Prince at length efcaped from 
 the Tagus, and got into the port of Malaga, 
 where his whole fleet, except two fhips, were 
 taken or deflroyed by the Britifli admiral, who, 
 on his return, received the thanks of the par- 
 liament, and was made warden of the Cinque 
 Ports. In 1652 he reduced the ifle of Guern- 
 fey, which, till then, had held out for the 
 King. 
 
 In the enfuing year the war broke out be- 
 tween the two commonwealths of England and 
 Holland ; Van Tromp, De Ruyter, and De 
 Witt commanding the Dutch, and Blake the 
 Englifh fleet ; and as an inftance how much 
 lefs deftru&ive the fea-fights of thofe days were, 
 when compared to our modern engagements, 
 thefe gallant admirals fought upwards of five 
 hours in the Downs, with the lofs of only fif- 
 
4 ° 
 
 ADMIRAL BLAKE. 
 
 teen men on the tide of the Englifh. Some 
 fublequent actions, indeed, were more bloody, 
 and with various fuccefs, till the Dutch were 
 completely defeated off Calais, in June 1652. 
 Blake’s name was equally terrible to the Spa- 
 niards, whole harbours he infulted and burned 
 their fleets, particularly a large one, confuting 
 of men of war and rich merchant fhips, in the 
 port of Santa Cruz, in 16 57. All the piratical 
 Hates of the Mediterranean flood in awe of his 
 prowefs ; the Dey of Tunis, venturing to refufe 
 the fatisfaction Blake required of him, was redu- 
 ced to the humiliation of feeing his caflles de- 
 ftroyed, and his fleet burnt in the harbour. At 
 length his conflitution being worn out by long 
 and hard fervices, he yielded to the dropfy and 
 fcurvy, and died on board the St. George as he 
 was entering Plymouth Sound, in 1659, aged 
 fifty-nine years ; and was, by Cromwell’s order, 
 buried with great pomp in Henry the Seventh’s 
 chapel in Weftminfter Abbey. At the Reftora- 
 tion, however, his body was taken up by the 
 
ADMIRAL BLAKE. 
 
 41 
 
 cxprefs command of Charles II. and thrown 
 into a pit in St. Margaret’s church-yard. 
 
 Blake was the firtt feaman who brought fhips 
 to contemn cattles on thore, and afforded in 
 himfelf a wonderful inttance that the naval 
 fcience might be learned in much lefs time 
 than is generally imagined, as he ferved feveral 
 years in the army, and was far advanced in life 
 before he commenced the profetlion of a fea- 
 man. 
 
 G 
 
( 4 * ) 
 
 SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE, 
 
 1536 to 1590, 
 
 Wa S the defcendant of a reputable family, 
 and born in 1536. His education was at 
 King’s college, Cambridge, from whence his 
 friends fent him into foreign parts, where his 
 relidence probably prevented him falling a 
 victim to the bigotted zeal of Queen Mary. 
 On the acceffion of Elizabeth he returned. 
 His political information, his clear and exten- 
 live knowledge in the legitlations, manners, 
 and cuftoms of the different nations of Eu- 
 rope, could not fail of attracting Sir Wil- 
 liam Cecil’s notice, who foon employed him, 
 as the Queen’s ambaffador in France ; on his 
 return, he was, on Cecil’s promotion, made 
 fecretary of Hate, in which fituation he dif- 
 
SIR FRANCIS W ALSIN GHAM, &C. 43 
 
 played eminent fagacity in unravelling domeftic 
 confpiracies, and diving into the fecret deligns 
 of the principal powers of Europe. In 1578 he 
 was fent to Holland, and was very inftrumental 
 in the formation of the alliance of the Seven 
 Provinces, filled the union of Utrecht ; on 
 his return he was fent ambaffador again to 
 France to negotiate the marriage between the 
 Queen and the Duke of Anjou, but Henry III. 
 rejected the propofals, and the delign was relin- 
 quifhed. On every occalion where political fkill 
 and penetration were neceffary, Wallingham 
 was ufually employed ; and, as one eminently 
 qualified in thefe points, he was difpatched 
 into Scotland with the double view of removing 
 the Earl of Arran from James’s confidence, and 
 of afcertaining the real character of the Scottifh 
 king ; his literature could not fail to recommend 
 him to James’s attention, as it gave the King 
 an opportunity of difplaying his own range 
 of fcholafiic learning. When Walfingham 
 had finifhed his errand, his fagacity was next 
 fuccefsfully employed in unravelling Babing- 
 ion’s plot againft Elizabeth’s life. Nor was it 
 G 2 
 
44 SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, 
 
 lefs to the honour of his virtue and humanity 
 that he drenuoudy oppofed Leceider’s with ta 
 dedroy the Queen of Scots by poifon. When the 
 immenfe preparations were made in Spain, for 
 the invadon of England, in 1587, and the ob- 
 je6t of the armament was ftill a matter of doubt, 
 this fubtle fiatefman left no means unemployed 
 to make himfelf matter of that fecret; and found 
 that the King of Spain had written a letter with 
 his own hand to the Pope, explaining the detign 
 of his preparations, and begging his holinefs’s 
 bleffing on the enterprize ; this letter, by the af- 
 fiftance of a Venetian pried, Wallingham ob- 
 tained a copy of, the pried having bribed a gen- 
 tleman of the Pope’s bedchamber to deal the key 
 of his holinefs’s cabinet, while he dept, which 
 put the pried in podedion of the original letter. 
 In confequence of this information, he caufed the 
 Spanifh bills to be proteded at Genoa, which 
 city was to have fupplied them with money for 
 their preparations, and thus happily retarded 
 the accomplifhment of the dedgn for a whole 
 year. This, I believe, was the lad public 
 tranfaction of importance that he was engaged 
 
SECRETARY OF STATE. 45 
 
 in. It mu ft not, however, be omitted that he 
 was an active promoter of the navigation and 
 commerce of his country both as a minifter 
 and as a private individual ; fo liberal was he 
 ever of his purfe, in the encouragement of all 
 meafures tending to the national advantage, 
 that to this, and not to any profufion in his 
 domeftic expenfes, may be afcribed his dying 
 fo poor, as not to leave money fufticient to de- 
 fray the charges of his funeral. He died in 
 1590 5 an d though the above circumftance at- 
 tending his death might imprefs us with a juft 
 fenfe of the minifter’s diiintereftednefs, it cer- 
 tainly gives us no very exalted idea of his royal 
 miftrefs’s munificence. 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 CHARLES HOWARD, 
 
 EARL OP NOTTINGHAM, LORD HIGH ADMIRAL,, 
 1536 to 1603, 
 
 Wa S the fon of Thomas Howard, Lord 
 Effingham. He was born in 1536, and was 
 bred to the fea fervice under his father, who 
 was likewife Lord High Admiral. As early 
 as the age of twenty-three, the Queen fent him 
 ambaffador to Charles IX. and, on his return, 
 made him general of horfe, in which capacity 
 he fignalized himfelf in fuppreffing the rebel- 
 lion raifed by the Earls of Northumberland 
 and Weffinoreland ; and on the death of the 
 the Earl of Lincoln, 1585? he was appointed 
 Lord High Admiral. Never was a time that 
 called for exertion of great talents more than 
 this period. Philip II. had planned his gi- 
 gantic enterprize to enflave England, and fub- - 
 
CHARLES HOWARD, &C. 
 
 47 
 
 vert the proteftant religion, he had likewife the 
 pope’s fan6tion to take pofleffion of Elizabeth’s 
 crown, fhe having been depofed by the bulls of 
 Popes Pius and Gregory XIII. The Englifh fleet 
 was in a very humble flate, twenty-feven fhips, 
 none exceeding ioo tons, made the whole of its 
 force ; by the exertions of the HighAdmiral, the 
 mafculine a&ivity of the Queen, and the zea- 
 lous loyalty of the public, this number was 
 increafed to forty-three completely armed and 
 victualled, before the arrival of the Spanifh 
 armada. This immenfe armament appeared 
 off Plymouth, July 19, 1588 ; Lord Efflngham 
 fuffered them to pafs him, and then fell on 
 the rear ; the difference was not greater in 
 the number than in the fize of the veffels: 
 the Spanifh were large and heavy, and obeyed 
 their helms with difficulty ; the Englifh were 
 comparatively fmall, but had every advantage 
 in activity, failing, and fleering. The prudent 
 Effingham availed himfelf of this fuperiority ; 
 he, with his gallant feconds, Drake, Haw- 
 kins, and Frobifher, harraffed them from Ply- 
 mouth to the Streights of Calais, where, as the 
 
 I 
 
48 
 
 CHARLES HOWARD, 
 
 Spaniards lay at anchor, the Englifh admiral 
 fent eight of his fhips, filled with combuftibles, 
 amongft them in the night, this (the firft at- 
 tempt of the kind) had the defired effect ; in a 
 fhort fpace all was difmay and confufion, fome 
 blew up, others cut their cables and ran out 
 to fea, and fo complete was their difperfion, 
 that their dreams of conqueft gave way to pro- 
 viding for their own fafety ; this they attempted 
 by endeavouring to run to the northward of the 
 ifland, but ftorms and defeats fo thinned their 
 numbers and humbled their arrogance, that 
 out of 130 fail only fifty-four arrived in Spain. 
 After this glorious victory, to which the a6tive 
 valour, cool judgment, and inventive genius, 
 of the Lord High Admiral had fo eminently 
 contributed, he was received by the Queen 
 and the nation with every mark of honour and 
 applaufe. His next important fervice was the 
 conqueft of Cadiz, in 1596, for which he was 
 created (as his patent fpecified) Earl of Not- 
 tingham ; hence originated the quarrel between 
 him and the Earl of Effex ; and here the hero 
 gave way to the fubtle, jealous, relentlefs cour-* 
 
EARL OP NOTTINGHAM. 
 
 49 
 
 tier. There is too much reafon to believe that 
 the ring which Elizabeth gave Effex, to be ufed 
 as a pledge of fubmiffive affection whenever 
 the violence of his temper might have hurried 
 him into fuch a6ls that fhould excite the 
 Queen’s indignation ; there are grounds, I fay, 
 to believe, that this token of affe&ion and re- 
 pentance was flopped in its way to Elizabeth 
 by the machinations of the Earl of Notting- 
 ham. 
 
 After the death of the Queen, which the 
 above circumflance was generally luppofed to 
 have accelerated, the Earl was Lord High 
 Steward at the coronation of James I. He was 
 likewife fent on an embaffy to Spain ; on his 
 return, he religned his office of Lord High 
 Admiral to Villiers, duke of Buckingham ; and 
 died at his feat in the country in 1624. 
 
 H 
 
( 5 ° ) 
 
 ALEXANDER FARNESE, 
 
 PUKE OF PARMA AND PLACENTIA, 
 
 1546 to 1592, 
 
 Wa S the ton of OCtavius Farnefe, duke 
 of Parma, and of Margaret, natural daughter 
 of the Emperor Charles V. He was educated 
 at the court of his uncle Philip II. and was 
 prefent at the memorable battle of Lepanto at 
 the early age of eighteen, where he conduced 
 himfelf with fo much courage and prudence, 
 that Don John of Auflria, who commanded 
 there, declared he would one day make a great 
 officer. At this time the Netherlands, grievoufly 
 opprefied by the tyranny and bigotry of Phi- 
 lip II. were in a flate of infurreCtion, Margaret, 
 the mother of Farnefe, was governefs, and if her 
 lenient meafures had not been counteracted by 
 the furious and abfurd policy of Philip, it is pro- 
 
ALEXANDER FARNESE, &C. $1 
 
 bable that the provinces would have been redu- 
 ced to obedience ; but the Duke of Alva, the 
 worthy delegate of fo inflexible a tyrant, would 
 Men to no propofals but fuch as coincided with 
 his fanguinary and mercilefs difpofition. In this 
 Hate of things, after Don John of Auftria had 
 fruitlefly endeavoured to eflablifh order, the 
 Duke of Parma fucceeded him in the govern- 
 ment, in 1578 : his military achievements were 
 brilliant ; he conquered Artois, Hainault, Brabant 
 and Flanders ; he laid fiege to Antwerp, which 
 he reduced after a year’s refiftance ; and pro- 
 bably would have accomplifhed the total fubjec- 
 tion of the Low Countries, if Philip had not very 
 impoliticly withdrawn him to take part with the 
 leaguers in France ; he there met with a repulfe, 
 and making an excellent retreat through Cham- 
 pagne, in the face of a fuperior army under Hen- 
 ry IV. he was wounded, and died at Arras, 1592, 
 aged forty-fix years ; and to the triumph of bi- 
 gotry, fuch influence had the fpirit of the times 
 over fo vigorous a mind, that he gave orders for 
 his interment at Parma in the habit of a Capuchin. 
 
 H 2 
 
( 5* ) 
 
 HENRY op LORRAIN, 
 
 DUKE OF GUISE, SURNAMED BALAFRe', 
 i 550 to 1588. 
 
 Henry of Lorrain, one of the handfometly 
 wittiefl, moil courageous, and eloquent men 
 of his time, was the eldeft fon of Francis, Duke 
 of Guife, and born in .1550 : as foon as he was 
 able to bear arms, he ferved in Hungary and in 
 France, and gave unqueftionable proofs of his 
 valour and capacity ; at the famous battle of 
 Jarnac, in 1569, he commanded the rear guard ; 
 and fome time after, in an adlion near Chateau 
 Thierry, he received a defperate wound in the 
 cheek, which was the caufe of his being ever 
 after known by the diflindlive epithet Balafre. 
 The elegance of his perfon, and his brilliant 
 qualities, engaged the affedtions of Madame 
 Margaret of France ; but Charles IX. whole 
 
HENRY OF LORRAIX, &CC* 
 
 53 
 
 objedt was to marry that princefs to the King 
 of Navarre, determined, in order to remove all 
 obdacles, that Guife fhould be afTaffinated ; the 
 Duke having notice of the King’s intention, to 
 appeafe his anger, and to evade the threatened 
 blow, married Catharine of Cleves, daughter of 
 the Duke of Nevers, and immediately after put 
 himfelf at the head of the army of the celebrated 
 league which had been projedted by his uncle 
 the Cardinal of Lorrain ; after having obtained 
 many iignal advantages over the Calvinids, an 
 over-weening confcioufnefs of his own merits, 
 prompted him to demand fuch returns for his fer- 
 vices, that Henry III. indignantly ordered him to 
 quit Paris ; he obeyed, but foon re-entered in 
 triumph, and forced the monarch in his turn to 
 flee from his capital ; the King reduced to yield 
 to fuperior force, had recourfe to the bafe and 
 horrid refolution to procure the Duke’s affafli- 
 nation ; under the pretence, therefore, of ad- 
 jufting the grounds of quarrel betwixt them, 
 he fignified his defire to hold a friendly confe- 
 rence with the Duke at Blois, where the dates 
 were then held ; the day after his arrival, Guife 
 
HENRY OF LORRAIN, &C. 
 
 54 
 
 was murdered as he was entering the room 
 where the King held his court ; the Cardinal of 
 Guife, his brother, fhared the fame fate the 
 next day, and likewife by the royal command : 
 thefe vile deeds were perpetrated December 23 
 and 24, 1588, when the Duke was in the 
 thirty- eighth year of his age. 
 
CHARLES op LORRAIN. 
 
 DUKE OF GUISE, 
 1571 to 1640, 
 
 WA S the eldefl fon of Balafre, and was horn 
 in 1571 ; he was arretted on the day his father 
 was aflaflinated, and confined many years in 
 the cattle of T ours ; he made his efcape from 
 this confinement in 1591, and was received at 
 Paris with fuch demon fixations of joy by the 
 leaguers, that it was fuppofed they would have 
 raifed him to the throne, but for the jealoufy of 
 his uncle the Duke of Mayenne. Three years 
 after he fubmitted himfelf to Henry IV. and 
 obtained from that monarch the government of 
 Provence : under Lewis XIII. likewife he was 
 intrutted with high military employments; but 
 the Cardinal Richelieu, who looked with a jealous 
 eye on the power and authority of the houfe 
 
5 « 
 
 CHARLES OF LORRAIN, &C. 
 
 of Gnife, drove him from his commands, and 
 obliged him to retire to Cuna in the Siennois, 
 where he died, in 1640. He married Henrietta 
 Catharine de Joyeufe, and left feveral children. 
 Marechal de Baffompiere has written a fine 
 panegyric on this prince. 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 JOHN FISHER, 
 
 BISHOP OP ROCHESTER, 
 
 *459 to J 535> 
 
 Was born at Beverley in Yorkshire, in 
 1459 ; his father was a merchant, who dying 
 early in life, the fon by the care of his mother 
 was firft fent to Beverley fchool, and thence to 
 Cambridge, where he became fellow of Tri- 
 nity college, and proctor of the univerhty in 
 1495 : his reputation for learning and piety 
 recommended him to Margaret, countefs of 
 Richmond, mother of Henry VII. who made 
 him her confeffor, and committed herfelf en- 
 tirely to his direction ; by his counfel that 
 princefs laid the foundations of thofe fuperb 
 edifices, St. John’s and Chrifl’s colleges, Cam- 
 bridge ; eftablifhed the divinity profefforfhip 
 in both univerlities ; and did many other a< 5 !s 
 I 
 
58 
 
 JOHN FISHER, 
 
 for the promotion of fcience and religion. He 
 was made Bifhop of Rochefter, which prefer- 
 ment, though then the pooreft bifhopric in 
 England, he conflantly refufed to change for 
 a wealthier. (c He never would quit his little 
 (e old wife, he faid, for one that was richer.” 
 
 On Luther’s fir ft appearance in 1517, Fifher 
 was one of his mod; zealous opponents ; he 
 likewife adhered fo firmly to the dodtrine of 
 the Pope’s fupremacy, and to the Queen’s caufe 
 in the bufinefs of the divorce, as alienated the 
 King’s favor from him, and finally brought 
 about his ruin : his attachment to truth, or 
 what he conceived to be truth, was fuch, that 
 nothing could induce him to fwerve from its 
 interefls ; the dread of the King’s anger, nor the 
 funfhine of his fmiles, did never, as in Cranmer, 
 in a fingle infiance, either terrify or cajole him 
 into an unworthy adiion. On the fuppreffion 
 of the lefTer monafieries in 1529, the Duke of 
 Norfolk, on fomething that fell from the 
 Bifhop, obferved, “ that the greatejl clerks were 
 <£ not always the wifejl men To which Fifher 
 
BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. 
 
 59 
 
 replied, “ My lord, I do not remember any fools 
 6e in my time that ever proved great clerks .” Soon 
 after he narrowly efcaped being poifoned, and 
 afterwards being fbot in his own houfe : one 
 Roufe had got admiffton into his kitchen, 
 and in the cook’s abfence put poifon in the 
 broth, by fome accident the Bifhop eat none 
 that day, but of feventeen perfons that did, 
 fome died foon after, and the reft never reco- 
 vered their health ; the other efcape was from a 
 cannon ball, which went through his ftudy as 
 he was fitting in it. 
 
 When the great queftion of the King’s fupre- 
 macy was debated in convocation in 1531, the 
 Bifhop fo ftrenuoufly oppofed it, that Henry 
 from that moment determined on his ruin ; 
 and on the oath being offered to him which 
 had been enabled by parliament, in which alle- 
 giance was fworn to the King and his heirs by 
 Anne Boleyn, he refufed to take it, and was in 
 confequence committed to the Tower. Unfor- 
 tunately for him, while in this lituation, Pope 
 Paul III. as a token of his approbation of his 
 
6o 
 
 JOHN . FISHER, 
 
 condin^t, fent him the unfeafonable honor of a 
 cardinal’s hat, and Henry having heard that 
 the Bifhop faid, he Ihould receive it on his 
 knees, exclaimed in a violent paffion, “ Tea , is 
 c( he yet fo lujly ! z veil, let the Pope fend him a hat 
 6i when he will, mother of God, he fhall wear it on 
 ee his Jhoulders tho , for I will leave him never a 
 ee head to Jet it onT As no legal advantage, 
 however, could he taken againft him, he was 
 entrapped by the following treachery : Rich, 
 the folicitor-general, a proper tool for fuch an 
 infamous tranfadtion, was fent under the pre- 
 tence of confulting him as from the King, on 
 the tender point of the fupremacy, with the 
 moll folemn affurances, that no advantage 
 Ihould be taken again!! him for the free deli- 
 very of his opinion, and that he, (the mef- 
 fenger Rich) had authority to engage the King’s 
 honor, that no peril Ihould enfue to him on a 
 candid expolition of his fentiments; Filher 
 was caught in the fnare, and pronounced 
 Henry’s fupremacy to be unlawful. There 
 appears fuch a mixture of fraud, cruelty, and 
 injultice in this proceeding, as would have con- 
 
BISHOP OF ROCHESTER. 
 
 6 1 
 
 taminated the character of even Tiberius him- 
 felf ; yet, of thefe means did a king avail himfelf, 
 to deftroy a virtuous, pious, and learned man ; 
 a king, who under the affectation of fcrupulous 
 morality, indulged himfelf in the moll enor- 
 mous exceffes ; and who, under the pretence 
 of enforcing the metaphylical dogmas of reli- 
 gion, gave way to a furious unrelenting temper, 
 in the perfecution of whatever oppofed his 
 pride or his prejudice. 
 
 The Bilhop was tried, found guilty of high- 
 treafon, and was beheaded, 22 June, 1535, 
 and the next day his head was fet on London 
 bridge. 
 
 I fhall conclude what has been faid of this 
 eminent prelate, by the following quotation 
 from Erafmus : Aut egregie fallor , aut is vir 
 unus efi , cum quo nemo fit hac tempefiate conferen- 
 dus, vel integritate vita, vel eruditione , vel animi 
 magnitudine . 
 
( 6a ) 
 
 JOHN DUDLEY, 
 
 DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, 
 
 Was the fon of Edmund Dudley, one of 
 the infamous agents of Henry VII. By the at- 
 tainder and execution of the father, in 1510, 
 his fon John was deprived of his inheritance, 
 which, however, was retlored to him about four 
 years after by Henry VIII. who likewife created 
 him Lord Dudley, and Vifcount Lifle ; he alfo 
 honored him with feveral employments, which 
 he difcharged to the King’s fatisfadlion. While 
 acting as lieutenant-general under the Earl of 
 Hertford, in Picardy and Scotland, great part 
 of the fuccefs was afcribed to Dudley’s conduct. 
 Afterwards he difhnguilhed himfelf as governor 
 of Boulogne, in repulfing the French who af- 
 laulted the town ; nor was his courage and pru- 
 dence lefs confpicuous in his command of the 
 
 1 
 
JOHK DUDLEY, &C. 
 
 6 3 
 
 fleet ; to thefe qualifications he added the eafy 
 infinuating manners of a courtier : to which, as 
 much as to his intrinfic merit, may be imputed 
 his acquifition of the title of Earl of War- 
 wick- But thefe qualities were ob feu red by 
 vices of the deepeft die : he was ambitious in 
 the extreme, infatiably covetous, a fubverter 
 and contemner of every principle of juftice and 
 even decency. Thefe bafe motives prompted 
 him to the ruin of Lord Seymour, the rafhnefs 
 of whole temper he infidioufly fiimulated to aefis 
 of violence, that by driving him on to his de- 
 firuclion, he might remove one obfiacle, at 
 leafi, to his ambition and aggrandizement. 
 Nor was he lefs active in promoting the down- 
 fall of the protedfor Somerfet. Dudley had 
 been named by Henry VIII. as one of the re- 
 gency during the minority of Edward VI. and 
 was among the firft to delegate the greater 
 part of their joint authority to the Earl of 
 Hertford, the King’s maternal uncle, now cre- 
 ated Duke of Somerfet. This nobleman’s ca- 
 pacity was certainly not equal to his ambition ; 
 and Warwick, in conjunction with Lord South- 
 
64 
 
 JOHN DUDLEY* 
 
 ampton, refolved on his ruin. The nobility 
 were not averfe to the mealure ; they looked 
 on Somerfet as one who encouraged the people 
 to encroach on their privileges. Warwick, 
 therefore, found no great difficulty in removing 
 him from the regency ; content, however, with 
 having humbled fo powerful a rival, he re-ad- 
 mitted him into the council, and even formed 
 an alliance between their families, by marrying 
 his fon. Lord Dudley, to Lady Jane Seymour, 
 Somerfet’s daughter. On the extinction of the 
 title of Earl of Northumberland, by the laft 
 Earl’s dying without blue, and by the attain- 
 der of his brother, the eltate of that family 
 vetted in the crown. Thefe potfeffions, toge- 
 ther with the honor of the dukedom, "W arwick 
 had the addrefs to procure. But neither dignities 
 nor riches could tatisfy his mind, while Somer- 
 fet lived to reproach him with ingratitude, or 
 endanger a participation of his power, as a 
 rival. His death was, therefore, determined on. 
 The unfortunate nobleman was accufed of 
 an attempt to raife infurredlions, and of plot- 
 ting againll Northumberland’s life ; alter a 
 
DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 65 
 
 jpartial trial, he was condemned to death, and 
 care was taken by Northumberland’s emilTaries 
 to exclude every application to the young King 
 in his uncle’s behalf, till their cruel purpofe 
 fhould be accomplifhed. A new expedient 
 was next adopted by the minilier to enfure 
 him a parliament on whofe attachment he could 
 rely ; circular letters were fent through the 
 kingdom, as a fort of conge d' elire , recommend- 
 ing to, or rather commanding, the electors to 
 choofe the perfons the court condefcended to 
 favor. By thefe means a parliament was af- 
 fembled that Ihewed no fcrupuloufnefs in 
 adopting whatever views Northumberland’s 
 pride or avarice fuggelted to him. But the 
 great objebt of his ambition remained yet to be 
 accomplifhed • he had perfuaded the young 
 monarch that as his lifters, Mary and Eliza- 
 beth, were but of the half blood, and had been 
 declared illegitimate by parliament, and that 
 as the Queen of Scots was excluded by the 
 King’s will, the right of fucceffion devolved to 
 the Marchionefs of Dorfet, eldeft daughter to 
 the French Queen, and the Duke of Suffolk, 
 
 K 
 
66 JOHN DUDLEY, 
 
 that the next heir to the marchionefs, was 
 Lady Jane Gray, whofe title might be more' 
 fully eftablifhed by letters patent from the’ 
 King. His next artifice was to procure the 
 dukedom of Suffolk for the Marquis of Dorfet, 
 (two fons of the late duke having died of the 
 fweating ficknefs) and then to gain his confent 
 to the marriage of the Marquis’s daughter, Lady 
 Jane, with Lord Guilford Dudley, Northum- 
 berland’s fourth foil. Nothing now remained 
 but to gain over the council and judges, this, 
 by threats and promifes, at length was accom- 
 plifhed, and he grafped in idea the magnificent 
 reward of the mofl barefaced wickednefs, in 
 conjunction with the darkefl policy. In July 
 1553 Edward died. Every method was purfued 
 by Northumberland to enfure the lucceflion to 
 Lady Jane and his foil ; he marched at the head 
 of 6000 men againll Mary, who had taken up 
 arms in fupport of her pretentions ; but obferv- 
 ing, as he paffed, the difaffedtion of the peo- 
 ple to his caufe, “ Many,” faid he to Lord 
 Grey, “ come out to look at us, but none cry, 
 (e God fpeed you.” His army difperfing, he 
 
DUKE OP NORTHUMBERLAND, 
 
 was feized, and behaved as abje6tly in his ad- 
 verfity as he had been infolent in the zenith of 
 his power. He was executed Auguft 21 , 1553, 
 and as Someriet, the victim of his cruelty and 
 ambition, had been followed to the fcaffold 
 by the tears and bleftings of the people, 
 Northumberland fell unlamented by the fpec- 
 tators, who contidered his punifhment as a due 
 atonement for his wicked ambition, and as a 
 juft retribution for the ignominious death to 
 which he had brought his unhappy rival. 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 GEORGE CLIFFORD, 
 
 EARL OF CUMBERLAND, 
 
 Was defcended from the ancient family of 
 that name, and born at Brougham caftle in 
 Welimoreland, in 1558. He was educated at 
 Cambridge, under the celebrated John Whit- 
 gift, afterwards archbifhop of Canterbury, but 
 the ardour of his mind prompting him to more 
 adtive purfuits than learned leifure or civil oc- 
 cupations prefented to him, he fitted out a fmall 
 fleet, partly for the purpofe of difcovery, and 
 partly with a view to thofe predatory under- 
 takings which fo much characterifed the times 
 he lived in. In the ever-memorable vi&ory 
 over the Spanifh armada in 1588, he was 
 among the firfl to diflinguifh himfelf, and 
 afterwards made ten different voyages to annoy 
 and plunder the Spanifh fettlements ; though 
 
GEORGE CLIFFORD, &C. 
 
 69 
 
 the prizes he took, however, were many and 
 rich, yet by the building and fitting out his 
 fhips, his great expenfes in tilting and horfe- 
 racing, he walled much of his family efiate. 
 Elizabeth feems to have contributed little more 
 than her countenance to any of the charges of 
 the undertakings, as the bountiful donation of 
 a glove, which fhe affedted to drop by accident 
 and which Clifford picked up, appears to be 
 the only gift fhe conferred upon him, this fhe 
 begged him to wear as a mark of her efieem, 
 adapting the prefent at once to his ambition 
 and her own avarice. This glove, ornamented 
 with diamonds, he wore on his high-crowned 
 hat on the days of tournaments. There is a 
 fine print of him, by White, with this decora- 
 tion. He was made knight of the garter in 
 1592, and in 1601 was one of the lords lent 
 to reduce the Earl of Effex to obedience. 
 When the gallant old knight. Sir Henry Lea, 
 with much folemnity religned his office of 
 champion to the Queen, her majefiy conferred 
 the honour on the Earl of Cumberland, and 
 Mr. W alpole has given an entertaining account 
 
7 ° 
 
 GEORGE CLIFFORD, 
 
 of his invefiiture ; the magnificent armour he 
 wore on thefe occafions is now preferred at 
 Appleby cattle. As the qualities, however, 
 that make heroes do not always form them for 
 domeftic happinefs, it appears that he lived 
 with Margaret, his countefs, (from whole pen 
 many writings are extant) in a fiate of cold re- 
 ferve and difunion, and died at the Savoy, in 
 London, in 1605, leaving an only daughter, 
 named Anne, afterwards married to Richard, 
 earl of Dorfet ; this lady appears to have inhe- 
 rited all the high romantic fpirit of her father. 
 It may not be quite foreign to the prefent pur- 
 pofe to repeat here her celebrated anfwer to 
 Sir James Williamfon, fecretary of fiate to 
 Charles II. who had ventured, probably in a 
 dictatorial manner, to recommend a candidate 
 to her for the borough of Appleby. 
 
 “ I HJVE been bullied by an ufurper , 
 ec I have been negledled by a court , but I will not 
 « be dictated to by a fubjeft, your man Jhant Jland. 
 
 Anne, Dorset, Pembroke, 
 and Montgomery. 
 
£ARL OP CUMBERLAND. 71 
 
 Mr. "W alpole fays that this lady wrote me- 
 moirs of her firft hutband, the Earl of Dorfet, 
 but there is reafon to believe he was miftaken ; 
 the left, however, this character of him in wri- 
 ting : 44 This firft lord of mine was, in his own 
 <c nature, of a juft mind, of a fweet difpofition, 
 44 and very valiant in his own perfon ; he had 
 44 great advantage in his breeding by the wif- 
 44 dom and devotion of his grandfather, Tho- 
 4 4 mas Sackville, earl of Dorfet, and lord high 
 
 y O 
 
 44 treafurer, who was one of the wifeft men of 
 44 that time, by which means he was fo good 
 44 a fcholar in all manner of learning, that in 
 44 his youth, when he was in the univerftty of 
 44 Oxford, there were none of the young no- 
 44 bility that excelled him ; he was alfo a good 
 44 patriot to his country, and generally beloved 
 44 in it ; much efteemed of by all the parlia- 
 44 ments that fat in his time ; and fo great a 
 44 lover of fcholars and foldiers, as that with 
 44 an exceftive bounty towards them or indeed 
 44 any of worth that were in diftrefs, he did 
 44 much diminifh his eftate, as alfo with excef- 
 44 five prodigality in houfekeeping, and other 
 
 1 
 
7 a 
 
 GEORGE CLIFFORD, &C, 
 
 “ noble ways at court, as tilting, mafquing, and 
 <{ the like ; Prince Henry being then alive, who 
 u was much addicted to thofe noble exercifes, 
 66 and of whom he was much beloved.” 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 JOHN WICKLIFF, 
 
 1324 to 1384, 
 
 Wa S born in the bifhopric of Durham in 
 1324, and educated at Oxford; be may be 
 conlidered as having prepared the minds of men 
 in fome meafure, for the reformation effedled 
 by Luther 150 years afterward : the feculars of 
 his college chofe him for their head, this choice 
 was oppofed by the monks who efpoufed the 
 interefl of a regular ; WicklifF’s party prevail- 
 ing, drove the monks from the college, who 
 made their appeal to Cardinal Langham ; the 
 cardinal favored their caufe, and ordered 
 Wickliff to retign ; on his refufal, Langham 
 fequeflercd the revenues of the college. The 
 affair was then laid before Pope Urban V. who 
 confirmed the cardinal’s fentence, and ordered 
 Wickliff and his followers to quit the college, 
 
 L 
 
74 JOHN WICKLIFF. 
 
 and make fatisfaction to the monks. He then 
 retired from Oxford to his living of Lutterworth 
 in Leicefterfhire, with his difgrace deeply im- 
 prefled on his mind ; under this impreflion, he 
 fet about inquiring of the origin of the Pope’s 
 authority in temporalities ; thefe inquiries, in 
 fome degree, were countenanced by the king, 
 nobles, and people ; by the king as his power 
 was abridged by eccleliaftic authority, by the 
 nobles who wiftied for a fhare in the church 
 revenues, and by the people to exonerate them- 
 felves of the burthen of Peter’s pence : * the 
 books of Marlilius of Padua, and others, who 
 had written againft the temporal power of the 
 church, furnilhed him with arguments ; thefe he 
 urged in writing and preaching againft the 
 jurifdi6lion of the Pope and the bifhops. As 
 foon as thefe doctrines began to fpread, Simon 
 Sudbury, archbifhop of Canterbury, aflembled 
 a council at Lambeth, and cited WicklifF to 
 appear ; he obeyed ; being accompanied by the 
 Duke of Lancafter, and to this nobleman s pre- 
 fence, more than to his own attempts at juftifi- 
 cation, might he have been probably indebted for 
 
 i 
 
JOHN WICKLIFF. 
 
 75 
 
 Lis acquittal. Pope Gregory, hearing of Wick- 
 liff’s doctrines, wrote to the Englifh bifhopsto 
 cite him again, and at the fame time fent them 
 fome ofhis proportions which his holinefs pro- 
 nounced erroneous ; but the great men and the 
 people flood forward fo flrenuoufly in his behalf, 
 that the churchmen were again foiled, and ven- 
 tured no farther than enjoining him fllence. It 
 may be a matter of curioflty to extra6l fome of the 
 tenets of WicklifF, which Urban condemned, 
 but which, neverthelefs, met with the general 
 aflent of thofe who at that time had ftrength 
 of mind fuflicient to think for themfelves. 
 
 2. Papa Romanus non habet majorem potef- 
 tatem in clavibus ecclefiae quam quifque alius 
 in ordine facerdotis conftitutus. 
 
 5. Evangelium fufficit ad regulandum in 
 vita ifla quemlibet Chriflianum et aliae obfer- 
 vantae addunt nihil plus perfedlionis quam ad- 
 dit albedo parieti. 
 
76 
 
 JOHN WICKLIFF. 
 
 7. Deus non poteft dare homini pro fe et 
 haeredibus fuis perpctuum civile dominium. 
 
 18. Si jura Anglieae effent debite executa, 
 major pars bonorum fortunae in manibus reli- 
 gioforum effent diffoluta. 
 
 27. Decimae funt purae eleemofynae et in 
 cafu quo curati fuerunt mali poflunt licite eas 
 aliis conferre. 
 
 30. Si homo fuerit debite contritus omnis 
 confeffio exterior eft fibi fuperflua et inutilis. 
 
 32. Quod tempore Pauli fufficiebant duo 
 ordines clericorum facerdotes et diaconi. 
 
 39. Populares poffunt ad arbitrium fuum 
 dominos delinquentes corrigere. 
 
 In thefe articles, fays Walfingham, is con- 
 tained a levelling fcheme in church ahd 
 hate ; but others, who fee not with the 
 eyes of Walfingham, may difcover in them the 
 
JOHN WICKLIFF. 
 
 77 
 
 germs of thofe principles, on which Luther 
 afterwards grounded the reformation : the 7th 
 and 39th articles, too, contain truths that are 
 the fundamental maxims of every government, 
 the bails of which is civil libery. 
 
 WicklifF died at his living of Lutterworth, 
 in 1384; and left many books for the eilabliih- 
 ment of his doctrines, hardly any of them, 
 however, have defcended to pofterity; the 
 council of Conftance, aflembled in 1414, con- 
 demned his doctrines, forbade the reading of 
 his books, declared him a heretic, and ordered 
 his bones to be dug up and thrown out of holy 
 ground : but reafon and truth, however oppoied 
 or opprefled, will continue their flow and iilent 
 progrefs, and ultimately triumph over the dark- 
 nefs of bigotry, and the reftraints of defpo- 
 tifm. 
 
ALPHONSO D’AVALOS, 
 
 MARGUIS DE GUASTO, 
 
 Wa S lieutenant-general of the armies of the 
 
 Emperor Charles V. in Italy, and knight of the 
 golden fleece ; he followed the Emperor in his 
 expedition to Tunis, and was afterwards ambaf- 
 fador to the Venetian republic ; he obliged the 
 Duke d’Enghien to raife the flege of Nice, in 
 1543, but loft the battle of Cerifoles, in 1544. 
 He died in 1546, aged forty-two years. 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 ROGER BACON, 
 
 •CALLED FRIAR BACON, 
 
 1214 to 1294, 
 
 The wonder of his age, and one of the great- 
 eft luminaries in fcience, that this, or any other 
 country ever produced, was born near Ilchefter 
 in Somerfetfhire, in 1214; after being initiated 
 at Oxford, he purfued his ftudies in the univer- 
 ftty of Paris, as it was then cuftomary for many 
 who had received their early rudiments in other 
 feminaries. On his return to England he took 
 the habit of the Francifcans, but far from con- 
 fining his inquiries to the abfurd theology of 
 the times, his vaft mind embraced univerfal 
 fcience, he was convinced of the futility of that 
 knowledge which was not grounded on experi- 
 ment ; he, therefore, applied himfelf to the 
 moft aftidnous and vigorous inveftigations ; 
 
I 
 
 8 O ROGER BACON, 
 
 pure mathematics, atlronomy, medicine, che- 
 miftry, optics, and even judicial atlrology were 
 fludied and difcuffed by him with wonderful 
 ability : but the bulk of mankind, and even the 
 higher orders, were then too far immerfed in 
 the darknefs of ignorance and fuperftition, to 
 fct a juft value on talents fo far beyond the 
 limits of the powers of their own minds. 
 Among the monks, what was firh the objedt 
 of their admiration, foon became the vidtim of 
 their bigotry and envy ; deciding by the mea- 
 fure of their own narrow faculties, they infer- 
 red, that fuch acquifitions as Bacon’s could 
 not be the refult of intellect or ftudies, unaf- 
 fifted by fupernatural aid, they, therefore, 
 refolved that the devil was his inftrudtor, and 
 that the interefts of religion required that he 
 fhould be put into a clofe and rigorous im- 
 prifonment ; probably his obfervations on the 
 immoral lives of the clergy, and his intimacy 
 with Bifhop Groftete, who had ventured to 
 call the Pope, Antichrift, might have contri- 
 buted to have quickened the refentment of that 
 irritable body. At the defire of Pope Cle- 
 
CALLED FRIAR BACON. 
 
 8i 
 
 ment IV. he collected his feveral pieces ; this 
 work, called his Opus Majus, is hill extant; 
 it remained in manufcript till the year 1733, 
 when the learned Dr. Jebb gave an edition 
 of it. It is curious to obferve, that many 
 chemical difcoveries, the honor of which has 
 been aflumed by modern profeffors, are to be 
 traced to Bacon ; Monf. Homberg’s experi- 
 ments defcribed in the Memoires de l’Academie 
 des Sciences in 1705, for the production of 
 gold, are all to be found in his works ; his 
 affertion is, that mercury is the balls of all 
 metals, and fnlphur the cement; gunpowder 
 he certainly knew ; thunder and lightning he 
 faid might be produced by art, for that fulphur, 
 nitre, and charcoal, when mixed and clofely 
 confined, and fired, will yield a loud report ; he 
 was likewife no firanger to the rarefaCtion of 
 the air, and the principles of the air pump ; 
 his defcription of the powers of the telefcope, 
 of burning and reading glades, and microfcopes, 
 all of which he made himfelf, leave no doubt 
 of his knowledge of their powers, or of their 
 ftruCture. His lkill in afironomy was fuch 3 
 
 M 
 
8a 
 
 ROGER. BACON, &C. 
 
 that he difcovered the error, the correcting of 
 which farnifhed Pope Gregory with the plan 
 for his calendar. His immenfe talents, how- 
 ever, were difclofed at too early a period for 
 his own tranquillity, or the advancement of 
 fcience ; his cotemporaries could receive little 
 or no advantage from purfuits fo far exceeding 
 the contracted fcope of their own information 
 and they confidered it as a fort of apology for 
 their own ignorance, to perfecute a man as a 
 magician, whom they could not underjftand as 
 a philofopher. After an imprifonment of ten 
 years, this prodigy obtained his releale, and 
 fpent the remainder of his days at Oxford, 
 where he expired June n, 1294. 
 
I 
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 STEPHEN GARDINER, 
 
 BISHOP OP WINCHESTER. 
 
 1483 to 1553, 
 
 Was the illegitimate fon of Dr. Lionel 
 Woodville, bifhop of Salifbury, brother to 
 Elizabeth, queen confort to Edward IV. ; the 
 Bifhop, in order to conceal his frailty, com- 
 pelled Stephen’s mother to marry an inferior 
 fervant of the name of Gardiner, from whom 
 he took his name. After a common fchool 
 education, he was fent to Trinity hall, Cam- 
 bridge, where he foon dittinguifhed himfelf for 
 his fuperior fkill in Greek and Latin competi- 
 tions ; he fludied likewife the canon and civil 
 law; and was elected matter of the college. 
 A life of retirement, however, appearing too 
 contracted for his views, he put himfelf under 
 the protection of the Duke of Norfolk, and 
 M 2 
 
 
84 
 
 STEPHEN GARUlNERj 
 
 foon after became fecretary to Cardinal Wol- 
 fey, who employed him in drawing up the 
 treaty of alliance with Francis I. The King 
 happening to vifit Wolfey at More park in 
 Hertfordfhire, where Gardiner was occupied 
 in digefling the treaty, was ftruck with the 
 manner in which it was performed, and more 
 fo with the extent of the young man’s know- 
 ledge, and the folidity of his undemanding. 
 This proved the fource of Gardiner’s future 
 greatnefs. Henry, as a mark of his confidence, 
 fent him to Rome to negotiate his divorce with 
 Catharine. Wolfey, in his credentials, calls him, 
 dimidium fui, than whom none was dearer to him. 
 His conduct in this negotiation raifed him flill 
 higher in the King’s favor. At his return from 
 Rome he received his firfl church preferment, 
 as archdeacon of Norfolk. But the exercife of 
 his talents in hate affairs drew his attention, 
 for the prefent, from the purfuit of ecclefiaflical 
 dignities, and the King declared him fecretary 
 of flate; foon after this Gardiner introduced 
 Cranmer to his Majefty, which fortunate circum- 
 flance extricated him from all the knotty diffi— 
 
BISHOP OP WINCHESTER. 
 
 culties of the divorce ; it eventually, however, 
 caufed the min of his patron, Wolfey ; though 
 much to Gardiner’s honour, he omitted no fo- 
 licitation or intreaty to moderate the King’s 
 anger towards Wolfey, and to re-inltate him 
 in his fovereign’s good graces. To manage 
 the univertity of Cambridge, fo as to procure 
 from it a declaration in fupport of the divorce, 
 was no eafy talk ; this, however, he accom- 
 plifhcd, and, as a recompenfe, was raifed at once 
 to the rich fee of Winchefier. In the year 
 1 533 he was fent ambaffador to France ; on 
 his return, he wrote his treatife De verd obedien- 
 tid, in favour of the King’s fupremacy. After 
 executing another embafTy to the diet at Ra~ 
 tilbon, the fanguinary law of the lix articles 
 was patTed and framed, certainly by Gardiner, 
 the firll fymptom of that relentlefs, perfecuting 
 temper, which afterwards fo fatally charac- 
 terized him. However he might, from poli- 
 tical views, have been induced to acknowledge 
 the King’s fupremacy, it fufliciently appeared 
 afterwards, that his compliance in this refped: 
 was profound dilfimulation ; for, on the King’s 
 
86 STEPHEN GARDINER) 
 
 threatening him with the confequences of fome 
 information he had received of his duplicity on 
 this queftion, he confeffed his error, and threw 
 himfelf on Henry’s mercy. It was certain that 
 Gardiner was deeply concerned in the plot 
 againft Cranmer’s life, which, though the arch- 
 bifhop afterwards forgave, was never forgotten 
 by the King ; who, notwithftanding he with- 
 drew from Gardiner much of his former con- 
 fidence, did not fcruple to ufe him as an en- 
 gine in his plan to take away the life of his 
 laft queen, Catharine Parr ; fortunately fhe 
 avoided the blow, and gained fuch an afcen- 
 dancy over the furious mind of her hufband, 
 that he banifhed Gardiner ever after from his 
 prefence. During the fhort reign of Edward VI. 
 he exerted himfelf in preventing the reforma- 
 tion, and on his refufing to comply with the 
 new homilies, was fent prifoner to the Fleet 
 in 1547. At his releafe, however, the new 
 eftablifhment having the fandtion of ail adt 
 of parliament, he not only conformed to it, 
 but took care that his diocefe did the fame. 
 Elis enemies, not content with this fubmiffion. 
 
BISHOP OP WINCHESTER. 
 
 87 
 
 procured an order for him to promulgate his 
 tenets publicly in a fermon, and though the 
 matter was prefcribed to him by Sir William 
 Cecil, he preached in fuch flat contradiction 
 to the fubjects enjoined him, that he was fent 
 to the Tower, when refuting, after repeated 
 folicitations, to fubfcribe to the King’s fupre- 
 macy, or to make his recantation of the fix 
 articles, he was deprived of his bifhopric by a 
 court of delegates, at which Cranmer prelided. 
 He was confined during the remainder of Ed- 
 ward’s reign. Being releafed on Mary’s accef- 
 fion, after five years imprifonment, was almofl 
 immediately made chancellor, and fucceeded 
 to the uncontrolled power of his old matter, 
 Wolfey. It has been a quefiion, whether 
 Gardiner’s perfecution of the Protefiants pro- 
 ceeded from a fanguinary difpofition and 
 gloomy bigotry, the characfieriftics, certainly, 
 of Queen Mary, or from motives of policy on 
 a convidlion that the principles, deemed here- 
 tical, were incompatible with the good order 
 and liability of civil government ; be that as 
 it may, toward the end of his life he was both 
 
 1 
 
88 
 
 STEPHEN GARDINER, 
 
 tired and afhamed of thefe bloody perfections, 
 in confequence of which fach as were confined 
 in his diocefe were configned to the mercies of 
 Bonner. Though after the arrival of Cardinal 
 Pole in England, Gardiner was fecond only in 
 the management of church affairs, his in- 
 fluence in civil matters continued undiminifhed. 
 About the latter end of the year 1555, after a 
 fhort illnefs, he died at Whitehall, aged fe^ 
 venty-two years. His charader has been fo ex- 
 tolled by the Catholics and fo violently black- 
 ened by the Proteftants, that the truth, as is 
 ufual in filch matters, will be found in the mid- 
 dle. As to his moral qualities, he was gene- 
 rous, liberal, a promoter of fupeiior talents, 
 and warm in his attachments ; but, at the fame 
 time, haughty, ambitious, and a perfeft dif- 
 fembler, and, if not fanguinary in his own na- 
 ture, the bafe tool of Mary’s vengeance. His 
 literary acquirements were great, and his con- 
 duct of affairs, foreign and domeftic, was fuck 
 as gained him the reputation of a fagacious 
 politician. His countenance is faid to have 
 been dark, his eyes funk, his nofe aquiliue s 
 
BISHOP OP WINCHESTER. 
 
 89 
 
 and his mouth wide. It is reported that he 
 expreffed great remorfe on his death-bed, and 
 to have exclaimed, Erravi cum Petro , fed non 
 flevi cum Peiro. His funeral was conducted 
 with great pomp by Bonner, and he was bu- 
 ried in Wincheller cathedral. 
 
 N 
 
( 9 ° ) 
 
 SIR JAMES WILFORD, KNT. 
 
 Was born in the early part of Henry 
 the VUIth’s reign, and knighted with many 
 others at Roxburgh, by the Duke of Somerfet, 
 protestor, in 1547. The Lord Grey having 
 fortified Haddington in Scotland, and left 
 2000 foldiers in it, under the command of Sir 
 James Wilford, returned with his army into 
 England. The French and Scots befieged the 
 fortrefs, and reduced it to fuch firaights, that 
 according to Hollingfhed, et The Englyfhmen’s 
 “ powder was fore fpent, and for want of 
 <f matches they were confirained to tear their 
 i( fhirts and ufe the fame, and if the noble 
 tc prowefle of their worthie general, Sir James 
 (t Wilford, had not fupported them, they muft 
 “ have furrendered.” The garrifon was, how- 
 ever, relieved by Lord Shrewfbury, who fhed 
 tears “ that fuch worthie. fouldiers fhould fufier 
 
SIR JAMES WILFORD, KNT, 91 
 
 i( fuch great diftrefTe.” Sir James fome time 
 after, efcorting a convoy of provifions into the 
 fortrefs, was defied by fome troops from Dun- 
 bar, when, ce according to his wonted valiancie, 
 “ fhewing himfelf egre and forward againfl the 
 “ enemy, he fell into an ambufh, and was 
 “ taken by one Pellique a Gafcon, who gained 
 fe great honor by taking fo brave a man.’’ 
 
 The place and time of his death are un- 
 known. 
 
( 9 2 ) 
 
 THOMAS EGERTON, 
 
 BARON OF ELLESMERE, 
 
 1540 to 1616, 
 
 Was the natural fon of Sir Richard Eger- 
 ton, of Ridley in Chefhire, and born in that 
 county about the year 1540; he was educated at 
 Brazen Nofe college, Oxford, and removed from 
 thence to Lincoln’s-inn, where he foon became 
 confpicuous in the profeffion of the law. In the 
 the year 1591 he was made folicitor-general to 
 Queen Elizabeth, and chofen the Lent reader in 
 the fame inn ; in the year following he was 
 made attorney-general, and knighted ; foon 
 after, mailer of the rolls, and then lord keeper 
 of the great feal, in which office he remained 
 throughout Elizabeth’s reign. In 1603 he was 
 advanced to the dignity of baron, by the title of 
 Lord Ellelmere, and made lord chancellor of 
 
THOMAS EGERTON, &C. 
 
 93 
 
 England ; and foon after, chancellor of Oxford, 
 and Vifcount Brackley. He enjoyed thefe laft 
 honours but a fhort time ; feeling his health de- 
 cline, and his incapability to difcharge the duties 
 of his office, he requeued the King’s (James I.) 
 leave to retire, who fent Secretary Wingate for 
 the great feal, with this meffage, that he himfelf 
 would be the under keeper, and not difpofe of 
 it, while his lordfhip lived to bear the name of 
 chancellor. His poflerity now enjoy a large 
 eftate and the title of Dukes of Bridgewater. 
 Wood fays, “ He was a mofl grave and pru- 
 <( dent man, a good lawyer, juft and honeft, 
 <c of fo quick an apprehenfion alfo, and pro- 
 ee found judgment, that none of the bench in 
 <s his time went beyond him.” 
 
 He died at York houfe in the Strand, in the 
 year 1 6 1 6, aged feventy-feven, and was buried 
 &t Dodleftone in Chefhire. 
 
( 94 ) 
 
 THOMAS CROMWELL, 
 
 EARL OP ESSEX, 
 
 1480 to 1540, 
 
 Is faid to have been the fon of a blackfmith, 
 and bom at Putney in Surry, in 1480 ; the fame 
 of his wit and judgment recommended him to 
 the notice of Cardinal Wolfey, who employed 
 him chiefly in the fuppreflion of the forty lefler 
 monafteries, and in the erection of his colleges 
 at Oxford and Ipfwich ; the cardinal’s patro- 
 nage was the means of making Cromwell 
 known to Henry VIII. who conceived fo highly 
 of him, as to make him mafler of the jewel 
 office, and foon after to raife him to the digni- 
 ties, fucceffively, of Baron Oakham, knight of 
 the garter, and Earl of Effex, as well as lord 
 high chamberlain, and the King’s vicar-general 
 for fpiritual affairs. In this fltuation he promp- 
 ted the King to fupprefs the remaining mo- 
 
THOMAS CROMWELL, &C. 95 
 
 nafteries ; in a cafe where Henry would wreft 
 fo much power from the hands of the Pope 
 and appropriate it to himfelf, as well as ac- 
 quire the plunder of the religious houfes to 
 the amount of upwards of 186,500/. yearly, 
 this prince’s character is too well known to 
 fuppofe he would wait for any very urgent 
 folicitations. It was neceflary, however, to 
 find tome glofs to reconcile the violence of the 
 proceeding to the nation ; a black lift of crimes, 
 therefore, fome true and more feigned, was 
 alledged againft the regular clergy, and an a 61 
 of parliament under Cromwell’s management 
 contigned their revenues to the King’s ufe. 
 He then advifed his matter, by way of 
 ftrengthening the proteftant caufe, to marry 
 Ann of Cleves, but the King foon after his 
 marriage, being difgufted at her perfon and 
 manner, refolved on a divorce, and at the fame 
 time began to fliew marks of difpleafure to 
 Cromwell who had promoted the match : many 
 of the great lords had always looked on the 
 favorite’s elevation with envy and contempt ; 
 the precedence granted to the fon of a black- 
 
96 THOMAS CROMWELL^ 
 
 fmith was an indignity not to be borne ; Gardi- 
 ner, likewife, and all thofe who had adhered 
 to the ancient religion, contidered him as the 
 chief inftrument in the fuppreffion of the mo- 
 naftic endowments ; to this may be added, the 
 King’s indifference about a league with the 
 German Princes, to fettle which Cromwell had 
 formerly been employed ; the Duke of Norfolk, 
 feconded by Gardiner, taking advantage of 
 thefe circumflances, and of the King’s growing 
 affection for the Duke’s niece, Catharine 
 Howard, refolved to accomplifh Cromwell’s 
 deftruction. He reprefented to the King, “ the 
 (e great difcontents prevailing throughout the 
 “ kingdom, originating chiefly from the general 
 “ diflike to Cromwell, who was accufed of many 
 (e things, which, if not exactly within the reach 
 “ of legal proofs, were fuch as fhould defervedly 
 {e deprive him of his Maj city’s gracious favour, 
 (( and that it would be equally politic as juft, to 
 “ facrifice fo odious a miniftcr to quiet the minds 
 “ of his people.” Henry’s vengeance was as 
 rapid as it was implacable. Norfolk accufed 
 Cromwell of high treafon at the council board ; 
 
 1 
 
EAkL OF ESSEX. 97 
 
 he was arretted and fent to the Tower ; a bill of 
 attainder was pafTed againtt him, and the tla- 
 vifh parliament declared him a heretic and a 
 traitor, without permitting him to make his 
 defence ; he was condemned to die, though his 
 fentence was remitted till fome time after. On 
 the diffolution of this parliament, the King 
 granted a general pardon to all his fubje6ts, 
 under fuch exceptions, however, as very much 
 limited it ; all were excluded who had denied 
 the King’s fupremacy, or who had trantgrelled, 
 or even were accufed of having trantgreffed 
 any one of the fix articles. The Countefs of 
 Salifbury, Cardinal Pole’s mother, and Crom- 
 well, were excepted by name. The delay of 
 the execution gave the prifoner hopes of mercy ; 
 he wrote to Henry, and made fome impreffion 
 on his ferocious mind, but the Duke of Nor- 
 folk, and Gardiner, feconded by Catharine 
 Howard, were too well aware of the confe- 
 quences of a pardon, they, therefore, preffed 
 the execution, which took place July 30, 1540. 
 
 O 
 
9 8 
 
 THOMAS CROMWELL* 
 
 Cromwell’s learning was as mean as bis ex- 
 tra Ction, but be bad improved a quick and 
 fagacious mind by obfervation and travel ; he 
 was a foldier in the Duke of Bourbon’s army 
 at the facking of Rome, and owed bis fubfe- 
 quent honors as much to fervile flattery and 
 fubmiflion, as to bis extraordinary talents ; he 
 bore bis dignities with great equanimity, and 
 continued his friendfhip and protection to many 
 of bis original acquaintance. A flory is told of 
 bis gratitude to a benefactor, too much to his 
 honor to be omitted : being at Florence in 
 great poverty, he applied to a merchant of the 
 name of Frefcobald for relief; there was fome- 
 thing in Cromwell’s countenance and manner 
 that interefted the merchant in his behalf, and 
 he not only relieved his immediate neceflities, 
 but furnifhed him with the means of purfuing 
 his journey to England. In procefs of time, 
 Frefcobald, from feveral misfortunes in trade, 
 was under the neceflity of making a voyage to 
 England, to colleCt debts due to him there to 
 the amount of 15,000 ducats : as he was pafiing 
 one day near the King’s palace, the merchant 
 
EARL OP ESSEX. 
 
 99 
 
 was not a little furprifed at a nobleman who 
 was moll fumptuoufly attended, demounting 
 from his horfe, advancing and embracing him, 
 and infilling on his coming at an appointed 
 hour to dine with him, but his furprife was hill 
 greater, in finding the nobleman to be no other 
 than the diftreffed traveller, who had experi- 
 enced his bounty many years before at Florence. 
 Cromwell repaid the obligation nobly and 
 gratefully, and after procuring the merchant 
 payment from all his debtors, difmiffed him 
 loaded with prefents and favors to his native 
 country. 
 
( loo ) 
 
 THOMAS HOWARD, 
 
 DUKE OF NORFOLK, 
 
 Was the eldefl fon of Henry, earl of Surrey, 
 who was beheaded in the laft year of the reign 
 of Henry VIII. on a charge of high treafon, 
 the chief part of the charge confiding in his 
 quartering the arms of Edward the Confeflbr, 
 from whence it was inferred that he afpired to 
 the throne, Queen Mary, however, refiored 
 the fon to his family honors, and he was 
 allowed to fucceed to the title of his grand- 
 father, the Duke of Norfolk, who had been 
 likewife fentenced to death by Henry VIII. but 
 who was almofi miraculoufly preferved by the 
 tyrant’s dying the night before his execution 
 was to have taken place. At the acceffion of 
 Elizabeth, the Duke was made knight of the 
 garter, and received many other diftinguifhed 
 
 i 
 
THOMAS HOWARD, &C. 
 
 IOI 
 
 marks of her royal favor; but fufpicions 
 ariling, that he carried his ambitious views to 
 the marrying of the Queen of Scots, and by her 
 means to attain to the fuccefiion of the Englifh 
 throne, he was put under arre# ; yet on his 
 promiling to relinquifh his detigns, and attach 
 himfelf to Cecil’s party, he obtained his releafe. 
 Mary’s charms, however, his own ambition, 
 and probably both united, proved too ftrong 
 for his refolution and promifes ; he was induced 
 to enter into a contract of marriage with her, 
 and to take fo many, and fuch unguarded 
 meafures, in the fupport of her caufe, that 
 Burleigh got information of the whole of his 
 proceedings ; the confequence was, his commit- 
 ment to the Tower, and his being brought to his 
 trial in 1 572, the Earl of Shrewtbury pretiding 
 as high he ward : the evidence again# him was 
 full and clear ; he was convicted, but the mild- 
 nefs of his manners, his affability, and libera- 
 lity, had procured him fo many, and fuch warm 
 friends, that every exertion was made to fave 
 him ; the Lord High Steward fhed tears on pro- 
 nouncing his fentence, and the peers folicited fo 
 
102 
 
 THOMAS HOWARD, 
 
 jftrongly in his behalf, that he gained a refpito 
 of five months ; unfortunately for him, during 
 this period, Mary’s friends were more than 
 ufually a&ive in their exertions ; the parlia- 
 ment, therefore, conlidering the Duke’s life as 
 a principal caufe of their attempts, addrefTed 
 the Queen for his fpeedy execution : in com- 
 pliance with the addrefs of both houfes, he was 
 beheaded the 2d of June, 1 572. 
 
 It is generally granted that he afpired to the 
 crown of England, and that the means by 
 which he propofed to accomplifh his ends, were 
 fufficient grounds for Elizabeth’s caution and 
 jealoufy; but however criminal his ultimate 
 object may be confidered, no overt a£t in his 
 endeavour to bring it about appears to be of 
 that degree of criminality, that could juflify the 
 Queen either legally or morally in taking away 
 his life. It mud be remembered, too, that fhe 
 was without defeendants, and fomewhat advan- 
 ced in life, and that Norfolk’s high rank as firft 
 peer of the kingdom, added to the great popu - 
 larity he enjoyed from the worthinefs of his 
 
DUKE OF NORFOLK. 
 
 IO3 
 
 character, mutt be allowed, as extenuations at 
 leatl, for his extending his views beyond the 
 fphere of a fubje6t. 
 
( 10 4 ) 
 
 THOMAS HOWARD, 
 
 0 
 
 EARL OP SUFFOLK, 
 
 Wa S the youngefl: fon of Thomas, duke of 
 Norfolk, beheaded in Elizabeth’s reign ; and 
 was created Earl of Suffolk at the acceflion 
 of James I. ; fome time after, lord chamber- 
 lain, and then lord high treafurer, which of- 
 fice he difcharged with corrupt and grofs pe- 
 culation. In Elizabeth’s reign the United 
 States had been favored with a loan from the 
 Queen, to the amount of eight millions of 
 florins ; in order to fecure the payment, feveral 
 towns had been put into her hands, thefe were 
 called cautionary towns,* James I. being in 
 great want of money, both from his own pro- 
 fufion, and the backwardnefs of the parliament 
 
 * Thefe towns were Flu flung, Rammekins, and the Briel. 
 
THOMAS HOWARD, &C. IO5 
 
 to fupply his wants, was eafily worked upon 
 by the States, (under a pretence of inability to 
 pay the whole of the debt and intereft) to ac- 
 cept of fomewhat lefs than three millions of 
 florins, and by this agreement the cautionary 
 towns were given up in June, 1616, after 
 having been eighteen years in pofleflion of the 
 Englifh. The money, however, vanifhed, no 
 one guefled how or where ; the navy was en- 
 tirely out of repair, and the army, for the pay 
 of which the giving up the towns was made a 
 pretence, flill remained in arrears. At length 
 it was difcovered that the Lord High Treafurer 
 had converted great part of the money to his 
 own ufe. He was accufed before the Star- 
 chamber byjSir Edward Coke, where, beiides 
 the above, and other mifdemeanors, the cor- 
 ruptions and extortions of his Countefs and his 
 agent, Bingley, were fo ftrongly proved, that 
 he was difinifled from his office, fined 30,000/. 
 and imprifoned ; he afterwards retired and 
 ipent the remainder of his life at Audley End, 
 a magnificent firudture which he had built at 
 the expenfe of 200,000 /. 
 
 P 
 
( IO 6 ) 
 
 HENRY HOWARD, 
 
 EARL OP NORTHAMPTON, 
 
 Wa S brother to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, 
 and fon of the Earl of Surry, beheaded by 
 Henry VIII. James I. in gratitude to the 
 Howard family, who had fuffered fo much in 
 the caufe of his mother, among other marks 
 of his attention, created Henry Howard, earl 
 of Northampton, and likewife lord treafurer. 
 The hiftory of the marriage of his niece to the 
 Earl of Effex, their divorce, her fubfequent 
 marriage to the Earl of Somerfet, together with 
 the murder of Overbury, are circumltances too 
 well known to need any thing to be faid of 
 them in this place. They are introduced only 
 to inquire how far Northampton was con- 
 cerned in the plot. It was certain that he pre- 
 fented a petition to the King in order that his 
 
 < 
 
HENRY HOWARD, &C. 
 
 I07 
 
 niece’s plea for the diffolution of her marriage 
 with the Earl of Effex might be inquired into ; 
 and that in confequence of this petition his 
 Majefty referred the butinefs to the cognizance 
 of the archbifhop, fome bifhops, and laymen ; 
 the court was too much under the influence of 
 Somerfet to give a fair decilion, fo a divorce 
 was pronounced, and the Countefs married her 
 lover. That Northampton had a fhare in pro- 
 moting the death of Overbury, though not fo 
 certain, yet it hardly admits of a doubt. His 
 letter to Somerfet was produced, afcribing the 
 event to the juflice of God on fuch wicked in- 
 ftruments, and imputing it to the venereal dif- 
 temper, when he could not be ignorant that 
 it was the efle6t of poifon. It was likewife 
 well known that Somerfet was guided then, 
 and afterwards, entirely by the Earl’s advice, 
 who ftuck at nothing to monopolize the King’s 
 favorite. One chief end that he promifed him- 
 felf from this advantage was the exertion of 
 his credit in favor of the Catholics ; and, as he 
 was warden of the Cinque Ports, he had the 
 means of facilitating the entrance of Jefuits 
 P 2 
 
io8 
 
 HENRY HOWARD, 
 
 into the kingdom ; this he did with fo little re- 
 ferve tlial the public loudly murmured ; and 
 the Earl, in order to flop the rumour, profe- 
 cuted feveral on the writ of Scandalum magna- 
 tum ; this proceeding brought forward a letter 
 under his own hand to Cardinal Bellarmine, 
 avowing that he was a Proteftant only in fhew, 
 but that his heart was with the Catholics. The 
 King was fo difpleafed with this difcovery, that 
 he fharply reprimanded him, on which he re- 
 tired, and foon after died, in 1613. He was 
 warden of the Cinque Ports, conflable of Do- 
 ver caftle, lord privy leal, and chancellor of 
 the univerfity of Cambridge. Weldon thus 
 fpeaks of him, cc He was a great clerk, though 
 “ not a wife man, and the groffefi flatterer 
 <c in the world ; of fo venemous and cankered 
 “ a difpofition that he hated all men of noble 
 “ parts, nor loved any but flatterers like him- 
 “ felf. He ufcd to fay that he would be con- 
 “ tent to be damned perpetually in hell, to be 
 “ revenged of that proud Welchman, Sir Ri- 
 “ chard Manfell.” 
 
EARL OF NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 log 
 
 He built the houfe at Charing Crofs, now 
 called Northumberland houfe, but at firfl 
 called Northampton, and fecondly, from its 
 being in poffeffion of his brother, the Earl of 
 Suffolk, Suffolk houfe. 
 
( 110 ) 
 
 THOMAS RATCLIFF, 
 
 EARL OF SUSSEX, 
 
 Wa S the fon of Henry Ratcliff, earl of Suf- 
 fex, who had been general to Queen Mary, 
 and had obtained a privilege (granted only to 
 one family befide, the Courcy’s, barons of 
 Kinfale) of wearing his hat in the prefence of 
 his fovereign. The fon diftinguifhed himfelf, 
 in fome degree, in negotiating the marriage 
 articles between Queen Elizabeth and Charles, 
 archduke of Amflria ; for this purpofe he was 
 fent ambaffador to the Emperor Maximilian, 
 to whom he carried the order of the garter. 
 The Earl of Leicefler, however, whofe objedt 
 was to defeat the marriage, had fent Lord North 
 under the charadter of a companion to Suffex, 
 but, in fadt, to thwart the ambaffador’s mea- 
 fures, by hinting to the Imperial court that thefe 
 
 i 
 
THOMAS RATCLIFF, &C. 
 
 Ill 
 
 overtures for marriage were mere pretences to 
 conceal other projects. The Emperor foon 
 difcovered that Lord North was better informed 
 than Suffex : for, in proportion as he relaxed 
 in his demands or advanced in his offers, he 
 found new obflacles always arofe, till at length 
 he was thoroughly convinced of the Queen’s 
 illulive condutd, who broke off all her matri- 
 monial negotiations with Catholic princes, un- 
 der the plea of pretended difficulties with retpedt 
 to religion. About feventeen years after this 
 negotiation, Elizabeth fent an army into Scot- 
 land, not, as fhe profeffed, to make w r ar on the 
 Scots nation, but merely to chaflife the info- 
 lence of fome depredators, who had made in- 
 roads into England ; the ravages, however, 
 committed by the Engliffi were dreadful. This 
 army was commanded by the Earl of Suffex, 
 who was as much diffiinguifhed by his military 
 talents as by his political fhrewdnefs and capa- 
 city, which gave his opinions great W'eight 
 with Elizabeth’s miniflry ; infomuch, that fome 
 have believed that the Queen formed her con- 
 duct towards the unfortunate Queen of Scots 
 
II 2 THOMAS RATCLIFF, &C. 
 
 on a letter written from Suffex to Sir W illiarn 
 Ceq^l. There are likewife letters of Suffcx’s 
 extant, adviting how matters fhould be con- 
 ducted with refpect to Scotland, France, and 
 Flanders. Elizabeth alfo commanded him to 
 write his mind freely to her on the fubject of her 
 propofed marriage with Monlieur. This he did 
 in a long letter printed in Mr. Lodge’s collec- 
 tion of the Howard, Talbot, and Cecil papers. 
 In which he balances, with great good fenfe, 
 all the probable advantages and difadvantages 
 of the alliance, and ends by ftrongly recom- 
 mending it. Among other objections that 
 might occur to her Majehy, he fuppofes it as a 
 thing barely poffible, that “ a hufband might 
 “ fraudulently feek her perfon fyrft, to pofTefTe 
 ££ another by treafone after, for it carryethe no 
 ££ reafonabell fence with it, that a chryftyen 
 ££ prince, poffeffed of your godly, vertuofe, 
 (c wife, bewtifull, and peerleffe perfonne, 
 “ fhowld have in his hart to be by treafone 
 * £ delyvered of you,” 
 
( I! 3 ) 
 
 CHARLES, DUKE op BOURBON, 
 
 CONSTABLE OP PRANCE, 
 1489 to 1517, 
 
 Was born in 1489, and was the third of 
 his name, of the branch of Bourbon Montpen- 
 fier ; a prince as eminent for his military ta- 
 lents as for his errors and misfortunes. A re- 
 femblance in qualities and difpofitions, as well 
 as the near alliance in blood between Francis I. 
 and the Conflable, had naturally endeared them 
 to each other ; unfortunately however for both, 
 Louife, the King’s mother, had conceived a vio- 
 lent dillike to the Contlable, and fhe exerted 
 her utmofl influence to imprefs her fon with the 
 fame fentiments ; fhe fucceeded but too well, 
 and no indignity was forgot to inflame and 
 alienate the Conflable’s mind from his attach- 
 ment to his fovereign. Bourbon’s high fenfe 
 
 Q 
 
1 14 CHARLES, DUKE OF BOURBON, 
 
 of honor and rectitude preferved him for a time 
 from a violation of his duty, a long fuccedion 
 of mortifying injuries at length drove him to 
 fwerve from his loyalty. He entered into a 
 correlpondence with the enemy of his mailer ; 
 and offered the Emperor his aflidance in con- 
 quering France. Charles caught eagerly at the 
 offer, and fpared neither promifes nor allure- 
 ments to attach him to his fervice. Provence and 
 Dauphine were to be fettled on him, with the 
 title of king, and the Emperor’s filler, Elea- 
 nor, widow of the King of Portugal, was like- 
 wife to be given him in marriage, with a vail 
 portion. The Emperor was to enter France 
 by the Pyrenees, and the Conflable to raife 
 fix thoufand of his valfals and dependents to 
 a6l in concert with him ; the allies were to 
 wait till Francis had eroded the Alps, as then 
 there would have been fcarce any force in 
 France to oppofe them. Happily, however, 
 for that kingdom, two of the Conflable’s re^ 
 tainers gave intimation to the King of a fuf- 
 picion of their mailer’s being engaged in a trea- 
 fonable corretpondence, Francis, generous and 
 
CONSTABLE OP PRANCE. Il£ 
 
 candid himfelf, could with difficulty be in- 
 duced to fufpe6t the firft prince of the blood 
 of fo much treachery and bafenefs ; he, how- 
 ever, repaired to him at Moulins, where he 
 found him in bed, under the pretence of fick- 
 nefs, which he feigned that he might not ac- 
 company the King to Italy. The Conflable 
 afferted his innocence with fo much appearance 
 of ingenuoufnefs, that Francis was deceived, 
 and, though advifed, refufed to arreft him. 
 Bourbon availed himfelf of this, and pretend- 
 ing to follow the King, croffed the Rhone and 
 arrived fafe in Italy. Bonnevet, who com- 
 manded for Francis in the Milanefe, was at- 
 tacked by the Imperialifts under the Emperor’s 
 general, Pefcara, accompanied by the Confta- 
 ble Bourbon ; in this action fell the celebrated 
 Bayard, the chevalier, fans crainte et fans re - 
 proche ; Bourbon, perceiving him fitting under 
 a tree, and hearing he was mortally wounded, 
 approached him with expreffions of pity and 
 regret ; “ Pity not me,” cried the gallant 
 knight, “ I die as a man of honour ought, in 
 “ the difcharge of my duty ; they are objedls 
 Q 2r 
 
I 1 6 CHARLES, DUKE OF BOURBON, 
 
 ‘ c of pity who fight againft their king, their 
 (e country, and their oaths.” While the Im- 
 perial generals, Lannoy and Pefcara, were 
 making uncommon exertions to oppofe Francis 
 in Italy, Bourbon, who had quitted them to 
 conduct an army of Germans, arrived with his 
 charge, while Francis was befieging Pavia. 
 The King had now a choice of coming to im- 
 mediate action or retiring to a ftrong poll till the 
 arrival of an expected reinforcement ; his pru- 
 dent and experienced officers fuggefled the latr 
 ter, but his own ardour prompted him to adopt 
 the former expedient. His army was completely 
 routed, and himfelf made prifoner. The his- 
 tory of his imprifonment, and the condudt of 
 the Emperor towards him, is foreign to our 
 purpofe. By the death of Pefcara, the Impe- 
 rial general, the command of the army devolved 
 to the Conftable Bourbon. The battle of Pa- 
 via was fought in the year 1525, and in the 
 cnfuing year Bourbon, in refentment for the 
 condudt which Pope Clement had held with 
 regard to the Emperor, marched his troops to 
 invade the papal territories ; he arrived on 
 
CONSTABLE OP FRANCE. 117 
 
 them in January 1527, with an army without 
 pay, without magazines, and without artillery ; 
 prompted, however, with the promife of plun- 
 der, they affaulted Placentia and Bologna, but 
 failed in each attempt; their ill fuccefs pro- 
 duced a mutiny, and it required all the gene- 
 ral’s art to induce them to proceed. The Pope, 
 alarmed at their approach, negotiates with 
 Lannoy, the Imperial general, who promifes, 
 on certain conditions, to hop the Contlable’s 
 march. Bourbon, however, difregarded his 
 interference, and bending his courfe firft to- 
 wards Florence with a view of taking that 
 city, he changed his plan and led his army to 
 the gates of Rome. On the morning after his 
 arrival the city was affaulted on three different 
 tides ; the affailants were at firth repulfed, but 
 Bourbon, by his voice and example, rallied 
 them and led them back to the affault, where 
 he was dangeroufly wounded by a mulket-ball, 
 as he was mounting a fealing ladder in the 
 trenches ; finding his death certain, his pre- 
 fence of mind was fuch, that he ordered his 
 
 body to be covered with a cloak to conceal the 
 1 
 
I 1 8 CHARLES, DUKE OP BOURBON, &C. 
 
 difafter from his army ; and thus died the cele- 
 brated Conftable Bourbon, in May 1527, at 
 the age of thirty-eight years, with the reputation 
 of a great general, and of qualities worthy of 
 a better caufe. 
 
( ”9 ) 
 
 JOHN, DUKE of BOURBON. 
 
 John, Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne, peer 
 and conftable of France, furnamed the Good, 
 the laft branch of the Bourbons defcended from 
 St. Lewis. He married three wives : ift, Jane, 
 daughter of Charles VII. ; 2d, Catharine d’Ar- 
 magnac ; 3d, Jane de Bourbon ; the fecond 
 bore him a fon, who did not furvive him. He 
 died in April 1488, and left no legitimate but 
 feveral natural children. 
 
( 120 ) 
 
 WILLIAM of NASSAU. 
 
 FIRST PRINCE OF ORANGE, 
 
 1533 to 1584. 
 
 ABOUT the middle of the lixteenth century, 
 the bigotted and cruel maxims of Philip II. 
 which were carried into execution by the 
 violent and unrelenting Duke of Alva, to 
 exafperated the free people of the Low Coun-r. 
 tries, that they made a general, and finally a 
 fuccefsful effort to throw off the yoke of the 
 Spanifh government. The conteft occupied the 
 arms of Spain for near half a century, exhaufled 
 the vigor, and ruined the reputation of that 
 monarchy. The Prince of Orange, in con- 
 junction with the Counts Horne and Egmont, 
 was among the firft to head the infurredtion 
 again ft the oppreffive government of the 
 Spaniards ; the two Counts were taken and put 
 
WILLIAM OP NASSAU, &C. 
 
 I 2 I 
 
 to death, but the Prince efcaping, was chofen 
 Stadtholder, and a treaty was formed at Utrecht 
 for the mutual defence of the Low Countries, 
 in 1579. The infurgents were at firft con- 
 temptuoufiy called the Gueux , but this ignomi- 
 nious appellation did not prevent them from 
 being acknowledged thirty years after, under 
 the title of the United States, firft by Spain, and 
 foon after by all Europe. On the flight of the 
 Prince of Orange, he was fummoned to take 
 his trial, and on his non-appearance, his large 
 pofleflions in Burgundy and the Netherlands 
 were confifcated : Alva publifhed a proclama- 
 tion in Philip’s name, authorizing any perfon 
 to take away William’s life, which produced 
 an anfwer from the Prince, called his Apology, 
 wherein he vindicates himfelf, and relates at 
 large the tyrannical proceedings of Philip and 
 his governors ; this was publifhed in 1581, and 
 addrefled to all the potentates of Chriftendom. 
 He foon after levied a fmall army in Germany, 
 and being joined by many who fled from the 
 cruelties exercifed in the Low Countries, made an 
 attack on the Duke of Alva, but fuperiority of dif- 
 
 R 
 
I 22 
 
 WILLIAM OF NASSAU, 
 
 cipline decided the contefl in favor of the Duke. 
 The Prince, however, not difheartened, on hear- 
 ing of the Brill being in poffeffion of the infur- 
 gents, levied new troops, and poffeffed himfelf 
 of Holland and Zealand, and probably would 
 have made himfelf matter of Bruflels, had not 
 the report of the matfacre of St. Bartholomew 
 ftruck fuch a damp into his army as obliged 
 him to retire. The feizure of the Brill produced 
 the moll important confequcnces, which ter- 
 minated in the lofs of the United Provinces to 
 the crown of Spain : Alkmaer, Leyden, and 
 feveral other towns, infpired by the tucccfsful 
 retittance of the Brill, and animated by the 
 bravery and patriotifm of the Prince of Orange, 
 repulfed the Spaniards, and brought about the 
 pacification of Ghent, by which the States 
 bound themfelves to drive all foreign foldiers 
 from the Provinces, to reftore the ancient 
 conlfitution, and to refer matters of religion 
 each to its own date : though Don John of 
 Auftria acknowledged this adt by content of the 
 King of Spain, yet he took an early opportu- 
 nity of violating it. The Prince of Orange* 
 
FIRST PRINCE OF ORANGE. 1 2,3 
 
 after numberlefs exertions in favor of his op- 
 preffed country, fell at length by the hand of 
 an affaffin : one Balthazar Gerrard, a Burgun- 
 dian, fhot him with a piftol at Delft, in 1584, 
 and the fifty- firft year of his age ; the murderer 
 was a domeflic in the Prince’s fervice, and 
 infiigated to this wicked deed by the court of 
 Spain ; the Prince exclaimed as he fell, “ the 
 i( Lord have mercy on this poor people a refuta- 
 tion of the Spanifh calumnies, that he affe£t:ed 
 arbitrary power ; and if further refutation were 
 neceffary, it is a certain fa6t, that the people 
 lamented his lofs as that of their common 
 father. 
 
SIR WALTER MILDMAY, KNT. 
 
 WAS a younger fon of Thomas Mildmay, 
 of Moulfham hall in Effex, one of the auditors 
 of the court of augmentations in the reign of 
 Henry VIII. he was educated at Chrifl’s college 
 Cambridge, and afterwards appointed furveyor 
 in his father’s office ; the management of the 
 mint was entrufted to him under Edward VI. 
 as well as that of the crown lands, to the 
 revenue of which he had particularly applied 
 his fludy : on the death of Sir Richard Sack- 
 ville, Queen Elizabeth made him chancellor 
 of her exchequer, in which fituation, he fo far 
 exerted his application and talents, as to gain 
 his miftrefs’s efteem though not her confidence, 
 for his probity was not flexible enough to 
 permit him to approve or concur in all the dark 
 politics that difgraced a part of that reign; and 
 the good opinion the nation formed of him in 
 
SIR WALTER MILDMAY, KNT. 1 25 
 
 eonfequence of his rigid integrity, is fuppofed 
 to have excited her Majefty’s jealoufy ; for 
 though he was a candidate for the feals, and 
 well qualified to hold, yet he never could ob- 
 tain them. Emanuel college, Cambridge, was 
 founded by him, and he conferred donations on 
 Chrift’s, the college in which he received his 
 education. He was eminent for literature, and 
 a warm patron of learned men : foon after the 
 foundation of Emanuel college he died at 
 Hackney in May, 1589. He married the lifter 
 of Sir Francis Walfingham, by whom he left 
 two fons and three daughters : Winefred mar- 
 ried to the anceftor of the prefent Earl Fitz- 
 william, Chriftian to Charles Barret, of Avely 
 in Eftex, and Martha to William Brounker. 
 Sir Walter was poflefled by purchafe, of the 
 eftates of Danbury in Eftex, and Apethorpe in 
 Northamptonfhire ; the former of which went 
 by female defcent to the Earls of Weftmorland, 
 the latter in the fame mariner to Thomas 
 Fytche, Efq. 
 
SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON, 
 
 Was the youngeft fon of William Hatton, 
 of Holdenby in Northamptonfhire ; as it was 
 the cuftom in his time to fend young men to the 
 inns of court, not with a view of breeding 
 them to the law as a profeffion, but to acquire 
 knowledge and habits of bulinefs, he was 
 placed when very young in the fociety of the 
 Inner Temple ; from this fituation he was foon 
 removed to the band of the Queen’s gentlemen 
 penfioners : the elegance of his perfon, and the 
 gracefulnefs of his dancing, attradted her Ma- 
 jefly’s notice, and thefe recommendations raifed 
 him fucceffively, through the tituations of 
 gentleman of the privy-chamber, vice-chamber- 
 lain, and privy -counfellor ; in the prefent day 
 thefe gradations would never have been under- 
 flood as preparatory to the poffeffion of the 
 great feal, which the Queen entrulled to his 
 
SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON. 1 27 
 
 care in 1587, and about the fame time con- 
 ferred on him the honor of the garter. Eliza- 
 beth’s court is faid to have been divided into 
 two orders of men, that of flatefmen, and that 
 of favorites ; fhe had too much fagacity to fol- 
 low the ordinary fault of arbitrary princes, in 
 blending thefe two orders ; her policy, on the 
 contrary, was to keep them feparate ; her confi- 
 dence, and not the fiation, made the fiatefman : 
 thus Suffex, a deep politician, was difguifed 
 in the courtly employ of lord chamberlain ; 
 and though Hatton’s perfon and gallantry 
 appeared to be his only recommendations to an 
 office, which required great profeffional know- 
 ledge, as well as a high degree of intellectual 
 talents, and though his inadequatenefs to his 
 office was at firfi fo apparent, that the advocates 
 refufed to plead before him, yet a fevere appli- 
 cation to fiudy, a ftriCt attention to equity, and 
 a patient fubmiffion to the private advice of 
 eminent judges, at length enabled him to pro- 
 nounce decrees that gained him the approbation 
 of his brethren, and of the public : he died Sep- 
 tember 20th, 1591, after he had been four 
 
128 
 
 SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON. 
 
 years chancellor. His death is faid to have 
 been occalioned by the extreme trouble he felt 
 at not being able to difcharge an old debt, which 
 his rigid miftrefs required the payment of. 
 
( '*9 ) 
 
 HENRY FITZ-ALAN, 
 
 EARL OP ARUNDEL, 
 
 Wa S the fon of Thomas, earl of Arundel, 
 and born about the beginning of the lixteenth 
 century ; this family was among the moft 
 ancient and illutlrious that then flourithed in 
 this country ; William de Albenio, who came 
 into England with the Conqueror, was created 
 Earl of Arundel and Suflex, and left male 
 defcendants for five generations ; when the 
 iflue male failing, Ifabel, daughter of the laffc 
 Earl, tranfmitted the honors of the houfe to 
 her fon John Fitz-Alan, by virtue of the tenure 
 of Arundel caftle, in the forty-fecond year of 
 Henry III. ; in the reign of Henry V. there 
 was a fecond failure in the male iflue, and 
 John, the fon of Eleanor, obtained the barony 
 
 S 
 
HENRY FITZ-ALAN, 
 
 1 3 ° 
 
 and title, in oppolition to the better claim of 
 the Duke of Norfolk; from the above John, 
 Henry, of whom we are now fpeaking, was 
 the lineal defcendant. In the beginning of the 
 reign of Edward VL he was accufed of having 
 been acceflary to the confpiracy of the protec- 
 tor Somerfet againfl the life of the Duke of 
 Northumberland: he was imprifoned'; but 
 
 afterwards releafed, and received into Northum- 
 berland’s confidence, fo far, as to be admitted 
 one of the privy-counfellors who, at the demife 
 of Edward VI. were convened by Northum- 
 berland, with a view to put the crown on the 
 head of Lady Jane Grey ; the council met in 
 the Tower, and were confequently fo much in 
 the power of Northumberland, that no one 
 dnrfl openly to oppofe his propofal ; the Earl 
 of Arundel, perhaps, through the influence of 
 religious principles, (as he was a firm catholic) 
 or from refentment to the Duke, who had once 
 fet a heavy fine on him, or from a convidlion 
 of Mary’s fuperior claim, acquiefced in the pro- 
 ject; but he was no fooner at liberty than he 
 declared for Mary. A meeting was held at 
 
EARL OP ARUNDEL. 
 
 *3 l 
 
 Baynard’s cattle, the houfe of the Earl of 
 Pembroke ; here Arundel, in a warm fpeech, 
 expatiated on the arrogance and treafon of 
 Northumberland, and urged the council to 
 atone for their former deviation from loyalty 
 to Mary, by immediately proclaiming her 
 Queen ; after a thort debate, the lord mayor 
 and aldermen were fent for, when the whole 
 body repaired to St. Paul’s, and announced 
 their refolution to the city ; orders were fent to 
 Northumberland to ditband his army, and to 
 fubmit ; and Arundel, together with Lord Paget, 
 were difpatched with the welcome intelligence 
 to Mary ; fhe immediately ordered the Earl to 
 arretl the Duke, who, on this occaiion, fhewcd 
 a pufillanimhy and abjedtnefs, equal to his 
 former infolence; he fawned and cringed to 
 Arundel, and fell at his feet imploring him 
 to intercede for his pardon. The Earl as a 
 compenfation for this fervice was made lord 
 fleward of the houfhold. He not only re- 
 tained the Queen’s favor during the whole of 
 her reign, but had addrefs to ingratiate himfelf 
 with her fucceffor, and advanced himfelf 
 S a 
 
132 
 
 HENRY FITZ-ALAN, 
 
 fo far in her good graces, as to be among thofer 
 who battered themfelves that her Majefty eyed 
 them with a partial affection, imagining that the 
 Queen would prefer a marriage with one of her 
 own fubjedls, to a connexion with a foreign 
 Prince : and fhould the form fuch a refolution, 
 the Earl prefumed, that no one had fairer pre- 
 tentions than himfelf; under this illution he 
 fpent vaft turns, and at length, with an ex- 
 hautled fortune, and in defpair on the failure of 
 his expectations, he obtained the Queen’s leave 
 to quit the kingdom, under pretence of travelling 
 for the benefit of his health. On his return to 
 England, he engaged with the Duke of Norfolk, 
 Leicefler, and others, in a plot againfl Cecil ; 
 they accufed him of rifquing a war with Spain 
 unneceffarily, and they flattered themfelves 
 that on this charge, the Queen might be 
 induced to withdraw her confidence from him ; 
 but her Majefty heard the accufation with fo 
 much difpleafure, that the accnfers were in- 
 ftantly reduced to ftlence, and the affair entirely 
 dropped. The Earl died in 1580, and was 
 the lafl of that illuftrious family, which had 
 
EARL OF ARUNDEL. I33 
 
 flourifhed in England above 300 years; one 
 of his daughters married Thomas Howard, 
 duke of Norfolk, and thence it was that the 
 title of Earl of Arundel came to the Howard 
 family. 
 
( >34 ) 
 
 SIR THOMAS MORE, 
 
 1480 to 1535, 
 
 Wa S the fon of Sir John More, one of the 
 juftices of the King’s Bench. Sir Thomas was 
 born in Milk Street, London, in the year 
 1480 ; and was received in quality of a page in 
 the houfe of Cardinal Moreton, archbifhop of 
 Canterbury and lord chancellor. The Cardi- 
 nal, who had great infight into charadter, 
 would often fay to his vifitors, <c This boy who 
 tc waits at table will one day prove a miracle of 
 <( men." His patron afterwards fent him to 
 Canterbury college, now called Chrift Church, 
 Oxford ; and thence in turn to New-inn, Lin- 
 coln’s inn, and Furnival’s-inn, at which latter 
 place he was afterwards reader for the fpace of 
 three years. He foon after married the daughter 
 of Mr. Colt, of New Hall in Effex, and was 
 
SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 J 35 
 
 elected into the Houfe of Commons. Henry VII. 
 on the marriage of his daughter Margaret with 
 the King of Scots, demanding one fubfkly and 
 three fifteenths, Mr. More oppofed this de- 
 mand in parliament with fo much force and 
 argument, that the King expreffed his high 
 refentment of it. But not thinking it prudent 
 to quefiion the fon for his parliamentary con- 
 duct, on fome frivolous pretence, Henry fent 
 the father. Sir John, to the Tower ; nor was 
 he liberated till he paid a fine of io ol. the 
 ufual atonement for the real or pretended of- 
 fences againff Henry VII. Mr. More now put 
 on a barrifler’s gown, and read a public lec- 
 ture in St. Lawrence’s church. Old Jewry ; his 
 topics were moral philofophy and the elucida- 
 tion of hifloric difficulties. He had at this 
 time a flrong inclination to devote himfelf to 
 the prieflhood, and for this purpofe, during a 
 year or two, he underwent fpiritual difcipline 
 at the Charter-houfe ; but fortunately for fo- 
 ciety he changed his mind, and was foon after 
 created one of the juflices of the King’s Bench, 
 and, in the year 1 508, judge in the fheriff’s 
 
SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 136 
 
 court in the city of London ; at which time, 
 though exceedingly engroffed by bufmefs, he 
 found leifure to write his Utopia, a work evin- 
 cing a free, manly, and philofophic mind. He 
 entered likewife into a literary correfpondence 
 with Erafmus, who coming to England fome 
 time after, their mutual friends contrived that 
 they fhould meet, without knowing each other, 
 at the lord mayor’s table. Here More difcufled 
 matters with fo much learning and acutenefs, 
 that Erafmus exclaimed, “ Aut tu Moms es aut 
 “ nullus /” to which More readily replied, 
 ee Aut tu Erafmus es aut diabolus /” About the 
 year 1516 he was employed on a joint com- 
 miffion with Tunftall, bilhop of Durham, to 
 negotiate a treaty with the archduke of Auftria, 
 afterwards Charles V. when, being at Bruges, 
 a vain fophift publicly challenged any one to 
 difpute with him on whatever art or fcience the 
 perfon accepting the challenge might chufe. 
 More, in anfwer, propofed the following law 
 jargon as the fubject ; An averia capta in JVi- 
 thernamia funt irr eplegibilia t this fo puzzled the 
 difputant that he gave up the conteft, and 
 
SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 *37 
 
 made himfelf the laughing-flock of his country- 
 men. On his return Mr. More was made a 
 mafter of requefts, and foon after received the 
 honor of knighthood with a feat at the privy 
 council. In 1520 the King made him treafurer of 
 the exchequer ; and experienced fo much plea- 
 fure, as well as improvement, in his converfa- 
 tion as almoft wholly to engrofs the treafurer’s 
 time. Sir Thomas, who was a domeftic man, 
 thought he made too great a facrifice for this flat- 
 tering diftinction, in almoft debarring himfelf 
 the company of his wife and children, the con- 
 fequence of this was, that he became more 
 referved in his difcourfe ; Henry, perceiving it 
 grew lefs anxious for his company, and gra- 
 dually omitted fending for him. So much fa- 
 miliarity had fubfifted between the King and 
 the treafurer, that his Majefty once called un- 
 expectedly at his houfe at Chelfea and partook 
 of his family dinner. In 1523 he was chofen 
 fpeaker of the Houfe of Commons, where he 
 foon after boldly and honeftly oppofed an op- 
 preflive fubfidy promoted by Cardinal Wolfey, 
 who, meeting him next day, faid to him, 
 
 T 
 
SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 138 
 
 « Would to God you had been at Rome, Mr. More, 
 “ when I made you fpeaker.”~“ Tour Grace not 
 “ offended,” replied More, “ fo would I too” 
 After the difgrace of Wolfey, in the year 1530, 
 the King entruded the great feal to Sir Tho- 
 mas, partly from a convi&ion of his ability 
 and probity, and partly with a view of enga- 
 ging him to approve of his divorce with Catharine 
 of Arragon. This, however, More’s confcience 
 never would permit him to do ; and, after fil- 
 ling the high office of chancellor with the ut- 
 moft integrity and diligence for three years, he 
 religned it in 1533* It mult be remarked that 
 he was the firft layman ever raifed to that dig- 
 nity. He now retired with a refolution to pafs the 
 remainder of his life in privacy ; his enemies, 
 however, determined other wife; they framed 
 feveral malignant but unfuccefsful aecufations 
 againd him, till at length he turniffied them 
 with the means of ruining him by refudng to 
 take the oath of fupremacy. After lying fif- 
 teen months in prifon, he was arraigned, con- 
 demned, and executed, July 5 > 1 535 ? on 
 
 Tower hill. He not only maintained a deady 
 
SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 139 
 
 compofure but even his ufual cheerfulnefs on 
 the fcaffold ; and though, generally fpeaking, 
 the laft fcene of life but ill accords with 
 effufions of wit or merriment, yet natural 
 chara&er fo far got the better of the terrors of 
 the moment that his exigence ended in an epi- 
 gram. Mr. Addifon juftly obferves, this would 
 have been phrenzy in any one who had not 
 refembled him in the fandtity of his life and 
 manners. 
 
 More was certainly one of the great orna- 
 ments of the age in which he lived ; he was an 
 accomplifhed fcholar, eminent in the know- 
 ledge, but thill more fo in the confcientious, 
 and impartial exercife, of his profeffion. It 
 would indeed have redounded more to the 
 honor of his literary talents had his . Utopia 
 been his only work, and had he abftained from 
 the illiberal virulence that characierifes fome of 
 his polemic writings. But the great, the eter- 
 nal blot on his memory was his ordering a 
 man who differed from him in religious fpecu- 
 lations to be put to the torture, and handing 
 T 2 
 
140 
 
 SIR THOMAS MORE. 
 
 himfelf by while the fentence was executing. 
 How. baneful muft the poifon of bigotry be, 
 when fuch talents and fuch virtues could not 
 furnilh an antidote to its effects ! He had other 
 foibles in common with mankind ; Archbifhop 
 Cranmer fays, he would never vary from a 
 point on which he had declared himfelf, for 
 fear of blemilhing his reputation. One of his 
 Angularities was to wear his gown higher on 
 one fhoulder than the other. He was twice 
 married, and left one fon and four daughters 
 by his firft wife, but none by his fecond. His 
 eldeft daughter, Margaret, was married to 
 William Roper, Efq. of Well Hall, in Kent, 
 and was diftinguifhed for her literary accom- 
 plifhments. After her father’s head had been 
 expofed on London Bridge for fourteen days, 
 fhe found means to procure it and preferve it 
 till her own death, when fhe was buried with 
 it in her arms in 1554, in St. Dunftan’s church 
 at Canterbury, 
 
( 1 4 I ) 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY, 
 
 Was born at Ipfwich in March 1471. His 
 father is faid to have been a butcher, but pof- 
 fefled of means fufficient to enable him to fend 
 his fon to the univerfity of Oxford, where he 
 took a bachelor’s degree as early as the age 
 of fourteen years. He was foon after elected 
 fellow of Magdalen college, and undertook the 
 care of a fchool adjoining the college, at which 
 he was charged with the education of the three 
 fons of Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorfet, who 
 prefented him the living of Limington in So- 
 merfetfhire, in 1500. During his relidence 
 here, his life appears to have been fo difor- 
 derly, that Sir Amias Pawlet, a juftic.e of the 
 peace, once fct him in the flocks for being 
 drunk and commencing a riot at a neighbour- 
 ing fair; which affront Wolfey had not mag- 
 nanimity enough to forget, but avenged him- 
 
142 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 felf while chancellor, by confining Sir Amias 
 fome years a prifoner in the Temple. On the 
 death of his patron he was introduced into the 
 family of Dean, archbifhop of Canterbury ; 
 and afterwards was recommended to the pa- 
 tronage of Sir John Nanfon, treafurer of Ca- 
 lais, where he rendered himfelf fo ufeful by his 
 talents and affiduity, that he was made one of 
 the King’s chaplains, and foon after infiituted 
 to the redfory of Redgrave, in the diocefe of 
 Norwich. In the difcharge of his office as 
 chaplain to the King, he became known to 
 Fox, bifhop of Winchefier, and Lovell, chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, who recommended 
 him as a fit agent for negotiating the intended 
 marriage between Henry VII. and Margaret of 
 Savoy. He was accordingly fent to the Em- 
 peror, Maximilian, and executed the bufinefs 
 with fuch ditpatch, and fo much to Henry’s 
 fatisfadtion, that he was promoted, February 8, 
 1508, to the deanry of Lincoln. Henry dying 
 the fame year, Wolfey’s objedt was to ingra- 
 tiate himfelf with his fucceffior, and this he did 
 fo effedlually as almoil to monopolize the 
 
CARDINAL wolsey. 
 
 m 
 
 young King’s good graces, and to preferve an 
 afcendancy over his violent and capricious tem- 
 per for upwards of lixteen years ; Fox, bifhop 
 of Winchetier, had ufed his utmoft endea- 
 vours, by introducing Wolfey, to raife a rival 
 to the inlinuating arts of the Earl of Surrey ; 
 never reflecting that it was poflible that he 
 might be eclipfed and fupplanted by an inftru- 
 ment of his own creating. But Wolfey, ob- 
 ferving that dry details on political fubjedts 
 were not likely to arreft the attention of a 
 youthful prince ardent in the purfuits of gaiety 
 and pleafure, promoted, and even entered with 
 his matter into every fpecies of frolic and difli- 
 pation, introducing bufinefs as it were inci- 
 dentally, and not fo as to check or rettrain the 
 King from the purfuit of objects fo natural to 
 his age and fo fuitable to his difpofltion. To 
 this artful management may be afcribed his 
 rapid advancement as a churchman and a mi- 
 nifler, and the implicit confidence the young 
 monarch repofed in him. Hence, “ difdaining 
 “ dull degrees ,” he was made canon of Wind- 
 tor, regittrary of the order of the garter, dean 
 
144 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 of York, bifhop of Lincoln, archbifhop of 
 York, cardinal of St. Cicily, and, Decem- 
 ber 22, 1 5 1 5, lord chancellor of England ; and 
 the year following, by a commiffion from the 
 Pope, Legate a latere ; he held belides in 
 commendam the abbey of St. Alban’s, with 
 the fees of Durham and Winchefter, and 
 the revenues in farm of the bifhoprics of Bath, 
 Worcefler, and Hereford, enjoyed by foreign 
 incumbents. From thefe preferments and pen- 
 lions which he received of feveral princes oil 
 the Continent, his income was equal to his 
 mailer’s ; nor was his retinue much lefs fplen- 
 did, ten lords, fifteen knights, forty efquires, 
 and 800 of inferior degree, formed his houfe- 
 hold v If he was infatiable in his acquifitions, 
 he was magnificent in his expenfes ; noblemen 
 of the highefl quality ferved him at mafs, and 
 tended the wine to him on their knees ; and, 
 while he was ambalfador to the Emperor at 
 Brnffels, he was ferved at table in this pollure 
 to the aflonifhment of the Germans who were 
 eye-witneffes to the difplay of this arrogant fu - 
 
CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 H5 
 
 periority. He was the fird clergyman in England 
 who wore dlk and gold., not only on his habit 
 but on the faddles and trappings of his horfes. 
 His cardinal’s hat was borne aloft by a perfon 
 of rank, and when he came to the King’s 
 chapel he would permit it to be placed no 
 where but on the altar. A tall and comely 
 pried: carried before him a pillar of diver with 
 a crofs on the top ; while another pried, con- 
 trary to cudom, marched with his crofs as arch- 
 bidiop of York, even when in the diocefe of 
 Canterbury, which made farcadic people ob- 
 ferve, that it was evident one crofs was not 
 fudicient to expiate the Cardinal’s dns : his 
 head, indeed, was fo giddy with his mighty 
 elevation that when Warham, archbifhop of 
 Canterbury, fubfcribed a letter to him, Tour 
 loving brother , he complained of his prefump- 
 tion, which being told to Warham, “ Know 
 “ ye not,” faid he, “ that this man is drunk 
 “ with too much profperity.” But his charac- 
 ter as a politician by no means kept pace with 
 his vanity and odentation. He was by turns 
 the dupe of his own ambition and avarice, as 
 
 U 
 
146 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 well as the bubble of the Emperor, France, 
 and Rome ; and perhaps no tlronger inftance 
 can be given of the infatiablenefs of ambition, 
 than, that the whole of his mighty acquifitions 
 feemed to him as empty nothings, while the 
 papal crown mocked and eluded his grafp. 
 With refpe6t to his domeftic politics, his chief 
 objebt was to render his matter abfolute and un- 
 controlled ; to this end, he attempted to govern 
 without parliaments, there being but two from 
 the feventh to the twenty-ffrft year of Henry’s 
 reign, while the want of parliamentary grants 
 was fupplied by the violent extortions of loans 
 and benevolences : he erected, too, an office cal- 
 led the Legantine court, in the management of 
 which he feemed to affume all power both civil 
 and eccletiaftic ; he eftablifhed an inquffitorial 
 authority over the laity, by affuming the right to 
 examine all matters of confeience, and into all 
 matters which, though they efcaped the law, 
 might appear contrary to good morals ; and to 
 render this unprecedented affumption of power 
 more obnoxious, he placed over the court John 
 Allen, a man, whom he himfelf, as chan- 
 
CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 I47 
 
 cellor, had condemned for perjury. Tacitus 
 has obferved, “ Nunquam falls fida potentia ubi 
 “ nimla eft-.” and there furely never cxiftcd a 
 man, to whom the truth of this maxim was 
 more applicable, than to Wolfey; he was 
 Handing, as it were, on the pinnacle of greatnefs, 
 one falfe Hep, one adverfe blaH, might deflroy 
 his equilibrium, and he was to fall to rife no 
 more. The caufe of Henry’s marriage with 
 Catharine was evoked to Rome, and Ann 
 Boleyn, who bore no good will to the Cardinal, 
 had gained entire poffeHion of the King’s heart ; 
 even the partifans of Catharine confpired to 
 effect his downfall, and Henry was fo worked 
 upon by importunities, that he fent the Dukes 
 of Norfolk and Suffolk to require the great 
 feal of him; but, Wolfey not conceiving their 
 authority fufficient for the purpofe, retained it, 
 till a letter from the King ordered him to 
 reHgn it into the hands of Sir Thomas More. 
 He was then required to depart from York 
 place, which Henry feized, and which became 
 afterwards the redden ce of the Kings of Eng- 
 land, under the name of Whitehall ; the 
 
 U 2 
 
CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 I48 
 
 hangings of this palace which were of cloth of 
 gold and filver, a cupboard of plate of maffy 
 gold, and a thoufand pieces of fine holland, 
 made part of, and probably in fome meafure 
 prompted the feizure. The Cardinal w r as or- 
 dered to retire to Afher, near Hampton Court : 
 and his mind, which had once been fo much 
 elated with his grandeur, now funk into ex- 
 treme abjeCtnefs ; his flatterers, his dependents, 
 his courtly friends, all deferted him ; and, with 
 fuch anxiety did he wait fome tranfient return 
 of his matters favor, that he alighted from his 
 horfe, and knelt in the dirt, to receive a ring 
 which the King fent him as a token that he 
 had not altogether forfaken him. Ann Boleyn, 
 however, in conjunction with her uncle the 
 Duke of Norfolk, exerted herfelf to harden 
 Henry’s heart againft his old fervant : the 
 King ordered him to be indicted, in the Star- 
 chamber, where a fentence was paffed on him : 
 the Houfe of Lords then voted forty-five articles 
 againft him without calling for evidence ; thefe 
 were afterwards fent down to the Lower Houfe, 
 where Thomas Cromwell, a dependent of the 
 
CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 149 
 
 Cardinal’s, defended his patron with fuch fpirit 
 and courage, as to recommend himfelf to 
 Henry’s favor : finding it was pofiible that 
 Wol fey’s ruin might not be accomplifhed by this 
 proceeding, his enemies indiCted him on the 
 obfolete fiatute of provifors, which enacfis the 
 penalty of a premunire, on any perfon who 
 fhould procure bulls from Rome ; he pleaded 
 guilty, and threw himfelf on the King’s mercy. 
 Wolfey had certainly violated the law, but this 
 he had done for years with the King’s fan<5tion, 
 and the acquiefcence of the Parliament ; the fen- 
 tence pronounced againft him was, “ that he 
 “ was out of the King’s protection, his lands and 
 “ goods forfeited, and that his perfon might be 
 “ committed to cuftody.” It was not, however, 
 put into execution, and the King fiill feemed 
 to retain fome degree of amity and good-will 
 towards him. After remaining fome time at 
 Afher, he removed to Richmond, a refidence 
 Henry had given him in return for Hampton 
 Court ; his enemies fiill fearing the efieCts of 
 his near neighbourhood to the King, procured ' 
 his further removal to his fee of York. He 
 1 
 
15 ° 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 took up his abode at Cawood, and acquired 
 great popularity by bis affable and hofpitable 
 demeanor : but his tranquillity was not long 
 undifturbed ; Northumberland was fent to arreft 
 him for high treafon, and to efcort him to 
 London in order to bis trial. He fell tick at 
 Sheffield, the feat of the Earl of Shrewsbury ; 
 fl ill, however, continuing his journey, he reach- 
 ed Leicefter abby ; here the abbot and monks 
 advancing to meet him with great refpect and ce- 
 remony, “ I am come, faid he, to lay my bones 
 “ among you,” and taking to his bed in a Short 
 time expired, November 30, 1630. The imme- 
 diate caufe of his death is differently related ; 
 Hume attributes it to a dyfentcry, the confe- 
 quence of the fatigues of his journey, and the 
 anxiety of his mind ; and Rapin concurs in the 
 fame opinion, but Speed imputes it to his 
 taking too great a dofe of confections to expel 
 the wind from his ftomach ; while the author 
 of England’s Worthies, publifhed in 1684, 
 afcribcs it to poifon, which he voluntarily took, 
 or which was administered to him by fome, 
 who, as the author fays, “ might from his 
 
CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 *5* 
 
 * f feathers build themfelves neds.” Henry heard 
 the news of his death with an appearance of 
 forrow, and always fpoke favourably of his 
 memory: and, however the charges of inordinate 
 ambition, odentatious vanity, and infatiable ra- 
 pacioufnefs, mud be allowed to form the dark 
 fide of his character, it cannot be denied, that the 
 fame loftinefs of mind prompted him to erect # 
 magnificent monuments to piety and learning, 
 as well as to extend his munificence and pro- 
 tection to genius and talents, wherever he dif- 
 covered them ; nor is it amongd his lead 
 praifes, that his adminidration of judice, while 
 chancellor, was equitable and impartial : Lord 
 Herbert, indeed, fays that no man ever fell 
 from fo high a dation, to whom fo few real 
 crimes could be imputed ; this is perhaps faying 
 too much ; yet the refutation of the articles by 
 Cromwell, and their rejection by a Houfe of 
 Commons fo fervilely devoted to the court, are 
 drong prefumptions in his favour ; and the 
 
 * Hampton Court, Chrifl Church, Oxford, and a col- 
 lege at Ipfwich. 
 
1 5 Z 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 King’s attaching him by an indictment on the 
 flatute of provifors, after he had failed in a 
 parliamentary impeachment, are ftrong proofs 
 of a pre-determined refolntion to make the 
 minifter the vidtim to his caprice and cruelty. 
 
( >53 ) 
 
 SIR JOHN NORRIS, 
 
 
 One of thofe heroic leaders whofe a6lions 
 contributed to the brilliancy of the reign of 
 Elizabeth. When the Queen, at the earneft 
 felicitations of the Flemings, had confented to 
 become their protestor, Norris was difpatched 
 with five thoufand foot and a thoufand horfe. 
 This armament was the prelude to the fending a 
 larger force under the command of the Earl of 
 Leicefler, who feme time after his arrival de- 
 tached Norris to intercept a convoy of provi- 
 fions which the Prince of Parma was fending 
 for the relief of Zutphen, a Ikirmifh took place, 
 and in it the gallant Sir Philip Sidney was mor- 
 tally wounded. Norris fucceeded in the en- 
 terprize, but feme mifunderflanding arifing 
 between him and Leicefler, he was removed 
 
 X 
 
*54 
 
 SIR JOHN NORRIS. 
 
 from his poft in the Low Countries, and, much 
 to the difcontent of the Flemings, was re- 
 called. 
 
 In 1589, Don Antonio of Portugal, being 
 difpoflefled of his dominions and crown by 
 Philip II. of Spain, applied to Elizabeth for 
 fuccour, who gave Drake and Norris the charge 
 of a confiderable fleet and army to efcort An- 
 tonio to the bay of Gallicia, near the Groyne. 
 The lower town of the Groyne was taken by 
 aflault, but the upper town repelled the attack 
 of the aflailants, while a ftrong force under the 
 Conde de Andrada attempted its relief. This 
 body was met on its march by Sir John Norris, 
 a defperate adlion enfued, which ended in the 
 total defeat of the Spaniards, and the lofs of 
 their ftandards and baggage. For want of 
 battering cannon, however, the flege was 
 raifed ; the army re-embarked, and being joined 
 by the Earl of Eflex, they attempted and took 
 the cattle of Peniche, on the Portuguefe coatt, 
 and thence marched with Don Antonio in their 
 company to the attack of Litbon ; Drake at the 
 
SIR JOHN NORRIS. 
 
 x 55 
 
 fame time coafiing it with his fleet, which, 
 however, arrived not at the appointed rendez- 
 vous. The fuburbs of Lifbon fell an eafy prey, 
 the town, however, bad defiance to the ene- 
 my’s attempts. Several days were confumed 
 in hourly expectation of a promifed reinforce- 
 ment from the Duke of Braganza, but the 
 Spaniards being maflers of the intermediate 
 country, the fuccours never arrived. The 
 army embarked again, and after taking Vigo, 
 returned, June 21, 1589, to Plymouth, with 
 the lofs of ten thoufand men ; the great objeCt 
 of the enterprize, the fetting Don Antonio on 
 the throne of Portugal, having totally failed. 
 
 In the whole of this expedition there appears 
 but little military tkill or forefight, romantic 
 courage and meflages of defiance to the enemy 
 form the principal features of the expedition. 
 Eflex and Norris both feem to fuppofe that the 
 fame mode of conduCt was fuitable to a general 
 at the head of an army, as might become a 
 preux chevalier, when about to break a lance 
 in his miftrefs’s honour at a tournament. This 
 
156 
 
 SIR JOHN NORRIS. 
 
 conduct, fo analogous to an age of chivalry, is 
 ftrongly exemplified in the various defultory 
 enterprizes that took place in Elizabeth’s reign. 
 The intricate combinations now thought fo ne- 
 ceflary to form the character of a general, were 
 then confidered as requifites, infinitely inferior 
 to romantic valour. Norris, in the above expe- 
 dition, fends a trumpet to the Spanifh general 
 to bid him defiance, and to give him the lie ; 
 and Efifex fends a particular cartel, offering to 
 fight any one of the Spanifh army of equal 
 quality with himfelf, or if none of his degree 
 fhould be found, then to try the event of a 
 combat with fix or eight of a fide. The Spa- 
 niards, contrary to their national character, 
 with more prudence than heroifm, refufe the 
 challenge, and wifely avail themfelves of the 
 advantages which time and circumftance had 
 put in their hands, to oblige the Englifh to re- 
 embark their forces. 
 
 Norris was fome time after fent to Ireland in 
 order to reduce the famous rebel Tir-Oen to 
 obedience, but a jealoufy riling between him 
 
SIR JOHN NORRIS. 
 
 *57 
 
 and Lord Ruffel the lieutenant, little pro- 
 grefs was made, and Tir-Oen, in confequence 
 of the mutual animofities of his opponents, 
 found means to obtain an intidious truce, which 
 he took the firfl opportunity of breaking. 
 Norris finding that he had been duped by the 
 artifices of Tir-Oen, through grief and difcon- 
 tent, “ the too ufual guerdon of many a noble 
 fervitor,” to ufe the words of Speed, ended 
 his active life in 1598. 
 
C 158 ) 
 
 SIR WILLIAM HERBERT, 
 
 EARL OF PEMBROKE, 
 
 WaS the fon of Sir Richard Herbert of 
 Evvyas, born in the early part of the reign of 
 Henry VIII. and bred to arms : little, how- 
 ever, is known of his hiflory till about the 
 fifth year of Edward VI. he then diftinguifhed 
 himfelf by quelling an infurrecSlion in Wilt- 
 fhire — the caufe of this infurredtion was the 
 converting a large quantity of arable into pas- 
 ture land. The wool of England was in great 
 requefl both at home and abroad, the know- 
 ledge of agriculture had made flow progrefs, 
 pafturage was found to be more profitable than 
 unfkilful tillage, and the breeding of fheep had 
 very generally taken place of husbandry. This 
 circumftance could not fail to raife the price 
 of corn, and diminifh the demand for la- 
 
EARL OP PEMBROKE. 
 
 *59 
 
 hour. The profution likewife of Henry VIII. 
 had reduced him to the ruinous expedient of 
 debating the coin ; the neceffary confequence 
 was, that the good coin was hoarded and the 
 bate metal circulated among the people, who 
 found that they could not purchafe the neceffa- 
 ries of life at the accutlomed prices. By thefe 
 means, added to the fuppreffion of the monaf- 
 teries, which afforded a conftant refource, not 
 only to the idle but alfo to the indutlrious, in 
 times of fcarcity and need, numbers of the 
 lower order of people were thrown entirely out 
 of employ, and reduced to great mifery ; 
 complaints and murmurs became univerfal, fe- 
 veral books were written, Hating the eventual 
 mifchiefs of this abfurd and ruinous policy : 
 the complaint, indeed, was of a more remote 
 origin, as Sir Thomas More in his Utopia had 
 obfcrved, that a theep was a more rapacious 
 animal than a lion or a wolf, and devoured 
 whole villages, cities, and provinces. The 
 nobility and gentry, however, continued their 
 courfe • neither the calamitous condition of the 
 poor, nor the humane intcrpolition of the pro- 
 
160 SIR WILLIAM HERBERT, 
 
 teCtor Somerfet, were of any avail to check 
 their proceedings, the people finding no re- 
 drefs for their grievances, rofe in arms in many 
 parts of the kingdom, particularly in Wilt- 
 shire and Somerfetfhire ; an armed force under 
 Sir William Herbert was fent to fupprefs them, 
 which he effectually performed, though the 
 difcontents in other parts of the kingdom, in- 
 flamed likewife by religious bigotry, ffill conti- 
 nued objeCls of alarm to the government. 
 Thefe events took place in 1 549, and two years 
 after Sir William Herbert was created Earl of 
 Pembroke, whether for the confpicuous part 
 he took in extinguifhing this rebellion, or from 
 the connection he had formed with Dudley, 
 Duke of Northumberland, does not appear in 
 hifiory. Northumberland in this year con- 
 ceived the fcheme of ruining his old rival So- 
 merfet, who, among other crimes, was accufed 
 of a defign of murdering the Duke, the Earls 
 of Pembroke and Northampton, at a banquet ; 
 as he was acquitted of that part of the accufa- 
 tion which amounted to treafon, but was found 
 guilty of the felony, (which, indeed, Somerfet 
 
EARL OP PEMBROKE* l6l 
 
 confeffed he had been rath and intemperate 
 enough to fpeak of, but never really to refolve 
 upon,) pofterity might have been induced to 
 have admitted of the juftice of his fentence, 
 had not thofe very Lords, Northumberland, 
 Pembroke, and Northampton, formed part of 
 the jury of twenty-feven peers who fat in judg- 
 ment on the unfortunate Somerfet. 
 
 In the beginning of the enfuing reign, 1553* 
 great difcontents pervaded the nation on the 
 propofed marriage between Philip II. of Spain, 
 and Queen Mary : the proud, fullen, fevere 
 temper of Philip, the dread of the inftitution of 
 an inquifitorial tribunal in England, with the 
 relations of the horrid cruelties committed by 
 the Spaniards in South America, had operated 
 fo ftrongly on the minds of men, that the Spa- 
 nifh alliance was looked on with diftruit and 
 horror, and a general infurredtion was planned 
 by the Duke of Suffolk, Sir Thomas Wyatt, 
 and Sir Peter Carew. The condudt of the lat- 
 ter was fo imprudent, that he was arreded be- 
 fore he had put his delign into execution ; the 
 Y 
 
162 SIR WILLIAM HERBERT, 
 
 two former, particularly Wyatt, reduced the 
 government to fome difficulties and even rilk ; 
 but a delay on the part of Wyatt gave the Earl 
 of Pembroke an opportunity of furrounding 
 him and taking him prifoner, foon after he 
 had entered the city of London with four thou- 
 fand followers. To this exploit at fo critical a 
 juncture it is probable that Mary was indebted 
 to the fecurity of her crown, for the unpopu- 
 larity of the Queen was fo great, and the ha- 
 tred entertained againft the Spaniards was fo 
 univerfal, that nothing but a decifive, well- 
 timed victory could have given liability to her 
 tottering throne — fuch a lignal piece of fervice 
 pointed out Pembroke as the commander pro- 
 per to take the charge of eight thoufand Eng- 
 lilh that were fent to join the Duke of Savoy 
 againft the French in the Low Countries. The 
 liege of St. Quintin was refolved on after feve- 
 ral feints made on fome towns in Picardy. 
 The Conftable Montmorency, in a gallant and 
 well-fought adlion for the relief of the place, 
 was made prifoner by the Englifh, and his ar- 
 
EARL OP PEMBROKE. 1 63 
 
 mour covered with fleur-de-lis remains to this 
 day, it is faid, as a trophy in the Earl of Pem- 
 broke’s magnificent feat at Wilton. Queen 
 Mary died the enfuing year, and no opportu- 
 nity offering for the difplay of military talents 
 in the early part of the reign of her fucceffor, 
 the Earl of Pembroke appears no longer in 
 the chara&er of a general ; his only fubfe- 
 quent actions which interefl public attention, 
 was the marriage of his fon. Lord Herbert, to 
 Lady Catharine Gray, the heirefs of the houfe 
 of Suffolk, which, in confequence of the ex- 
 clufion of the poflerity of Margaret, Queen of 
 Scotland, by the will of Henry VIII. was next 
 in fucceffion to the crown ; but this marriage 
 exciting the watchful jealoufy of Elizabeth, 
 the Earl, notwithftanding Lady Catharine’s 
 pregnancy, concurred in procuring a divorce 
 for his fon. Two years preceding his death he 
 was zealoufly active, in conjunction with many 
 of the firfl nobility, for the declaration of 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, as fucceffor to Eliza- 
 beth, but at that period Mary’s crimes and in- 
 Yz 
 
164 SIR WILLIAM HERBERT, &C. 
 
 difcretions counteracted the good intentions of 
 her parti zans, and he lived not to fee their un- 
 happy cataftrophe, as he died in the year 1569, 
 in the eleventh year of Elizabeth’s reign. 
 
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